Life afterwards....

So I'm safely back in the states. My family and I took a trip to Vegas just barley and I think going from China to there is about the biggest culture shock that you can get :) Its good to be home though. No one stares at you or tries to sneak pictures of you. You can walk around barefoot, and you remember that commercials on TV are annoying. Thanks for always keeping updated on my blog. Its always nice to know that I have family and friends that care. Right now, in life, I'm going to start working at Old Navy again until Fall semester starts and then I'm headed back up to Utah State University. Back to reality....darn.
I love China and I'm so grateful for the opportunity that I had to go there and experiencing the things that I did.
Love you all! Signing off.....

Today is the Day

So today is the day that we all go home. It is very weird, the emotions that are going through me are of a different variety. If anything being here has made me more grateful. More grateful for our country, the freedoms we have, our government, my family, my friends, the Temple, the sacrament, carpet, dryers, shower curtains, boneless chicken, toilets, etc... I love China. I love the people here. They made this experience one to always cherish. I've never met a more humble loving people in all my life. I love that they go out of their way to go help a stranger. My last picture is of my kids and I. That is why I was here. I love them with all my heart. They were my life for five months and I am going to miss them very much. They taught me more than I would have ever taught them. They taught me patience, how to be silly, how to love. I hope that I can walk away from this experience a better person because they were my friends.
Anyway I get in on Friday at 7 pm. Hopefully all goes well. Thanks so much for always checking out on my life. You guys are the greatest! I'll make sure and update when I get home to tell you how jet-lagged I am :). I love you all! See you on the other side!

Love always, Mandy

2 Days Left!

Here's one of the cute stories for our kids that we like to talk about:
While teaching kitchen one day, Emily was making 90 second cake with frosting. When she pulled out the frosting she let all the kids try it. When she asked the kids what they thought the frosting tasted like Lucas replied "It tastes like love". I agree Lucas :)

Love always, Mandy

3 Days Left!

I saved one of the best things about China for the end-half of the countdown. This is a squatter. This is what the Chinese people "do their business" in. This has been the hardest thing that I've had to overcome in China BY FAR! These Chinese people are great at it though. They can squat all the way down and still keep their heels planted firmly on the ground... sheer talent. I know this because sometimes they just go in the streets.
My favorite memory with a squatter was on our way to San Ya. Our bus stopped at a "rest stop" for a few minutes and I went to go use the restroom. You had to pay one yuan to get into the bathroom. Right when I walked in I saw that there were no stalls at all, not even dividers. They was just a trough thing, like what the pigs eat out of, that you squatted over and did your business, then it was carried away in the current of waste. I walked in, then I walked out. I pretty much paid one yuan to witness the grossest squatters in the world.

Love always, Mandy

4 Days left!

So today's blog is a memory:

In China they don't have soft places to sit like we do. We have found few sofas at all, they don't even have carpet in any of the houses that we have ever been to. Comfort isn't really something they worry about here. So the first night we got here in China was a rough night, because we were sleeping on something stiffer than we usually sleep on :). The mattresses don't sink a fraction of an inch when you sit on them. That first night Emily had a dream that she pulled off the sheets of her bed and found that she was sleeping on a cement slab and remarked "I knew it!" We all found this dream super funny because thats pretty much what it feels like.

Love always, Mandy

5 Days Left!

The Chinese people really believe in conserving energy. For example: Escalators don't move until someone steps on them, in hotels you insert the key into a slot in the wall to get the power to work, you have to pay to get a plastic bag at the grocery store, they also don't have dryers... at all. So how does everyone dry their clothes you might ask? Outside. We have some chains hanging on our balcony where we hang up all our clothes. Usually with the humidity they don't dry for several days. You pretty much get use to seeing everyone's underwear hangin around everywhere.

Love always, Mandy

The China ILP Experience

This is the video that was shown to the parents of the children.
Enjoy!
-Kyle Carter

6 Days Left!

Alright this is a picture of our shower in our apartment. Yes... it really is just a hose coming out of the wall. The big box that it is hooked up to turns on the heat... sometimes. Our water is hooked up to propane and it decides when it wants to work or not. So we've had plenty of cold showers here. Don't you just love the privacy as well :) The best part about the whole thing is that the first month and a half the light didn't work in the bathroom so we got so use to showering with the light off that we still don't turn it on!

Love always, Mandy

7 Days Left

So this picture pretty much just explains China. That is not water on my back, that is sweat... Yummy! Everyone's backs look like that every day in this humidity and heat! Your sweat never evaporates it just sits on you all day long. The greatest part about the whole thing is when the Chinese people lift up their arms. Not only do the women not shave their armpits but they don't have deodorant here. I'm not kidding, we've looked everywhere. These people, even with how sweating and pungent they smell, don't believe in deodorant :)

Love always, Mandy

8 Days Left

Here's another picture for you. This one you can pretty much figure out what it is yourself :). They just have lots of chicken feet on ice you can pick up and put in a bag to snack on later.
Can't wait to see you in 8 days!

Love always, Mandy

9 Days Left

Here is today's memory:

This was us in GuangZhou at the Amusement Park with the biggest roller coaster in the world. We were waiting for a show to start and Amy was saving us all seats. Treat it like its "Where's Waldo?" Can you find Amy in the sea of Asians? That's how much we stick out here :)

Love always, Mandy

10 days left

With 10 days left before we go home I have decided to write a 10 day countdown including a funny picture or memory of China.

Today's picture is the translation of what is at the GuangZhou Subway station :)

Love always, Queen M.

DVD Summaries

So I had just to write something that is really very comical about China. When you buy DVDs here they're usually pirated in some way :) or some strange version of the original movie. They always have the back of the cover with the summary of the movie, in Chinese and in English. Usually the translation coverts over a little funny. This is an example, word for word (and spelling with punctuation), from the movie Bambi:
"A Helpless little deer is born by the name of Bambi. He is born among the forest to a grateful Mother. Bambi meets some animal friends for himself, A rabbit named Thumper and a skunk named Flower. Bambi falls in love while he grows up along sied his friends. The troubles of the wild life strike when a hunter kills Bambi's mother. The troubles of the emotional for every animal in the forest. A beautiful ending concludes this masterpiece..."
So! There's the summary! Now we don't even have to watch the movie!

Love always, Mandy

A Day at the Spa

So yesterday was a strange day in the fact that we had no idea what we were getting into before we did it but it ended up turning out great! We had heard about this "Hot Springs" that was about a hour away from our apartment and decided to take a risk and see what it was all about. It was not what we expected at all! I thought it was going to be some cave with little baths to sit in. No. Right when we got out of the taxi this lady ran up to us carrying an umbrella to shade us from the sun! It was a spa! They had a free buffet and probably around 20 different mini baths and pools you could sit in while people brought you drinks and put your towel around you. Some of the baths you sat in were suppose to help cure and cleanse you too. Like cure measles, moisten the throat, "build up" blood, cure joint pain, etc... So we walked out of the pools disease free! We also ended up getting foot massage, back massage, and an organic facial. What a life!

Love always, Mandy

Home Visits

So this week we spent a lot of our nights going on Home Visits to visit our kids and meet their families. A lot of the time we just go to their house and they feed us lots of different types of fruits and we just sit there and smile because we don't know what they're saying. Sometimes though the parents will take us out to dinner. Dinners in restaurants are really interesting here. You always sit on a round table. Usually in the middle of the table there is a rotating round piece of glass that the waiters put the food on so you can just spin the glass to grab whatever food you want with your chopsticks. So hopefully no one is sick :) You have to clean your own chopsticks and ladle with a tea that they pass around. You dump the tea back into a bowl when your through washing your utensils. They bring out the WHOLE animal: Head, feet, arms, thighs, neck, and everything else you can think of... You put the whole piece, that you grab, into your mouth and spit out the bones onto the table when you have gotten all the meat off of it. When your meal is through the desert is either apples or oranges. The best part of the meal is usually the juice. It is always homemade whether that is apple juice, orange juice, watermelon juice, or corn juice. If you don't get juice it is usually STEAMING hot water that you aren't even able to drink until your meal is over. At the very end of the meal you lay your chopsticks together on the table and cover your mouth as you pick out the rest of your meal in your teeth with toothpicks they give you. They are never concerned that they just put an animal's femur bone into their mouth but they are always concerned that they might have something in their teeth :)

Love always, Mandy

Birthday in China

So this last weekend we celebrated my Birthday. It was kinda interesting having a birthday in China. Gave us an excuse to actually party though. It was kinda like a four-day event. We started it on Friday (the fifth) we went to ShurQi to go to "The Potato Cafe" where they serve the most amazing french toast with peanut butter in the middle of them.... yum. On Saturday (the sixth-my real birthday) we traveled to GuangZhou to go to a Water Park. It ended up being a really hot day and so it ended up being perfect! It was the most American I've ever felt in China (except you know for all the Chinese people walking around everywhere). Even though they don't scream like us American's do on rides they sure know how to make the rides fun. They even played Rascal Flatts the whole day, we're claiming it was just for my birthday. Sunday (the 7th) I got a package from my family which was full of goodies and cake mix so we ended up making plates and plates of Funfetti cookies with 20 candles placed in them. On Monday (the 8th) Annie brought me over a cake which was great, and everyone got to sing "Happy Birthday" to me for about the seventh time. I am no longer a teenager anymore... it is great!

Love always, Mandy

Children's Day

So on Monday, June 1st, we had Children's Day! I had never heard of Children's Day before but it is kinda like a Mother or Father's Day celebration here but bigger! The whole school got all decorated and pretty much it was just a "do whatever you want" day. It was so much fun! We didn't have to prepare lessons we just went down for three hours and played with the kids. We tried playing Musical Chairs with them and Four Corners but we ended up just going and playing on the playground all day. Then we all got together and the school gave the kids all these treats to take home to their families to eat. After they had handed out the goodies us teachers got to eat lunch with the kids. Each of the kids brought their favorite treat and we all got to eat it together. They have some funky treats here... like jelly with little balls in them, corn popsicles, red bean ice cream, and of course you always have tomatoes on your cake (because it is a fruit :)). The kids got to go home early in the afternoon to spend the rest of the day with their families. SUCH a fun day!! I wish every day were Children's Day.

Love always, Mandy

The "Traveling Pants" China tribe

Mud Caves in Guilin

Mandy and Raychel in Guilin

Trip to Guilin

So we just got back from Guilin and it was a really fun trip. We saved this trip to be our last one because it had all the stuff that we were looking forward to doing the most.The landscape of Guilin was the most incredible that I have seen so far! It had mountains that inclined into a steep peak and it was SO green! It rained most of the time we were there but that just gave us an excuse to use wicked cool ponchos! So the first day we got there we rented out bikes and rode them to where the mudcaves are at. When we got to the place we took a canoe inside and for the first couple minutes we had to lay as flat as we could because the cave ceiling was so close. The cave was really neat. Just what a cave should be: Dark, cold, wet, with BATS! We ended up stopping at three places in the cave: the cold pond, the mud pond, and the hot springs. The cold pond I just enjoyed watching people freeze to death. The mud pond was AWESOME!!! A child's heaven. We all just rolled around in the mud getting completely covered!!! It was pretty cold so we didn't stay there long. The hot springs was just a place that had divets in the rock and you could sit in them surround by warm water. It was just like a bath, it was delighful.
The next day we went to a village out in the middle of nowhere- where the Guiness Book of World Records holds a record of a whole village of women who have long hair. They have hair down to their feet, they aren't allowed to cut it. Its odd. We hiked up what was called the Dragon's Back in the village and at the very top you could see mountains and mountains of rice fields!! It was the most incredible sight ever! They're been perserved over hundreds of years.
The last day we were there we got on a bamboo raft and drifted down the Lee River. This was really cool because all we drifted right in between the awesome mountains. It was very relaxing and very beautiful. We've got the chance to see some of the coolest things while we've been here in China.
Anyway hope all is going well for everyone at home. Three and a half more weeks and I will be joining you! Time sure has flown...

Love always, Mandy

Another Adventure

Dear Blogger....

GONE FOR THE WEEK. Stop.
WENT TO GUILIN!! Stop.
IF YOU DON'T HEAR BACK FROM ME IN AWHILE ITS BECAUSE I AM HAVING A BLAST! Stop.
LOVE YOU ALL! Stop.
HAVE A GOOD WEEK! Stop.

Love always, Mandy

Dad's favorite recent picture

 

Cousins!

 

The China Tribe

 

China has much control over the universe

So as you have been able to notice that I haven't been able to blog in the last little while. Well that is because China decided to block blogger. First they take away our youtube then our blogger. This crazy country. So I'm sending this to my family who will in turn put it onto blogger.
Last weekend was a really fun weekend. We went to a Safari, no joke that was the name. It was in GuangZhou right next to the place that has the biggest rollercoaster in the world. I guess the whole place is this "Paradise Land" with an Amuesment park, Safari, and Water park. I think you can assume where we'll be headed next :) The Safari was awesome! I don't ever remember going to the zoo in my life so this was a different experience for me. We got to see some cool Asian animals. There were elephants, giraffes, monkeys, tigars, lions, zebras, flamingos, panda bears, and koalas. The cool thing about the koalas is that they had the only twin koalas at the park and one of the baby twin's name was Amanda. How special. My favorite was the giraffes, because I got to touch one, and the seals because they were so dang cute. The cool thing about the day is that I got to hold a baby white tigar!!! He was a little fiesty thing but it was so awesome. I'll have to include pictures later.
This week we taught and then last night we invited some of the teachers to the Ball Room we have to play games together. There was a pretty good turn out and we made them No-bake cookies, as American as we could get them. We played "Signs" and then the Chinese teachers really wanted us to teach them some American dances. American dance moves huh? Most of the time we just do whatever the heck we want. The Chinese people can't move at all like we can. They can't even bob their head up and down, its the weirdest thing. So we taught them the most basic classic we know.... the macarania! Then we taught them the Boot Scoot and Boogy and called it a night! It was really fun! Good times...

Chi Pao

So today we spent about three hours in a dress shop. Jadie's wedding dress was completed which was the most exciting news ever! I was a little apprehensive to see the dress since we have a hard time trying to communicate with people but it was absolutley stunning!! It was everything she wanted and she looked beautiful in it. She ended up getting it, made to fit her body, for around 120 American dollars. That makes all of us just want to get a wedding for no aparent reason! All of us went because we were getting our Chi Paos made. A Chi Pao is just a Chinese dress. We looked through the books they had there and found the Chinese dresses that we wanted and got measured for them. I'm really excited! I've never had a tailor-made dress before. While we were waiting for everyone to get their measurements Amy found this amazing frog costume! It was for little kids but we forced Emily to try it on anyway. Probably the greatest thing I've ever seen. I think we all about peed our pants. Our dresses are going to be done in the next two weeks! I can't wait!

Some more pictures

Pretty much the Coolest picture in the world I think. All of us jumping on the Great Wall of China!
After running through the Water Show
A whole army
The army men and me :)!
Em, Jadie, and I in front of the Temple of Heaven (looks like a fake backround huh? :))

Beijing and Xi'An

On top of the World

The Forbidden City

My Owey from falling in the Fobidden City

Em and I

We just got back from one of the coolest vacations of all times! I'll go briefly through the days:

Day 1: Arrived in Beijing. Went and ate at the Hard Rock Cafe. If you've never been you totally should its the bomb. It made us a little homesick since it reminded us what America does best... Rock n' Roll
Day 2: Went to see lots of cool dead people's houses. First we went to Tiannemin Square. No, riots or anything just a really busy big place to walk around. There was a place where you could see the remains of Mao's body but it was closed so we'll just have to imagine what what it looked like. Next we went on to the Temple of Heaven where Emperor's use to give sacrifices. It had some of the neatest looking Temples. We were running a little late through that one so we ended up doing "running photography". Those pictures turned out great :). The next place we went to was the Forbidden City (all that studying last Semester on it really paid off Katie :)). It was HUGE!!! We walked through it for what seemed like forever. They have an amazing imperial graden where we got to make a wish on a coin and throw it into a pond. The only sad thing about this was that I took a fall of the Forbidden City stairs and banged up my elbow pretty good. I landed on my camera so it was a miracle that my elbow was the only thing that felt broken :). How can say they've fallen on the steps of the forbidden city? At night we went to an acrobat show and if you've never seen these Asian people bend then you're really missing out.
Day 3: Climbed the Biggest Wall in the World!!!! The day before Amy found a guy named Ben and he was offering to take us up to a part of the Great Wall that is not filled with tourist (not to worry it was safe). When he said that it was going to be a hike I really didn't think it was going to be... a hike. I thought we would walk up to the Wall, take a bunch of pictures, and then head back down. I for sure what wrong. First it took a straight up climb to the wall and then we had a 4 hour climb on the wall after that. Probably the coolest thing I have ever done in my life. I did my cartwheel (although it wasn't that pretty) and got lots of pictures. The pictures don't do that place justice. The Wall was probably one of the most incredible things I have ever seen in my life. We spent the whole day hiking out in one of the Wonders of the World.
Day 4: Becoming dirt poor. We spent most of the day before our train to Xi'An shopping in what is called The Silk Market. It is like the biggest shopping area with floors devoted to certain objects (ex. Pearls, jeans, silk, jewelry... pretty much a girl's Heaven). A good finale to Beijing.
Day 5: Saw an Army. We went to to see the Terracotta Warriors (labeled the 8th Wonder of the World). It was SO cool. They are over 2000 years old and they were just recently found around 40 years ago. They're still uncovering new stuff everday. There are over THOUSANDS of soldiers and horses in the pit and none of are replicas of each other. All of them are unique and completely amazing. A whole army just hidden underground. That night we went to a water show in the park. The water would shot out with the music playing and for some reason we got the brilliant idea to run THROUGH the show. So there is us five Americans running through the show with no shoes on screaming like little girls. We give America a good name :)
Day 6: Went to see a Drum tower and performance in Xi'An and went home. It was fantastic!!!!

I loved being there but I'm excited to be home. I miss the kids. They're my life here. I hope that all went well with you this week! Much love!

Doing a cartwheel on the Great Wall

Hey everyone! Just wanted to say "peace out" for a week. In two hours we're on our way to Beijing!!! The trip we've been looking forward to since we signed up to go to China. Hopefully all goes well. I'm really excited to go. Raychel and I have a goal to do a cartwheel on the Great wall :) We'll see how it goes! I love you all and wish you the best of weeks.

Pow! Right in the Kisser!

So on the bus on the way to church today all of us were sitting comfortably listening to our ipods to church music when the unthinkable happened. There were these people in front of us yelling at each other, which wasn't really unusual, until the volume went up a few notches. Then a woman that was probably in her 60s stood and and started screaming at this guy sitting next to us. The man, probably in his thirties stood up, grabbed the old lady's head and threw it into the seat. The old woman was popped up, though, fists a-flying. She wasn't going to let him have the last say in that fight. She was going to punch him right in the face! He was done though. He sat back down in his seat and cleaned his nails as if nothing had happened. Then they got off the bus together. Maybe it was a mother-son feud of some sort :)

Emily, Leo, and I

Kareoke Night

So last night our school put on a Kareoke Night. All of the teachers and staff that we get to work with were all invited to this really nice restaurant where you can eat and listen to people sing. The Principal made it into a compeition and told us Americans that if all six of us sang she would give us something. So we practiced really hard (like only two hours before the performance). Annie, our native coordinator, came over and taught us this really famous Chinese love song. We weren't very good at it so we had to write it on a white board to take with us but the song is really pretty. We had two numbers we were performing. The second one was "Hit me Baby One more Time" by Britney Spears. I knew there was a reason I listened to her so much when I was younger :) They love Britney here. They also love Michael Jackson, Kelly Clarkson, and "My heart will go on" by Celine Dion... they play that song like every time we're in the supermarket. Anyway so we got a little choreography going with our Britney song and got dressed up and left.
It was so awesome to see all of the school's staff. They are so great to work with. It was just a fun night. Even though we couldn't understand anything the people were singing they had the music videos playing right next to them (just like SingStar!) so that kept us pretty entertained. Our performance rocked the house!! Everyone went nuts when sang our Britney song. We even threw off our jackets and pulled down our hair. While singing onstage they came up and gave us watermelon (weird.... must be a Chinese thing) and Spencer, our favorite cook, brought up fake flowers. They even wanted an encore. Well if the people want an encore....an encore is what they shall get!! At the end of the night they gave out awards to everyone. They gave us each a really nice folder with a certificate inside for an "OK" job :). It was such an awesome night. I just love these people.

My Harry

"The Obama"

The Chinese people know a lot more about American government then I know about the Chinese government, that is for sure. Everywhere we go it seems like there are lots of books laying around about Barrak Obama. While in class, sometimes, the kids will ask us when we are going back to America. They refer to it as "going back to the Obama". "When will we see The Obama again?" I'm not exactly sure what their parents are teaching these 4-7 year olds but they're very interested in our new African American President.

A new riding buddy

Around China there is a lot of bicycle riding. Most of the time they ride along next to the cars and other traffic, which can be a little scary. A lot of people, even though their bike is not a two seater, have two people sitting on the bike. One is pedaling and the other person sits on it sideways while the other person does all the work. So last night Lindsey and I were heading back to the apartment from the store when I heard a scraping noise coming from my bike. This isn't uncommon so I got off it quickly to see what was wrong. The kickstand had fallen down so I hurried and kicked it back up and got back on the bike. There was a women probably in her thirties standing right next to where I had stopped and she was laughing. This isn't an uncommon event either. Then she started talking to me in Chinese which I politely told her that I couldn't understand and started pedaling my bike. The next thing I know I feel her hands on my hips and she is running trying to jump on the bike!!! All I felt was panic!!! I started to pedal as fast as I could trying to shake her off! She was laughing the whole time, I think she just wanted to jump on the back for a little joyride but I was scared out of my mind. Crazy, insane woman. I pedaled as hard as I could the whole way home...

Making a Fort

Today was my last day of Drama and we decided to have a "Sleepover"! So in every class we made a fort to sleep in. It wasn't really that exciting, we just put a blanket over the table and then slept on the pillows underneath it. It was a little squishy but we were able to tell scary stories with a flashlight and then we found a scary monster in the window. Good times. Here's just a couple pictures of the kids in their fort sleeping :)

Phoenix

So I just got back from my trip to Phoenix and it was awesome! The city is really really old. They have perserved it over the last 600 years so all the cutoms and traditions have mostly stayed the same. As an example: Chopping off an catfish's head in the middle of the street or having no existing toilets (just squatters).It is what I picture China to be like before I actually came here. The people in Phoenix are AMAZINGLY nice, we had several occasions this trip where we made it through certain complications because of the help of a stranger. I'm a big believer in service now.
Most of the trip was sight-seeing to all the different places around the city. The second day we were there we took a van with around 20 other people and went on a guided-tour to three different locations. The first location was the Southern Wall. A couple hundred years ago they use to build walls around each province in China to protect the people and we got to see the remains of the wall in the Hu'nan province. It got us really excited to see the Great Wall in three weeks.
The next place we stopped was my favorite. The van dropped us off in a little village and we went on a hike. It took you through the mountains to a lot of different waterfalls. It was beautiful! There was one point where you were hiking on wooden planks, next to a rock, right next to the waterfall. A little nerve-wrecking, especially when the bars you hold onto only went to you knee (made in scale with a Chinese person's body :), but it was a blast!
The third and final place we went was a little town where they put on a Chinese Culture show. They had all the traditional Chinese things; drums, climbing poles (just like Mulan!), and walking on fire. It was pretty entertaining.
Phoneix was a beautiful place, espeically at night. Since it is their Memorial Holiday Weekend here there was a lot of partying going on. We got to join in the festivites a little bit by buying flower wreaths for our hair and going to graveyards. Raychel, Jadie, and I also bought a boat with flower candles attached. You would light the candle in honor of an ancestor and let it float down the river, thinking of them. It was a really culture-enriching trip :). I loved being there but I'm also very excited to be home to see the kids tomorrow!

Chinese Culture Night

(The guy at the bottom of the picture's name is Marty McFly... from "Back to the Future"!! :))

Tonight we went to the Bond Institute building to have a "Chinese Culture Night". I wasn't exactly sure what that was going to entail but when we got there there was bonfire all set up outside of the building! The other bond group of about twelve American people were there with our group and then there were the directors and coordinators of Bond who are all Chinese. So all night we sat around the fire playing lots of different games. Get to know you games, "Fruit bowl", and Charades. It was also one of the boy's birthdays so we had cake and sang. My favorite part of the night though was when we all got in a circle around the fire and did a congo line. Good times. As we were leaving Annie told us to stop because "There are sweet potatoes in the fire!" We thought this was a weird Chinese phrase for something else but no, they really did have sweet potatoes in the fire. They had buried them underneath the fire and were cooking them all night. They weren't fully done though so they're bringing them over for breakfast tomorrow. It was awesome!
So tomorrow we leave on another four day vacation. We're going to a place called Phoenix. I don't know much about it except its a 15 hour train ride (sitting up the whole way :)) and there is a hike with waterfalls there. I'm excited for a little break. Thanks for being such great friends! I love you all!

Miscommunications

So on Tuesdays and Thursdays we have to teach two afternoon Chinese classes. There are about twenty to thirty kids and most of them don't speak a lick of English so Keegan and I mostly sing duets to the kids. They are mostly babysitting classes. So last Thursday the Chinese teacher had left and the kids went completely insane. Screaming at each other, hitting each other, running around, and anything else that 5-6 year olds like to do. While I tried to control the class Keegan left to go find the teacher. When she finally found her she tried to explain to the teacher with hand motions that when we're talking the kids shouldn't be talking. So the teacher followed Keegan back into the classroom. We thought that she had solved the problem until the Chinese teacher ran up to Keegan, clothespins in hand. For some odd reason the teacher had translated Keegan's "talking" hand motions into us needing clothespins :) I love the miscommunications here.

Just thought you'd like this picture

This is what we eat everyday :)...

Kung Fu

So this morning at 7 o'clock (which was kinda brutal for a Saturday morning) Lindsey, Amy, Emily, and I went down to the gymnastic room in our school to get Kung Fu lessons! The guy who taught us didn't speak much English but he was really nice. First we had to try and kick our foot to our hand a million times. Kung Fu is not for those who have no flexibility whatsoever and I would be considered in that category. I was pulling a bunch of different muscles I didn't even know I had. Then the guy taught us a Kung Fu routine. It was awesome! I felt so Chinese. We were all dripping sweat off of us by the time we were done. The humidity makes evaporation really hard so when you sweat it just sits on you. It makes you feel so attractive :) Anyway I'm really excited to know this routine. Mostly because I want to show the kids that I teach, they LOVE Kung Fu. They will be so proud of me for learning some sweet moves.

Noises at Night

I just thought I would write a quick blog to let you know what the night life is like here. Right when the sun goes down the bugs come out so you have to make sure that any skin that you don't want bitten is completely covered. Raychel and I sleep in one of those bug tents but it doesn't really help much when the bugs are trapped inside with you. They have quite a feast those nights! Usually the nights are hot so we have to keep the window open letting the air, but also the noises in. China is not a quiet city. Mostly all you hear is cars honking but lately we've had to deal with cats. Yeah thats right cats. They sit outside our apartment and scream at each other for hours. The sound isn't exactly like waking up to birds singing. Keegan was wondering ways today on how to kill them (don't worry.... I'm pretty sure that plan is a no-go). The absolute worse sound to wake up to is probably people though. Chinese is kinda a harsh language anyway so to wake up to someone yelling in the middle of the night can be a terrifying thing. Especially when you have no idea what they are yelling :) I like the experience of living here but I've redefined what a "good night sleep" is.

Big Family Reunion

Although my Father stated that I should name my text blog "Barf" because I have become very familiar with the word since all three of my roomies have been sick this week. I decided against it :) I could have taken some really good pictures to put onto the blog though!
So this weekend was kinda a crazy but fun one. Yesterday Jane (the owner of the Language Bond Insitute) took all of the ILP teachers in the Zhongshan area to Zhu Hai for a day trip. We really didn't know what to expect except the fact that Jane always feeds us at nicer restaurants. So we left about mid-day without Raychel and Jadie because of their illnesses. First they took us to the school in ShirQi where they gave us lunch and some prety sweet polos to wear. They reminded me of EFY counseling shirts. Once everyone arrived they took about a million and two photos of us in our sweet polos. It was actually really neat to see everyone again. Some of the people I had just said goodbye to from our trip to San Ya and others I haven't seen since Hong Kong. It was a big familiy reunion! Its also nice to be able to talk to someone who can understand you :)
Next we took a bus to Zhu Hai to go to the Yung Wing International Kindergarten School. It sounds like a weird little field trip but it was amazing!! I have never seen a school like it! It had kitchen rooms, art and crafts rooms, a dance studio, a stage, a science center, music rooms. It was just incredible. We all just ran from room to room taking tons of pictures and playing with all the toys. Made me want to be a kid again. The outside of the school was even better. There were different house/play areas. They had made castles, farm areas, waterfalls, rock climbing walls, train stations, totem polls. It was amazing! I think it might be an new ILP school which be such an awesome place to be able to teach but a lot of pressure.
When we were done at the school Jane took all of us to this cool restaurant that was placed over a river. It was a seafood restaurant and although I do like seafood I had a hard time with them food they gave us. Lots of tentacles, shrimp that still had eyeballs, and goose legs. I wasn't really in the mood and I guess either was Emily because on the way home by van she was throwing up. Poor girl. The sickness is going around.
It was so a random but an awesome day. I loved it! Hope all is going well with you. Thanks for all the comments!

San Ya

So we just got back this morning from our trip to San Ya. San Ya is the southern-most city in China so it is known as the warmest, with the prettiest beaches. It was exactly what we needed just to get out of the cold weather we've been having here for a little while.
The trip there was kind of a disaster. It was only suppose to be a 15 hour bus ride but the whole trip ended up being around 25 hours long. We switced buses four times and rode the ferry once. If you've never experienced a China sleeper bus then, you are lucky. But the point is that we made it. We got there late on Saturday so we mostly just unpacked and then went to look at the beach that was a 2 minute walk from the hostel we were staying in. The beach is amazing! The great thing about San Ya is that it is a really big Russian touristy place. So we weren't the only white people around! Yet, we still got stopped many times on the beach with people wanting to take pictures of us. It was kinda weird when a Chinese person would come up to you speaking Russian though.
Sunday we mostly spent it basking in the sun next to the ocean. I told everyone that as long as I could lay and read my book on the beach I would call it a successful trip. I got lots of amazing time to do that. Monday was the best day there. We ended up paying 300 yuan (about 40 American dollars) to take the whole entire day to go surfing!! We had a personal surfing instructor that drove us about 2 hours away to be able to get some really big waves. The beach we went to was completely empty. We had it to ourselves the whole day, it was fantastic. If there is one thing that I learned the whole day it was that surfing is hard! I got smashed pretty good by most of the waves but I actually did get to ride a couple of them which was pretty much amazing. I think every single muscle, bone, nerve, tendon, joint, etc, etc.... that is in my body hurts. I wouldn't mind just spending the rest of my life on the beach. Become a surfing bum.
Tuesday was another day spent in lesiure. On the beach we swam a little. I got to go skinny dipping which was pretty exciting :) Then we got to hold an alligator! Freaky but exciting. We spent most of the day shopping. Real strings of pearls there were lower then 5 American dollars. I've got a lot of bling to be able to bring home!At the end of the day we got to fly home. Although it had it's mishaps it was much better then the bus. I'm glad to be home though. I missed seeing the little kids, not so much yelling at them, but playing with them. What a great vacation..... I love San Ya!

Swimming through the humidity

I just thought that I would write a brief blog about one of the great perks about China... the humidity. It hasn't been bad up till now but now we are understanding the word "stickiness" in a different way. We have a washer here but no dryer so we put all of our clothes on hangers and hang them on chains to dry on our balcony. Sometimes this becomes a problem in wind storms. We've already lost a bathroom mat, two shirts, and a towel. We put out our clothes to dry on Friday and I think they were finally dry on Monday, that can be a good weekend. The advice that I received before coming here was that your clothes dry faster when you're wearing them then drying them outside. I believe they were speaking the truth. The humidity is so thick here that you never see the sky. I believe that is also from pollution though :) Even when we're inside our apartment, it won't be that cold and yet we can see our breath. I miss the days when my hair was straight. I tried straightening it the other day and five minutes after it was finished the curls springed back into their place. Its pretty fun to get use to. Makes you appreciate the dry air you left at home :)
So tomorrow (we think) we leave for San Ya. It is the furthest Southern city in China and it has one of the prettiest beaches ever. They describe it as "something like Hawaii" :) Its a much needed vacation thats for sure. I hope all goes well for the rest of you this weekend. I'll be home on Wednesday! Love you!

Bringing my camera to class...

Home Visits

So Keegan and I just got back from doing a home visit with two of our kids, Lily and Tom. I guess what the teachers do every once in awhile is go to the kid's home to visit with their parents. Just informing them about how they are doing and other such junk... It was actually really neat. It was so cool to get to meet their parents and families. Most of them didn't speak English at all but we went with Lulu and Milly, they work with us in the Kindergarten. So they translated for us when needed but most of the time we just sat there and nodded and smiled. They fed us tons and tons of fruit!! It was kinda a cool way to try out new stuff though. I think one of the best parts for me was being able to see the kid's Dads. For some reason the Chinese men here kinda scare me so it was really neat to see them in a family atmosphere. They really do love their kids. It was surprising because the apartments that they lived in were really nice. This school is quite an expensive school for the kids to be at. Its almost like a boarding school, the kids are here from 6 am to 6 pm. I don't know how they keep the kids occupied for that long. I can't even keep them occupied for 20 minutes sometimes! Anyway it was a really cool experience. Mostly to see what Chinese life is like in the home. Thanks for your comments and thoughts! Much love!

A Birthday Party

So today was Lindsey's birthday. It was a really fun day!! It has actully warmed up here a little bit which has been a complete blessing. It was the perfect day to be able to go get some bikes!! We've been planning on getting bikes since we got here but I guess we just weren't motivated until now. We found this cute little ghetto shop and totally cleaned the place out with the six of us. The bikes are well.... kinda like the shop. Cute little ghetto bikes :) The man we bought them from put them together right before our eyes. He even used his own spit to get things to stick together :) Although I thought his skills were really impressive we've had three pedals already break off by the end of today. Now instead of watching the insane traffic we get to be apart of it! We feel a lot more Chinese.
We went to an Italian place for the Birthday dinner. It was really fantastic. Jadie and I picked up a birthday cake and put it on the back of Jadie's bike to bring it to the restaurant. She looked just like a cute little delivery girl :) She was a really good delivery girl until she took a spill off the curb sending herself and the cake into a wonderful heap on the ground. Poor Jadie.... and cake. We pushed the cake back together though, all is right with the world again. There's nothing like celebrating a birthday in China! It was a really fun day...

Our Chinese Fashion Show

So all of you who were not already aware, Keegan, Raychel, and I were in an Asian Fashion show tonight. Every year all the schools from the Xiaolan area get together and have a Fashion Show that everyone comes to see. Random I know. This year our school asked the three of us to be in it with them. They took us to go find Chinese dresses and then we've had practices on how to walk/dance all week. The Chinese put us to shame on the runway. They are just naturally beautiful and graceful, they hardly even needed practice. All of the school had to perform numbers that had the same three themes: Work, play, and elegance. We got to be in the elegance part of it which was so fun. So this evening we did our makeup then some Chinese lady did my hair. The greatest part about it was the chopsticks holding the bun up :) We were one of the first schools to perform which was good because the show ended up being hours long. The three of us were soooo nervous before we got on stage but right when we walked on everyone went nuts!! There was tons of whistling and cheering (probably from our other four girls in the audience but we like to pretend it was everyone). It was hard not to laugh on stage at the craziness of me modeling a dress in China. What are the odds...It was a great night. It was such a neat experience that I am so glad I got to have.