Change is All Around

Wow, so I do realize I have not blogged about anything in a very long time. I have been wanting to, but I guess I have been pretty busy this school year.  Let me give you a short recap of this school year!

In August I returned back to Beijing, China. While I was away during the summer two of my good friends, Lauren and Leah, moved me to a new apartment with them.  Lauren has spent most of her time outside of Beijing, due to work reasons. Living with Leah has been so much fun! She is a great cook and such a wonderful support!

In September/ October our Branch split. Luckily I was re- called to work with the Young Women, but this time as a Second Counselor.  Here we are baking a cake! Well we are missing a few girls in this picture! Since the split, we continue to do mutual together with the Beijing 4th branch. Our Branch consists of the lovely sisters, Sarah and Emily!

I immediately went back to work at Beanstalk International Bilingual School and began a new year teaching 3rd grade to 20 wonderful students. I have to be quite honest in saying we have all done a lot of learning this school. I am so glad that we have 9 more weeks together!  In addition this school year I was given the opportunity to be the third grade team leader, co-director of the school's Spring Show, and student adviser for the green team, after school social dance for students ages reception- 2nd grade, and movie- making for students 3rd - 6th grade.

At the end of September Leah, Sabrina, Vickie and I spent a  week traveling in Seoul, Korea. Leah and I actually were quite entertained just wandering around the streets of Seoul.  We went to drumming shows, international dance competitions, parades, and even a free Psy concert.

At the end of October Joanne, one of my dearest friends in Beijing was baptized! She is so awesome! She too has become one of my greatest supports here in Beijing! She is a power house and I am so grateful we are friends! In the beginning of November I got to go to Girl's Camp and be a  helper in the kitchen. We got to do girls camp on the Great wall! 

In December, I finally got to meet little miss Camila and play with Evandro! In other words I spent Christmas with the family at Gabby and Jose's house! It was a nice break from work and Beijing!

January was a month full of brave visitors.  It started off with an old family friend, Maggie coming out to visit and later Abram. It was nice having friends from home visit and see the world I have been living the last year and a half.   Abram and I went on a super trip. For two weeks we traveled Thailand and Cambodia.

January / February was really the month that I started focusing on what I would be doing the following school year.  Nothing felt right. For the next several months I had a theme song, "It's the Climb", by Miley Cyrus. I know very cheesy, but that song motivated me!  During this time I felt like I had no direction. After getting the right push by my principal I finally decided to start looking in the international route.  In April, I took the risk and flew 16 hours to London, England (only because I went to Dubai first) for an International teaching Job Fair.  As it turns out, I did not actually choose my job from attending the job fair. It was because I attended the fair that I felt confident with who I have become professionally and with the decision I have made!  I cannot express how happy I am with the decision I have made. The above picture was taken right before my first skype interview with Pechersk School International. Next fall I will be moving myself to Kyiv, Ukraine to teach 2nd grade at PSI!

Anyway, I have made it a goal to write more on my blog. Actually it is my goal to share more of my personal experiences and the many tender mercies I see from my Father in Heaven. I am just a regular girl, doing regular things. Somehow these regular things, were things I could have never imagined 8 years ago when I graduated high school or even 3 years ago when I returned back from serving a mission. Life is crazy, but oh so wonderful. Here are a few things that I know and have driven me to do things that I never though I would be capable of doing:

1. I am a daughter of a loving Heavenly Father.
2. Christ atoned not only for our all our sins, but also for all our pains, sicknesses, and afflictions.
3. If we keep the commandments we will be blessed in all aspects of our lives. 
4. There is no greater happiness then living and following the gospel of Jesus Christ.
5. The Book of Mormon is another testament of Christ and goes hand in hand with the Bible. The scriptures are a guide for our life.  We can receive much strength, comfort, and support if we read and study them on a daily basis.

Okay so those are just a few precious truths that I know.  I just wanted to publicly share these things and thank my family and friends for all of their support!

End of the School year!

Oh, how I cannot believe the end of my first year of teaching is coming to an end. Oh man, what a year it has been as well!  I am so glad I ended up teaching third grade. My students have kept me smiling this year. This past Monday, we had our 3rd grade Talent Show. We decided to do a talent show to wrap up our last unit on how artists express themselves using a variety of media.  Each class came up with a number to perform, and students from all the classes were able to perform their talents as well. It was a big success and we all had fun!  For the talent show, I decided to teach my class, "De Colores".  Sometimes I think I teach the students things to make myself laugh. This was probably one of those things.  I did not have a chance to record the actual performance from the talent show, but did have my students do it again for me today! I hope this makes you smile as much as it makes me! P.S. in the actual performance, I had the kids translate the song!

I just cannot believe Friday is my last day with these little guys! Time sure does fly.

About two weeks after Qingdao, I went to Hong Kong with some friends for the weekend! It was a great trip! Let's see as soon as we got off the plane, we rushed over to the temple, but it was close.  We still were able to spend some time on temple grounds and it was well needed!

 Hong Kong is beautiful, and has a tropical feel to it!  It is also very international and was nice to not stand out so much!

 While in Hong Kong, we went to visit the largest Buda!

 We also enjoyed some night markets!

The trip was short, and I know it is a place I would love to visit again!

Hello Family and Friends,

I realize it has been months since I have last posted anything, and believe me it is not because there is nothing to post. I have just been so busy! Life in Beijing never seems to be dull.  Let's see, the first weekend in April I went to Qingdao with my good friend Karin.  Qingdao is located in the eastern part of China in the Shandong province.  This city is right off the coast, and has a very German influence feel to it. It was such a wonderful trip.

 We did some great hiking and saw amazing views. The pictures do not do any justice!

 Aww beautiful Karin! She is getting married July 7th!

 Yup, here are some model pics!

 Below is the hotel we stayed in. The top is a rotating restaurant! We went twice and it was delicious! We feasted!

Let's see two weeks after Qingdao, I went with some friends to Hong Kong for the weekend!

My kids!

           Honestly I feel like the luckiest girl!  I really do have my dream job, teaching! Seriously it is one of the most fulfilling jobs.  I  love all of my kids. Haha and I do have my little trouble makers.  Luckily I only have 17 students, so I am able to have a little bit of one on one time with them.  

           Currently I am working on autobiographies with my students. I am thoroughly entertained in reading what they write. One of my students wrote about how I send home fun homework assignments except for the spelling, because it is boring. Another student wrote about how when I came into the classroom I taught them the ABC'S and gave them spelling tests. I laughed at this, because I modified President Monson's ABC's in abundant living, for our class. You know the have a positive Attitude, Believe in Yourself, and have the Courage to do what is right! I always bring up the ABC's in the classroom.  As a teacher, you do not just prepare your students to pass the grade, or graduate from school. You prepare your students to make it in the world.  That is why I thought President Monson's ABC's would be appropriate for my classroom. 

             Let's see what else. My school does a huge show once a year.  As soon as I got the job, my team leader informed me that I would have to prepare a number for my students to perform during the Spring Show.  Haha,  I love dancing, but in no way am I a dancer. Here is a little glimpse of what we are doing. Imagine these guys in tiger suits, in a giant theater, with lots of bubbles.  While you watch this video, remember I have no dance background. I did take a dance class my junior year of high school!

   

New Apartment!

So life these last couple of weeks has been pretty eventful! I feel like my life here in Beijing is finally starting to come together!
My new class:
I started work with the kids two weeks ago, as a 3rd grade teacher. I have 11 boys and 6 girls. 7 of my kids are from China, 6 from Korea, 1 from Turkey, 1 from U.S., and 1 from Taiwan.   These kids are so smart, and I feel like I will learn so much from them! I will have parent teacher conference this coming Tuesday, and Wednesday!
 Lets see what else, I moved into my new apartment and I love it. I live right next to the school, so commute is just a 5 minute walk. The subway is also not that far away from where I live as well.

Happy Chinese New Years!

Ok so I have so much to share that I thought I would do it in two posts! Mostly this post might be pictures! I think I will start with Christmas.  This was our Christmas YSA lunch!

 

 Samily was a Master Chef!  I helped wash and chop veggies! I spent the majority of the weekend with Samily to celebrate Christmas dinner! 

 Here, Vickie is showing how we decorated our Christmas cookies!

 Don't they look good!

Yum!

Let's see what else to share.  New Year's I ended up going to sleep early. It was pretty uneventful. Good thing there is something called Chinese New Years! Haha here I actually got to celebrate it.  After church we all went to Sabrina's apartment.  We ate, played games, and made dumplings and ate some more. As soon it was dark, it sounded like we were in a war zone.  We decided to join in the fun and light some fireworks. When we went outside, everywhere you turned families were setting off fireworks. Not the small ones, but the big ones. It was a crazy sight. It was so loud, and the sky was lit up with color.  I took pictures on my new phone, but I am a bit challenged and accidentally deleted them. So sad.  My friend drove a couple of us home that night. On the drive home, all along the freeway, fireworks were being set off. I felt like I was in a movie!

 

Ok random, but here is the picture of the squatter's.  These are what you find in the public bathrooms here. Haha I finally had my camera to take a picture! Well I think you all are basically updated with me now!