Through Her Eyes

I have never been the adventurous type; I won’t even travel thirty-five miles to Ft. Lauderdale alone. The only foreign country I have visited was Canada when I was a child. 

My daughter on the other hand goes everywhere and has never been afraid of doing it alone. 

At eighteen years old and right after high school her first adventure was when she joined the Air Force. She spent five years at Sheppard Air Force base in Texas and was due to be shipped to Belgium when she became ill and was released from the Air Force.

Her next big adventure, was to Australia as a short-term missionary.  She got to travel all over New South Wales, got to see and hold a live Koala Bear, went to see “The marriage of Figaro” at the Sydney Opera House, and stayed with a family of complete strangers.

After her tour of duty was over she decided to stay in Texas and go to college. It was in college that she really started to travel.  She was a French and Theatre Major.  She was a member of the Community Theatre and was involved in various plays.  Oh and she sings too. She has the most beautiful voice. She has even performed for Randy Travis, which was very exciting for her; I just wish I could have been there to see it. But, she told me the story with such pride and excitement, I got to see it through her eyes!

She spent a semester in England studying musical theatre.  She would call me or send me postcards from each place she visited on her weekends off of school.  She would hop on a bus or a boat or train and traveled from London to Scotland, Wales, and Ireland. 

She went to France for a semester to study French and Art History. She stayed at the L’abbaye de Pontlevoy, a 1000-year old castle which was turned into dormitories. From France she traveled to Belgium, The Netherlands, Luxembourg, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, sometimes with a friend, but mostly all alone.  She would send photos of beautiful castles and street markets with strange foods, most I have never seen and would never eat. She would tell me about her stay in hostels or simply sleeping in a train station or a bus station. I could close my eyes and just imagine what it was like to be in these places, I got to see through her eyes.

After graduation she started as a substitute teacher working to get her certificate, then got an offer to go and teach in China. I was mortified.  Vacationing or studying in other countries was one thing, but now she was giving away everything she owned and moving to Inner-Mongolia to teach English. She was only allowed to bring what she could pack into her two suit cases to start her new life there. (Which was two pairs of shoes, five changes of clothes and all other personal items and school materials needed)  It amazed me that she could even consider doing this; she gave up everything! Furniture, clothing, books, and her vehicle. But to her it was a sacrifice she was willing to make to help someone. That’s just the way she is.

She went on a camping/hiking trip through the Gobi Desert where she actually fell into quicksand (twice!), and had to be pulled to safety. People were getting injured on this trip and I was terrified for her.  Many people gave up along the trail and were put on the rescue boats, but she pushed herself to not quit.  She finished the grueling three-day hike!  She is so brave and I admire her so very much.  Her adventures are many; she even got to walk along the Great Wall of China.

Now she lives in Du Jiang Yan. (Sichuan Province) it’s located in the Rain Forest. She teaches General Science, Biology, and Music at Guang Ya School.  It's a private school of about six hundred students. Sichuan Province is also where the panda bears live in the wild.

She was also right in the middle of the earthquake that hit a year ago (twenty miles from the epicenter of Wenchuan) and her school was one of the only buildings left standing in her village after the Quake.  That was a horrible time because I could not reach her for more then a week to know if she was ok. But she was and she says there are still aftershocks going on there weekly, some almost as bad as the quake itself, but we in America do not hear of these aftershocks. 

She and some of the other teachers decided to ride their bikes around, pulling a wagon filled with water and food for the tent people who lost everything in the quake. The photos of the damage to buildings, homes schools and hospitals, people grieving for lost family members on the road is devastating to see and I can't imagine being there and going through all the emotions she had to have gone through during this horrific earthquake. 

She signed another 1-year contract and will be returning to China in August.  This will be her fifth year over there. She has also traveled to Japan, Hong Kong, and South Korea since being in China. This is hopefully going to be her last year and then maybe she will come back to the states. But, knowing my daughter, she will get another wild hair and be off to another adventure before long. (She has mentioned India a time or two)

She has been to twenty countries so far, she has had so many adventures I can not remember them all and I have seen all of these exotic and amazing places through her eyes.

She is a single, beautiful, brilliant, strong, and independent young woman.  And I love her for being who she is. (I just wish she lived closer to home.)

“IT’S AMAZING WHAT YOU SEE WHEN YOU CLOSE YOUR EYES AND SEE THROUGH HERS”



This is my daughters fifth year in China and she has decided not to renew her contract after this year. She finally wants to come home and try to make a life here in Florida. This was my christmas present this year from her and it was the best one I could have gotten. I love to tell of her journeys but I would rather see her and share them with her from home.

This year has been hard for her. Upon her return from the summer break she had a new teacher living at the school in the apartment below hers. He was very bad. He drank allot and would threaten the others in the building and even told her and others he would rape them and the school did not want to do anything about it. At first she would just hide in her apartment afraid to leave, then he went on a rampage and started breaking furniture in the hallway and beating down another teachers apartment door. My daughter and the other teacher packed up their things and went to a hotel. They contacted the administration of the school and told them they would not return until something was done about the man. The police did not want to get involved due to it being a private school or so the administration said. Two days later three other families moved out of the school because of this teacher. The company my daughter works for finally came through and got the school to pay their hotel bills and food bills until they got rid of the man causing all the problems. They told the school they would cancel all contracts with them if they did not get him off campus. They told my daughter and the others they would send him to another school in China but ended up canceling his contract and sending him back to the states for rehab. He has since re-applied for a position with the company again and they are considering him again.

There was another small earthquake this year at Thanksgiving. Thankfully it was only a 5.2 and did not do to much damage to the already damaged building and homes. It did scare her and everyone again and made all the memories of the last one come back to light.

She is on her winter break now and sent me a message the other day that she was going on an interview for an internship with a film studio. It would be for two months while she is on break. Well she got the job and started the job today. I will share with you the e-mail from her because she writes with so much feeling I would rather put it in her words:

Well, they didn't waste any time!

As soon as I came in for my appointment, I was first treated to a tour of the facilities. The animation area, or "renderfarm" was packed with desks and computers, and people chugging away at whatever scene they were animating. It was fascinating to watch how quickly they draw! (which makes sense, since the parent company of the studio is called IDF Global, or IDrawFast...) I got to step inside the green screen room, which was really cool. I hope to watch them film something there in the future! Aside from the Studio head, I met the Director of film and tv production, the head of film and TV research, Conceptual artists, Character supervisors, marketing folks, and a host of other, very interesting people.

As I was awaiting some interviews with various people, I was informed that the meeting that was supposed to end 10 minutes ago would continue on through lunch, and beyond. Such is life in a film studio, I guess! So, my tour guide, Francois from South Africa, introduced me to one of the concept artists who is working on a film, currently in pre-production, about an interesting true story that took place during WW2. We talked about my creative background, and my love for research and all things dramaturgical, Well, they wasted no time in setting me up at a computer workstation, got me into the servers, and put me to work doing research into hairstyles, uniforms, jewelry, and everything else from this time period!! I was so excited that they put me to work from day one on this project!

After the 4 hour meeting ended, I got to sit down with the director of Film and TV Production and the Head of Film and TV Research. We talked about my interests, and (Thank heavens I brought one) asked to see my acting resume!! We talked about what upcoming projects are in development (One, shhhhhh..... featuring Hugh Jackman!!!!) and what I could do to help right now. Since they are mostly still in the planning stages, I am ever so needed in the research department for the moment! So, I will get to do what I love to do... Dramaturgy!!!! We also discussed another project (Sci-fi!!) that I will begin working on tomorrow: like preparing research and character profiles, and all the beginning stages of this project. I was told I would be the point of contact for the project for the time being!!! I have been here ten minutes, and I'm already getting more responsibility than I thought I would!! ( I also get the pleasure of working a full-time schedule... 9am-6pm... So I am going to be tired!)

What a way to start off your first day!

I am so proud of my daughter, she is so talented and deserves to be given this chance to prove herself and be happy in all she does. I wish the best of luck to her even if it means she gets the job on a permanent basis and does not come back this summer. Adding this to her portfolio is a once in a lifetime opportunity and they do not come around often. I want her to be her best and do what makes her the wonderful, beautiful person she is.