back to the xanga plan. . .

http://www.xanga.com/KindergartenFiend

I can't look at blogspot currently, so I'm back to this plan. Go check it out, sign up to get posts and stuff. Whatever.

The Best of "B" week

Almost every day, we have a brainstorming time of words that begin with our letter of choice. This week, we're doing B. What would you come up with? My kids came up with some great ones:
bikini
bathing suit
begging
bum
black hole
bump
butt
booster
Buzz Lightyear
banana
birthday
back
Barney
board
bored
berry
beneath
bathtub
balloon
boat
Bible
broom
Bethelehem
baboon
bark
bean bag
baby
block
bone
belt
Barbie
beak
brat
ball
bar
bulb
breath
Batman
basketball
button
buy
bike
breathe
beard
brown
blood
and the greatest of all. . .that I had to tell them not to say. . .boobies

And those aren't even all of them.

Anyways, in the spirit of B week, Emily had her birthday on Sunday, and so we had people over and partied it up with chocolate cake, brownies, my ever present grape juice (yes, just juice) and other random snack food. We played Catch Phrase, and my team totally ruled the day. Of course.

I'm 4

Yes, and 4 months.

On Saturday I went to Carrefour to do some shopping for some necessary household items (and while I was there I picked up some Taro Muffins. . .)
Anywho, when I went to get on the bus to go home, I decided that I wanted to be in the front of the top of a double-decker bus. So I waited for a few buses, so that they could be the ones crammed full of people, and I finally got into an almost completely empty bus, and got my seat. It was beautiful. I could see everything. So I decided to take pictures, and give all you peoples back in my various homes a picture tour of the half hour bus ride from Carrefour to my stop.

The buses. . .oh so close to each other. Seriously, I think these guys stop the buses with inches to spare. The bus drivers are amazing. You are always close to death, but rarely there.


The Spider store. . .creepy. Used to have a picture of one of our teachers. They must've just changed it.


oooh la la. . .

Affiliated Stomatology Hospital of Kums
I don't know, I'm not sure I want to know.


Eastern Camel. . .maybe I'll go there someday. Even though camels are ugly and gross, and apparently fat.


This is a sign advertising Central Park. . .hey, if the park looks like that, I'll go. But wait, that's what my living room looks like. hmmmm

Ok, so I'm taking this from the top of an 82. . .and there are THREE 82's in the picture. SO, Kindergarten math says that makes four in a row. Keep in mind that sometimes I wait for 15 minutes for one of these. But since I was on the last one, that made mine the emptiest. . .so it was actually really nice. But ridiculous.


I just love this picture. The essence of Kunming in a snapshot.


Yup, Bus Lane, Car Lane. It's useful.

The intersection where I brush with death everyday (aka cross the street)


One of my dangerous bus stops. . .not dangerous at this peaceful time of day.

Digging up the sidewalk. . .just to put it down again. Whatever.


"The Nature Lets You Be Intimate With, The Construction Causes You To Get Excited"

On the left, is my Orange Store, that I buy some things at. . .beer, noodles, you know.

Because it's going to look like that when the project is done!


It looks so nice, and clean, and orderly in this picture. . .that's a little odd.


The sky is prepping to rain. . .or something. It's cool anyways!

Playing Football

Ok, so today I did something rather out of the ordinary for me.

My 5 Korean boys were playing soccer, and I went over, just to surprise them, and kick the ball when they weren't looking. And I ended up being on a team and playing soccer for the entire recess. It was awesome. They weren't keeping score, we were just having fun. they were all in hysterics. Then some of the girls came over and started a little cheerleading squad for me. Which was annooooying. Girls are kind of obnoxious. You know? Anyways, I was worried that the other team was going to get fed up with my beating them, but they were having so much fun. And then recess ended, and they begged for me to play with them after lunch. I said maybe.

Now, I am not a predictable Maybe person. YOu know how some people always say maybe and mean yes, and some people say maybe and mean no? Particularly parents. But with me, maybe leaves my kids having NO idea what I'm going to decide. SO after lunch, I'm waiting for the stragglers who eat sooooo slowly (like I used to, I admit!) and three of them came back to the tent to ask if I was coming. When I finally got to the playground, they'd been waiting for me! So I played. It was so much fun. Just kicking the ball around, and having a blast. Of course, one of my cheerleaders managed to get onto the playing field and get kicked in the face with a ball, which was a tragedy, and then John elbowed Dannie in the face, which was another tragedy. Oh well. Now they're off singing in music, then we have nap, then the 4th grade comes to read, then they have library, and then I think we'll just finish our sunflowers from yesterday. It's a nice easy Wednesday. I do like Wednesdays. They are happy days.

I've decided that I should play soccer with my boys more often. Sometimes it's hard for me to connect with them, because the girls will come over and cuddle and insist on sitting in my lap, but all I do with the boys is debate Star Wars. The JK teacher came over during recess and was like, "I bet they didn't know you could do this!" And they didn't.
Yesterday I felt like a failure, like I wasn't reaching my kids. I'm still a little worried about the whole grading thing, but I think I'll do fine. . .eventually. And I can reach my kids. There are still a couple that I'd like to string up, but you know, two out of sixteen ain't so bad. I'll take it! I love my kids, I truly do.

whatever is going on

This morning I woke up and called my old big brother. He is now a quarter of a century old. Of course, I tell my students that i'm 117, so I guess that's really not so bad in the scheme of things. then I went, cooked my breakfast, and then ate it while watching Friends With Money--the only reason I got it was because it had Jennifer Aniston--it sucked, by the way. I wasted those hours. So now I'm at school, because I have to of course lesson plan for this week. It's been raining off and on for the last week, so I've been wearing my bubble shoes to work. They're coming apart though, so I really need to duct tape them before they crack further. I'm just trying to decide what color to do. I need turquoise, but I'm not sure they make that color duct tape (or if they do, i doubt they sell it in China. Oh well.
Ok, that's my life.
The End
Oh yeah, and I'm listening to my new music which I found at our nice dvd store. I found a live Evanescence CD, Trisha Yearwood, Sleepless in Seattle, Shrek 2, and The Village Soundtracks. Only a couple of them will actually work on my laptop, but then, my laptop is junk and not worthy of the name laptop. They work in the CD player and in my school computer though. So it's ok. I'll survive.

Stressing and Freaking Out

For All who Stress about their Mess

For all you who worry
and fret and stress
about things to do
and about your mess:

"That is good," said the fish.
"He has gone away. Yes.
But your mother will come.
She will find this big mess!
And this mess is so big
and so deep and so tall,
We can not pick it up.
There is no way at all!"

Just a reminder from the great Dr. Seuss, panicking is for uptight fish.

There are so many times that a situation just seems completely impossible, and there is no way out. Fortunately. . .we have something better than the Cat in the Hat! (I know, the shock and disbelief at that statement knows no bounds, but still!)
The sermon I heard yesterday said to trust God--why do we worry? We have to remember all the ways God has pulled us out of sticky spots in the past. He always does, and he's always faithful. And yet, sometimes life seems hopeless, and I feel as if there is no possible reason for what is happening around me, and to me. And I worry about things I can't change, and wouldn't even know what the best thing to do was.
And all the time, God is up there watching me, gently telling me, "Jasmine, honey, I'm in control. Hellooooo. Worrying, freaking out, panicking, it's all just the devil's way of taking your mind off of me, and disturbing the peace that I have given you. Now come back home." And it takes me a while sometimes to hear that. Once I do, it still sometimes seems to take me too long to actually pay attention and obey. Sigh.

new favorite foods

These are my new favorite foods. Taro Milk Muffins (Taro, is my absolute new favorite flavor!) and Egg Cakes. The Egg cakes have like, a cream in the middle. They're tasty. I like my new foods. I can buy them at the Orange Store (as we have come to call it, since we do not know how to read Chinese and learn the name, and the big huge sign is orange), that is just a couple blocks away from my house. Such happiness. I'll probably stop on my way home today. The muffins made a brilliant breakfast!! And the egg cakes. . .are a great snack/breakfast.
SO yeah. This is what I find to love in China.