So I Made A List Of Firsts...

I know its been since April since I have posted on here for you guys...BUT...China blocked my blog site. I know I have been home and I have seen a lot of you during my brief time in America, but many of you I will not get to see. I did decide to go back to China for another year. Sooo...I only have three more weeks until I catch a flight from Houston to Dubai to Beijing to Zhengzhou. It's a brutal flight but I saved money doing it that way. That flight to Dubai is extremely long....but the airline I am using (Emirates) makes it much better with the media and technology stuff they have. But back to my post...I was traveling in Thailand and I begun to make a list of all the firsts I did since flying last September until my first year of teaching in China ended. Some you might find really funny, some you might find disturbing...but I am gonna be blunt with some of the things just because I think it is funny....and it could possibly be a conversation starter between us sometime in the future**wink wink**



Travel Related:
1. Get or even touch a passport
2. Ask for support
3. Book a flight
4. Be in another country ( I have been to the Mexico/Texas border but didn't cross)
5. Exchange Money
6. Speak Chinese (When people jokingly speaking the Chinese Language...they are way off)
7. Speak to a Chinese person (I never did in America or at ETBU)
8. See something we learned in a World History Class (Terra Cotta Warriors)
9. Eat with Chinese people (Students are shocked when I could use chop sticks)
10. Spend a holiday away from home (Thanksgiving, Christmas New Year...)
11. Go to a foreign theatre (The ones I went to in Hong Kong and Malaysia have assigned seating)
12. Go to an internet cafe
13. Stay in a hostel
14. Eat out Christmas Day (McDonalds for Brunch and a Place called Pothouse for dinner)
15. Travel on Christmas
16. See a lady boy (Everywhere in Thailand)
17. Snorkel
18. Bring New Years in on a bus (we were on an overnight bus to get to a boat to get to an island in thailand)
19. Pay to urinate
20. Make an internation call (I called mom cause I needed help getting a flight from Malaysia to China)
21. See the desert
22. See nearly 20 hours of straight sunlight (My flight from Dubai to Houston)


Transportation:
1. Fly
2. Ride in a taxi
3. Ride on the opposite side of a car (Cars of opposite in Hong Kong)
4. Get motion sickness (Riding in a speed boat with 3-4 meter waves...not good)
5. Ride on a raft...a bamboo raft
6. Ride an elephant (but i think i may have done this when i was really little...not real sure)
7. Ride on a train (the train at the zoo is not a means of transportation)
8. Ride a subway
9. Kayak in an ocean
10. Ride a monorail
11. Rent a bicycle


Food/Drink:
1. Eat authentic Chinese food (it's so much better in China)
2. Eat Eggplant
3. Eat Jello (believe it or not)
4. Drink Milk Tea
5. Eat Tofu
6. Drink Hot Tea (Did not like it at first but it grew on me)
7. Drink hot water with meals
8. Eat spam sushi (thanks to my friend Joe)
9. Eat sushi and actually like it
10. Eat Thai Food...and it was delicious
11. Eat cow tongue
12. Eat rabbit
13. Eat pineapple...true story
14. Eat a banana pancake
15. Eat food from a street vendor (we just call it street food)
16. Eat an Kabob...and I have had them this summer twice
17. Eat squid
18. Eat malaysian food...not my favorite
19. Eat caviar
20. Eat brocoli (another weird true one)
21. Drink milk straight from a cow
22. Eat pizza with pineapples on it
23. Eat Mangos
24. Eat bamboo
25. Eat lotus


Work Related:
1. Teach English (English was always one my if not THE worst subject for me)
2. Give an exam ( I student taught PE so I didn't have to do exams)
3. Do a performance/dance (Scottish and Filipino)
4. Wear something a little bit uncomfortable (OK I wore a kilt)
5. Be on a winning team in a football tournament
6. Be on a winning team in a basketball tournament
7. Give the whole Christmas story (I did it nine times to each of my classes)


Miscellaneous:
1. Get an ultrasound (sad..but true....and No I was not pregnant)
2. Watch television or a sporting event online
3. Give my testimony/life story
4. Get tested for STD's
5. Play international rules basketball
6. Play (or attempt to play) a Chinese instrument
7. Bargain
8. Play telephone pictionary
9. Use a squatty potty ( I have an embarrassing story about this)
10. Get a massage (I can't wait until I get back to get more of them....soooooo cheap)
11. Voice Chat/Video Chat....I love skype...if you have skype I would love to exchange my name with you)
12. Buy and use a scarf
13. Decorate a christmas tree by myself
14. Play a Chinese song on the bass guitar
15. See restaurants named after illegal drugs (Names were LSD and Pothouse...Pothouse was really good..i had pothouse on Christmas Day in Shenzhen).....oh...they were side by side too
16. Read a book in less than 24 hours (For One More Day by Mitch Albom)
17. Read a book with more than 300 pages (Quiet Strength by Tony Dungy)
18. Rock Climb (probably the dumbest I could have ever done)
19. See wild crab
20. Get solicited for sex.....yeah....that was not awkward at all
21. See a topless tanner...that was not a boy
22. Pet a monkey
23. See coral (snorkeling is freakin awesome)
24. Get a manicure
25. Watch the presidential inauguration (I was in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia)
26. See a Camel
27. Run a 5K
28. Have my *COUGHpenisCOUGH* get rubbed....i was getting a massage with a friend and it came out of nowhere...i hopped up like she was hurting my leg cause it was really really awkward
29. Win an NCAA bracket challenge (I won 3 of them....GO TAR HEELS)
30. Pick the National Champion in an NCAA Bracket Challenge
31. Climb a water fountain....
32. Wear a Jacket in may


This is a list that I began keeping in January so I think I may have forgotten a lot of things from the first few months...