Tender Mercies

So this last couple of weeks have been very good. You may or may not have seen my “freak out, I hate China” post on Facebook. That was a very bad week but it is over and I have seen many tender mercies since then. If I were to write all of them I’d never be done so I’ll just stick with the ones I received today.

Tender Mercy 1: I have been really stressed and I didn’t sleep well the last night causing me to feel poorly this morning. Luckily I only had to teach 10 minutes in my first three classes because they were taking school pictures today. I was lucky my primary classes were short, it takes so much energy to teach these little guys, but lucky me I had it easy!

Tender Mercy 2: There is this thing called crazy English. It’s where you get a microphone and stand infront of the whole school. You say simple things like, “Today is Thursday. You look beautiful today. I like your shoes. Thank you for being my friend” little, easy sentences like that.  It was canceled because of the pictures. (I think it was canceled because you can’t breathe with how bad the smog was today)

Tender Mercy 3: Jessie, and Ms. John (my friends at the primary school/other English teachers) wanted to go shopping today, just what I needed to cheer me up and get me excited about somethingJ

Tender Mercy 4: I wasn’t paying attention and then all of a sudden, Jessie was  holding chocolate cover ice cream in my face to cool me down on this very hot day. P.S it was delicious!

Tender Mercy 5: I bought a dress today. The lady in the store thought I was cute, I guess, so she gave me a free belt instead of charging me 30 RMB to buy it.

Tender Mercy 6: Jared and I were going to Pizza hut for dinner after his long day to, and we ran into a Canadian couple. They were wonderful! So sweet! I felt like Jared and I were meeting ourselves in 4o years. They had basically been everywhere in the world, TWICE! They invited us to join them and we just got carried away talking with them. They were very lovely. When they were ready to go we noticed the waiter put our check on theirs which added 100RMB, or almost $20.00US, onto their bill. After about a 5 minuet argument and trying to beat them to the waiter or putting the money in the mans pocket they won. They bought us dinner. Jared and I have been budgeting to make ends meet until we go home. We’ve been finding other ways to make money here so we can have a little fun for our last weeks. This couple was so sweet and they knew what it was like to be newlyweds. The man said, “Consider it a anniversary present.” It blew my mind how sweet they were!

Tender Mercy 7 and 8: Jared and I were walking down the street after dinner. We were talking about all the wonderful things that have happened today, right in the middle of our conversation a beautiful water show started. It was accompanied by music and lights. The water looked amazing soaring through the night sky. I was just loving everything that was going onto today when I put my head on Jared’s chest, and heard his heartbeat. In a city of 7 million people it was quiet enough just for a moment to hear the beautiful sound of love and life.

Even though things doing always go as smoothly as they do in my head, I am so thankful I have days like today. I’m thankful I have Jared as my husband. I couldn’t have done better. I’m thankful for a God who always reminds me he’s there for me. I’m thankful for this beautiful planet we live on and that Jared and I can see it one day at a time. I love my life. I love Jared.  I love my Heavenly Father. I love my Family. I love Jared’s family. I love my Friends. I love the person who I’m becoming and I love the person I am today even if that person isn’t perfect. Thank you Tender Mercies, you’ve been good today.

Paradise

Sorry for no updates in a long time. I was never good at keeping a journal. So I want to catch you all up on our Thailand trip. To put it in the purest form… it was paradise! So let's begin.

 Jared and I started our trip off with an 8 hour bullet train from Luoyang to Shenzhen. Shenzhen is the city next to the Hong Kong border. We spent the night there. During our time there we went for fun taxi rides and did a little shopping. Shenzhen is an amazing city, especially if you are in down town Shenzhen. The next day we crossed the border into Hong Kong. We spent a lovely day adventuring out in the most expensive city in the world. We felt like Daddy Big Bucks, but then were quickly reminded where we really lie on the food chain. It was fun for a day though!

 At around 9PM we were off to the airport. Our flight left at 5:00 AM so we thought we’d check in the night before. Turns out you can’t, but we thought we’d try. We spent the night in the airport. (Bucket list check off! Become a REAL traveler buy spending the night in an airport) I didn’t sleep very well but somehow Jared did. For anyone who knows both of us that is super weird. I can fall asleep anywhere at any time, almost; while Jared has to have perfect conditions to fall asleep and the littlest noise or light can wake him up.

Anyway, back up to speed. We hopped on our plane and landed in Thailand at 9:00 AM. When we were on our way to our hotel it was just a whole new world coming into view. If I can describe Thailand it’s half Guatemala and half China. Bright colorful apartment buildings everywhere, but Chinese type business buildings pained in gold on all the streets. Our hotel was splendid, we had an amazing view of Bangkok, Thailand. The weather was hot and humid and so that meant one thing. Time to swim! Jared and I went to Siam Park City for two days.

 

 It has the world’s largest wave pool and Asia’s tallest water slide. It also has the world’s best pancakes on a stick! They were so good! It was so fun at that water park! In the afternoon they do water aerobics for anyone who wants to join in. Three fitness instructors come out on a floating trampoline while everyone slashes around in the wave pool.

(Here are the video's Jared took of the water park. I'm not sure why they're so bumpy, sorry!)

 

 That was in my top three things I loved about Thailand! The energy and the happiness was contagious.  They had different water slides and different pools, you could get lost there! At night we’d go to different restaurants, we tried a lot of street food and it was to die for!  Our hotel had a killer club sandwich with fries that we had for breakfast every morning the 4 days we were there! After a few foot massages and traditional Thai massages we were off to the Bangkok Train Station.

 

 

 

We got on our train and headed off to Koh Samui, Thailand. It’s near the bottom of Thailand. Our train ride there was a very, very hot experience. We rode a 12 hour train ride on a sleeper train; 90 degrees, 100% humidity, and a stuck window that wouldn’t go down for the first hour was not all that great. We played some games, met new people, I got a new 3 year-old boyfriend who liked me to play Barbie’s with him, we ate and eventually went to sleep. The next morning I was awoken buy a sweet kiss from my man, the 23 year-old, not the 3 year-old. He told me to come down to his bed, where the window was, to look at the view. I will never forget the incredible sunrise I witnessed that day. Seeing giant mountains covered in Jungle like vegetation with rivers cutting through them. There were all sorts of different animals wondering around and then the next minute you’d see a tiny village of 10-15 bungalows. We saw a water buffalo and Jared said, “Hey look! A dead Rhino! Oh wait… It’s not dead, and it’s not a Rhino…”. What a cute boy! We got to our stop and said goodbye to our new friends and headed off to try to find some breakfast.

After eating we got on a bus, that bus drove for 2 hours and dropped us off at a fairy. We boarded the fairy and 2 hours later we were on our way to our beach side bungalow! Jared and I rented motor bikes and adventured through the mountains of Koh Samui finding awesome waterfalls, breathtaking view, Giant rocks to climb on, and perfect swimming spots.

 

 We spent the next 5-6 days being regular beach bums. I really mean it! I didn’t put a real bra on the entire trip. Maybe I would have if I would have packed one, but I didn’t. I packed 6 swimming suits, 4 pairs of shorts, 3 sports bras, 3 shirts, 1 pair of undies and a pair of shoes. I really had nothing but swimming on my mind. Who can blame me, I’m a fish.

 

We got super dark! Well I did, Jared burned, but it turned into a tan eventually. I have my “Love for Clara” bracelet still on. I never take it off. I wore it on my wedding day, I wore it every day since I got it. (For those of you who don’t know what I’m talking about The Woodward side of the family had a sweet little angle who passed away of cancer. I believe she was 3 years old. We bought bracelets from her family for to show support and love.) I pushed it up on my arm so it wouldn’t fall off in the water. It gave me a nice tan line, and another reminder of how fragile life is.

 After our time was up on the beach, we did our trip in reverse. Fairy ride, Bus ride, Sleeper Train, Plane ride, Bullet train ride, Taxi ride. We had some fun along the way, we ate the best Thai food, I got my hair braided like a little Indian girl, snapped some pics and bam back in China. Yep in a nutshell that was our Thailand trip.

 

 

Enjoy, more stories to come!

I erased the picture but it is on Instagram. (If you don't have an instagram, get one. That's where I do most of my updates because it's not blocked in China and I don't have to go through a VPN) So I learned how to make dumplings. My family calls the pot-stickers, and I like that better. They tasted delicious, and once I got better they didn't look as deformed. I'd love to make these for people when I get home! I learned how to make everything from scratch. It'll be delicious, I'll tell you when I'm having a Chinese party:)

 

My fine teacher and our finished products. I like to pan fry them after we boil them.

 

Next are some pictures to try to show a little about what this palace has to offer. In all the chaos this place is sown together with beauty.

 

We are truly so blessed to be here.

 

 

I asked one student to danced and she shyly declined, the next week she told me she was ready to dance for the class. I guess it's a dance from a famous Chinese singer. She did a good job though and wasn't shy any moreAfter that all the student's watned to dance. After about four kids dancing, they were done and we just played games:)

 

 

These are my Jr. High students playing musical chairs don't mistake the high picked sqwills for little pigs ot's the boys in my class.

 

I told my students to sing "Once there was a Snowman" a this is what I got. They are so cute:)



 

 



Catch up time!

Hey everyone!


Sorry we haven't posted in a while. We're really good at it for about 48 hours, then not so good for a week or two. I'll try to be more regular but that will probably never happen....


So this last week was full of wonderful events! Monday was a very happy day for me. I went shopping with a Chinese lady named Lily. She's so cute! She is a very bad person to go shopping with because she tells me to buy everything! Not what I need, I can do that without anyone's help. But with that in my head, I kinda go crazy.... On this last shopping trip I bought 6 pairs of shoes. Yep you heard me, 6! 2 pairs of shoes I bought for 10RMB each. That equals about $1.75 US. I paid $10US for one pair and the other three were from $3.00-$6.00 US. Yep shopping here is pretty great!

This is almost everything I've bought while I've been here!

Tuesday was just an average day.


Wednesday, we went to a Portuguese/Macau restaurant for Larry's, another foreign teacher, birthday. The school has money and likes to show it off. Not only was the cake very similar to a wedding cake, but the party was held in the VIP Lounge! I've never been to a VIP lounge, so I have nothing to compare it to, but the Chinese know how to make you feel special! The food was great, the night was wonderful, everything was perfect. A great start to our week! Here's a peek at the menu.

 Mmmm, slobber eggplant!

Thursday I taught at the Primary school and I was teaching the children "Tall and Small". I taught them the song "Once there was a snowman". Once they got the song down I would call two students to the front of the class room. Usually a bigger student, and a tiny student. The weight of a 2nd grader in this school ranges from 30LBS to 100LBS. The smaller kids I'd lift into the air on the "tall tall tall" part and I'd point to the kid on the ground for the "small small small" part. One time, after we had sang the song 6 or 7 times, I choose the smallest kid I could find, and the biggest kid. The small kid weighed less than my niece Jacqui. So he felt like he was a 3 or 4 year old rather than an 8 year old. The SUPER fat kid ran, or quickly waddled, to the front of the room and belly slide onto the floor. I thought it was so funny because he saw the other kid I picked and he knew there was no way he'd be lifted into the air. I almost peed my pants because I was laughing so hard. First at his waddling, then how he just knew he was to big. I and the other 2 teachers in the room we're laughing so hard, we were all crying! I don't think I ever stopped laughing fully until I left that room. The atmosphere in that room was just electric! Everyone was happy, everyone was milling, everyone was happy. It's moments like that, that I realize just how lucky we are to be here. It's seeing the students blearing, having fun and growing. I love China. I love my students. I love teaching them. I love being a rock star here. I love all the presents I get from my younger students. I love the hugs I get. I wouldn't trade any of this for the things we sacrificed to be here!


Another thing I'm so thankful Jared and I have to be here is the food. Some places you go it's quite strange. Others, well I'm going to miss not having real Chinese food, because American Chinese food sucks, I hardly ever ate it before I came here and I'm sure I'll eat it even less when I come back! On Saturday Gail, another foreign teacher, took us to "Water Banquet" Luoyang is famous for their soups. I don't know why because they don't taste very good, but to a Chinese person if you want good soup come here. So we went to a restaurant, ate some excellent food. Tried some not very good soups, and saw a Chinese wedding. I never saw the groom, but the bride was a midget! She looked pretty, but I couldn't get over she was a midget. For some reason it didn't occur to me that a midget could be anything but a white person, just because I've only seen a handful of them and they all happened to be white. That's what you get for mostly staying in Idaho and Utah. So I think we're getting a little cultured here:)


On Easter Sunday, Jared and I went to a wedding, we were actually invited to! The bride is a English teacher at our school, and she married someone in the army. It was very different from an American wedding. They had pump up music before the groom came out. The had and MC for the whole show. There were strobe lights and other crazy light things going on. It was very entertaining. Once the couple was on the stage things became a little more calm and it was very romantic. The groom had a video for the bride of him making her a giant banquet of flowers, I don't know what was said in the video, but you don't need to know a language when to know something is beautiful. The whole room was full of sobs and sniffs. I started crying, and Jared even enjoyed it. After the ceremony was done we started eating. The bride and groom came around to every table to make a toast.

 

Pretty different right?

In China, the Bride changes at least once, usually twice. So during the toasters she wore a very elegant, earful plum dress, with matching accessories. When we left we saw her in a prom dress looking red and gold dress. It was amazing! She looked so beautiful! I loved the Chinese wedding!

With all the happiness and love a wedding could bring, I was still sad on Easter. I had Jared, but I got a small glimpse of what a Missionary goes through. That's a big holiday and I didn't have the people I'm us to sharing it with around me. Homesickness was strong, but I had 2 even stronger arms around me to help me not be sad anymore!:) have I mentioned lately what a great husband I have? Well if I haven't.... He's the best!
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It looks like Leslie summed up our week pretty well, so I'll keep it brief. This week is a holiday in China, so no classes! We decided to take a week trip to go see the "Terracota Army" in the city of Xi'an (Google it if you have never heard of it. I hadn't, but it is suppossed to be one of China's highlights). Tommorrow we will take our first train ride of China (7 hours) and then will spend a few days exploring the city. We booked a hotel right in the middle of downtown, so we are eagerly anticipating enriching day trips to see some of the cities rich historical areas as well as kicking back to enjoy some exciting nightlife when the sun goes down :) We will update with pictures and stories next week when we get back to Luoyang. We also finalized our Thailand trip for the beggining May. We are stoked about a week and a half on the beach! Life is so great right now. Every day is a new adventure and I am so happy to have my best friend with me here to share this adventure with every step of the way :) SHE is the best wife in the world!

Lovin Luoyang

Everyone meet our Chinese family!

Meet more of our Chinese family!

Now meet even more of our family!

Jared and I love all of our little babies so much! They're goinging up so fast, sniff, sniff.

Besides our babies though we love our Chinese Grandmas.

These lovely ladies are two of the lunch ladies.The lady on my right and I are wearing the same shirt! Or close to it. When I pointed this out to her she almost fell off her chair she was so excited. They don't think their fashionable so when that's why she was so excited. (I had someone tell me that after).

They are also so sassy! Jared and I are still working on our chop stick skills and when they saw us using chop sticks they just started laughing and wouldn't stop. How embarrassing. We powered through the language barrier and learned how to use chop sticks like a real Asian! They were so proud of us. The lunch we spent with them was probably one of my most favorite 30 minuets scence we've gotten here. Look how cute their smiles are.

But this next picutre is my favorite

Look you can see their uniform the wear to work. It's the purple jacket I'm wearing.

Oh here's my Chinese boyfriend who always wants to take picutres with me when he sees me.

 

This is our first couples picture.

 

Now here are some of Old Town in Luoyang. It was amazing!!

Here's Jared at the enterance

If you go on Pinterest and type in Luoyang, China it mostly pulls up Longmen Grottoes, and BBQ street. I wanted to know where BBQ street was but I couldn't find it on any maps, web sites, or anything. I was so sad because I didn't even know where to look. Then later that day we found it! Here's a video of what a small section looks like. The two people saying hello by Jared and Dave and Lily. He's a teacher at our school, she grew up here, and they got married about a year ago.

Yep it's pretty cool here!

This is a sweet pipe I found there. I thought it was a Chinese flute. Lily (The Chinese lady) told me it's for druds. Specifically Opium. Sadly Jared didn't let me get it even thought I begged and begged.

Here was the coolest thing though. Colored Chicks! My dad told me not to buy any or I couldn't come home. I wanted to though so badly!

 



Longmen Grottoes
Good morning! It's about 11:10 Saturday morning!
(Jared makes fun of me for telling the time, but I like it so everyone can see the difference)

Yesterday the school took us to Longmen Grottoes. Long=Dragon Men=Doors Grottoes=dynasty. In China the dragon represents the Dynasty and it protects the Dynasty so the place we went to had a palace where the Dynasty lived and you'd have to go trough the protecting doors. That's probably the worst explination ever but just read it 10 times and maybe you'll understand.

This is a picutre of the Biggest Longmen Grottoes all the little caves has different buddhas in them an dwe walked all along here. There are so many move "caves" we just couldn't fit them all in.
This next video is of the biggest statues the ones in the middle of the above picture.

So depending on who you ask the answers differ on how old they are and why there were made. Some say the Qin Dynasty (I think they said the Qin) had them made so they could pray to them and they are said to be 1000 years old. Others say the queen of the Qin dynasty was a vampire and she forced her slaves to make them for her and they were made in 500AD. They are so cool though. The pictures and video's don't do the justic. the paint and the detail in every single one of them is incredible! Jared and I just had a blast there!
If your wondering why some of them are faceless it's becuase durring WWII some people from other countries destroyed their faces out of hate. Others stole faces for themselves, some took them to different museums, and some I'm sure just fell off.

 

 

We love you! We'll try to post more on the blog, but neither Jared nor I are very good at remembering to do it. Sorry about that.

Hey everyone!

Another week is now winding to a close. We have now been teaching for almost a month, and are still having fun getting through the growing pains invovlved in learning to adapt to a completely different culture. I don't know why, but I can never seem to remember that whenever anybody hands me change at a store, it is customary to accept it with both hands. 23 years of grabbing my change with one hand has led to countless dirty looks from store owners and checkout atendants. Haha I say they should just be happy for our business! A custom that Leslie always forgets about is that here in China, the personal bubble concept doesn't exist. If you are waiting in for line for something, you literally need to be shoved right up against the person in front of you. If you leave even half a foot of space in between, someone is sure to cut right in front of you in line, which never makes for a happy wife.

Oh speaking of stores, we had quiet the adventure at the grocery store this past week. While we were shopping, Leslie suddenly got hit with the need to go pee really badly. After looking around and not seeing a bathroom, Leslie informed me that her emergency was on the verge of reaching epic proportions. So, she sprinted up to a group of grocery store workers and tried to ask where the nearest public restroom was. Of course they had no idea what she was saying. After trying for a couple of minutes to say "BAAAATTTTHHHHHRRRRRRROOOOOOOMMMMMMM" as slowly, loudly and clearly as she could, she began to grab her crotch and act out needing to use the restroom (at least I thought she was acting, she infromed me later no acting had occurred that day haha). The group of workers which started out as 3 or 4 girls quickly esclated into 15 to 20 people circled around Leslie. They were all fruiously scratching their heads and shouting out guesses as to what the crazy American girl was trying to say. An impromtu game of Sharades has never been so much fun! Evenutally, someone did realize what she was trying to say and pointed her in the direction of the nearest bathroom. I felt bad for Leslie, although having a wife with the worlds tiniest bladder does lead to some funny situations every once in a while :)

Leslie here!
So yes that was so embarrassing to have to tell 20 people you have to pee, and be the mokey at the zoo. I should have got paid for my performance.
Other strange things have happened here. When a student comes up and asks, "Teacher, can I touch you?" They get offended when you give them a shocked expression. I've learned that actually translates into "Can I hug you?" Ha ha my bad OF COURSE it means that why would I even think differently? Talking about students. I sure have some silly ones.

This seven year old boy's name changes every week. They all have English names, but unless they really like their names they change them everytime you ask them. Also younger kids change them more often then older kids, so I don't know his name but he loves to blance things on his head. I teach him every Thursday and he is so cute!

At the Junior High on the first day of school I asked all the students what their name was and what is one thing they like to do. This cutie said so proudly, "My name is Bob and I like to eat candy!" I pinched his fat cheeks and said "yes you do!" We've been best friends ever scince!

 

The video you can watch is of some of my junior high students doing Eye Excrsises. It's more enjoyable if you know the kids I'm sure, but I still hope you get a few giggles out of it. Jared and I like to watch the boy with a hand over his face and the other one doing the peace sign. These kids are quite the entertainment! I never get board here!

 

We'll I have more to upload but I better do that tomorrow. We have to go to bed. School comes way to early in the morning! We love you all and hope everything is going well! If you have any exciting news please email us! I still don't know why it won't let people comment:( Thanks for all the support and the sweet messages I've gotten from people. It really means the world to us!



Life in Luoyang

Sorry for no updates in a while, Leslie and I have been having a blast adjusting to our new life here in Luoyang! We have received a lot of Facebook messages from people telling us that their comments keep getting deleted here on the blog. I don't really know why that is, so please send us an email or Facebook message to keep in touch :)

Our first week here in Luoyang was really hard on Leslie. She initially cried a lot, but has really been a trooper in quickly adjusting to life far away from home. Something funny that happened on our fifth or sixth day here was that Leslie came over to me and cheerfully declared, “I am doing so good today huh babe! I haven’t cried at all yet the entire day!” I glanced at a clock and noted that it was only 10 am in the morning. “Yes Leslie, you have done great not crying AT ALL day…” I replied. Haha she is doing fantastic now though!

Anyway, we are teaching at the Luoyang Number 2 Foreign Language School. It is a pretty ritzy private middle school. There are about 3,000 students here on campus. The kids live on campus in dorms during the week, and their parents come pick them up to take them home on the weekends. I teach 15, 45 minute classes per week and Leslie teaches 16. Our students all have English names for our class that they previously selected. Some of the more memorable names of students in our classes include Squirrel, Birdkiller, iPad, Robot and Jasmine (for a boy). Teaching is way more fun than I was expecting. It has been super cool getting to know the kids the past couple of weeks and gouging their English abilities. The students take a lot of very strenuous courses such as math, science, history, etc. and receive technical training and English grammar principles from Chinese teachers. What we teach is called "Oral English" classes. We have no curriculum, so basically our job is to just engage the kids and get them to practice their English skills as best as they can. It is really fun to see how excited the students get when they realize that all of the grammar rules and study they have done is paying off when they are able to talk and have a conversation with a person who speaks no Chinese. It is so rewarding to really help them have their English skills come to life!


Our school has a website that you guys can visit if you are interested in checking out our campus.


The URL is http://eng.ly2y.com/


From the main page, click on "More" to see an ariel view of campus. As you can see, the school has several buildings, a river running through campus, a huge soccer field, basketball courts, a track etc. If you click on "Beautiful Campus" in the top center of the screen, the very first picture that pops up is of the foreign teacher’s apartment building, where we live. We live on the top floor in the penthouse suite :) It is great to walk out on the balcony which overlooks the river and campus each morning to start our day!


Campus is built out in a developing area of the city. It is surrounded by massive skyscrapers and apartment complexes.... all of which are completely vacant. It is kind of eerie to walk outside at night and see all of these huge building with not a single light on. We have been told that within the next year or so, this area is going to be bustling with TONS of people. But as of right now, a peek outside campus reveals what appears to be a ghost town. A 10 minute walk leads us to several fantastic restaurants that we have frequented and access to cheap taxis and buses to take into downtown Luoyang. We know that we have just scratched the surface of what Luoyang has to offer, but we have had some great adventures going out and getting lost in our wonderful new city. There is another American teacher who is married to a Chinese girl, so her and Leslie have become shopping buddies. Leslie says she is going for a new "Asian Style", so she has had a great time going to several malls to get new dresses and clothes with her friend. I think she looks cuter than ever! The fact that she can shop til she drops and still not spend very much because everything is so cheap here helps me to sleep better at night as well.


So much has happened and is happening every day, I'm not sure what to even write. We are having the time of our lives here and relishing every moment of our time in Asia. Thank you everyone for your support, and please email us or shoot us a message on Facebook to let us know how you are doing!

Love,

Jared and Leslie

Here are some fun video's of today.

A picture says a thousand words