Chapter 14: Time is Flying

Thanksgiving is over, and Christmas is coming... fast. I'm convinced that this saying is true: "As you get older, time goes faster." Better than slower I guess...
I spent about five days in Kunming for Thanksgiving. It was really fun! 
 

Lexi was really sweet and make me a welcome home sign. :)
For Thanksgiving dinner we celebrated on Friday, and we had some of our Chinese friends over. They liked all of the food, except for the pumpkin pie. Apparently, to the Chinese, pumpkin pie tastes like traditional medicine. So some of those that have tried it have grimaced at its taste. It's pretty hilarious...
But for those of us who actually like pumpkin pie (my family), we loved it because Xiao Zhang (our house helper) made it from fresh pumpkin... mmm...

For dinner we also had stuffing - sosososo good because it was made from scratch by Mama - two chickens, green bean casserole (made by myself!), jello salad made by Lexi (using 8 fingers instead of 10... observe the picture of her cutting the pineapple), cranberry sauce, and some peas and corn. It was definitely a sweet taste of home.

Xiao Zhang and the kids! Er, young adults I should say...

Lexi's fingers, sprained because a car door opened
while she was biking and hit her hand :(

Deliciousness :)

Thanksgiving in Kunming was a good time of relaxation and enjoying family. But now I'm back in Wen Shan, and I'll be staying here for a longer stretch before returning to Kunming at Christmas time. But it's going to go by really fast!
It was really good to be with the kids at the PT center today. I missed them! And I'm really happy that I'll be able to focus on them more now that my college apps are finished!!! I applied to Azusa Pacific, UC Irvine, UC San Diego, Sonoma State, and a junior college called Alan Hancock. Now I just have to wait and see what happens. Honestly, I have no idea where I want to go... probably my top
two choices are Azusa Pacific and one of the UCs. But I would also be very happy to start at Hancock and then transfer after two years. But I'm still asking Daddy what he wants me too... I've got time to decide, so I'm not stressing too much.

But anyways, I feel like I'm rambling in an unorderly fashion. But I guess to sum it up I'm doing pretty well. Daddy is good and faithful, and I'm excited for these next few weeks. I think my schedule will finally become steady, and I'm going to get plugged into working with the kids and learning Chinese - the two most important things of why I'm here in Wen Shan. So, keep me in your thoughts. It's going to be a challenging stretch I think, but I'm looking forward to the changes as well as blessings that will come from it.
I'll do my best to get pictures of me and the kids at the center up on the blog. So stay tuned! Thanks for following me!

PS Thanks Meredith and Michelle for your comments on my last post. I still have had no success with making the velcro stick on the plastic posters (except on two posters...for some reason), so I'm going to try to make plastic pockets. But we'll see how it works. I'll keep everybody updated! If anybody else has any ideas in case the pockets don't work, gimme more ideas! Thanks!!! :)

Blessings, Na Na

Chapter 13: Stumped...

Hey Friends! Hope life is good for all of you. :)
Life is pretty good here. The only sad thing is I think I have the flu... so I've had to stay home from work the past couple days. So good thoughts that it would go away before I have to travel back to Kunming for Thanksgiving would be super appreciated.

There is one thing I am stumped on, and slightly frustrated with... well more than slightly.

I'm really excited because my posters are all finally up in the PT center - and I have to say, they look really awesome. Unfortunately, there is a BUT in the situation. The Velcro will not stay on!!! I've been trying to figure out how to make the Velcro stay on the posters and the backs of the cards I want the kids to use. I've tried two different kinds of double-sided tape, super glue, and pure pressure out of frustration, but to no avail.
My next idea was to try to use push-pins or some kinds of hooks, but I don't want to poke holes through my posters and I would need small enough hooks that there would be enough room for all the cards to fit. So, really, I would prefer to use the Velcro... but I need some kind of super hero adhesive to make it stick.

If anybody - anybody at all - has a clue as to what I could use to make the Velcro stick on the laminated posters and laminated cards, please leave a comment and let me know. I want your all's help, so please don't leave out your ideas if you have any at all!

Here's pictures of the posters:

this is how the cards are supposed to stay...
currently they're all on the ground because the
tape wore down

 

So anyway, there's an update on that. Seriously, please please please comment on any ideas you may have - whether I know you or not!

Thanks!

Chapter 12: Life is FINALLY Starting!

Not that it never began before... but technically speaking, work is finally going to be regular; I have finally found a Chinese tutor; I will be in Wen Shan for longer than 2 weeks; and finally, I have a schedule! My Wen Shan life is beginning!!! YAY YAY YAY YAY YAY YAY... etc :P
I just got back to Wen Shan from Kunming an hour ago. I spent the weekend in the world of "Beauty and the Beast." It was so good! Everyone was fantastic, and I'm especially proud of Lexi and Wyatt for how awesome they did in their acting. So good job Lex and Wyatt! You both are amazing!

I'm really excited about things really starting up here in Wen Shan. I've been waiting... for a really... really long time... and I just realized it this weekend, haha. For this whole semester I've been hanging around waiting for things to start. But at the same time, I know it's been for a reason, and I'm thankful for the way Daddy has allowed me to transition into living a life as an independent person - more or less.

So keep me in your thoughts this week! It's going to be a rough start, I think, as I get used to my new schedule. It's going to be pretty busy. I am working at the center 4 days a week, taking Chinese lessons 4 days a week, and tutoring one of the L's kids and helping AL and BL with babysitting 5 days a week (possibly 6). That's just a rough overview, too. I'm really, really, excited about it and know Daddy has amazing plans.

The little bit I worked with the kids at the center last week was really cool. I've connected with a few of them really well and know that a relationship has already begun to develop with them as well as their family members. Also, one of my posters is up on the wall in the center! This week I want to start working with one of the kids on it to see how she responds. I'm going to make sure to take pictures this week of me with the kids and the poster(s), and hopefully pictures of progress throughout the next few weeks so you guys can see what we're doing.

There's nothing else important to report, except I will admit I miss America and all the cool people in it. :) Hope you all are doing well, and thanks for reading up on my blog!

PS still haven't figured out the whole response thing... working on it! but please feel free to leave comments, I love them!