CHINA

"The traveler sees what he sees. The tourist sees what he has come to see." ~G.K. Chesterton



"I dislike feeling at home when I am abroad."
George Bernard Shaw



Without travel "I would have wound up a little ignorant white Southern female, which was not my idea of a good life." -- Lauren Hutton

Learning the Magnificent Chinese!

Tonight I finally sat down and decided I wanted to learn Chinese and I realized I need to. Eventually, I want to speak it fluently. I always notice my parents are happy to see me learining it, but wish they could. It is fascinating to me how hard it can be to say one simple word in Chinese. When we move it is going to be a challenge, but I will be fine. As long as I know the simple things at first. At my school everyone has to take a Chinese class so that is where I will learn a lot. I'm excited and want to learn more and more each day and hopefully will.

"If you can speak three languages you're trilingual. If you can speak two languages you're bilingual. If you can speak only one language you're an American." ~Author Unknown

Every second of everyday that past means my family and I are one step closer to our Amazing adventure to China. Are house has already been rented, we are about to sale the car, and most of our rooms in our house are empty including mine. It is a little overwhelming at times because we have done so much and there is still so much to do. We all work together and help one another as much as we can though so I know we can get through it. This also means when something goes we get something new in China. We just got and email from the principal telling us that they switched our apartments. Good thing is that it seems even nicer than before and we get our own rooms. It's also closer to the school. I am very stoked about school. It is a drastic change. My mom is teaching 6th grade all subjects which will be very different because she has always taught high school. My dad is going to be my Math and Science teacher. (Lord help me)
The most different thing in my opinion is that there are hardly any people at this school. In my grade there is about 12 or 13 people. That is something that is totally new for me because at my school now there is 180 students.
See taking an adventure can be a lot of hard work ,but it is worth it in the end!
The World is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page. ~St. Augustine

My family and me!Don't we look very Adventurous!lol

This is a picture of the beautiful city!

I am having a great day! This morning I had church and then we went to the funeral home (that was sad though) to see a woman that had died in a car accident and was a teacher at Portland East. Raven and I went to the Mexican restaurant and we saw one of our friends. My family is coming over in 30 minutes; I am very excited!

The other day these people came over and they are going to rent our house for us when we move to China. They are very nice people that will take good care of our house. China is only four and a half months away. That seems long, but it will go by fast. My parents have looked at the textbooks there and we just got our passports in the mail. When the passports came it just felt like one step closer to my family's dream. I am ecstatic about this adventure and know in my heart that this is the best decision for us!

I can't go anywhere without someone saying "You're moving to China?"
Everyone at school knows I am moving ,but it's like they still don't know for sure,so they have to ask. I tell them, Yes and then more questions start to flow out of their mouth. I don't know what to say because I'm not there NOW. I don't know how long I will be gone, what exact day we are going (sometime in August),or even if I'm going to like it there. QUESTIONS!!! I lay in bed at night thinking WOW I must be the luckiest girl ever to get to have this opportunity and get to travel the world. This sounds terrible, but I feel like I have to see it to believe it. I KNOW I'm going I just don't know what to expect. I have been searching though on the Internet and it sounds like a very neat place to live. The living is very different form ours though. We will be living in an apartment, eating WAY different foods, it's crowded everywhere, and I'm not going to be able to see all of my family every weekend like usual. It's okay because I know that this is a great adventure for my family and I! Chengdu China- 5 months! (YAY)!!!

China this year! I'm so excited; it's going to be an amazing adventure!!!

We got out of school today because of snow! YAY! Hopefully, just hopefully, we will be out of school tomorrow too! I love living in T.N. because you just never know what the weather will bring you, and you get out of school for the littlest things. That will change next year though because we are moving to CHINA! WHOO HOO! I'm so excited I don't even care if it doesn't snow there I'm just so happy about it and I want to leave now! I want the passports to hurry up, I want this school year to end, I want to get my shots over with, and I want to get on that plane and be there! I can just imagine it now, walking in my new furnished apartment and going outside without stopping to talk to someone you know every second! It's very exciting! It's an AMAZING opportunity! Here is a picture of our new city!

So, my mom is making me write this blog as well as she is writing one too. We are moving to Chengdu, China this year. I'm excited, but also very nervous. It's going to be such a new adventure and an amazing one at that! My family has been waiting for this for a long time and it is now happening. Not many kids my age get to do this so I am very blessed to have this opportunity. Chengdu sounds like a very neat place! It has many Panda Bears (they are endangered). Chengdu has the largest Budha statue in the world. It is the 4th largest city in China. Well...... I will try to write on my blog everyday so you can keep up with my adventures that I will be having!!!

sitting at home, watchin a cooking show. hopefully just hopefully we will be out of school tomorrow we are supposed to get 4-6 inches YAY!!!! lol!

So today, I had to go too school.(boring) ugghh! It's okay though because I didn't have much homework. I love hanging out with my friends and learning new material, but why do teachers do some teachers give you work that means nothing? Some teachers I feel as if they are there to be there and not teach the students. Honestly, I like school and I know that every teacher doesn't have to be perfect, but why are they giving us busy work constantly?

Well, off to the exciting part of school. This morning I got an invitation to one of my friend's birthday party. I think I can come, hopefully! In 3rd period we had a party for winning the can food drive. All my friends in that class cracked me up! We laughed the whole class period over nothing. Lunch was pretty good, except for the fact the buns to our chicken sandwiches were cold. In 6th period we got new seating arrangements; I have to sit by Shaun Butler (immature) and Kimber, which I love Kimber so I guess it's okay. 7th period I have Mrs. Civils; she is an AMAZING teacher! She made a PowerPoint today about the major rivers in the world and from her teachings I know the facts about them pretty well. After Mrs. Civils class it was time for dismissal (YAY)!!! I'm home and now watching T.V. with my little brother, Phillip. Overall, I have had a pretty good day so far!

I'm very excited about next weekend, we are going to Atlanta to see where we are moving to!We are pretty sure its going to be Shekou China. My parents would like to teach international; they would be with the program, QSI. I have a younger sister and a younger brother and I know we are all very excited! My family has always wanted to travel around the world and experience new adventures. I can't wait until school next year, I have been on this school's website and it has so many extra curriculum activities. Keep up with my blog and I will post more neat things about moving international!