I'm coming back soon--I promise. I will post the rest of my China pictures and pictures from my birthday--yep yep. They are coming. I've been incredibly busy lately, and Lauren is leaving in 15 days (I don't want to talk about it...). I'm sad, however, we are trying to do a lot before she leaves...nope, I'm not crying. Not crying.

I want to say thanks to all of you who have asked me when I would post my remaining pictures. It helps to know you guys are reading and actually want to see them. Okay, off to work...only 5 more days until my break starts!

It really is a pretty great wall

The reason I wanted to go to China was to see The Great Wall. I had no other 'points of interest' on my list. Needless to say, I was a little disappointed when Ko, our tour guide, said we would only be spending an hour there. However, Lauren and I managed to make the most of our time and took about a million (read: about a hundred) pictures between the both of us.
These are a few of my favorite ones:







Lauren and I got a lot of looks for wearing flip-flops. Asian people, in general, don't wear flip-flops to walk around though.



We couldn't possibly pass up a chance to get on a camel.

Shani-I don't know if you read my blog, but you should know that I definitely thought of you when I was on this camel.



When we were leaving, we overheard some guys speaking a language we didn't recognize. Sato-san, a guy with our group, asked me what language they were speaking. I decided to just ask the guys, because I had heard them speaking English earlier. We found out they were from Iraq and were on a government trip to China. Nice, huh? When I told them we were from the states, one of the guys said, "Oh, yeah--we're in a fight." It was, umm, funny. This picture represents the entire conversation pretty perfectly.


In one word: bizarre
I especially love the look on the guy's face that is on the far left.

Umm, what?

I'm convinced, now more than ever, that it's a requirement for Asian countries to post signs with horrible English.











And my favorite...

Apparently this bathroom is for a small man that wears a dress.


Don't worry--this is just my first of several posts with pictures from Peking, or Beijing, whichever you prefer to call it. They can only get better from here, right?

Yes, she is a teacher...

I can't make this stuff up...George does this all on her own.

Exhibit A:
George: our school nurse is from Ethiopia...she found out that I have a 2nd degree burn on my leg.... so she comes to me last week and says...and I quote "It is too late for this now, but next time you get a burn like this, cut yourself a tomato and rub it on your burn....it will make it not get an infection."
Me: My ear hurts...I don't want to go to a Japanese doctor again...blah
George: Do you want me to find out if you can squeeze tomato juice into your ears?

Exhibit B:
George: I want to learn sign language.
Me: Why?
George: So I can be a stand up comedian at a deaf comedy club.

Exhibit C:
George: How far is it from there to China?
Me: About a 3 hour plane ride. We can't drive there you know (Japan is an island)
George: it is? hmm...did not know that

The icebox tales

Out with the old...



In with the new...



Yes, it's true. The green monster is gone and has been replaced by a smaller version in silver. This one doesn't make huge blocks of ice in the freezer, so it's already better if you ask me. I am forever indebted to Ferdinand, who helped make this possible. I love Nigerians (especially him).

I did have to take down my not-so-great poetry.



I need a new hobby. Chelle-do you remember when we played with the magnetic poetry in Atlanta? That seems like forever ago...

It's 10:30 on Saturday morning. I woke up to the sound of weed eaters hungrily chopping down unwanted bits of foliage. I needed to get up anyway. I was having some dreams that seemed very real and I couldn't take much more of it. The strangest one: My grandma was there. She was just hanging out with me and my family. A pretty typical day. A few of my friends were there too. Why is it strange? My grandmother died 10 years ago, so for her to seem so real in a dream now is a little creepy. I woke up expecting her to be in the room with me. That's how real it felt. When I realized it was all a dream, I felt defeated. It's not fair that she gone, but that's life. I wonder if I'll ever stop missing her. If this longing to still see her will ever go away, or at least become dimmer. It hasn't in 10 years and I'm starting to think it never will...

What I'm up to...

-I'm going to China next week. I'll be sure to take lots of pictures and post them. I'll even try to do it in a timely manner--like within a month of returning...

-I'll be in Texas August 1-17. On the 17th I'm going to San Francisco for a wedding, then heading back to Japan on the 20th.

-On June 14th I'll finish at my current school, Takatsu Jr. High. It is the biggest school in Yachiyo with over 600 students. My next school is Mutsumi which is the smallest school with less than 200 students. I'm looking forward to getting to know more students though since there are smaller classes.

-My parents sold my car. Therefore, if you see it around Tyler, it isn't me. It's the new owner.

Ok, consider yourselves informed.

These tulips made me smile

I'm thinking about getting this shirt for everyone I know.

Life on an island

I got here at the end of July, just in time for typhoon season. Lucky me, eh? In between typhoons it was so humid I began looking like a native carrying a rag around to wipe the sweat from my face. September was just as humid, but at least the typhoons were over. October brought a little relief as the temperature started to drop...except it never stopped dropping. By November I was regretting my choice to get my coat when I was home at Christmas. When I returned in January it was colder than ever. At least I had my coat though. Along with the bone chilling winds, we got snow, but nothing too horrible. February brought more cold winds and I was happy to leave for Europe in March, even if it was cold there too. April is when we all expected warmer times. Lauren even brought all her winter clothes home in March. I mean, it's reasonable to expect April to be warmer, right? Well, we continued to freeze at school, but it was slowly getting better. Soon we were able to put most of our long sleeved clothes away. We even had several days of beautiful sunshine. Then we found out the rainy season was coming early. It's supposed to be in June, but it's been raining all of May already. Why can't we just have some nice spring weather without all the rain?
I think I'd like to live somewhere without humidity next.

As an aside, today was actually the best weather we've had in a long time. The sun was shining all day and I loved it. Too bad I had to be inside at school during most of it.

Natto is yadda (gross)

Natto is fermented soy beans. Yes, basically rotting soy beans and Japanese people love it. It's the nastiest smelling stuff ever. At Stitch, our church youth group gathering, Lauren and I were in charge of the game. We put candy in natto and they had to put their face in it and get the candy out with their mouth. It was pretty sick.

The victims, err participants


Daisuke with natto strung out of his mouth


Lauren speaking with Yuya translating


Daisuke with a bunch of pizza from Costco. This was the best day EVER.

Child abuse

I think it's unbelievably cruel to make boys wear these uniforms. I mean, he even looks unhappy. He's probably thinking, "I can't believe my mom made me wear these dorky shorts."



The worst is when we see boys that are 12 wearing these shorts.

Funny English

Happy Birthday Benny boo boo

Ben-do you remember that hat? I think it got ruined which is too bad because it was seriously the coolest hat ever.
I hope you're enjoying Europe on your birthday.