So I recently did this sound design project, just for fun, with Karl who is another American English teacher here in China. He has his own sound recording equipment and everything. Anyway, we entered this project into a contest and have been getting some good votes, but would like some more. The project is in the final five. However, even if you don't vote for us we think it is pretty funny and should be seen and heard by our friends, loved ones, and acquaintances. So please feel free to visit the following website and vote or just watch and listen at your leisure.
http://www.dynamicinterference.com/2010/09/29/sdc002-septembers-finalists/#more-195
You may have to copy and paste the link in order to get there. Otherwise you can just go to dynamicinterference.com, then click on the "Read more" link at the bottom of the post that is titled SDC002:September's Finalists. If you like ours enough to vote it is titled "Modeling Interview by ksrmedia. Just scroll to the bottom of the page and you will see an area to place your votes.
Thanks either way. Hope you enjoy!
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Blessed to be alive!
Q. Can you be taxi driver if you have narcolepsy? Most, including us, would answer "No way! That is totally not safe!"
However, we'd all be mistaken because we are pretty sure we had a narcoleptic driver! In our 20-25 minute, taxi ride home from church we confidently got into the car and began our trip home. We noticed that the driver had decided to take the scenic route, (most likely because of our American Nationality and to run up the meter). We were okay with it for a number of reasons. It really is a way more beautiful drive, it does skip some of the heavier traffic and it doesn't cost a whole lot more. Boy will he regret trying to take advantage of us! Read on.
So he was doing great with his extremely offensive and sharp driving techniques until we got to a stoplight. Now I should have noticed something was off with this guy at this point, but it wasn't so obvious. At the light he was doing his nails or something and didn't notice that the light was green. So the car behind us politely reminded him with their horn. Once in motion he proceeded to drive through the intersection, but on a collision course with another extremely offensive, sharp driving individual who was about to turn across traffic. I thought our driver was aware of this path of potential panic and was maybe reading a sign or checkin' out a sweet ride (car), but to his chagrin (embarrassment) was not aware until a few feet from impact. He skillfully swerved to avoid the vehicle. Crisis averted, right? Well...yes...for the time being. So as we continued the ride Lois and I had noticed that he was leaning on the steering wheel and slowing down. He appeared to be "squinting" as if to read a sign. So we thought nothing of it. Well to our chagrin we realized that he wasn't "squinting"...he was sleeping! How did we know? Well in areas where there was no reason to squint he was still "squinting". Lois had made the discover by noticing the correlation between his "squinting" and letting off the gas peddle at very awkward times.
Once this was established we did our best to make sure that we would not be in any immediate danger. In one of his narcoleptic spells I said, in English: "Are you okay?" He woke abruptly to begin laughing, as did we, with hopes to humiliate him into staying awake as he drove. He responded in broken English, "I'm okay! Ha ha ha!" (He laughed in Chinese though) The embarrassment was a good effort and probably would have worked for someone just dozing from a long day or a late night, but not with a narcoleptic! Ohhh no. Not him. Not for Dong YeHong. He was awake for a few more seconds and proceeded to do some fancy, controlled, narcoleptic driving. I say fancy because he made a few turns and took a few curves while mostly if not completely asleep! He stayed in the lane (which was better than when he was awake) whenever he began the trance and, THANKFULLY, his foot would let off the gas instead of the opposite. He never even woke so abruptly that he'd over correct or forget where he was. He was pretty smooth...almost as if he had done some narcoleptic driving before.
So during his continued unconsciousness, I decided to do whatever I could to ensure our safe arrival to our home and I began to use what little Chinese I knew to keep him awake. I asked him if his name was what was clearly stated, in English as well as Chinese on the dash. That bought us a few seconds...well long enough for him to process what I was talking about and to say yes. After that, once again it was lights out for our struggling friend. Now I let him go to see if he would wake. I tried laughing, because I did think it was quite funny. Lois was getting a little worried for our safety at this time, but still saw the humor in the situation. (Yet another reason why I married that woman) I also did not want to use all the Chinese that I knew before getting to a point where we could walk if necessary. So he slowly came to. We were getting much closer to home, but still not quite close enough. As he was in and out of consciousness I proceeded to ask him in Chinese how old he was. He didn't answer the first time I asked (imagine that). I repeated myself in a louder voice two more times to finally arouse an answer. He finally broke the grasp of narcolepsy and in Chinese began to laugh and say, "I won't tell you." He was saying it was bad to ask. We finally approached the turn for our place and I proceeded to tell him where to turn. The turn is about 100 or so feet from the front of our building and he still had to squeeze in one more snooze. Even though Lois doesn't think so the guy gave us a little break in the fare due to his condition. There were never any close calls. But we honestly think that we were blessed by Heavenly Father to have made it home considering the situation.
However, we'd all be mistaken because we are pretty sure we had a narcoleptic driver! In our 20-25 minute, taxi ride home from church we confidently got into the car and began our trip home. We noticed that the driver had decided to take the scenic route, (most likely because of our American Nationality and to run up the meter). We were okay with it for a number of reasons. It really is a way more beautiful drive, it does skip some of the heavier traffic and it doesn't cost a whole lot more. Boy will he regret trying to take advantage of us! Read on.
So he was doing great with his extremely offensive and sharp driving techniques until we got to a stoplight. Now I should have noticed something was off with this guy at this point, but it wasn't so obvious. At the light he was doing his nails or something and didn't notice that the light was green. So the car behind us politely reminded him with their horn. Once in motion he proceeded to drive through the intersection, but on a collision course with another extremely offensive, sharp driving individual who was about to turn across traffic. I thought our driver was aware of this path of potential panic and was maybe reading a sign or checkin' out a sweet ride (car), but to his chagrin (embarrassment) was not aware until a few feet from impact. He skillfully swerved to avoid the vehicle. Crisis averted, right? Well...yes...for the time being. So as we continued the ride Lois and I had noticed that he was leaning on the steering wheel and slowing down. He appeared to be "squinting" as if to read a sign. So we thought nothing of it. Well to our chagrin we realized that he wasn't "squinting"...he was sleeping! How did we know? Well in areas where there was no reason to squint he was still "squinting". Lois had made the discover by noticing the correlation between his "squinting" and letting off the gas peddle at very awkward times.
Once this was established we did our best to make sure that we would not be in any immediate danger. In one of his narcoleptic spells I said, in English: "Are you okay?" He woke abruptly to begin laughing, as did we, with hopes to humiliate him into staying awake as he drove. He responded in broken English, "I'm okay! Ha ha ha!" (He laughed in Chinese though) The embarrassment was a good effort and probably would have worked for someone just dozing from a long day or a late night, but not with a narcoleptic! Ohhh no. Not him. Not for Dong YeHong. He was awake for a few more seconds and proceeded to do some fancy, controlled, narcoleptic driving. I say fancy because he made a few turns and took a few curves while mostly if not completely asleep! He stayed in the lane (which was better than when he was awake) whenever he began the trance and, THANKFULLY, his foot would let off the gas instead of the opposite. He never even woke so abruptly that he'd over correct or forget where he was. He was pretty smooth...almost as if he had done some narcoleptic driving before.
So during his continued unconsciousness, I decided to do whatever I could to ensure our safe arrival to our home and I began to use what little Chinese I knew to keep him awake. I asked him if his name was what was clearly stated, in English as well as Chinese on the dash. That bought us a few seconds...well long enough for him to process what I was talking about and to say yes. After that, once again it was lights out for our struggling friend. Now I let him go to see if he would wake. I tried laughing, because I did think it was quite funny. Lois was getting a little worried for our safety at this time, but still saw the humor in the situation. (Yet another reason why I married that woman) I also did not want to use all the Chinese that I knew before getting to a point where we could walk if necessary. So he slowly came to. We were getting much closer to home, but still not quite close enough. As he was in and out of consciousness I proceeded to ask him in Chinese how old he was. He didn't answer the first time I asked (imagine that). I repeated myself in a louder voice two more times to finally arouse an answer. He finally broke the grasp of narcolepsy and in Chinese began to laugh and say, "I won't tell you." He was saying it was bad to ask. We finally approached the turn for our place and I proceeded to tell him where to turn. The turn is about 100 or so feet from the front of our building and he still had to squeeze in one more snooze. Even though Lois doesn't think so the guy gave us a little break in the fare due to his condition. There were never any close calls. But we honestly think that we were blessed by Heavenly Father to have made it home considering the situation.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Mid Autumn Festival.
So today is the Mid Autumn Festival in China, or the Moon Cake Festival. They celebrate by spending time with family and eating moon cakes while looking at the moon. As I mentioned before it has been raining and rained again this evening so our chances of seeing the moon were slim. Our school invited us to dinner to celebrate and be part of their family. Dinner was nice and there was plenty of food to try. It is much better than the cafeteria food that we eat almost ever day! As we were coming out of the restaurant after dinner we looked up in the sky and we were able to see the moon . It was covered with clouds, but we could see it. We hurried and took a picture of the full moon. Then the moon was gone in less than 1 minute. We thought that was pretty amazing!
I wish there was more to our day and celebration, but there wasn't. I was hoping that for national holidays they would have some big parades or traditional celebration going on, but they didn't. I guess we celebrated the Chinese traditional way. Went to dinner ate moon cakes and looked at the moon. We are crossing our finger to see something more exciting with other holidays.
I wish there was more to our day and celebration, but there wasn't. I was hoping that for national holidays they would have some big parades or traditional celebration going on, but they didn't. I guess we celebrated the Chinese traditional way. Went to dinner ate moon cakes and looked at the moon. We are crossing our finger to see something more exciting with other holidays.
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Sorry so long of a wait.
Still no pictures, sorry about that. I have plenty to update on Kenya though.
She is cruising along here in China. She has learned her body parts, some animals, some fruits and some basic commands in Chinese. Others things that Kenya has done since we have been here in China. She is taking to potty training really well and is dry at least half of the day (most days). She has woken up dry 2 nights in the last week. We cannot get her to poop in the toilet though. I am not sure why, she just doesn't tell us. Also just this last week Kenya has started to say her own prayers. They usually go something like this, ...Thanks for mommy, and daddy, and papa, and mama and Icsis... Amen. Such a cutie! Man do I love her!! We went to Hong Kong last Saturday and were able to make it to the temple again! Yeah, that is 2 months in a row. We found the distribution center too and got some pictures of Christ to put in our home. It makes home feel a lot more like home with pictures of Jesus up. As Kenya was falling asleep tonight she said "night night Jesus."
Work has been going well for us. Robert was teaching 1-5 grade (not including 2nd grade) and I was teaching every grade 1-8. He was teaching just English and I was teaching spelling and science. I am much better at science as you can tell from our blog. But we were told today that our schedules will change starting this Saturday.
The weather is still too humid and when we talk to people they say that it will stay that way until the end of October. So, we are praying that it comes earlier this year. We are still in the rainy season too. It down poured yesterday and has been raining ALL day today and there is still more rain the forecast for the rest of the week. At least the rain yesterday got cool and so it wasn't warm rain. Yesterday when I was walking to go get Kenya the water on the street was like a running river and up to my ankle at parts.
I guess that is all for now. We will fill you in on other things later maybe. We have a 3 day holiday starting tomorrow maybe we will do something interesting.
She is cruising along here in China. She has learned her body parts, some animals, some fruits and some basic commands in Chinese. Others things that Kenya has done since we have been here in China. She is taking to potty training really well and is dry at least half of the day (most days). She has woken up dry 2 nights in the last week. We cannot get her to poop in the toilet though. I am not sure why, she just doesn't tell us. Also just this last week Kenya has started to say her own prayers. They usually go something like this, ...Thanks for mommy, and daddy, and papa, and mama and Icsis... Amen. Such a cutie! Man do I love her!! We went to Hong Kong last Saturday and were able to make it to the temple again! Yeah, that is 2 months in a row. We found the distribution center too and got some pictures of Christ to put in our home. It makes home feel a lot more like home with pictures of Jesus up. As Kenya was falling asleep tonight she said "night night Jesus."
Work has been going well for us. Robert was teaching 1-5 grade (not including 2nd grade) and I was teaching every grade 1-8. He was teaching just English and I was teaching spelling and science. I am much better at science as you can tell from our blog. But we were told today that our schedules will change starting this Saturday.
The weather is still too humid and when we talk to people they say that it will stay that way until the end of October. So, we are praying that it comes earlier this year. We are still in the rainy season too. It down poured yesterday and has been raining ALL day today and there is still more rain the forecast for the rest of the week. At least the rain yesterday got cool and so it wasn't warm rain. Yesterday when I was walking to go get Kenya the water on the street was like a running river and up to my ankle at parts.
I guess that is all for now. We will fill you in on other things later maybe. We have a 3 day holiday starting tomorrow maybe we will do something interesting.
Monday, September 06, 2010
Best 30 Minute Firework Show Ever!
So, tonight as Robert and I were cleaning house after Kenya had gone to bed I heard a few fireworks. Robert and I went to our balcony to see if we could see them. Yep, sure enough, there were some great fireworks going off. We had the perfect view from our 23 floor apartment. We are pretty certain that the celebration was for the 30th anniversary our Shenzhen, the city we live in. We had a day off of school two Fridays ago for the same purpose. Whatever the reason, it was wonderful! They had fireworks that would explode into the shape of a star, ones that were smiley faces (2 eyes and a mouth with a full circle around them), and ones that looked like a planet with rings. My favorite were these ones that I had never seen in the States, they twinkled all the way down and it looked like the nights sky. When I was telling Robert that is what it reminded me of, I realized that is one thing that I have not seen since I have been here. I have a feeling it will be a while until I see it again. SAD! The show was great and was non stop for a full 30 minutes. Thanks, Shenzhen, it was amazing!
Kenya slept all the way through it even though we were close enough that our windows were rattling from time to time. Then after the show was over we went back to cleaning. Sure enough, I turned on the water in the bathroom and Kenya woke up.
PS We do not have a way to post pictures to our blog yet, so more updates will come sometime next week. Until then all you can do is read about our happenings. Sorry!
Kenya slept all the way through it even though we were close enough that our windows were rattling from time to time. Then after the show was over we went back to cleaning. Sure enough, I turned on the water in the bathroom and Kenya woke up.
PS We do not have a way to post pictures to our blog yet, so more updates will come sometime next week. Until then all you can do is read about our happenings. Sorry!
Saturday, September 04, 2010
Details, details! The deal of a life time!
So, here is the deal. Back in July we accepted an offer to work in CHINA as teachers. We will be here for at least 1 year, but more likely it will be 2 years (at least!) Robert and I are both working! (MAJOR BUMMER, I did not want to ever work because it was our goal for me to stay at home with Kenya, but this was definitely an answer to our prayers and the Lord told us to go and for both of us to teach. It took Robert 4 months to find a job after her graduated last year and then it was just a job that just paid the bills and it was a dead end job. He was working full time at a customer service call center. Yeah, for all those who ever did and/or still work at Melaleuca! Yeah, it was that kind of job. He worked there for 8 months and he had just had enough. He hit is breaking point.
So, we had been praying for a long time for something different that would allow us to save and help us out in the long run with finances. We heard about this job from a friend of a friend of a friend whose dad was recruiting for the school. Yeah, that is how freakish it was. I got nothing but the contact information and from there on we were interested and got a job. The whole processes took less than 2 months (from the time I heard about the job till we were here in China).
Here are the details of the job. We have a one year contract, but like I mentioned we will most likely be here at least 2 years. We are in Shenzhen, China. We are just a crossed the bay from Hong Kong, where we can find anything American we could dream of. The salary is great! The benefits are great! We get to experience a different culture and Kenya gets to learn Chinese! We live right next to the school and police station in a very nice apartment! We are both teaching subjects in English rather than just teaching English and I will be teaching AP Biology in the winter. We are teaching at an actual private school grades 1-12. So far, so good.
We do have a Magic Jack phone # (which is a land line that anyone in the states can call and it ring through on our computer, its a lot like Skype) and if you want it please let me know and I will get it to you and we will talk on the phone. There is no charge to you, other than long distance if you pay or that, but who pays for that in the world of cell phones.
PS if you want our jobs let me know, I think they are wanting to hire 2-4 more teachers who would start right way if possible.
So, we had been praying for a long time for something different that would allow us to save and help us out in the long run with finances. We heard about this job from a friend of a friend of a friend whose dad was recruiting for the school. Yeah, that is how freakish it was. I got nothing but the contact information and from there on we were interested and got a job. The whole processes took less than 2 months (from the time I heard about the job till we were here in China).
Here are the details of the job. We have a one year contract, but like I mentioned we will most likely be here at least 2 years. We are in Shenzhen, China. We are just a crossed the bay from Hong Kong, where we can find anything American we could dream of. The salary is great! The benefits are great! We get to experience a different culture and Kenya gets to learn Chinese! We live right next to the school and police station in a very nice apartment! We are both teaching subjects in English rather than just teaching English and I will be teaching AP Biology in the winter. We are teaching at an actual private school grades 1-12. So far, so good.
We do have a Magic Jack phone # (which is a land line that anyone in the states can call and it ring through on our computer, its a lot like Skype) and if you want it please let me know and I will get it to you and we will talk on the phone. There is no charge to you, other than long distance if you pay or that, but who pays for that in the world of cell phones.
PS if you want our jobs let me know, I think they are wanting to hire 2-4 more teachers who would start right way if possible.
Thursday, September 02, 2010
We have moved!
So, at the beginning of August we moved. We simply moved back to my parents house to get ready for another move. In the middle of August we moved again. We enjoyed our time at my parents house. Kenya was able to see some of her family while we prepared to move. We had a ton of fun there! Kenya even got to see grandma and grandpa Draper! We were all so excited about that. More about that in a later post!
So where we are living now, is different in every way. The weather is different, the people are different, the food is different, the culture is different and our day and night are different. I guess it is not different in every way. People still drive on the same side of the street and our seasons are still the same. It took us 20 hours of traveling to get here.
We really have had a nice welcome and our new employer has been very kind. We got quite the bonus when we got here to help us settle in and our rent is free!! We also get 3 meals a day free for 5 days a week. Really, we got the deal of a life time with this job!
Oh, you may be saying... "Well, where did you move to?" I guess I left that detail out. Please, please if you don't already know leave a comments and make a guess.
So where we are living now, is different in every way. The weather is different, the people are different, the food is different, the culture is different and our day and night are different. I guess it is not different in every way. People still drive on the same side of the street and our seasons are still the same. It took us 20 hours of traveling to get here.
We really have had a nice welcome and our new employer has been very kind. We got quite the bonus when we got here to help us settle in and our rent is free!! We also get 3 meals a day free for 5 days a week. Really, we got the deal of a life time with this job!
Oh, you may be saying... "Well, where did you move to?" I guess I left that detail out. Please, please if you don't already know leave a comments and make a guess.
Update overload is just around the Corner!
I know that it has been a while for updates, but we have found a way to finally access our blog. However, it still may be a few days because we have so much to update! So stay tuned and thanks for following.
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