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| Well, we are back in the States now and enjoying the big skies and home cookin'. Please feel free to check out our site on facebook since this blog is no longer working in China. You can look us up by name. We are enjoying our time home with our families and friends, and it all seems so surreal. I can't believe we live on the other side of the world! Two places so different that feel so comfortable... Anyway, better get back to the fam! Peace, Brian and Katie | | |
| Yesterday was women's day here in China, and my co-teacher, Sophia, told me that all the girls and women take a day off of school. So, girls don't go to school and female teachers stay home as well. How cool is that! Ha! Anyway, the weather here has taken a turn for the worse. It has been pretty cold and dreary this whole week. I am just hoping it doesn't stay like this too long. It is so hard to put the layers back on after almost a whole month of not wearing them. My allergies were crazy yesterday. I am thinking that maybe it is because of all of the flowers that have been blooming in the past couple of weeks. This week is spirit week at our school, and yesterday was Hawaii day, so I wore a flower in my hair. I am thinking today that maybe that wasn't such a great idea. I took two Tylenol Cold and Sinus last night and am still feeling quite groggy this morning. Here's a really cute picture I took of Brian playing with his kids... 
I am heading to Qingdao on Sunday for a revision meeting about the art standards and benchmarks, and I will return Tuesday night. Wednesday should be a normal day, and then on Thursday, the accredidation people come to visit our school, followed by Science Olympiad all day on Friday. Oh yes, and Brian and I are participating in the school talent show Friday night. That should be fun. Please continue to keep us and our company in your pr*yers.  | | |
| A few pics from Thailand 
Thai Rondald 
Brian 
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| Well, we're back. The sun is shining here. Not as warm as Thailand, but we are happy to be home. Thailand was amazing! Being with families who love us and spur us on to love is always refreshing and enjoyable. Valentine's Day was fun. One funny story: One day we decided to swim to an island. We started swimming and pushed against the waves and made it to the beach. We expected monkies to come out, but they didn't. We visited a temple and saw a boat with two pairs of sandals in it. Brian and I were with our friend, Mark, and his son, Daniel. Mark suggested that we borrow the boat to go to a further island that definitely had monkies. I said no way. He persisted. Brian said okay. Daniel followed. We got the boat in the water, and with all four of us in it, the water was at the top edge, kind of like bamboo, floating, but still under the water. One tiny little wave would have taken us out. We paddled anyway, laughing until our sides hurt. A little ways off the island and a little man came walking toward us, at first staring, and then realizing what we were about to do. We were afraid that the boat might be his, so we started paddling hard back to shore, sloshing water into the boat with every stroke. When we got back to shore, we tried to ask if the boat was his and if we could borrow it, using charades as our only language. We translated from his flapping arms and shaking finger that we could not take the boat because we would drown with the waves on the other side of the island, the direction we were heading. We said okay and swam back to the mainland. I think he was amazed that we could swim even that far. Besides that, we ate lots of ice cream, drank frozen lemon drinks, tried some new flavors of Baccardi (blueberry was a personal favorite), ate tons of spring rolls (yeah, spring rolls are not a Chinese thing) and lots of pineapple. Oh yeah, and who could forget Auntie Anne's! Yummy in my tummy! We rented motorcycles and watched how silk is made. My brother would love Thailand! There were so many things I wanted to buy for him. But, our vacation is almost over, and we are headed back to school in a matter of days. Before we know it, we will be headed home. Yay! Well, Brian is watching Bill O'Reilly on The Best D... Sports Show Period, and it is very entertaining, so I will head out to continue watching with my hubby. Peace :) | | |
| Don't you just love the fact that I have two two-week holidays within one month of each other? Oh, wait, that's me that love that fact! Thailand is calling our names through the fogginess of today. We leave tomorrow at 12:30 from school to catch our plane with probably at least 100 other waiguoren (foreingers). Yep, that's right. Thailand is the place to be, and we are all fleeing Chengdu on the same flight (well, most of us). It's kind of like Florida to the mid-westerners, only a differerent country and continent all together (and you can't drive to get there).  Brian left school today (and should have stayed home all day) because he is achy and sick. The flu has been going around like crazy, so I've been a little more than protective of myself... telling him to wash his hands before he touches me and not to breathe on me, etc. The poor thing; all he wants is love, and all I want is to stay healthy... This semester has slowed down a lot for me, so I have actually had time to work on my own artwork. I just finished a watercolor yesterday - and a tree that I am calling our family tree because I made it to hold pictures as the leaves, so we will have pics of all of our family on our family tree. Brian and I are always amazed to see new pictures because everyone is growing and changing so much while we are gone. Well, I should head to the cafeteria to eat lunch (today is ham and cheese hoagie day). We'll let you all know how Thailand goes when we get back! Peace out! | | |
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