Time with the girls in Koh Samui

Us girls hanging out pretending to be normal Americans. Yes, we ordered out for pizza that night!!! yay pizza. I know you cannot fully appreciate that, but pizza is a special thing in Asia and very rare I might add
Kate and me on the beach. We found some cool boulders and decided to take some photo shoots. Sadly, I had to leave early because my sunburn was getting reder.
Sarah (pink) and Kate (the head) enjoying getting to swim! The weather was amazing. Everyone kept complaining about it being too hot, but I just soaked it all in. Ok, maybe too literally. I had some red legs after all of this.
Ah, lovely Koh Samui.

What's going on here? Gen, Nancy, and me are getting impatient for dinner. Ok, I think it might be just me who was so impatient. Can you blame me? I was hungry!!!

yay! it's a Tuk-Tuk. These were the amazing vehicles that we used to get around Thailand.
Yeah, I don't know. It looks like a strange valentine's dance, but it's a little early for that. I think it was some traditional Thai dance or something, but they performed for us at our conference site hotel.
This is the view from our hotel. Every evening we all ate together on a roof of the hotel. It was so clear and nice.
This is the beach in Koh Samui

Finall In Thailand!

I got to walk through the streets of Thailand and it was amazing! So beautiful and cultural, and yet so westernized at the same time.

Ah, the first day out in Chiangmai. Many more to come! It is finally warm. It was insane to go from huddling by my space heater to walking out with sandles and a skirt. I loved it! I was totally made for the warm weather.

Spring Festival holiday

A night of great fun and good food. Our Chinese brother was gracious enough to cook us some delicious food. He is a great chef. I cannot compete with him. My friend Kate (the one in the big coat) came and visited us before we went to our annual Thailand conference. She did bring many warm things because Thailand was going to be so hot. So she is wearing my male teammate's coat in this picture.

Ah. My home in China (Nanchang)

Cool looking soldiers huh?
This is the town square. Nanchang is famous for being the place where some of the cultural revolution begin in China. Many people in China come to see this square, and the people who live in Nanchang spend their weekends here with their families.
This is our Campus. You can see one of the classroom buildings in front of you and to the right are the tennis courts. So many students... and they are all so intelligent. Seriously.
This is a monument about the cultural revolution. It is really tall and is in the middle of the town square
This is a picture of my students, my teammate Caleb, and me in a store. Yes, we are being crazy, but we are weird anyways.

Holiday Festivities!

This is our International Fellowship getting together for our big Christmas Bash. We had a ton of fun eating lots and lots of western food, singing Christmas songs, and talking about why we celebrate this holiday. It was a really nice party.
Nancy and I decided to hang out with our friend Caleb, but we were a little cold... hence the enormous blanket covering us both. At least you can still see the antlers. :)
During the spring festival in China, the Chinese new year, there are some parades with big dragons similar to this one. Pretty cool huh?
This is just a peak into a bustling shopping street in Nanchang, China. You could pretty much get anything here if you are any good at bargaining, but it is more difficult bargaining in another language. I have to admit that I was embarrassed when I got so into the bargaining that i mixed up the numbers and made the price higher instead of lower! ahhh! So humbling :) hahaha

Chinese/American Meal

So I had over one of my good friends (a Chinese student) for dinner. I decided to make a semi-American meal so she could taste some western food. I made yellow rice with some veggies cooked with some chicken. I used taco seasoning to cook the chicken. It was definitely yummy, but it was a weird mix between American food and Chinese food. There was rice, but it was yellow. There was a "stir fry" (because they only cook on the stove top in China), but I did not use oil. Now you must understand that Chinese people usually eat communal style, while we selfish Americans like to have our own plates :) So My friend asked for a bowl for her rice. I asked her where she would put her other food, and she said she would just pick it off the dish. I, of course, decided to take a plate and put the rice and the dish together and eat it with a fork. So I ended up pouring the rest of the dish into a large communal bowl just for my friend while I just ate with my fork on the other side of the table. It was a comical experience. We both laughed a lot. We decided it was a picture worthy moment for us both.

As you can see, later that week, Nancy (my teammate) and I decided to show up at Caleb's (another teammate who did not seem excited about Christmas before Thanksgiving) Apartment to remind him that it was officially Christmas time! He did not like the idea of celebrating Christmas "early", so we decided to be the first to bring him a little Christmas Cheer! And don't worry, we actually brought him the Christmas tree for him to use. No red noses, but aren't we cute little reindeer?

"MERRY CHRISTMAS CALEB!!!" and all of y'all from home.