real quick

so i was reading one of my magazines and saw an ad about using your visa signature card online and getting a free movie ticket thru fandango.com of course there is no such thing as a free lunch so i had to check it out. longer story short, if you have a signature visa (it says signature on it and usually has a higher credit limit) you can click here and follow the directions to get your free ticket (buy one get one free). mariah and i are going to see the proposal tomorrow for 10 dollars total! you can use this fandango.com deal once a month per visa card thru the end of september. i am way excited. also, if you go to visa.com/signature they have a ton of other stuff that you can get. my rule for all of you is don't get on unless you already have something planned and are looking for a discount. that's how they suck you in. remember: do you love it, do you need it, or would you die if you could never do it?

:-)

it's been a month!!

Sea World field trip w/ Cadman Elementary

Memorial Day w/ Teddy, Jaymie, Grandma and Pa

Okay, so it really has been a month since I last blogged. School is done. Work is done for now..hoping to go next year officially w/ benefits and the whole shabang. I figured I better start posting or people will stop checking to see if i have posted. I hate putting up pics b/c they take forever and I know if I use picasa it won't but then you can only do like four pics. If any one out there knows a way to do a blog w/ more than 4 pics using picasa let me know! oh and the pics above are not in chrono order b/c i can't seem to move things around here. Kind of annoying.

So I thought of doing one post each day for each day in China but that seems like too much work. Plus I wouldn't do it anyways. i am sure you all will survive. side note: pics from the beijing part of the trip are on facebook. all the pictures are on g's netbook has a ridiculously small screen. its nice and light, but seriously the screen needs a magnify glass attachment.

here are some more pics of china:

our "bedroom" at the hostel in beijing...totally not as nice as we thought. it was named THE CAVE
when i have time i will put up pics of the hostel in Hangzhou (way nicer..)

bathroom of said CAVE

the side of the wall everyone else takes so they can take the cable car down. we took the less traveled road avoiding the crowds

this is what i call "real" China
everywhere you go you see people sweeping the streets w/ these cool bamboo brooms but in reality, the places they live are squalors (but hidden behind buildings and foilage)


garrett and i on the wall


the girls w/ their China barbies (their only request)

great-grandma and sammi last weekend

That is about it for now. We would like to go back to China, but the less traveled parts: Hangzhou (where Garrett was) and maybe a few other spots. Beijing and Shanghai have a lot of pollution and pushy sales people. The nice part of China was once we arrived everything was very inexpensive. We didn't stay at four star hotels, but we spent all together about half of what was allotted for the trip. The other half went to pay June bills, but staying at hostels saved a ton of money. The one in Beijing was disappointing, but not much we can do there. I will next time though ask to see the rooms BEFORE we pay for them. Mer and Adam's was much nicer (seemed like they added on to the original building) but when we were paying more for a room there than in Hangzhou and the one in Hangzhou was so nice, it was hard. The plus side was it was right down the street from Tienamen Square and the Forbidden City and right next to the subway. We def. paid for location, not the accomadations. I will put more pics up on facebook once I get them onto my computer.

Sidenote: our principal is leaving Cadman! I am annoyed. not even slightly annoyed. really annoyed.

Our next trip is to go to a place where we can speak the native language: portuguese, spanish or english.