One Country at a Time....

true.

2007-10-05T11:05:00.000-07:00

i am being sucked back into Knoxville. Due to money, due to friends, due to nathan.
[help]

Moving..... [on?]

2007-09-07T04:56:00.000-07:00

I have decided to move to California.

Its still surreal to say that.... but yes, Oct 29 I will no longer be a resident of Knoxville... California here [I] come right back where I started from.

And don't get me wrong... I don't think I want to live there permanently. I would really like to just be there while I wait out the Peace Corp thang and then either choose to join the Peace Corp or do something else abroad.

I'm guessing I will base this on either;

a. whether or not I even get in
b. my assignment and how it appeals to me
c. whether I change my mind in the meantime.

Regardless, I don't plan on being there past March (yay ridiculous St. Patty's in HB)

but who know...

I am moving to Long Beach ["Summertiiime in the LBC"] and looking on Craigslist for a roomie. I have this image in my head of me riding my bike to work (something with awesome co-workers that will barely pay my rent) and living in poverty. Heck yes (ehhh)

Sure I am nervous but its definitely on the exciting side.

A huge part of it is that I will be taking a roadtrip to get there!
This is my tentative Schedule

Oct 29 Knoxville to Little Rock
Oct 30 Little Rock to Austin (Halloween in Austin... dundundun)
Nov 1st Austin to Roswell, NM (trying to find aliens)
November 2 Roswell to Tucson, AZ *visiting David Banning*
November 5 Tucson to Las Vegas (I might just drive straight through to HB since Ree won't be in Vegas)

If I'm having an awesome time in one place then I will try and stay and extra day or so and if not, I can leave.... No drive in one day is more than eight hours so I can really take my time with it, and as long as I leave by noon (hopefully I'll leave way before then!) then my entire drive will be in the light.

The only time constraint I have is Mila's wedding etc... Her rehearsal dinner is the 7th (I'm not obliged to parrticipate) and the wedding is the tenth (NOT THE NINTH)

Reasoning for the caps correction? Yea... I'm an idiot and definitely bought tickets to see Stars- awwesome seats in a really private theatre for about 70 bucks total off ticketmaster (damn their fees!) only to find that my assumption that the wedding was on the ninth was unfounded. eff.

So if you love stars (or somewhat like them)....(or don't know who they are: http://www.arts-crafts.ca/stars/ ) and want to buy the tickets off me for 65.00- you can contact me/buy them off ebay. I'm so retarded.

However there is a concert on both the 8th and 9th that I would love to attend: Of Montreal. The show I'm missing by a couple of hours here in Knoxville cuz I'll be in Vegas (my 7.7.07 $7 ticket here to vegas) Ah yes... if you would like tickets to that, let me know as well.... GA for 10.2.07. blah.

Technically I could attend any of these Of Montreal shows:
Nov 03 - Austin, TX - Fun Fun Fun Fest ^^^ AA
Nov 04 - Dallas, TX - Granada Theater ^^^ AA
Nov 05 - El Paso, TX - Club 101 ^^^ AA
Nov 06 - Tempe, AZ - The Marquee ^^^ AA
Nov 07 - Tucson, AZ - The Rialto ^^^ AA
Nov 08 - Los Angeles, CA - Avalon ^^^ AA
Nov 09 - Los Angeles, CA - Avalon ^^^ AA
Nov 10 - La Jolla, CA - Mandeville Auditorium @ UCSD ^^^ AA
Nov 11 - Pomona, CA - The Glasshouse ^^^ AA

Let me know if you are interested in joining these.

Until I leave this is my schedule:
Sept 14th- Going away party for 2 of my favourite coworkers. This party is going to be riiiidiculous
Sept 25th - Claire's wedding
Sept 27-Oct 3- VEGAS (yay Ree time!)
Oct 12th- Octopus Project (heck yes)
Oct 27th- STARS in ATL
Oct 29th- Leave for roadtrip.

First thing I'm going to do:

Second:

heck yes late night harbor house with B-rad.

2007-08-13T22:38:00.000-07:00

Um, well, I'm doing what I'm doing until I'm not doing it anymore and I'm doing something else - whatever and wherever that may be.

Option 1: Moving to Cambodia with Emory and working at an NGO

Option 2: If I am accepted, going into the Peace Corp (all I have left to do are my essays)

Option 3: Move to Charleston (which seems like the option I will take after 1 & 2)

Option 4: Stay in Knoxville.... [no no no no no no no no]

Option 5: None of the above or a combination of the above (but not Knoxville.)

Thats where I'm at. Opinions welcome (in person or by phone)

One of these (or perhaps random Option 5) will happen or will be in the process of happening by Jan 1, 2008.

I promise myself.

but i don't check horoscopes...

2007-06-27T00:02:00.000-07:00

The other day, we got those really insightful, amazing insider tips about men from MSN, and I know we ladies lucked out so much getting a little peek into the other team's playbook, I thought I'd offer the guys a little peek into ours! How does that sound?
So, I'm going to take some liberties here and first give you what I imagine MSN would call "Amazing Insider Tips about Women: We asked your wives, girlfriends, and crushes to tell us something that would shock you." And in true MSN fashion, here are the top ten secrets:
1. We get moody around our periods.
2. We talk about you to our girlfriends and compare notes with each other. We say things like, "He's so cute!" when we're happy with you, and "He's such a jerk" when we're pissed. And one of our favorite things to say to one another is,"You deserve better."
3. We get a little bit jealous when you talk about your ex-girlfriends.
4. We wish you didn't like sports so much -- it takes time away from you lavishing attention on us.
5. We like it when you lavish attention on us.
6. And call us "pretty."
7. Yeah, that's good.
8. And when you remember stuff -- like our birthdays and that Lindt chocolate is our favorite.
9. When that happens, we gush to our girlfriends and say, "Isn't he cute?!"
10. We like it when you notice stuff, like when we dye our hair black or wear a new dress.
oh, and here's a bonus:
11. We like presents!
And, as if that wasn't enough secret insider information to astound you for weeks, now you get MY version:
1. If we're ever alone in your apartment for an extended period of time -- maybe house-sitting for you while you're out of town, or sleeping in after you've left for work or something, we're totally going to go through your shit and look for evidence of all past relationships. We're searching for pictures, love notes, cards, uh, ticket stubs you might have saved, anything that might link us to a life you had prior to dating us. We won't stop until we find something, anything. And when we find that thing -- that picture of the two of you on your vacation to San Francisco two springs ago, we will fixate on all the ways she's prettier and more perfect than we are, and how you can't possibly be over her and look how happy you are in this picture and we've never seen that shirt before, is that a shirt she gave you and now you can't bring yourself to wear it because it just tears you up so much inside thinking about how you lost your one great love in life and you'll never find anyone like her again and now you're just stuck with some boring girl like us with flat hair and lips that could never, ever be as luscious and perfect as your ex's?
Trust me, we don't like this behavior any more than you do. Not only are we wracked with guilt over invading your privacy, we feel ashamed and childish over our issues of insecurity and jealousy we know we should have gotten over long, long ago. It's very difficult being a female -- hey, do you have any chocolate?
2. We have period panties we hope you never, ever see. I'm not going to go into detail here, but I'll just say this: if you ever do happen to inadvertantly catch a glimpse of the period panties, oh for the love of god, please just do us all a favor, and never mention it. Thanks.
3. We're probably gassier than you are. Some of us. Not me. I mean, I don't ever have gas. I'm talking about other girls. Like your ex...the one with the perfect hair and lips. I'm sure she's really gassy. Good thing you got rid of her.
4. We don't shave our legs until we're positive we want to have sex with you. That way, if you get us drunk and worked up enough, we'll know we can't do it because we're hairy and you'll never want to see us again. After we become intimate, we'll only shave regularly for about 3-6 months. After that, we know we've got you hooked and we pretty much stop trying to impress you. Sorry.
5. As soon as we find out your sign, we start reading your horoscope obsessively, looking for any sort insight into your character, trying desperately to figure you out because we've decided you're very complicated and mysterious, since that's the only reason we can come up with for you not calling very often or wanting to see us as much as we want to see you, because it would never occur to us that you might be dating other people, or maybe aren't that interested in us, or perhaps you're busy. Nope, it has to be something else -- some deep character flaw, something we can fix! We love to fix you.
6. In fact, we spend hours upon hours with our girlfriends analyzing everything you do, say, imply, talk about, don't say, don't do, the ways you look at us, the different ways you've answered the phone, how you dress when you see us, just to figure out whether you like us or not.
7. That first time you called -- and we didn't answer the phone? We just wanted you to leave a message so we could listen to your voice over and over and decide if we liked you. Also, if we do decide we like you, at any given time, we have at least one voice message of yours saved and every once in awhile, we listen to it. And it makes us feel good.
8. Your text messages are like little drops of sunlight in our day.
9. You really have no idea how obsessed we get over you.
10. And it shames us sometimes.
11. So, from time to time, we say to ourselves, "Self, this kind of one-sided obsession, this isn't healthy," and to sort of balance things out and convince ourselves we can totally go a whole day without thinking about you, we won't answer your calls for about 24 hours. This makes us feel like we have control and that everything is right in the world again. We especially like it when you call when we're out with the girls, and we can pull out our cell phone when it rings, check the caller ID, and say, "Oh, it's just him. You know, he can leave a message, I don't have to talk to him every minute of the day," while we sort of roll out eyes in that way that conveys to our friends you've been kind of needy lately.
12. Hey, better you than us, for once.
13. Sometimes we "create drama" just to see if you'll stick around after it blows over. If you do, it means you like us, and we finally have proof.
14. We have and remember the anniversary for everything in our relationship -- from the first date, to the first kiss, the first sleep-over, and the first 'I love you.' We measure these things in months, and we tell our friends,"It's three months today since the first time we ate Thai take-out together." These anniversaries are very, very meaningful to us. If you remembered one, or even just made one up, we'd pertty much swoon for the rest of our lives.
15. Every ex-boyfriend we have has one quality, that despite how much he may have hurt us, we wish you possesed. This desire is especially acute when you've pissed us off.
16. We'd like to give your wardrobe a make-over.
17. You know that myth about girls freaking out over their boyfriends having female friends? Totally not true. We are so okay with your female friends. As long as they're your sisters, or they're ugly, or maybe they're married. Actually, we're just okay with your sisters. But, we really think they're great (I mean, they like us, right?).
18. Your friends totally hit on us when you turn your back for a second. We don't tell you because we don't want to cause problems since we know you've been friends forever and the likelihood of us being around for more than a few months is pretty slim, and also because your friends are pretty hot.
19. Not that we would ever do anything with them. Unless you dump us, you big jerks, then everything's fair game.
20. And one last secret -- one we don't even admit to ourselves most of the time:
When it's been awhile since we've had a boyfriend and we've gotten used to being the lone single girl at dinner parties and friends' birthdays, when our weekend plans don't revolve around calculating our next date and we don't lose sleep wondering why it's been two days since we've heard from you, when we don't have to worry about the state of our unshaved legs, or if our under-garments match, and whether you might be more turned on if we got waxed, when we aren't worried about losing you because there's no 'you' to lose, and there's anticpation everytime we got out that we might meet "someone," we're usually happier than we ever were with you, because most of you? Most of you don't deserve us. At least, that what our girlfriends say.

Wonderwall

2007-06-22T01:12:00.000-07:00

Today was the longest day of the year.
...it was terribly long for me.

I don't think I know what I'm doing anymore.
Playing the victim is wrong and I refuse to be one.
[everyone is going to be so mad but I don't care]

hrmmm..

2007-05-28T12:50:00.000-07:00

The Honest reason I haven't moved to California yet [besides monies] :

"...los angeles, or southern california as a whole, constitutes a social world of its own that is peculiarly disordered, speeded up, and artificial. the popular idea (substantiated to a degree by historians) is that because california was for so long the special end point of the westering dream, the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow of hopes of countless pioneers, it has received more than its share of restless visionaries and misfits and is therefore a more intensly neurotic version of the neurotic life of modern america." -Bret Easton Ellis

but....

and...
and...

_________________________________________________________________________________________

And in life... no more of:

because of:

My friends remind me I am stronger.

cause=time

2007-04-13T04:08:00.000-07:00

(yes thats my Paddington, heart pillow and favourite dog from when I was little)

Oh maaaan... its daylight!!! And also, FRIDAY THE 13TH!

And they all want to love the cause
They all need to be the cause
They all want to dream a cause

Love and Mathematics

2007-04-13T03:16:00.000-07:00

Good to be home again. After a near two week stint in California- filled with ridiculousness as to be expected- I returned home to a night at Barley's with the ones I didn't stop talking about while I was home. It amazes me that you can combine your close friends into a mix that work as well with one another as they do with you. I am expecting the ones who promised to get their asses out here. I promised bull rides, cowboy boots and general drunkeness- and, although that is SO far from my Knoxville reality, I won't dissapoint.

CA trip= mmmm.... lessee. Industrial Club, Ralph driving down from San Fran, All you can eat sushi, Harbor house fights, Late night talks with Brad, Vanessa, Shane and Cheese. Loooots of late night talks.

Note: If I could marry my friends and live in a house like the golden girls I soooo freakin' would. Only there would be a lot more people. It would be nice to grow old with such lovely people. And no relationship drama (: p boo that)

Sitting in the circle in Orange, Santa Monica, laser tag with the music fraternity, beer, pool, ridiculous tiny red vinyl dresses borrowed from Bernie, Mexican with brad's family, Angels game box seats with Shane's fam, My virgin Wii experience, meeting Cheese's new @$%#*%#, finding out about Paul Schiavoni's sexuality, Easter Mass with Shane's family, Kirsti's birthday bonfire, chain reaction after 4 years, booonding time.

it was good. really good.
i won't lie- I cried in LAX and had to call my mom.
*while wearing giant sunglasses*
Me: but... but I'm going to miss them so muuuch
Mom: well you'll just have to find a way to move out there then
Me: But I'm poor! And the orange county bubble has rich ladies who push their dogs around in strollers!! Moooomm why can't everyone I love be in one place??? It's not faaaair..
Mom: well you're going to have to find a way to make a lot of money then, aren't you?

-commence my everlasting dread of coming to terms with the lack of things I am doing-

So what HAVE i been doing?
Applied to go back to China
missed (kinda purposefully) the deadline to apply for the JET program
Wooooorking- at Bravo, an italian restaurant
Hanging out with friends
Spooning. Nathan plays guitar and bartends. yes...I know.

I feel refreshed from the last three months of relaxing (??) and feel ready to look for a real job. WHHHHERE tho?

but anywhoo, I returned home to even more good friends.
...and then I got sick. I got serrrrriously sick. Like Nathan had to hold up a glass of gatorade with a straw to my mouth because I couldn't move and I haven't eaten anything in the last three days besides half a can of pears (yay watching the office and having greg open the pears) sick. So sick that I started crying about everything. Called mom to be babied- cry, Nathan was nice- cry, I puked- cry. In short... it was bad. But i feel more like a human now.

Alright I really should sleep because rest is good for sick ones like me.

Things to do:

2007-01-22T12:32:00.000-08:00

Learn how to pay ALL my bills on my own (make enough $ to do that)

Write Thank You notes for graduation $

Go to Barnes and Noble with xmas giftcard and buy all the books I should have already read

Read said books in free time

Work and have a good time with my neat coworkers

Finish decorating my room already

Take books (and ex bf leftovers) back to McKays for $.

Take furniture to goodwill

Go thru closet and take out the stuff I never ever wear

Back up old clothes with mothballs to take to gramas for storage so I can give them to my kids someday.

Find good plan/ start paying my own car insurance

Pay rent/utilities/Comcast

Enjoy my time and not worry about figuring out what I'm "doing"

Reeeead/Sleeeeep/Cuddle with my rockstar spoon

Loving Life (currently)

2007-01-15T04:06:00.000-08:00

Sunday: Senor Taco and cheap margs for Ralph's going-away dinner-running around a cemetary-fear and loathing in las vegas-10 people in a minivan-bar-secret bar-broke a pool ball table-foosball-pinball-VAN RAVE-World's Fair Park-Monkey in the Middle-Freezetag-Marco Polo-Red Light Green Light-What time is it?- Big Booty!-IHOP-zombie plan making-listening to the Broken Social Scene CD/sleep. : )

I'm having so much fun here! I moved in with Lori (haha zack!) for cheeeap rent living in a nice duplex (although off campus : (... ) workin' at bravo and *enjoying* life!

Happy Thanksgiving.

2006-11-23T10:27:00.000-08:00

A picture of an elephant in the womb.
Life never ceases to amaze me.

I'm not moving to DC but my house fell thru with the girls (damn boys named bradford) I'll now be living in a cardboard box come mid december. oh yeaaaa. And Nathan and I have been hanging out a bunch. And Im looking forward to being done with school already. sheesh.

so pumped about turkey. so pumped.

2006-11-19T00:25:00.000-08:00

Dear God, someone help me

Choice #1: Have to decide by Wednesday before Thanksgiving if I want to move to N. VA, DC area and in with my best friend Marie and get a job maybe working for a non-profit and livin it up in DC and make the family happy with getting a "Real job" etc.

Choice #2: Stay in Knoxville, move in with some ridiculous girls, work as a server or what not and make money with no lease and then have the option to do what i want when i want. (grad school, travel, move...) and just be a freakin' kid for a while.

Choice #3: Be wild... move to s. america, teach english in korea, move to Cali... anything.

shhhhhhhheeeeeeeeeeeeeesssssssssssh. And where the HECK are all my old friends to help me when I need them? Nofuckinwhere.

: /

recovery time

2006-11-12T23:01:00.000-08:00

I am dismayed at the people who I thought would have been ecstatic about me coming back to Cali when they don't seem to care at all. It makes me think maybe my place is elsewhere (if I even have one).

I am thankful for Marie for encouraging me to move closer to her (VA/DC) and helping me to find the right fit for me because it makes me feel loved.

I am also thankful for Kay in her being exactly the person she is. I am lucky to have met someone like her. Life is more fun and pessemistic (optimistic) with her to confer with.

I am overwhelmed by my family in their security that I will have a "good" job and a "steady" income come December 17th.

I am scared to fucking death about talking to my speech professor about my absence/late (after 3 absences your grade is lowered one letter- and a minute late IS absent-and I've had one miss and two lates) because if he fails me- or i get below a c - I will not be walking across any stage dec. 17th.

Oh, and I wish I had someone to spoon with. but not mitch on any level.

<3

2006-11-12T01:41:00.000-08:00

California Dreaming...

2006-11-07T12:24:00.000-08:00

Robin Saylor called with an offer to move back to Cali. not like that tho.

+ : In&Out, Del, Cheese, Vanessa, Shaners, Brad, Robin, Brigid, Jesse, Spain friends, some kenny, other long lost friends I'm sure i forgot, warmnessity, being home, adventure, no lease requirement, best friend coffee meets, partying with my loves, living in a liberal place, the possibility of getting hooked and staying, did i mention adventure?

- : the going-home-cop-out, living with Devo (I booked an appt at the allergist even), leaving Knoxville and my friends here, being far far far from family, having to sub-let my apt till May, cost of living in CA, not having a car, public transportation, the possibility of getting hooked and staying.

I wonder how much I'll have to "start over" versus my friends there *actually* wanting to see me. How much will i miss Knoxville? How allergic will I be to Devo? Am I terrible for leaving my close vicinity to Emy now that she's entering high school? ehhhhh!

Oh man, I hear about the house Wednesday. We'll see.....

i got my graduation info today...

2006-09-18T21:19:00.000-07:00

What a night!

2006-08-12T04:10:00.000-07:00

80's night.

2006-08-11T18:49:00.000-07:00

(What you can't see is the giant polka dot scrunchie in my side ponytail)

Shang Hai Birthday Style

2006-07-23T19:37:00.000-07:00

I'm officially 22 now. Amazing.

Right now I'm at the hostel waiting on my breakfast. I whipped out the extra yuan for a cappuchino (sp?) and I usually hate coffee..

Yesterday I left Beijing- but not for good. I will return to the humidity and tradition on Thursday morning (We're taking a night train back on Wed night) Josh and I took the overnight train from Beijing to Shang hai last night. We were in a "soft sleeper" which means ultimate coddling in a nice bed compartment with three other people (I had josh and two old old chinese men who insisted on having the top bunk) They bring you dinner, there are western stule bathrooms and there is even a dining car with a bar. I didn't sleep very well tho... no particular reason why tho.

When we got off the train it was raining. RAINING. like sky falling in raining. It turned out josh and I were not on the same train as everyone so we waited a bit for them and right when we decided we had missed them and walked into the subway, we saw Mike (the emcee from the closing ceremony)'s hat. After they called all their "options" for a hotel, I single handedly maneuvered us to the best hostel in Beijing (there are eight of us) from the subway and got the price to be 70 yuan a night- yowza!

After we got settled in I called Greg, who was headed out to a bar, then we (Me, British James, British Joel, British Mikes, Jen, Scott with the chin and Josh) got a quick traditional chinese lunch and headed off to some museums. We hit the shanghai museum (historical jewels, caligraphy, furniture, clothes...) and the modern art exhibit which was fantastic- kind of funny that my favorite exhibit was on loan from houston TX tho....

we stopped on the second floor of the museum and had a ten yuan cake. A kind of a tea cake. yum.

After we tried to go the urban planning building- which had interactive exhibits for the 2010 world expo which is to be held here. but it was 40 yuan- so we went for cheap sushi overlooking the skyscrapers of beijing instead.

Josh and I split up after that and tried to get tickets to The Lion King. SOLD OUT! There were two tickets on Tuesday that we could have gotten, but they weren't together and 500 yuan a piece. No student tickets. damndamndamn.

Instead we went into a nearby coffee shop. After a while a guy and girl wandered in and Josh said he thought they had an australian accent... so I asked them. New Zealand. Asked them what they were doing in Shanghai- They're um... in the show. And who are they? A chorus member and SIMBA- the LEAD. hahaha... so we spent the afternoon with Simba of the Lion king (who's company takes very good care of them, except for one thing- no comp tickets) They apologized a couple times they couldnt let us in. Ah well.

Jen, Josh and I (My breakfast just arrived!) wandered around till we found a place for dinner, went to a market, got some ice cream, wandered riverside of the Bund. Then went to the captain bar at the top of the hostel overlooking the Bund and the british boys joined us -and scott with the chin- and we celebrated my 22nd birthday. : )

So today we go to the Jade Buddha Temple. Don't really know what to expect. Tomorrow is Huangjo (Sp?) I'm so happy!

Well my fellow travelers are waiting on me so I should go. Sorry about not updating enough! HAPPY BIRTHDAY GREG! (American time you still have an hour and fifteen minutes left!)

Miss you all!

Winnah!

2006-07-11T20:10:00.000-07:00

My boys won the entire province level competition!!!

Quick review, there are 8 provinces, One for each letter in TSINGHUA (the name of the school) - I'm in I province- and in each province there are 5 teachers and 5 foreign volunteers and 2 tsinghua volunteers and 2 hong kong volunteers..... aaaaand about 350- 375 kids, so total in the camp there are about 3000 kids- yay math.

So of the 375 kids doing solos, small group performances and chorus performances in province I, my Boys SCHOOLED everyone with a score of 95. Hulk-a-mania came in 2nd with a score of 92.5. boo ya (not to be confused with boo yow, "I dont want it!")

Yay. My boys were so happy. Odd how winning is so unifying. So now we go on to the schoolwide competition. We're going to have to get them to dress up and get Bennett to help us choreograph.

Ahh gotta love getting in a taxi and having it take you to the wrong gate three times. Did I mention I do not speak chinese?! : p

Went to the electronics market with Michael yesterday. He speaks fluent Chinese. It was insaaaaaaaaaaane. I got one of those ipod dogs that tilt their head and act like speakers (Cat has one, i think) for about $26. I think that was a good deal. Chords too. I think that will be for Emy. Oh no. I hope she doesn't read this! If she does then its not a normal color and its uber cute and the haggling that went on to get it only makes it more worth it. I tried to score a razr for greg but the lowest they were giving it up for was $80 and I didn't know if that was kosher with him.

After the electronics market I got ready and went to dinner with Mitch at this vegetarian restaurant. The food there is crazy, it's tofu but they design it to look like animals (tofu fish head and tail with eggplant for skin and long onions for "innards." heh. Then we went next door to the coffee shop with the big couches.

What else was I going to tell you about? Oh! My lesson yesterday! So I couldn't sleep on Monday night and had planned to do a lesson on dating with that Kay and Josh did last week which included The Dating Game as an excersize. ....But I decided not to go to breakfast on Tuesday morning and woke up around 845 to find no PPT in my email. DUNDUNDUN. So... in the 30 min. I had before class I came up with this activity I had heard about... teaching directions. It went something like this, first 20 min. of class we reviewed all the directions (up, down, east, north, one step, small step, stop, over, under, around, between... etc) And then turned all the furniture in the room (desks, chairs) on its head and all over the place, then paired the students off, blindfolded one and had them lead the other thru the mayhem using English directions. Worked well. My second class had an uneven # so when the last student crouched down for me to blindfold him, I had a moment and was like, no... you should blindfold me.

So my students led me thru the class, BLINDFOLDED. which.... i can't emphasize enough, was terrifying. At one point I heard soemone yell stop and I put my hands in front of my face to find a huge metal bar right at nose level. Lovely. Was a lot of fun tho!

Today I've got classes and probably promised one person or another I would go out with them. At four I'm choreographing Uptown Girl for another group.

Thanks for the emails everyone. It's so nice to get mail! <3

"Ahhh Beijing" -Josh

2006-07-10T05:30:00.000-07:00

So i guess its been a week since I updated. Oh I can't explain how everyday, every second here is yet another adventure.

Yes, in the picture (if ya'll can see it) I am about to eat starfish, seahorse and... scorpion. Seahorse is bad. badbadbad. Scorpion is actually pretty good. I think there's some fried tofu (for in between bites) in the picture too. yum.

This happened at a huge marketplace which sold basically evvvverything. Got a present for Ruba and Leon. They should be pretty excited. Also got a lighter that looks like the red book.

Oh and the singing competition. My boys did backstreet boys (the song "Everybody") full with choreographed movements they worked on until 3am... and then tied in the contest. We're pushing them thru, they were too good. My chorus also won, they are singing "heal the world" and to be honest, with the choreographed movements and good solo singers, we're golden. I'm worried about our chorus competitors doing "hulk-0-mania" complete with a full hulk costume.

We went to a kung foo show. WOOOOOOW. balcolny seats, was about $12. Broke metal and wood with their heads, stacked ten chairs with a kid sitting on top, flew from the cieling. just wow. And some of the stunts were done by little kids like backflips landing on their heads. Really worth it.

Lake adventure with Lola, Mario, Yatsuki, Mitch and Josh. Smoked traditional apple sisha (hookah) at a bar on the lake with red lanterns. We were uber tired tho so turned in early.

Ah, Mitch... the date went uber well. His friends are so nice. We had a nice dinner and went to the lilly pond where they had ballroom dancing. I danced. He's got a masters and is working on his PHD. The advisor for international affairs to Tony Blair is doing his research masters thesis review, he spent time in Guatemala working with underprivledged citizens writing a paper on the US involvement with sending in agents to control the citizens there, he worked for the ICJ. yea... the international court of justice. sheeeeesh! ridiculous. College class president. It goes on and on... I'm very happy. He just signed a contract to work here for another year so we'll see...

Saturday we went to tiannamen square. Life altering. We sat in a circle with chinese students telling us their version of what happened there in 89. One student explained that the chinese government did not know how many people died there. Doris, a student from Hong Kong, interrupted with "ten thousand, maybe more." We played tag, saw the giant clock countdown for the Olympics in 08 and chilled and had some icecream.

We started out Saturday night with Sushi. We had like 6 different rolls, giant bottles of beer, rice, soup, and watermelon for about six dollars a piece. oh yes.

Then there was the pub crawl. Now, I have never done a pub crawl before and I perfectly illustrated the idea with me crawling at the end of the night. With Mitch leading, me, josh and Kay started at Zub, this tiny, spanish-y dancing, strong long island ice tea making, underground club. Dancing was done by all and then we moved on to Touch Nine, a third floor pub where they served pony kegs of budweiser and chili cheese fries with whole prawn on top. Instead of peanuts on the table, there were prawn crackers. Had a pitcher there and moved on to Shrek Bar, located next to A bug's life bar.... at shrek bar (which resembled nothing related to the movie) we had the korean alcohol in the green bottle. Never... i repeat NEVER drink the alcohol in the green bottle. Its evil. Capital E. At this point it is POURING outside, literally, the sky is falling in. In this weather I waded (emphasis on waded) thru the street to the cab, in which we headed to _____ bar. The reason the name is blank is because after much discussion, Kay, Josh and I do not have ANY recollection of how we got to this club, its whereabouts, let alone its name. At this bar Kay danced with everyone, I danced with myself, Mitch ordered some jack and cokes for us all and Josh broke a glass and was taken in the back room where he was yelled at in Chinese and two people discussed his fate until he received the thumbs up that he could return to the dance floor. Don't break glasses in Chinese clubs.... check. I have a faint memory of getting home. Mitch and Josh led the way and Kay evidently fell on the way in. I saw our sushi again. Sleep....

Next day we went to the night market. Let me translate for you. Illegal shops spread out on the ground where you haggle prices down down down and at the mention of the word "cops" the entire market DISSAPEARS in seconds. Really something to be seen. I got a shirt, a bracelet and earrings for about six dollars. yeaaaa. Too bad even the L size is an extra extra small here in China where the women can barely fit their organs into their body they are so small...

That night was the world cup which came on at 3AM and because of it, morning classes were cancelled. Yay sleeping in. Went to afternoon classes, got soaked on the way, went to a mcdonalds rip-off for lunch, then taught my class about American and English typical meals and compared them to and against Chinese customs. Chinese are definitely much more healthy. They don't cook their food in oil for a majority of dishes. Going thru the slides was slightly painful as we showed typical American food- hotdogs, hamburgers, chips, BLT's.... could we BE any more unhealthy. You can imagine how my class laughed when I explained about how there are commercials on TV to keep kids active.

Afterwards some kids came up to me and it slipped that my birthday is on Friday (yes, since the camp ends on the 22nd and I want to celebrate my birthday on a weekend and with everyone so I said it was on the 14th.) And so something Maaaaay be happening on Friday. I hope karaoke is involved.

Anywhoo, hope this is a good update. I'm pretty much swooning about life in general nowadays. I don't don't don't want to leave. I LOVE my job. I love these kids. I enjoy going to work. I'm having fun, having new experiences and feeling very lucky.

Something About Love.

2006-07-03T07:32:00.000-07:00

Today I was a teacher for the first time in my entire life. Not a fake teacher... but a real life, 30 chinese students staring me in the face for direction type of teacher. I had a 9:40-10:30 class and another 10:40-11:30 and then lunch break and an additional class 2:30-3:20 and organization of the singing groups to train them for competition 3:20-4:00. Then one of the students invited me to his birthday party. I had the best time. I love it.

So the first class my lesson plan (these are students -i was told-who have a good but not really good proficiency in English) was to introduce myself, give a couple of words on my background and life and then have them ask questions, explain the meaning of the word "pumped" and explain how i wanted the class to be a relaxed atmosphere where they could feel free to make mistakes, then write the definition of icebreaker-something done or said to relax a formal atmosphere or situation and tell them to pair off and find out their buddy's name, major, favorite western movie and musical group as well as fruit.

I also had them write their three topics they most wanted to talk about... my favorite replies other than "the solar system" "your opinion on bush" "the situation with taiwan" and "do you have a boyfriend" was definitely "something about love." <3!

The problems: After I said my name and where i was from in a couple of sentences- and yes, i was speaking sloooowly- I got completely blank looks. COMPLETELY. I asked "Does everyone understand what I am saying?" ---silence--- "Okay... raise your hand if you understand what I am saying..." ---silence--- "Allllllright then, I suppose I will explain the meaning of the word ICEBREAKER:..." And continued with the lesson plan from then. I found the students to be a bit rude actually, talking over the other students presentations and things. But in all, the morning lectures went well... The afternoon lectures now... that was AWESOME. The kids were talking, making jokes, trying to get my email, inviting me out with them etc. I was a real teacher.

To sum up, my last class ended with everyone in unison singing "Heal the World" with choreographed hand gestures. Yeaaaaa! I was feeling really good. I really enjoy this teaching thing. Let me get back to you after like a week tho....

For our lunch break, Josh, Kay and I went to the lake with the giant lilly pads (which ducklings were walking over!!!!) and had ice crem and popsicles to cool off. We ran into the brit studying chinese there. Was a wonderful afternoon in all.

After classes we came back to the dorm/apt (Kay and Josh stopped to get beer due to their classes being the lowest on the food chain of speaking English and general mayhem with understanding and an overall bad class) and they drank, I had some tea and we watched some kind of concert with the chinese backstreet boys, britney spears, christina aguilera, and dolly parton and everyone congregated to lament their class failures. We all headed out to dinner and at the last second I called Mitch to join us. He met us, we all had a great dinner together and on the bike ride back out to the lake to watch the old couples come out and waltz in the giant christmas-lit plaza of the curved roof buildings, he asked me on a date. Two to be exact. I'm going out on a double date tomorrow with a belgian couple and he said he would take me on a proper date later. In short, he's a history minor from Alabama who finished his degree in the UK, is working on a masters in Human Rights (swoon) and is headed back to the states to get his law degree (?) and he's learning chinese and working here in China. He's mid twenties, attractive Southern gentleman to the core, and i like him. I'll let you know how the date goes.

After the dancing we came back and talked about worst dates evvvvvver- sticky fingers anyone?! hahaha.

The night i didn't tell you about was futbol night at Mitch's flat. After a harrowing experience involving getting lost and not making it in time to meet him to lead us to his apt and using the three lines he quickly drew with an apt # (there are like 10 dorms on campus) we MAGICALLY (i'm serious about the magic) found the apt- by we i mean josh.

In one room we stuffed about 50 people ranging from 15 countries (s. africa, korea, japan, chinese, french, italians, spanish, english, peruvian, australian, canadian, greecian, german, american, sicilian...) La mezcla was to die for. Free beer, everyone brought different food ranging from tiny bananas to dumpling burgers. England lost, Kay biked home crooked, we danced, i played soccer with the brit and won and just seriously... i kept standing there in awe that I was actually there. CHINA!!!

The next day, a bit of a hangover in tow, we went to the summer palace. I haggled postcards from $1.50 to 20 cents, we saw some split pants children (disturbing yet cute?), went on a boat ride around the city on an old painted boat, took pictures in old style royal clothing (me kay and josh- who looked especially royal) and walked the expanse that was the palace. beaauuutiful. Afterwards we went for a feast-about fifteen courses- similar to the banquet we had for the program (by the way, that place is where I'm going tomorrow night for dinner.) The feast cost us about six dollars. RIDICULOUS! We came home and josh, me and kay spent the remainder of the day talking and resting and being lazy in bed.

I think thats about all folks....

Alright, I've used Josh's computer for loooong enough. I hope this was a good overview. I miss you guys. <3

Monsoon

2006-07-01T01:41:00.000-07:00

The days are already blending together!

At some point we went on a bike ride down by the old city (in Beijing, not UTK yay!!) and there was a lake with giant lilly pads and curved painted roofs and it was lovely. I cant wait for josh to upload some pictures so I can post them.

We got groceries and headed back. Later we bought wine bottle sized beers at the store (we had planned to go out but the rain was intense and we didn't want to take a death taxi so Kay, Josh and I ended up biking in the rain to get beers) for 3 yuan.... we got two and it was less than a dollar. yessssssssss. I also bought a kinder bueno for everyone to try and it went over quite well. So me, Kay, Josh, Erica and the Welsh dude who we think is gay named Dan sat around and talked in a circle (its all about holes) in me and josh's living room and drank. It was good conversation and like proper old people around ten thirty we started to get tired and were all in bed by 11. I didn't even finish half a beer!

The next day was orientation- SURPRISE i'm a teacher. Evidently mis Ray "kiki" Wright did not show up for the camp and now I'm in charge of a class 9:40-10:30 and another 10:40-11:30 not to mention organizing the singing group from 2:30-4:00. I suppose since i'm working less than 3.5 hours I should stop complaining but I'm going to be in my own classroom, staring 30 chinese students in the face and knowing that they expect me to increase their knowledge of the english language during that 50 min. sheesh. Its gonna be a good experience, I'm sure. I've been waking up naturally around 8am so i dont feel that its going to be a problem. I'm anxious and a bit nervous.

I do want to give a quick rant to the fact that I had no idea I was going to be in charge of children (and by children I mean 19-22 year olds) and we're only being paid $125 (like 900 yuan?) versus the actual teachers getting paid $1000 and we're doing the same thing only without a lecture. I thought I was going to be in a teacher's room, helping out when needed and AIDING in running activities, not actually teaching.

ahhh how can i be upset! I'm in China and josh just came home and told me tomorrow one of the chinese volunteers.... well, she's form hong kong but we wont get into that.... is taking us into beijing proper and we're going to the summer palace and tiananmen square. I'm so pumped pumped pumped.

but i'm still nervous about teaching the kids.

After orientation (Which included a DVD with celine dion for background music) we went to dinner.... ok ... a FEAST OF EPIC PROPORTIONS. They brought out at least 50 dishes. I will have to put up pictures of that too. I couldn't have possibly been more stuffed. THEN the knowledgable brit, James, took me kay,(who might change her ticket and travel with us!) josh and amanda (one of the teachers who went to UT and is getting her masters in sculpture) and his friend Mitch (not Martin, who may also be gay) who has been taching here to the bier garden (which involved maneuvering our herd of bikes thru 6 lanes of speeding, honking traffic, flashing lights and general ridiculousness) and meeting his friend yatsuki (a half japanese/half korean, chinese and english speaking rockstar). In short, because kay and josh are waiting to go to dinner, there was a monsoon. The kind where you walk into the rain for one second and are drenched. We tried to watch the game thru it and succeeded a bit. Drank while huddled around our table and under the leaking umbrella (with Doris- volunteer from Hong Kong, a chinese american, Yatsuki, me amanda and josh). It was glorious. After the lightning started to get scary we made a run into the french bakery and yatsuki bought me a cheesecake. It was a good actual desert because it was from France.

We Americans biked home when the rain let up a bit. Then josh and i had tea with honey and talked about our day but unlike proper old people.. it was around 1am. I called my mom and when the calling card ran out i went to bed.

This sleep is the kind where you lay your head down and can't remember falling asleep.
I'm having the best time.
Tonight the knowledgable brit and mitch (not martin) are having a party for the game. Update on that later : )

get THIS

2006-06-29T00:25:00.000-07:00

so I can make postings but I can't actually view my blog... or anyone else's blog for that matter because its um.... free expression or what not. so yea. email me if the postings won't show up and I doubt I can check comments on this thing. REEEEEEdiculous.

ps. there are a lot of british students here. : D yay accent.

Knee How???

2006-06-28T21:28:00.000-07:00

This is my email I started writing to Ree and it got so long that I'm making it a blog entry:

omg i'm in CHINACHINACHINACHINACHINA. I wish you could have come with us! I am hanging out with Josh and Erika and this new girl we met named Kay who is from UT. This dude Bennett who I met when I first started doing theatre stuff sophomore year is a teacher here and today he took us all around to get our bag o' stuff (notebook, pen, nametag, shirt etc) but we dont get our stipend until 7/5 so blah. But its okay...

So the last two meals I had (dinner of green beans and meat and this egg and tomato dish with white rice and srawberry icecream and breakfast of pancakeish thing and omlette with muffin, yogurt and orange juice had cost me a whopping total of a dollar fifty.

Our room is SWEET (i'm rooming with josh which means lots of people come to visit and congregate) its two bedroom with a living space between. I have a queen size bedroom and a lot of closet with a desk that has this dimming light which makes me feel cool as i write in my journal at night. From my window I can see the metro going by and people on bikes and we're near a gate into the university (this campus is huge and has like 4 gates to get in)

Nobody speaks english except for the students.

My bike is purple and its an old school cruiser and I named it grimace, like the McDonalds dude who is purple. It makes noises sometimes and i'm afraid someone will steal it as that is the major "thing to do" on campus evidently. They call it "lost" like we would say "oh, my bike was stolen" they say "janine lost her bike." hah. And we almost went to this store that was supposed to be cheaper as Jake, the chinese student who went with us to barter the bikes, explained. I protested something about supporting THE MAN and we went to the other, legal, place. I can't get over how nice we have it back home.

I keep looking around like.... I'M IN CHINA?!!!!! whaAAAA? Josh and I, after getting the key to our room, ran in and started screaming and jumping in the living room. There are two chairs in there and a TV which gets one english channel. I spent some time flipping around watching traditional chinese opera-like theatre on one channel and their version of American Idol (where there berate people for having bad scores with a big wha wha whaaaaaaaaaaa noise in the background) and some news which I found to probably be.... um... censored. Ack, maybe I should watch what I say?

Anyways... This lifestyle feels healthier. Everything is portion sized to what the chef thinks you might eat and I can barely finish that AND you have to eat with chopsticks so everything takes longer. In the cafeteria we have been eating in (there are a couple places around campus) Theres this giant room (three floors) of windows you can go up to and point at something that looks good and they put it in a metal, prison-like dish. Its fun playing "Let's guess what I'm eating!" The drinks are.... lukewarm at best but the milk josh found this morning was ice cold. The ice cream was better tho. I haven't gotten sick yet (knock on wood) and I feel slightly disoriented as in Knoxville right now its currently 1:11 AM (1:11pm china time.)

Kay is behind me on another computer asking how to spell Nei Hao "KNEE-HOW" which is hello. You respond (Thanks Jordan Luke) with "whoa-hung-how shee shee-ah ni naaah." Oh yea. And boo yow means I dont want it(thanks harrison) I CANT BELIEVE I'm in chinaaaaaaa!

Oh allow me to lament my plane ride really quick. Lost my keys on the way out which was a bummer (but i found them!)and thought I would be "late" to the airport but actually the chinese woman who booked our tickets wrote 9:55 to leave but it meant 10:30 leave, check in by 9:55. So i was actually uber early even after getting grama a biscuit from mcDonalds, leisurely eating her scrambled eggs and toast that she made for me and checking in. Flight Knox-Chicago was quick and i had the whole back row to myself. I got 3 blankets and 5 pillows and slept (I stayed up the night before packing and talking to people on the phone) then Chicago to Beijing.... GUH.

So I get on the plane, and there are three seats on either side and four in the middle (this plane was HUUUUUGE and had two floors but it was olllld school with a movie projected on a front screen for an entire section of the plane (to contrast, my flight to spain had an individual screen on the back of every seat so you could choose what movie and when you wanted to watch it with a selection of like nine movies) this one played hoodwinked (animated red riding hood but the audio was fucked up), Kind Kong (put me to sleep) and Wimbledon (omg nonono) i think tristan and isolde played but I was asleep. ANYWHOO, get on the plane and I am in the farthest left seat of the four in the middle and there sits (in order left to right) a woman, two kids and an old man in khaki. So I look at the woman and I'm like "Excuse me ma'am, you're in my seat." and she is chinese and is explaining in half english that these are her kids and could we please switch seats. I'm sure you can guess where her seat was MIDDLE SEAT. THE PLANE RIDE WAS THIRTEEN HOURS AND 22 MIN. in a middle seat. So I stand there for a second, LAMENTING the bad luck when Khaki guy says "well, are you going to move or what?" and I was like "excuse me?" and he says, loud as day, "Well i think you're being quite rude. Youshould switch seats with this poor woman so she can sit by her children" and I look at him incredulously and say "Did YOU want to sit in the middle seat for fourteen hours?" and he didn't say anything and I switch seats while giving him the death glare. So my first impression of all these volunteers on this plane is like i wasn't going to switch seats to allot her to sit by her kids. Oh and there were like 4 babies screaming too. sheeeeeeeeeeesh.

Alright I think I'm going to get out and explore the real world now on Grimace. miss you!!!<3

Janine

So ya'll can leave me comments on this or email me at Jalaseer at UTK.edu. I'll figure out the phone card situation soon enough.

Oh, and I met Liu Nannan. She's a girl and super nice.
Oh my gosh, CHINA is outside!

2006-05-26T13:52:00.000-07:00

This summer, from June 27th until July 29th 2006, I will be a volunteer at Tsinghua University in Beijing, China. Due to limited internet access I have decided to start and internet blog chronicling my experience.

So far all I know is that after a lengthy application process and despite the fact that many applied, I was chosen as one of 15 volunteers from the University of Tennessee to attend the third annual English summer camp at Tsinghua.

I was lucky enough to be accepted with my good friend, William Joshua Lucas (Josh), and it looks as though I will be rooming with him now too. I found my first challenge (besides applying!) in my response to an email from someone by the name of "Liu Nannan" explaining that Josh was my preferred roomie. The Chinese, as I have found thus far, are quite formal in writing and are always sure to demonstrate respect to elders. In writing the response I went to title it.... Mr.? Miss? Ms.? What sex could I assume that Liu was? I ended up titling it with the full name. I hope I'm not labelled inconsiderate.

Well I'm currently at my mom's shop, "Sassy South," in Beaufort, SC (1001 Boundary Street Suite B. Beaufort 29902 to be exact) and my mother has to close out the register and with that I end my first official entry into this blog.

Hope you are smiling.
Janine