'what's in a name?'

there are some student names that will never fail to make me laugh. last year, quality names like 'walmart' or 'alien' always brought a smile to face. nearly all of my students this year are precious little gems. i'm teaching high-schoolers this year compared to last year's eighth grades. the maturity in these students is far more prominent. yet, one thing remains ... the crazy, hilarious, ridiculous (in a good way) names. allow me to share some with you. these are the names that i have deemed worthy of blogging of. enjoy.

girls.

linko

oran

dark

jussi

sushi

sharmy

nerry

ken

ixia

flood

derossi

ueli

wood

phantom

eddie

fresh

aeon

prometheus

amethyst

somnus

boom

pluty

bunny

seulki

boys.

pugna

kov

vegeta

piko

yaphets

egg

saphronie

noctis

jascha

churchill

glorious 1; glorious 2; glorious 3; glorious 4 
(the only four boys in this class)

i hope reading these names brought a little sunshine to your day. i'm so blessed to have met each and every one of my students, this year and in the past. i hope to keep you posted with fun stories from this year.

soli deo gloria.

big buddha, big buddha, big buddha.

before i begin boasting of my incredible weekend getaway, i must apologize for keeping you in the dark with everything else. i haven't necessarily been too busy to blog; it's just that i haven't taken the time to do it. my sincere apologies. i intend to change that, but we'll see how that goes.

anyways, let me tell you about my trip. i went to hong kong. and, as always, it's amazing, it's beautiful, and i love it. it's clean, the people are friendly, and it oozes of westernization. seven-eleven's with cream sodas, starbursts, and twix bars are enough to soothe away the longing for american snacks. english-speakers and the plethora of foreigners also add a certain warmth to the city.

i had to go there to adjust my visa. so, technically, it was a business trip. lucky for me, the business portion of the trip lasted less than three hours.

i took an overnight train with my school liaison, sophie, to shenzhen. from there, we walked through customs and crossed the boarder into hong kong. we arrived in hong kong in the morning. the customs lines, the subway rides, and the visa process filled up the entire morning. we finally got back to the hotel mid-afternoon. since i hardly slept on the train, i crashed for a looong nap. the night ended with chicken wings and an enrique iglesias concert on mtv. the next day, sophie and i got on the hotel shuttle bus before 8am. when we were about to board the subway, sophie pointed to the map and said, 'i go here. where do you go?' i was not prepared for that question. i looked down at some advertisements on the map and said, 'i'll go here.' i pointed to a picture of a huge buddha, with blue sky in the background, and a lot of happy foreigners in the corner. done, i'd go see buddha. i rode the subway for a long time. thank goodness for the book and the ipod that i had decided to throw into my bag last minute. i took a cable-car through the mountains with a group of five friends from thailand. i was so happy to learn that they could speak english; they shared with me a fan from their bountiful collection of chinese fans (since the cable-car was so hot) and they also shared with me their beliefs in buddha. i was interested in their 'faith,' but had to literally fight back tears of deepest sadness for the thousands and thousands of people that were coming to pray to buddha on that very day. i paid my entrance fee of $23(hk) to climb buddha's stairs. the buddha was huge, the sky was blue, and the mountains were mystically covered with fog. a perfect day to see the world's largest bronze buddha. on the way down, i stopped for a coffee with a lovely irish man. i reflected on my morning's experiences as i glided through the mountains on my cable-car journey downwards. my next destination was a life-size replica of noah's ark. (yes, budda in the morning; noah in the afternoon i felt weird explaining this to sophie afterwards; she must think i'm searching for religion in my life. little does she know ... ^^) anyways, in order to get to noah's ark, i had to take a ferry. it was a beautiful day for a boat ride. the 'ark park' was quite a waste of money, but the actual size of the ark was interesting to see. i ended my first full day in hong kong with an overpriced pizza, an overpriced heineken, and an early bedtime.

my second day was not nearly as interesting. i was craving something western-ish. so, i decided that if i found a movie theater, i would stop for a 'foreign' film. and, that's exactly what happened. i was headed towards a traditional chinese-style park. but, when i got off the subway, the neon lights of a cinema caught my eye. movie of choice? 'contagion.' i was early for the movie, so i walked around the mall. i soon quit after an impulsive purchase. i quite enjoyed the film. i recommend that you go see it. that way, you can put yourself in my shoes ... in kowloon, the only girl, the only foreigner, the only one coughing and sniffling with a cold. (go see it.) after the movie, i took just a quick stroll through the park. then, it was back to the subway. next destination: church at the asian seminary. i went out to dinner with the majority of the als crew which was awesome. the night ended with a good pint of beer, a delicious meal, and wonderful time with friends.

the next day was monday; i had to pick up my visa in the morning. luckily, i bypassed the huge line. i was in and out of the visa office in less than ten minutes. since i had nothing to do and time was limited, i stopped at starbucks to enjoy a double-chocolate muffin, latte, and book. i was back to meet sophie at 1:30pm to begin our journey back to mainland china.

soli deo gloria.

... i'm gonna be sick.

not too many things freak me out. i used to be able to watch just about any gory thrasher movie and barely flinch. i could handle any amount of blood that i saw. never have i ever felt nauseous from the sight of something, or the smell of something, or the sound of something. apparently, something has changed.

allow me to share with you two recent scarring events that occurred within my first three weeks back to china.

1.) acupuncture. it sounded like a good experience: chinese medicine in china. 'when in rome, do as the romans do,' right?! wrong. i went with a friend, a friend who gets acupuncture every other day. i figured that if she could do, i could do it. again, wrong. the first part was fine ... putting in the needles, no problem. that part was actually quite entertaining. if you're wondering if it hurt, the answer is 'yes, just a little.' then, came the wait. waiting about half an hour in small hallway ... with about 50 other people with needles in their faces ... with the horrid smell of burning mugwort ... looking down at the needles stuck deep in my face ... feeling the pressure from the several needles pressing millimeters from my skull ... i started to feel dizzy. that 30 minute wait felt like hours. all of my insides were leaping for joy when the doctor called me in to take out the needles. he started with the needles in my face; those came out fine. i hardly flinched. then, came the few in my skull. in order to get them out, he pushed them in harder to free them. i felt the prick of each those needles as a pain that surged through my entire body. the combination of the pain and the thought of needles near my skull made me feel queasy. he dabbed the back of my head with gauze ... and that's when i saw all the blood. instantly, i sank back into my chair completely numb. my eyes were open, but my body was completely shut down. it was too much for me. since the doctor had a line of people in that room, he had to physically pull me out of the chair. when the people saw that i was struggling, each and every one of them rushed to me to hold onto me. i was wobbly on my feet, but didn't necessarily need help. everyone had pulled out candy from their bags and was shoving it towards my face. little did they know, i was fighting back from throwing up. (luckily, i didn't do that.) i told them that i needed the bathroom so they let me through. one lady followed me out and gently offered me a crunchy, sugary meat wrap. i accepted it, even though it would not have been my first choice of things to eat after nearly fainting. i sat down for about a minute in the smelly, crowded hallway. when i couldn't handle it anymore, i slowly walked myself to another american friend's apartment ... while carrying the needles that were sent home with me (in case i ever want acupuncture again). when i finally reached that apartment, i plopped on the couch ... my head was throbbing, i was feeling nauseous at the thought of the needles, and my body was tingly. since my friends did not have the same morning experience as i did, they were bouncy and bubbly and ready for lunch. i went with them ... almost fainting again in the elevator. i figured it would be best if i just ate a small lunch ... so, an asian pear sufficed. with that, it took only a matter of minutes before i was feeling better.

... and that's the story of my acupuncture. now, for story #2, which is not nearly as long ...

2.) frogs. just yesterday, i was walking with a friend, aaron. we walked to a back alley market to buy fruit. and that's where we saw ... a lady skinning live frogs with her bare hands. i kid you not, she was probably doing this at a rate of 50 frogs/minute. just a quick dig fingernails in, rip, snap, and put living frog in bowl. we saw this, cringed, and continued to the fruit shop to recover. just when i was starting to forget it ... we walked out of the fruit shop to go home ... we had to pass her again. but, this time, she was holding up a living frog (with skin still on it) ... only the frog's head was between the blades of a scissors. i quickly turned around to shield my eyes, but the sound of the slice ... again, instant nauseousness. i froze, my body locked up in cringe-position. that's when aaron looked down at me and said, 'let's get outta here.' ... yes, please.

... so, now you're up to date on those two stories ... i promise to put others up soon ... better ones.

may he continue to be with and bless you. soli deo gloria.

wingardium leviosa.

as some of you might know, i've never seen a harry potter movie. yet, i have wonderful bunch of family and friends that are persistent quoters of the films. when thinking of my trip to bogotá, colombia, this particular quote comes to mind ... hermoine says: 'stop, stop stop! you're going to take someone's eye out. besides, you're saying it wrong. It's levi-OOO-sa, not levio-SA!' everytime i opened my mouth to speak the name of the city, i had to remember, it's not bogota (like pagoda), it's bogo-TAH.

................................................................

my trip to bogotá, colombia was absolutely amazing. breathtakingly beautiful, perfectly picturesque. like most places i've traveled to, i didn't want to leave. the culture is so unbelievably warm, the food  is outstanding, and the weather is perfect temperature year-round.

i went to colombia with the sole intention of visiting my sister and her husband. visiting their school, meeting their coworkers, sightseeing the city, absorbing the culture, gorging on the foods ... those were just extra perks.

here are my top 10 favorite moments of my 5-day trip to colombia:

1. seeing luke and rachel. (duh.)
2. worshipping in yet another language.
3. seeing and touring all the cathedrals and churches scattered throughout the city.
4. watching colombia vs. mexico in the junior world cup at a pub.
5. going to school and meeting all their little darling students.
6. listening to a 'lecture' on bull-fighting and colombian history.
7. dinner and devotion at a church family's house.
8. walking on the streets ... the graffiti, the street vendors, the art, the music.
9. meeting chinese people from wuhan, china while coming down from a mountain.
10. 'los pitufo' advertisements everywhere. (i didn't know that 'smurfs' had a spanish translation.)

 soli deo gloria.



the travel bug.

"the world is all gates, all opportunities, strings of tension waiting to be struck." - ralph waldo emerson.

the house is empty. the cat and the dog are sleeping next to me. i'm sitting in my dad's chair. i'm stuffed from the blueberry bagel that i just inhaled. my coffee is getting cold. the travel channel is on. a man is walking through greek villages. i feel nostalgic.

i had crossed the boarders of canada and mexico when i was a young girl. i don't remember the exact years. i hardly remember the trips. i remember feeding seagulls in texas, riding in our family's huge purple van with our cousins, and feeling extremely sad when it was time to head home. occassionally, i'll find a few blurry, old photos from a disposable kodak camera laying around the house. every single time i see those pictures, i think to myself, i need to go back.




 when i was in college in small town, minnesota, i began to feel the burning of the travel itch. i needed to go somewhere. i decided that i would go to tirana, albania to visit a few college friends. you might be thinking, albania?! what?! why?! where is that?! yeah, i thought that too. my first big travel alone ... and i choose albania?! well, to sweeten the deal, my friends promised a weekend trip to athens, greece. i was sold.

i remember ... i was laying in bed; i had to share a bed with my friend. the space heater was tucked into our covers to keep us warm. a rooster was crowing. we had just gotten back from beautiful greece. i was talking about how much i loved albania. i was talking about how much i wanted to go back someday. she said to me, "looks like someone has been bit by the travel bug." i smiled and shrugged off that comment. little did i know, it was completely true.







i got back from that trip and could not stop talking about it. at first, i just really wanted to go back. but, as time went on, i came to realize that i needed to stop focusing on that spot. i needed to find a new one. so, as senior year rolled around for me, i knew that i would be crammed for credits in my final semester. what to do about it? go to jamaica to study marine ecology for a few weeks. that was an opportunity that i simply could not pass up.  


oh, jamaica. that was two week "vacation" in january full of studying, snorkeling, tanning, and consuming a little too much rum. (sorry to admit it, but it was just so delicious.)





i went back to school mid-january with a semester stuffed full of credits and a full-time job. i was finishing school with a goal in mind ... china. i had considered it for months, but made the final decision to sign up in february. the goal was to spend a year in china working as english teacher and also as evangelist.

i walked on graduation day in may, despite the fact that i still needed to complete summer school to actually graduate. i told my family that they didn't need to drive all the way to minnesota to see me walk across the stage to pick up an empty envelope, but they insisted. they left for home after the services; i had to stay in minnesota for work. that was the last time i ever saw my happy, healthy mother. two days after my "graduation," she didn't wake up. 

i had to decide if china was truly the correct choice for me. it wasn't easy to make that decision, but the encouragement of family and friends kept me strong. i began training for china on august 1st. three weeks later, i was flying to china.

(probably the ... ) best. decison. ever. i spent a year in china, teaching and sharing the word. the year went by all too quickly. before i knew it, i was preparing to be stateside again. yet, i had another opportunity before me. my younger sister had recently gotten married and moved to bogotá, colombia, south america. well, why not visit them?!

so, here i am ... sitting in an empty house, stuffed with american food, still in my pajamas at 1:00pm. here i am ... waiting for tomorrow's flight to colombia, thinking how blessed i am. here i am ... stressed about tomorrow, stressed about next week's flight to china for another year.

here i am ... bitten and consumed by that travel bug.

bienvenidos. huanying. welcome. willkommen.

i'd like to welcome you to my new and more secure blog site. stay tuned as i update you with fun facts, silly stories, or random tidbits of my [travel] adventures.

soli deo gloria.