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.

Little Lucas

So I have to tell you the story that happened today in class. The kids have been really good this week mostly because we started a "Three strikes and you go to the Chinese teacher" rule. The Chinese teachers are pretty brutal so all of the kids try to avoid that as much as possible. Anyway, today in one of classes there is this little boy named Lucas. He is adoreable. He has glasses and knows almost perfect English. You forget you're teaching a six year old how to speak. Today he walked in and said "Teacher Mandy sick". I've been sick for the last couple days but I haven't ever said anything so I'm not sure how he knew that. He probably saw me coughing, he's a very smart kid. Anyway when I replied that I was sick he came over and sat his chair next to mine and said "I will take care of you". He perceded to hold my hand and warm it up with his own hand. The whole time just mumbling "You are so cold I will warm you". When he was done warming up my hand, and I had to get up to teach the rest of my lesson, he put his arms around me, said "I love you", and gave me a kiss on the cheek. Way to become the teacher's pet! Pretty much made me never want to yell at him again... he knows how to work the system :)