M&Ms

I love M&Ms.

The earliest candy I can remember eating is, in fact, M&Ms. My roommates love M&Ms. We all recognize the M&Ms commercials and characters. I've even seen personalized M&Ms at wedding receptions! I just tried the new M&Ms with the pretzel center and found myself wondering when and what the new M&Ms would be.

www.mms.com

M&Ms, a history:

1941 M&Ms are first introduced in small cylinder cardboard containers.

1948 M&Ms begin to be packaged in the little bags we know today

1950 The very first "M" is printed on the candies in black, begging the career of a very successful trademark

1954 Peanut M&Ms are released and the M&Ms slogan is born, "Melts in your mouth, not in your hand." The M&Ms make their first television appearance.

1960 Peanut M&Ms are made with colors: Yellow, Green and Red.

1976 The color orange is introduced into the color mix.

1980 M&Ms Chocolate Candies are introduced internationally to: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, The Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland and the UK.

1982 M&Ms "rocket into space" and have been part of shuttle missions ever since.

1984 Named the official snack food of the 1984 Olympic Games in L.A., California.

1995 Over 10 million people vote to add the color blue to the color mix. Go Blue!

1996 M&Ms Minis Chocolate Candies are created, and Colorworks is launched, which gives M&M lovers a chance to make their own color mixes with 21 different colors.

1997 The Green M&M character makes a hugely successful debut and M&Ms World opens in Las Vegas.

1998 M&Ms are names the official candy of the new millennium.

1999 M&Ms introduces the new M&Ms Crispy Chocolate Candies and a new character names Crispy, who is obsessed with his own crispiness.

2002 The first ever Global Color vote is taken and millions for for the color purple.

2004 MYMMS.COM is made which allows consumers to custom print with 17 different colors on M&Ms Milk Chocolate Candies.

2005 M&Ms promotes the new "MPire" to tie in with the release of Star Wars Episode III and introduces the first dark chocolate M&Ms.


Yum.

Now I'm hungry.

Longhui; Long-Huways From Home

I got my acceptance letter a couple months ago to teach English in China, and I was incredibly excited and started to think about all of the different people I would meet and what places I would try to see. A couple days ago I got my placement letter explaining where and when I would be and who I would be teaching:

"We're very excited to inform you of your school placement in China for the Fall 2010 semester.

Your location is: Longhui, Hunan Province
Name of School: Longhui #2 Middle School
Age of Students: Middle School, 11-16

You two will be the only foreign teachers at this school teaching conversational English."

Aint it great? I can hardly wait to begin planning lessons and packing, but I don't leave until the 16th of August, and I still have another month left of Summer semester at BYU-Idaho! I will be returning the 31st of December, New Years Eve!

I am really excited to go, but as the time gets nearer I'm discovering that I'm actually a little nervous too. I'm not sure what I need to plan lesson-wise or how to go about it. Will the kids like me? I have to admit that I'm really (really) going to miss Jeff. I see him everyday and we spend a lot of time together; he is my best friend! How I'll miss that kid!

Despite these little anxieties, I'm sure I'll have the time of my life, and, most importantly, learn valuable life lessons. I'm aiming to become a better teacher and become more confident with reaching out and beyond my comfort zone. I also aim to influence the lives of my students for the better and, though I am not allowed to teach them about the gospel, try to teach it through what I say and do.

Until then, I'd better get some homework done; it comes by the bucket loads and I never seem to get enough done!

<3 Tessa Dior