Sincerely, Me and My Jeans

Dear friends,

I have something I need to say to you. I just need to get really honest for a moment if you don’t mind.

Ever since skinny jeans became a thing, I’ve been making fun of them… or at least saying I didn’t like them and that I kinda thought they were dumb.

Well, I needed some new jeans (again – stupid running) and I also recently bought some new boots (because all I had for my feet were sandals and it’s not really sandal season… and tennis shoes but I’m not really a tennis shoes all day girl).

And you see, it was kind of hard to stuff my “boot cut jeans” INSIDE of my boots that come up to just below my knee. So, I started to see the practicality of a skinny jean.

I tried some on. And… I liked them. And… I bought them.

So om yeah… I own, and am currently wearing, skinny jeans.

WHAT. HAPPENED???

I got them while I was in TX. And I texted two of my Cali friends (whose skinny jeans I have not always appreciated) and confessed to them. And then I said, “But now I feel like I need to apologize to all those whose skinny jeans I have made fun of. Except for boys. No apologies for them.” [Really, I still am not a fan of dudes in skinny jeans… but if it’s your thing… go for it, I guess.]

Anyway, the girls said that they would like their apologies in writing. So, I figured I should apologize to the world – in writing: I really am sorry. I shouldn’t have judged your jeans.

And here’s a particular apology to the girls…

Dear Anissa and Lindsay,

I’m really sorry that I didn’t fully support you in the choice to wear skinny jeans. Obviously, you’re just cooler than me, sooner than me. I now (mostly) understand. I can not give you the money you requested, but I am truly apologetic for my previous pokes of fun (in love!).

Thanks for supporting me as I cross over into your world.

Love,
Shanda

 

Sincerely,

25 little bits | awkward situation

1. I love having friends who are willing to put themselves in uncomfortable/awkward situations for you.

2. Anissa and I have recently been taking turns doing that for/with each other. THANKS ANISSA!

3. I think my “uncomfortable situation” took the cake though. She’s SUCH a trooper!

4. There’s a long story involved here, but telling it in full detail is a bit complex so, that’s not going to happen… little bits, you will receive.

5. I’ve always appreciated people who are different than me, which is good because MOST people are. :) But, I’ve recently been learning a lot about that in some different ways. Apparently, there are some people who I have valued less than others – in certain ways/areas – and Jesus is really working on that in me.

6. This has involved me having long and random conversations with strangers who, quite honestly, I find annoying (that’s partially a reverse culture shock thing and partly a personality thing) – and who, also honestly, might be a little bit crazy. But valuable. We must remember that. :) God has been clearly using one said person to teach me some things. So, I gave her my phone number and agreed to do some things with her.

7. My friend Lindsey tells me I am the only person she knows who would give my phone number to a person who I find annoying and who might be a little bit crazy. This really is not the first time this has happened. It kind of happens a lot. (But don’t worry, I do know how to say NO. And I do that sometimes, when the situation requires it.)

8. So, I was invited to go to this thing some people she knew were doing and she thought I would be into. I asked if I could bring a friend (because I wasn’t quite sure what this would turn out to be). Anissa – unexcitedly – agreed to go with me. Because she is a GREAT friend.

9. As it approached, we were pretty sure it was either going to be REALLY awesome or super crazy… “ummm… let’s get out of here.” I was hoping for the awesome.

10. It turned out to be much more on the awesome side than on the super crazy side. I was really glad we went. Jesus was the focus of the night and I’d say everyone there heard from Him.

11. BUT there was a weird element to it – though not at all one we were expecting.

12. One of the selling points this new friend of mine used to “convince” me to come with her was that there were going to be a lot of awesome Jesus loving dudes there. That didn’t make me want to go. Finding a dude is not on my list of priorities in life right now.

13. We got there and walked into the back yard of this house and it’s me, Anissa, my new friend, and 7 men. 7 men. No women. And my new friend is significantly older than them and “out of place” and I’m pretty sure she only went to get me to come.

14. I was suddenly EVEN MORE grateful that Anissa had come with me.

15. At the end of the evening, Anissa and I left, encouraged and glad we went. We drove up the coast for a couple hours to spend the next day with Lindsey.

16. A few minutes into the drive I got a text message from my new friend. It said, “So which one do you like?”

17. WHAT?!?!?!

18. Anissa thought this was hilarious and we decided something we had kind of suspected already…

19. This totally was a thing for men and some how my new friend wedged us in, hoping to get me “set up” with one of them.

20. That is SOOOO awkward.

21. My response was, “They all seemed cool. It was fun to meet them.”

22. But my real response was, “I don’t like ANY OF THEM. I don’t even KNOW them!”

23. This is my life.

24. This lady really is great. She loves Jesus and cares about me – a random stranger. (I think she’d like to plan my life a bit actually…) But I promise she’s not crazy in any REAL crazy ways that should worry anyone, just in ways that have made the last few days kinda funny. ;) (And she won’t be planning my life, although I really do appreciate her care…)

25. I recently learned how to say “awkward situation” in Chinese. I think I should probably learn how to say it in every language.

3 beautiful moments//the hilarious kind

1. The other day Britt, Ash, Josh (bro), and I were walking on campus and ran into a group of 4 guys. We started talking (not in English). They wanted to know if we could understand. We can understand – some. They wanted to know if we could understand local dialect. We can’t. A couple of them knew a little English. So, using some of each language we walked and talked. They asked the usual questions. “Are you teachers or students?”  ”What country are you from?” I asked them questions. And then they said something was beautiful, but I didn’t hear what. So I asked. Several times. “What is beautiful?” I thought they were talking about America, or the lake, or flowers… but as I was looking for clarification they just kept saying different words for beautiful – as if that was the part I didn’t hear/understand. The rest of my group was a bit ahead of me and these 4 random Asian dudes. Ash was saying something to my bro and laughing… Then she turned around and said, “You!!!” At the same moment I realized what she was translating to my brother and I said (apparently dramatically), “OHHHhhh, ME????????” As I pointed to myself and then laughed hysterically. They did too. I felt like an idiot and I will NEVER live that down. (So, I might as well blog about it.)

2. The next day, while we were eating lunch near the doorway of a little hole in the wall (and they’re all hole in the wall) restaurant and a mother and daughter walked in and came straight to me and the mother asked if she could take a picture of her daughter with me. “Yes. Okay.” And she snapped away and said, “So beautiful!” And the daughter acted shy but excited. And Josh (bro) said, “That’s different!” And we said, “Yeah, that’s pretty much our normal.“

3. Yesterday, he had his first experience with having HIS picture taken with a random stranger. The girl even told him his picture was worth the equivalent of about $5. (That’s a good price!) They took lots of pictures with me too, but didn’t tell me they were worth money. They just said beautiful about 33 times, which I thought was hilarious considering I overslept, got ready in 5 minutes, and was sweating buckets!!!

gathering ingredients

Tonight we had a Cinco de Mayo (even though it’s the 6th de Mayo) dinner and as I made a Mexican Chicken Casserole and some of the stuff for our Tacos I thought about HOW this meal was made possible. It’s something that needs to be explained to all of YOU. Ready? 

In order for us to eat this meal we spent MONTHS gathering ingredients (not exaggerating, like… we’ve been gathering some of this since Christmas) from BOTH SIDES of the world.

For the Mexican Chicken Casserole we needed:
3 chicken breasts – from the local supermarket
1 can of cream of chicken soup – from a store 6 hours away/2 hours if you take a FAST TRAIN
1 can of cream of mushroom soup – mailed in a package from North Carolina
1 can of rotel tomatoes – brought on an airplane from Tennessee 
2 cups of cheese – from a store in “the city” an hour away
1/2 a bag of tortilla chips – from another story in “the city” an hour away

For the Tacos we needed:
3 chicken breasts – from the local supermarket
1 packet of taco seasoning – mailed in a package from Texas
3 tomatoes – from the local supermarket
2 heads of lettuce – from the local supermarket
1 onion – from the local supermarket
1 block of velveta cheese – brought on an airplane from Texas 
1 can of rotel tomatoes – brought on an airplane from Tennesee
24 tortillas – purchased at the local “hamburger store” (by the way, the don’t really sell hamburgers there… but that’s what everyone calls a chicken sandwich)

{And by the way, half of us ate our MEXICAN food with chopsticks because we didn’t have enough forks!)

And the Brownies were brought on an airplane from South Carolina.

So, next time you feel like making dinner and you run to the store to buy ALL the ingredients you need, laugh at us! :) 

[But don't feel sorry for us. We mostly eat local food and we LOVE it.]

And while I’m telling you about our Cinco de Mayo celebration on the 6th, I should also mention that we dyed our Easter Eggs tonight – only 2 weeks late. :) (We were waiting till ALL the fam could do it together.) And while I’m sharing pictures, here’s one with my favorite WHITE baby in town. [Okay, she's the ONLY one.] I kind of adore her. [She JUST woke up!] Oh, AND – my friends’ whose house we ate at STILL have a Christmas tree in their livingroom. WHAT IS UP WITH THAT? [Also, is the baby's mama pickin' her nose?]

  

{More pictures from this fabulous evening soon to be posted in other blogging locations near you.} {Seriously.}

3 parts of my day

1. It is soooo hot. Remember how I said the weather was beautiful? Did you know that before that we had MONTHS of gloomy? Well, apparently we only get 1.5 weeks of beautiful weather here this year. The FURNACE of this furnace city has been activated and simultaneously my allergies have been activated. I want to pluck my eyes out they burn so badly. I don’t remember feeling like this last summer so I hope it goes away really quick like. [Although the heat will surely stick around.]

2. A family of foreigners that live in our city are gone on a trip. They have a dog. So, tonight another girl and I went over for the nightly walking of the dog. On our way out the gate of their apartment complex a man was walking in with two 5 foot long snakes in his hands. He was holding them by the head, away from his body… and TOWARDS our bodies… with the rest of their long bodies dragging on the ground behind him. We were startled to see two snake heads coming at us. Clearly. We jumped. We screamed. We freaked out (ourselves) the dog and her hair stood straight up. Then we laughed, hysterically. And the ten locals watching it all happen loosened up, smiled, and tried not to laugh. And the guards who see us everyday and are a bit more comfortable cracked up at the white girls who totally flipped out at something they thought was totally normal.

3. I went to get a… I’m not really sure what to call it in English… It’s between an icee and a snow cone. So, I went to get one of those today after class. I was so hot. And my eyes were burning. And I just really could NOT think. An hour or two later I got a text message from a student/friend saying, and I quote, “You lost something right? my classmates picked up it. don’t hurry, i will give it to you later, because i have workes,ok?” I was confused. What did I leave? Where did I leave it? I had only gone to teach and to get a drink. Then I remembered walking home, with nothing in my hand but my drink. Yeah. I left my teaching folder with my attendance records at the drink shop. My friend/student later called to tell me she was coming to my apartment with it. I told her I was not home but at dinner and I could meet her at the front gate if she called me when she got there. A while went by and there was no call. I wondered why. Then she came into the restaurant. How did she know where I was? And told me she was sorry she could not give it to me now. The classmate who had picked it up took it with them to a shop and accidentally left it there. They went back to get it and the shop was closed/locked. They will go back and get it when the shop is open again and bring it to me tomorrow. I find so many elements of this story entertaining. Like the fact that she called to tell me she was coming to my house WITH the folder, right then, when she clearly did not actually have it in her possession. Listen to what they mean, not what they say - is the reality of life here. You just have to laugh at it.