Day 681-688 Back Home in Indiana 7/21-7/28/16

You know you've landed in Indianapolis Int'l Airport when
there is an Indy car to greet you in the airport terminal :)

I took a gamble, and was able to enjoy an
impromptu lunch date with my sweet friend, Sue.
It feels so good to be with 'my people' again <3

Spending the weekend with my daughter Emily in her
cozy apartment was like staying at a bed and breakfast!

I was moved to tears when I saw that she had a globe in
her living room, with it facing to China- for her momma.
I seriously have the best kids. The Best. <3

Emily and I went to dinner and to an Indian's
game down in Indy.  I felt like a tourist in the
capital city of my home state, seeing the
capital building for the first time.  It looked lovely.

After being surrounded by the weirdness of Chinese
architecture (and the beauty of China's historical structures)
I have to admit Lucas Oil Stadium, home of the
Indianapolis Colts, looked pretty damn good!!!

We had dinner at PF Chang's (go figure!)
and I was happy with my fortune cookie :)
For the record, there are no fortune
cookies in restaurants in China. At least
I have not seen any in two years.

I was pleased to see Indianapolis being progressive in offering
electric cars and charging stations in the downtown. Len and I
are seriously considering electric transportation when I return
home.  It's all part of our rain water collection system and bank
of solar panels on the house- living more green and off the grid!

It was a beautiful summer evening for baseball.

Where's Baby Mike at Victory Field?

For a moment, I was back in China, doing
some ridiculous pose by a random statue.
Suffice it to say I was the only American posing-
not a Chinese person was in sight.

We had awesome seats behind the dugout near first base!

Play ball!

Nothing says 'Murica like a ballpark dog, a cold beer, and baseball.

I sure do love this girl <3

There was a fireworks show after the game!
Now I see fireworks on any given day of the week
in China, but on that night, the display of red,
white and blue brought tears to my eyes. Such a sap.

My mornings with Emily started at this sweet little
local coffee shop around the corner of her apartment.

I visited her at her workplace- ironically it is the same agency
where I got my start as an outpatient therapist many moons
ago.  For a girl who resisted being like her momma, she
sure followed her momma's footsteps, from AU to BSU
graduate school, to Meridian Services.  

Just like her home, her office is soothing and inviting for her clients.

I am so proud of this young lady.  Her skills as
a therapist far exceed mine when I got started in
my career. She has a servant's heart- so much
compassion, and understanding. She's truly amazing.

Part of my visit back to Indiana, was to have my Emily in tow
for moral support (my girlie KNOWS hair!) because I decided to
make a major change.  After coloring my hair for nearly 25
years, I decided to have the color stripped out- to embrace the
grey!  I would only trust this head of hair to a former student
of mine, Sharon- who is an incredible colorist (is that a word?)
This was the big reveal- I was shocked- and (no) great
surprise, I was moved to tears.  Shocker, I know.

I could not stop the water works- it was so
strange.  All I could say was, "I feel so pretty!"

Ms. Sharon, you gave your old guidance counselor
and drama coach the most incredible gift that day :)

And thank you, Miss Em, for encouraging
me to GO FOR IT. Emily has always had
the most beautiful hair and she is an
EXPERT on all the hair products! It was
fun to experience a role reversal to let
her teach me a thing or two (about hair!)

After my hair appointment, we had a dinner date with my eldest,
Jennessa, her husband Andrew, and their youngest, baby Marley.

So cute :)

She was having none of it at the time, lol.

It made my heart hurt that she does not know
her Mimi well at all.  I love her all the same.
This is one of the many reasons I am ready to
finish out this next contract in China and return
home.  I need to get back to friends and family.

My last day with Emily we went to the local
park and swimming pool.  We are water babies :)

We went down the water slide (more than once!)
and reminisced about her summers working as
a life guard at Pendleton Pool where my
grand kids, Ava and Eli, now go swimming.
She had forgotten that I used to bring her
peanut butter shakes from Jimmy's Dairy Barn
on her breaks!  Good memories :)
Randomly, I ran in to a former colleague,
Dave, from my days at YMS.  It was good
to get caught up with him once again, too.

I got a little 'well done' in the sun! (that's my hip, lol)

I left Emily's after the weekend, and drove up to Monon where
I spent the next four days with my momma.
We spent every afternoon pouring over all of her scrapbooks.

We reminisced, laughed, and shed a few tears. This was
taken on Easter, I think.  Emily did not want her photo
taken but little Ellie was saying, "Sissy, cheese!" 

Mom and I scrapbooked all of the kids'
childhood memories.  I am so thankful to have
these scrapbooks- all 5,432 lbs. of them!

Such great memories- fall is one of my
favorite times of year. 

We rolled in laughter reading Ellie's
Thanksgiving story- from about 3rd grade.

Found this sweet gem from one of the kid's
8th grade trips to Washington, DC.  To think I
may have a photo of me and the Vice President, lol

I had a middle school student write the Chinese characters
for "Faith, Hope, Love"- taken from 1 Corinthians 13.
I had one matted and framed for Mom, Emily, Ellen, and I.
Len carried them back for me from China, and it was a
special moment for me to hang it on the wall of my
momma's apartment. Where she sat in her rocking chair
she could watch TV, look at a photo of us on a cruise taken
 a few years ago, her favorite Victorian print of  "sisters"
and my print from China. It fit perfectly on her wall.
Little did I know then that four weeks later I would
ask my brother to move this print to her nursing room
wall.  Less than two weeks after that, she was gone.

 

On my second to last day there, I took Momma to Cracker
Barrel where we met my niece Kristal for lunch.
I had no way of knowing this would be our last photo together.
It was like any other day, my momma generously
encouraging Kristal and I to pick something special
from the Country Store.  I got an adult coloring book (we
both spent a lot of my visit coloring together) and two
gospel CD's. Momma and I both love southern gospel.
I've replayed this day so many times in my mind...

By the week's end, we bid our goodbyes.  Momma was getting ready to start chemotherapy again, and she seemed anxious to just get on with it.  The tumor on her jaw was growing, and she seemed eager for the chemo to melt it away once again. She had been through it twice before, and sailed right through the treatments.  We just assumed it would be the same this time around- only it wasn't. When we hugged goodbye for the last time, it seemed we held each other a little longer and a little tighter. Since my move to China, both hello's and goodbye's are especially bittersweet for me. 

From Momma's, I drove back to Indy to stay
with my friend Susan, and her husband Mike.

Old friends are the bestest friends- especially
when neither of us can see worth a damn up
close to take a proper selfie! LOL

Len drove up from Florida, and met me at Mike
and Susan's.  Mike fixed a delicious dinner, Len
entertained us with some music, and we talked
about tentative plans for us to all travel together
in China toward the end of my school year.

Let's get planning!!!

For now, it was time to bid goodbye. The following

morning, Len and I were driving to Branson, MO,

to meet up with my brother, Kent, and his family

for a mini summer vacation. I'm always putting

the miles under me...on to the next adventure.

I hope Len is ready for the Kiester's!

G'nite, y'all!

China 666 BNDS Campus Tour

I work with some incredible people at a most amazing school campus.
Beijing National Day School was founded in 1952.  The International
department was established in June 2004.  The Cambridge A-Level
diploma program was added in 2009, and the AP dual diploma program
with Wasatch Academy in Utah was added in 2010.  All total, there
are over 4000 students K-12 on campus, and over 400 faculty...with
over 70 Chinese and foreign teachers in the International Department
alone.  And now?!  Here we grow again.... take a look at our new
building!  We got a walk through tour on our last day of school.

This is going to be my new room, up on the fifth floor.  You
can't appreciate how HUGE it is!  It is at least triple the size
of my temporary classroom in the library this past school year.
Oh, the things I can do WITH THIS SPACE!!!

My new classroom door :) I can't wait to get
back in August to start decorating!

The top floor is an atrium which will be filled with plants,
flowers, trees, water features, and lots of places for relaxing.
Can you say "nap station"?!

Our campus is beautiful spring through autumn...
flowering trees, fruit trees, hanging wisteria,
rose bushes galore (ah-choo!) and Rose of Sharon.

Every floor is decorated in a different color, from lockers
to circular sofas, to study nooks.  I am on the orange floor :)

On every floor, in many of the walls are these built in padded
nooks for studying, socializing, or simply resting :)  I like!

It appears that many of the migrant construction
workers have taken up residency in the building-
beds are sheets of plywood on cement blocks.
This was in one of the unfinished classrooms. It's
better than the tent cities that have been erected
on sidewalks all over the city.  These tent homes
are for the road construction workers this summer.

The 'blue floor' was still very much under construction.  I love
 how they have created comfortable lounging and study spaces
all over the building. I wonder if they took a lesson from Google?!

All of the administrative offices will be together.  That will be
nice to have them in one central location.

In China, it is common to have 'drink stations'
where you can fill your own water bottle with piping
hot or cold water....the Chinese do love their hot tea- or
just plain hot water.  I have yet to get accustomed to that!

As you walk around the exterior of the
building, it is still very much a construction zone.
Miraculously, it will be all tidied up by the
first day of school.  I am always shocked to see how
they work in the final days before students return.

At night, the school's name on the
side of the building is in bright
white light.  By day, the sign looks black.

Workers were re-doing the pavers around our school sign.

The new front entrance to the Int'l Dept. :)

Our building will now be connected to the sports complex-
basketball court, badminton courts, table tennis, weight
room, dance rooms, and Olympic pool are all in the building
to the left of the Int'l Dept. building.  

This is our performing arts building, complete
with classrooms, multiple art studios, band, choir
and orchestra halls, and individual practice rooms.

Along side the performing arts building is the
ROCK WALL!!!!

There are beautiful places to sit all over campus :)

The science and technology building is in the background.

As you walk past the science building on your right, you will
then pass by student dormitories, then the Teacher Apartments.
The basement and first floors of this building are our many
dining options, a convenience store (WuMart) and ATM.

As you walk on the path in the above photo, the aforementioned
buildings are on your right, and to your left is the soccer field.
Behind the soccer stadium are the tennis courts.

The red brick building is the Teacher Apartments,
which is the northern most part of campus. Some
teachers will live here, many others (like myself)
are in the North or South apartment complexes
across the street from our school. A few teachers
will elect to receive a housing stipend as they
prefer to live on the east side of town, where
there is a larger expat community.  The east side
is where much of the 'jing's night life is located.

We also have a small museum on campus which details the
history of Beijing National Day School. BNDS was originally
a school for the dependents of officers in the newly founded
People's Republic of China. Under the leadership of Principal
Li, BNDS was previously named the "Model Secondary
School in all of urban Beijing."  Impressive, for a city of
nearly 23 million!  I swear our campus and facilities will
rival any small liberal arts college in the USA.

As you look across the soccer field from the stadium seating,
you can see the many red brick buildings of BNDS.  It looks a lot
 like the campus buildings of Purdue University, only different ;)

Our campus address is 66 Yuquan Lu (Rd.),
which is pronounced "You-tchwan- loo" 

From the street, you can see how massive the new Int'l
Dept. building really is!  It takes up the southwest corner
of the school campus. This photo was taken mid-day;
just wait until you experience crossing the road in the
rush hour gridlock and craziness!

Our campus is completely gated and secured.  I love chatting
with the security guards.  They practice their English on me;
I practice my Mandarin on them :)  Nice guys.

As I left school for the last day of the 2015-16 school year,
I was feeling all warm and fuzzy inside...excited about
the new building, and the new faculty coming aboard.

And then this happened.

I walked out the front gate, made a turn down the
sidewalk for home, only to see a Chinese little in his
split pants taking a piss on the sidewalk.  Oh, China.

G'nite, y'all!