CHINA

Hello all!
I know it's been a long time, but things have been crazy at work. I can't wait to come home!

News...

The giant 50 day trip to Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia has been postponed indefinitely. But I am still saving up!

I got a JOB at Princess Cruise Lines as a FULL TIME youth staff! I am so excited! I embark near the end of October if all goes as planned.

I am coming HOME!!!! Around the 15th of September and I'm going to try to see everyone! But family first!

I got a NEW camera! YAY! I really needed one, my old one has been falling apart for years!

And in Final news and the reason I am posting this edition of my Blog is to document my little big trip! I am currently in the airport waiting for my flight which leaves in 30 minutes to go to China!!

So about the trip
I am spending 2 and a half days in Beijing. For the first day, I have hired my own personal tour guide (only 30 dollars for the whole day!) Her name is Jenny and she speaks nearly perfect English. Together we are going to see the Forbidden City, and Tienanmen Square, and the Temple of Heaven. Then we are heading to a silk factory to get a custom made evening gown. I am very excited about that! I have always wanted a gown that actually FITS! And I am going to need one for the cruise ship. I am thinking royal blue, asymmetrical design, with a lighter blue sheath over it. But we will see.
On day two I am taking a group tour to THE GREAT WALL! My tour goes to a portion of the wall that is supposed to be less crowded called Mutianyu. We will see how it goes! I will take lots of pictures!!
Then day three I am going to Shanghai around 2:00 ish. I'll arrive in Shanghai around 8:00.
ALL FOUR DAYS in Shanghai are going to be devoted to the WORLD EXPO!

This is something I am super excited about!
It's supposed to be amazing!!
Here are some links to sites and videos about the EXPO.

http://en.expo.cn/#&c=home

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BX_Wsh3MUpk&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t02giLzaj4w&feature=related

Anyway, I am going to attempt to update this blog with pics and news about my trip each day.
So here goes!
DAY 1

I originally planned to fly out at around 7:00 pm on Saturday the 24th because I wasn't going to get out of the scheduled Kindergarten overnight camping trip till 2 in the afternoon on Saturday. However, it POURED all day on Friday so the Kindy camping trip was cancelled. Giving me lots of extra time to possibly go to China early. I thought about it and called China Southern to see if there were any earlier flights available. I found out that YES there were. They told me to arrive at the airport at 9:30 and I'd be able to transfer to an earlier flight. So I got up at 5:30 and got on a bus to the airport. Arrived at said time. Went to the China Southern Desk. They said, "is impossible due to codeshare with Korean Air. You must go to the Korean air desk." (this was after waiting in line for 15 minutes) Then went to the Korean Air Desk and the representative, (who spoke much better English) said, "You were misinformed, we can't help you at this desk, it's a China Southern Flight!" But she was very nice so she called China Southern for me and talked to someone. Then told me to go back over there and They would put me on the standby list for the earlier flight, which was already full. She also warned me that my chances of getting on did not look good. I told her no problem, that I was used to getting bumped because my mom worked for Delta Airlines and I have flown Standby my whole life. But I was resolved to try because if you don't try you certainly won't get on!

Funny stories and Greetings to all!

Hello and happy new year, valentine's day, and birthdays to Mom, Dad, Urvashi, Paige and Evelyn. (By the way Andrew, I was SOO happy to get to talk to you! I miss you both so much! we need to be in better contact! Evy! I don't know why you don't like skype but I wish you'd get over it so we can communicate... It is so dull without you in my life! AND PAIGE!! I AM SO HAPPY TO HEAR FROM YOU! YOUR ARTWORK IS SPLENDID, MAGNANIMOUS,GORGEOUS AND EVERY OTHER WORD I CAN THINK OF!!! Everyone look at this it's lovely!! http://roguedoe.wordpress.com/
Tracy and Ian, it has been over a week since our last chat, we are due! I miss you! and EMMA CONGRATS ON GETTING MARRIED!!! O LOVE YOU SO MUCH BEST WISHES CONGRATS CONGRATS CONGRATS!! )
So three funny stories from today about how much I love my kids (there is a distinction between loving my job and loving my kids, I adore my kids, my job is OK)
So there is the kid in the kidy program who hates school and never pays attention or speaks in class, unless it's in Korean and he is goofing off. BUT today he did the funniest thing!!! We were in Storybook, and we are currently reading the GREATEST Story by Eric Carle (same guy who wrote "The Very Hungry Caterpillar") It is called "From Head to Toe" and we were reading and doing the motions. (I am a monkey and I wave my arms. Can YOU do it? I CAN do it! ) And we were being crocodiles and wiggling our hips when this kid, who I remind you rarely says anything, gets up and yells, "I can Do it!" climbs onto his chair and stars doing this hilarious dance where he wiggles his knees and claps his hands by swinging his arms around and passsing his hands in front of his eyes... I can't even explain it! I belly laughed for a good thirty seconds before I told him to get down. Oh it was HILARIOUS! I had no idea he had it in him! Another hilarious thing happened when we were kicking our legs like donkeys... One of the kids shoes flew across the room because she kicked too hard and suddenly the air was full of shoes because all the other kids thought it would be a great idea to kick their shoes as high as they can also! Luckily we are in Korea, where their inside shoes are only soft slippers or it could have been dangerous! I belly laughed again (prolly 10 seconds this time) before telling all the kids to retrieve their slippers and mine and put them on again. THEN in my afternoon classes I mildly chuckled at a few things I saw and read. I have one class that is all boys about age 10 and they think they are the coolest things to strike the earth. also you must remember they re korean and cannot pronounce L's or R's if you paid them to. We are learning about -er and -or suffixes. and we were filling in sentences that had words blanked out of them. One of the sentences was, "I play baseball, I am a __________." and when all of them read it in unison they finished the sentence with, "I am a PLAYA" LOL It makes sense when you think about it, but it is funny! The other thing was in that same class we were reading a story about an actor who was coughing and coughing. It was to illustrate the concept that "gh" sounds like "f". well one of my kids has a very loud voice and when he reads he commands the attention of the room, but he does not pay attention to me when I teach. so he did not realize that "gh" sounds like "f" so when it comes his turn to read, he says in stentorian tones, "Then the actor began to COUCH. He COUCHED and COUCHED. Every COUCH made him bend his head to his knees." MANALIVE! poor actor! I would hate to be couching so hard that I bent my head to my knees!!! Any ways those are the funny stories from today! I will try to keep you posted!

In other news, my work computer DIED today, like take out the hard drive and have a funeral dead. So now I am sharing a computer with my co worker... which will be interesting! I am not sure how that will work! OH and Christine left and we got a new co-worker. He is very nice and his name is Mark. He is from South Carolina and is very deep south in every mannerism except for his accent. He is very cute, and very nice! But he is not a Christian, and a smoker, so he is not the guy for me. Sadness. oh well. He is out there somewhere! Oh also, I am planning to come home for two weeks in September. Somewhere between September 1st and September 20th. So Let me know what you're up to and we can hang out! FREE YOUR CALENDARS! I MISS YOU ALL!!! Then I am picking up another contract in or near Seoul. I am saving up for a HUGE 50 day trip in September of 2011!!! I am SOO excited about it!! Here's the URL!!

MY BIG TRIP!!

Skype me! I miss you!
Lauren