dazzled and overwhelmed.

I love my new school. (Literally across the street from my old one.) It's actually on of the top fine arts schools in our region and in the country! And it's gorgeous! Here's a little pictorial tour of the campus...from pictures taken throughout last year.

(me and Sara Beth last march!)

I also love text messages from friends. They can be so hilarious. This is one I got this week:


Hey meg. How are you! Today I went to your classroom. We were dazzled and overwhelmed by the endless array of beautiful flowers. And climbing plant with dark green shiny leaves. They are Boston ivies on the wall. You and your classmates are warm-heart. Wish you have a good time. 


So, with no further ado, here are a couple of pictures of my dazzling classroom!

lauren, anna, and scott

(notice the window on the left! the wall is entirely glass)

happy fall, y'all!

i am thankful that september is here. in august, i felt like i had one foot in america and one foot in asia, and it's just a weird feeling. september marks the start of a new month. a new season. a new school year.

while many of you spent your labor day weekend tailgating at a college football game or jet-skiing on the lake...my weekend consisted of these things:

dinner at a "western" restaurant with other friends from our city

a midnight viewing of the defending national champions' first game!

(i stayed mostly awake until 3:30 in the morning. so i am especially glad we won! war eagle!)

a trip to the junk market to search for some "treasures."

(i bought an old, wooden trunk for storage in my room. the lady i bought it from said it was from an old dynasty...hmmm...mulan, anyone??)

a visit to the hair salon to get our hair washed!

this country does this funny thing where they turn off the water without warning. 

(read my post about it here.)

total cost of a hair wash and style: $2.35

a trip to the meat and produce market on monday morning.

 it was bustling! and always a sight to see!

so, even if it is still 100 degrees here and the leaves are still as green as they can be...

happy fall, y'all!

a little sun, sand, and sunflowers!

less than a week after we got in country, we got to go to a little conference in one of the prettiest provinces in our region! it was such a treat to get out of the 100 degree heat of our city, and hang out in a little beach town. but i must warn you, it was not your run-of-the-mill beach town like we are use to in the panhandle. maybe it was more like asia meets jersey shore? you can make the call from this photo evidence...

the man-made beach with spider island across the lake

this guy was pushing his girlfriend in an inner tube and carrying her purse! hahah!

we bought sunflowers and ate the seeds right off of the plant!

ready to raft!

(me, sam, kelsey, and anna)

the lake was a really popular place for wedding pictures...we saw so many brides and grooms, and also models for bridal magazines!

 floaties for ALL ages!!

a different way to eat crab...

i'll just take a maryland crab cake. thank you very much.

"Hi Meg. Are you come back?"

(Yes, little Blanche! I have come back!) 


It was so nice to walk into an apartment already set up. It is really cozy and really cute. Lauren and I are just tickled we get to live in such a great apartment. We still have a little more decorating to do, but it's totally livable and we are thankful. Looking forward to all the events and people and memories this place will hold throughout the year.

Oh, and we are armed with lots of goodies from Mei Guo (America)! You better believe I used every pound of my 100 lb. limit to bring back cake mixes, icing, cooking spray, etc. with me! American comfort food does wonders for us throughout the year, and especially on birthdays and holidays!

With a new year comes a lot of new people, places, and things...it's been a strange transition without some of my besties. But I am so glad that this little guy came back with his wonderful parents! (See his mama's blog here!) Just like I am learning how to deal with the changes I am facing here, Maddox is also learning to adapt to new things! Like how to eat with chopsticks! :)

I don't want to jinx anything, but my internet has been AWESOME here, so far! I hope to blog a lot more this year...and if I don't, I want y'all to keep me accountable! :)

zai jian, y'all!

you better believe i thoroughly documented our last day in country. it was like any ordinary day, but it wasn't because it was the last one. you know?! the last time owen would come downstairs to eat breakfast. the last time i would be eating lunch with nolan commenting how good the food was. the last time the girls would climb into a three-wheeler together. so, i was armed with my camera all day, and not ashamed in the least bit.

here's the play-by-play.

breakfast: the last (and real) retirement breakfast!

lunch: yellow roof.

saying goodbyes around town.

last three-wheeler ride.

dinner: favorite.

usual after-dinner ice cream run.

so until next year...zai jian, y'all!

reminisce.

it is a tradition around here that at the end of every school year, we wrap up the year with a night of toasts, story-telling, good food, awards, and slideshows. we spent hours sitting around laughing and reminiscing over all the fun we have had over the last ten months. which i love, though you know there is a tinge of sadness in the air signaling "the end." but as dr. seuss says (and my cousin's graduation announcement stated), "don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened." so we did just that. ;)

xiao liu made us 16 dishes! yum!

the girls.

my crew.

anna, me, and jeff.

some of the girls cleaning/hanging out in the kitchen.

hoohiwahiwa! celebrate!

as i have mentioned, we love to throw a party. so naturally, we invited our besties from across the city and held a little luau for one last hoorah! it was fun, fun, fun!

we surprised lauren with a little birthday celebration! (her birthday is july 16th and we just had to find a way to celebrate with her while we were all together.)

we tried several times to get a group picture, and we failed miserably.

this is the best one i had. haha.

and then the neighborhood kids attacked...

my favorite little one!