"When life gives you lemons, make lemonade"

We have passed the one year mark! As we sat on the beaches of Dalian, we couldn't help but reminisce about what our life looked like exactly one year before that day. Scrambling around adding the last minute touches for the wedding, packing up and saying our goodbyes as we were soon heading off to China, and then paving the way to start our first year of teaching! While I could take this entire post to open up all of the ways that He has led (and shielded) us through this year, I will instead just share our lastest memory. A memory that truly captures how we made it through this year as a strong team, best friends, more in love than July 18th of last year. This entire year, we strove to find the positive in things...whether we were battling students who didn't speak English, ourselves who didn't speak Chinese, or just plain homesickness. The quote "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade" comes back in my head often as I think about what our life here would be if we had lived it half-empty. It's so easy to just grumble and complain about everything that doesn't make sense and "Isn't fair". So....back to this memory I was going to share with you:

It was Saturday night and Dave and I had just arrived in Dalian anxious/excited to celebrate our first anniversary together. We stepped into the hotel room to find a dingy room with two seperate beds! What in the world??!!? What a let down after traveling for four hours all built up with expectation for this wonderful weekend (Apparently the pictures on the internet had not been updated in years). After taking a few deep breaths, Dave pipes up and goes "If they won't give us one bed, we'll make one bed ourselves!". Curious to see how he is going to make this work, I documented his successful efforts : )

Lucky for us, after we subtly expressed our disappointment to the hotel manager, they gave us a king-sized suite for the next night (at the same cost)!

*A quick note, this post went up right after a back to back trip with my parents coming to visit us. I will post some of our favorite memories soon, or you can look at a majority of the pictures through Facebook. Love you all!

"Oh those China adventures..."

So it's been a while since I last posted, but I thought I would reminisce a little bit (only a couple months back) about some great "China moments" thus far. While there ARE memories that top or surpass the ones I have here, I only wanted to post the ones that we were actually able to capture on camera. They will most likely make you feel emotions of "Oh my, what in the world?" or "wow, how conventional!". At least that's what we thought...


#1 - A typical way to transport stuff (a.k.a. junk, trash, etc.)

#2 Who said that only hamsters and "Bubble boy" could ride in one of these? I had to fight the urge not to join the 5 year olds and make myself look like a fool.

#3 Funny story: First, Dave and I rode a bike down to go pick up this desk we bought from a friend. Did you hear the part "rode A bike"? Just one bike. We have seen all of the other Chinese women just sit side saddle on the back and thought it was a piece of cake. That was until we hit a puddle with a hidden pothole and both of us landed with a thud and then a splash...yep, right in the puddle. We ended up walking/waddling the rest of the way. Once we bought the desk, it was then that we realized it would not fit into a taxi. We had an interesting time practicing our Chinese while we asked a random guy with a bike/rickshaw to carry me and the desk back to our place (only 5 min away). I am so glad that we actually had our camera with us that time!

#4 - One of my numerous outings to the furniture market. This time I was with a good friend practicing our "bartering techniques" when getting a carpet for my classroom. We go there so often we have worked up quite the friendly relationship with the people there. I thought I would post it here to display a significant amount of my shopping adventures.

#5 Privacy is obviously not a top priority here in China. In the middle of the hustle and bustle of the silk market in Beijing, they pull a little sheet for us to change behind. At first I just looked at them and laughed like "Are you serious?". But apparently they were. After a while, you get used to the staring and just become painfully aware that about 20 strangers just saw your underwear.

#6 You could go ice skating OR look like a little granny and skid the whole way......I

chose to look elderly while my husband pushed me around. Wow, I hope that is not a look into the future or anything.

#7 Normal people cross over the river by taking the bridge. The Evans' decide to literally bike over the frozen river. It's worth it if you are willing to sacrifice looking sane to the rest of your friends.

We hope you enjoyed a tidbit about our little China adventures. More to come!

Mystery word.

For those of you out there who enjoyed figuring out the mystery word, here is another one!

R O M E T C P U

Hope you have fun with it! Let me know if you need a hint...

Chase women....Oh how I miss you.

When I'm not home, why can't the world just pause until I come back? Why must everyone grow up and change? I frequently humor myself at the mentality I find myself in - forgetting that the world moves on. Every time I talk with my family, I feel as though I end it in this delirious state of mind..."Where in the world is the family that I remember, when everyone still lived under the same house?" Not too long ago were the memories of endless laughter, kickball after dinner, all six squeezing on the same couch for movies, and little drama productions mimicking our teachers. Our effort in keeping the memories alive are now via phone, skype, or e-mail. Yet when I sit back and think about this drastic transition, I can't help but think of the exciting journey that we are now beginning because of our united memories. In a matter of four years, we have completely redefined and transplanted our energy in a new way. I am now happily married living half way around the world, all of my other siblings are in college, and my parents of four children are now empty nesters! The Chase house used to be that
lighthouse on the corner of Highland Avenue and Avenue C, welcome to all who wanted to love and be loved. A part of me desires to go backward just to have those memories become a reality once again.

But those Chase women, oh how I miss them! There is just this mother-daughter-sister bond that....well, I just really miss. The long open chats about anything and everything and the giddiness that makes my dad go crazy. I still remember the Sunday we got these pictures. We were having a sister/mother/daughter photo shoot of just sheer laughter...so much so that our neighbor asked if we would come over so she could take pictures of us too :) That day has helped to sustain the memories of what I hold so dear. I thought I would post about that precious day, just for keepsake.

If I love words, does that make me a nerd?

Am I the only one that thinks it is amazing that I can take the word OWL and turn it into LOW? Or the fact that if I mix my words around enough, I can make the word CHECK-IN from CHICKEN? All of the possibilities are endless! Currently in my 1st grade class we are doing a Making Words activity where I give them a set of scrambled leters and they try to make as many words as they can. Every set of scrambled letters ends up making a mystery word using all of the letters. They are so proud of themselves when they figure it out....and I am left standing with my jaw open at how impressed I am!

So for those of you reading this, here is your challenge for the day:

D C T R E O A E

If you can figure out the mystery word, put it in a comment!

Experimenting with Smile Box :)

Make a Smilebox recipe

Working out...Chinese style.

Early in the morning the other day, Dave and I finally decided to capture the true joy of working out in China. No need to pay any money for a gym, just go to the nearest park (or public area for that matter) and you are bound to find this "exercise entertainment". When we first came in the summer, it felt as though the entire population of Shenyang over 50 years old was in this park at 5:30am doing the splits, kung fu with machetes, and kicking around bean bags.

Now at around 7:00am, you can tell that the bitter cold has kept away most of the crowds to only a dedicated few.


Oh what fun we had acting like little kids....stay tuned for more 5 year old adventures :)