Can't use jet lag as an excuse forever....

But I wish I could! Sorry for my lack of posting; I am just really tired and when not working, trying to avoid the computer for long periods. I hope that by now, if you are reading this you have received my two photo albums on China by email. Things are back to normal, which means that I have piles of things to grade and organize, especially now that it's the end of the semester. Around May 8 I will be finished (am working graduation), so then it will be time to get back to work on my dissertation which I have been neglecting basically since the day I defended my prospectus (as in, haven't even looked at any of the papers since early March). I am hoping to tutor some this summer and will be a nanny for a professor in my department who I work with. She's got two boys and lives close by- it should be fun as well as a good way to keep me busy this summer. I've also got a 3 day trip to Orlando to meet my friend Cathy there to visit with her and her 2 kids, since her parents live there. I can't wait to go to DW with the kids!

What else has been going on? Mmmm.... spending time with Matt, catching up with friends and family, TV, seeing Shira who is visiting from Denver this week, trying to eat healthy, and hitting the Inman Park festival where we found a great side table (will post pics soon!). This week should be busy. The weather is getting warm- as in hot, in a real hurry (forget the 70s- it went straight to the 80s).

Here are a few more videos from China....Enjoy!

Will you take some videos for now?

Since I still can't really form a complete sentence, hopefully some videos will speak for themselves when I'm asked "How was China?" or "Tell me all about China"....I am trying to create photo albums and will be sending those out very soon.

Back home...tired but awake.

I am awake at 4am and can't go back to sleep, so I am not sure how coherent this first post back from China will be...For those that don't already know, my trip home was quite stressful and looong- In a nutshell, my first flight of 3 was canceled and I had to spend the night in Beijing, then take 4 flights total to get home midnight Sunday instead of 6am.

Other than the travel issues, the trip was truly amazing. It was a true learning experience- very exciting, interesting, but also extremely challenging. Because I was the 'supervisor' or team leader, I had a lot to do every day to help my students adjust to teaching there along with adjusting to my own jet lag, the food, and daily living situation. I plan to write much more about all of this, but to sum it up the food was good and I enjoyed the spicy stuff, but since I don't normally eat a lot of rice eating it twice a day every day got really hard for me. The host family I stayed with was incredible and wonderful and I had to adjust to hand held shower and a squatty potty everywhere we went. Overall, the people were the best part and so hospitable. We also go to visit the Panda Sanctuary and several other sites that I am too tired to remember the name of.....

I am trying to upload some video right now but it's being slow. I have a lot from my great Flip that I love...
More to come I promise!