My Life is a Comic Strip

For years now I have been reading the comic strip “For Better or For Worse”.  Not only on Sundays.  Everyday.  Religiously.  Momma and I both read it.  And sometimes we are even dorky enough to talk about it.  (Do you think that the police officer Elly met will go track down Elizabeth?)

I relate with Elizabeth.  One she shares my name.  Also, I like the fact that she is the eldest of the Patterson daughters, a teacher, and still single.  A few years ago, momma gave me a framed copy of one of the Sunday strips.  Elizabeth was away at college and sick.  The radio was playing advertisements for cold medicines.  She kept switching the station and got more commercials:

“….cold and allergy you will be…”

static static static

“…for every symptom.  May cause drowsiness, blurred vision…”

static static static

“…under the weather?  Just call…”

click of the radio being turned off.

The final frame shows Elizabeth with the phone to her ear and she is saying, “Hey mom, I don’t feel good.”

That is so me.

But really, I didn’t think that my life would continue to parallel that of a cartoon drawing.  That is, until we moved.

Right now, one of the story lines is that Michael Patterson (the eldest of the Patterson offspring), his wife and their 2 kids are living above extremely obnoxious neighbors.

This is so us.

I don’t know a lot about our neighbors.  I don’t even know their names.  What I do know is that EVERY night, someone next door decides to play music with the bass turned all the way up.  I am beginning to think that he (or she?) might be an aspiring musician, because last night, I heard the same 8 measures of base line for about 45 minutes.  I could sing it to you right now. He would play it for a minute and a half and then there would be silence.  And then it would start again.  Over and Over and Over.

For 45 minutes at 10:30 PM.

I am not exaggerating at all when I say that at one point, with tears of frustration welling up in the corners of my eyes, I had my fingers in my ears, and my head under three pillows.  It didn’t help.  Rather, it was much like the experience of putting your head under water in the bathtub.  Some sounds are muffled, but the low tones just seem to be intensified.

And when it stops I think that if only I can fall asleep before it starts again, then I will be fine.  (Is it possible to sleep through the thumping?)  Like when someone in the room is snoring and they roll over- sweet relief as long as you can get to sleep before they start back.  Wednesday night, our neighbor decided to call it quits at about 11:30 PM.  But he must have had a moment of inspiration in the middle of the night because the continuous “THUD THUMP THUD” awakened me at 4AM (!)

They (He/She/Whoever is dwelling next door) are going to push me over the edge.

In the comic strip, Michel writes freelance for a magazine.  He wrote an article about his annoying neighbors and it got published in a magazine.  The neighbors read it and after some threats of lawsuits, it looks like the obnoxious neighbors are about to move.

Please let my life parallel that last part too.
  

communicating

Before you begin to misconstrue anything, let me point out again that I love my family.  I think that they are the greatest and I am hard pressed to find fault in any of them. (Rebecca does stuff that annoys me, but for crying out loud, how many sisters do you know that can live together in relative harmony- the usual drama is stuff of novels and movies.)

Now that we are clear, I will tell you that my family is not big on communication.   One friend just shakes her head and laughs becasue she knows that I have an amazing family and the counselor in her can't come around the fact that we don't talk about major decisions and problems. We talk, but not a lot about feelings, even when we hurt one another.  After a period of time, it is assumed that the offending party is sorry and the offended person gets over said offense.  I just don’t think that we see the need to discuss things.

I have the tendency to carry this habit of not discussing issues over into my relationships with friends.  Confrontation makes me uncomfortable.  

But this means that I also miss out on some of the middle of the night, all our defenses are down, and these are the things that really shape me conversations.  (You know the ones?)  And slowly, all of my interactions become about how our weeks are going, or weekend plans- boring stuff really.

I have a friend who I don’t see nearly enough.  And I just realized that this friend writes a blog mainly because he knows that I will read it.  And suddenly we are able to communicate in a different way.  Not really carrying on a conversation, but just sharing our thoughts confident that the other will understand.  And it reminds me of one of my favorite summers when we spent hours in the car, always looking forward and rarely face to face, but we had the best conversations.  

I need more of that.

No postings in a while

Someone recently gave me a hard time for not posting in a long while. The excuses are numerous:

1. The school year is stays too busy to accomplish much other than getting to work on time.


2. There is also a rut that some with the academic year. Nothing exciting ever happens. (With the exception of two surprise random holidays for the gas shortage.) During 8th period today, I will teach a lesson on triangle congruence. It will be the 10th time in 3 years that I have taught this lesson. I could teach congruent triangle in my sleep.


3. And then there is reason number 3. I think that part of me is afraid that I am not changing as quickly as I would like and writing about it would verify this truth. I am afraid that I am not becoming kinder, more humble, or more generous. My words are far from encouraging most of the time. And a blog documents this lack of change.

I will try to move past my excuses and start writing on a more regular basis, but I am not making any promises.

Another Year Another Move

We have almost finished the first full week of the 05-06 school year. The early mornings are beginning to get a little easier and I am resigning myself to being the loser that is exhausted at 8 PM.

As of yet, I don’t have a lot of great stories about my students this year. Those of you who were reading my blog last spring might find some humor in knowing that the kid who made me so angry with his journal entry (I renamed him Jack in the April 21st post) just came by yesterday and asked me to write a college recommendation for him. He kind of put me on the spot in front of one of his classmates for whom I am writing a recommendation; I didn’t know what to say.
But as for this year’s group of students, I am still struggling to learn their names and their personalities. In turn, they are still trying to get use to my hiccups.

My class load is excellent. I am teaching three different courses of Geometry. Two I have taught before, and the third (my Euclidean class) is my first shot at teaching an on-level class of kids. They ask questions and they don’t complain about taking notes; it’s a teacher’s dream come true.

And with the beginning of a new school year, I am getting ready to do the same thing I seem to do every fall- move.

Rebecca is closing on her new town home (and my new home) tomorrow. The boxes have reemerged to cover every imaginable space and for the 7th time in 6 years, I get to spend evenings and a full weekend packing CDs, and books, and dishes, and clothes, all the other junk we have managed to accumulate. Man, I hate moving. But I will like living in our new, nice, and very empty because we don’t have the furniture to fill it, home. And I will like calling Rebecca by her new name, “My Slumlord.”

Grown Up?

Though I am in my late twenties, I have a hard time feeling like a grown-up. Each year on the first day of school, I find myself sturggling with the seemingly absurd idea that true grown-ups would trust a class of teenagers to my care. It's just crazy.

One of the areas that I my hestitancy to be a grown up becomes apparent is my contentedness with apartment dwelling. I understand the argument that I am just throwing money away in monthly rent. I just have no desire to own a place. You have to be a grown up to own a home.

This past spring, the observation was made that all of our married friends had a preoccupation with their grass. All discussions would eventually return to the type of seeds they were trying or new methods of riding the yard of crab grass. Now, I will be the first to admit that I am eager to be married; really I can't wait for that day. But at the same time, becoming married seemed to make all of my friends more grown up.

And now the same thing is happening to my single friends. While I was out of the country, the last two renters in my core group of friends, closed on houses of their own. They left me to be the sole apartment dweller. (And now Rebecca is serioulsy considering buying a place and I will just be throwing rent money away to her.) And they have all grown up. On my first full day back to Atlanta, I found myself accompanying two friends to Ikea where they looked at appliances. And then on Friday, Beth F. gave me a full rundown of the kitchen remodel that she is plannig. She asked my advice on things like the cabnitery and paint color. I had nothing to offer. That's grown up stuff.

I guess that my friends are all just going to grow up without me. I suppose that I will just have to resign myself to conversations about home maintanence and neighborhood association fees. As long as I just don't totally revert and move back home, I think that I will be fine.

Two Weeks Later

I think that I did a great job of keeping you up to date while I was gone, but now it has been almost a week since I have been back and nearly two since I have posted. Shame. The truth is that I don't have much to write. And while this normally wouldn't stop me, since I have been home, more people than I expected have been telling me that that were reading and that makes me a little nervous.

This is Alex and I on the Great Wall.

Our time in Beijing was nice. It was super cool to visit the Wall and all of the sites in Beijing. It was also a nice chance to unwind and spend some time thinking about the last month. However, being in Beijing made me miss the laid back attitude of the city that we had just left.

The flights home were okay. While we didn't get bumped to business again, we did score an exit row for the long flight. I will never fly without the aid of Xanax again- it is truly a marvelous little pill that creates an anxiety free Beth. There was only one brief period of time when I thought that I was going to lose it and demand an emergency landing. It was on the San Francisco to Atlanta flight and Alex (being a gentleman) gave up MY aisle seat (that I had so graciously allowed him to have) to a woman who said that she couldn't sit in the middle because of a leg problem. So I was between this woman, who had no awareness of where her seat ended and mine should have begun, and a late-teenage girl who thought it would be comfortable to put her feet up on the fold down tray. A state of claustrophobia set in that even the Xanax couldn't contend with.

Coming home, jet lag has kicked my tail. The first night, I woke up at home but for about 2 minutes I had no idea of where I was. After that I had trouble sleeping past 3AM. I finally slept at decent hours for the past two nights, but I think that is only because I have been taking cold medicine for the head cold I picked up upon returning. Also, I won't go into detail, but my stomach has had issues readjusting. It hasn't been so much fun and I can only say that I am glad the jet lag going wasn't this debilitating.

This week I have been meeting friends for lunches and dinners and shared stories. I finally have gotten all of my pictures developed (all 337 of them- a number I realy like) and I need to start the process of getting them into an album.

Yesterday I took Uncle Chief (see a post in early April about the eye clinic) to the VA hospital. When he got in the car and I asked him how he was doing, he informed me that the bleeding and weeping behind his eye has slowed down and I knew then that it was time to change the subject.

We are headed to the beach next week. Unfortunately, it looks like Dennis is going to make landfall and possibly supercede our reservations at Gulf Shores. The area is just finishing recovering from Ivan last year and it is sad that it looks like they could have a lot of damage again.

I'll try to find something exciting so that I will be motivated to post. For those of you who were just reading for the China stories, it has been nice having you along. Maybe I will go back next summer and you can rejoin in on the fun.

Right now, I think that this is my favorite picture of the Wall.

Retraction

Tuesday morning here and I don't have much to add.

However, I just talked to momma and daddy. I need to apologize if earlier I made it sound as if momma was insensitive and not missing me. She told me that she thought about me all weekend and when they got together to do the family poitrait, she had to fight back tears because I wasn't there and it made her sad. I thought that the previous story was just funny, but I may have hurt her feelings by implying that she wasn't concerned about her eldest daughter. For that I apologize.

My parents decided that after leaving Mobile, they might as well spend some time at the beach and so they headed over towards Destin. It was almost 10:oo PM EST when I talked to them and they were just finished eating and they still had not found a place to stay. Just like always, they had made no reservations. At least I come by my laid back attitude honestly.

I am about to head off to do some last minute shopping. The first morning that we were here(and before I relized that mine was dual voltage), I broke Carole's (the renter of apartment we are staying in while she is in the states) hairdryer. Actually, it just sucked up some of my hair and I had to cut myself loose. The hair dryer still works, but there is the rancid smell of burnt hair every time you turn it on. I need to replace it. Then I am going to come home and pack, before going for one last massage with Heather tonight.

This will very likely be my last post from China.
I will be back in the states Sunday about 9:15 AM EST and back in Atlanta Sunday night at 6.
Hope you all have a lovely week.

Visa Woes

I think that I really frustrated Rachel today.

Our Visa expired today. Almost 2 weeks ago, we took our passports to the guy that was suppose to handle it, 15 days before it expired. Only when we took it in wee we told that we needed to have two passport pictures to go along with the application and our 120 kuai. And so we went and had passport pictures made and took them back the next day. A week later Rachel went to check on them and was told that they needed a copy of our departure plane ticket. So we made a copy and took it back the next day.
Last Friday, we went to pick up our passports and we were told that the guy had not taking them to the Exit/Entry Government Building place. We were told that they would be ready today. So this morning, Rachel called before we walked over to the school. The guy still hadn't taken the passports to the office! (Welcome to China.) And he told us that they needed a copy of our credit card to to verify that we had funds to facilitate our travel in country. So, we made copies and blacked out the numbers. Then we drove with the guy to government building. Now we have been told that we will be able to get our passports (with valid visas) back at 5:00 tomorrow (Tuesday) afternoon. Seeing as how we leave Wednesday morning, we really need to get our passports back.

Now this whole time, Rachel has gotten really frustrated with the seeming run-around that we have been getting. I on the other hand (as it is my nature) have had a hard time getting worried or worked up about it; I tend to think that everything will work out. I guess that we will see tomorrow.

Tonight, we took Heather and Taylor out for a nice dinner to thank them for all of their help here. It was an awesome dinner. I had caviar for the first time (it was on top of me salmon) and incredible Tiramisu. (Wendy, you would have liked it because there was plenty of tall food.) I would have to save for a month to have this nice of a dinner in the states. For the 4 of us here, it was less than $90, and we each had a glass of wine. When I come back, I think that I am going to totally be in shock at how expensive things are.

So tired

So, I have been homesick this weekend. I called my family in Mobile on Friday and talked to all four of them through speaker phone. I told momma that I was homesick and her response was the following:
"I know what you mean. Just yesterday when we were still in LaGrange I was sad too."
(At this point I was thinking that she was about to tell me how much she missed me too. I was thinking that it was so sweet how she knew exactly what I needed to hear.)
"I mean everyone was already down in Mobile and I was feeling left out and ready to get there. I guess that I was sort of homesick too."

Thanks momma. That's what I needed.

Thankfully, I was kept really busy yesterday. These two friends wanted to take me around and show me things. I met them at 11 at the main shopping street downtown, The Walking Street, and my friends informed me that it would be a day of surprises.

Before I tell you about the "surprises", I should tell you about things that effected the whole day.
Unlike most days in this city of smog, yesterday (and coincidentally, today) was a beautiful sunny day. Chinese girls do not like to be in the sun and so you will see more umbrellas on a sunny day than you will on a rainy day. Furthermore, if a girl is walking along with her umbrella, she will colapse it if she walks into the shade and then she will put it back up when she walks back into the sun. It doesn't matter if she is going to be in the sun for only 5 steps, she is still going to put up the umbrella. And they wanted to watch out for me, make sure that I wasn't getting any unneccessary sun. The problem is that I am a good 5 inches taller than these girls. All day long, I had to suffer from pokes to the forehead and detangle the end of the umbrella ribs (?) from my hair. I finally thanked them for watching out for me and explained that Americans liked the sun. "See how white I am, I need the sun to give me color." They took one look at my white arms and obviously agreeed that I needed some color, for they no longer tried to offer me shade too. I came home with a nice little triangle of red where the V-neck of my shirt exposed my skin.

The other thing that I should tell you is that one of the girls, H., apparently has the memory of an elephant. She remembered things about me that I never remembered saying. I am sure that I must have told her things to make communicating easier and yesterday, it all returned. For example, maybe she had in the past said something to the effect of, "Do you like goldfish?" And I, really having no feelings one way or the other about goldfish would have replied, "Yeah, I like goldfish." It is polite and is the easy way in a conversation that is already strained by lanuage issues. And then, when I least expected it, H. would come back and show me all of the goldfish in the town all the while reminding me that I said I liked goldfish.

So. 11:00. Day of surprises.

The first surprise was the picture booth thing. Like those picture booths you see in the mall, except you have to pick out the frame for each picture that you are goinng to take and the pictures come out small and on sticker paper. (Wasn't there a camera that did this not too long ago?) These machines are all over the place and until yesterday, I thought that I was going to escape. But H. & K. decided that we needed to take 36 pictures. After spending close to half an hour of picking out borders, we finally started taking the pictures. Being the foreigner, it was expected that I be in almost all of the pictures. Furthermore, it is not enough that you just stand there and smile; you have to make faces, or throw a peace sign, or other hand gesture. (I wish that I could have remembered some of the gang signs that Rebecca and my students taught me.) And the whole time, our faces are super close. I hate people being close to my face, especially when it is over 100 degrees, and so I just tried to make as many faces as I could to end my worst nightmare as soon as possible.

Next, we were off to my second surprise. "Remember Beth, you said that you like tofu." So we went to eat at a famous tofu place. It would have certainly been more difficult for me to have originally explaing that I don't despise tofu, but it isn't my favorite, that I would eat it if I were starving and it was the only thing around. However, yesterday, I regretted not taking the time to explain.

Next surprise, a Buddist temple. She had it right. I did want to see a temple and I had not yet done this. I won't write much, because you should really see the pictures. Let me just say that I don't understand a believe system where you have to pay money to get into the house of worship, light incense in hope of catching the attention of your diety, and then rely on an elaborate combination of kneeling and bowing before a statue made of metal that is shipping away. I just don't get it.

Then we went to the antique market. For almost 3 hours we walked around this antigue market. "Remember Beth, you said that you like Chinese antiques." AHHHH!
When you have seen one jade Budda pendent, you have just about seen them all. (Momma, I do not think that I will be going antique hunting with you and Aunt Pat any time soon.)

Then to the park, because apparently at some point in the past couple of weeks, I said that I had never been to a Chinese park. At least here we got to sit down. The time was now about 6:00 PM. And even though I have been downing the bottled cold green tea, this whole time I have managed not to use the bathroom because I know that there would be no chance of a Western toilet and I didn't think that I could find a decent (if there really is such) squatty. I could very well come home with a kidney infection.

Finally, H. says that it is time for dinner. She took me to a very good pizza place. And they had Diet Coke. I could have cried.

I finally made it home a little after 8 PM. I was exhausted. And filthy. After a quick shower, I watched a cheesy movie to decompress from a day struggling with language and then I went to bed.

Today, since it was so nice, I went to the pool for the first time. It was really crowded and the little kids had the tendency of just going to the bathroom where ever. (Have I told you about the split pants? From infant-hood untit potty training, kids are dressed in outfits that have a split in between the legs. This way, whenever they have to go to the bathroom, they can just squat down and go. Anywhere. It's part of the reason you NEVER go barefoot.) But other than that, it was very lovely.

We have 2 more days here before leaving for Beijing early Wednesday morning (your Tuesday night). I will try to write at least once more, but I can't promise.

And lest she become really mad at me, I should tell you that Sara Hood is the funniest person I know, with the exception of maybe daddy who just has a sort of sarcastic and sometimes sadistic sort of humor. Sara, I had been saving your cards because I knew that they would be great. And just like I will clear the rest of my plate before starting in on the cream corn (my favorite), I have been saving your cards. You didn't dissapoint: Asphalt. Still laughing.

Number 7

My cousin Carolyn is getting married this weekend.

Momma has two sisters: Aunt Pat (the twin) and Uncle Jack have three kids- Emily, Michael and Carolyn; Aunt Marie and Uncle Keith two- Jared and Havely. When we were younger and would go to family reunions, the beach, or Six Flags together, our moms would dress us in matching outfits or T-shirts, each family having a slighty different color. I vivdly remember the parrot shirts that we all had- we Cleaveland girls got the teal shirts.

But in our family, the most famous of these shirts were the number shirts. The originals were a maroonish-brown color with yellow lettering. The front had a large number denoting our birth order (Jared 1, Emily 2, me 3, Havely 4, Rebecca 5, Micheal 6, and Carolyn 7). On the back of the shirts were our names. We have two pictures with us standing in order. The first is just us lined up. I must have just turned 6 and I was a full head taller than numbers 1 & 2. In the second picture we are all turned around so that you can see the names on the back and we are each look over our shoulder. In both pictures Carolyn, who was just an infant, is crying.

A few years ago (could it really have been 4 years ago?) Havely was the first of the grandchildren on momma's side to get married. When we arrived in Wyoming, Havely had recreated the number T-shirts in a better color scheme and included one for Melissa who was not born at the time of the original picture. We took new pictures.

And now, number 7 is getting married. Sweet Carolyn.

Okay, so she met her groom over spring break in Cancun. And so what if her married name will be Carolyn Jolly. She is happy and I even in the few times I have been around her and Todd, I have seen how much he loves her.

I am extremely sad that I am not celebrating with them in Mobile. (In fact, today has been the most homesick that I have been the whole time.) I wish them a very happy wedding and the beginning of a wonderful life together. And Carolyn, I did manage to pick up a wedding present for you over here.

Almost Fear Factor Worthy

Last night I had hot pot for the first time. At resturants dedicated to only hot pot, there will be a big table with a metal pot in the middle over a flame and you will choose your food and it will be brought to you.
However, the girls I was with wanted to eat in the canteen (cafeteria) and it is a little different. The workers bring a big can of sterno and put it in the middle of the table and then put the pot of spicy liquid with various food over it. You are suppose to wait until it boils and then just dig in. They told me that they asked for less spicy on my behalf, but it was still spicy enough to require that the food be dipped into sesame oil before putting it into your mouth; apparently, the oil acts as a defense for your body.
So inside the pot, there was tofu, cucumbers, lotus roots, meat and pig's blood. Yes. You read correctly- pig's blood.
Imagine a jello/tofu looking substance that is dark red. Just floating around. One might confuse it for liver or someother internal organ that shouldn't be eaten.
I am never one to shy away from a culinary challenge. (When Rebecca and I finally make it onto Amazing Race, it has been decided that I will do any of the eating challenges.) The girl's kept telling me that it was good and that I would like it. I asked them to clairify exactly what substance pig's blood is, hoping that it would simply be a name for a legitimate type of meat. Alas, I was wrong:
"You know, maybe when you kill pig (at which point I should have stopped them, because when have I ever killed a pig) the blood comes out and it is saved. Maybe some tofu powder is mixed with it and it gets solid. Pig's blood. Really, it is good."
My philosophy is that I will try anything once (unless there is a chance that it might be banana flavored, then I won't touch it). I might like it and at very least it will make for a good story.
Consider it a favor from me to you: Stay away from the pig's blood.
The best way to describe it is the taste you have when you swallow after your nose has been bleeding, all wrapped up in a jello block.
I reached for my water that one of the girls had gone out of her way to buy for me. And I took a big gulp. Instead of regular water, she had bought me mint water which tastes like someone brushed their teeth with wintergreen toothpaste and then spit into my bottle of water.
All around, it is safe to say that last night was not one of my favorite dining experiences.

So Close

Warning: this post is not for the easily grossed out.

I am in the home stretch. I was in the home stretch on Sunday and I thought that I was going to not have a single stomach issue. Alas, it was not to be.

Sunday night, while many of you were celebrating with your fathers, or enjoying a lazy Sunday afternoon, I was lying in bed contemplating whether death by various means of torture would be better than the angony that I was in. About 11 o'clock, I had a sharp pain in my abdomen and then a moment of hesitation as if my body was trying to decided in which direction it would be faster to expel the offending substance from my body (and at various points of the night, both directions won out). Thankfully, this gave me enough time to get out of bed and make it to the bathroom. It lasted for SIX hours and was accompanied by a 102 degree fever. I was misearble. Thankfully, at about 5AM, I was able to sleep for a short while. It was obvious that I couldn't go to class when I woke up and threw up the apple juice I tried to drink. So, Monday was waste of a day. I just laid around and waited to fill better.

The irony is that I do not think that it was Chinese food that made my feel bad. This was not my stomach just disagreeing with food. I have no doubt that it was food poisoning and I think that it was from the sandwich at Subway. Sunday was the first day that the Subway opened here and my American friends were super excited about it. So we went to get sandwiches for dinner. Nevermind that only 2 days ago, the building had no glass and no equipment. The chinese have a way of leaving stuff out (like the egss are just on a random shelf in the supermarket) and so who knows how long the meat was out. I think that it was the turkey.

And another thing that is different here. There is no health code for resturants and certainly no reporter going around and telling you the rating of various restaurants. At one of my favorite places, a haven of Western food if you will, I recently watched a roach crawl across a table. (I am choosing to forget that it happened and I will henceforth put it out of my mind.) And yesterday at Pizza Hut, we watched a boy about 6 years of age walk up the salad bar, study the ranch dressing and then lick the ladle before returning it to the container. Thankfully, none of us were eating salad.

Catching You Up

Happy Father's Day to those of you who are fathers. This week, I am on time.

Let me see if I can catch you up. I was starting to feel the pressure of writing an entry all of the time. So many of you have told me that you have been reading and enjoying it and I want to be at least a little funny. I decided that it was okay that I wouldn't be around a computer for a few days and it would give me a chance to get some new material. I was right.

Thursday night, we had a party at our house. We had the other team over and some of our friends. We watched the hour long verision of Jamie Lane's favorite movie- "The J Flick" as we call it. It was in Chinese and did not have subtitles. At least I knew what was happening with all of the fantastic sound effects.

Friday night we went to eat Indian food and were hit on by some Australian Chinese guy. He told us (Heather, Rachel, and I) that we should get a Chinese boyfriend. After dinner we went to a hairwashing place. For less than $3, we had a 40 minute hairwashing/head message. Amazing! (Though, about halfway through I decided that I like the foot massage place more than someone playing with my head and neck- m personal space issue.)

Yesterday I met one of my Chinese friends to do a study. Then we met another friend because they wanted to show me around town. 7 hours of showing me around town! I have a ton of pictures of me in front of all these random things. I have learned that Chinese people rarely take scenery pictures; instead they would rather have someone staning in the picture. And if they are alone, then the rule is that you don't smile and by all means, don't show your teeth. So we walk 10 steps and "Maybe, you take a picture here." Another ten steps and, "maybe you can take picture here." Lest you be confused, "Maybe" does not imply that I have a choice, really they are saying, "You need to take a picture here."
We went to have dinner at this dumpling place and my friends wanted me to get this meal that was only 20 kuai and you got a sampling of all kinds of foods. When I saw hers, I was glad that I passed. I did suck it up and got these rice balls with seseme seed filling. The inside was good but the outside tasted like glue.

After dinner, we walked down cell phone street. Every street has a speciality. Cell phone street. electronics street. pet street. instrument street. frame street. I don't know where I was going with that, but it strikes me as a little funny.

I think that is all for now. It is hard for me to believe that in a mere 2 weeks from now, I will be on my way home. Crazy.

Public Transportation

I have never ben a fan of Public Transportation. I am not of the belief that Marta is Smarta. And rare is the day that I will get on a bus in Atlanta.

One of the things I am learning while here is to have an appreciation for public transportation, in particular buses. However, yesterday afternoon I had a brief moment of panic on a bus here.

I spent most of the afternoon hanging out at the Coffee Beanery. I was suppose to meet Rachel and some friends at the freshman campus at 6:00. Heather and I didn't leave downtown until about 5:40 and so I was on a tight time schedule.
Now I must explain the bus situation. There are two buses that we take back and forth. The 41 is a bus dedicated to the school. It leaves the South gate of the main campus and goes to the front gate of the East (freshman) campus; it makes only 1 other stop on the way. The 336 is a city bus and makes many stops, including stops in front of our apartment complex, in front of the school, and at the back gate of the East campus.
Since we were going to be eating at the back gate of the East campus, I was going to catch the 336 when the taxi put us out at the front gate of the main campus. I would barely make it in time. When we pulled up the campus, there was a bus leaving, so I paid quickly and told Heather goodbye and hopped on the bus so that I wouldn't have to wait on another. The bus pulls off and almost immediately, I realized that I didn't get on the 336 because I got on the bus coming off campus. I was mad at myself because this meant that I wouldn't be taken straight to the back gate and I would have to walk across campus. And that is when it hit me- the bus I was on wasn't following a route that I had ever been on. In fact I didn't recognize any of where we were. I hadn't looked at the bus numbers at all and I began to fear that I wasn't on the 41 either.

Thank goodness, after a minute and a half, we passed a water tower that I recognized. I was on the 41 and it took my straight to the front gate of the east campus. Huge sigh of relief.

One other note:
Today I wore a solid white skirt and ate two full meals with chopsticks, one of which was noodles with balsamic vinegar on it, and I didn't spill a thing on my skirt. I am sure that some of you might that that this is no big deal, but let me assure you that for me it is huge. I am super proud.

Soundtrack

Before I write about what I really want to share, I need to make an apology. In my last post I said that my family was taking vacation without me. That was the plan before I left. Thankfully, I was wrong. Apparently Rebecca couldn't get off work and Melissa has school the week my parents wanted to go. I am just going to go on thinking that they couldn't stand the thought of a week at the beach without me. I am confident that is the true heart of the matter.

Now, on with my post...

Some friends and I (Wendy and Beth Fain) had a conversation a while back about needing a soundtrack for our lives. We discussed whether we should pick out our favorite songs or if the music should be just played in the background without our picking it out.

Here, it is not so mch an issue. In nearly every public place there are small little speakers hidden in the bushes, much like a que line at Disney World. At all hours there is music playing. Usually, it seems that whoever is in charge of the soundsystem for the day picks out one CD and then puts it on repeat. Sometimes, the music is traditional Chinese music. Sometimes the Chinese born, English singing popstar CoCo Lee, and sometimes (like on campus today) it might be a Western group like Coldplay. Yesterday, as I came back to our massive apartment complex, the music de jour was Auld Langs Syne. "Should old acquaitance be forgot and never brought to mind?...." It isn't exactly what I would pick for a day in June when the heat index topped out at 107, but I suppose that it is better than the Disney tunes played by Kenny G that they have been stuck on.

I am sorry for those of you who stayed up late last night to catch me online. We don't have class on Wednesday and so I didn't go to a internet bar. I am using Rebecca's computer while we watch the third Lord of the Rings. It is already Tuesday morning for y'all.

Have a good day.

Monday

Huh. So, for the first time ever, the MSN messenger is working in the internet bar. I am signed on and all of you are asleep because it is, oh 2:30 in the morning for you. I did have a nice chat with Jamie Lane this morning when I used the computer in one of our classrooms and it had messenger. (It was only about midnight then.) So, if you are ever struck by a bout of insomnia, be sure to get up and log in- I just might be online.

This morning on our way to school, we left early so that we could call home and wish our dads a happy father's day. In a way it is nice to be here because even though we forgot about the holiday until late Sunday evening, we are still 12 hours ahead and so we hadn't missed it in the states. But, obviously, we were an entire week early. oh well. I couldn't track down momma and daddy anyway and so I just had to leave voicemail. Daddy, you should save it and play it next week. (Besides, I am a little put out that our family vacation at the beach is going to the the week before I get back. That's rotten.)

When I wrote my last post, I forgot to tell you that on Friday we went to the Panda Research/Conservation Place on Friday. I got to see many a Giant Panda and a few kid Pandas. I took lots of pictures and I think that they will be a better description than anything I could write. In addition to the Giant Panda, there is apparently another Panda, frequently called the "Red Panda," or (with less regards to the Panda's self esteem) the "lesser Panda." Really it looks nothing like any panda that you would imagine. We had the opportunity to hold and have our picture taken with one for a mere 50 kuai (appx. $6). Part of me wanted to hold the panda, because when in the world am I going to have the chance to hold a panda again? But then the rational part won out- If I came back with a picture of me holding this sort of ugly racoon looking thing, there is no way that I would be able to convice my cynical family that it was really a panda, so I would have been just wasting my money. It was a good decision because the panda decided to prove to my friend Taylor that he isn't "lesser" by biting Taylor's arm.

Saturday was a big festival here: the Dragon Boat Festival. (The following knowledge is proof that I am paying attention in culture class.) It commenerates the death of a great poet who wanted his part of ancient China to stand up for themselves and not be overrun by whoever was trying to conquer their land. Many people disagreed with him and their province/area merged with the neighboring province. He was so upset by this, that he thought it would be better to wrap his arms around a giant rock and then jump into the river, drowning himself. When everyone learned that the poet had done this, they were very sad and they threw food into the water so that the fish would eat the food instead of eating the poet. (How kind, right?) Eventually they decided that the dead poet needed food and so the zhong zhi was born. It is a pyramid of sicky rice with some random culinary surprise in the middle and the whole thing is wrapped in a palm leaf and tied with a string. Now, I don't really know why it is called the dragon boat festival, but the present day practice is to get together with family and eat some zhong zhi. At sundown, people go down to the river and put a tea light candle in a paper boat that they have written their wishes upon and then set the boat in the river. Thousands upon thousands of little flaoting lights. It was very beautiful and thanks to extended exposure, I have some very nice pictures of it as well.

What wasn't as beautiful was the 4 zhong zhi that I had to eat. You could see the look in their eyes. It said, "Oh there is a foreigner and I bet she doesn't know about our festival. I should give her one of our zhong zhi." The first had some sort of bland meat, the second (and best of the 4) had what I think was figs, and the last two, bean curd. yum.

Even though I wasn't so much a fan of the zhong zhi, I have been eating things that I never would have thought of going together. For instance, today for lunch, I had a type of fried rice (peas, carrots, and pork that looked more like Spam than pork) and it was covered by a very thin fried egg (think omelet) and topped with catsup. Sounds gross. In actually, it may be one of my favorites. That or the tomatoes and eggs dish.

Finally, a note on the poor packing advice that I received before leaving the states. I was warned over and over about the food and told to bring planty of stomach medicine. So, I have 4 bottles of Pepto tablets that I have yet to touch. (Honestly, I think that I have enough that I could be taking three a day.) And yet, I wasn't told about the bugs and so I have absolutely no misquito repellent. And I haven't been able to find any here that works.
Bug bites prior to weekend with Pandas and hanging out by the river: 6 on right ankle and 8 on left for a total of 14
Bug bites after weekend spent in mosquito havens: 12 on right leg, 10 on left leg and 4 on each arm for a total of 30.

Still no one online. Hope you are all having sweet dreams. Good night from the Steller Cyber Cafe. (For real, I can't make that sort of thing up.)

Driving Stories and More Tells of Buying Stuff

So today I have random stories for you.

The first one actually happened last Wednesday and I just forgot to write about it. I was on the bus going to the other campus and we stopped at a traffic light. There was a van right next to us with 3 people in it. I swear to you, while we were at the light, all three people in the van got out and all three switched seats. A real life Chinese fire drill. I was alone, but I almost died laughing.

Two- On Thursday night, Rachel and I wanted to go eat dumplings and get another massage. I have a map of the city (which makes me very happy) and the dumpling place was marked. I showed the driver, but I could tell immedicately thart he had no clue as to where we waned to go. So, we called Rebecca and had her tell him in Chinese. She told him the road name and that it was close to the American Consulate building. He nodded and off we went. Almost immediately, he started talking in Chinese obviously thinking that we would understand if he just kept talking. It should have taken 15 minutes. Forty-five minutes later, he has asked no less than 20 random people on the street and other taxi drivers. At one point he asked a police officer and for a hile we had our own police escort. The problem was that I wasn't entirely sure about where we were going. We had only been there once and I think that it was in my first few days of fog. Still, when we got to the consulate, I told him to pull over and let us out. I headed in the direction that I thought should be it and in three blocks we were there. It gave me even more confidence in my directional apptitude. And I paid attention to the number of this taxi driver in case we have to come back through this city on Amazing Race- we will know not to get in his taxi. And I treated myself to a 90 minute massage. Alls well that ends well.

My buying stories: Today I got my first order back from the tailor. I had a skirt copied and it came out awesome for only $4. I also purchased some CDs, one of which I was planning on buying off Itunes for at least 4 times as much. It is a good thing.

I am a little frustrated becasue my friends keep canceling on me. I was suppose to hang out with some girls yesterday afternoon and they told me that they couldn't because it was too hot. And then today, I was suppose to go shopping with a girl and she canceled because today is the dragon boat festival and her parents wanted her to come home at the last minute. I am fighting feeling like I am not doing anything worthwhile, but I know that is a lie. Let me just warn you, well those of you who love schedules and planned out days, this is not the place for you.

Have a good weekend.

Catching On

First of all, I should tell you that I am feeling quite a bit better. Thank you for all of your chats with Dad to this end. I slept the better part of 10 hours last night and they remained fever free. I have only taken one evil allergy tablet today, though I think that I will take one more for good measure. Along with the fever, my headache has almost completely disappeared. My throat only hurts a little and, like the heartache of an unrequited love, I only notice it when I start to wonder, "Am I over it?"

So I was thinking just now on the bus, that I am beginning to catch on to why people love this place so much. I was a little dissappointed with myself last week, because I just didn't understand and I didn't feel a real draw to the country and, in a lesser sense, even to the people. Maybe I am just a slow learner. Today I have decided that I could really grow to love it here. I still don't understand very much, but I am okay with that.

It makes me laugh that no matter how little Chinese I actually speak to someone, they automatically assume that I am fluent. I ask, "How much for this?" and when it becomes clear that this is the extent of my command of the English language, it does not seem to matter. The guy at the bag store continued to explain the quality construction of the knock-off Nike messanger bag that I was eyeing (and eventually bought because it is just way too hot to be carrying a book bag on your back). He was just so happy to show me all of the different models and colors and really all I could do was stand there and nod.

Last night on my way home, I made my first purchase on my own. Not like a store purchase- those are easy. You just take your stuff to the counter and they ring it up and you can see the numerals on the display so it is okay if you can't quite tell if the person behind the register said 3 or 4. I have made plenty of those purchases. But last night, I was by myself and I bought roses from the lady outside our apartment complex. Twenty-one beautiful yellow roses. It may sound so simple, but I had to ask how much, listen to her answer, translate the numbers in my head, and then decide if it is a good purchase. Major thinking that would be automatic if I spoke the language. There is a good possibilty that I should have bargained with her, like you should do with all street vendors, "Oh, that is too expensive. Could you do cheaper?" But it was only 4 kuai. 21 beautiful yellow roses for the equivalent of 50 cents.

Yeah, I am beginning to think that coming home will be difficult in its own way too.

Two in One Day

My two o'clock appointment had to cancel. Something about someone coming to visit maybe? I didn't really understand, but that is a state I am getting use to. Here, I rarely understand fully what is going on around me.

I think that has been one of the hardest lessons for me. I like my independance and I like being able to manage on my own. Here it is a little difficult and I am constantly having to ask how to get somewhere, or say something, or even do simple things. It has been very humbling, which is probably something that will be good for me.

I promised two stories-
Monday's lunch by myself went as well as could be expected I guess. I decided to eat in a restaurant that I had already visited and I decided that I would have sweet and sour pork since I knew that they served it. Well, when I tried to order, the waiteress looked at me with a blank expression. I showed her in my book the characters and she said that they did not have it. (I was a little frustrated becasue I know that we ate it there last week.) I pointed to another dish that I had never tried but someone had told me was good and she nodded that they had it. In English it is called "fragrant like fish chicken," which sounds really nasty, but isn't so bad. I also had to ask for rice and I apparently said it funny because the waitress went and was laughing at me with the guy at the bar. I have decided that it is okay that they laugh, at least I am trying. There was a sort of awkward moment when I was done, becasue all of the waitresses were sitting down eating and I didn't want to disturb them to find out how much I owed. (Unlike the states, the waitress brings you your food and then doesn't come back. She doesn't come back to fill up drinks because the Chinese do not drink with their meals and so you have to bring your own drink if you expect to have anything.) I just picked at my food until she got up and I felt like I could ask for "mai dan"- the bill. I ate at the smae place yesterday with some friends and we had sweet and sour pork. Maybe they just don't serve it on Mondays.

Rachel and I had some time to blow Monday afternoon and so we decided to go into the coffee shop that is outside th back gate of the East (Freshman) Campus. The window of the shop says "Savor Our Coffee. Savor Your Life." We decided that we liked it a lot becasue it was air conditioned, they brought water as soon as we sat down, they played American country music, and they had a bilingual menu. Rachel got a chocolate iced coffee that she swears tasted just like any Frappachinno. I decided to be adventerious and ordered the Mexico Sunrise Iced Coffee. The menu didn't have descriptions, just the name. Since it was on the page with the Irish Coffee, I fugured that it would have some sort of liquor. However, I started to get a little worried when I saw her reach for the bottle three times. The two women behind the counter labored for a long time on my drink. Rachel's drink came and she was 3/4 of the way finished before mine was ready.
The bottom 1/4 of the glass had a clear liquid (I think that it was peppermint syrup)
The next fourth of the glass had a green peppermint liquor.
The top half of the glass was the ice coffee (I suppose that it is to represent the red in the Mexican flag, maybe?)
Upon further inspection, I found that there was something floating around in the glass. The sun. More commonly identified as a raw egg yolk. I VERY carefully fished out the egg yolk and then drank the rest of the drink.
I think that next time, I will stay with something I can recgonize.

ill

I am sick.

I started feeling bad Monday towards the end of language class and it has been down hill since then, which is why I didn't make it up here to post yesterday.

Daddy, before you get too worried and try to rush a passport application to come get me, I do not think that it is the bird flu. Rather, I think that it is just a common sinus thing or small cold. I am running a low grade fever that rises and falls in a directly inverse correlation to the amount of Ibuprofen in my blood stream. I also have a headache that pretty much does the same (by the way, the Chinese way of saying headache sounds like "toe tongue.") My nose has not been stuffy and I am able to breath with my mouth closed, even at night. The worst part is my very sore throat and mild ear ache. From what source the excess mucus is orginating, I do not know, but I wish that it would stop and I could have a Sudafed free day. If I was a bit more lethargic and if I had not already had this particular "you should only get once in your life, like chicken pox" disease twice, I would say that it is mono; the glands in my neck are certainly large enough.

I think that I have written in a previous post about how I always call home before taking medicine because I never seem to remember the side effects of decongestants and antihestimines. Well, obviously, it was a little more difficult to call home this time and besides, it seems as though I only brought one type of cold medicine with me. (What was I thinking?) So on Monday night, I took the knock-off Target cold and sinus medicine. As soon as I swallowed, I remembered that the decongestant in it is the generic Sudafed, which I do not do well with at night. For a moment, I thought about gagging myself before I could absorb the medicine, but decided that throwing up would hurt my already sore throat too much. And so I settled down for a night of little sleep. You know how sometimes you will just be laying still and then all of a sudden you will jump for no reason? Or when you are about to fall asleep in class and as your head falls, you suddenly jerk awake? That was me, all night long. During the little sleep that I managed to get, I had strange dreams. One of you, my dear readers, made it into my pseudoephedrine-hyped dreams, though you will remain nameless since you had three heads and you really didn't come out in the best light.

Since Monday, I have decided that I will have to make do on Advil only through the night.

My goal for today is to make it until 4 oclock. I have a lunch appointment and then one at 2.

I don't have time for more right now, but I must remember to tell you about my first experience dining alone and about my coffee drink on Monday.

Week Two

I just finished with my English class for today. I do pretty well in understanding what is being asked, but I am still struggling with replying. This weekend's trip to the frabric market helped my competancy at buying things. I am getting much better at recognizing the numbers, which is helpful when someone wants you to pay for something and you aren't really sure which bill to get out. (Earlier last week sometime, I had an experience with a shop owner whom I needed to pay for three Cokes. I thought that he was saying that it would be 4 kuai but he was really saying 6. This little 10 year old girl translated for me, "It is 6 kuai." and then to her friends and under her breath, "Americans" in an exasperated tone.)

By the way, I learned that kaui is the correct spelling for what you say when you talk about the basic unit of money, but when you are writing it, you write juan. And there are two words for "two"- er and liang; I have not managed to figure out the rules of when to use which. i think that there are these random things just to be confusing, because Chinese isn't confussing enough on it's own.

This weekend was relaxing and we got to spend time with American friends. Last night we went over to hang out with Sonya and Travis. They ordered Pizza Hut and let us call home on their phone that has a US number. (Vonage has done wonders in international calling. You can get a number in your home area code and then you get unlimited in calling. So I called home and gave momma the number. She called back and it was like calling a number in Mississippi for her, free for the Todds.) They also have satellite TV and so we saw the news for the first time since leaving Atlanta. I had no clue about the AL girl who went missing in Aruba or about Michael Jackson's sudden mysterious sickness. Maybe I should start checking news websites when I come to check email. Thank you Lila for introducing me to the Todds while they were in town. They have been extremely generous and kind to us.

Our other big task for the weekend was doing laundry. It wasn't a big task becasue we have so many clothes, but rather, because everything was written in Chinese and I can only assume that the temperatures are in celcius. I am not the best at doing laundry when I understand the buttons I am pushing; now I am taking the clothes out and smelling them to see if they smell like they had a run in with the detergent. And I don't know what we are going wrong, but it is taking like 3 hours to dry one load. (But that could be a humiduty issue. Did I mention that when I get into bed, my sheets feel damp because it is so humid?)

I also got the tread mill working. If my conversions are correct, I ran 3.8 miles yesterday. (Rebecca, I know that I was suppose to do 5, but I was sweating more than I have ever sweated in my life. I am thinking that if I can just maintain at about 4 miles a few times a week, then I can get back on schedule when I come home. Do I need clearance from my trainer to make this decision?)

And for a little LaGrange update: Momma told me last night that LaGrange is going to get a Country's Barbecue. Scheduled to open Labor Day. I know that for many of you, this means little. But for me, it is just one more thing to draw me back home. (Momma, the link worked but the access code and password didn't. I am glad you told me over the phone.)

Finally, this weekend was my 10 year high school reunion. I was not so sad to miss it, but it did make me think about how much has changed in 10 years. If you had asked me then where I would be in 10 years, I probably would have said that I would be doing my pediatric residency. I would be married and probably expecting my first child (or children- I'd like twins). There is no way that I would have guessed that I would be spending a month in China, and certainly I would have argued with you if you had told me that I would be a teacher. Funny how things change.
I actually was asked where I saw myslef in ten years as one of the final Top Ten questions in the Miss & Mr Troup High School Contest. We got a list of possible questions before the evening and momma must have been working because I remember daddy going over the list with me and helping me come up with good answers. This is cheesy and I think that daddy came up with it, but my answer to the 10 years down the road question was that I didn't know what I would be doing, but I wanted to be "happy, healthy, and helping others." (Could I have been anymore of a dork? I might as well have thrown in that I wanted to be instrumental in bringing about world peace.)

Today, Rachel already had plans for lunch and so she went over to the other campus. This means that when I wrap things up here, I will be ordering my first meal on my own. It could prove to be interesting.

I will probably then head over to the other campus and see if I can meet with a few girls. However, I am not feeling all that well today- sore throat, headache, and runny nose- and so I might go home.

As Opposed to Yesterday...

Today, I do not have a lot to say. I have sort of settled into a routine.

Last night we had dinner with a group of college students (actually, we just met the girl half of the team) from Atl who are here for a the summer as well. Rebecca and Heather fixed pasta, garlic bread, and broccolli (they even had lemon juice); it was a nice change to have something different.

This morning I slept in until about 8:30 becasue we don't have class on Friday. When I finally got going, I had to head out to the freshman campus to meet my friend from Wednesday for lunch. What I thought would be maybe an hour or hour and a half at best turned into 4 hours. (I think that she would have been content to hang out well into the evening except I told her that I had to get back.) She took me up to her dorm room becasue I had never seen one and she wants me to meet her dormmates.

What an eye opener. First of all, she lives on the 6th floor and the rule is that a building gets an elevator only if it is 7 or more stories tall. Her room is very small and she has SEVEN roommates. The beds are just flat peices of thin wood with some sheets thrown on them and there is no air conditioning. They have one sink and no closets or bookshelves. There is one desk in the middle of the room, but each girl lines her personal things along the edge of her bunk bed next to the wall. (It reminded me of how Rebecca use to hide books and flashlights down the side of her bed when we were little. Seriously, at any given time, you could find 15 books in her bed.) Like most people I have met, this girl's favorite singer is Celine Dion and she absolutly loves "My Heart Will Go On." I have known her for 3 days and she has sung it for me 4 times. "Near. Far. Wherever You Are....." I am beginning to think that I will be haunted by this song for the rest of my life.

Tonight we have been invited over to a cookout with a family that has been living here a while. Tomorrow I think that we will be going to the fabric mart to pick up some material to take to the tailor. Then we have been invited to a pool party followed with dinner at an Indian place. It should be a good weekend and I will be sure to give you an update.

To those of you who have been sending emails, thank you. If I don't have a chance to respond individually everytime, know that I do appreciate it.
If you haven't been sending emails, well, shame on you (especially you Moeisha- you are my sister!). Not really, I will hold no hard feelings.
And those of you who gave me cards before I left, I have set up a schedule because I think that I have enough to read one every other day. (Last night, I read Nicky's first one and she told me about a news report that said you could lose a significant amount of weight in a year if you just tapped your finger while you were sitting down. Nice.) Sara I am still holding off on yours for a rainy day.

I hope that you have a great Friday and weekend.

Automatic Celebrity

Warning: I have a little extra time today and so this post is going to be long. Complain all you want, but not to me. I like to think that you are sitting there everyday getting much enjoyment out of my tales.

Yesterday was an extremely long day. We met some friends and I ended up talking to this girl for nearly 4 hours. Not only is it draining to focus on one person for that long, but also, my personality just isn't wired for it. I am always self consciencious about the dead air time, but apparently she didn't mind. Rachel went off with another girl and so i was on my own. (I have to admit that it was actually quite nice.)

We were sitting under a pavillion type thing in the middle of this lake and there were some really cute elderly people. (Sara, I took pictures for you.) There were also these three boys that hung around all afternoon. They would throw things at the goldfish for a while and then they would go play in the stream and then go buy something to eat at the convience store type place. They always came back loaded down with junk food and since they knew I wasn't from there, they would always offer me some. I don't know what flavor the potatoe chips were suppose to be, but I think that it is safe to say that we don't have them. Should you ever come here, I would also reccommend that you stay away from the bean curd ice cream. really. Rebecca (another American) and I gave the three boys English names, Toby, Teddy, and Bobby. Even though the had prblems pronouncing their new names, they found great delight in runing around calling to one another.

Rebecca and I went to dinner outside the back gate of the campus and she introduced me to (the spelling is based only on how I would spell it) chow cow. Basically, you walk up to the place and get a basket. Then you choose what you want to eat- I had eggplant, mushrooms, green beans, lotus root, quail eggs, and beef. (Other choices included imitation crab meat, liver, some sort of dough, and a few unreconizables.) Every thing was ona skewer and after making your selection, you give your basket to the woman. She dips it in a spiced oil and then grills it. Awesome. I will take pictures the next time I go back.

After chow cow, Rebecca showed me this place to get what can best be described as fried apple turnover. Add in a fresh peach smoothie (no smoothie king here, just peach, ice, and sugar) and you have a perfect finish to a lovely meal. It was really nice to spend time with Rebecca and to here about her year here. She is returning home to Atlanta soon but will come back again in August and will be living with one of my good friends.

Rachel and I had decided to hang around campus last night because we had word that there was going to be an English corner. It is suppose to be a time when students come together to practice their oral English skills and we thought that it would be a nice opportunity to meet people. And meet people we did. At any given time, there were 20 students standing around trting to ask their questions. I have never talked so much in my life. Nor have I ever felt so much like an instant celebrity. Like Paris Hilton, I had done nothing to deserve the attention, but still they all wanted to talk to the American.

Somehow, Rachel got all of the girls and I ended up with a mess of boys crawed around. And you should note that since they mostly get to pick their own English names, I was talking to IceMan, Napolean, Shrimp, Anger, and so forth. Just as soon as I would try to answer a question, someone new would walk up to the group, get right in my face (which you all know I loved) and start asking their questions: "Hello, Are you from America? And are you a student there? And do you like our country?"

But this is a transcription of my favorite conversation:

Student: In America I think that it is much like American Pie?

Me: I'm sorry?

S: American Pie, you know the movie?

Me: Yes, I know the movie. I think that it is funny, but I do not think that it is what all of America is like.

S: Yes. I think that in America, all boys are interest in is chase skirt.

Me: (a little confused and taken aback look)

S: You know what I mean, chase skirt?

Me: Yes, I know what you mean, and I think that there are some boys in Amearica that are very much interested in chasing skirt, as you would say, but I do not think that it is true of all boys in America. Hollywood exaggerates and not all of America is like that. Especially where I am from. I am from the Southern US and we tend to be more conserervative there. Do you know what I mean?

S: Yes. We have Chinese saying: Beauty is better from afar.

Me: Ok. (I am not really sure that we are connecting, but I am doing my best)

Friend of Student: You have governor that is Swatn... (it trails off into something I can't even begin to recognize)

Me: Say that again. I didn't understand.

Friend: Swatzn..... You know, the Terminator. "I'll be back."

Me: Oh yes I know. But he is the governor of California and I don't live there. I live in Atlanta, GA. Our govenor is a man named Sunny Perdue.

Friend: Do you think that Swatzn... is very attractive?

Me: I think that he is too big. His muscles are maybe too much. (Notice that I have begun to slip into the practice of just throwing in random maybes like they do.)

Friend: Do you think that my firend (orginal student) is too big, or is he attractive?

At this point, thank goodness, some one new walked up and saved us from this conversation. Not long after that we left, promising to return to the English corner next week.

I hear that it has been cold and rainy at home. Here it has been nothing but balmy. Hot and incredibly humid (I serioulsy do not think that it would be an exaggeration to say that it is close to 95% humidity today). Every morning we have to walk a mile to class. (Well, we actually only have class 3 days a week, but that is besides the point. I still have to get up and walk the mile to catch the bus anywhere.) Within 2 minutes, I am sweating up a storm. My hair has just settled into a state of big. Nothing I do helps. And unfortunatly, my skin does not seem to be adjusting well. My forehead looks like Rebecca's did in 7th grade (Sorry Becs.)

Today for lunch, I ate with a new friend and I let her order. Tofu cubes. It wasn't so bad, but not something I would like at every meal. So far, all of my conversations with have been very surface level, but I am hoping soon for the chance to share my story and what is close to my heart.

I think that is all I have for now. I hope that you have a great Thursday; it has been a good one for me. It is weird for me to think that you are all still asleep ( it is now 2:30 AM for you) and my day is almost over.

And one last thing, do you know what is very hard to get here? Diet Coke or Coke Light. Wouldn't you know that as soon as I made the switch, I would come to a country where no one drinks it. Of course, rare is the Chinese person who needs a diet...

Liking it More and More Everyday

Don't get the wrong idea with this post. We really are doing some important things, but I just want to focus for a moment on a few of the things that I am really enjoying here.
1. The food is incredible. I don't know how we manage to screw it up in the states, but Chinese food rocks. Last night we had amazing dumplings (the only downside was when I dropped my dumpling into the dipping sauce and it splashed all over me- I can hear Aggie now, "messer, messer, messer, that's all there is to you Cleaveland girls.") and today for lunch, eggs and tomatoes. Yum. Throw in that an average meal cost less than a dollar and you will understand why I am beginning to think that it is going to be difficult for me to lose the 10 pounds I am suppose to lose this summer.
2. After dinner last night, we went to the massage place. For right at $3 we had an hour foot and back massage. How can you beat that. It would cost me far more to get Rebecca to massage my feet for an hour.
3. Fresh flowers. In my bedroom, I have 2 dozen pink roses. The cost- a buck.
4. We just discovered that the internet bar has Coke in the bottle.

I could go on, but I don't want you to think that this is just some luxury vacation.
And besides, we still have to deal with squatty potties.

Getting down to Business

Until this morning, I forgot that yesterday was Memorial Day. I hope that all of you had a wonderful day relaxing with family and friends, but that you also had took time to remember all of thosewho have fought and are fighting for the freedoms we have. I am certainly more thankful now than ever before.

And on with my post of the day..
We survived lunch. We went to this little store and Rachel asked for some dish that I didn't know. The look on the woman's face told me that she didn't so much know either. She just motioned for us to sit and she would bring something. She brought out some sort of spicy beef noodles with cilantro in it. It was Awesome. Rachel is still minding her stomach and she is one of those odd people who don't really like spicy food, so she didn't eat much of hers, but mine was gone in a few minutes.
Last night, we made our way downtown to The Walking Street. It is definatly a place I will have to revisit before we leave. Billy picked up a pair of really nice looking leather shoes for 114 quai whish is about $13-$14 dollars. He then took us to the top of the Holiday Inn Crowne Plaza (quite possibly the nicest Holiday Inn anywhere) so that we could see the city. The day kind of cleared up and we could see a distant amount of teh city. It is definatlly a huge place.
On the way back, I thought that we were going to die. Our taxi driver apparently thought that we were on the Amazing Race becasue he managed to run no less than 3 red lights with traffic coming. My assessment of Chinese drivers ed is that they must only master the use of the horn. After that nothing else matters. Any paved surface is fair game for driving, including sidewalks. And traffic lights are merely suggestions.

This morning, I cold called a couple of girls that I have been told might be interested in meeting with us. It was a sucess and in an hour I am meeting two girls to practice their English. It is nice to feel like I am finally doing something and not just suffering from sensory overload.

Second Language Learner

We just finished our first morning of classes and I think that it is safe to say that I am not meant to speak Chinese. I even have trouble saying the Chinese name that they have given me (Ke YiLe, which means beautiful waters). Rachel lived for six years in Taiwan and so it is not surprising that she knows a little language. And yet, we have been placed in the same class. Not only do I get to feel dumb because I just don't understand, but I am also getting shown up by Rachel who is just spitting the words out. Not so much fun. I wonder what our teacher would say if I tried to tell him that I have performance anxiety and so he shouldn't call on me in class. It's what my students would try to do, but I don't think that it would work here.

There is a college guy who was here a few weeks ago from NP. He has the summer free and so he decided that he would love to come back. With a very quick turn around, they were able to work everything out and so Alex will be joining us next Sunday. I am hoping that I will be able to at least say my name before then.

We are at some internet bar right outside the campus and we really didn't understand what we were buying. (It cost 40 quai (sp?) for both of us, which is $5, but how much time does that get you?) In addition, this text box is the only thing showing up on my computer in English. Consequently, I am just writing train of thought until it kicks me off. You will also have to forgive me for not running spell check.

Today, Billy has some meetings and so we are on our own for most of the day. We are going to go down to the freshman campus and walk around. Heather, who has been here for a year, took me over there yesterday afternoon. Rachel and I are going to get lunch and then just hang out. Then we are suppose to find a bus or taxi to take us downtown. I think that Billy wants to give us mini challenges so that we will have to try things on our own. I am not so nervous about getting around, but the finding lunch on our own bit has me a bit scared.

I haven't taken many pictures and even if I had, I think that uploading them might prove to be difficult so you might just have to wait. But here's a mental image for you. Smog. Lots of smog. and dust.
I am already missing blue skies and stars at night.

Really I think that is about all I've got for now. I have talked to momma and daddy twice (long story- they are working on getting the unlock code for my cell phone so that I can put in a Chinese SIM card and have a Chinese number), and so if you want more of an update you can talk to them.

Post One

I don't have a lot of time, so this is going to be short and sweet. I am borrowing email access from one of the American girls who live in our apartment complex (which, by the way, at 33,000 people and growing could be called a small city instead of a complex) and we need to leave in about 15 minutes to go somewhere.

It is about 3 PM on Sunday afternoon and my second full day in China. Things are going well, but it is probably good that I waited to write my first post. The first 24 hours or so were super hard and I kept wondering if I had completely lost my mind in deciding to come over here. Now, as I am getting more sleep and getting use to not understanding much, I like it better.

We have had two great Chinese meals so far including spicy beef noodles for breakfast yesterday. For lunch today, we had western food.

The trip over wasn't so bad. Actually it was pretty awesome. As we were getting on the plane in San Francisco, the woman at the desk called our name and it turns out that we were bumped to business class for the 12 hour flight. Champange as you board, choice of meals, personal video screens, and fully reclining seats. I even managed to sleep and I NEVER sleep on a plane. I think that the extra rest that I got is helping with the jet lag since I seem to be doing okay now.

Rachel is not feeling so great. Right before we left, she found out that she has a stomach virus. It has not gotten better. She is taking it easy today in hope that she will start to feel better soon.

I know that this has not been very funny, nor long, but I am pressed for time. I will try to write more later this week.

Emily Hill- I read your first card yesterday and nearly cried. I do feel a bit like the girl on the front, but your reminders helped a ton.
Thank you to all of you who have provided those moments of encouragment when I feel like wussing out.

A lot to Live Up To

Most of you know that I believe that I have the greatest parents ever. Furthermore, you probably know that I think they have the greatest marriage ever. This is the latest example of why I feel that way.

Momma has been a little sick with a sinus infection, but when I talked to her yesterday afternoon, I could just hear in her voice that she wasn't feeling good at all. When I asked how she was feeling, I got the following story.

Yesterday, she got up and did her morning thing, ate a banana (which is personally where I think she went wrong), and went for a walk.

When she got back home, she still wasn't feeling so good, but she needed to go into town and run a few errands. So she got ready, got in the car and made it 500 feet down the road before she knew that she just wasn't going to make it and that this week's grocery shopping would have to wait. Thank goodness that she made it home before losing the banana. (Banana’s are bad enough by themselves; I can't imagine how awful a thrown up banana in a hot car would be.)

Momma never gets sick to her stomach. This was probably the first time she has thrown up since the time she and I had the flu together when I was 12. But, as it always does when you are feeling queasy, throwing up made her feel better. And nothing sounded better than a Coke over crushed ice (we just call it Sonic's good ice, since that is the only place in LaGrange you can get it), so back into the car.

This time, she made it all the way in to town. But while she was waiting on her Coke with good ice, the wave of nausea hit again. At the same time, daddy called because they were suppose to meet for lunch and she should have made it to the car lot already. She told him that she thought that she was about to throw up and faint.

He was there in less than a minute.

I know that since daddy owns his own business, that it isn't that hard to rearrange his schedule, but it is hard for him just to drop everything at the spur of the moment. But drop everything he did. They sat in the doctor's office for a little over an hour; the doctor diagnosed momma's problems, after she threw up another two times in his office.

Then the doctor asked if she needed a work excuse. (Honestly, I didn’t even know that doctors gave work excuses.) But momma said no, because she just couldn't miss work today; there are only three pharmacists at her store and missing work is just not an option because there would be no one to cover for her.

Daddy drove her back to the house and took Melissa (who is doing nothing better on her summer break) back into town to get momma's car.

Then daddy took it upon himself to find the number and call the pharmacy scheduler to let her know that he didn't know what she was going to do, but that momma would not be able to work today.

Sometimes, I don't find it so hard to believe that my sisters and I haven't found the right guy. It's going to be hard to live up to the example that daddy has been.

My Doctor's Visit

Yesterday afternoon, I went to the doctor. In preparing to leave the country, I needed a tetanus booster. You are supposed to have one every ten years and I think that I had one right before I went to college. (But it seems that maybe I didn't have one then because I had to have one when I was 13, the year of my illustrious career running track. The coach moved me to throwing the shot-put after I fell twice while running. What a joke. The second fall was bad enough to send me to the emergency room for possible stitches. The scars on my knees are still visible.) The point is that I was due for a shot.

Because momma is a pharmacist, when I am starting to feel under the weather; I usually just call home and ask her what I should take. (For some reason, I have a mental block in remembering which symptoms necessitate an antihistamine and which ones mean I need a decongestant, which ones make me sleepy and which ones give me bad dreams and keep me up at night. I always have to call home. But I digress. Again.) It has been 3 years since I have been so sick that I couldn't avoid the doctor. So, I just haven't gone.

Within the past 3 years, my insurance changed and so I had to get a new doctor. Since they didn't have a file on me, he didn't want to give me my tetanus booster without an appointment. At first, I was a little annoyed because I knew that this meant squeezing an hour of waiting room waiting into my already busy schedule.

But I was wrong. The visit was helpful on several accounts.
- I found out that I have a faint heart murmur. Nothing really to worry about, but something he said I should know, especially in light of my inherited super-slow heart rate. (Thanks, daddy.)
- Tetanus booster taken care of.
- And, the one I am most excited about: I mentioned that I really hate flying. The good old doctor whipped out his pad and wrote me a prescription for Xanax. Nice. Flight anxiety be gone.

Maybe I will go see the doctor more often.

Sibling Generosity

Momma is an identical twin. She and my aunt have nearly identical families. Momma and Daddy will be celebrating their 32nd anniversary this year, Aunt Pat and Uncle Jack, their 33rd. Emily is 4 months older than I, Michael is 4 months younger than Rebecca and Carolyn is a year and a half older than Melissa.

On Wednesday, Michael is taking his sisters on a two week trip to Italy. Yeah, super nice.

A couple of months ago, when we found out about this trip, Rebecca and I were talking about how nice it was and about how great it would be if the three of us could take a similar trip. We started daydreaming about where we would go and settled on Greece.

I pointed out that Michael, the middle sibling was being the generous. (In both families, the middle sibling is the one with the lucrative profession.) I implied that she should step up and be just as generous. That pretty much ended the conversation.

A few weeks later, I asked Rebecca if she was planning on running the Chicago marathon again this year. She said no because it was too close to the Athens marathon. Not Athens, Georgia, mind you. No. Athens, Greece.

My punk sister is going to Greece. Is she taking Melissa and I with her? No.
So much for sisterly love.

Always Dorking it up

This morning, I was off to a great start. Another teacher (male this time) gave me a very flattering compliment. His exact words, "You're looking hot ." Words that any girl would love to hear.

But by the end of first period, I had managed to write on my own chin with a blue pen. And several times, I leaned against the dry erase board, ensuring that I have black marker all over the back of my pants. I remember countless math professors with chalk dust (the pre-dry erase equivalent) all over their pants.

Not so hot.

I don't get it

Since I began teaching, I have been amazed at the simple things that my students do not know. I am not necessarily talking about math skills, though most do lack a command of even the most basic operations. Rather, it's the lack of general knowledge and common courtesy that appalls me.

Sometimes, I wonder what my students' home lives must be like. Why are they not learning the simple skills and manners that you should get from home? This leads me to wonder, what I would do differently to insure that my kids behave better and pick up on the basic ideas?

I have no doubt that I have amazing parents. (And I am not just saying that because I know that at least one of them will read this; they are really great.) But I think back on my younger years and I can't think of anything they did that was radically different. Sometimes I wonder if they just got lucky and had three great girls?

Following are two recent examples of how my students are not being taught important things at home. The first caused me to almost pull out my hair asking, "How can you not know this?" and the other is a lesson in courtesy.

1. Today, my Algebra 2 class reviewed exponential and logarithmic functions. I completely understand that they have problems with this material. It is new and it forces them to think through the problems in a different way. But the cool part is that exponential functions lend themselves to application problems and I can finally answer the question "When would you ever use this?"

A problem from today:
Dusty deposited $1400 in a savings account earning 7% annual interest compounding yearly. How long will it take his money to triple?

They were given the formula and all they had to do was plug in numbers. Pretty simple.
They understood what I was asking. They understood the concept that if his money triples then he would have $4200 at the end. They even got the idea of compounding.

But more than 5 students asked "What does annually mean?"
Being a good teacher, if a bit annoying, I answered their question with a question: "If I were to take a shower annually, then how many times a year do I take a shower?"
Their answer: "12 times?"

I am not sure that I managed to keep all of the frustration out of my voice, but I am confident that I did much better hiding my disappointment then I did yesterday when they tried to tell me that quarterly meant 3 times a year.
16 & 17 year olds. 11th graders.

2. I have this student; we'll call him Jack to protect his identity. I know that Jack doesn't particularly care for me and really, I am okay with that. Over the course of the semester he has made it clear that he thinks I lack the intelligence needed to educate his obviously gifted mind.

Recently, I was reading over some journals that they wrote. Jack writes:

"I feel that math is more boring now than before. My math classes before were more fun and now are more boring. I used to like math but now it is starting to get on my nerves because of the way my more current teachers are teaching it. It seems as though my teachers get worse and worse as each year comes."

Where was his momma to teach him that if you don't have something nice to say, then you don't say it at all?

Maybe my parents did get lucky. But as Melissa said when she sat in on my classes, "If we had done that, Daddy would have popped us on the back of the head."

LaGrange- Smart Move

That's what the water towers in LaGrange say.

Daddy called me in the middle of the day to give me a warning that my friends may soon have more ammunition in their relentless mockery of my hometown.

It seems that a lake had to be drained today because the sheriff’s office is hot on the trail of the murder body of a 22-year old Auburn student with the last name of Clinkscales. Here's the thing- this murder took place in 1976. The primary suspect in the case died in 2001. One of the accomplices died several years ago. And this is the second local lake that they have drained.

I think that Daddy thought I might be embarrassed by the inefficiencies of the Troup County Sheriffs Department. However, it is stories like these that make me love home more.

To read the full drawn out account: Arrest made in Clinkscales case

This link will probably become inactive in a week, but I am sure that if you called the newspaper, they would be glad to send you a copy. It's what small town newspapers do.

Do people think?

So it is true that over the last several months, I have lost a pretty significant amount of weight. It has been so gradual that sometimes, even I have trouble noticing. However, I am at that point where people whom I don't see everyday, suddenly realize that something has changed. Overall, everyone's reaction has been positive.

Today, one of my team teachers walks into the room and says, "Wow, you are looking good. How much weight have you lost?" (This is the first time I have seen her in two and a half weeks.) I thank her, answer her questions, and think that we are at the end of the discussion.

But no. She continues with, "I am sure that now, you will just snap up a husband."

What?!? Did she really just say that? Was it a compliment? And even if it were, what was it suppose to mean?

Here's the translation I heard: "Wow, you use to be fat and ugly and so there is no wonder that you are single, but now, you should be able to get a guy with no problem." Or maybe even, "Your personality sucks and so it is a good thing that you are working on improving your looks because now you should be able to find some sucker to marry you."

And what is she saying about my future mate? That he would be so shallow as to not like me when I am a few pounds overweight? Thanks, but I will pass on that.
Funny thing is, she is in great shape but also unmarried. Hmm.

teaching woes

I will be the first to admit that there are amazing benefits to teaching that are not found in the corporate world. I hesitate to complain because I fear the backlash from those of you who will be quick to point out that in a mere 6 weeks, I get two months off. (If you are one of these people who are going to get annoyed with my complaints, then I suggest that you stop reading here.)

The part of my job that I hate the most is the daily reminder that really I am just not making a difference. My self-esteem is pretty healthy, yet I have students who make me feel like an abject failure on a daily basis. For the most part, I am not talking about that warm and fuzzy, "All that will matter in 50 years is that I made the difference in the heart of a child" nonsense. I am speaking of just making an indention upon their gray matter in regards to basic math. They just don't get it.

An example from today- For the three weeks leading up to spring break, I have covered problems like the following (and I promise that these are not simplified for the sake of illustration):
x(2x+3) and (4x-8) + (-5x+2)
Not difficult. I lectured. We practiced. We played games with it. I gave homework. Everything. For three weeks.

And what do I get today? "Ms. Cleaveland, how do you do this?"

I had to completely re-teach the whole thing. I am not making a difference.

It is times like these when I just cling desperately to that 2 month vacation.

on flying

Every time I walk down the jet way, I think that this will be the time that I am not scared. That my stomach will not start with the acrobatics. That my breathing and heart rate will stay within normal bounds. That I will not be the one who grasps at the armrests for dear life. I dare even think that I might catch up on a nap.

Yesterday wasn't the day. Wendy told me that I looked calm and I guess that is what matters. But inside I was fighting a battle to not reach up and place my hand on my shoulder blade, the feeling of skin on skin, to not retreat into my inner world of silent prayers and a desperate hope that we would land soon.

The rationalizations for our less than smooth flight are numerous. Perhaps it was the bad weather that was moving into Atlanta. Maybe it was just the small size of our 45-seater plane that made it prone to being tossed around. Maybe it was the fact that our pilot was only 4 feet tall and could only reach one control at a time.

And maybe it is just that we weren't meant to go screaming through space in an aluminum can.

2nd Day of Spring Break

Today started out like any other Tuesday holiday from teaching. Daddy and I set off for the auction. After a few hours breathing exhaust fumes and trying to fit in with the majority good ole boy crowd, we called it a day.

My nearly 80 year old great uncle, Uncle Chief, had an appointment at the Emory eye clinic to have a shot... in his eye. As if this knowledge wasn't gross enough, Uncle Chief used the trip into Atlanta to regale us with tales of all of the eye injuries that he has sustained over the years. Sawdust in the eye. A small piece of iron shaving in the eye. Grease in the eye. The last was remedied by the doctor taking his eyeball out of the socket, washing out the grease, and then replacing the eyeball. Aren't you glad I shared?

On what is bound to be the most gorgeous day of my spring break, we spent 4 hours sitting in the waiting room of an Emory eye clinic. Even with daddy pointing out the resemblance of our waiting room peers to Gilmore Girls characters, it was a little on the boring side. As we neared the end of the long wait, I noticed the fire escape plan on the wall.

Let me remind you that this is an eye clinic. These patients have trouble seeing details, that is why they are there. I don't think that I could have gotten out according to this plan. Thank goodness there wasn't a fire.


Fire Escape Plan for 3rd floor Eye Clinic at Emory.

The Challenge

The BBC recently did research to determine the UK's favourite book. Tolkin's The Lord of the Rings won, but in the process they created a Top 100 Book list.

Rebecca decided to see how many she had read and then to try to knock the rest out of the way. Momma and Aunt Pat were soon on board. I couldn't resist the challenge. With the completion of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (which I think was awful) this weekend, I am now up to 30.

Aren't you curious as to how many you have read?

The List

Mr. & Mrs. Cousineau

A friend recently started a list of non-obvious and non-romantic reasons to get married. His first reason is to have someone take care of his dog when he goes on business trips. Secondly, to save money at the grocery store. (What single person can finish a loaf of bread or half a gallon of milk before it goes bad?)

I took to adding a few things to the list:
- I want to marry in order to have someone who will pay the bills. Not in the sense that I want him to be the sole provider, but in the reality that I am awful at keeping up with when things are due.
- It would be nice to have someone who could share the task of making it to the leasing office before they close. I usually have to leave packages sitting for several days before I can make it home in time for their retrieval.
- I think that the bonds of matrimony assure you a date to every semi-awkward/boring social gathering- think class reunions, holiday parties, etc.
- Hopefully, marriage will guarantee that I will never have to forgo a pickle because I am unable to get the jar open.

I am sure that the list could go on ad infinitum.

But Saturday night was different. Two of my friends stood at the front of a church in Inman Park and proclaimed their love for one another. The potential humor factor was very high. (Another friend got ordained over the internet in order to officiate the ceremony.) However, it was one of the sweetest weddings I have ever attended.

As they stared into one another's eyes, they spoke of the bigger things in life- joy, love, and a sense of finding home. Both verbally and silently, they made promises to each other. They spoke of the sovereignty of God in bringing them together and their dependence on Him to grow their marriage. In front of us, two started to meld into one.

Forgot all those other reasons. I want to get married for what I saw take place Saturday night.

Congratulations Lanette and Karl.