A Little Honesty

Growing up my dad used to lecture my sisters and I about how one day all we would have would be each other. I thought it was morbid. I know I always rolled my eyes. His point was really that we needed to appreciate and love each other. Little did I know how much I would miss them when I am half a world away. Tonight I watched a movie, made mint brownies and bagels for tomorrow's breakfast with Kim, Katie and Amy. (I love these girls to death, but I am sure they will understand when I say...) I wish I could have enjoyed the evening with Emily, Caitlin, and Hannah. (Rachel is still a tad too young.) Just missing my sisters tonight...

*note: John Travolta shaking it dressed as a woman in the movie Hairspray ranks right up there with Hugh Grant's dance in Love Actually. Oh to hear Caitlin giggle at that...

Address

Because it was asked for...

Beth Quarles
Dept. of Foreign Affairs
China Three Gorges University
San Xia Da Xue
8 Daxue Lu
Yichang, Hubei 443002
China

90 cents for a letter! ;)

A Beautiful Tree

We have some pretty incredible friends here. All of whom make my life more interesting and a lot more "colorful" as the students like to say.

Last year Brad introduced us to one of his students. She is great at art! In the past she has painted a picture of Brad (a little Asian looking and about 40 years old), a sculpture of a mermaid, and a painting of an American football scene (which she have never seen!!!).

Last night Chen Tao delivered a paint to me! She painted this beautiful tree surrounded by the Fruit of the Spirit in Chinese. It is sooo beautiful! The background reminds me a lot of Tennessee and for some reason my grandparents farm. I love it. It is now proudly displayed in my living room. How blessed am I for such an amazing piece of art, but more importantly for such a sweet friend.

Baking Lessons

Earlier this week I was eating dinner out with some girls. We were talking about boys and food (you know normal things... both of which I have little understanding of...), and the girls asked if I would teach them how to make apple pie. I had made it last year around Christmas time for some of my classes and they remembered. I agreed. So at the insane hour of 8am on a Sunday morning baking lessons began.

I had everything prepared each couple had a pan, bowl and supplies in their own little area. (Did I mention that 2 girls turned into 8 boys and girls. The original 2 did not even come!!) I also printed out little recipe cards for them. It was a smashing success! 4 pies were made, students were happy, and nothing was broken this time. We also enjoyed listening to Christmas music, looking at Thanksgiving photos and catching a few minutes of the movie G.I. Jane. Each had a piece of pie and were sent home with more in tow.

After my students left, Amy and Brad came over for a turkey leftover lunch. I also tried my hand at a new Chinese noodle dish. Came out pretty good for the first time. The sedative in the turkey hit quick (and it was just an exhausting week) so I went to lie down. (After checking Auburn/Alabama score of course... War Eagle!) Sweet Amy and Brad cleaned my kitchen and I took a nap. I woke up feeling very refreshed! I had some Quiet Time, baked another cake for a friend's birthday, watched a little G. Girls and stared at my Christmas trees. Shortly, I will be heading out to meet Family and I am already ready to start another week.

Tour of the House

Day after Thanksgiving... time to decorate for Christmas! However when doing that, I realized I never took you all on a tour of my house. So I made some pictures and well, welcome to my home...

This is what you first see when you walk in the door.

The bathroom is directly on your left. (Notice using the toilet and showering are two separate tasks now!)

View of dining room from hallway

My dining area (the table can be made bigger and I have a spare table)

My nice wonderful kitchen! (One of the reasons why I moved apartments...)

Off the dining area, sits my living room. Decorated for Christmas of course. (Post later more about that)

Off the living room there is a tiny hallway... on the left side a guest bedroom. Also, the room where my turtles live...

On the right side is my office. (Rachel's art decorates this room!)

Then, there is my bedroom.

Outside of my room there is a sunporch area. I use it to dry my clothes and for little art projects.

And that my friends is my home. A little Chinesey, but I did what I could. Each day I grow to love it more and hate it more. (Might look good, but the fact is my shower is going to fall though the floor one day (the president of the university lives below me so I am sure it will be fixed after that point...lets just hope I am not standing there naked when it does), my toilet must be flushed by reaching into the tank and pulling the chain, I nearly catch my hand on fire each time I reach into the oven to light the gas burning thing, my sinks floods my kitchen every now and then, etc, etc.) Anyways, it is home.

Come over anytime...

Thanksgiving!

Well it is officially the day after Thanksgiving here, but for most everyone else I know it is Thanksgiving Day. :) Just a little recap of my day...

8:30am- head out to pick up turkey (ended up having to drop it off at a restaurant to be cooked... my gas in my oven was out... ultimate domestic goddess status will have to be achieved another year)

9am- get back in taxi close to tears because our turkey was soooo cooked

10am- who cares about turkey? we had bagels for breakfast! thanks to allrecipes.com and Amy/Brad I was able to enjoy another Panera-sque meal. kudos!

11:30am- run last minute errands before spending the afternoon in the kitchen and set tables

12:30- 4pm- cook pumpkin pies, sweet potatoes casserole, birthday cake, battle the turkey problem with Amy, repeatedly say "I'm sorry" to Brad because my TVU player is not working so he missed UFC (points for anyone who understand what I just said...)

4-5pm- shower, clean and mop my kitchen! (I am not sure you can understand what a feat this is! one hour to do anything I pretty much pleased... talk about how far we have come from last Thanksgiving)

5:30pm- begin eating a fabulous dinner with our Family (yes, 5:30pm exactly when we planned... food all done, everyone arrived on time...beginning to rethink the fact that we are in China (not often does everything go this smoothly!)... last year I showed up 20 minutes late and food was not done!)

5:30 - 8:30pm- eat, sing some songs, talk about what we are thankful for, read Book all with family and love every minute of it!!!

9pm- settle down to watch Macy's parade...oops! did not account for all the times differences/schedules... I got a glimpse of the Kermit the Frog balloon on the news. will have to do!

9:30pm - now- say goodbye to Amy and Brad, climb in bed to watch a little Gilmore Girls, get back out of bed to plan class (oops it is not Saturday!) and blog because now I am on my second wind...

All in all a pretty perfect day!

So from our Family to yours...

May you have a memory making...

bone lickin' good...

Turkey Day!

Let's give praise to our Father who gives us so many reasons to be thankful!

"Famous" Quotes

Even if these are not well known, they are going down in my little book of knowledge.

"She who hoots with the owls in the evening can not soar with the eagles in the morning."

This acrostic poem was written by one of my students...

"Turkey frying in the fire
Unconditionally I love food
Run to the frying turkey
Kiss the cross and pray
Eleven o'clock pm. We share the turkey
Yeah, I full. Thanks, food."

Love it! :)