Christmas...
Tomorrow is the first day of December and in honor of the Advent Season that is upon us, Kara and I were inspired to decorate...the only plant in our house; the humble aloe. Here it is, in all it's glory:


Charley Brown with a twist...



and a close up

Meanwhile, life goes on, which means grading, of course. So in honor of the much complained about grading, here is a picture of me, on my twice blogged about bed - aka desk.


note the crazy woman grin of desperation
oh, and the color of the drapes, not my choice!

And just for fun, I am posting a picture of my dinner tonight. "Omurice" or omlette-rice! Yum, such a comfort food, and I must say, the omlette came out in thin, round, golden perfection! In honor of the success and the cooking (I rarely do more than basic survival stuff...cooking for one and all ...but only for seven more months!!), I took and picture and you can now all admire!

I leave you with the picture as it is late, I am tired, and yes, tomorrow is FRIDAY!!!


it's a bad pic, but oh, it was good

Saturday Morning....
so, my excuse of not blogging due to blogger being down in China is gone...sigh. Where does one start when the first post gives no real information and so much has happened in the FOUR MONTHS I've lived here? I'll start with today:
I am listening to Angela Aki on my bed in a pool of sunshine with a half drunk cup of tea. I've just woken up from ten hours of blissful sleep to the smell of coffee cake that my roommate is making. Soon, three other teachers here will be dropping by to learn how to make bagels from my amazingly talented roommate. I get to enjoy the benefits of the lesson and brunch! Ahead of me today is a day full of grading interrupted by a trip to the fruit marked to bargain for some delicious seasonal produce (currently apples, pamelos, and mikans). When I say grading, I mean 26 "final" drafts of seventh and eighth grade essays plus 26 book reviews besides a couple revisions from a project I gave in the Pentateuch class. Ah, the life of a newbie English teacher who has yet to learn to stagger her assignments!

To play catch up, here are a few major events that have occurred in my life (not in chronological order):
I got engaged! you can check out the story on Sam's blog - kuribod.com - and it is the true version; do not be misled by references to swashbuckles (sp?) or penguins.

I've made it through the first quarter of teaching - including parent teacher conferences - without too much damage to my students (who I love!).

Rachel and Noel came to visit! you can check that out on their blogs as well as they are much more responsible and interesting bloggers!

My friend Naomi from growing up is PREGNANT!! the first of my close freinds to turn this leaf over which begs the question "who will be next?" Carina? TEGAN? Kat? Michelle? hmmmm...

I turned 25

I am blanking on other "big" events as life here has become normal - the daily walks to or from school, getting clothes tailored, getting my first ever manicure, bleaching vegetables, having an Ayi come in a clean and cook twice a week (I'm so spoiled!), eating freshly fried zhaotzi (pot stickers) from a bag while carrying on a conversation with the cutest Chinese little girls - "I like cat" "my name is_____" interspersed with my meager Chinese - and the list can go on and on.

To end (I hope some of you have stayed with me this far!), some memorable quotes from my kids upon my engagement:

"When someone engages you, do they become your fiance?"
"You laughed?! You're supposed to cry!!"
on why their essays weren't graded yet: "it's because she has a boyfriend!"
"Ms. Nordaas is in love!"

Sam and me :)

Laoshan mountains

My Eighth Grade boys

Noel and Rachel in China with Sam and Heather

Here goes nothing!
I will refrain from any blogging apologetics (unless along the lines of, sorry this has taken so long...) and simply jump right in.
I am sitting on my bed in the lovely city of Qingdao, China, on a Friday night,with so much to do that I've decided to finally start my blog instead. Those of you who teach (and many who don't!) appreciate the full truth and reverence with which the phrase TGIF is uttered.
It is hard to believe that I have now been a resident (registered and everything) of this fine city of nearly two months. I have been teaching for a month and still feel amazed that a. I have survived, b. I love it (85% of the time), c. I have been placed with the responsibility of teaching just under 40 impressionable middle schoolers, and finally d. no one but fellow teachers have yet to corrupt my last name!
And now, I need to pack for the staff retreat next week and further procrastinate doing all my grading. I leave you with these pictures because really, I want people to read my blog, and I know pictures are the key!

My bedroom (where I am currently)


My "ocean" view from my bedroom window!