Today, Phil and I went to the zoo.
To see pandas and giraffes.
The best part of it was, was that it was all for free!
That's right, we got 3 tickets to any Chimelong attraction, you could chose between Amusement park, Safari Zoo, Water Park, or the Circus.
For me it was either the circus or the Safari Zoo, since they had tons of pandas.
And so we went to the zoo.
Woke up nice and late, had a brunchy lunch of corn soup and cereal for breakfast (plus gingerbread) then headed out the door into the lovely sunshine for the Hanxi station. Phil's younger brother, Sam, came along with us to use the other ticket, as they would expire this year.

Pictures will have to come later since I'm blogging from Phil's computer, but I shall say it was so much fun! First we saw flamingos but our main aim of the day was giraffes and pandas.
Pandas and Ressa Pandas came first, hurrah!
Then Phil's giraffes, which are always cool with their slanted backs and long black tongues.
Then we went to see the monkeys, where Sam had moments with the monkeys and we tossed gingerbread to the Rhesus baby monkeys. The older ones were such greedy ones, and would swipe the gingerbread right out of the air and then gobble it down while the baby monkeys looked on with sad eyes. Poor things. We tossed a some more until a few of the baby monkeys had some gingerbread to eat.
I felt like a kid again, oohing and cooing at the animals at the zoo, but it was great.

On the exercise front, yesterday I did 30 push-ups, in sets of ten, so I don't know if it counts as saying 30 or just 10 3 times. Ah well.
I got myself a nice hula hoop for Christmas, and it's been quite fun hooping, since it's been such a long time since I last hooped.
Pictures will come later, and now I'll have an English class in a few mins so I'll leave you here.
So close to new years you guys! What are your resolutions?

So sorry everyone.
Christmas has left me for a loop.
There was food, there was wine, and there was lots of fun stuff going on.
I have to keep this really short because I'm using Phil's computer and he needs to do work related stuff.

On the exercise front, I managed to do 15 push-ups, and just today I played a whole game of Basket-ball!
Lol.
I doubt I'll get in any 'EXERCISE exercise' like the good old days of Tae-bo and Scary Lady, but oh well. I'll live.

Now off to take apart the gingerbread house.

As I type I'm sipping a chamomile and honey tea while the curtains the boys helped me pull down are in the wash.
Merry Christmas Eve you guys!
A recap of yesterday for you, and a few other things, and then I'm off to help with Christmas Eve cooking.

Yesterday's Visa trip went smoothly, minus the fact that the limo bus that goes to and from HK was BOOKED OUT, so I took the train back to Guangzhou after securing my new visa.
Last note about visa's. Phil found a place here in Guangzhou that will extend your visa for you, no trips out of china, and SOO MUCH cheaper. God is good.

On the exercise front, hahaha, I got in a 45 min yoga exercise "Bryan Kest Power Yoga" and now my shoulders are all kinds of sore! I was surprised and really disappointed at how weak I had gotten. In the very beginning of the exercise, they ask you to hold Chataranga pose for maybe just 1 min....probably less, and I was seriously DYING. And all i could think of was "Meg, that push up idea is so on!" After a few downward dogs, and then it was ok, it was just the first part that I had to push myself.
Right after the yoga, i had a nice nap on my mat while Phil thought of a lovely surprise. Outside barbecue for dinner! So after pulling myself off my mat (amazing how comfortable it gets on a sheet of rubber :P) and putting on my jacket, we headed out for the regular outside barbecue places.
I had oyster for the first time in my life, and it was soo yummy! I had no idea.
Then after getting the stuff I needed for my trip to HK, Phil and I watched Ip Man. A movie/biography of Jet Lee's teacher. It was pretty cool.
Catch you guys later, and I will tell you so then I will have to.
I'm going to look into how to put in pictures on here without having to break a paragraph for every photo. It's just a bit of CSS so it won't be too difficult.
Alright that's it.  Have a good Cmas Eve, and I hope it's as yummy as ours.

Yes I did! And it was lovely. I skipped 1000 times in 6:35 ......without the rope LOL!
My god, my arms have gotten so weak that by 300 they're reeally tired. Man what happened to those good old Tae-bo days when I would use my resistance bands WITH the weights inside. Sigh. Much has changed since then.
On to a happier thought though, I have now proved to myself that it is indeed capable, now I've just got to get the body moving....
Another resolution I've decided on, I'm going to start doing yoga everyday, come hell or high waters. I won't be doing hours long sessions, far far from, but more along the 20-30 mins area, but hey, every bit counts. :D
On to a more yummy topic, I made cornbread!
I don't know about you, or if you've ever read 'Little House On the Prairie" but I've always wanted to taste it, it sounds so good when it's being described. I had the opportunity, when Michelle told me that we had cornmeal and wanted me to use it (YES!)
So cornbread was made.
and it was yum.
The end.
OH YEA! WISH ME LUCK FOR MY VISA TRIP! (this thurs)

  Sorry for such a hasty post yesterday. I wanted to stay true to my resolution, but I’m wondering, if it’s going to sacrifice quality for just for the sake of posting…I don’t know. Ah well, enforcing good habits is a balancey thing.

So what really happened yesterday was this.

Ryan and I had a day all to ourselves because Broderick had a modeling job, and the parents were both out working.

First thing we did? Well, we did half of our school work, and then had some craft time. Ryan got to making a Christmas card (to himself) while I did some coloring (lol, it was fun). Once we both had enough of that, it was on to making some bread.

I had already made bread with Broderick, and it turned out great, so of course, Ryan wanted to have bread that he baked as well, so we got started right away.

For those of you wondering, here’s the recipe, it’s super simple-as stated- and egg free!
Simple Bread Recipe
Pictures down below

After that was Children’s Smile, and it was once again brought home to me just how very communist it still is in China.

I was talking with one of the fathers who help out with our weekly thing, and he was remarking how amazing it must be to be in a family of 11 children. I said well yes it is, once you get past the familiarity it is quite amazing.

Then he told me how he would love to have more then one child, (his son is only 3 months old now), and how strict the punishment is if you have more then one.

I have to admit it was pretty shocking how China still holds to its one child policy, and the safeguards they put in place to ensure that no one tries to skirt the rules.

After talking about that, we moved on to schooling, and home schooling, the benefits of living with a lot of people/ having many brothers and sisters, and we ended with agreeing to learn one word a day, in Chinese for me, and for him, in English.

I’ll keep you updated on how that goes. For Sunday, my word of the day was ‘Elbow’ Zhou. His word was elbow as well, haha. He also taught me shoulder ‘xiou ma’ and knee ‘xi gai’

 

 

Just a  quick post, as my headache from  yesterday took on a rather sickly hue. Anyhow on with the show.
Today was Children's Smile (a link to that will be up and about soon, as I've been asked to make one) and during that, I managed to get in 200 jumps in 1:30, but the headache wasn't having anymore. Sigh.

For those of you reading this, please pray for the overall health of us people. This week is going to be super packed.
I've got mon,tues, and wensday full time with the kids, and on tues and wensday I've got English Teaching. Then on thursday it's another visa trip. Fri is going to be our Christmas Show (if they get back to us about it, but so far it's full steam ahead!), Sat will be our Christmas Party, and Sun will be Children's Smile again, and going to have a mini Christmas party for the kids that show up.
GAh.
That's the plan for this Christmassy week. Wish me luck, and send over the prayers, because I'll be living off of them.
Happy Christmas week you guys!

Ahhhh boy. Maybe I set my sights too high, or I don't really push myself, or my headache was more pounding then my feet, but man! I was aiming for a 1,000 skips with my skip rope, and ended with only 400 in 3:10.
Next time, I’m going to try doing just high knees. without a skip rope, we’ll see how that goes.

I just came back from a very cold Thursday out with Phil. We went to Ikea to get a towel for Phil's dad, and ended up picking up some hazelnut chocolate(still haven't tried the vegan chocolate recipe you posted Meg) and a towel for Phil as well. The weather when we were stepping out of the house was a brisk wind and clear, clear skies.
By the time we were out of the metro and walking towards Ikea, the wind was much cooler, and had a bite to it.
Our next stop after Ikea was University city.
Yup
Our favorite food hang out place was where we had our linner? lunner?dinch?(Lunch/dinner)
and by the time we were heading back, we had to stop by Dakasi to pick up a warm drink for our frozen hands.
Poor Phil had barely enough to keep him warm.
Previous to this post, Michelle had lent me a coat, as my winter wardrobe was seriously lacking, and I felt it was time to return it.SO! That meant a shopping trip.
I dragged Phil out into the cold again after a home for my jacket, and he was nearly frozen! I got my jacket and a scarf, and we hurried home as fast as possible.
Happy Christmas weather to you all

I just finished reading 'Carrie' and I believe it's one of those books you have to read. Not only is it full of vivid description, realistic characters, and contains Stephan King's fantastic lilt into fantasy, it's also a very heartbreaking read.
The story pulls you into the life of a mistreated and trampled down young girl, who also has telekinesis.

My first introduction to the book was a friend of mine telling me how I would enjoy this book.
He told me the plot line, how it was written to jump back and forth between 'news articles' and 'statements' then the story, what he didn't tell me about was how gripping the story would be. He didn't tell me how it would make you feel like you were living inside the book and experience yourself the pain and the thrill of being Carrie.
The book isn't very long, only 86 pages long, well not very long compared to other works of by King.
The only 'issue' I'd say that bothers me, is the portrayal of Christians. Carrie's mother is a Christian, but is portrayed as a 'freak' and easily on the mental side. As a Christian, it's kind of insulting how they would twist Bible scripture, and depict Christ as being scary, the root of the problem, or why Carrie had issues.
Even then, I guess, there are bad apples in every barrel.


I'm so glad I was able to read this book, even if it wasn't in paperback (sitting down with a book is now a luxury), and it didn't lessen from the read. If ever you have spare time, and feel like reading something out of the ordinary, I'd recommend Carrie.

And strikes hard when it comes to Christina Perri.
I was playing with my guitar, well honestly, fumbling would be the correct term, and I decided to try playing Christina Perri's 'Jar of Hearts'.
I thought I was doing alright, the chords weren't too messed up, and I was singing on-key.
Then I thought hey, I should hear how she sings it, where to she put in the harmonies, and what kind of harmony it was.
That was my downfall.
I played her song, and felt woefully low and so bad at singing, I quietly put the guitar away, and clicked on her cover of "Blower's Daughter" and was blown away. No joke.
I seriously could not stop listening, the way she makes the song her own, and does so with style is seriously a talent that makes me green.

I guess only the lazy are jealous.
Being able to play the guitar smoothly just takes practice, to play it with style just means finding your own style and putting your heart into it. Singing, well, everyone can sing, it just takes more time to polish that talent. I haven't been doing much of either. But, with this new-found jealousy fueling my passion for both guitar and singing, I'll be having more practice time that's for sure.