Somegirlwitha.com

Abby’s Swimming Feet

Jen — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 03:43:28 +0000

Went swimming with Abby today. Well, I didn’t actually swim, just went and took pictures. The lines in this image are all wonky.

First Day of Being Laid Off

Jen — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 23:14:35 +0000

How it feels to be laid off

Hunan Fireworks and Firearms

Jen — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 06:06:08 +0000

The village we were at in Hunan was pretty (and pretty small, for that matter). There wasn’t much to do except play with fireworks and firearms.

Some of the students bought the fireworks (from the Mahjong lady’s store) to celebrate the end of the program. Not sure why they decided to set them off over the school buildings and trees. The school administrators seemed to be ok with it because I heard they were watching. I was too lazy to walk down from the dorms, so I took some hand-held shots from the balcony. That “stick” in the middle of the picture is the school’s flag pole.

Here are some kids playing with plastic bb guns that shoot plastic bb bullets. The guns look pretty real, no?

One of my students thought it’d be a good idea to bring them back to Beijing. On our second and last day of debriefing, I got a call saying the cleaning ladies found a gun in one of my students’ dorm rooms. The police came and interrogated us. Just in case you want to buy one for yourselves, please note they’re illegal in Beijing, even though we did pass through train security and all to get back to the city. What good is train security then?

Video: Red Army “Beat It”

Jen — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 20:58:39 +0000

Not sure why one of my former students sent this to me. She said she thought of me when she saw it. So random.

Playing Mahjong

Jen — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 04:00:20 +0000

I’m starting week 2 of 2 in a town called Nijiangping, in Hunan, China. The people in this town are REALLY nice. Whenever we stop to buy drinks or popsicles, they always invite us to sit with them. We played Mahjong with some storekeepers: grandma (lady in black), grandpa (older man with glasses, and their grandson (boy with glasses). The boy helps with the store while his parents work in the city. I think it’s funny that we played right in the front of their store. Notice the red packages in the right of the photo? They’re firecrackers/fireworks. The packages wrapped in brown paper to the left of the red ones are HUGE boxes. I’m tempted to get one cuz they’re quite inexpensive.

Random note #1: the mahjong tiles here in Hunan are HUGE. They call them Man Tao‘s.

Random note #2: I think the guy in the left of the photo looks like a Chinese Orlando Bloom.

My Bed in Hunan

Jen — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 03:07:14 +0000

Edit: the green bucket is also used for hand-washing my clothes too.

Here’s my bed for these 2 weeks we’re here in Hunan, China. They’re bunk beds made out of wood, lined with a thin blanket and cardboard, topped with a bamboo mat that’s cooling in this hot, humid weather. No AC here, just the fan you see on my bed. The green bucket is what I have to draw water for bathing. The bath room (and I mean an enclosed area, 1 for guys and 1 for girls) is near the pig sty behind the school kitchen.

Oba Mao and Communist Chanel

Jen — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 09:27:48 +0000

Oba Mao and Communist Chanel

Oba Mao seems to pretty popular right now. I’m hoping to get a better picture later.

Taken at Hou Hai, Beijing.

Taoist Temple Guy

Jen — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 10:27:14 +0000

Here’s a guy I met at the Taoist Temple (白云观). I asked him if I can take a picture and he instantly started rolling up his sleeves getting ready for his portrait. Too bad I rushed and didn’t even have the lens hood all the way on the lens, so you see the dark edges. Looks kinda funky, oh well.

Taoist Temple Guy

Here he is when we left–back on his blackberry:

Taoist Temple Guy on Blackberry

Watching the World Cup

Jen — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 16:47:41 +0000

It’s been crazy non-stop here, as usual. They pack in so much in the schedule that I feel bad for the kids. Tonight was the first night we had some time off. We arrived on Sunday and it’s now Friday. Anyways, as we walked back on campus, we walked by this building where we heard people yelling/cheering. They were watching the Brazil/Netherlands game in 2 lecture halls (one on each side of the building). The cheering was crazy loud when Brazil scored. For some reason, the Chinese students really like the South American teams in general. Sorry, the shutter speed was kinda slow, but here’s one of the lecture halls:

End of Chapter

Jen — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 20:09:04 +0000

There are a lot of changes going on in my life right now (wow, sounds like puberty all over again). One area that is ending is my work with the youth group/high schoolers after 9 or so years. Here’s a picture of Joshua and his purple tie at his graduation earlier this month.

A Purple Tie Affair

Here’s a compilation of some notes that I’ve gotten from them over the years and in a little album they presented to me last Sunday:

It has been great knowing you for so long, even when I was a baby. -Joshua
I am sad that you are leaving. You brought clarity and charisma to the group and to Jaime [my co-leader]. -Diane (I brought charisma to my co-leader? I think she has more energy than I do.)
…I’m sure you know this by now (since you are older and therefore, wiser). -Bailey (I’m not sure if being older necessarily equates being wiser…just more gray hairs)
Thank you for always sharing with me and talking to me even though you may be tired. -Wendy (I told you I’m low energy)
If you were our age, Sheldon, you and I would be best of friends/camera buddies. -Bob aka William

I’m gonna miss them kids. They make me laugh so much.