Hello to all.

Right now I am sitting in the kitchen because this is the only place that we can pick up on a wireless internet connection. It took forever to find. We’ve been walking all over our apartment trying to pick up on a signal. As long as the connection holds, and we don’t move the computer, I should be able to call you soon and blog more frequently than I have been.

Fuyang. . .lets see. We really haven’t seen that much of it. We went to KFC last night for dinner. The Chinese love their fried chicken. I sorta get tired of trying to figure out what Chinese characters on a menu will be good or not, sSo to make up for that I have been trying to eat some western food every once in awhile. Pizza Hut, KFC, and McDonald’s will be my savior these next 10 months. Fuyang does not have a Pizza Hut ora  McDonald’s  We have to go to Hangzhou for that.  It’s about 45 minutes away

Our apartment. It is on the sixth floor and there is no elevator. It sucks, but at least we will get in shape. Our apartment is more than I could have imagined. It is two floors. You first walk into a foyer or big hall way. And right as you enter there is a spiral staircase. On that first floor, on the right side, there are 3 doors. The first room is more or less empty – except for a piano. I wish I knew how to play it. There is also an ironing board and a washing machine. The next two rooms are bedrooms. I think that that is where the two Australians will be staying whenever they get here. On the other side of the hallway are two more doors. One goes to a bathroom and I can’t figure out what the other room is because it is locked. Upstairs is the living room and mine and Phil’s bedroom. Yes, it appears that we are sharing a room. Oh well. At least the bed is nice and soft. It is so much softer than the last bed we slept on. There is also an office, another bathroom, a kitchen, and another little space for our refrigerator. The apartment is more or less dirty, and we have to clean it. Icky.

When we first got here Mr. Zhou(Joe) and our “helpers” took us to lunch. Oh my goodness – there was so much food. It was just never ending. I don’t know what half of it was. But I liked the dumplings that I asked for. I had been craving them since we got here.It seems that I will be teaching middle school and Phil will be at the High School. Lucky for him, we live right by the high school. Me on the other hand, I have to walk, get a cab, ride the bus, or a bike 3-4 miles to the middle school. That should be oh so much fun. I’ve seen the high school and it seems small – smaller than I imagined, but they have track and a inside pool with workout stations.It is very beautiful here. We are surrounded by large mountains, and the river runs right beside the school. We can see it from our window. It is really hot here, though. Oh so hot. Hotter than anything I can remember. If you walk outside, you start sweating – everywhere.

I’ll post some pictures and write more about Fuyang. There is so much to talk about. Until then I guess . . . Zaijian – goodbye in Chinese.

Our plane leaves tomorrow morning at 9:14. All that means is that we have to be at the airport at least two hours before that. And all that means is that I have to get up at the crack of dawn to get there in time for the TSA agents to rip open my suitcase in order to determine that I am not a threat to the world . . . at that precise moment in time. Is my bitterness about flying and airport security reaching you through all the 1’s and 0’s? It is? Good. Heh. : )

I don’t know about Phil, but I doubt I will sleep well tonight. It feels almost like the first day of school – except that the first day of school is clear on the other side of the world. And I am not exaggerating. Oh, and my tummy. It is already full of angry butterflies. It will be hard keeping them under control. It is normal to feel this way, right?

The next time that you hear from me, I will indeed be in China. This trip was a year and a half in the making, and I am so thrilled that it has finally come to fruition. There were plenty of times when I thought it would never happen.

Before I leave though, I would like to post a picture that my Dad took. My dad is constantly taking better pictures than me. (Grrr.) I may have to have a little talk with him. But it seems that he has won the hummingbird picture award with flying colors, and no, that was not meant as a joke.

Such a pretty picture. I’m jealous.

But anyway. Time to go. Got to sleep. Have a plane to catch. It’s time to travel to the other side of the world.

Fuyang, China, here we come.

This picture was actually taken long before my farewell dinner with my family, but I just got my hands on it. Thank you, Sarah! I have had my share of jobs in my short 24 years of life (almost 25), but until I got my job at Bermex Inc., I had never really had co-workers. Bermex is the place I keep referring to as the place you should only work if you enjoy pain – aka Hell. And that is still true. But there were some redeeming qualities of that job. Mainly the people. The people you see in the picture above are just a few who made working at Bermex fun and bearable even on the days when I thought I was going to die, kill myself or go insane . And I am not exaggerating that in the least. I will surely miss that bunch of people. They were all unique and made me smile. Here are a few pictures from when we all went to Inakaya’s to eat. They asked me why I had chosen a Japanese restaurant when I was going to China. I said it was simply because they had really good food and a table that we all could sit at. Inakaya’s is probably one of the cooler, reasonable priced places in town. You should check it out.

Sarah enjoying some sake. Maybe a bit too much. Heh.

Kurt. A name dogs will fear forever more.

Robbie. There are no words to describe you. : )

Watch as Van fades away. I don’t know how the camera made it happen, but I like it.

The one and only Peter. Hope Anderson treats you right!

And now the FOOD! It was so pretty, we almost couldn’t eat it. But, we did. And boy, was it good. I would also like to note that Peter is the contributor of many of the pictures in this post. And Van contributed some too. Thanks, you guys. I know that this does not look that appetizing, but I was surprised how sweet it was. I actually enjoyed it. It is sea weed salad by the way.

I love miso soup. If I was a little crazier, I would put it in a thermos during the winter and drink it.

The Boat of Yummy Goodness. It was huge!

Much too raw for me – but that is fish and some fish eggs. Not what I ordered.

Last but not least – Sushi. I just love this stuff. I don’t why it took me so many years to try it. Thank God for Publix, though. They offer pretty cheap and good sushi all the time!

It sank in a little more today that I am really going to China. In just 3 days 8 hours 11 minutes and 14 seconds(as of the

time this was typed) Phil and I will be leaving . . . sing a long with . . . “on a jet plane” . . . and there will be no turning back. There will be no passing go. No collecting $200. Only a 10 month contract of teaching English staring us in the face. And if we are really lucky, probably some of the most awesome adventures of our lives will shortly follow suit. I am really, really, hoping for the latter.

Thursday, August 24th, 2006 will probably be the longest day of my natural life. I am banking on the excitement factor to make the day seem shorter than it will. But 14.5 hours on a plane is 14.5 hours on a plane regardless of how excited you are. Someone seriously needs to invent the teleportation step or something. It would sure make traveling around the world a billion times easier. I would name my company “Particles in Motion” if I was the awesome person to invent it and my slogan would go something like – “Particles in Motion – Where you’re more than just a speck of flesh floating through the air – Happy Particling!” A billion dollar idea people, I promise.

But anyway, back to the whole – “Oh My God, I’m Going to China” bit.

Today a good time was had by all. Because when you feed people yummy goodness, people automatically become happy little gofers. The consumption of food makes your endorphins dance! And when you are happy – you smile. Here are some pictures full of lots of happy proof.

Those are my cousins, Aja and Cody. Smiles from ear to ear. And no, these are not alcoholic grins. Our farewell party was drier than a desert well. Phil and I will make up for it later, I’m sure. There will be lots of “bottoms up” in China. The word for that goes something like Gan Bei. I am such a light weight – the Chinese drinking habits are gonna kick my American booty.

The joy of food is dancing in their eyes. Can’t you see it? It is a lot more evident in Sharon’s eyes than in Christopher’s. At least now the mystery of Red Eye has been revealed to us. Red eyes must equal happy full stomachs. And we all know that cameras never, ever lie!

Mother, you will just have forgive me later for posting this picture. Don’t fret, you look fine. In fact, you look more than fine. Your immense happiness is radiating on the photograph behind you. You couldn’t hide it if you tried.

I know what you are thinking and it simply not true. My Granny was the happiest person at the dinner, she just couldn’t decide on a way to express it when I snapped this picture. My Aunt Bevy, though, her smile says it all.

These two fine folks are the sweetest people in the whole wide world. If you were to look up happiness in the dictionary, you would find their faces posted beside it. I am so very glad I got to see them before I left. Nancy and Jim are truly wonderful

Terence was so flippin happy, he received the Yellow Napkin of Happiness Achievement Award. Overwhelmed by this occurrence, he was unavailable for comment at the time this photo was taken. He said he would get back to me on his acceptance speech very, very soon.

And then there is us. We couldn’t be any happier about our decision to go to China to teach English. We are busting at the seams, even more so than everyone else. There are so many different emotions running through us right now, but that is only natural. And I am sure that soon we will feel right at home. I never thought I would call China home.

But on a more serious note: I will miss you all very much, even though we will be gone for just 10 months. It will be the first time that I have ever been this far from my family and friends for this long of a time. I wish that you all could come over for a visit, but since you can’t – I will be your eyes and ears.

I think my kitty(Morgan Rose Ireland Yvette DeWitter) knows that I am leaving for China in 7 days. She’s been laying in my lap a lot more and following me around the house. I can’t even go to the bathroom without her trying to bust in on me. She has even seemed a little sad lately – not really being herself. So, when I walked into my bedroom today, I was only half shocked to find her sitting in my suitcase. I think she was trying to figure out a way to hide herself in one of the side pockets. I wish that I could bring her with me, but I can’t. For one, I am not allowed because the school won’t let me and secondly, Phil won’t let me either. He is allergic. Or at least he says that he is.

I actually have video of me trying to get her out of my suitcase and I will post that as soon as I can. I think it is pretty funny, but I am a little biased. You’ll have to be the judge, I guess.

There has been a change of plans. Phil and I are no longer going to the coastal city of Taizhou to teach English. And I am sorta glad because there is a pretty nasty typhoon named Saomai inching its way toward Taizhou and some other coastal cities as I write this. At last check, under our standards, it was a catergory 5. Eeek! At least now we will be a little more inland and won’t be completely drowned when and if a Typhoon comes are way. We have been relocated to Fuyang, a suburb of Hangzhou, the capital of the Zhejiang Province. Although, there is a river that runs right by Fuyang, and I imagine if it rains a whole lot – I may end up floating home. Let’s hope that doesn’t happen. Cause that would be bad. I guess the threat of Malaria is the same. Damn mosquitoes. They are every where! The school that we will be teaching at has an elementary, middle, and high school. We won’t find out what grade level we will be teaching until we get there. I am sorta hoping for the younger kids. Who knows though, they may be the worst of the bunch, but I guess one way or another, we will find out. The name of the school is Fuyang High School Zhejiang (浙江富阳中学), and if you want you can go to their website and try to figure out what all the Chinese characters mean, be my guest. You can also go to www.altavista.com and have it translated, but it doesn’t do that great of a job. I am not a 100% sure that it is right, but I think this may be our school’s website – www.fyms.net I guess I will find out for sure once we get there. Well, that is all I really know at the present. As I learn more things about where I am going – I will post the information. And once I get there – there will be pictures galore!!

Yeppers. You read that right. I, Maniac Gone Awry, am indeed flying to the other side of the world to both live and work in the grand ole land of China. Taizhou, China to be exact. (It is several hours south of Shanghai. I’ll most likely get malaria and then right before I die from that, I’ll get trounced by a typhoon. At least I would be going out in style.) But that is some 54 days away. So . . . until then, I am going to stick to regularly scheduled programming. I am so very far behind. I’ve had to postpone so many enlightening assignments. My other day job, which was truly wretched and soul sucking, if you didn’t already know, kept me from expressing myself. My advise to you: Don’t ever, ever, ever read gas or electric meters unless you have a death wish or like to inflict pain upon to your soul. But now that that has passed, we can all move on to bigger and better things. The life of a Maniac Gone Awry. Stay tuned for brain cell exercises.

The pictures I have placed here for your viewing pleasure are those of my school. Oh, I guess I forgot to mention one key bit of information – I am going to be teaching. Teaching English. To Chinese students. God rest their souls. Heh.