Week one

Spencer’s first day of school/work. I came from a family that took “first day of...” pictures, so naturally he got one. Spence is doing an internship with a Dutch company called Schouten. They do professional coaching and Spencer has been working with their marketing team. I wasn’t really sure what to expect of his internship experience, but it’s been really exciting to see and hear about the work he’s gotten to do for them and all that he is learning. I knew Spencer was a hard worker and it is evident that his boss and the company noticed pretty quickly as well. They’ve given him some neat projects to spearhead and personally gotten to know him and provided professional mentorship.

I got strep throat (streptococcal pharyngitis--after taking microbiology last semester I know a little more about what that is) our first week here. I didn’t eat hardly anything for days and was worried I just didn’t like the food--that would have made for a loooong summer. One day I was craving pizza and walked into a mall hoping I would come across a Pizza Hut (they have McDonalds, Subway, KFC, etc.). I saw a couple high school-aged looking Chinese girls and asked if they spoke English. They said “a little.” I said, “pizza.” They got out their phones and started translating their Chinese directions into English but I wasn’t understanding. Finally they typed in, “We will show you?” They took me to a Chinese restaurant on the other side of the mall and then sat down and ate with me. They even paid at the end!! (I wonder how helpless I looked to have taken me AND paid for my meal or if they were really just being nice). 

Once upon a time...

Once upon a time I married my best friend...

we flew to Oakland, California...

 visited the people and areas where I served a mission for my church...

then flew to Beijing, China where we would spend the summer for an internship for my husband.

All within a period of a week. 

We are Spencer and Sara Brown and this is China.

Week Two

Everything is going well! I'm pretty much completely over strep throat and today marks the end of my first week of work. Oh yeah, I got a job at an international kindergarten! Each day I take the subway about 40 minutes to work and it is quite the experience! I keep trying to get a picture that captures just how many people are crammed into each subway car in the mornings and evenings during "rush hour". However, I think people start to feel a little self conscious when I pull out my phone like I'm taking pictures of them... so I haven't snuck a good one yet. But I will..
Mua Hahaha...

Last night Spencer's company had a work party celebrating the change of their office location. I got to be his date :) it was pretty fancy.. Suits, ties, and dresses-- all on the rooftop of a restaurant! They served mixed drinks so Spencer and I had lots of sprite, pineapple, orange, cranberry, and apple juice. The first time we requested "pineapple juice" they said, "what else?". "Just the juice, yes only pineapple juice, just juice, nothing else". :) They eventually got the hang of it and by the end of the night the drink guy was coming up to us with "just juice" refills. Waiters walked around serving bite size appetizers and one of them was like a..like hot dog/smokey/pig in a blanket type thing with ketchup on top. Obviously American. It was so good. I never thought I would be so happy to see a  little hot dog with a delicate squirt of ketchup on it. I love love love Chinese food but I do miss American food a little.

Spencer introduced me to all his coworkers which was really fun. He had told me about most of them so it was nice to put a face to the name. Most of them are Chinese and speak enough English to get by, but I still had a little bit of a hard time understanding everything. It was amazing to see Spencer speak to them in Chinese!! Everybody comments on how good his accent is and how well he speaks. Plus, he is just so friendly that I can easily tell how much they all like him. One of the older Chinese women said that when Spencer got married there were probably a lot of hearts that broke :) I think they all think he is pretty handsome. So do I! They all think it's pretty bizarre that we are both so young and yet married but they are soooo kind. Every single one of them asked me how my kindergarten job was or commented how Spencer had shown them a picture of me at work. The girls would all comment "so pretty" when Spencer introduced me. I felt so loved and it was neat to realize I have a husband who talks about his family (me) at work :) I love being married! and I LOVE these people.