Think about it, where did it go?

Hello!! 

Where did January go?! Oh my goodness! So here I make a goal of keeping better track of things, which was suppose to include making more posts and then I go AWOL for nearly the entire month! 

Got to go out to a mall. Fun...but I was still in my high heel boots. Ouch! I spent 12 hours total in two days in those things!

The short story is that I have been busy! School finished, but work didn't. I was still working for the school every day up until the 17th of January. 

We had a nice, but TINY hotel room during our stay in Beijing

On the 15th my boss and I made a fast train trip to Beijing. That same day we met with the Education manager for New Zealand at the NZ embassy to introduce our school and see if we get students from their country to attend. Straight from that meeting, we went over to the embassy for Ecuador! I have to say that country now has a new place in my heart! ;) It was so much fun to meet the Consular Ambassador of Ecuador, as he was SUCH a nice guy! Very exuberant and warm. Plus, they gave us some really awesome gifts, Im not gonna lie that put them on top! {I mean, we are talking two really cool books which I will have to take photos of later to show off, a mouse pad, a pen that is also a USB, a lanyard, a bookmark, and two DVD's or CD's about the country.{I haven't put them in my computer yet to check them out...been too busy!} But probably the best thing was a matching set of winter mittens and toque that say "All You Need Is Ecuador"! And all of the gifts were in a reusable bag with the same slogan.} The next day, we went to meet with the Educational manager of the Bahamas Embassy. The cool part about that meeting was that my boss asked me to run with it and be the one to make the presentation!

While I was in Beijing with my boss.....I ate this! This, ladies and gents, is a pigs foot. 

I like to say that I have now been to New Zealand, Ecuador, and The Bahamas because technically I was on their land in the Embassy! Being the assistant to the International Students Recruiting Director really has its up sides! ;) 

After all of our meetings were over, we were able to meet up with some mutual friends and have pizza. It was really good to see them! I won't go into detail, but that night, as nice as it was to hang out with friends, was super hard on me. After I felt super selfish and really bad about it, but it did cause me to do a lot of thinking. 

My boss, Karmi, with the Consular Ambassador of Ecuador.

The Ecuador Ambassador, Karmi and I in the Ambassadors office.

So, as great as all of that is, and as perk filled as that makes my job sound, the greatest perk of them all was simply the train ticket itself! Because I had to have a round trip ticket for all of those meetings, I was in Beijing without having to pay for it. And my boss said nothing was in stone saying I had to return on the same day....I had a round trip ticket, that was what was in stone! And so, it was decided that I would not go back with her, but instead meet up on the 17th with some friends and head to.....DUN DUN DUN DAAAAAAA....Shepherds Field Children's Village. 

You got that right, people, that is the home of none other then the coolest kid in all of China! {Ok, really, it is the home of a great number of the coolest kids in China, but as a big sister I have to be a bit more biased! ;) } 

Not only was I here to visit the young man who will soon share the same last name....but also to join in the first ever Bring Me Hope Winter Camp! 

There are no words! No words are enough. 

Bring Me Hope is what brought me to China. It is what opened the door to my heart and allowed China to crawl inside and plant roots. The fact that I continue, five years after first attending camp, to be asked back and get to work with these amazing people is just awesome! I have met some of the best friends a girl could ask for through this camp! Just because the camp was scheduled at a different time of the year, did not change that effect. I have come away with new friends, and more places to stay in China should I ever be able to travel! 

There are so many things I want to share about this past week. I will have to make multiple posts though just to be sure that you, my great readership, are able to keep up and not get too word weary!

As I wax eloquent about my first home in China,BMH, I must also give due praise to our hosts! 

When I first came to China in 2009 and walked into the cafe on SIAS campus after a long trip, I knew I was home. I was home in China, I was home in BMH, I was home at SIAS. It made sense that I later chose to make it my actual first home in China. Back in August when I made a visit to SFCV after a very hard goodbye to both my sisters and my staff team, I had that very same home feeling upon entering the front door. 

I can not say it enough, I love this place. It is special. 

We were welcomed with open arms. Not only have they been the most accommodating and serving host staff we could have ever asked for, but they are just great people! I heard it from so many people about how great they are. 

I had planned to stay a day or two longer then everyone else as I knew I would not want to pack up and head back home. 

My departure date was Tuesday. As in, yesterday. 

I'm still here.

I am having a hard time leaving! Honestly, if I could, I would quit school and just stay here. I would be so cool with that. 

As it is, I get to stay here another week, which, like the round trip ticket to BJ, is another amazing gift from Father that He placed in my lap. {He is doing this not only to bls my socks off, but also as a swift kick in the rear for ever doubting and allowing the fear to take over and put me in the depths again.} 

This time is something I am never going to forget, and I am sure that the staff here does not even know how much it means to me to get to know them and be here for extra time!

I don't think any of them read this, but in case you do, Y'all are amazing and I thank you!! 

Please take a moment to check out The Website  and Their Facebook

There are many many precious children that are here waiting for their forever families! Your son or daughter might be among them, so you do not want to miss them by not clicking those links!!

This...looks gross in photos! BUT, it is honestly one of the best dishes ever! Tastes just like my grandmothers slow cooked pot roast and potatoes! I nearly cried when we ate it the first time. 

I shall post stories and more later, but now...time to run! 

Keep lookin up everyone! Keep on smiling! 

They are what I call, goals.

2015 Bucket List

Figure out what is next

Learn to cook at least two Chinese dishes

Write five short stories

Fit into size 10 jeans without pain

Sing in public

Become more bold

Study Chinese outside of school

Stay in touch

Say Hi first

Go one month without crying for no reason

Keep a better record of things

Start your book

Re-do 'All the math you'll ever need'

Write and send 10 hand written letters.

Plan and host at least one party

Learn to declutter

Read that book I've been putting off reading

Stick to the plan more

Be spontaneous

I am not making resolutions for 2015. 'Resolutions' not the best of words, I would say. {If you are a 'Miranda' fan, please say that sentence in her voice. If you are not a Miranda fan...what is wrong with you? Go find the first episode, listen to her, and then say that in her voice.} Its too harsh of a word. No wonder we make and break them! “Resolutions”. Rez-o-loo-shuns. Where is the fun in that?

I have created a bucket list. {Yes I know they are just resolutions, thank you for pointing that out.Sit down.} My list is for the things I HOPE to achieve in the fifteenth year of the two thousands. Man does that make me feel old! It has been fifteen years since we freaked out about Y2K? Being around for fifteen years does not make one old, remembering it and many things that came before it, does.

Oh dear, I got old.

No need to dwell! Moving on.

These goals are a bit more on the light side of things. You will note that there is nothing in there about my walk with Father or the like. {Besides being more bold, but that has many meanings} Those kinds of things, I feel, should not be in a list of things I “Hope” to accomplish in a year, but should always be on my list anyway.

Also,because I am trying to be realistic in this list of goals, I have not put anything silly like “Go on a date” or “Become important to a certain someone” since those things are not on any list, of course. {Looks at camera...yes they are}

I am not going to say that I am going to 'loose the extra weight' either, because I have been trying that and nothing has come off. Ok, MAYBE some inches have, thank goodness, but no weight has. That is getting too discouraging to focus on. So I will go back to focusing on the important things....what other see! ;) No one else looks at the scale, and if my doctor says anything about it, then I will just hope I am not in the middle of my 'no crying' month and I can burst into tears to get them off my back about it!

Unfortunately for those that read this blog, the one about keeping better track of things as well as the short stories goals will effect you the most. My memory is not always what I want it to be. For that reason, I want to keep track of it better when it happens. Some of this will be through more typed out journals or record keeping perhaps, but some of it is going to end up spilling out onto this blog. The short stories as well, they will most likely see the light of web-day only here. My first love, well besides the idea of being a wife and mother, was writing. The idea that I could transport someone to a time and place of my choosing, that I could get someone to see what I have in my head through word alone, or the concept of being someone else without ever having to leave my room, those have always been near to my heart. Even if nothing comes of it, I want to get back to working on it. Maybe I am no good at it anymore. Maybe I never was. Maybe I don't care! For a long time, I have wanted to write a song, and with the help of my Dad, I did that in 2013-2014. Turns out I need to leave that up to him, which was no surprise to me! But I still did it.

I have found that I really dislike personality tests or typing a personality. Being told how I act and think has never appealed to me and I feel that is what these tests do. Lately, there has been a lot of talk in my little group of friends about what kind of personality we each have. They have tried to figure out what I am and tell me the meaning behind it all and help me understand the letters and what they mean. And yet, I confuse them all. This is where the two final items on the list come in to play.

In the discussions about personalities and the way people operate, I have been told there are two basic types of people. Those that plan and stick to it, and those that may or may not plan but just go with the flow. I feel like I am smack dab in the middle of it. I LOVE to make plans and use to be that when I made a plan it had to happen or else my brain would self destruct. From time to time I still find myself that way. I like knowing how things will happen, what is expected, what we will do, what the plan is. Yet, more and more, especially because of where I live, going with the flow is far easier on ones heart, mind, and body! If I were to blow a vein every time my plan didn't work out the way I had it structured....pretty soon I'd be all black and blue and no closer to the end result I had in my head.

With that being said, though, I want to know when to do each. There are times when I let my plan and structure fall to the ditch when really there was no need for it. Times when I didn't need to be so noodle like and go with the flow, but I just kept up with it. Yes, you read that right. I want to be more planned in my spontaneity. I want to be better at knowing when the time is to lay back and let the current take me where it may, and when is the right time to fight against the winds and make them blow where I want.

Something I need to keep in mind is that not all of this has to happen in January or February. I think often I get too excited about goals I have set or things I hope to get done in a year and so I barrel head first into it, full speed ahead, only to burn out later and let the list fall to the wayside.

慢慢, 越来越 The first, man man, means slowly. Yue lai yue is little by little. I like these two, not only are the characters pretty, I like the idea of slowly becoming what I am suppose to be and little by little seeing the change. When it comes too fast, there is no time to adjust and the risk of falling back is far too great. When you leave a restaurant you are told to '慢走' walk slowly. Don't leave in a hurry and end up tripping.  

The Facebook Friend Break Down

During our speaking final, we were given questions for which to formulate and deliver answers. I had not really prepared as well as I could have, but felt I did pretty well on the first two assignments. {I had to speak about returning things to a store, which I felt qualified to do seeing as how I have worked the Service Desk at Meijer. I also told her how people wanted to take a bite of a donut and then return it at Tim Hortons. I was also given a list of words and had to use them all in a short paragraph of my choosing.}

However, I had forgotten the very last question she had told us about. I am not sure if it was just for extra credit or what, because when I told her I had forgotten all about it she said it wasn't going to effect my grade too much, she just wanted to hear my thoughts on the question and asked that I answer it anyway. The question was “Your most unforgettable moment/person/place/thing/memory in China”.

Now, most of the people she was going to be asking have spent about a year and a half in the country. That's still a long time, but she felt sure that they would have a favourite memory or someone that met that they were most glad for meeting. For me, though, I have been coming to China since 2009! I have met so many people, done so many things, have so many memories.....the list just goes on and on! How do you pick one?

Because he had been on my mind lately for some reason, I told her about the little boy I named Josiah. I told her that I have so many fond memories and things that I will never forget. And yet, I think the memory of holding that precious frail little boy close, and hearing him laugh, will stay with me and even haunt me the rest of my life. I hope it does, to tell you the truth. I never want to forget what it felt like to have to put him back in that wood and metal contraption and walk away. Because it is a feeling I never want to have again. It is something I want to help put an end to.

But, that's not what this blog is about. It got me to thinking about just how much China has effected my life. No, effect is not the right word. This place has a GRIP on my life.

To illustrate this best, I need look no further then Facebook. Just for fun, I went through my friends list to see what kind of a friend make up I have. The results were more then interesting! {I am wordy, remember? You don't need to go through this trip down friend memory lane with me! If you wish, you can just finish reading here! I will understand. Its ok!}

I have 47 relatives on my list. You could say that they are just there because they are related and have to be, but the fact that I have been unfriended and blocked by family proves otherwise! This is also 47 total relatives from both sides,....and I have more cousins then that on one side alone, meaning there are far more people with blood ties to me that are not socially networked to me! 7 of those, however, are my parents, brother and sisters. Those seven I will say are there because they have to be! ;)

A total of 26 of the people listed are former co-workers or people I met through work! That kinda surprised me to be honest! I didn't think I had that many!

8 people are from a time in my life that will always be ranked as the best of my life! I had a really hard time not counting them in the family portion of my numbers!

Though we do not really talk, I have an old {and I mean OLD, have you seen my age?} Kindergarten friend, as well as my favourite kindy teacher from my time at the private school oh so many years ago!

There are those I met through online communities like TFC {I actually have 7 friends from my time playing that game!} And homeschool websites and forums! {YAY for, General Grant, Miss Hopefulness,and the greatest Teek there ever was!!}

I am so thankful for Facebook! Three of the ladies on my facebook friends list were kids when we met! {I was a kid too I mean} And yet now, they are all three married with families of their own! I was 13 when I met one, and 17 when I met the other two, and yet now they are wives and mothers and I get to see their kids grow up!

Even with all of that, neighbours, kids I use to baby sit, people who knew me back before I can remember, and even the random friend along the way....the largest category by far....China.

I have over 300 friends who I met one way or another because of my connection to China. The majority of them are from BMH camp with a close second being, of course, my time in school. There are a few too though, that I have met through my travels in China, or are a friend of a friend whom I only met because I live in China.

I even started listening to certain music because of China! Before camp, I had never heard of Broken Vessels or Joe Brooks {and if you haven't either please go look them up!!} yet now you can find their songs on all my music playing devises!

Sure, we are skipping over the fact that as I type this, I am sitting in a dorm, thats in a Castle {I just have to put that in anywhere I can. I am livin' the dream people! I grew up and moved to a Castle! ;) la dee da!} on a campus, in the middle of XinZheng which just happens to be in this place called China.

It has made me realize....outside of China, I don't really have much of a life do I? ;D Ok, so that is not true {Have you SEEN how the Ducks are playing? YES!!} If you are going to pick a place around which to have your life revolve, it may as well be a place as large as China, am I right?!