only for these girls...

would i wake up at 6 am on my vacation just to chat.

oh china, why do you have to be so far away?

they exude so much christmas spirit, i just had to add these santa hats:)
gotta love photobucket.

ok, now it's time for a little nap before my day as an honorary jacobsen begins.

a letter from the mainland...

Hey jiejie,

Long time no talking with you! what's going on you?

It's December already, how time flies! we've been seperate for almost half year! I wish you could come back and celebrate Christmas with us, still in your room, girls night! I miss ya so much every time when I come to Kara's room!

You need to talk to Kara to see if we can talk on skype someday, I cannot wait!

The good news from Kara and Peter I bet you've already know, How exciting it is! Since I heard that I realised I need to pray and ask Him to prepare a boyfriend for you, this is the urgent matter of you! cuz I really want you can be happier if a boy around you!

For sure I'll keep this in my mind, so no worries:) and I need you to pray for me, I need a job right after the end of this semester...

We are preparing for the Christmas performance recently, hopefully Jesus will like this gift! How about you? any good things happened on you? tell me soon!!!~~~~~~~~~

[emails like this make me smile]

i miss my China girls.

my chinese mama.

I miss mama figo...

her fried chicken...

how she would always try to hold my hand...

her laugh...

and how loudly she would talk to me in chinese (in hopes that maybe i would understand if she just talked louder).

missing the motherland.

some days I forget how much I miss China. then I see faces of people like Allen and I remember.
there isn't anyone else I'd rather hear call me "dude."

thank God for technology, especially the genuis that is Skype.

China why have you forsaken Hanbone?

Good morning, good afternoon, and GOODNIGHT. Many of this blog's viewers I'm sure are located all over the world. So just wanted to cover all of my bases. Something dreadful has occurred. And I'm not talking about Hannah singing that karaoke again. Worse, China has officially blocked Hanbone's BLOGSPOT. How? We don't know. Why? Probably just to show they can. (at least hannah thinks) So I am here to fill in and make sure all the friendly followerzzz are updated with this drastic news : ( On behalf of Hannah Lynn Devries. She wants you all to know how devastated she is right now in the wake of this situation. But she is not losing hope, and truly believes that one day she will be re-united with her blog and her followers. Until then, keep her in your thoughts and your P's. She needs it more than ever right now.....and so does her blog! On another note....can anyone say abstract Jaws up there?! Will check back in soon.....PEACE, Love and Obama

xoxo
Hannah's true college homegirl
Chels

hog wild.

We went Seoul.

We came back to China.
Now we're quarantined for the week.
Safety first.
Sanity second.

I'm not sure what's happening to us.

Good thing we're pros at entertaining ourselves.

Day 1 Update: The Doc just came to check our temperatures...

... and we PASSED!
Phew.
No flu.

A lot more posts to come soon.
Get ready.

and now a word from our judges...

Get ready for a takeback, playback of my Sunday afternoon...

So there Kara and I were just strolling into the building at Yanda University where I would be a judge for a local English competition and she would be a distinguished audience member.
At the very same moment our eyes caught one glimpse of this photo and of course...

We totally tripped and almost fell on our faces.
At the exact same time.
We are slowly becoming the same person.
I'm sure my students were wondering "Why did we invite them again?"
Loudspeaker, an English club at Yanda University, held the competition
for students from all over the city, and two of my very own students,
Timothy and Stephanie, made it to the final round.
I was so proud.

I was directed to my seat at the front of the auditorium with the other judges (four Chinese teachers and an Aussie). I started chatting with the Australian guy (foreigners can usually connect fairly quickly in China since none of us really ever know exactly what's going on).

It's amazing the information people will divulge to a stranger. He told me all about his partner, their son (the first true foreigner to be born in Qinhuangdao mind you), the places he's lived in China, all the English competitions he's judged, etc. But soon enough we had to focus on the stage. The competition was starting...

Out came our hosts for the afternoon.
They were pretty great.
And bilingual too!

You can't have a speech competition without some pre-show entertainment.
Chinese hip-hop dancers are the best.



We appreciated his effort.
See the little boy in the corner.
He was A-D-O-R-A-B-L-E.
He was the best break dancer I've seen in a long time.
Sorry I don't have a video of his moves.
Just imagine a Missy Elliott kiddo dancer, Chinese style.



Priceless.



And now for the competitors self-introductions.
These were some of our favs.



Meet my student Timothy (contestant #7).
He always wears this G-Unit sweatshirt.
He is precious in every way possible.



Meet Stephanie (contestant #9).
If she was a a food, she would totally be a cupcake.
Sweet and the cutest thing ever.
I mean she did the hokie pokie for her intro.
Too bad Kara and I were the only audience members dancing along.



Now for the moment of truth...

The Speeches.

And...
The Debates.

Here are all 10 of the contestants post speeches and debates and before they announced the winner.
I believe this is when they asked all of the judges to give some suggestions to the contestants, and I rambled something about being passionate and speaking from your heart.
It was horrible and didn't make much sense. Dang.

Time to announce the winners...

Well, the Aussie judge and I were convinced it was rigged.
Timothy and Stephanie and #2 all got third place (I don't really understand how that exactly works)...


And this girl, #10, got first. Was it a coincidence that she is a student at Yanda and most of the judges are teachers there? I think not.

Am I a little bitter? Maybe.


Even though I think my students should have won, I decided to be the bigger person and pose with the group after all.

Everyone's a winner in China.
We all got some prizes.
I'm a fan of my picture.
And I think Timothy and Stephanie liked their soap:)

And then it was over.
Time to clean up the confetti they shot at the winner.

Kara asked me last night, "What are you going to do when you don't live in China anymore?"
To which I responded, "I don't even know. My life will be so sad and boring."

I'm really going to miss this place.
I don't even want to think about life without
speech competitions,
confetti cannons,
and Chinese people.

how to become a (wo)man.

"If we fail to reach the Great Wall we are not men."
-Mao Zedong
From his poem entitled "Mount Liupan"

In the hopes of becoming real men/women, the foreign affairs department took all of us laowais on a trip to the Great Wall at Mutianyu this past Saturday...

You can't go anywhere in China without being a part of a tour group.
And you can't be a part of a tour group without being serenaded by your tour guide.

First stop...
some random cave complete with black lights, empty fish tanks, and a bike pump.

oh the foreign students...

We finally arrived at the mountain and got ready for the ascent.

And so it begins...

Meet Indiana Jones.
Kara's personal paparazzi.
He came to film for the movie he is making about her life.
He needed a little encouragement.
(Side note: Please don't be alarmed by my screaming. I am dramatic sometimes.)

"I really like noodles."

Kara has inspired me to perfect the art of the self portrait.

I've got a long way to go.

I don't really like climbing big rocks...

...but I love blue skies.

After a long search and a lot of walking/climbing/stopping/pretending not to be breathing heavy, we made it to the wall!

And it was totally worth it.

Of course Indiana Jones was there to capture every moment.

There's always time for a glamor shot with the GW.

Then there was the descent...

Indiana Jones: "THIS IS VERY DANGEROUS. VERY DANGEROUS.
YOU NEED TO SIT. S-E-A-T."

After we finally made it off the mountain, lunch was waiting for us...
yummmmm:)

In conclusion...
and because "Knowledge Is Power" I'll take this opportunity to give you some fast facts
(compliments of wikipedia.com- of course) about the
GREAT WALL OF CHINA
(I think it deserves all caps and a little bold action).

1. It was built, rebuilt, and maintained between the 5th century BC and the 16th century to protect the northern borders of the Chinese Empire from Xiongnu attacks during the rule of successive dynasties.
2. No lunar astronaut has ever claimed seeing the Great Wall from the moon.
3. The entire Great Wall, with all of its branches, stretches for 8,851.0 km (5,500.3 miles).
4. Somewhere between 2 to 3 million Chinese people died as part of the centuries-long project of building the wall.

For more great pictures and videos of our Saturday adventure, head over to Kara's blog.
You'll be glad you did.

strawberry nails forever.

reason #192,838,475,756,463,873 why i like being a girl:
strawberry fingernails.

HVCFL's got talent.

Last night we hosted our first annual, ELT Edge talent show.

It was amazing. Here are some of the highlights...

Pre-show kazoo making

The excitement is growing.

Interview with Penny the roller blading dancer.
You just wait for her performance.

I volunteered to be the DJ.
Not sure if that was the best decision.


You can't have a talent show without a High School Musical song!
(at least in my opinion)
These girls were precious.
They held hands.

A little jazzercise action...

Peter and Kara got into it.

Chinese Britney Spears.

Penny in all her glory.

We finished it off with a butchered rendition of the Chinese smash hit "Julia."

And then...like always...we become superstars.
Let the photo shoots begin...

I like being famous.