My Little Drug Warlords

So i did midterms last week and this week. For my speaking classes they had to get into groups and pretend as if they are starting a business together. They had to give a presentation and basic market strategy in front of the class. talk about things like....

what is the business?
where is it located?
what is your product or service?
how did you get the money?
how will you advertise?
blah blah blah...

Most were pretty boring.....lots of supermarkets, book stores, restaurants etc...

but then one group in my Post-grad class came up with something a little more creative.

it was 2 boys and 2 girls. they got up in front of the class and stated that they were starting a drug company. i assumed they meant pharmacy and thought it was an interesting choice.
but then they said that their company would specialize in opium and heroin.
yeeaahhh.

opium and heroin.
but they would offer MANY kinds of drugs.
Then they went on to explain that they would start the business by stealing money and doing money laundering. in order to make their product in a cost efficient way, they were going to hire child labor to work their "factory". CHILD LABOR!!! At this point i start laughing. i'm just so shocked ......come on...child labor. you would have laughed too. anyways, the whole group stops for a second looks at me and then just continues unshaken. thy next portion was on how they would pay off a small section of the police to protect them and how they would be investing in private ships and jets. and last but not least, they would advertise and gain new customers by getting many famous celebrities hooked on their drugs so people will think it's cool and come to them.

They gave the whole presentation straight faced...they weren't even thrown off when i laughed and the class would occasionally snicker. completely serious delivery. So i have NO idea if they were serious or not....or if they even realized just how funny and clever it was.

i have to admit i was pretty impressed...the presentation itself was well thought out and delivered plus they even had the guts to stand up and do it in the first place. not to mention the creativity it took......in a country not known for encouraging or nourishing creativity in it's students.

awesome bu awesome?
awesome.

Friends, birthdays,and Typhoons!!

So a random update from China......Been really busy with classes this semester....But still loving it here. It's suddenly really cold and I'm not sure I'm ready for winter. Marcos came last weekend to visit....aaannnd i've been getting phone calls from people who used to be in china but have since left to go back to the US. It's been sooooooooo nice to hear from them.

Last night was the big Halloween party! SOOO Fun!! will be posting those pics later. I love teaching Halloween. I played The Monster Mash in class. They seemed to really dig it.

Anyways....here are some new pics

Some of my fav. people this semester....adorable Korean girls i live with.

You can never have too many KTV pics!!

Tanya and Alexis rocking out

Tanya and I took a little visit to the spa!!! we had a crazy crazy honey and milk massage....they wrapped us up in saran wrap cocoons of deliciousness.

aren't we gorgeous in our face masks!!


Spas in china will let you sleep there all night for really really cheap. Ver y relaxing....cleanest i've felt in china. and after we released all those toxins...we quickly put them back in by having a tasty Mc Donald's breakfeast!!

Nate and i ran into these awesome dancing ladies downtown....this is why i love china.

Movie Night with the girls!!!

A friend's birthday...she was turning 19.

When the typhoon hit it was nuts!!! So much rain and wind!! Outside my apartment was knee deep by the end of it!

reflections of the store lights in the water

Will be posting again SOON with halloween pics and some stories!!

teachers day, turtle funerals, and chinese militants

Well, we're now 2 weeks into the semester and i'm already feeling a bit swamped.....
It's amazing how much comes up in a week.

Nate had some exciting news. He got his HSK (aka big bad china test) results back. He scored a very very high 6 which is really good. And it is high enough that he was told he was allowed to enroll in normal university classes, meaning taking classes with the chinese students. So he went over to another campus and has officially signed up for medical school in china.

Monday was Teacher's Day in China. Last year all i got was some "happy teachers day" texts from students. this year one of my classes gave me a beautiful bouquet of Lilies. And another classes did a little Happy Teachers Day oral presentation for me. It was great

This is my sophomore writing class....the flowers are sitting on the desk.

The beginning of the first semester always means that the new freshmen have to go through their required military training. Which basically means the march around campus a lot looking very communist. Nate was hoping that because he was freshman in the medical school he would be allowed to do the military training too....but alas no dice.

So in my last post i mentioned a new turtle.... well what i didn't mention was he was a little special. And by special....i mean he had no eyes. Meiyou Eyeballs. So i named him Old Blind Joe. Unfortunately Old Blind Joe got rot inside his shell and ended up passing away yesterday. So i thought the only proper thing to do would be to have a viking funeral for the little guy. My other turtle, Panda, is still going strong....maybe i should be suspicious that his roommates keep dying.
Anyways.....back to the viking funeral....


This was the crazy set up Nate and came up with. You can't see Old Blind Joe in this pic....but he's proudly placed on the lookout of the boat. we thought if we tied it to the box of sand it would help it float.

the grieving mother...

We knew it wouldn't light up on it's own.....that some sort of lighter fluid would be needed.....so we poured Baijiu (Chinese liquor) on it.
The solemn march to the water. The boat was also a music box...so we wound it up as we entered the water. The sound of it's little tune playing with the sound of the waves, and the fog on the water made it actually a little creepy.
This is us trying to light the boat...unfortunately it didn't go as well as hoped and the boat sank...
but hey, it's the thought that counts.

This is Eun Hye...and being the good friend that she is, she was the pallbearer for our funeral procession from my house to the beach.

more summer camp pics and my second home

So my Friend sent me some more pictures from the summer camp...as well as just us kinda hanging around....so a second picture post! I'm on a roll this month!

This is jess and i playing a game with kids.....the would hold a korean word above our heads and they had to try adn get us to guess what it was only using the little english they knew. SO FUN!

My second home in china! I love these ladies sooooo much!!

This is their dog. He is waaaay to cute and lovable. his name is Anu...i have no idea if i spelled that right, probably not because it's a complete guess. apparently it's name means "I'm yellow"

Well i got my schedule yesterday. Not bad cause i had only 6 classes....buuut i have two writing classes....and i kinda hate teaching writing. Oh well... can't win them all i suppose.

While i was gone my friend Daniel and his girlfriend Micky baby sat my pet turtles for me. Unfortunately one passed away while i was gone. but being the sweetheart that she is, micky bought me a new turtle AND a whole new home for my boys. adddorable.
Still haven't named the new guy yet.....so if any one has an suggestions.....


I can't believe classes start again on monday. don't quite feel prepare to be back at it yet.
Nate gets back to china tomorrow which is great news cause i've missed him so much. There are also some new teachers this semester...and one of them went to the same college as me. So far he seems like a cool guy.

Soooo....how about some random summer pics.

Days at the beach.........

..........Nights at KTV

I would totally fit in the over head compartment!

Traveling in style in china....another bus....
Sometimes bus rides make me go a little loopy.

I've become really good friends with a korean woman and her son. they're incredibly nice and loads of fun to be with. So for a good chuck of the break i found myself basically living with them.
Her Church had a camp this summer for a couple days and she invited Jess and I to come. it was mainly high school and college age students....they were really nice and good fun.

This was the first day where they played this funny game where you challenge other people to rock paper scissors....then losers had to carry people around on their backs.
Another game.... The fill the tubs with water and then everyone in the group has to take turns kick off their shoes while trying to balance the tub. They got me in on a round...we didn't last long...and i was throughly soaked.

Everybody into the pool! the pool was actually right beside the beach....so they just fill the pool with sea water....

the sky is falling in china.

It's so good to be back in china....and back in my own apartment.

speaking of my apartment.....

Along the top of my main wall there's a portion at the that is set out from the rest of the wall and for as long as i lived here there's been a crack in it. well ever since i've come back, at night i would occasionally hear subtle little cracking sounds.

then sure enough, what i had been predicting occurred. it finally couldn't hold any longer and part of the wall came tumbling down. Not only did it just fall off though.....it fell right on my head while i was asleep! hahahahaha i guess that's just my luck. and now all the sudden the crack is bigger.....

yeeeaah...

This is my view if i'm laying in bed....so as you can tell it did pretty much fall right on me.

It's now turned into a MUCH larger crack.

The Millionaire's First Love

So i go over to a Korean friend's house to have dinner. She's been helping three kids (2 boys 1 girl) from her church prepare for the HSK and they're there too. they're all 18 but of course barely look 16. anyways....they put a Korean movie on to watch with and after dinner. "the millionaire's first love" Classic Korean romantic cheesiness at it's best!!! I love the romantic Korean movies because they are always amazingly ridiculous and they're definitively what i wish real life was like
So this is the movie:
Orphan with a heart of gold...that just so happens to also have an incurable heart disease works her butt off every day to save money to save the oprhanage she grew up in from being destroyed....Meanwhile, a rebellious heir(who also has no parents cause they died in a car accident) to a hotel is sent to the country after his grandfather's will says his has to finish and graduate from this country high school to get his inheritance. He Learns life lessons from said dying girl, even gives up his inheritance to save her orphanage (yeah giving up his money saves it...don't ask) but by the time he tells her he loves her she could die at any second ( this is where a doctor actually delivers the line "even love can kill her") .....oh and then of course there's the production of "Sound of Music" he HAS to be in in order to graduate....

Yeah
Amazing....

So the whole time i keep wanting to laugh..but thess kids are really digging the move, so i hold back. Then, during the scene where millionaire and the dying girl have to act out a wedding during the "sound of music" production it gets SUPER corn ball, melodramatic of EPIC proportions.....I'm having serious trouble not totally busting a gut. Then all the sudden i realize THE WHOLE ROOM IS CRYING!!! everyone expect me is totally bawling!
At this point i cover my mouth and desperately try not to lose it, while thanking God we're in the dark and they don't notice me. Movie ends.....sentimental montage of prior scenes of the young lovers.....then....the credits roll......and i lose it. I absolutely die. the kind of bust a gut laughing that makes your stomach hurts and renders you unable to control your bodily funtctions. They whole room starts just staring at me silently while i cackle. Suddenly i get a grip on myself, look at them all, and say, "it was just so sad" and then i start laughing again. luckily the students start wiping their faces and laughing too, either because they realized how ridiculous it was...or because they think i'm crazy.

I don't know....and don't care.

I'm off for a mini trip for 4 days....will update when i get back....
I promise.