Transitions and Not Knowing

I think that one of the hardest questions I have to face anytime I see someone for the first time since returning is "What have you been up to?" Any answer I have to offer seems to sound like a whole lot of nothing. However, I promise that I have been up to a lot more than nothing.

If I have seen you, I have told you that we are living with my parents temporarily, we are helping with their house, Justin is working on some random projects and I am teaching dance as a sub for two teachers on maternity leave. It sounds like a lot of bits and bots, but nothing of real substance. So, I have compiled some pictures of what we have been up to, to try to portray what is going on in our lives.

As for the home renovations for my parents, it has turned out to be a lot more than any of us expected. When we arrived at my parents house after the holidays, they showed us a huge hole and leak in the ceiling of the family room Justin and I renovated about 4 years ago. The roof showed some signs of damage and we noticed water pooling on it. Some of the excess water was due to the improper drainage of the washing machine. The pipe where it should have been draining was destroyed by roots so it began to drain up through the vent and on to the roof.

So we began by putting in a new drain in that would give the water an alternate route out. While Justin constructed the contraption, I cleared about ten trash bags full of leaves and branches (they fall eternally here) to help prepare the placement. We (Justin mostly) dug the trench, and then covered the pipe. Lucy spent the day outside with us and felt like she needed to pose with the finished product.

After that, we were ready to move on to fixing the roof/ceiling. My dad and Justin planned a day to demo the roof and see the damage. They started on a Saturday morning with plans to get a U-Haul on Sunday to get new supplies and to haul off the demo debris on Monday morning. My mom and I took a trip to Ikea to find some stuff for my mom and they were off to work. They called around noon to tell us that The whole section of the roof and the side wall had extensive termite damage. We were lucky it did not just collapse. It was much more than expected.

In a matter of two days we ripped off one entire wall and the whole section of roof. We were left with a big pile of junk to take to the dump and a lot of work ahead of us. After a huge Home Depot trip that looked like we were building an entire house, we loaded all the junk up in the back of a U-Haul and sent it on its way. That night we covered the roof with a tarp and prepared to do work in the morning. Unfortunately, a TERRIBLE rainstorm came that night and we spent the entire night and into the wee hours of the morning fighting flooding and disaster. I was so sad that all the work we had put into a room a few years before went down the drain.

With the sun, we rebooted and got everything rolling with the construction. We ran into yet another completely damaged wall that we rebuilt and decided in the process we would need to paint the whole outside of the house.

It took a month or more with intermittent pauses and tired bodies, but we were able to get it all back together just before my sister came home for Easter. Justin and I spent lots of days working on the house part of the day and doing our jobs the other part. I showed up to teach dance a few times after painting the whole day, only to realize I missed cleaning the paint off that one spot underneath my arm. I think my students started to wonder what I was doing all day, and how I could be painting so much.

Many times, I was unable to help Justin with construction due to my lack of expertise. However, I spent many of those times cleaning and organizing inside and out to help keep things going. I then took over work for about a week with filling holes, sanding, and painting while Justin worked on some studio projects. So far, the drainage pipe is in place, the roof is fixed, the side and front wall are rebuilt, a storage shed is added to the house, and the majority of the house is painted. We still have some exterior repair/painting to do and some other little projects to complete. Nevertheless, It feels great to have made some progress and to have some finished projects now. We are so happy that we have been able to help my parents with everything as they have been gracious to let us stay with them.

So, amidst so many other things... that, is what we have been up to.

The end of an era and what is to come

So, it has been quite a while as usual. I am finished with having unrealistic expectations of how often I will write. I will write when I feel it is right and when I have something to share...

If you do not know, or have not figured it out, Justin and I have officially moved back to the U.S. We are currently in the "let's figure this out phase" and staying with my parents. While we are with my parents, we are helping out with some work at their house (more to come about that later) and making decisions about next steps. So, the answers to all of the questions you have asked and are thinking is truly "We don't know yet." Though this is not a satisfying answer for you, it is fine for us and we are completely at peace with where God is leading and guiding us in this waiting period.

We came home just before Christmas and spent it with my parents. The day after Christmas, we flew to Kansas and stayed with Justin's parents and sister for a couple of weeks. We had plans to fly home after that, but Justin's parents were super generous to offer us one of their cars to use, so we drove it home instead. We made a stop in Nashville for an overnight stay and were hosted by an awesome couple through Air BNB. Justin had never been to Nashville, so it was a great first experience for us.

After that, we have spent time doing much needed repairs at our Spring Hill home for our tenants, that they have been waiting ages for. We have also been to our storage unit, which was graciously packed by Justin's parents before moving away from Florida. We had to go through it, find stuff we needed, reorganize it, and add more stuff from my parents' house to it.

In the meantime, I am working on some projects that you will find out about later and filling in at the dance studio, where I grew up, while some teachers are on maternity leave. Justin is working on two video projects from China and building up the recording studio again. All of what we are doing though is intermediary, and not really an answer for the question "What are you up to next?" The reality is that moving across the world and back is huge, and the transition takes time.

Now that we have settled in a bit and are moving forward, I am now reflecting a lot on the experiences we had and all of the people we met while living in Shanghai. We are missing so many people that became our Shanghai family and hoping that we will get to see them again in the future. I have added pictures below of some of these people we love so much and we want them to know we have not forgotten them and are wishing we could easily give them a call or pay them a visit.

These are only a few pictures and many people we have no pictures of (sorry if we missed you). We are so grateful for the love you have shown us and the support you have given us! We have no way to say thank you enough. Our experience in Shanghai is one that we will never forget, and you all are a HUGE part of that. We never say goodbye, only see you later, because we believe our paths will cross again in the future. 

With Love,

Blythe (and Justin) Ure

Helping a Dream Come True

I write again, with too much time since my last post. I put way too many expectations on myself of how frequently I will have time to write. Therefore, I have decided to free myself of those expectations, and write when I can.

As you know, or have probably found out, Justin and I decided to spend the Summer in Shanghai in exchange for going home at Christmas. We have a very limited income during the Summer, because I am not working regularly and Shanghai empties of students needing tutoring during the Summer months. It has been an interesting time for us, because most Ex-Pats are gone and everything slows to a crawl. For a little while, it is a nice change of pace, but then, it becomes rather boring.

To help counter this phenomena that I will call the "Summer Exodus," Justin and I set up some personal goals for ourselves to complete during the Summer. One of those was for me to find some work, to generate income this Summer. So, for two weeks in July, I worked at a Summer Musical Theater Camp called "StarZone Dream." You think that I would have learned by now, that in China, nothing is EVER as it seems. I went into this job with a list of expectations as follows:

1. I will be working with children who have experience with singing and dancing.
2. I will be working with children ages 10 and up.
3. I will be working with children who speak English and are mostly foreigners.
4. I will be working in an established studio with everything I need in it.

I had been warned that we would have varying degrees of experience and levels, and to have an easier version of my Choreography, just in case. Therefore, I planned choreography for two dances ahead of time and then had to wait on three dances until I met the children. The first day, we started with a song from Oliver! titled "Consider Yourself." I had choreographed a routine that I thought was fairly easy, because I could sing along with it, while I danced (I never really did musical theater). I quickly learned the following:

1. The students could sing a bit, but many looked like they had NEVER learned a dance routine in their lives.
2. Half of the 23 students were under the age of 10.
3. Most of the students knew little to no English.
4. The studio had one working toilet and poor A/C.
5. AND, they did not hire a pianist for the afternoons, when I was teaching, so I HAD to sing the songs while I taught... because the children could only learn steps on the words and not on the counts.

The first day ended up being a HUGE struggle for me and I had to re-choreograph the whole dance on the spot. I thought, "There is NO WAY these kids are going to learn all of this in two weeks!" After that, I went home and revamped everything I had planned and took a deep breath. Thankfully, to my surprise and despite my terror, the children came out with a great product by the end of the two weeks.

The experience of putting on a show in a theater in China was a whole different beast, and I am glad that I only had a minor role in that portion. The sound could have been better and the level of professionalism during dress rehearsal and the performance could improve, but overall it was a learning and growing experience for me.

Our Program

Pre-show pep-talk

Into The Woods

Be Back Soon

Somewhere Over The Rainbow

Somewhere Over The Rainbow

Consider Yourself

Follow The Yellow Brick Road

The Merry Ole Land of Oz

Do, Re, Mi

Do, Re, Mi

Do, Re, Mi,

Any Dream Will Do

Any Dream Will Do

The whole point of the camp was to educate kids on the process of an artistic performance. The vision was to see the children learn and grow through the experience, and maybe pursue a career in the arts on their own. The point of our final performance was to raise funds for a charity. Our sponsors donated 20,000 RMB and the guests of the event added to that number.

I made some new international friends and also got to work with some Hip-Hop students from the studio. They performed at the end of the show with a routine choreographed by their teacher, and then learned a routine from me to "Let It Go" while the students of the camp. I was slightly embarrassed by that final routine, because they only had two hours to learn it, and it was not Hip-Hop. When I was asked to prepare the routine, I was under the impression that the students had experience in other styles of dance. They did a great job picking it up and tried hard, but it was way out of their comfort zone.

Full Cast and Crew

Hip-Hop Instructor, Director, and I (bad-quality)

Rest of the studio staff added

Beautiful sunflowers from one of the students, May. She found out they were my favorite :)

Needless to say, it was another experience for the books! I even travelled by 3 subway lines everyday to get there. Oh the things that I have seen and the heat that I have experienced. Until next time, whenever that may be...

Greenhouse walkway from Line 3 to Line 9.... spent more time walking from line to line than on the metro. I calculated!