メンフィスって、何それ？ [Memphis, you said? What's that?]

Talk about a head trip! Check out what I found on the subway a few weeks ago. I had to do a triple take to make sure I was reading the uniform right. Particularly since the color theme isn't even remotely close to correct.

At the time I was only going one stop on the train, which meant when I realized what I was looking at I had less than a minute before my stop. A frantic scramble to unearth my camera from the depths of my bag and squeeze off as many shots as possible ensued. Of course, this got me bewildered, furtive glances from everyone else in the car. One guy actually followed me all the way to the sidewalk outside the subway exit and started asking me questions because of it. We had a conversation roughly as follows:

"Excuse me, do you speak English?"
"Uh... yeah. Hi."
"Can I ask?"--I nod to him--"Why did you take a picture on the subway?"
"Oh, it had the name of my hometown. Nobody in Japan knows it, so I was shocked."
"I see. Why this stop?"
"I live near here."
"Okay, thank you."

After an obligatory bow, he then walked in the opposite direction, making it screamingly obvious that he didn't just happen to be walking the same way. Rather amusing, since I highly doubt he would've had the social gumption to walk up some stranger of his own nationality and question them about their behavior.

Explanatory note: The picture was part of an ad for a local university's open campus for potential students. My best guess being that they have the option for an exchange semester to Memphis.

What about you? Ever had a familiar place name crop up in a bizarre context? Tell me all about it below!

雨が降る日のひまわり [Sunflower on a rainy day]

もう一つ海の日 [Another Year, Another Marine Day]

Hurrah for Marine Day! What's that, you say? You have no idea what I'm talking about? Well, let me tell you what I know: 1) its name has to do with the ocean; 2) it's a national holiday in Japan; 3) no Japanese person I've asked seems to know what it celebrates, exactly.

In this case, I am not one to press for answers--like any good working woman, I love an extra day off. And this day off was all the better for being a quiet one. I got up late. I did laundry. I drank a home-made smoothie. I went grocery shopping and called my mom. Basically I filled my day with the practical little things required by life.

As I waited at the crosswalk after grocery shopping, I found myself enjoying the weighty heat of the summer against my skin and the the wind that occasionally stirred it.  It brought to mind the words of a character from a book I've been reading recently: "We both like Weather. Not this or that kind of weather, but just Weather... Everyone begins as a child by liking Weather. You learn the art of disliking it as you grow up."

I'm inclined to agree. Here's to trying to accept the heavy, lush summer as a child would.

暇な線香花火 [Sparklers, Just Because]

Tonight was a night for sparklers. We didn’t have any particular reason to burn them, since Independence Day is almost a week past now—and my roommate is Australian, anyway—but we did. And it was good.

Today was without precipitation despite being in the midst of Japan’s rainy season; a welcome reprieve! However, our rainless day came courtesy of a blustery, intermittent wind, so perhaps tonight wasn't the greatest time for this activity. Didn't stop us.

Lighting the sparklers on our balcony became a sort of comedic dance as we lit match after match, trying to get the flame to catch before an unpredictable gust extinguished the small point of light. The wind dictated our choreography. We began facing each other with match and sparkler extended tip to tip, then stood shoulder to shoulder with hands stretched out to shelter the air before us, then crouched low to the balcony’s concrete floor like a pair of flame-wielding frogs. By the end, our use of matches created a rather prodigious pile:

Eventually we managed to avoid the ever-changing air currents just long enough for our fireworks to catch. Avoiding the jumping sparks, we quickly pirouetted away from each other and dangled our little fountains of fire over the balcony ledge. We then followed the sparklers’ path with our eyes as we waved them wildly back and forth in the dark—which is of course the proper way to enjoy handheld fireworks, as any kid can tell you.

ゴルデンウィーク：藤まつり [Golden Week: Wisteria Festival]

My first vacation as a young professional came just 2 months after the start of my new job--not too shabby, right? The first week of May here is called "Golden Week"--aka, Japanese spring break. Seeing as how I'm only just getting used to my full schedule of classes, I decided to stay in town and just take a couple day trips to other towns in the area. Fortunately for me, my roomie Jess liked that idea, too, and so I had lovely company on my excursions!

The first event I'd discovered online that I wanted to check out was the Konan City Wisteria Festival. I'm not sure exactly what it is about wisteria, but something about those hanging blooms has always struck me as beautifully sumptuous. Needless to say, when I read that Konan's Mandara Temple Garden boasted hundreds of yards of walkways underneath trellises full of wisteria blooms, I wanted to go.

Jess and I set out around lunchtime on the first Monday in May to see what we could see. Upon arriving at the train station with no problem and immediately finding a sign in Japanese indicating a shuttle bus just beyond the station exit, I felt pretty confident. A bus pulled up near the sign, and we hopped on. About 20 minutes later it became evident that my confidence may have been a little premature--the bus pulled up in front of a hospital with a large glass lobby, and the driver shut off the engine. The only thing even vaguely resembling a garden was the planter of neatly trimmed ivy by the hospital entrance. Oops.

After consulting with the bus driver in Japanese, who consulted a nearby taxi driver for extra information, I figured out that we should just wait until the same bus started back toward the station and alight at the line's halfway point on a main drag. From there we could evidently reach Mandara Temple. Once we stepped off and the bus pulled away, there was a minute or two of confusion as we wondered if there was some secret bus stop for a shuttle that we couldn't see, but pretty soon I saw a Japanese sign indicating the direction of the festival, and I figured the safest bet was simply to hoof it to our destination. It took a little while, but maybe 15 or 20 minutes later, we arrived! Yay. By this point a lot of the festival game and food booths around the temple were closing, but the garden remained open, and there was plenty of daylight left, so we started exploring the grounds.

A small wisteria vine in an out-of-the-way area to the side of the main temple.

A considerate bystander offered to take this picture for us without us even asking, and look what a nice job he did, too! The banner next to us says "Wisteria Festival" in Japanese.

Drapes of flowers.

One of the main under-trellis walkways of the Mandara Temple Garden in the late afternoon.

I hope you've enjoyed this little update about my Golden Week activities. There will be a Golden Week: Part 2 post, so be sure to check back soon!

after a long while.

Hello again--I must apologize for the sizable gap between my last post and this one. I tend to want to encapsulate my experiences perfectly (impossible), so I end up avoiding updates. Quite a silly cycle, yes? Ah, well. Today I decided to break it.

Spring sprang here in Nagoya since my last post. Snow feels like a vague memory these days. I rolled through a full month of being a sub teacher while I waited for April, which marks the start of the academic year here. My roommate and I both found it stressful after awhile, since we couldn't know what we'd be called upon to do on any given day. Instead of making lesson plans or getting some sort of rhythm, for the month of March our only consistent work routine was waiting for our cell phones to ring sometime between 11 am and noon with our shift details for the day. That got old pretty quickly, needless to say.

This work schedule had the added bonus that any of the couple dozen schools in the region were possible destinations each day. Generally speaking, I didn't mind the length of any of the commutes, but navigating the trains--oh, the trains! Let's just say I got several cardiovascular workouts against my will thanks to transportation confusion.

In fact, I had written an entire amusing anecdote about running for a train and having the doors shut in my face to my great dismay, but the blog application failed to save it properly, then failed to post when I pushed the button. Cool, Blogger, real cool. I'd love to rewrite it, but now work calls. Time to go get dressed for success! See you next time.

bonus post: SNOW!

Alright, one more important thing I forgot to include: it SNOWED on the 11th! We happened to have the day off from training, which made it even better. I'm happy to report that the last few days have even been somewhat warm, at around 45F. Unfortunately, it's set to rain tomorrow--at least I've got my pink polka-dotted umbrella ready to go!

a brand new day.

Hello everyone,

This is actually a blog started back in my study-abroad days in Hong Kong, but I have returned to it each time I've returned to Asia, and this time is no different. Feel free to browse below for some of my past Asian adventures if you're so inclined. This post will be a new start.

Today marks three weeks I've been in Japan. It's pretty much flown by, mostly due to my six-days-a-week training schedule. Tomorrow will be the last day of adult class training, followed by one day for discussing and signing contracts on Friday. Training has been quite intensive, with one week devoted to learning about kids' English classes, and this week focused on the how-to of adult English courses. While I know that my first day of teaching on Saturday will bring with it another set of stressors all its own, I'm eager to start interacting with real students after all the theory and practice of these past two weeks.

A few dramatic events have occurred since i got here--most notably revolving around roommates. My roommate has been quite interested in Japanese street fashion and punk bands, so she figured a year job in Japan would be pretty cool. All seemed well--then we started training. On the second full day of training, she cracked, and decided that teaching kids' classes was too much for her. By that evening, she'd made up her mind to return home to Australia instead of completing training. Needless to say, I was quite surprised. Over the next few days, details had to be sorted out, but thankfully I knew they'd be able to find another roomie for me. You see, the academic year starts at the beginning of April here in Japan, meaning they've got tons of trainees coming over in the next few months. As God's providence would have it, another girl in my training group that I get along with quite well was a bit underwhelmed with her tiny single-occupant apartment. I asked the realty guy if she could slide into the slot at my place, letting a new person take her apartment, and he agreed! Things have been great with her--she's a friendly, beautiful, Australian blonde named Jess. She taught in Sydney last year, and is a couple years older than me. We've been having a lovely time together so far.

That sums up interesting living situation stuff 'til now. Training has been harrowing, what with having to prep mock lessons and dress in business clothes (who knew looking good could be so restrictive??), and having to be 5 minutes early everywhere. I have to admit it's a bit more pressure than I'm used to, but I think I'm meeting the challenge. I already miss hip-hop. And pork barbeque. The food here is quite tasty, though. I'm even slowly building up steam on cooking for myself--eating out is easy and delicious to do in Japan, but of course not the most economical of choices. Getting used to timing my laundry in order to account for my lack of a dryer has been a bit of an adventure, too. My balcony turns into a clothing zoo once a week.

That's about all for now. I'll try to update pretty regularly--I hope this will be a good way to stay in touch with all of you in the States, my dear friends!

大学生とカラオケ [college students and karaoke]

Hello again, everyone! Sorry my second entry has been so long in coming--I've definitely been busy getting settled here. Let's see... so much has happened since my first entry! Well, let's just dive right in, shall we?

My first week was a little uneventful, the first half of it being dedicated to getting orientated and shaking off jetlag. I did help with a few things here and there, though, and I began going to a Friday lunch that the local Campus Crusade team leads at Gai Dai University near our church. It was great to meet and begin getting acquainted with the students there. Some of the Crusade team invited me to go to karaoke as a social ministry outing that night, as well, so I talked with various students throughout the afternoon until it was time to go yowl out some pop songs. Interesting karaoke fact--the whole idea of singing to instrumental versions of popular songs as entertainment actually orignated in Japan, and the word "karaoke" itself is Japanese. It literally means "empty orchestra," with "oke" being short for "orchestra." :)

The karaoke place we went to was nice--with two stories of rooms to sing in, a full food menu, and dramatic decoration, it was pretty much a karaoke palace. I wish I'd taken pictures! Ah, well, perhaps I'll have another chance before I leave. We met several medical students from a nearby university there, in addition to some Gai Dai students. As I'd come to expect from past experience, it was a blast--everyone sang their hearts out, and there was lots of laughter. Amidst all the fun, I even got to invite one girl to English classes at the church. As we were leaving, two other students asked me about a button on my jean jacket that shows an Eastern Orthodox icon. I found myself very naturally telling them about what the picture meant and relating its story of Jesus and the woman at the well, explaining to them the concept of Christ as the Living Water. Thinking about this afterwards, I was shocked by the natural flow of it all. Praises be to God for using this little decoration from my friend Kerry as a gateway to genuine sharing!

I have much more to share, but my other stories will have to wait for a day or two--for now I have to take care of a few errands before dinner. Thanks so much for reading, and I hope you enjoyed it. じゃあ、またね！I'll see you later!

名古屋へようこそ！--Welcome to Nagoya!

Hello, everyone!

Welcome to my Nagoya blog, where I'll keep you up-to-date on my latest adventures as a summer missionary in the land of cherry blossoms and tiny cars.

As of today, I have been in Japan for 3 days. I have spent them getting acclimated to the time change and familiarizing myself with the city. I also attended church my first morning here, since I arrived on Saturday night. Meeting people in the church community and sharing a meal with them after the service was lovely. On Monday I got to enjoy a few sights in Nagoya with the help of Linda, the missionary whose apartment I am currently sharing. She didn't let me off easy, though--we drove big circles around the neighborhood and I had to tell her how to get home. Eek! It was hard, but I appreciate the orientation of the area that it gave me. I snagged a few pictures later in the day, which I'll include soon in a photo post.

Tomorrow I will sit in on my first English class and meet its members, as I'll soon begin helping with the teaching. I have to admit that I'm a little nervous, but it will be fun to actually jump into the swing of things, so to speak.

For now, I'm tired, so I'm off to bed. 読みのをありがとう。Thank you for reading. おやすみなさい。Good night!

[A small note: If you notice the posts below, just know that they are from my study abroad in Hong Kong a few years ago. They have nothing to do with my current exploits, but feel free to read them if you'd like.]

shock and awe.

I'm done...? Oh my gosh, I'm done!! NO MORE TESTS. YAY.

Thankfully, my Chinese test was much less intimidating that I expected. If things go as well as I think they did, I probably even have a good shot at an A in that class. Yesssss. I'm aiming for all A's this semester--we'll see if art breaks that goal, but that's so subjective, who knows?

I'm quite happy with being my level of productivity today, too. I made sure my time for dorm checkout is okay, sent in some paperwork to my professor, turned in a library book, and emailed my academic adviser at Peppertown about opening an advanced Japanese class for me. Those things didn't even take that long, but they'd been hanging over my head all the same. The satisfaction of checking things off is delicious.

Hm... speaking of checking things off the list, I need to do more Christmas shopping soon. I seriously have no idea how I'm gonna get all my stuff plus my presents back to the USA. Part of the problem is the length of my list, but I just love all these people! Probably I should give a bunch of my clothes to the Salvation Army, since they have a donation box on campus. I could also buy a small suitcase.

And yes, I am completely stoked to come back to the States. One of my buds here hooked me up with Nat 'King' Cole's Christmas album, and I'm listening to it right now, feeling pretty much as sappy and nostalgic as is humanly possible. AHHH! I am so looking forward to listening to this properly in my living room with Grandma Clara humming along while Mom cooks in the kitchen as Dad and I work on a crossword. I know there'll be reverse culture shock and jetlag, but I'll still probably explode with happiness to be back in such a familiar place. All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth living room! (with family included, of course. :])

Merry Christmas, everybody! :D

Forgive me, Bloggod, for I have sinned. It has been 1 month since my last entry.

Oops. I've let this slide for too long, haven't I? Well, my computer hard drive bit the dust shortly after my last post, and then was in the shop for 2 or 3 weeks. I feel I have much to write about, but I have an exam to study for at the moment. Here's a blogging to-do list. As each one of them is crossed off, you'll get another blog:

study for/finish Chinese exam
talk about my trip to Malaysia
talk about leaving HK
talk about experiencing HK

Have a lovely evening, everyone! I must finish my Chinese oral presentation.

flying sparks or burning bridges?

It's funny to sit down and write this, because I definitely feel weird doing anything other than socializing or dancing. Those two (mostly the latter) have been my life for the past 2 weeks.

BUDA (Baptist Univ. Dance Assoc.) is having a performance this Wednesday, and I'm part of it! Pretty crazy, since I haven't taken dance classes for years. It's been a great experience, despite the rather large difficulty of the language barrier. BUDA is a very professional organization, and takes their performances quite seriously, so I've signed over a huge chunk of my life to rehearsal for the time being. Even so, I have to say I think it'll be worth it. We do have our steps down really well, and our leadership is excellent. The downside of this? I have gained one or two friendly acquaintances while becoming isolated from the entire international student scene.

I decided a few weeks ago to no longer allow fear to block my relationships with local and mainland China students because of possible cultural faux pas, but it's hard in practice--especially when I don't know the language and I am the obvious minority in a given group. This holds true in dance practice, and after 2 full months of practice, I am only now becoming friendly with some of the local girls. Needless to say, this is discouraging when I am spending at least half my time in this environment. Meanwhile, I see other Pepperdine students only occasionally, and hanging out with other international students has practically become a joke, it happens so seldom. I sometimes find myself asking: "Did I accidentally commit social suicide?"

I went to see Sarah this afternoon on a whim, and it was really nice to be with someone familiar for a little while. I guess all this rehearsal has left me feeling a little lonely, despite my love for dance. The whole situation makes me slightly angry. I mean, in college they tell you to follow your dreams, blah blah blah, but where has following my passion for dance gotten me during my time here? Answer: out on a limb with some compliments, a little respect, and almost no company. I even have to skip convo dinner this week for dance! I don't blame BUDA for demanding so much, but it seems unfair that I end up socially deficient when I jump enthusiastically into the life of my current university.

I am slightly comforted by the fact that a lot of people say they'll come to the performance. I'm sure that not going to church this Sunday didn't help my feeling of isolation, either. My confusion is exacerbated by the alternating abundance and lack of community I feel while here. For example: I'll have a really great time hanging out with a few friends, and then come back to my room and realize that I barely know my roommate. I think we get along okay, but we never spend time together. Our schedules seem to conflict most of the time, and my attempts at getting hang out time for the two of us seem to always fail because of complications on one end or the other.

I guess all of this just goes to show that not even relationships with others can really fill you up. That must be the reason I never fully bought into humanism. Perhaps I have a strangely large emotional appetite, but even meaningful, deep friendships--or for that matter, fame--have never fit the resounding need for engagement that I feel. Many times I've even scared people with my extreme analysis and intense emotions. A higher being seems to be the only thing that can truly accept me for who I am without telling me that my passion and my mind are unacceptable in the "real world." I don't need anyone to tell me about the way things are "out there." I am fully aware of the ugliness in the world. In fact, I've experienced some of it myself. That doesn't mean my continued hope is silly. It is defiant. I don't have to conform to cynicism and hopelessness just because others say so.

I've been feeling quite ground down lately, but I'm still holding onto my faith. I know many people feel that is naive or even cowardly, but I've made the decision to believe that my relationships are not falling apart--they're just getting warmed up.

parential downpour

I was writing an email to my father a few minutes ago, and realized that my blog has been somewhat neglected recently. As always, I have a plethora of excuses, but that's a useless exercise, so we'll skip it.

My parents were in town this week, and that made it quite the whirlwind. I picked Mom up from the airport late Monday evening, and it was full speed ahead from there. Tuesday was quite leisurely for her, as I had class for most of the day, but on Wednesday we headed out to Lantau Island via the ferry and had a wonderful time. It was fantastic to be somewhere so quiet. We took a lovely little walk into the forest and stopped at a waterfall before heading back to the harbor for the ferry ride back. After spending several hours there, I decided that it's my medication of choice if I ever get overstimulated by the city.Dad got into town that night and we had dinner. It was wonderful to see both of them. I forget how nice it is to be loved on until they're with me. We explored various parts of downtown HK for the next few days, and it was nice to have renewed motivation for exploring the crazy metropolis in which I live. How easy it is to forget!

Their presence also helped me to regain perspective on my internal balance. I feel much better after their visit. People that truly know you have such a grounding effect! Thank God for that. We had ice cream together on a windy balcony in Central last night. That will make a very good memory. I must file it away for future comfort. It was also wonderful when Mom said goodbye and we stood in the middle of the Departures terminal in a three-person hug. There was never a sweeter little huddle of love in the world! It leaves a mark on your heart when people love you that much.

And now, for a something slightly closer to my real thoughts, an excerpt from my father's email and my response to it that I mentioned earlier:

Dad: "I re-entered the hotel from the Nathan Rd. side and saw the reason for the people with the open suitcases on the sidewalk outside the hotel door. They were doing a photo shoot of a model on the center divider of Nathan Rd. with the HKG traffic zooming up behind her in the background. The suitcases were for wardrobe changes.

Mystery revealed!"

Me: "Whoa! That's really cool. I feel I never notice when things like this are happening right next to me. I tend to think of everyone around me as mundane. I guess I should stop assuming that, considering what an oddity I am, huh? It isn't very common for a 19 year old girl from TN to be in HK, and still be serious about God. This is why I never notice the famous people around Malibu, I suppose. Ah well, with time I hope to be more observant. I'm happy that you solved our little mystery, though!

Church was great this morning, and I've had a blessed day because of it. Two people told me at different times today how grateful they are to be my friend--the very thing I needed on this day that my biggest fans are leaving me. God is very good!

In other news, BUDA only becomes more intimidating. I found out the official practice schedule today, and it is as follows for the next 2 weeks:

Th 1900-2100
Sat 1400-1800
Sun 1400-1800

Despite the daunting schedule, I'm feeling good about it. This is going to be a real dance--not some namby-pamby club bonding on stage! My muscles wanted to give up by the end of practice today, we'd done so much booty-shakin'. I don't care what anyone says--hip hop dance is an athletic event in and of itself! I hope that this hard training will help me get a real handle on the style, so that I don't have to put it down once I leave HKBU. I'm terrified of this week for more than one reason, as I've got a quiz Tue, a paper Th, and a painting of bamboo for Fr, but I know God will provide a beautiful way for it to come together if I let him."

Yes, I'd say this has been a very good week.

p. s. Peppertown's neighbors are on fire, and Malibu Pres burned down! How unhappy is that?

p. p. s. I am so tired from dancing and worrying about friends back home that I just fell asleep at the keyboard. At least with online journaling, there's no pen line running down the page when I wake up! :) Goodnight, all.

barely controlled fluidity

I'm completely convinced that I am happy in HK.

However, I have sudden, sharp pangs of discontent. They don't make much sense to me, but I guess in the end that's the human condition, right? I haven't been as devoted to staying close with God in the past couple weeks. Well, maybe that isn't fair. I've been relatively disciplined in making healthy decisions this week. Perhaps a more accurate description would be to say the struggle for internal balance and peace has been much more intense over the last few days.

I am completely confused by my relationships here. I really love the people I'm with, but sometimes all the experiences and secrets we share leave me hollow. Okay, so I know more about Mr. or Miss. X than anyone else on the trip. Big deal! I feel like I'm keeping score on some kind of cheap game.

Maybe I just feel disillusioned because I continue to have unrealistic expectations of relationships. I want a deep, tender, mutually beneficial friendship. Now! (As if that's at all reasonable.) I really thought I'd put aside such demanding ideals, but it seems old patterns die hard.

One step at a time, I suppose. I used to have agendas for people. Somehow I thought I had all the answers for their life as well as mine. I could love them beautifully--they just had to understand my way was right! Talk about conditional love--thinking back on it, I feel quite ashamed. With God's grace, that prideful attitude will remain a vanquished foe.

How exactly this ties in, I'm not sure, but my artistic pursuits seem to be connected to my ups and downs. My hunch is that in deciding to be newly flexible in the ways that painting and dance require puts me in a state of flux. Therefore, my normally ironclad confidence is too brittle to keep up as I change. Maybe that's a good thing.

Overall, I love change and growth, but I tend to forget the birthing pains that come along with truly dramatic growth. Thankfully, I am learning to appreciate the exhilarating but frightening sensation of slipping towards change.

post-Nam disorder

There are so many things that have gone on in my life since my last blog that I don't even know where to begin. I've developed and gotten over two small crushes, watched and enjoyed a movie I swore I never would, bargained with and fussed at little Vietnamese market women--and the list goes on. Needless to say, my trip to Viet Nam was full of new experiences. I can't figure out what to talk about first, so I'll just try to give a few glimpses of the most important parts of my trip.

Without a doubt the most awesome part of the visit was our overnight excursion to the Mekong Delta region in the extreme south of Viet Nam. We rode a traditional boat along a stretch of the river, stopping at a couple cool shopping shacks along the way, plus a lovely house-cum-restaurant that's been inhabited by the same family for over 300 years. Our river tour culminated with a stop to hold Anacondas (yes, I mean the huge constrictor snake!), followed by a hike through the countryside and into a village by the main finger of the Mekong River, where we jumped back on the boat for the journey back to our bus.

Ah yes, the bus. That was insane. On the way to the delta, we were blasting music, and I ended up in a dance-off with Kris while the whole bus cat-called. That was weird and exhilarating enough, but when we trooped on board from our river adventures, music was again blasting, except this time the driver turned off the lights and switched on built in strobe lights as we drove. Why in the world this bus came equipped with strobe lights, I have no idea, but we literally had a party bus! It still seems like some odd thing out of a movie, but it sure enough happened. Dancing with everyone crammed into the aisle of a moving bus was hilarious and entertaining beyond belief.

We got back to Saigon the next afternoon, and I, along with Aaron and Maurice, took motorcycle taxis to pick up the custom-tailored suits we'd ordered earlier in the week. Our three drivers were nuts, and it was a ton of fun just getting there. On top of that, all of our suits were perfect--we didn't have to get a single adjustment after trying them on. I have to say that my grey skirt and blazer with white pinstripes is quite flattering. I'm excited to have something professional for interviews and such--especially for only US$120!

Once our exclamations over our own attractiveness was done, we cruised over to the internet cafe, where the three of us ran into Kris, and decided to take a 30 min motorcycle ride around the city as a last kick before our farewell dinner. That was pretty cool, but we cut it close to time for dinner, so I had to run up to my room and practically perform a magic trick to get myself looking like a girl again after all the sweating in my sports bra and t-shirt. I hustled though, and made it back down in time to walk with everyone else to a really nice buffet.

As we filtered out of the restaurant after dinner, I ran into Shawn, who mentioned he was going bowling. He invited me, and that proved to be wonderfully fun. Dr. S, Andy, Dave, Shawn, and I played a fierce two games. Well, more like they did, while I tried to wrap my brain around the basics of bowling. The good news is that I now understand how to do it correctly, thanks to their tutelage.

The weirdest thing about this day? I spent almost ALL DAY with guys. What? Leann Wolley? Since when? I know--when I realized it, I was in shock. I'm so excited though. Getting to know guys and be their friends has always been a tricky business for me, and this intensive exposure is probably the best practice I could get. Plus, the guys on this trip are really interesting, gentlemanly, and fun so far. Yay for personal progress!

Those measly few paragraphs are woefully inadequate to express the eye-opening and relationship-building that happened over this two-day period. Suffice it to say that it was a turning point in my friendships with most of my fellow Pepperdiners.

Oh--I also got a cold, but that's on it's way out, so no worries! My schedule is crazy right now, with all the stuff I left undone before my trip, but I have faith it'll all work out. Anyway, time for our group dinner--have a lovely evening, everyone!

balancing the brush

I realized while talking to a friend of mine today online that I've accidentally given my blog a rather negative tone so far. This entry is an attempt to balance the mood in my little corner of cyberspace.

This weekend was very positive on the whole. On Friday afternoon I went to the second session of my traditional Chinese Painting Studio class, where we tried our hand at painting Chinese orchids. I can't say that my fledgling attempts were high art, but some of them were attractive in an amateurish way, which pleased me greatly. Well, I should clarify--my attempts at the orchid leaves turned out okay. The strokes involved in making the flower itself still mystify me to a great extent, but my roommate has done Chinese painting before, so I am optimistic that with a practice and a little tutoring I'll improve.

After class, I was pretty much exhausted and felt slightly discouraged by my status as the only round-eye in the class (since the professor's mode of operation so far has been to give me a brief translation after speaking to everyone else in Cantonese). Despite this, I can definitely say that I am learning something new every time I attend that class.

EDIT: I talked to the prof. this last week, and he was really nice about using more English, thankfully. Now I just have to figure out how I'll turn in a passable orchid painting next class... scary!!

Just say no, kids.

There's a bizarre pattern that I'm noticing here in my second week of studying abroad: International students seem to think that the weekend starts on Wednesday and doesn't end until Monday night, even when they have class.

Please tell me that this is a phase people will get over. It makes me feel so edgy! Am I missing out on everything? Is it weird to feel uncomfortable with the idea of going out with people who will most likely get fall-down drunk? Okay, that isn't fair. I don't know if they do that every time they go out--but the idea that they might still makes me feel panicky. I don't want to find my way back to campus at 2 am by myself from downtown if everyone else feels like stumbling back at 5 am instead. (And I've heard stories involving times just like that, so it's no exaggeration.)

At least I'm getting to be friends with some really good people. I'm going to go out with some of the tamer crowd tomorrow night, and we're getting our hair done before. I'm really looking forward to that, so at the moment I'm trying to focus on it instead of stressing out.

To be realistic, there was more to my remorse and panic over turning down the invitation to go out tonight than just fear of exclusion. I've already decided that I'm not going to pursue this for multiple reasons, but I kind of like one of the guys who invited me, and despite my decision to no longer encourage interest, I still felt extreme internal pressure to please him. I kept calm on the surface, but I basically freaked out after I called to cancel on him.

I don't know--people seem to feel I am too expressive or too emotional, but I honestly feel like I'm more content than most people. Yeah, I don't hide my enthusiasm or my disappointment or even my seriousness for that matter, but it's only honesty--not psychosis. :) I like being expressive and open. It's fun, and I never have to worry about "if I'd said this" or "if I'd only told him that." I think everyone experiences the things that I express. It's just human, but for some reason we rarely share our humanity. That's okay. I plan to love and grieve openly anyway, even if it isn't the popular choice.

ach, mein stomack!

I tried to be really tolerant and adventurous at the Pepperdine group dinner last night, but I guess I was a little too brave. We had hotpot, which is a style of dining where there's a pot of boiling water with spices in the center. The food is then cooked by dropping raw veggies, meats, etc, into said water.

My experience last night wasn't bad, but this morning I woke up feeling slightly nauseous. Perhaps the different food was a shock to my system after having so little to eat earlier in the day. Thankfully a fellow Pepperdiner had some Pepto Bismol, and my looming health crisis has been averted--for today, at least. I'm praying that my system will have sorted itself out by the time I wake up tomorrow morning.

Note to self: It is good to be adventurous, but your stomach is not made of iron.


Oh--and I just made an absolutely wonderful discovery! Each floor of our residence tower has a kitchenette, and I've only just realized that each one is fully stocked with cooking utensils, cutting knives, and dish detergent. I see glorious nights of self-cooked meals in my near future. :)

I need your grace.

I felt kinda crappy last night. I don't know if that came across in my entry or not, but it's definitely true. After talking and thinking, I've decided that even though all the classes and new people and new experiences are overwhelming, I'm not going to let them beat me.

I could lay around in my room and feel sorry for myself, which would be more than easy to do, but I refuse. It's time to grow up one more time. I will take care of myself by exercising regularly, eating well, praying often, and accepting things easily. No more of this pity-party crap.
God loves me, I love me, and that should be enough fuel to get me going each day.

In keeping with this line of thinking, I'm going to go swim now, and then swing by the library to do some reserve reading for class tomorrow. Life doesn't have to be as dramatic as we like to think, thank goodness!