….4 Months In….

Chinese New Year and a Shanghai Birthday!

Welcome to all my new subscribers! I decided to start this blog when I made the decision to move to Shanghai. A lot of people recommended to me that I blog about my time abroad and I was totally against it. As I prepared more for the trip I realized that this would be a great way to keep in touch with friends and family in America. I have been enjoying the blog since my first post. At times wifi and VPN life makes adding pictures difficult, but I always try and update when I can or leave links at the end of the blog to my Google Photos!

…. Read and Enjoy ….

Chinese New Year (CNY)- Year of the Dog

So I am so sad to say that I did not participate in one CNY event. No not one. When the holiday started I left Shanghai for Bangkok (for my birthday)- and had the most amazing time. My plan when I returned was to explore the city and enjoy some CNY events. I heard that they were great…..but the cold and the rain kept me indoors. I have to be honest with all of you that it was so incredibly wonderful to rest, relax, and refuel before returning to work. I slept in, did a lot of nothing and had some time to catch up with friends. It was a nice holiday, but I was really bummed that I did not participate in any events.

 

Birthday 2018

Yall know I love birthdays! I said that I would do #35thingsfor35 and here is how it went:

• $35.00 donation to #tbpp (one of my favorite charities – details in a previous post)
• Enjoyed amazing chocolate – because I eat chocolate every day – from Russia
• Wonderful Sangria made my sweet friend Emily and a bottle of wine from Chile – sweet gift
• Dinner with my neighbors at The Cactus
• Brunch with Jessi at “GALLERIA” with a personalized meal from chef Alex
• A Texas Girls trio birthday dinner at BORDERTOWN
• Smiles with my Texas-Shanghai birthday twin – Nikki
• Cooking Class with Miki – all my favorites on the menu for my birthday
• Dinner at TRIBE with some great folks I ONBOARDED with at Disney
• A little Black Girl Magic at a Singles Event in Shanghai
• Darts at midnight with friends to bring in my birthday
• Fun with coworkers at Perrys
• Chocolate cake from Shanghai friends – because what girl doesn’t want chocolate cake for her birthday
• Airport fun with Kyla B – were off to Thailand
• Making someone’s day- smiling with a Chinese lady in the airport
• Dinner cruise in Thailand with Christen and Kyla B
• Hella Dope bridge pictures right outside of Bangkok
• Riding elephants right outside of Bangkok
• A Thai lunch (I love Thai food) in Thailand
• Feeding baby leopards
• Black Girl Magic on elephants with my girls in Thailand
• Floating Market (Thailand)
• Met a monk (Thailand)
• Black Panther Movie!!!! Yessssss #Wakanda Forever
• Thai Chocolate/Oreos/Russian Chocolates
• High Speed Bullet Train with Meghan – off to Suzhou
• Street food in Suzhou
• Disneyland with friends
• Snow White and KMG
• Enjoying Marvel Universe at Shanghai Disneyland
• Captain America!!!!
• Disneyland – again with friends
• TRON – Disneyland Shanghai is known for this ride
• Afro Open Mic
• Receiving Girl Scout cookies from my cousin in Tennessee!

 

-clearly many of the events that bring me JOY revolve around food- but also with people- I love meeting new people, building relationships, AND trying new things- that’s what makes this life worth living-

I was worried that it would not happen, but I did it! #35thingsfor35 was a success.

 

#BGRChick – Those of you who know me from home know that a couple of years ago I really got into running. I started enjoying running so much so that I joined “Black Girls Run Dallas” and have participated in numerous organized running events. I have completed numerous 5K’s and a few 10K’s and it is on my bucket list to complete a half marathon. I would like to participate in an organized event while I am here in China, but my schedule sucks with me working on weekends. I hope to find a weekday event to participate in.

Last week I met up with Angela- my new running buddy. I was so excited to have someone to run with. We “met” in an online group here in China and decided to meet up to run. I am hoping to get a small group together to run consistently with. I said I wanted to do a 5K for the evening and we hit it! I did it in under an hour and that made me smile. Actually- I did it in under 45 minutes – and for not having run a 5K in a looooooooooooooooooooooong time that’s not so bad. The sun has been shining, the weather is getting warmer, and I hope make a running a consistent in my life again.

 

I have completed month 4 in China.

November. Check. December. Check. January. Check. February. Check.

*….Yes I know I arrived in October, but that was with 6 days left in the month….*

I will put it like this – China – point blank – clearly is not America. I will make another post soon about my pros and cons for living in China so far. It’s not all bad – but – it’s not all amazing either. I am here. I have been given a great opportunity to live in Shanghai and work for Disney whether I love the job or not, and I will not take it for granted. Somewhere around January I fully accepted that I live in Shanghai and it just won’t be home. I will have to learn to adapt and adjust to my new life in China. Sites are blocked, no Amazon Prime (sigh), I really need to learn some basic Chinese, I need to keep toilet paper with me everywhere I go – so many things are different about being here, but it’s an opportunity of a lifetime.

In the short time that I have been here I have met some of the most amazing people from around the world and if nothing else I have been challenged to never be anything other that KMG – because being me is pretty darn amazing!

 Link with month 4 photos coming soon!!!!

I am excited about life! I am filled with Hope. I am overwhelmed with JOY!

I am going to do my best to live by the ‘Glad Texts’ 

(one of my favorites is–Psalms 98:4-Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth,
burst into jubilant song with music) — Did you know that there are over 800 Glad Texts in the Bible?!?! More than one for each day of the year for me to live by.

#FearlessinShanghai #Thankful #joychangeslives #KMarieTakesChina #BlackGirlMagic #KarlaGirlLivingLife #BlackGirlJoy #LivingMyLifeLikeItsGolden #ChinaorBust #ChinaAintReady #BlackInShanghai #LookOutWorldHereComesKarla  #KarlaGirlJoy #BlackGirlInShanghai #eatsleeppartyrepeat #givingisgood #givingisfun #WakandaForever #ShuriAndNakiaAndOkoye #MelaninMagic #Blessed #FaithfulIsMyGod

“life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all”  – Hellen Keller

*I choose ADVENTURE*