We're moving....BLOGS

Hey all!

We've been having trouble using blogger from here. We can't always access the site, we can't upload photos, and we can't view our blog (to see what you see), so....we're moving! Here's the new site-- http://travelingbrisenos.wordpress.com/ . Save it to your bookmarks and tell your friends! We still don't have Facebook, so please help us spread the word. It's still under construction, but we hope you enjoy it. Don't forget to leave comments--they always make our day!!

See you there!

Kayla and Stephen

We're moving....BLOGS

Hey all!

We've been having trouble using blogger from here. We can't always access the site, we can't upload photos, and we can't view our blog (to see what you see), so....we're moving! Here's the new site-- http://travelingbrisenos.wordpress.com/ . Save it to your bookmarks and tell your friends! We still don't have Facebook, so please help us spread the word. It's still under construction, but we hope you enjoy it. Don't forget to leave comments--they always make our day!!

See you there!

Kayla and Stephen

Quick Update

Hey everyone,

Kayla and I have been in full swing teacher mode. We're currently at school, starting to arrange our classrooms. Our administration, support staff, and the new teachers are all simply amazing. We've gotten to know some incredible people already and are looking forward to building friendships with them.

We are adjusting just fine. Chinese food is amazing--and costs about $1.25 for a whole meal per person! Chinese massages are even more amazing! Yesterday, we got foot massages with a whole group of people, one of them who spoke enough Chinese to converse with our masseuses. They are fascinating, hard working people. More on that later.

We just hired a maid, called in Chinese an ayi, yesterday who will be cooking, cleaning, doing our laundry, and ironing our school clothes 3 days a week. All for a price so low, I'd be ashamed to post it.

Some of you are most likely asking, "Stephen, why haven't you posted any pictures?"

Well, the answer is simple. My new camera which Kayla got me for my birthday...well...it fell of the strap onto the hard Chinese concrete road. It didn't shatter in to a million pieces or anything, no. In fact, everything works, but when I press the shutter to take a picture, it shuts down.

Needless to say, I'm super bummed, and pretty angry. Oh well. So, pics will come when they come!

More updates later. Gotta get my classroom arranged while I have the time.

Much love,

Stephen

China, Day 4

Well, today has been a pretty full day. We got up and walked to the fellowship, which took just under 30 minutes. We were pleasantly surprised at how many people were there! We know there will be lots of opportunities and relationships to be had there.

Afterwards we went to a German restaurant called "Bier Haus" and had some schnitzel and fries. Stephen even had a German beer! Our new friend Eileen took us to IKEA after lunch and boy was that an experience! When we came to this China, we were expecting to be constantly surrounded by people, but that's not really the case in our area. IKEA, however, was a different story. It gets pretty crowded on the weekends--hmm, sound familiar? Crowded may be an understatement here... It wasn't bad though, because we knew what we needed and weren't taken in by the novelty of the place (since we have one in Houston), so we just pushed through and got what we needed. It was comical, though, to see lots of Asians lounging on the couches, taking naps in the beds and chairs, and making themselves at home in the model rooms. Our apartment is furnished, but everything else needs to be bought. (Things like sheets, trash cans, hamper, towels, dishes, silverware, pots and pans...) We'll be going back on Tuesday with the other new teachers (the school is taking us with big vans and trucks) to get some of the bigger stuff (like an extra desk, a drying rack for our clothes, some shelves, and an island for our kitchen) and other things that we couldn't carry home. It's definitely different not having your own car!

Speaking of not having a car--we love it! We love walking places, riding our bikes, and having buses, taxis, and a WONDERFUL subway system (so clean, orderly, and air conditioned!) to get around. It's exactly how we've wanted to live for a long time. Sure it's hot and we sweat, but we're getting lots of exercise and we can always use more of that! Our school is a 20-25 minute walk and it's near the main area called Sea World (no, Shamu does not perform there!), which has lots of Western restaurants and bars. There are lots of shops, cafes, and restaurants very close to us too.

We'll be posting pictures soon, but we've just been going and going so much that we actually haven't stopped to take any! We'll have to make it a point to go out with the camera! I don't think we could post any pictures yet anyway because we don't have the necessary VPN that allows us to bypass some of the things that are blocked--like Facebook and blogger. So be patient just a little while longer and we'll show you where we live. We really like it here and can't wait to share it with all of you.

That's all for now--dinner time!

-Kayla

China Day 2

Our first full day in China was a whirlwind of awesomeness!

***Disclaimer. This post will read like a "bed-to-bed" essay, where I'm pretty much going to tell you all that we did, from the moment we got up, to the moment we went back to sleep. I don't have the creative juices to be eloquent right now!***

Due to jet lag, Kayla and I were up around 5 am. Well, I should begin by saying that our apartment is great. It's HUGE! 3 bedrooms, small kitchen, lots of marble everywhere, and a surprisingly nice Western-style bathroom.

We met with our new friend Jack, a Chinese national who works for the school helping the new teachers arrange stuff. When he's not doing that, he's working reception at the school.

He met us around 930, and took us to the school where we met our director, and most importantly, the lady who doles out the cash!

After that, we headed to China Telecom to set up internet. Here, you pay for the internet one year in advance. Odd, but cool seeing that we don't have to worry about payments.

After that, we headed to China Mobile to set up our cell phones. Kayla and I went old school. No smart phones for us, headed back to the dumb ones. It's nice because it makes like...simplified.

Once we were done with all the setting up of things, we headed to lunch, met a really nice teacher named Lisa, and headed to a foot massage parlor.

Now, when they say foot massage, they actually mean a WHOLE BODY massage. They did everything, from shoulders to back to head/neck, even legs! We were very pampered and it took over an hour. How much, Stephen, did you pay for such an amazing body relaxing experience? $50? Nope...for the both of us...it was only $17!!!! This is definitely something we will be doing frequently.

Once we were finished with that, we did a few things on our own. Mind you, we hadn't even been in the country for 24 hours yet. But we rode a bus, went to the world's largest Wal-Mart, shopped in the craziness, and took a cab back. ALL ON OUR OWN! I'm pretty proud of ourselves.

We chilled at home for a bit, then went out to met our new friends, Tom and Eileen, for some delicious Thai food. We chatted about many a things and Kayla and I have now found some dear friends. We first "met" them by perusing different blogs from teachers who work at QSI. We've emailed, skyped, and even spoke on the phone while they were in the states. We were very excited about meeting them and so glad that we have them around to be our Obi-Wans. They showed us around, took us to a few grocery stores for a few essentials, and showed us their apartment.

All in all, China to me has been a place that, while it's foreign to me in many respects, it's still familiar. Kayla and I were both expecting Cairo, with a heaviness and quick-paced mess of millions, but Shekou has not been that. Granted, parts of Shenzhen most likely are, I mean, there are 18 million people in this town. But what we experienced yesterday was great. The weather is hot, but not as hot as Houston, and at night, there's a very pleasant ocean breeze. All-in-all, I feel overwhelmingly blessed to be here.

Pics and videos will be coming soon!

Much love,

Stephen

CHINA!

After many long hours of travel, we have finally made it!

Our apartment is pretty nice--lots of marble, a teeny tiny kitchen, 3 bedrooms, and a surprisingly comfy king-size bed.

We'll post pics up and give you all a much more detailed update when we get reliable internet.

Peace and love,

Stephen

Wisconsin

Hey y'all!

The Brisenos did in fact travel this summer. We headed up to the land o' cheese to visit the venerable Mary Regan and her faithful steed: Mike Keith. Of course there were many other fantastic people that we got to hang out with while there.

Good times were had, but the revelation of the trip was the town of Milwaukee. Here are some photos...

Great coffee shop.

The Milwaukee Arts Museum

The four of us.

The Safe House: one of the coolest bar/grills ever!

Welp...that's all I got.

We'll be updating before we head out for China tomorrow!

Stephen

Packing Prep! A Gritty Look at the International Packing Process

Welp, this is our task this week:

Kayla and I are prepping our suitcases for the big day, which is less than one month away (yikes)! This is the lot of it, except for our clothes that we're still wearing during the summer.

We're separating and cataloging everything in our suitcases, whittling down items to bring with us, and making a list of other things we realize we need.

Here are a few more photos, bag by bag.

Teaching supplies... Sadly, it seems that this is where we need to whittle the most down. There's a whole 'nother box that I didn't take a picture of. And by box, I mean a large plastic crate.

This is our "workstation." It's just a tad bit cluttered right now, but we hope to have this place nice a tidy real soon.

Here's my trusty Macbook Pro ripping a movie, currently Eternal Sunshine, onto my 3TB external hard drive. A good friend of ours, who also lives overseas, told us about RipIt, a nifty program that rips the entire DVD, special features and all, right on to your computer. It's awesome!

Well, Kayla is glaring at me--I should be helping her instead of fiddling with the interweb.

Remember, we're not in H-Town for much longer. If you want to hang with us, please let us know!

Much love,

Stephen

Some Helpful Traveling Tips

So here we are at exactly one month to departure. We have mixed emotions at this point--excitement about the new adventure and sadness about leaving our family and friends. As Stephen said in our last post, we have a busy few weeks ahead of us. Here is the schedule for the next (and last) five weeks:

July 9-15: Here in Houston

July 16-25: in Wisconsin to see my sister (and Mike--and all her great friends!)--pictures to come!

July 25: Stephen's birthday--by the way! ;)

July 26-30: in Ft. Worth to see Stephen's family

August 1-8: Back in Houston for last few shots, packing, dr. appointments, and HANGING OUT.

August 9: TAKE OFF! :)

So as we prepare for travel, I thought I'd share some of the great things we've come across or have been told about. Here are a list of the products and such (I'm beginning to think that I really like giving you guys lists) that we've discovered along the way:

Something I WISH I had found before I moved to Egypt is Passport Health. This is where we went for our vaccinations, but we learned so much more! The nurse that we met with told us lots of tips for moving to our specific area and they even sell some useful products for keeping you healthy and helping your body to adjust when traveling overseas. Yes, this is a pricey (and not always fun) part of the process, but WELL WORTH IT!

One of the products that they recommended (not just for overseas travelers, but for hikers and back packers as well) is the Steripen (pictured below). It's a hand held device that purifies your water (from any source) by using UV light ray instead of chemicals. It doesn't change the taste of your water either and it kills bacteria, viruses, etc.

Slingbox : this thing is pretty cool! It's a device (that you can find at Best Buy, among other places) that lets you watch your TV on your computer. This is ideal for people living overseas who want to watch American TV. We're hooking it up to my parents' TV and we get to watch their cable. I will tell you that if you change the channel on your computer, it changes the channel on their TV. So, if you can, hook it up to a TV that is not often watched by others.

As Stephen mentioned in another post, we've fallen in love with Tom Bihn products. They are handmade in the U.S.A. (which, yes, makes them a bit pricey--but worth it!) and extremely durable. We plan on taking some weekend trips and a trip to Germany for Christmas, so our Tom Bihn aeronauts (pictured below) will be the only luggage we bring! These bags are HUGE (yet are still carry on size) and have great pockets. With the use of their packing cubes, you can really pack so much in these little bags (and keep things organized as well).

Magic Jack : I haven't tried this yet, but a friend told me that for people moving overseas who have people in their lives without Skype, this is ideal. It's a very affordable phone line ($19.95 a year!). If you hook it up here in the states, then take it with you, people can call you overseas as if they were calling a local number. There are no long distance charges, and yes, you can call them too without the charges. Pretty cool, huh?

Speaking of Skype , if you don't already have this, DOWNLOAD IT NOW, for free! This is a great FREE option to talk to your friends and family anywhere in the world! I use it regularly to talk to my friend Caroline, who lives in Germany. You can use it to chat, call, or video call. It's great. Stephen and I both have skype accounts: stephen.briseno and kayla.briseno . Contact us anytime--but remember that China time is 12 hours ahead of the central time zone.

Space Bags Travel Bags : a friend who moved from England to the states recommended these to me. I am a huge fan of the bundle packing method (seriously, watch this video), but I believe that for as much as we need to pack, space bags might work a bit better. You don't need a vacuum to get these to shrink, which is great.

For those moving overseas who just have to have certain products, like myself, I completely recommend shopping on ebay to buy in bulk. I saved SO MUCH money buying this way! I think I may just make this a way of shopping because it really is so much cheaper than buying things like my shampoo or makeup one-by-one in the stores.

Ereaders are probably a no-brainer for most of you, but for book nerds like ourselves, this is a MUST. We both have kobo's, (they're connected to Borders) but we've also heard rave reviews for the Kindle. There are lots of free books and for people who like to read old, dead authors, that is GREAT!

A really great tip a friend shared with me is to buy a large (in file storage size) external hard drive (we have one with 3 terabytes), download something called ripit (free for mac users!), which allows you to rip your dvd's to your computer, and then drag your dvd's to the hard drive. You can then watch the movies on your laptop or get a cord (or apple TV for mac users) to watch them on your TV. This works for those staying at home in the states too! :) For us, this will save a considerable amount of space and weight.

Another tip we learned (for traveling in general) is to purchase a few double carabiners (pictured above) to prevent theft. You clip one end to your bag, and one end to something like the shelf you put it on, under your seat, etc. This prevents someone from quickly grabbing your bag and running off with it. Smart, huh?

Now, you might be asking yourself, "Kayla, Stephen...where did you guys get all this great information?" Well, we have been researching pretty intensely since January. We have used great sites like: www.onebag.com , www.youtube.com (seriously, the videos have helped us with things like how/what to pack, what life in China will be like, and great places to visit while we are there), and blogs from people who have lived and worked in China. We even made a few new friends this way!! Oh, and we can't forget the COUNTLESS bits of advice we've collected from friends who have done this before.

Phew, that was a long post, but I hope it was helpful!

Happy travels!! --Kayla

One Month Away

Greetings everybody,

We are one month (give or take a few days) away from our bon voyage on the 9th of August.

It's surreal because the weight of us leaving and experiencing a new country hits us stronger with each passing today. Just today we looked at the calendar and realized we only have 3 weeks left in Houston! We head out to Wisconsin on the 16th and head back on my birthday, the 25th. We leave the next day for a week in Fort Worth, then come back and have only 9 days in Houston. If you want to hang out with us before we leave, shoot us an email or contact us on Facebook.

This past Thursday we had lunch with a friend who is currently ministering/teaching in the same city we'll be moving to, but at the university level. We discussed many things, but one thing that stood out to me was the spiritual atmosphere of Shenzhen. She said that there's a weight that can be felt almost instantly. Keep us in your prayers that the Lord would give us strength and insight in our day to day dealings. We will definitely need it.

Well guys...we'll have more to say when the time gets closer.

Stephen

2 Months Away

Greetings all! Stephen here.

Kayla and I have officially moved out of our apartment and our classrooms. Many thanks to our friends and familia who helped us move.

We're currently living with Kayla's parents in northwest Houston and are marking down the days until we head out. While we've only lived in nw Houston for just a few days, it kind of feels like a little mini culture shock. Saturday night I was driving out to Barnes and Noble and it hit me--I haven't lived in the burbs for 8 or 9 years. Things are just different out here and it's amazing how quickly I forgot. I mean, everything shuts down at 10, if not earlier. During school, Kayla and I closed with The Black Hole and Antidote, but not out here.

It's just different, and I'm not used to it right now, but I'm extremely thankful for a place to live, especially one that's rent-free and has some home-cooking!

So we're at the 2 month mark. We're excited, a little nervous, but overall hopeful that the Lord is going to do some amazing things.

That's all for now. More as the time approaches.

Stephen

China FAQ

Hello all! Kayla here, with my very first "Traveling Briseno's" post.

As Stephen said in the last post, we are knee deep in preparations for the big move. We are getting more and more excited with each passing day. Right now the big things on our plate are finishing the school year, moving out of our classrooms, and moving out of our apartment (and into my parents' house for the summer). All of those things are happening within two weeks. Yipes! Here's what the apartment looks like right now--this is all being stored this year.

As the day gets closer, people have been asking a lot of the same questions. So, to help answer them, I've compiled a FAQ and answer list. Here goes:

Where are you going, exactly? We are moving to an area called Shekou, in a city named Shenzhen, China. It's about a 30 minute ferry ride from Hong Kong.

When do you guys leave? We leave on August 9th and will arrive August 10th. One of the cool parts is that we have a layover in London and we are hoping to hang out with our friends the Raggetts whilst there!!

When does school start? August 25th (we have a week or two of orientations before that)

What will you be teaching? As of now, we will both be teaching middle school ESL (which they call I. E. or intensive English) at an American school called QSI Shekou. I say 'as of now,' because I've been told that this is subject to change. I'm pretty certain that the ESL will be for sure, but we could end up teaching a few other subjects.

Is China safe? Is anywhere REALLY safe? I mean, we live in Houston right now--a place that gets hit by Hurricanes pretty regularly. We have pretty high crime rates, etc. We're putting our trust in the Lord, not in a location.

What are you taking? We are taking our clothes, some teaching items that we can't live without, lots of deodorant (because you can't get it there), good pens (also not found there), some kitchen items that we want to have, our computers, and a few books (even though we both have e-readers).

When people hear about what we're packing, they often ask, "Isn't everything made in China? Why don't you just buy it all there?" Yes, everything is made there, but that doesn't mean they SELL it there. We've been told to bring all our clothes, as it is very hard to find the size and quality we might be looking for. There are eight Wal-Mart's (although they are a bit different than our Wal-Mart's...), a Sam's Club, and an Ikea, though--so we might just get by! :)

When are you coming home?/How long are you staying? Well, our school will fly us home during the summer. As to how long we plan to work in China, the answer is--we don't know. We are honestly listening to the Lord for His guidance and trying not to plan too far in advance. We haven't even experienced China yet! It's been our dream for a long time to live and teach overseas together, so we're going to do that until the Lord leads us back to the States.

Do you speak Chinese? Nope. Are we trying to learn Mandarin? Sort of--that'll be a project for the summer. Right now, life is too crazy to squeeze it in. It is definitely a goal--I feel that it's only right to learn the language of the country you are living in.

What are you going to do with your stuff? The things we leave behind will be in a storage unit until we get back. We have been and are continuing to sell certain things. If you are interested in buying things like clothes, a few furniture pieces, or various household odds and ends, just let me know.

Is there a church for you there? Yes, there is a local expat church that we plan to attend with some new friends we've made via the net. We're excited to get involved there.

Will you be able to access facebook? I think so?? I've heard that we might not be able to post much, if at all, so we may have to resort just to email, blogging, and skype. We'll keep you posted! Also, we do know that certain websites are restricted and the internet isn't always very reliable, so please be patient if you don't hear from us for a while!

Well, I hope that answers some of your questions. If there are any more, please feel free to post a comment or email/facebook them to us. Thanks for reading!! Be sure to bookmark this site, because there will hopefully be lots of updates about our adventures! We'd appreciate your prayers as we prepare this summer!

--Kayla

Preparations

It's been a while since we've blogged about China, so here is an update with 3 big things to report, I guess.

1. We have accepted the jobs officially. We received our contracts and are sending them to Slovenia, signed, on Monday, the 14th.

2. Our current school district, along with many others in Texas and across the country I'm sure, are having intense budget constraints. Inevitably, jobs will have to be cut. However, the district offered an incentive to the first 300 teachers who inform the district that they're not returning next school offering them 10% of their paycheck as a bonus. Well, that's a great deal for Kayla and I, so we took it. So, our move from our current school is official as well.

3. We've been in contact with QSI's official travel agent and our flights are booked. We'll be headed out August 9th, arriving in Hong Kong the afternoon of August 10th. We have a 10 hour layover in London and we plan on riding the London Eye, seeing a sight or two, before being surrounded by a completely foreign language for ten months. I'm excited because I love London and haven't been in close to 10 years. Kayla had an experience there and it wasn't too pleasant, but I'll leave that story for another time.

Also, we've been busy researching, watching videos, perusing forums, etc so we can buy important stuff in preparation for our move. Two things that we decided that we would splurge on were new computers and carry-on luggage. I've never owned nice things of either.

With our hefty tax refund check, we bought new 13" Macbook Pros, the refresh models that just came out a few weeks ago. As cliche as this sounds, I don't know why I haven't bought a Mac sooner. Amazing quality, nice looks, and little learning curve makes this thing ideal...I'm blogging on it right now.

We've also bought carry on luggage and our +1 personal items from a Seattle company called TOM BIHN, a small bag/luggage company owned by Tom Bihn himself. He designs classy, incredibly well-made bags for travel, all of which is put together here in the US. I googled "best carry on luggage" and they came up #1 on numerous sites. Kayla and I checked it out for a good while before taking the plunge. We both bought the "Aeronaut" model for our larger carry on for clothes, etc, and the "Imago" for our laptop +1 bag. In addition, we bought various pouches and packing cubes specifically designed for the bags. When we found Tom Bihn, we were introduced to this whole "one bag" traveling concept. (It's pretty self-explanatory, you take one carry-on/no check on luggage when you fly). It's a whole different world when you look in to it. Our Aeronauts will help us achieve this goal when we take smaller trips throughout the coming year, especially when we go to Germany to visit Caroline. The quality of these bags are out of this world--you can tell great care went in to designing the bags, along with the highest quality of materials. Can't wait to really try them out.

We'll be posting a video review of our bags soon, next week hopefully now that it's Spring Break.

Well, that's all I got for now. A lot of stuff is in the works. Moving feels close yet far all at the same time. Shoot, in 5 months we'll be out. Crazy thought.

Anyways, peace out yall and much love.

Stephen

So it begins...

Greetings,
Stephen here. This is the first entry for our blog chronicling our adventures teaching overseas.
This past Saturday (Jan 22), Kayla and myself were offered teaching positions at QSI Shekou, a "suburb" of Shenzhen, China, next to Hong Kong.
Honestly, Kayla and I never thought that China would be where we ended up. I have always had a heart for Eastern Europe/Central Eurasia and Kayla's heart has been for the Middle East. At first, we felt that it would be Almaty, KZ, but that didn't work out. We were told, by our recruiter, Mr. Larry Philpot, that the openings in Kaz had been filled, but that there were other options that had in mind for us.
I did some research on what other jobs were open, and discovered that the only place that had jobs for the both of us was in Shekou. The first thing I did was watch the video that QSI Shekou had made highlighing the school. When I watched it, I felt this overwhelming sense of peace about it, and even a strong desire to be there. I sent the link to Kayla and she watched it separate from me, and had the exact same response. It was then that we knew where the Lord was leading us. It had never really crossed our mind of going to China!
We had a few more talks with Mr. Philpot before the interview, and before we had even begun our trip to Dallas for the interview, we knew that the job was ours. Without hesitating, we took the jobs! We'll both be teaching I.E. (Intensive English), which is the international equivalent to ESL.
Since then, I've been on China-mode. It's all I can think about! We've discovered various blogs from teachers there in Shekou who have highlighted their trip and experiences there. I've been in contact with a teaching couple there, doing everything I can to figure how life is going to be in Shekou. They've been beyond helpful and gracious by sharing the information we need.
I think it's going to make the rest of this year incredibly long. It seems that when you want something to come, time hits the brakes hard. It's good, though. Kayla and I will be soaking all of the teaching knowledge, tricks, methods, and strategies before we go, as well as all the Godly fellowship we can get a hold of too.
Anyway, that's all I got for now. More to come, I'm sure, especially as we get closer to the middle of August, when we leave!

Stephen