We never thought that we'd be so happy to have a daytime high of 95 degrees. Yesterday, we were almost giddy. We cooked at home for the first time in about four days, and we even used the oven to bake some brownies.
Why is this so monumental? Because we had a solid seven straight days where the temperature was at least 100 degrees. The temperatures topped at 107 degrees more than once! This is the longest heatwave that we could remember. We often have a two or three-day run of 100 degree temps, but not seven straight days!
Over this week Brian and I spent a lot of time at our local library and other places that had good air conditioning. As this is our first summer in our new apartment we weren't aware of how poor the insulation was. We were only able to air condition our bedroom, and we had to keep it running all night long to be able to sleep. Our poor foster-cat quickly learned that the best place in the apartment was on our bed where the fan from the AC was blowing. This was after about two days of her "yelling" at us. We imagine that what she said was something like, "Turn off the heat, you dummies!"
But, all three of us made it through. I managed to come down with the flu over the past four days. Having a fever during a heatwave is not much fun. Brian took very good care of me. We made it through! I think that Brian and I ate our weight in popsicles and ice cream. That was the fun part!
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Friday, June 13, 2008
THANK YOU!!!
We just want to take a moment to thank you all for the support that has been coming in and for your prayers. We are so humbled by the generosity of so many of our friends and family. We are thankful for your prayers over our preparation and for the students that we will be teaching overseas. Thank you! We couldn't do this without your partnership.
"Give thanks to the Lord, call on his name;
make known among the nations what he has done."
--Ps. 75:1
"Give thanks to the Lord, call on his name;
make known among the nations what he has done."
--Ps. 75:1
Saturday, June 7, 2008
Picture time!
This blog has been lacking in photos, so here we go...
(p.s. Check out our website for more photos and fun: brian.annie.smith.googlepages.com)
By the way, we got married. Here's the evidence. Special thanks to Cliff, the Canadian papparazzi, who snapped this during the ceremony.
Our first hiking group! This was our group for March. Brian and I hope to organize trips every two months or so. This was at Malibu Creek State park. We thought we'd hike only 5 miles, but that turned into 8! We never found the "pretty view" but did find an old abandoned house. I (Annie) was there too. Someone had to take the picture.
No matter how much or how hard I tried, this one just would not rotate. So, lay your head on the side of the table and enjoy BRIAN-FIL-A! This was Brian's graduation day from Talbot. He was required to attend. We decided that if we had to drive 35 miles we'd enjoy some Chick-fil-A too! The closest one to us is aboutt 25 miles, so this was quite a treat. See! Brian is enjoying it very much! Oh yeah, and he is happy to have completed his second master's degree.
This is Darla, the cat-child. She managed to get up in the window even though it was only open a few inches. Amazingly, she managed to get out too! She definitely lives up to the adage : "Curiosity killed the cat." She is quite feisty and likes to get in places where she doesn't belong.
Hike #2, Memorial Day at Griffith Park. This is an area of the park known as the "old zoo." It really was the Los Angeles Zoo until the mid-1960's. The cages are now open for anyone to use for fun photo opportunities. I don't know if we ever agreed as to what kind of animal we were supposed to be. And for this one we figured out how to set the camera on a rock and set the timer so that we could take a picture with everyone in it!
Monday, June 2, 2008
Real stories make the best movies.
This weekend Brian and I went crazy watching movies. We hadn't been to a movie in about 6 months. As this is one of my favorite things to do, I had been greatly anticipating what we would see next. We took Brian's 16-year old friend to see the new Indiana Jones film. Overall, it was entertaining, but it was a little disappointing. Some of the story just got too far-fetched.
Saturday morning Brian showed me an ad in the paper for a new film called The Children of Huang Shi. I had really been wanting to see it! So, we hopped in my car (lovingly named Beeper) and headed off to the matinee. We are both so thrifty that we saw no other choice than the 1:00 showing. The film is based on a true story of George Hogg, an English journalist who found himself in Japanese occupied China in 1937. Through a course of events he ends up at an orphanage. When the Chinese nationalist soldiers show up asking to recruit the boys Hogg makes a tough decision. He gathers the boys and all the equipment they could carry and takes off on a 700-mile journey up the Silk Road in winter. I was so touched by the story. And, Brian and I got excited every time they said something in Chinese that we understood. I highly recommend this one!
Sunday evening we'd planned to go salsa dancing with the couple that live downstairs in our building. There's a great place with free lessons at the Universal Citywalk. And, what happened at Universal Studios on Sunday? It caught on fire!!! There was a major fire in the backlot that burned through some storage areas that housed old films and video tapes. As if we didn't have enough pollution already, all this gunk was floating in the air. Universal Studios was told by the fire department not to open the theme park or the Citywalk area. The really sad part of this story is that we've been trying to get together with these friends to go dancing for about two months now.
But, we had an alternate plan. At the church they were having another movie night with a panel discussion afterwards. The movie of the night was Freedom Writers, another movie based on a true story. Again, I was greatly moved. The stories of these children who lived in a racial warzone was almost unbelievable. After the film, Erin Gruwell, the teacher, was on the panel discussion. It was almost strange to see her in real life. She really made a difference in these kid's lives. And, I guess she inspired me to write more.
As I look at the themes of these movies, I notice that they were about one person taking interest in the lives of a group of children that had been abandoned in many ways. Too often this still happens. It makes me even more excited to go to China so that Brian and I can hopefully make a difference in the lives of our students-to-be. We hope that Father will guide our paths to those He is already preparing for us to befriend.
I guess you don't have to survive a war or the streets of Long Beach to have something to write about.
Saturday morning Brian showed me an ad in the paper for a new film called The Children of Huang Shi. I had really been wanting to see it! So, we hopped in my car (lovingly named Beeper) and headed off to the matinee. We are both so thrifty that we saw no other choice than the 1:00 showing. The film is based on a true story of George Hogg, an English journalist who found himself in Japanese occupied China in 1937. Through a course of events he ends up at an orphanage. When the Chinese nationalist soldiers show up asking to recruit the boys Hogg makes a tough decision. He gathers the boys and all the equipment they could carry and takes off on a 700-mile journey up the Silk Road in winter. I was so touched by the story. And, Brian and I got excited every time they said something in Chinese that we understood. I highly recommend this one!
Sunday evening we'd planned to go salsa dancing with the couple that live downstairs in our building. There's a great place with free lessons at the Universal Citywalk. And, what happened at Universal Studios on Sunday? It caught on fire!!! There was a major fire in the backlot that burned through some storage areas that housed old films and video tapes. As if we didn't have enough pollution already, all this gunk was floating in the air. Universal Studios was told by the fire department not to open the theme park or the Citywalk area. The really sad part of this story is that we've been trying to get together with these friends to go dancing for about two months now.
But, we had an alternate plan. At the church they were having another movie night with a panel discussion afterwards. The movie of the night was Freedom Writers, another movie based on a true story. Again, I was greatly moved. The stories of these children who lived in a racial warzone was almost unbelievable. After the film, Erin Gruwell, the teacher, was on the panel discussion. It was almost strange to see her in real life. She really made a difference in these kid's lives. And, I guess she inspired me to write more.
As I look at the themes of these movies, I notice that they were about one person taking interest in the lives of a group of children that had been abandoned in many ways. Too often this still happens. It makes me even more excited to go to China so that Brian and I can hopefully make a difference in the lives of our students-to-be. We hope that Father will guide our paths to those He is already preparing for us to befriend.
I guess you don't have to survive a war or the streets of Long Beach to have something to write about.
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Learning Chinese
Oh, the joys of learning a new language. Brian and I are beginning language training even though we have another year before we head off to Asia. We've been encouraged that this is good preparation.
You might ask, "What does your training consist of?" That's a three-part answer!
#1: We are using a language program on CDs. Brian just compled the first level (30 lessons that are 30-minutes each). I'm about to listen to lesson #26. I've gotten behind a bit.
#2: We are attending a Chinese conversation class at one of the L.A. libraries. Our teacher, Grace, is a lot of fun. She explains the origin of the characters very well.
#3: www.chinesepod.com Check it out! This website has different levels of lessons that are about 10 minutes long. You too can learn to speak Mandarin Chinese!
Brian and I practice at home asking each other in Chinese, "Would you like to drink water?" The language CDs are designed for business men, so they've had some funny conversations. In one of them a man asks, "Can you buy a lot of beer?" The woman replies, "Yes." To this the man responds, "Then, I will have dinner with you!" Of course, we've learned other useful phrases. Here are some of the favorites:
"How many children to you have?"/"I have no children."
"Where is my husband?"/ "I don't know."
"Do you want to drink tea or beer?"/"I like tea."
"Go straight ahead, then turn left."
"Which flight goes to Hong Kong?"
...and one which we will use many times: "I don't understand what you are saying."
P.S. Another fun website is www.engrish.com. It's one of the reasons we are going to teach English in China.
You might ask, "What does your training consist of?" That's a three-part answer!
#1: We are using a language program on CDs. Brian just compled the first level (30 lessons that are 30-minutes each). I'm about to listen to lesson #26. I've gotten behind a bit.
#2: We are attending a Chinese conversation class at one of the L.A. libraries. Our teacher, Grace, is a lot of fun. She explains the origin of the characters very well.
#3: www.chinesepod.com Check it out! This website has different levels of lessons that are about 10 minutes long. You too can learn to speak Mandarin Chinese!
Brian and I practice at home asking each other in Chinese, "Would you like to drink water?" The language CDs are designed for business men, so they've had some funny conversations. In one of them a man asks, "Can you buy a lot of beer?" The woman replies, "Yes." To this the man responds, "Then, I will have dinner with you!" Of course, we've learned other useful phrases. Here are some of the favorites:
"How many children to you have?"/"I have no children."
"Where is my husband?"/ "I don't know."
"Do you want to drink tea or beer?"/"I like tea."
"Go straight ahead, then turn left."
"Which flight goes to Hong Kong?"
...and one which we will use many times: "I don't understand what you are saying."
P.S. Another fun website is www.engrish.com. It's one of the reasons we are going to teach English in China.
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Thoughts on China...
Many people have asked me if my friends in China are okay after last week's horrific earthquake. The answer is, yes. They live some distance from the areas affected. Thank you for your thoughts and concerns. Please lift up the thousands of mourning families and the millions of homeless in Sichuan Province. What saddens me the most is that because of China's "one child" law many families lost their only child when the many schools collapsed. Please lift up these families too.
Above is a picture of me with a group of students on a biking adventure in the countryside. I am excited to visit them again next summer. China is a beautiful country.
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