awesomest thing of my life...so i'm in china right, and there's a HUGE u of u game that happened today right? so yeah we totally skyped with my bro-in-law's brother, had him set up his computer to face the tv and we totally watched the sugar bowl, at the same time as everyone else, on our computer in china!!! ahhhhhahahahahaha AWESOMENESS. go utes. the end.

my post today is small and simple:

i heart china.

it puts a roll in my eye,

and a smile on my face.

LOVE IT.

the end.

i feel the need to write these lyrics out. so i am. enjoy.

my shepherd will supply my need,

Jehovah is His name.

in pastures fresh, He makes me feed

beside the living stream.

He brings my wandering spirit back,

when i forsake His ways,

and leads me for His mercy's sake

in paths of truth and grace.

when i walk through the shades of death,

Thy presence is my stay.

a word of Thy supporting breath

drives all my fears away.

Thy hand, in sight of all my foes,

doth still my table spread.

my cup with blessing overflows;

Thine oil anoints my head.

the sure provisions of my God,

attend me all my days.

o may Thy house be my abode,

and all my work be praise.

there would i find a settled rest,

while others go and come.

no more a stranger nor a guest,

but like a child at home.

no more a stranger nor a guest,

but like a child at home.

this is just a small sampling of the pretty christmas lights they've put up at random places across the city. it's beautiful.

so i haven't updated anything on this in too long, i know. sorry bout that! i have been thinking a lot about getting something new up here and what to do for it. i just been thinking a lot in general lately. i guess being dropped in another country across the world for 3 months will do that to ya! so in honor of china and my stay here, i decided to write up a list (since i've become quite the list-maker as of late) of things i like and things i don't so much like about this place i've called home for the past few months...

*things i like*

~how big the city is; you can drive on the freeway for an hour straight and still not be out of shanghai

~the traffic/the way the people drive here (this should prob be on my no-like list, but it just proves i've been in china for too long)

~my compound (or in english, my neighborhood)

~my house; not many people are lucky enough to have an actual house here, it's all apartments, so we're very blessed, and our house is so cute, i love it!

~how they pre-program christmas songs into phones and alarm clocks so you get them all year 'round

~the guards at our compound - they make us feel safe and they remember who i am! (the night ones, especially...apparently i come home later more often than earlier)

~the "info" line - you can call anytime and ask for directions or addresses or numbers or have them talk to your cab driver and find out anything and get anywhere! so so handy for us retarded foreigners

~the taxi drivers when they actually understand what i'm saying and where i wanna go! it rocks

~the fact that a GOOD mani/pedi costs less than $25

~trying to catch a cab at 5:30 PM when it's raining (sometimes not so fun, but usually it's quite hilarious)

~the architecture...the buildings here are beautiful & there's SO many skyscrapers

~street food

~they have IKEA & it's EXACTLY like at home

~the mix of culture and/or race here...you see a little of everything - definitely opposite of utah

~they have Subway! just like home :) yay for comfort food

~the Chinese symbols...i've really come to appreciate their way of writing; i can't read it or write it, but it's beautiful

~the Chinese people generally have a really welcoming, heart-warming way about them

~having an ayie (literally translated means 'aunt'; she's our housekeeper/maid basically who comes 3 days a week and keeps the house from falling apart; she's awesome)

*things i don't appreciate so much*

~the spitting and/or snotting....um gross??

~the milk; it's organic and ordered in from new zealand and i just cannot get used to it; hence i haven't really had milk in 2 months

~the total and complete chaos that is their society here

~the dirtiness/sanitary issues; there's no sanitary standards whatsoever

~the pens here are all crappy!

~the washer/dryer; i guess i should be thankful we even have a washer and especially a dryer since most people use the hang-dry method, but it's a washer/dryer in one and takes a year to do one load...ugh

~see the places/"homes" people live in...it's the poorest of the poor and it's so sad

~how everyone freely uses the street and/or garbage cans as bathrooms

~using cash for EVERYTHING; it's like the only method (get paid in cash, pay with cash, etc)

~squatters. one word: disgusting.

~the simple fact that they eat chicken feet & it's totally normal. seriously people!

~single-pane windoes and no insulation - it's FREEZING even inside

~no ranch dressing :( (good thing i brought my own from home!)

~the phone numbers are either 8 or 11 numbers long...sooo annoying

~the real, name brand or designer stuff is MORE expensive here than in the US; it's all made here, how is that even possible?

really i can't complain too much...china's pretty freakin awesome. i've really grown to love it here and love the people and their way of life. it's more having to get used to things than anything. i'm so so grateful for this opportunity i've had just placed in my lap basically to come here for these few months. although my christmas isn't white and there aren't pretty lights on the outside of all the houses, it's still christmas time and i still feel the special christmas spirit. i hope everyone enjoys this time as much as i intend to. happy holidays everyone!!

sleigh bells ring, are ya listening?...

SO I FEEL LIKE I HAVEN'T WRITTEN ANYTHING ON THIS BLOG OF MINE IN FOREVER! AND THAT'S PROBABLY BECAUSE I HAVEN'T. SO I BETTER GET ON THAT...I'M NOT EXACTLY SURE WHAT I'M GOING TO WRITE ABOUT YET SO WE'LL FIND OUT TOGETHER!...

SO MANY THOUGHTS GOING THROUGH MY MIND THE LAST FEW WEEKS. ESPECIALLY NOW THAT WE'VE HAD THANKSGIVING AND CHRISTMAS IS COMING UP. WHAT A FUN TIME OF YEAR. I'M BLESSED TO HAVE A PIANO HERE AT MY HOUSE, SO I'VE STARTED SCROUNGING UP CHRISTMAS MUSIC AND PLAYING IT. IT IS MY FAVORITE MUSIC TO PLAY, I DO BELIEVE. ONE OF MY *SISTERS* MENTIONED SHE WATCHED ANNE OF GREEN GABLES ON TV THE OTHER NIGHT, AND I THOUGHT THAT WAS FUNNY SHE MENTIONED THAT BECAUSE THE SISTER I'M LIVING WITH HAS A PASSION FOR THOSE BOOKS (AND MOVIES) AND I'M CURRENTLY READING THE FIRST ONE. IF YOU'RE NOT FAMILIAR WITH THESE BOOKS, (FIRST OF ALL YOU SHOULD BE!), AND SECOND, ANNE IS KNOWN FOR HER VIVID IMAGINATION. SHE IS AN ORPHAN GIRL AND SHE'S LIVED HER LIFE THROUGH HER IMAGINATION BECAUSE SHE HAS HAD NEXT TO NOTHING HER WHOLE LIFE. BEING IN CHINA, THERE'S NO SNOW (ALTHOUGH I HEAR THERE'S NONE AT HOME YET, EITHER), THERE'S NOT A CHRISTMAS TREE AND LIGHTS IN EVERY HOUSE ALONG THE STREET AND ACROSS THE WHOLE CITY. THERE ISN'T EVEN A LOT OF TALK ABOUT CHRISTMAS AND THE MAD SHOPPING SEASON THAT IS UPON US OUTSIDE OF MY HOUSE AND A FEW OTHER PEOPLE I KNOW. I'VE FOUND MYSELF HAVING TO DIG UP MY SOMEWHAT BURIED IMAGINATION AND WORKING TO MAKE THINGS FEEL MORE LIKE THE HOLIDAY SEASON IN CHINA. WE DO HAVE A TREE, IT'S SMALL AND SITS ON A TABLE, BUT WE DO HAVE ONE! AND LIGHTS AROUND THE ENTRY WAY IN OUR HOUSE. BUT THERE'S NO FEELING OF THAT 'CHRISTMAS SPIRIT' WE HAVE AT HOME. I HOPE WE ALL FIND TIME THIS DECEMBER TO FEEL THAT CHRISTMAS SPIRIT. WHETHER IT'S THROUGH BEING HOME WITH FAMILY OR BUILDING A SNOW MAN (WHEN WE ACTUALLY GET ANY SNOW, OF COURSE) OR BEING IN A MALL SURROUNDED BY MILLIONS OF OTHER CRAZY DECEMBER SHOPPERS OR HUMMING A CHRISTMAS SONG. FIND IT AND ENJOY IT! IT'LL ALL BE OVER BEFORE WE KNOW IT. NOW THAT GOT MAYBE A BIT CHEESIER AND/OR PREACHY SOUNDING THAN I THOUGHT, BUT ONE THING I'VE LEARNED AND AM STILL LEARNING IS TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF EVERY MOMENT OF EVERY DAY; WE'LL NEVER GET IT BACK! HAPPY HOLIDAY SEASON TO EVERYONE :)

HAPPY TURKEY DAY!!!

well it is thanksgiving for me now, and you are all asleep already, awaiting your thanksgiving day! i'm about ready to leave for dinner...we're having a work thanksgiving dinner at the Renaissance hotel...not quite the same, but hey, it's turkey and it's clean ha. i just wanted to make a quick thanksgiving shout-out to everyone. i'm so incredibly blessed every single day of my life, and a large part of that is because of the amazing people in my life. i'm so so grateful for my family, more in these last couple years than ever, and i'm so so grateful for my good friends and the awesome influences i have to look up to. i'm also grateful for normal, american milk, flavored, sweetened yogurt, and pens that actually work :) lots of love to everyone!

HAHAHAHA oh my goodness, today i was even more of a daredevil than ever before! so all over the city, almost as popular as taxi's, there's guys on scooters and/or motorcycles you can pay to take you around, just like a taxi, except you're on the back of a bike. so...analee and i were on our way back to her house from the fake market (where i got an excellent "coach" bag and wallet for an excellent price). it's only about a 5 minute ride and there wasn't a taxi right there, so we just decided we'd go for it. we each hopped on the back of the bikes and held on! i don't want to go into detail again about the poor traffic skills and complete chaos that is the streets of shanghai because i don't want to scare anyone, but it was interesting. nothing too dramatic happened and we arrived safely. and we only paid 7 RMB, which is about one dollar. sweet. it was so fun!

I JUST WANT TO EXPRESS MY MOST DEEP SADNESS AND UTMOST DISAPPOINTMENT WITH THE STARBUCK'S IN CHINA....I'M IN LIKE THE WORLD CAPITOL OF TEA, AND THEY DON'T HAVE CHAI TEA HERE! WE HAVE IT IN AMERICA, BUT IN CHINA WHERE THEY SHOULD HAVE EVERY TYPE OF TEA IN THE WORLD, THEY DO NOT HAVE CHAI. IN FACT, THEY ONLY HAVE TWO (THAT'S 2) DIFFERENT TEA CHOICES AT STARBUCK'S HERE. SERIOUSLY?? VERY UPSETTING...

my sister hasn't been feeling too good the last couple days, so today, i took hyde and hattie with some other little friends to the shanghai zoo! it happens to be like right next door to us, so it's an easier, fun thing to do. and the sun is out today, except it's very deceiving since it is FREEZING outside. there's quite a wind, and it is not as warm as it looks. but we still had a good time. mostly there's monkeys and fish and elephants. at least that's where we spent all our time. the poor animals do not have very good living conditions, though. i'm pretty sure the monkeys were freezing as well, with nothing but cement cages with bark in the bottom. there were some actually like glued to the walls, all scrunched up, trying to get warm. or at least that's what it looked like. they should at least have some sun in there! it was kinda sad. then we went to the elephant show! it was actually way cool. they teach those giant things some pretty cool tricks. we sat on the front row, which was a bit too close for hyde...he went back about 5 rows and sat there to watch ha. hattie insisted on sitting on my lap since they were so close, but after awhile, she was laughing and loving it. and now for the best part (k it might not be that cool for some of you, but it was my first time, so deal!) you could pay 30 RMB, which is roughly $4, and take a ride on one! haha it was awesome.

i'm sure i looked like a fool up there, but that's ok. and i did get an actual video, but i'm struggling with making it work, so for now, you get pics!

today i went to my first of what will be weekly yoga classes. it was awesome. not really different than yoga in the states, except somehow it feels more like it belongs here in china than in america. that probably didn't make any sense, but that's ok. it was so nice and relaxing. a great way to start the day. then after i went with another yoga-er, kirsten, to starbucks for a delicious hot chocolate. it was fabulous! SOO...a few days ago, i was blog browsing, and one of my good friends had made a list of 100 things she loved. i thought that was neat, so later that night when i had some extra time, i decided to do that too! well i ended up coming up with more than 100, which really isn't hard. but i narrowed it back down, and i wanted to share...

100 things mara loves
01.music
02.ice cream
03.cameras
04.hoodies
05.the smell of rain
06.letters
07.the beach
08.chai latte's
09.pink
10.fingernail polish
11.good books
12.the sun
13.freshly cut grass
14.shoes!
15.driving with the windows down
16.singing in the shower
17.pillows
18.country concerts
19.gerber daisies
20.yellow
21.clif bars
22.head phones
23.rainbows
24.the smell of lilacs
25.lavender
26.sisters
27.dressing up
28.red lipstick
29.polaroid pictures
30.being comfy
31.snuggling
32.water
33.heating vents
34.normal toilets
35.toilet paper
36.road trips
37.starry nights
38.mountains
39.freckles
40.eskimo kisses
41.the gym
42.babies
43.bendy straws
44.pixie sticks
45.hot chocolate
46.cereal
47.ballet dancers
48.knee-lenth boots
49.chocolate brown
50.dancing in the headlights
51.mom’s chocolate marshmallow brownies
52.black
53.dresses
54.over-sized purses
55.a good movie
56.football games
57.off-roading
58.outlet malls
59.rosy cheeks
60.spider solitaire
61.hershey’s syrup
62.camp fires
63.claudia’s rice krispie treats
64.playlists
65.autumn-colored leaves
66.snow-ball fights
67.best friends
68.laughing so hard I cry
69.grandpa otto’s obsession with polaroids
70.climing trees
71.patterned tights
72.flip flops
73.baths
74.getting mail
75.kisses in the rain
76.being color-coordinated
77.seasons
78.journals
79.happy birthdays
80.cowboy hats
81.chocolate-covered almonds
82.washing the dishes
83.the simple things
84.crying till you can’t cry anymore
85.music videos
86.fun fonts
87.feet on the dashboard on a summer day
88.sunsets
89.special spots
90.midnight walks
91.ranch dressing
92.homemade bread
93.scarves
94.playing in the mud
95.pretty brown eyes
96.loofas
97.being inspired
98.memories
99.happy endings
100.thunderstorms

BUT the night didn't end at karaoke...afterwards we went to this street we call "food street". very creative, i know. it was around midnight at this point, and there were a bunch of people getting all kinds of scewered meat...and...things...don't ask, i don't know. or i didn't want to know...there's octopus, different parts of chicken, whole fish. i mean YUM!! needlesstosay, i had some of the veggies...ginger roots with too spicy spices, and some kind of mushroom somethin somethin. anyway, mostly i had bottled water ha. i'm trying, but some things i just can't bring myself to try!

KARAOKE TIME

look, i have an american friend! haha

apparently the peace sign is popular

i finally went out and had a night on the town!! i've been quite the unsocial person, mostly because i'm not sure who to be social with, but last night it was a co-workers birthday, so we all took her out and played! oh man. all i can say is KARAOKE. the chinese pretty much worship karaoke. and it's not necessarily a party, fun thing either, it's taken serious! so this is how it all went down...i wait FORTY (yes 40) minutes for a cab, finally get downtown to meet up with everyone. half go to eat, half go to get our room for karaoke. i went with the karaoke half. it was crazy-busy. this place looks like a club with a ton of private rooms. it was way way nice and new and modern-looking, too. we get our room right away cuz someone was smart and made reservations. it has a small, mini bar, a big, L-shaped leather couch with some tables, a couple other chairs, and a big screen. there's a little monitor thing where you pick your playlist, basically, and all the songs just start playing. there were 3 microphones. i mean this room had everything. sound effects, lighting effects, the works. PLUS they have servers and you can order any food or drink you want. it was awesome! haha i couldn't believe it. maybe some of you already knew about this or have seen this before, so it's old news for you, but i had no idea! the big difference i think between american karaoke and chinese karaoke is the chinese really take it seriously and sing the best they can and it's almost totally quiet except for the person singing. lots of slow songs. some were very typical chinese opera style songs. so thank GOODNESS we had more of our white peeps come and show em how it's done. it was awesome. like a private dance party. you can be as loud as you want. it was crazy. we had the room til midnight, and most everyone stayed that late, too. don't you worry, i was definitely a partaker of the karaoke madness...

halloween china-style

so many people have been asking about halloween in china, or if there even is a halloween in china. granted halloween was over a week ago, i'm barely getting around to figuring everything out and getting it up for you! there's quite a few people that live around us that aren't chinese...england, new zealand, france, places like that. and a few from america, too, and since halloween's growing more popular around europe and other places, we did have other people celebrating it with us! we weren't the only ones! yay! there were a few chinese people in some of my classes that i asked about it, though, and they said no they don't celebrate it at all. but in our compound, (which is basically a gated community), there were quite a few houses with decorations and kids that dressed up and went trick-or-treating, so it was fun! had a couple halloween parties for the kids to go to even! (i'm starting to feel like a mom some days...) so here's some pics of hyde and hattie and there halloween fun! and no, i didn't dress up myself. kinda wish i could've though...so sad

my baby hattie!!

this is my niece, hattie. she'll be 2 this coming february, and she's the cutest thing ever! well, most of the time anyway...after all, she is almost 2...well, long story, short, she has lots of fun curly, blonde hair for aunt mara to play with! and she's very patient and sits while i do it. one rainy day here in china, we were looking for something to do, so while she was strapped in her high chair, i got the elastics out and we played pony-tail with her hair! it was awesome. somewhere around 12 pony-tails i think?? then she was happy to pose for a picture :)

NEW BABY BOY!!! in china, nonetheless...

SOOO...we have yet another new baby in the family, born here in shanghai with me! his name's Liam Wayne Parkinson. 7 pounds, 20 inches long, and so so pretty! yes, a baby boy can be pretty. he came pretty quick tuesday, november 4th at about 10:15 pm. of course, that would be around 7:15 am for you in america. he's doing so well, and mom, (my sister anne), is doing wonderfully also. she's a trooper. so far, he likes to sleep in the day and cry all night long, so hopefully when he's home that'll switch around! liam's brother and sister, hyde and hattie, are very proud siblings. all hattie wants to do is touch him; pat his head, poke out his eyeballs, etc etc. so that's the newest, exciting thing that's happening around here! but just wait til tomorrow...i'm sure new, more exciting things will be happening then. after all, it is china....

CHINA!

ok so i'm officially doing HORRIBLE at updating this whole blog thing...china is INSANE!!! there's so so many people and cars and bikes and motor scooter thingy's. and dirt. it's very dirty here. don't drink the water!! but it's awesome. i experienced my first taxi ride across town all by myself. scary! i also experienced what the chinese call a "pedicure"...not the same thing, just fyi. they come at you with big file looking metal blade things to cut your nails and rub the rough spots from the bottoms of your feet. the end, pedicure done ha. good thing it was only 30 RMB, which is roughly like 5 bucks. then i tried an hour-long, full body massage...let's just say i was way more sore and tight after the massage then before. gosh they push hard. and other weird things i won't mention. i easily see how people become vegetarians after seeing some of the meat/seafood stuff here. it's really gross actually. at night, all the vendors come out on some of the main streets and it's a complete mad house! trying to get a cab is just ridiculous! it's fun though, to see everyone and see the weird, random ways of life these people have. i still can't get over the driving...i just don't understand how people don't get hit like every 5 seconds! it's something to behold. everyone come here and join me!

so this is my new spot! i finally made a blog. most of you know i'm heading to china TOMORROW (monday), so this should be a good way to keep my peeps updated and informed. or something...anyway i'll try to keep up on it. hope you enjoy!