Great Weather and Good Times

We've had great weather during the last week, fairly clear skies, the sun's been out, and the temp. is back up...a relief for us from the cold (but then, I did spend a month in the warmth of the Philippines and Thailand, so I can't complain). A friend is in town visiting, and tonight we went and got massages together for a little break from the routine. In a couple weeks I'll head back to Chengdu for an engagement party for two friends that have recently gotten engaged, so I'm excited about that. Our Bulldog crew is planning a trip together at some point, too. Anna, Beth, and I have been running a lot at a nearby campus, so I'm trying to get back into shape after a semester of adjusting to a new culture, one that I've come to love love love. At the new campus last week we had a party with some friends to celebrate one of their holidays, Women's Day. We played a game of making a dress out of toilet paper and tape and judging which group makes the best one. The girls got into it SO much, they had Anna and I in awe of their creativity and enthusiasm. One group even made their model a purse out of the toilet paper! It was great, we really enjoyed seeing them have such a good time. I got to play some ping pong this week too since the weather is better. One afternoon I played for two hours. I'm not very good because I've not played much before, but I improved during my time. My friends told me I might be better off playing an American though! Ha! Even if they claim they're not very good at it here, they'll still wipe your plate no doubt. So pretty soon we'll start having some Easter parties! Yay...my favorite holiday!!! Not much else to report, I'm busy as ever and thriving during my time here!

Bus Madness

Last week I went to our new campus with some friends and we missed the bus on the way there. We tried to explain to a bus driver that the bus had left early and he said that actually we were late. So as we walked to the front gate of our campus, he came by in a bus and told us he would take us...praise Dad, that was nice! After we did our thing out at the campus, we went to hop a bus back to our part of the city. Since it was Friday, everyone wanted to come back into town, so the busses were cram-packed. We had to let the 2 PM bus leave and we had to wait an hour for the next one. We all jumped on that one, but it was more like fighting to get on. So many people were squished into that bus, if we'd have wrecked, I would have been cushioned by the four other people within my "personal" space. The trip is about an hour long on the city bus and we have to go through this incredibly long tunnel each way. Just about the time we were approximate a third of the way into the tunnel, our bus broke down! So I sat in the dark and played games on my cell phone while we waited. After a while, a tow truck pulled us back out of the tunnel, when the driver asked us all to get off of the bus. About ten minutes after standing around on the curb we were told to get back on the bus, at which point some folks that were not sitting in seats beforehand had taken a couple's seats. This was bad news...a fight broke out on the bus and my friends and I were caught in the middle of it. Anna and I pushed our way to the front to get out, but some of our friends were stuck. It was crazy, so an hour trip had turned into two hours, and we all had to get back off the bus again to catch another one home. Anyhow, one of those stories that you can either laugh about or cry about...a test of patience for the day I suppose.

Back on the Radar

So those of you that check up on this website have probably wondered what's happened in the last month and a half that I've been not updating you on, huh? Well, I assure you there were no moped accidents, plane complications, or shipwrecks, though maybe a few bumps along the way. No, I've been back here in my city for two weeks now and have just been flat out negligent...that all said, my apologies. Where to start then? The Philippines is one heck of a place, so great in fact, that even the rain kept me with smiles on. We stayed at this excellent little hideaway near the beach and spent our days catching rays, sailing, playing volleyball, snorkeling, swimming, riding the banana boat and watching some incredible sunsets. The people were amazingly friendly and always called me Ma'am Kris-tal. And in case you didn't know, Boracay has the best fruitshakes in the world. In a word, it was stellar. So enough bragging, because I feel like that's exactly what I'm doing here, but truthfully, if you were concerned whether or not I had a good time, you can kick back and relax, because that's exactly what I did! And if not, well...at least you still know. The last two weeks of our time away were spent about three hours south of Bangkok in Thailand. We had a conference that was super fun and cram-packed with really great speakers and seminars. I really enjoyed spending time with the folks in our region as well. The mosquitos in Thailand were like the Plague to my legs though, and that place is like the land of super-sized night-creatures. The geckos were almost a foot long, there were snails the size of baseballs, and huge frogs, too. AND I forgot to mention that you just don't get in the ocean where we were because there's jellyfish the size of bike tires! Honestly, I'm not exaggerating at ALL. So if you saw King Kong and you were wondering where there'd be a monkey that size...It's probably off the coast of Thailand. Anyhow, back to the routine now and busy like crazy again, but here's some pictures to enjoy, and know that I'll be back on this site much more in the weeks and months to come.