Holidays in this Strange Land

It's the holiday season! This is my favorite time of the year! I love getting together with friends and family and just spending time together! It's the best thing in the world. Quality time... it's my love language! I know people say that Christmas is their favorite holiday because they get presents and tons of food. Well I could care less about the presents and the food, although there is some delicious food at Thanksgiving and Christmas! The best thing about Thanksgiving and Christmas is that families make it their mission to be together for the holidays. Whether it is seeing one side of the family for Thanksgiving and the other for Christmas or everyone gets together for both. That is the best part of the holiday in my opinion!

Unfortunately this year I will miss it (and more). These Western holidays (Thanksgiving and Christmas) aren't really celebrated here in East Asia.

America is the only ones who celebrate Thanksgiving and, here in China, I don't really have any American friends. I'm not complaining. I love all the friends I have here in China that come from all over the globe. But when it comes to beginning the holiday season with Thanksgiving there is no one here that actually celebrates it. :(. That was hard, but thankfully I have some awesome friends (*cough* Tanith*cough*) who want to celebrate with me even though they don't actually have this holiday in their home country. So the group of foreigners I work with decided to go out on Friday (the day after Thanksgiving) for a "Thanksgiving" in China meal. Sadly there was no turkey but again it's not about the food. It's about the company. :)

I did call home on Thanksgiving. It was cool to FaceTime with my mom and get to see all my family after they had stuffed their faces full of Thanksgiving food prepared by my awesome Aunt and Grandma. It was great talking to everyone for the brief time I had but I was a little envious. I wanted to be there so bad. Not just for the delicious food that you can truly only get back home, I mean it's called home-cooked for a reason ;), but for the company of family. My family has been going to my aunt's house for Thanksgiving for at least the past 8 years and I always enjoyed it, but the phrase "you don't know what you got til it's gone" really resonated with me. I don't have the quality time with family this year and I definitely miss it.

But now that Thanksgiving is over.... I get to look forward to Christmas.... here in Asia.... where December 25th is just another working day. You read that right, I have to work on Christmas day. Our school is having a party for Christmas but I think it is called a Snow Party. In preparation for the party we have to decorate our classrooms with Christmas decorations. I don't know why but this makes me want to go home even more. I miss decorating the tree and making holiday cookies. Because all of these things are done with friends and family.  Holiday movie nights, baking Christmas desserts(No Bakes, sugar cut outs, peanut butter balls, etc), and just being together. WAAAHHHH Can I go home?

But a good thing is I have some great friends here that I get to spend the holiday with. My friends at church are having a Christmas dinner on Christmas. So I am leaving school that day and traveling the hour distance to go to their house and have Christmas dinner! I am super excited! Then I think the day after Christmas some of us foreigners at IVY are getting together for a Christmas dinner. So I will still get to spend time with friends. It's the family traditions of Christmas that I will miss out on. Hopefully I will get to Skype/FaceTime with my family so I will get to see them at least :).

Everyone tells me to enjoy this adventure because it's a once in a lifetime. I agree I am going to enjoy it but there are definitely ups and downs that come with it. I miss the holidays and my family and friends back home. But I wouldn't change this for the world. I know this is where God has called me to be. I don't know for how long but for right now this is where I am meant to be. I have learned and grown so much during my time here and my time isn't over. Just keep me in your prayers this holiday season! :)

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!
Remember the reason for the season, the birth of Jesus! :)

APEC Holiday

So we had a holiday the second week of this month (November). It was so nice to have a vacation. The reason for this "unexpected" vacation was because the APEC (Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation) Conference was held here in Beijing. So all the world leaders from around the globe were here in Beijing. So Beijing had to make it perfect air conditions and traffic conditions. LOL. So everyday was "beautiful" by China standards (once you live here you define beautiful weather as weather that allows you to see and breathe ok, it's not perfect but it will do). So Tanith and I took this time to begin The Adventures of Allie and Tanith.

The start of some AMAZING adventures!

So on our first day of vacation we went shopping at yuan yi and then headed to Wudaokuo. We had so much fun not setting an alarm to wake up and just waking up whenever we wanted. I was so glad to not have a schedule it was very relaxing. 

Nanlouguxiang

On our Saturday we went to Nanlouguxiang. This is the hutongs off of Line 8, the subway line by our apartments! It was so much fun. There were so many people!!! When people back home think of China being crowded I am pretty sure this is what they think of and expect. But just so you know it is not like this everywhere! So we went here to look for some stationery to write letters home, because wouldn't it be awesome if the letters that I sent home were on really pretty Chinese stationery? :) But I guess any paper I get here could be called Chinese paper, heck I am pretty sure all paper is Chinese because they invented paper-making (I only know this because it was on a quiz I had to take in my class). Anyways, in Nanlouguxiang we tried this horrible fried thing, I still have no idea what it was but it looked like an onion ring but there was no onion inside. Then we bought pretty flower headband things and wore them the whole day :). We also stopped in the shops that lined the hutongs. All in all it was a great day!

Nanlouguxiang, Beijing.

SO SO SO MANY PEOPLE!

On Sunday I went to church and then out to eat with some awesome people. We went to this place called Bite A Pita. There were 15 of us total and one of my friends was good friends with the manager so they moved people around so that they could put some tables together so we could all sit together. I was shocked! That would never happen in America. He serious moved other customers to other tables so that we could have the bigger table. TIC (This is China). Then after dinner I went with Gift and Polina and Tim to see my first movie in China! We saw the new Ninja Turtles movie in 3D. It was awesome! And yes it was in English and there were Chinese subtitles. 

On Monday, Tanith and I went to a park by the Lama Temple with some of the Chinese girls from school. It was a lot of fun. It was the only day during vacation that I had to set an alarm to get up to do something touristy. LOL. I was adamant about not setting an alarm. I wanted to rest and just wake up when I felt like it. But Monday was great. The park was beautiful. The leaves were a pretty yellow and the sky was a perfect blue, it was all very picturesque. We saw some Chinese doing a really pretty fan dance, and I wish I had gotten a video because a picture just doesn't capture the beauty. It is so cool to walk around the parks here in Beijing because you can see the community they have with each other. People just go to hang out. I just don't think I can describe the type of atmosphere there is at the parks. But it is so much fun and the Chinese are very nice. :)

Ava, Panda, Tanith, and I

Tuesday was our last day of vacation. Tuesday was a lazy day! I stayed inside pretty much all day just lounging around watching movies. You need to have one of these days every once in a while! I had to prepare myself to go back to work LOL because sadly it had to come to an end, the vacation not the adventures! But 6 days was just not long enough! 

Four Months in China

Well it's official... I have been in China for exactly 4 months. It has been a roller coaster here. It's true what they say about culture shock being ups and downs. When I think back to my first month here it feels like years ago but also like a couple days. I can't believe it has been 4 months, it really doesn't feel like 4 months when I think about it. I have made a lot of new friends and done a lot of things that I would never had done back home.

It is really interesting to live in a foreign country. You don't know the language, but you pick it up along the way. I have gotten good at getting what I need from the local stores and traveling by taxi, but when it comes to having a conversation with the locals I am at a loss. I know bits and pieces of Chinese but not enough to hold a conversation. I did buy Rosetta Stone (for 70RMB which is like $11) so I am beginning that but it could take awhile.

Traveling in China is an experience all on its own. I feel like I am an expert at taking the subway. LOL. It's actually a great way to get around and it only costs 2RMB, that's like 30 cents. The only things you have to get over is the amount of time it takes to get places. To get to church it is like 5 stops and it takes almost an hour. To get to some of the tourist attractions it could take over an hour. But it is cheap and you get to be stared at by Chinese the whole time. LOL. You start to get past the staring after a couple of trips.

So my job has been pretty good. I really love the awesome foreigners I work with and our Chinese assistants are pretty awesome too! I just started using ClassDojo (a classroom management tool) in my class and it is going great! My kids are listening and paying attention more. We set goals for them to reach so I think they are really excited about getting candy or a toy if they can get enough points by the end of the week!

I haven't really done any sightseeing since I moved to Huilongguan. I did go shopping at some markets. I bought some scarves and a nice cardigan for pretty cheap. As we went to one of our favorite "western" restaurants in SanLiTun, The Den. So let me just say The Den has amazing french fries and sandwiches and it's always on our list of places to go. Shopping is fun here, you never know what you are going to find. And it is always great to have AWESOME company ;). Can't wait to do more shopping and sightseeing.

APEC is having a week long conference here in Beijing. So all the schools are closing for 6 days. Factories are closing and less cars are being allowed to drive during this week. Can you guess why? Pollution! Since leaders from around Asia are going to be here in Beijing, they want the air quality to be amazing! So what are we going to do with the 6 days off, EXPLORE CHINA! We've made a list and we are going to have a great time! #theadventuresofAllieandTanith

I signed my contract with the school yesterday. I wish they would have let me read it thoroughly before signing. I found that if I decide to end my contract early I will have to pay a month's salary. :( I had to sign the contract so that they could get all of my work visa papers sent in. I don't know what is next for me after leaving IVY but I know God has great plans.

God is doing so much in me during my time here in China. I am learning a lot about who I am and who He has created me to be. I am learning to trust Him and not worry so much about what is going to happen. Everything always works out in perfect timing.