get your scare on

This weekend we celebrated Halloween! Our team has a competition with a team nearby to see who can come up with better group costumes. We threw around lots of ideas... Alice in Wonderland...Charlie and the Chocolate Factory... Bridesmaids vs. The Hangover (my personal fave)...but eventually came to the decision of Toy Story! Our resources are a little limited in our city so you have to get creative when making the costumes.

our version of Toy Story

Will (Woody) Me (Jessie) Meg (Bo Peep) Hughes (Buzz) Chelsey (alien) Anna (Mrs. Potato Head) Anne Marie and Chris (Barbie and Ken) and Tyler (Etch A Sketch)

Our competition- Mario Kart!

everyone taking pictures of us

me and Sam in her Diddy Kong race car

Hughes' costume required a team effort

Barbie and Ken ecstatic for prom!!

Anna and me

By the way, no one else celebrates Halloween.  Most of the students at our school said they had heard of the holiday but never dressed up for it! That's probably why we got so much attention...

On a completely different subject, I am so thankful that the Lord has been continuing to reveal more of Himself to me.  I have learned so much in the last couple of months! In general, He has taught me more about trusting Him.  We have been listening to podcasts from Matt Chandler's study of Ecclesiastes.  He is the pastor of a church in Texas.  

From Ecclesiastes 3, we see how there is a different season for each part of life.  ("for everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven") These aren't just a list of things that happen in life, these are things that God ALLOWS.  Chandler described it as ingredients of life and I don't get to pick and choose which ones I want and don't want! When God allows for bad things to happen in my life, it's because He loves me and wants to teach me more about Himself! This has been so encouraging to me these last few weeks.

"Think of all the hostility he 
endured from sinful people; 
then you won't become 
weary and give up." 
Hebrews 12:3

here comes the sun

Sunny Block. Although it's not so sunny, I wanted to update y'all on the place we visit most often in our city.  Sunny Block is where the majority of restaurants and stores are located.  We go to Sunny Block at least once a day so I wanted to share some pictures and videos. Oh, and they have carnival rides too. It's a pretty special place.

Sunny Block is where all of the students in our area come to shop and eat so it is usually really crowded! 

Meg posing with a bunny in Sunny Block.

 It's tied up to a leash just like a dog! It could be for dinner later...but I hope not.

Will said these are actually quite warm.

Today we were shopping for our Halloween costumes (which will be revealed later this week!) and we came across some unique items.

Hughes said he might come back for this panda hat...

While trying to keep the boys on track for the costume search, they ran across a pet store and got distracted watching this mouse...which was acting a little confused.

There's just a preview of Sunny Block. I'll have tons of pictures taken throughout the year here!

let your hair down

Here's one fun thing we enjoy doing! Head washes! I figured this would be interesting to share because most people have never experienced this.  We can go to any hair salon and they will wash and style your hair for just a couple dollars.  More often that I would like, the water in our apartment will be turned off.  Sometimes it's for a few hours, maybe a day or a little more...you just never know (and that's the worst part about it!) When this happens and we can't take showers, we appreciate getting our hair washed even more!

me and Anna enjoying being pampered

they fixed my hair like prom night...

On this particular day, the power went out in the hair salon because they had so many blow dryers going at one time! Like usual, we had a lot of people staring at us while they fixed our hair.  We are treated like celebrities more often than not.

taking a break

Last week we had the week off from class because of a national holiday! Monday and Tuesday we spent some time with students playing badminton and ping pong. Wednesday I went to a Starbucks in town and read more of One Thousand Gifts and had a long quiet time.  Thursday some of us went on a hike! Here are a few pictures. It was beautiful!

Here's Meg and me with some new friends

We started at the top of the mountain!

the view from the very top!

The picture didn't do it justice so here's a video I took...

Meg and me and Lauren

we rode on a little boat for a few minutes

 

On Friday we traveled to another city to visit some of our friends. It was my first time to ride on the fast train and it was really nice. Only took us 2 hours! This weekend we got to eat a lot of American food and shop at Ikea and H&M. We also walked around this shopping street. I think it was built a few years ago to look like an old ancient city.

 

people getting their ears cleaned out...gross

this is normal...unfortunately

me and Sam shopping around

I loved having a break from class. Now I'm glad to be back in our city and back in my own bed!

"So the Word became human

and made his home among us.  

He was full of unfailing love 

and faithfulness. And we have 

seen his glory, the glory of the 

Father's one and only Son. From 

his abundance we have all received 

one gracious blessing after another." 

John 1:14,16

I am still loving One Thousand Gifts! We continue to see God's glory because we have received one grace after another...after another...after another. Ann Voskamp says praying with eyes wide open is the only way to pray without ceasing.  Unless I call my attention to what passes before my eyes, I simply won't see it.

 

back to (language) school

Language classes are a big part of my life now! I am in class for 3 hours a day, Monday through Thursday. I take classes at an arts university and the campus and students are unique to say the least.  We've got the hippy Asians on our campus- they are great! From what I've learned, our school is a sustainable campus that grows all of the rice on campus that is served to the students in the cafeteria. (fun fact!) And we have quite a few weird, artsy statues. I took some pictures to show you what I see everyday!

This is our teacher and Will

 MAX! I have 2 different teachers. Vivian and Max. 

I snapped this shot of Max during class last week.

One of the muddy lakes on campus

 I'm not real sure what to say about this skull...

or the lady posing with it.

 These ladies asked us to take a picture with them.

(we are American celebrities, you know) 

As soon as we walked off, they hit these poses. 

 These figures freak me out a little bit.  Not sure if you can tell, but their eyes look like robots. Us Auburn students like to pretend they're doing the Heisman.

 This one freaks me out even more! 

Here's a video of Tyler from speaking class. You can see Vivian, our other teacher.  She was teaching us how to speak with a forceful tone, and we had to blow out each candle as we spoke.   It made us feel silly but it was even funnier watching everyone else.

I love our school! Our teachers are laid back and make class fun.  There are always new places to discover around campus.  I just recently noticed a bunch of tree houses where students sometimes study or read. Next week I will be getting a Chinese name and I'm really excited. I'll definitely update on that later!

For the Lord your God is living 

among you. He is a mighty savior.  

He will take delight in you with 

gladness.  With his love, he will 

calm all your fears.  He will rejoice 

over you with joyful songs.

Zephaniah 3:17