Getting Ready for Chun Jie...

My mother absolutely refuses to go shopping for anything right before Christmas.  She hates the crowds and long lines.  Over the last several years I've actually come not to mind shopping in a crowd in America because it feels like a normal day of shopping in Qingdao. 
Chun Jie (aka Chinese New Year) is the Chinese equivalent of Christmas.  Everyone goes out shopping for gifts and tons of food.  Millions of people (literally) leave to go on vacations or visit family.  Traffic is out of control and chaos ensues.  Qingdao is a city of roughly 9 million people, but I never feel like there are that many people here until Chun Jie (well and when tourists flood in for the summer...but we have a lot more than 9 million people in the city then).  There are people everywhere and the stores are crazy.
Every month our school organizes a bus to take us out to Metro (China's Sam's Club or Costco).  Metro is really far away so having the bus is super nice.  However, every year I forget that the previous year I swore I would never go to Metro within two weeks of Chun Jie.  Yesterday I went to Metro and Chun Jie technically starts today....dumb move, Amy. 
Shopping at Metro yesterday was an interesting experience.  I started walking around and getting what I needed while dodging tons of other shoppers.  No big deal.  At one point I reached for an item and a little old lady grabbed my cart and started asking me all about what I was buying and why was I buying it.  Umm...not too bad, but a little weird.  I've had people look into my cart and comment on what I'm buying before, but never grab it.  Weird, but still doing ok. 
I went to grab something else and a middle-aged Chinese man stopped me and asked if I was cold...I wasn't wearing my coat, but we were inside.  When I told him I wasn't he started asking me all kinds of questions about my life.  Still not weird, things like that happen a lot.  The weird thing was that after about 3 questions he told me I was beautiful, asked a few more questions, told me I was beautiful, asked some more questions, and told me I was beautiful again.  After the second beautiful, I was uncomfortable...especially since we had already covered that I wasn't married.  After the third beautiful, I kindly told him I had to go.  He laughed, but finally let me go.  Ummm...ok.  This is getting a little weird.  (Random side note - after this experience I realized that the reason he thought I was so beautiful was because I wasn't wearing make-up and Chinese people think red cheeks are beautiful and I have very red cheeks that are normally covered up by my make-up.  Gives you a new perspective on beauty, doesn't it?)
I went to get in "line" to check out and to be honest, the lines were pretty legit.  There was about 20 people in each line so I settled in for a long wait (the major reason I never want to go to Metro at this time...I spent 45 minutes in line).  After 30 or so minutes in line, another line opened up and people literally tried to trample each other to get into that line.  Two women started having a shoving contest with their carts to see who could go first.  Umm...now we have reached weird and crazy. 
After I finally made it through the line and got checked out (after a fiasco where my credit card wouldn't scan and I had to borrow a friends...now I was embarrassed too).  We finally all made it back to the bus and left only a half hour late which wasn't bad considering how many people where in Metro.  Then we sat in traffic for 15 minutes trying to get less than a block away because there was a huge traffic jam where everyone was trying to get through a street light at the same time and no one was willing to concede any ground.  Uggghhh...seriously?  Holidays bring out the worst in people.
However I finally made it home and got a fabulous phone call from a great friend in America so life was good and happy.  Now today I have the pleasure of listening to the beginning of what will be about 3 weeks of fireworks...that go at least 12 hours a day until Lantern Festival...which is my favorite Chinese holiday.  It's gorgeous and so much fun. 
But for now, I'll just try to enjoy the fireworks, get through another week of school and then spend two weeks catching up with my friends and watching my favorite tv shows...I'll be up most of the night anyway.  Anyone want to call me over Chun Jie vacation?  I'm off school from Feb. 9-24th and I'll be awake really late each night (the fireworks are often too loud to sleep through).  Just let me know. :)

Happy 2013!

I can't believe it is already a new year!  So much has happened this year, but the time went so incredibly fast.  2012  was definitely a good year, but it was also full of challenges.  I may write some more about those later.  In this post I'm going to give you an update on my resolutions from last year and update the new ones for 2013.
So...first, how did I do on my 2012 resolutions?
1. Read the Book and talk to Dad every day.  Honestly failed at this one.  I'm not sure I'll ever reach this goal because of my fallen state, but I'll keep in on my list of resolutions and I'll never give up on it.
2. Change my 2nd grade curriculum enough that I am no longer bored with teaching.  2nd grade changed a lot this year and now I'm only mildly bored which is a vast improvement.  Plus, we got a really hard class this year.  That has made things interesting in a not so fabulous way...So, things will keep changing in 2nd grade probably until I'm done teaching that grade.  Who wants to stay the same anyway?
3. Get to book three in my Chinese lessons.  So, embarrassment at my level of Chinese prompted this one.  And I honestly didn't get to book three in my lessons (not even close), but I learned a lot this year.  I have a fabulous teacher who just speaks to me in Chinese for most of our lesson (forget the book) and I learn new words that way.  My Chinese still isn't great, but I've gained a lot of confidence and vocabulary this year.
4. Take a road trip across America and visit every person who asks me to come see them. I did this!  It was incredibly fun!  I visited something like 26 states and saw about 100 people.  I loved seeing everyone and being in new places.  One of my very best vacations ever!
5. Go at least 3 places (city, state, or country) I have never been before.  In 2012 I definitely made it to more than 3 new places.  I went to the Philippines, Bangkok, Seattle, DC, and saw tons of other places that I had never been to while on my road trip.  I really like traveling. :)
6. Try a new recipe every week and start a recipe blog.  Failed.  Honestly, I was doing really well with this one until I went on an 8 week road trip in the summer.  Then in September I found out I was allergic to almonds and peanuts and that I was lactose intolerant.  Finding out you can't eat cheese or drink milk or eat peanut butter can be very depressing.  In fact it was really depressing since most Western recipes have milk or cheese in them.  I didn't really cook anything for weeks.  I've gotten over that slump and I'm working on figuring out what I can cook now.  And who cares if I can eat it or not?  I can still cook it for friends, right?
7. Read 52 new books.  I read 53 books actually.  It was fun.  And intense.  The best book I read was called "The Hush" by William Flowers.  If you haven't read it, you should.  It was superb.
8. Do one thing that scares me.  Did this too.  I learned how to scuba dive.  It didn't scare me as much at first, but our first two dives were really rough.  I hated them.  I started trying to find ways not to finish, but my dive instructor/principal/friend talked me into.  I'm glad he did.  I loved the last two dives...even though I found out I had an ear infection during them and that made it really hard to go down.  Still, I'm really glad I conquered that fear.  And it really is beautiful down under the water.

Ok, so for the new resolutions.
1. Read the book and talk to Dad every day.  That's right.  I'm trying again.  Here goes.
2. Visit at least 1 new country. And I have to tell you that I'm planning to spend next Christmas in England, Scotland, and Wales.  And I'm thinking about going to Malaysia with a friend over Chinese New Year.  So I'll probably blow this one out of the water. :)
3. Bake and decorate a cake each month.  I'm intimidated by cakes and cupcakes.  I want to conquer this by making a bunch of these things this year.  I may recruit some help with the creativity part, but I'm really excited about this one.
4. Read 2+ books each month. Significantly easier than 52 books.  Yet still a challenge to keep reading. :)
5. Publish my recipes somehow. I want to share my recipes with others in a way that they can access any time they want rather than having ask me for them.  This will probably be in the form of a blog, but we'll see.
6. Get a 2nd tattoo. I reserve the right to change my mind on this one, but I really think I want to get a second tattoo.  I still have to figure out where, but I think I definitely know what I want.  I'll keep you posted.
7. Make 5+ crochet projects. I love crocheting and would like to dedicate more time to it this year.  I'm currently knee deep in project number 1.
8. Learn to knit. If I like crocheting, will I like knitting?  It's time to find out.
9. Decorate my house. I have my very own house now.  I want to make it pretty.  I've started working on this already, but I want to have it well and fully decorated this year.
10. Try 50+ new recipes. Have I mentioned that I love cooking?
11. Get more healthy. Ok, so here's the hard one.  I want to get more healthy.  Drop weight, start exercising more frequently, eat better, etc.  I want to take charge of my life and stop being a couch potato.  We'll see how it goes.

So that is it for today.  Hope you made resolutions too.  It's nice to have goals to strive toward.  Happy 2013!

Growing into Love

I've heard couples say it over and over.  "I didn't like my husband/wife when I first met them."  I have heard this for ages and I've finally realized that this doesn't just happen between spouses.  It happens with many things. 
Each year as a new class walks through my door all I can think is "I miss last year's class."  Granted I didn't like last year's class when they came in the first day, but eventually I grew to love them.  Every year I am sad to see that year's class go.
My very best friends in my life, I didn't like most of them the first time we met.  It took spending some time together and getting to know each other before I grew to love them as a person.
Two months ago I got a kitten.  Life with him around hasn't always been easy and there were days I have wanted to strangle him or give him away.  I miss getting a full nights sleep.  I miss coming home and not finding the contents of my trash strewn across my apartment.  I miss not having broken plants.  I miss not constantly being covered in scratches.  But I  realized something amazing tonight. 
Tonight I was sitting on my couch enjoying my very last of Thanksgiving pecan pie.  Nacho Libre was trying to help me eat my pie.  He also had tried to help my eat leftover turkey not long before.  I kept trying to move the pie out of his reach and tell him no.  Not long after our little game began he managed to just barely stick his paw in the pie before I pulled it back.  Like a sneaky child he slowly put his paw in his mouth.  I could almost see the "I won" smile on his face. 
It was in that crazy moment that I realized that I love my cat.  Despite all the terror, frustration, and sleepless hours he has introduced into my life, I wouldn't trade him for anything.  I feel that way at some point every year about my class.  Sometimes loves grabs hold of you immediately and never lets you go.  And sometimes love sneaks up behind you and catches you by surprise.  Sometimes love irritates you endlessly before you realize you wouldn't want to live without it.  And honestly, I have to say that I really do like being surprised in this way.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Yesterday I hosted my very first Thanksgiving meal.  There were ten people in my house (myself included) for the whole day and it was the most amazing Thanksgiving I've ever had.  And honestly, I think it was fun that only five of those ten people were Americans.  I got to introduce two friends from the UK and one from Finland to Thanksgiving this year.  Last year, I introduced my other two friends from the UK to Thanksgiving. :)
As many of you know, I'm obsessed with cooking so I took Friday off school and started cooking.  I cooked several things during the day, cleaned my house, and got totally excited about partying the next day.
My fabulous friends starting arriving around 10:30 and we chowed down on cinnamon rolls (apparently not something they eat in the UK or Finland, but still very much enjoyed) and the fun began.  During the day we talked, laughed, played games, cooked, ate, watched football games, ate, played x-box, ate, and played some more games.  My little apartment was bursting at the seams, but I felt like I was with family.  The day was simply wonderful.  I wouldn't have traded it for anything else.
Plus now I have tackled a lot of firsts on the Thanksgiving menu.  My first turkey, my first sweet potato casserole, my first pecan pie, and my first stuffing.  They all tasted great if I do say so myself.  So great that half of the people there lost belts and unbuttoned to make room. Haha.  Truly the best day ever.

Now I'm going to add a thankful list here at the end of my post. 
- I am thankful for my relationship with a Father that saved me from myself.
- I'm thankful for 5 years in China...5 wonderful years.
- I'm thankful for a supportive and loving family.
- I'm thankful for every single one of the friends I have.
- I'm thankful for an intense love of cooking.
- I'm thankful for mystery and adventure (how fun would my life be if I know what was going to happen all the time?)
- I'm thankful for living in an international community.  I've learned so much about so many cultures in the last 5 years.
- I'm thankful for an absolutely amazing job that I LOVE.
- I'm thankful for my psychotic cat.
- I'm thankful for having my basic provisions taken care of (home, food, heat, water, clothing, etc.)
- I'm thankful for life's blessing and trials for they are making me into the person the Father wants me to be.
- I'm thankful for laughter, smiles, music, entertainment, love, happiness, and too many other things to list.
- I'm thankful for having a life that I love.
- I'm thankful for Thanksgiving which reminds me to take a day each year to remember what I'm thankful for.

Happy Thanksgiving.

I am an Introvert

I'm a total introvert.  Honestly, about 350 days a year I LOVE being an introvert.  I love the fact that I am comfortable with my own company, that I can find peace in the silence, and that I don't need to have another person around to feel complete.  I love the days I spend alone and pretend the world outside doesn't exist.  My favorite days are the ones where I don't say an entire word the whole day.   I also love that I've learned (for the most part) how to balance life as an introvert while interacting with/being friend extroverts on a regular basis.  
(Bunny trail: Did you know that I almost never said anything before I went to college?  The end of my first year of college, I made friends with an extrovert who changed my life.  I learned how to be friends with extroverts that year.  During the last seven-ish years I've been working to learn how to be an introvert who likes being friends with both introverts and extroverts.  It's not always easy, but it is worth it to me.)
There are some days when my need to be exclusively introverted kicks in.  Most of the time I plan time to be introverted.  I usually spend one day each week completely alone.  Usually one day is enough, but sometimes I need more.  And then there are days when my introverted-ness kicks in unexpectedly.  Those are the days when I want to fight it, but then I find more peace when I just let myself be who I am.
This weekend my introverted-ness caught me unawares.  I had a rough week at school with a few students and I could feel myself pulling into my shell.  I made it through the rest of the school week with some support from some awesome friends, but Saturday arrived and I knew I needed to cancel my plans for the day and just stay home.  I fought against it because I wanted to be with friends, but when I gave in...I found peace and rest.  Sunday needed to be a turtle day too, but I needed groceries so I also decided to go to fellowship (...where the Father filled me with His peace. I'm glad I went.) After fellowship, I planned to run home right after grabbing some groceries, but a friend somehow talked me into lunch first.  I ended up going to lunch with three introverts.  It was so peaceful.  We had a good conversation, but there was no pressure to make conversation.  I wasn't judged in my desire not to speak; I was supported....silently. :)  It was just what I needed today.  It made me love being an introvert.  I felt at peace. 
Now I'm on my couch alone in my house.  I won't say another word the rest of the day.  I can't tell you how unbelievably excited that makes me.  I'm not sure how many more days I'll need to be in my turtle shell this week, but I think it may be the whole week.  And to my wonderful extroverted friends, please know that I am not hiding.  I am resting.  It's been too long since I've allowed myself to rest.  I'll come back to the extroverted world soon.  But this week, I'm not going to try to be anyone but me.
Just be glad I'm not taking a vow of silence.  :) ...Though honestly, the idea really does appeal to me.  There is so much to be learned from silence.

Pouring Out His Love

The Father has been so gracious to me the last several weeks.  He has been showering me with love.  I'm sure he was doing it before, but since I've started looking for it, I see it everywhere.  It's communicated in a song, a word of encouragement, a hug, a verse, singing, and on it goes.  The place I have seen this love the greatest has been through friends.  Friends who seek my company, ask me how I'm doing, pray for me, and let me know that I am loved.  It's such a foreign concept to feel so loved and sometimes I have a hard time letting myself be loved. 
I have one fabulous friend who calls me out on this all the time.  I love spending time with him because he reminds me that I'm special.  I have another fabulous friend who stops by often during her day just to ask me how I'm doing.  I have another friend who tells me often how much she likes being my friend.  Every one of these people (and even more) make me feel so special because they take the time to care about me...and this in turn reminds me of the love of my Saviour.  My friends' love for me is a strong force in my life and the Father's love is one million times stronger.  How can I even comprehend that love?  The love I offer him in return is a wisp of smoke, yet he desires it.  He desires my love.  What an amazing and overwhelming thought. 

Mistakes in Writing

I have discovered in my years in China that almost every Chinese person can recognize and write  the Western alphabet.  However, since they rarely write the alphabet, their writing is very standardized.  In America I can tell the difference between people's handwriting easily, but here it is much harder.  It all looks much the same.  The more we write the letters of the alphabet, the more we leave our own fingerprint all over them.  In a way they become our own.
The reverse thing happens when it comes to Chinese characters.  I write my characters very standard and the Chinese people write them with a more individualized style.
Needless to say this presents a challenge when reading.  The Chinese people struggle to read my letters and I struggle to read their characters.  This has provided for many entertaining mistakes in writing.  When I try to read characters, I almost give up before I start.  Out of the thousands of Chinese characters I can read and recognize about 150 and I struggle to keep straight.  For me it isn't so much a problem of recognizing the stylistic characters but rather knowing what they are in the first place. 
The Chinese people don't have to make this excuse when writing the alphabet though.  There are only 26 letters to learn and many of them learned them in grade school.  They may not be able to read the words, but they can surely write them down.  However, we reach a problem when they see that a foreigners letters aren't very standardized.  To a Chinese eye, they never know what my "6" is.  It doesn't look right.  Every single person asks what it is.  My "K" looks like an "R" to them.  And on it goes. 
There is hope though.  I don't usually write things down for the Chinese people...we usually just talk...something I am thankfully getting a little better at each week.  However, sometimes they ask me to write my name down and then we have problems.
The first year I was in China, I got a tax receipt with the name Amy Reller on it.  When I told someone, they said it didn't matter.   That same year, I applied for a card to Metro (similar to the American Sam's Club or Costco).  My card again said Amy Reller.  I started trying to form better K's after that.  But today....today I got the best name mistake ever. 
This morning I rode with my poor cat into town to get him a rabies shot (my cat is officially legally vaccinated).  After some miming and a call to my fabulous Chinese teacher for translation help, they started filling out a vaccination record.  I already had a record for another shot he had been given the week before so they just copied the information I had written then.  The cat was given his shot and we went on our merry way.  On the way home while riding in a taxi, I pulled out the record to look at it.  Within 3 seconds I was laughing out loud.  My name was spelled wrong, but this time I wasn't Amy Reller.  This time I was Amy Killer.  I'm still laughing.  I love living in China and I'm so glad it's not always me making the ridiculous mistakes.