Oh China...

About a week ago, Stan was feeling like he was getting an ear infection. I knew he needed a Z-pac, and I knew how to find it on my Chinese Dictionary (Azithromycin), and I even knew where to get it at our local Pharmacy. (In China you can buy any pharmaceutical product OTC which needs a prescription in America.) The only thing I couldn't remember was how many pills needed to be taken the first day. I thought it was two, but I wanted to make sure. So... Stan and I were with some of his students when we went to the Pharmacy. We went together and got it. The girl who was helping me was so sweet and trying her best to do everything I needed. After I bought the box, I asked her to tell me how many pills to take the first day because I cannot read the Chinese.

She said, "I think maybe just one is ok."
I said, "But what does it say?"
Looking back at the box.... *hesitation* ...."I think one is just ok. Two is too much."
I said, "I need you to tell me what it says, and not what you think. Please, can you do that for me? I think you are supposed to take two the first day. Can you please read what it says on the box?"
"Yes...uhhhh... *hesitation* ...it says two on the first day, but I think one is ok."
"Oh yes, ok, thank you."

I take the box and make my way back to our apartment. The end.

If you know anything about a Z-pac, the way it works is taking two pills at the beginning (the first day) and one everyday after that. One on the first day is not enough. It will not work if you do that. I just couldn't remember if it was two or more. Whew! Almost always in China when you need help with something, you can find someone to help you. But sometimes, you don't get the kind of help you want...and it makes the situation a bit more difficult than if you had not asked for help at all. haha! Sometimes the Chinese people (especially with respect to illnesses) will tell you that you are not caring for the illness the correct way. They will say it is not right and they know the better way to do it. This is frustrating at times, because I don't say that to them about their Traditional Chinese medicine. I just feel like our cultures are different and we choose to do things differently. That shouldn't reflect which way is better, or which culture is better. They are just different!

But the point is, in the end it doesn't matter because all those girls who went with us are fun to be around and we have a good relationship with all of them! There are things which get in the way a little bit because of culture, but we are still friends! And that is the start to letting them see Him in us. And THAT is important!

Anyway, this is one thing which is difficult to deal with in the Chinese culture. Being told you are wrong about something you have grown up with isn't always easy to hear. But what I want to remember is it is important to not let that get in the way of becoming friends and reaching people! Well, that's all! Thanks for reading! I love you all!!

Christmas!

Hello all! The forecast said it would be snowing Christmas Eve and Christmas day, but alas it did not snow! Oh well, we had a good Christmas anyway! I have a few pictures to let you know what we've been up to! Last week on Sunday we met with our foreign friends for a Family Meeting, and after that we had our Secret Santa gift give away! This is what Stan got as his gift. He tried all of them on!

Hey, he can't get on to me for posting these. I mean he posed for the picture and everything!



Anyway, this past Thursday we went to pick up Danny and Layna at the airport in Shanghai. On the way back we met this cute little girl and her Momma. They were originally from China, but have lived in San Francisco for the past 10 years. She loved Stan and they played the whole way back...








So cute!


Christmas morning! Here's our tree with all the presents under it!


Stan got me a Chinese Snuggie for Christmas! He also got me the hat I'm wearing!


Then we had three girls over to the house for some dinner. These are girls we have met at Starbucks and have developed a good relationship with. (From left to right: Moon, Tu Tu, and Milissa. Yes that is how she spells it.)



It was a fun day! We are still celebrating because we are having students over to the house for cookies, Christmas music, and conversation! We'll be celebrating all week! I hope all of your Christmas' were wonderful! Thanks for reading, I love you all!

Feeling Reminiscent! :)

I follow a lot of blogs, and a lot of my blog-y friends are reminiscing about Christmas' past. So, I figured I would do the same cuz ya know, it's fun! The first "picture" that popped into my mind when I was thinking about Christmas when I was little was every year when we would pile on the couch and watch, "It's a Wonderful Life." I can remember after we watched the movie we would ask our parents if we could stay up late. They would let us because we were ON CHRISTMAS BREAK! Which was sooooooo funnnnn!! I can remember thinking, when I would be walking to the car or bus, "I don't even have to THINK about school for 2 WHOLE WEEKS!!! AND... IT'S CHRISTMAS!!!!" Sooo excited! So we would stay up late... all the way until 10:30!! Haha, I don't remember exactly what time, but I know it wasn't very late at all! lol!

Another thing we always did was go see the Christmas lights at Opry Land Hotel! We would also go around and look at lights in the neighborhoods which were supposed to have really good lights, but we always decided in the end our house looked the best!

One thing I remember from college (I know, I know, it wasn't that long ago...) about Christmas, has to do specifically about Christmas music! Me and Elise made the drive home from Freed Hardeman for Thanksgiving one year. I walked in the door and my dad was sitting in his recliner and my mom was in the kitchen. I said hi and then I said, "Ummmm, where is the Christmas music?!" I got on to him because he ALWAYS plays Christmas music as soon as it is acceptable. (Some would argue too soon, but you are a scrooge! Yes, Thanksgiving is important, but I love Christmas music!...ahem...)

Moving on...I was a bit disappointed because wanted to post some pictures of way back when, and I don't have access to any old pictures because I am over here in China, ya know. And (I know you're not supposed to start a sentence with "and"...but just give me a break! :) ) then I thought to myself, "I'll just hop on over to Facebook because I know my mom and Christine, my sister have some old photos of us when we were little. This will probably explain the recent comments on some of these very old pictures posted years ago! haha! And someone, *cough* Christine *cough* deleted her old facebook account with all the old school pictures in it....so I don't have as many as I would like! :)

Anyway, this first one I think might have been during Christmas because for a couple years we always wanted wind breaker suits and Elise is sporting hers proudly here! Haha!





Here is a more recent picture of what Christmas has done to me! This is what I like to call my "Christmas Cheer!"


I think I got it from someone else...yup, we're related. That's my dad with his dad!


This is a couple years ago at my grandparents house! Amy is all snug in her Who Ville Onesie. haha!


My grandparents on my mom's side!


And of course we all love a good big fat meal on Christmas!!

Chinglish Time!

I've got a couple more pictures for you all! I'll just let you enjoy them... :)

This first one was given to Caleb, another American brother here in Xiasha. We were getting a massage and this note was handed to him. After being her for a while, we were able to understand everything except the "meah". We don't really understand that part. haha!



This is an exact translation of what they would say in Chinese. "Send it to you." Except the part that says "Merry X-max" haha!



This really means it is not a present...don't steal it. haha!





We bought this cup to keep in the bathroom. When I got it home, I realized it had Chinglish on it! Look closely...







That's all I have! I hope you enjoyed them! Thanks for reading, I love you all!

White House Ain't Got Nothin on Us!

I was reading Yahoo! online news the other day and one of the articles was about the White House Christmas decorations and how wonderful, and beautiful, and festive they are. So I took a look...my reaction? "Oh, pleeeease." I mean, I don't mean to brag, but I would have to say we did a better job than the White House with our decorations. Period. No arguments...I think you will agree! ;) This is our Christmas cheer and as I like to call it our Winter Wonderland!

This is from the front hallway looking into the rest of the house.


Snowflakes!


Christmas ties we got from Amber last year!



We made this paper tree last year and lit it this year. The process of lighting the tree...




The finished product!


Our Charlie Brown Christmas Tree we got from Layna last year!





The top of a tin can we got last year!


Kevin loves to do this! Haha!



I made this little guy last night. He's a little skinny, but we'll just say Santa's on a diet.



So proud of our little fire place...Stan made most of it!


We had to put our stockings under the tree because we couldn't tac them to the concrete wall on the mantel.


Our tree has a mini-me my mom gave us!


Before we put mini-me under the big tree, we had him in the bathroom as a nightlight. Here are the many colors...Blue!


Green!


Red!


Well that's it! I might do a video of it soon...we'll see. :) Thanks for reading and I love you all!


Oh, P.S...it's been snowing all morning!!!