a different kind of christmas :)

what is christmas suppose to be like? i'm not sure anymore.. the past 4 years in china has been filled with students coming over, opening presents with team, banquets, christmas caroling down the alleys, delicious potlucks of hearty homemade american food, a surprise birth of a new teammate, and so much more!

this past christmas samson and i were able to celebrate it together for the first time together and in america with his family in new york! you might be thinking- time square, the big christmas tree, ice skating, etc but actually we didnt do any of that.. yet. haha christmas day was quite a different experience! samson's father is the senior leader of a very very very chinese fellowship here in brooklyn's chinatown. they had a "christmas lunch/dinner" in the middle of the afternoon and it was definitely more than just a meal! it was like a chinese wedding, banquet, and lots and lots of singing/performances! :) have a look...
imagine 600 people squeezing through some little doors.. it came natural for me like the old days so i got ahead and got a good shot of my new siblings-in-laws :)

600 overseas chinese people celebrating christmas :)

we were in the front bc we are "PK's" and therefore, we were in the video the entire time too! hahaha so awkward.

just like china!

3 hours later.. banquet over!

it's funny that for the past 4 years in china i was surrounded mainly with teammates and other foreigners for the holiday doing traditional American things and then i come to america and celebrate christmas surrounded by chinese people and celebrating it in their way :) no matter what- he is born! merry christmas everyone!!

dear blogger (friends),

sorry for neglecting you this past month. a lot has happend, i got married, had a couple honeymoons, moved across the country, and a million other things that happened in between that blogging became at the bottom of my list, especially when there is no internet at home. i may not be able to be as consistent or faithful as i was before but i'll be back periodically with some good stuff about living in texas and life as a married woman :) just wanted to let you know that i'm alive and well!

sincerely yours,
mrs. tang :)

pre-wedding happenings

5 more days to go... AHHHHH!!!! it's so nice to have samson here and no more long distance relationship- PTL! it's been stressful, fun, BUSY, hard, random, chill, and GOOD overall. i don't think the wedding day will hit me til it comes... but until then, we continue to boggle, play nerts, hang out with family, dance with espie... oh, and get ready for the big day of course :)

here's some randomness from the past week!

eating my favorite japanese american food with my grandma :)

voting for the first time in 8 years!

dim sum with the fiance, bro, and grandma.. yum!

samson and an exotic snake

our goddaughter and niece, esperanza!

running errands and buying hundreds of plates, forks, knives, napkins, and cups!

our "5 days before we get married" pic :)

this may or may not be my last post as a single gal... we'll see! ;) tanks for having a look :)

i'm that kind of bride...

-who wants everything to be simple, cheap, easy, comfortable, and fun!
-who gets stressed over guest lists, money, and details
-who has the messiest to-do lists and unorganized notebook of chicken scratch and hearts
-who loves FREE, used, easy to make stuff...
-who has awesome friends, family, and people willing to help & volunteer!
-who screams in pain during a make up trial (under the eye is a sensitive area!!)
-who doesn't want to bother & go crazy with seating assignments (gasp!!)
-who wanted to have a different kind of "first look" pictures in our local supermarket but got denied and my dreams are crushed.. not really, but i was sad. :(
-who hasn't done much at all to lose weight... still got my food baby!
-who doesn't have a clue what to ask photographers, videographers, DJ's since i'm kinda new to this whole wedding planning thing!
-who cries A LOT (just ask samson!)... they don't call me baby jodi for nothing! ;)
-who has an amazing, gracious, patient, and understanding fiance to go w/those tears!
-who really wants to dance to shakira's "waka waka" during the recessional but the chances of that happening are slim. haha
-who wants to please everyone but is realizing that's impossible
-who just wants to fast forward 12 days and get married to my best friend!!! :D

and above all else...

-who desires the Father to be glorified on the wedding and that the wedding will be a testimony/encouragement to others of His goodness!!

since i'm obviously not going to post a picture of me in my white dress before the wedding.. here's one of my adorably cutie niece in her flower girl dress :) :) :)

why halloween would not work in china...

just celebrated my first halloween in america in 4 years... it was quite eventful, fun, and culture-shocking! we took some boys to the santa anita mall where stores pass out candies and there are TONS of kids/families everywhere all dressed up going in and out of stores to get candy... then we proceeded to go down a random neighborhood and do a little trick or treating (the key is to look for houses that are decorated for halloween or have their lights on inviting people to knock on their door!)

but then it got me thinking... halloween would NOT work in china. why? because of the following reasons:

1. chinese people naturally don't like to dress up crazy/be someone different (they will lose face!) or spend the money to do so bc they are too cheap :) (2 years ago at a "halloween" party that my students had, only the foreign teachers dressed up!)
2. free stuff at a mall?? unheard of! if there was free candy at the mall, millions of people would flock there and it would be absolute chaos. not good. (china does not give away many freebies or samples of chicken in the food court haha)
3. i can't picture seeing chinese people opening up their apartment homes to strangers and giving them candy (for free!!)- it's an insider culture so you give LOTS of things to people inside your group, but if you're a stranger... nope! (when we were trick or treating tonight in a mainly asian neighborhood, almost all the people that passed out candy were the white people. haha)

those are my thoughts of why halloween in china would not work out so well. :P meanwhile, i had a fabulous and different halloween.. on top of what was mentioned above, i went shopping and bought a dress for $5 and $2.50(...!!!!) and some other great deals and got to hold a friend's baby the whole night who cuddled perfectly in my arms. :)

the end.

chinese facebook

i have a chinese facebook account. it's VERY similar to the American facebook but all in chinese and i have to use google translate if i want to understand anything! haha anyways, the purpose of getting it is to keep up with students while i'm in america... but lately i've been finding great entertainment and amusement from it by the pictures they post... it's a really different style of stuff they choose to post! haha here's just a sampling of them :)

on 人人 （renren- which means people people) you find everything from cute random pictures of animals to chubby/cute babies to anime to furniture to even stalker photos of their foreign teachers or a picture of your own wedding invitation! haha it gives you a glimpse of what's on their mind, what they dream about, love, and adore... thanks for having a 看看 (kankan- look!)

whew! what a week!!

life has been kinda busy lately- planning a wedding, running errands, meeting with friends, family, supporters, traveling to north carolina.. here's some random happenings from this past week!

-got my first newsletter from a friend in china! (weird to be the one receiving them now!)
-went to charlotte, north carolina to help my mom work at a hair show
-saw the most interesting kinds of people and crazy hairdo's at the hair show
-sold all kinds of hair accessories, human hair stuff, gel-eyeliners, bling bling rings, and glittery headbands
-wore all kinds of hair accessories, human hair stuff, gel-eyeliner (on my hand to show that it's smudgeproof and waterproof! haha), bling bling rings, and glittery headbands (if you wear it, they buy it! haha)
-stayed in a swanky artsy hotel with really cool furniture and decor
-sat and watched TV for the first time in a longgg time (love it or list it, halloween wars, etc haha)
-saw beautiful gorgeous fall colored trees and played with the leaves :)
-saw shirts sold in the salt lake city airport (connecting flight) that said "i've tried polygamy"...!?!
-had a layover in the minneapolis airport and the flight attendant said "i just love your asian eyes!" with a minnesotan accent :)
-played boggle (or the first game in a long time!) with my mom!

and pictures for picture's sake from charlotte :)

october in america

this is my first october/fall season in america in 4 years..!! i forget what it's like to wear tank tops and flip flops without people going crazy, see halloween stuff in all the stores, see people's houses strangely decorated, experience nippy mornings and nights, and be surrounded fall spices/colors everywhere in all the stores!

let's just say... china doesn't really have those things. the most fall/halloween i've seen are color changes on leaves that last a week or twp (but they were gorgeous!), "halloween" themed parties with students where only the teachers are dressed up, and a handful tiny trick or treaters (aka teammates) and some random foreign students that you meet from the elevator that knock on your door for candy (or chinese snacks! haha)...

fall/halloween in china...

fall/halloween in america

yes, this is a real house... right down my street!! still not sure why people would pay so much money to buy such hideous things.. glad i don't live in this house or else i'll get nightmares each night! haha

baby steps..

10 years ago...

-i never ate sandwiches
-i wanted to puke at the thought of drinking hot water
-i rarely ate vegetables
-i hated walking, running, or most forms of exercise
-i had minus zero interest in learning Chinese
-i thought i was a pretty good Christian
-i didn't like anything that was green, especially avocados (it's green and squishy!)
-i hated asking for forgiveness
-i never thought i would be where i am now (lived in china for 4 years, engaged to the an incredible guy, an auntie, going back to a place i never thought i could love...)

10 years later...
-i just ate a sandwich for lunch because i was hungry, desperate and i put avocados in there to make it more tasty.
-i find myself drinking hot water when i'm sick because it really does soothe the throat... i think :) or at least it's what i'm advised to do by every chinese student!
-i eat vegetables (not super often, but at least i eat them! hehe)
-i voluntarily to the store because it saves gas and i get to enjoy fresh air outside
-i speak random Chinese phrases all the time and i like it and want to learn more! :)
-i like more green things now- especially avocados (hence i made a huge batch of guacamole today hehehe)
-i find myself needing forgiveness more than ever because of how sinful, selfish, and bitter i can be at times
-i'm at a place where i could have NEVER pictured for myself 10 years ago but so extremely thankful and blessed for journey and baby steps along the way!

speaking of baby steps, a nickname that a teammate once gave me and everyone else on my team was "baby jodi" and it kinda stuck for some reason. not only am i the baby of my family but i also tend to take baby steps towards change. (samson would be the first to tell you that it takes me a while to adjust to new things and change! haha) yes, very small baby steps- ei. it went from liking spam musibi to trying/liking california rolls that had avocado in it, to trying/liking guacamole, to loving avocados! very small baby steps but at least they're steps and i'm thankful that i'm not the same person i was 10 years ago but the Father's working and continuing to mold me into the baby jodi he wants me to be :)

so here i am, eating a sandwich (with huge chunks of avocado- thanks to my brother for buying them) with a ring on my finger... crazy!

touring the great lone star state

this past weekend i went with samson and his parents to austin, san antonio, and then waco texas! we did and saw a lot of cool things... things i never knew or saw before!! here's some highlights so far... america is pretty cool!!

you would think it was hawaii or some californian place with a picture like this, but nope- it's a touristy restaurant along the lake spot in austin, texas called "the hula hut"

never seen a mexican/hawaiian restaurant before but it was delicious and fun!

then we drove down to san antonio and got to walk along the "river walk", this definitely didn't look like the texas i knew (open land with armadillos!)

it was beautifully lit up at night with lots of fun restaurants, stores, and tourists.. we played a game countin how many people were on their iphone/smart phone- too many!!

of course a trip to san antonio wouldn't be complete without seeing the alamo! so cool and historic!

yes, that is an ostrich sticking it's head and neck into that car and every other car (including ours) after that!! haha ostriches are SCARRYYYY!! we went to a "safari" place where you can drive in your car and see/feed animals and occasionally they will stick their head in the car if they are bold like this one! haha

and that is a llama. thankfully, he/she did not spit on us :)

and that is me, fearfully feeding a goat from my hand!!

if you ever come to texas, i recommend these places!! :D

it's texas time!

howdy y'all :) in Texas now with samson and getting to spend time with his family and friends! the other day we went to the "stockyards" in Fort Worth, Texas aka a place "where the West begins," and is "the finest place in America to experience our nation's proud western heritage". st felt like a very different America with so many interesting things to see and do... for free! :) i felt like a major tourist in a new place taking so many pictures everywhere. after living in another country for 4 yrs- everything about America, especially a place like this, brings a lot of culture shock! the people are so friendly here and they have great southern accents. some of the highlights from the day!

they had random people dressed up and walk around to play the part of the wild west days

cool cowboys on horses that you can touch! hehe

learning how to speak like a texan ;)

the shop owner insisted us trying on hats and to pose there for a picture haha..

my first time seeing armadillos and they had a race for them too.. you had to blow their tails to get them to move! haha

the most surprisingly pleasant thing about texas thus far has been the weather.. notice we're wearing light sweaters?! that's because it's been about 70-80 degrees since i've been here! ptl! :D

a morning epiphany

the other day i was browsing through a stack of wedding magazines that cousin passed on to me... there were a TON of articles about how to get ready for the wedding, how to budget, plan out the day, do's and dont's, ways to do this and that...

anyway, the next morning I woke up with a pretty deep epiphany (btw, it took me about 3 hours to think of the right word to describe this situation)... here i am thinking SO much about wedding plans (as much as I don't want to), preparing for the big day, planning for all the details of center pieces, music, schedule, desserts... (the list goes on!) but then it dawned on me, how often do i think and prepare for the "real" wedding when i meet Jesus?! that was enough for me to have a wake up call and remember what's eternal and more important... weddings are important and involve a lot of planning- but when he returns that's even BIGGER and a million times more important. i don't want to lose sight of what's eternal and awaiting/preparing for His return and just focus on much smaller things, like what shoes am i going to wear. haha

it's funny because i've also been starting to read through matthew again, a chapter a day, and before i read that morning i thought "how crazy would it be if i read something about the wedding banquet and his return this morning??" surely enough, i read matthew 22- the parable of the wedding banquet. yep. i think he definitely wanted to speak to me about all this wedding stuff :)

it's little epiphanies like this that makes me think and wonder: am i (are we) ready to be a beautiful bride when he comes back? am i thinking beyond my little world into a bigger more eternal one? am i excited for when he returns like i am to marry samson??

hmm.. things to ponder. :) thanks for reading my morning epiphany, they really usually do come in the morning when i wake up too :)

strangeness on the road...

most days in china i walk... very rarely do i need to take the bus somewhere or a taxi or a train (only for special occasions to visit people outside campus or the city)

in america, i find myself doing the very opposite... on most days i drive and drive and drive- streets, freeways, you name it... very rarely do i walk somewhere and i never take the bus, taxi, or train!

anyways, back to the whole point of this blog post... while driving the past week i've noticed a lot of strangeness on the road, like this:

a few more interesting things as i was driving along the 5 fwy to go to Norcal this past week was multiple signs that said "trust Jesus", "Tim McLeod slept here" (whoever that is!), garlic ice cream (and yes i did try it bc you can't pass up a $1.50 experience like that- it definitely tasted like.. garlic ice cream!), and lots n' lots of land....(california is pretty dang beautiful)!
me and garlic ice cream, u can even see the sign for it on the far right :)

reminds me of kansas or something :)

like father, like son!

videos are just too fun.. i can't help but share more videos that i haven't been able to post in a long time :) this one is of one of my teacher students and his 10 yr old son. they tagged team together in a game called Guesstures (only the BEST game ever to play with chinese people!!) they are super cute and i love how they have the same reactions, gestures, and facial expressions- priceless!! (btw, the first one- sandwich- is like a word in chinese that sounds like 3 "san".. hence the 3 fingers hehe... oh and the last one was "funny bone"... he wasn't sure what it meant so he made it up and nobody got it. haha but it was funny!!)

 

batting eyes ;)

So a my genius friend showed me yesterday how to upload a video on blogger! yay!! one of my favorite videos of my niece that's too cute for life and i can't help but share her with you! :) enjoy!! (p.s. i had the great pleasure of teaching her how to bat her eyes.. hehehe) i love my niece!!

sleepover pedestrians & breakdancing

the two have nothing in common other than appearing in the same blog post and being interesting... i think. :)

the other day i was driving with my mom and saw a hefty size crowd of teenagers crossing the street with bags and... PILLOWS? yes. it was strange and i was confused... so i took a picture. okay, more like a few pictures to capture the glory and wonder of this rare situation. i don't think the teens liked it though when they saw me snapping away.. they shouted at me "taking a picture?!" obviously, they haven't lived in China wear people take pictures of foreigners all the time. haha i felt bad but couldn't help being a stereotypical chinese person taking pictures ;)

did you know on fridays at mcdonald's (the one near my house) they have filet-o-fish sandwiches for $1.50?! that's a steal. anyways, so i took my grandma last week because she said this is something i can afford to treat her in (she won't let me pay for expensive meals haha)... while we were sitting in the swanky McCafe there was breakdancing on the TV... she told me in Chinese "i like that" and i said confused, "that kind of dancing??" and she said "yea, i like that kind of dancing!" hahaha.. i love learning new and surpring things about my grandma!

the american nightmare

a couple days ago i was able to reunite with 3 of my students from Harbin and another student from HEU that i met.... it was wonderful, until i heard about their experience in America the past week...

to make it more understandable i'll write it from an American's perspective.

imagine you've been DYING to go to China (it's been your dream since you were a child), paid LOTS of money (to get a visa, ticket, and for the tour group), show up to several cities but feel RUSHED at each place and have to pay more to go to do or see anything, being promised to see beijing opera but they say there's no time, taking a train for 8 hours to only see a city for 30 minutes, being stuck in a small hotel room after 6pm and never seeing night life, eating ONLY western food (western food in china is NOT so great) and the only Chinese food you eat is from Panda Express, losing your iphone at a major amusement park that has all your memories and pictures from the trip, and hoping to speak to Chinese people to practice your Chinese (because you studied Chinese and that is one of the main reasons for going) but only speaking ENGLISH the entire trip because your tour guide only speaks English and you only talk to other Americans from your tour group!!!

so so SO sad. my heart broke when i heard their stories of their time in America and felt sooooooo bad for them. in short, my students:
-felt rushed at every tourist site
-couldn't leave their hotel after 6pm
-stayed in the worst hotel rooms (esp in downtown LA- the more dangerous side of town!)
-lost one's iphone at Disneyland with all her pictures
-ate ONLY horrible (non-authentic) Chinese food every meal (except for McDonald's and Burger King!)
-never saw local/real American life
-never talked to locals and Americans to learn more about the culture!!!

when i heard about all these things i was determined to make the most of my 3 hours with them the best possible! first stop: mexican food- it's the best in southern california and definitely a cultural experience right? they loved it and i encouraged the new boy, Tony, to open a Mexican restaurant in his hometown.. he said determinedly, "i will research it!" haha then we went to my house to eat our take out tacos and hung out with my family. it was their first time driving in an American neighborhood, entering an American home, and being a part of my non-touristy life. We chatted for a bit with my mom and Ruthy to visit. I served them some leftover banana cream pie in our fridge and they LOVED it (so sad that their best American dessert was leftovers! haha). I showed them my kitchen and what a dishwasher was... we later had to head back to LA by curfew time but stopped by a grocery market along the way so they can see what it looks like and bought a few American snacks for the road too :) A half in hour later we arrived at their ghetto hotel in the middle of downtown LA and hung out in their tiny ghetto little hotel room (surrounded by bums and homeless people) for another hour to talk. my student said her most enjoyable part of America was seeing me. *heart melt*... it was SO good to see them and how i wish i could have been their personal tour guide and show them all the great food, people, and places in america.. or at least my hometown :) *sigh* maybe next time...!

here's some pictures from my brief time with the students in america :)

their first time meeting and talking to a mexican at a random mexican restaurant

eating mexican food at my house

a picture outside my american house

checking out the groceries and differences of prices and vegetables

reunited with 3 of my English major students

miss their faces already but it was so great to have a piece of china for a night and reconnect with them :)