USA

Some of my kiddos started their group presentations today. They were each assigned a random state, usually the only states they have heard of are California and New York. I was determined to teach them there are others.

I wanted them to be creative. I didn't want to sit through boring presentations. I'm selfish that way.

My last group brought a prop. Their state was Kansas, and they pretended they were on TV.

Cute, energetic, creative students make my job a lot easier!

And then later this evening I attended a play competition. My student told me about it, I didn't know what to expect, as I never do here. I went, and 4 of my classes were in our big auditorium dressed up, on stage, and speaking Chinese.

It was 2 hours long. And all I could figure out was that a man loved 2 women at the same time, and then he died. It apparently was a pretty humorous play, the crowd was laughing the whole time. Me, not so much.

Just another day as a foreign teacher.

kisses.

Happy Birthday Brother Eric!

It was never hard to remember how much older my oldest brother is than me, 10 years and a few weeks. He moved away from Oklahoma when I was 12, but that didn't stop him from playing such a huge role in my life. Today is his birthday!

The past 4 years I have watched my brother use his paternal skills, that he so often used on me, and raise 2 precious, sweet little boys.

I wish we lived closer so you could pester me like you always used to do!

I love you big brother.

kisses

Tianjin. Yes please.

After a family McDonald's breakfast we were off!

First stop the Catholic church in Tianjin.

It was beautiful. And strange to see in China.

Second stop.... Kylie and I decided to meet up with the crew later. We wanted to shop, and we just so happened to be in the biggest shopping area I have ever seen!

But I have never seen a Harry Potter store... is this normal in America now?

If only I could appreciate it for what it is...

Faux-Mickey and Faux-Minnie were out to scare little kids.

Speaking of kids... somehow we walked into this warehouse...

And kids were everywhere. Just playing and laughing.

They were being watched by adults, but not too closely. I took advantage and creeped on 'em till Kylie told me to stop.

It was time to meet back up with everyone so we had to actually find them. We didn't for a while. But we did find...

A giant gold door.

And multiple free recyclable bags!

When we finally found our friends we passed out our free goodies.

Now we are our own tour group.

With Justin as the guide.

He led us around on our architecture walk of the city.

Do you feel like you are looking at pictures of China?

Well maybe that one with the Chinese guy on the giant TV screen.

And apparently my boy's family has their own store in China. Score.

And after much walking and eating and walking some more it was time to get on the fast train and fly home. We managed to score a table in the dinning part so what do you think we did...

You guessed it. Except this time we ditched the Uno cards after only 1 game and busted out the regular cards and played a very competitive game of spades.

Jessica and I dominated.

Tianjin dominated.

kisses.

TJ BABY!!

We decided to take a little weekend getaway trip to Tianjin. We woke up reaallll early and boarded the slowest fast train available. We saved about $6 for an extra hour of pure fun.

They worked on school...

And we played. Seriously. UNO for 3 hours. One game lasted an hour and a half, we made up our own rules. I will never play UNO the normal way again. It is intense, vicious, and oh so brilliant.

We finally arrived in the city, dropped our bags off, and started to explore Tianjin.

It was beautiful, clean, and different. Not like other Chinese cities. It had character and personality.

We wandered our way down to the Italian district. It felt like we stepped in a dream.

Flowers. Everywhere.

One great little restaurant we found...

Beer. American. Barbecue. 3 of my favorites.

But we wanted Italian food. When in Rome right?

We got to sit outside. It was so foreign to me. Italian food and nice weather. I really must not be in Qinhuangdao anymore.

We walked. And walked. And walked.

We walked right into this American staple. I apparently had no idea they were in Beijing, so I insisted we go in to look around.

The signage looked like Wal-Mart, the smells smelt like Wal-Mart, but it was no Wal-Mart. No Hostess donuts, no tampons, no turkey meet. No precious cute old people greeting you at the door. Bust.

And we walked some more. We found grass and a cherry blossom tree and Justin went nuts. He wanted to stop for a photo shoot.

Married love.

Tim was missing Kara.

Sci-Tech power.

Please notice Justin in the background making grass angels.

He is so weird. He did this for a while.

Jessica took a circus class in college... she is just as strange as her husband! jk. I love her.

And we walked.

And so did they.

Our evening activity included "The Eye of Tianjin". The 6th largest ferris wheel in the WORLD. 30 minute ride.

While we were in the wheel fireworks went off. Cathy would have peed herself. We were about eye level with them. It was a different feel than the normal fireworks high in the sky show. It wasn't that exciting actually.

And we ended our long exhausting day with... what else but...

UNO!

We found out some people just don't appreciate a little table talk bashing. It's too bad. It's way more fun.

So far, Tianjin you have been very very kind to us. Until tomorrow.

kisses.