Recent Articles by Carrie |
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So Long, Farewell |
Published:2006-06-04 |
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Category:China! |
Subcategory:At the School in Kunming |
Yesterday was a crazy day. As the bus drove through campus, and then
through Xiaoshao on it's way to Kunming I couldn't help staring out the
window at all the things that had become so familiar and wondering if
we would ever see the place we had called home for four months ever
again. When the people at the school saw that we were leaving they all
stopped whatever they were doing and waved goodbye. It made me want to
cry.
In town we went and had a goodbye dinner at The Wicker Basket. Then we
went to a kareoke club wich was awesome. We got our own room and they
brought us all fruit drinks in shot glasses since Colin explained to
them that none of us drink. It was fun just to kick back and hang out.
We haven't had fun like that as a group for a while. After kareoke we
went to a dance club wich wasn't nearly as much fun as kareoke. It was
loud and there were psycho guys everywhere. When we were standing
outside waiting to leave some guy approached Colin and asked him how
much we cost per night. That made Colin livid, I don't think I've ever
seen him that mad before. Needless to say, we got out of there in a
hurry.
That night we slept at a massage hotel. It was kinda like a spa except
that you sleep there too. It was kinda weird. Im not a big fan of
massages and to make it worse, by the time we got there it was like
2:00 and we had to be awake by 4:30 the next morning. I hated it but it
was fun hanging out with everyone.
The next morning Colin took us to the airport. Once we passed customs
he wasn't aloud to come with us anymore. He just stood there watching
us as we checked our luggage and made our way through the final
passport check. It was so sad! I miss him already!
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The end is drawing nearer |
Published:2006-06-02 |
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Category:China! |
Subcategory:At the School in Kunming |
Today is our last day in Kunming. We're gonna go into town today and
spend the night there and then our flight for Bangkok leaves at 8 AM
tomorrow. At this point the excitement of going to Thailand is
overshadowed by the fact that we are leaving the school today. Most
everyone has already left. Megan, Krissy, Leslee and Kristen all left
on Wednesday. By now they are all back in the states. Melissa and Amber
left yesterday to go travel around China. It's so weird to say goodbye
to people, I never know what to say. It's not even that big of a deal,
I know I am going to see them all again soon but still it just leaves
and empty feeling in your stomach. I guess I'm just so used to seeing
them every day. Im going to miss Colin most. He is such and amazing
guy! I think I will name one of my children after him. Tuesday when we
were riding the bus he was talking about how he will be Uncle Colin to
all of our children.
Wednesday was the big closing show. No one danced in it but Lissa,
Shannon and I but it was lots of fun. I've definately gotten over any
stage fright I might have had before I came to China. The past few
nights we have stayed up until all hours of the night playing games and
goofing off. It's been a good way to wind things down.
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Closing Show |
Published:2006-05-28 |
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Category:China! |
Subcategory:At the School in Kunming |
Friday was the day the children had their English show. As we watched
all the other kids perform I sat in the audience with my kids. I was
holding Mardi on my lap and I never wanted to let her go. Then Colin
gave his closing speech which was pretty much the nicest thing ever.
Then all of us teachers got called on to the stage and they gave us
really nice certificates thanking us for teaching. At this point pretty
much everyone was balling. Anyway I don't know what Colin said to the
kids after that (he was speaking in Chinese) but it must have been
something about us teachers leaving back to the states because after
the assembly when we went outside to say goodbye to them they we all
crying. I'm not just talking watery eyes I'm talking uncontrollable, irreconcilable
balling. You would think someone had died. So we took them down to the
grass and just held them as the tears ran their course. When I saw
Bobby crying my heart just melted, he was always kinda the annoying one
but at that moment none of that mattered. He was my Bobby. I held Mardi
and Bobby on my lap and just rocked them back and forth for a good 20
min until they finally settled down. I never wanted to let them go. I
love my kids so much and I can't wait to have a reunion party with them
in heaven! |
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Group Naps |
Published:2006-05-28 |
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Category:China! |
Subcategory:At the School in Kunming |
Shannon and I went and hung out over at Colins after church. We were
watching a movie but we all ended up just falling asleep on his bed
instead. It was a bonding experience :) <br>
Then we had to wake up to go to dinner with the headmaster, which
wasn't really with the headmaster, he was in a completely seperate room
from us. I kinda felt bad because no one wanted to eat anything they
served us. It was just a little to authentic for us. <br>
After dinner we gave Colin the present we got for him (a 30 gig IPOD)
He had no idea it was coming. We all filed in his room, I gave a speech
on how he is the coolest guy ever and will always hold a place in out
hearts, then we gave him the present. We wrapped it in like 3 boxes,
each one bigger then the next, so it was fun to watch him unwrap it.
When he finally got down to the present he freaked out. He couldn't
even talk, he turned away from all of us as the tears started streaming
down his face. That was the first time I started crying all week.
Seeing Colin cry like that just tore my heart in half. I love that kid
so much! <br>
When we were done in Colins room we all went to tuck in our kids.
Kenya's mom was with her and taking pictures, I was worried she was
going to take her home and I would never see her again so I ran back to
my apartment to grab her present. After all that it turns out her mom
wasn't taking her home after all. Her mom is a teacher @ the school so
her and Kenya live in the apartments with the rest of the children.
Anyway, I gave her the present and she gave me one of her stuffed
animals. It's kinda an ugly bunny but Im going to keep it and cherish
it forever. Her mom and her also wrote me a nice note thanking me for
everything I had done which I had Colin translate for me. <br>
After tucking the kids in Shannon and I went back to Colins room and
watched more movies, looked at pics of the semester, watched American
Idol, and fell asleep again. It was a good day. <br> |
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Poor Poor Melissa |
Published:2006-04-14 |
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Category:China! |
Subcategory:At the School in Kunming |
Today we found out at lunch that we weren't going to teach. This has happened a lot this week so everyone was kinda frustrated but you learn to go with it. Then at 3:30 Melissa comes running into our rooms telling us that we are supposed to be teaching right now. So we all run up there only to find out that the students weren't even out of their Chinese classes yet and we really weren't going to teach. You learn to be very flexible in China! I feel sorry for the students though because they really don't get as much English as they need. We could accomplish so much more if they didn't flake out like that.
Tonight we went and tucked the kids into bed again. We have been doing that alot lately. I think it makes the room mothers mad but the kids love it. They come and give us big hugs and kisses on the cheeks. We tell them that we love them everynight. It's funny because if we say it in Chinese they won't respond but if you say it in English they repeat it back to you. Granted they don't know what they are saying but it's nice to hear it all the same.
So we came back from tucking our kids in and like the good girl I am I sat down at the comp and continued writing my Chinese Civ Final Paper that is due next week. I was minding my own business as always when Leslee comes in and tells me "If Melissa comes in and asks you if you know anything about it say no!" I was confused because I really had no idea what "it" was. Finally I convinced them to let me in on their little secret. They had gone into Melissas room (Melissa was gone playing the piano) and kifed all her stuff. Her TV her DVD player, all her DVD's everything. So Melissa comes home like 20 min later and then comes down to Krissy's room asking us if we took her stuff. We promised we didn't so she panicked. She really thought someone had gone into her room and stolen all her stuff. She went down to Collin (who had no idea that it was us) and told him that all her stuff had gotten stolen. He was about to call the police when Leslee and I told him that it wasn't really stolen, of course he wanted to play along, but he giggles so much so he just went back to his room and left us to deal with it. We really had her going. All my DVDs where in there too and had been taken so I was sitting on her bed practically crying. I'm a pretty good actor if I do say so myself :) Finally one of the other girls threatened to tell her the truth so Leslee confessed and told her that she had done it. It was funny because even when Leslee confessed Melissa didn't believe her. She thought she was joking around so she continued to freak out. When she finally figured it out she gave all of us a good beating... even though I hadn't done anything except go along with it. It's a good thing she is one of those people who can laugh about things like that though otherwise we would always be in trouble! |
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