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!