ZhangJiaJie (Avatar Mountains)

Our last vacation finds us in the beautiful mountain regions of ZhangJiaJie in the Hunan Province. These mountains are more commonly known as the Avatar mountains because they are the mountains which are featured in the movie Avatar. I wish I could post a picture here because they are so incredible! We were there for 2 and a half days. We took a train to the Hunan province and it took 15 hours!!! Luckily it was a sleeper train so we were able to lay down. That's how I like to travel!

We stayed at the Wulingyuan Hostel that was run by a guy named Victor. The hostel wasn't the greatest, but Victor was amazing! He volunteered himself to be our guide and took us all around the parks! It was so nice of him! We would have been lost without him!

Our first day in ZhangJiaJie we visited the Tianmen Mountain, also known as Heavens Gate. We took a cable car up to the top of this mountain that is about 3,000 feet high. Up at the top it was incredibly foggy so unfortunately we weren't able to see the amazing view as we walked on a walkway around the side of the mountain. There was a part of the walkway that was made of glass so you could see the nothingness below you, but again, it was foggy. Looking out at the fog was eerie because it felt as if there was nothing out there. Just pure white fog. There are 999 steps leading up Heavens Gate but luckily we walked down them instead of up them. Thanks to Victor and his expertise we did it the smart way!

That night when we got back from the mountain we found some really good street food! Like I said, street food is the best! Then we headed back to our hostel. In the middle of the night I woke up with a pretty bad earache. Gosh I hate my bad ears. Because of some surgery I've had on my left ear, it doesn't regulate pressure like normal, so it doesn't usually pop. I think because of the elevation there was too much pressure and it caused an earache. So that was a rough night.

The next day I didn't want to miss out on the Avatar mountains, so I took some ibuprofen and I was fine for most of the day. While we were on the mountain we saw some monkeys hanging out. I was holding a cutie orange and one of the monkeys walked over to me and just kind of looked at me. I could tell he wanted my orange and I was kind of nervous what the monkey would do if I didn't give it to him so I put my hand out and he grabbed it from me. It was so cool!! We weren't supposed to feed them so I was nervous to give it to him but I'd rather feed him than have him attack me!

That night when we got back to our hostel my ear was pretty bad again so I drugged up on some ibuprofen and a sleeping pill. I woke up the next morning feeling ok, slightly nauseous, but I didn't think I should push my luck. So everyone else went out to the park again and I went back up the room and slept til noon. Everyone came back around 2 and we headed out to catch our train back home.

Even with the ear infection it was still a great vacation! Very beautiful and cold! Definitely a must see spot in China.

See you soon!
Enjoy the Ride!

Halloween!!

The week of Halloween was so full of stuff to do!

Here's what our week looked like:

Tuesday: set up the Haunted House for the Primary kids. That took a good couple of hours.

Wednesday: Primary kids Halloween party. We worked the Haunted house and scared so many kids to tears! We were all dressed as Zombies. We also were part of the performance they had and we did two different dances. At the end of our thriller dance we jumped off the stage and ran into the crowd. The kids all scooted back so fast screaming and laughing, but mostly screaming. haha it was so funny! The Chinese teachers didn't think it was that funny.

Thursday: We had to decorate the front doors/stage of the Kindergarten for our kids performance. Our kindergarten kids practiced all month to perform some Halloween songs for their parents.

Friday: The Kindergarten kids did their performance and then we had a carnival outside where they played games and got candy. It was a lot of fun!

Saturday: We got roped into setting up yet another Haunted House at the mall for anyone and everyone to go through. Luckily we weren't participants in that one. But we did have to perform on a stage in the middle of the mall. We did our Time Warp dance and it was so fun! I love that dance/song. The rest of the night Ian, Kaitlyn and I stood in front of a backdrop and either had people take pictures of us or with us all dressed up in our costumes. Kaitlyn and I were both just zombies again and Ian was a lion. haha. It was really fun. I felt like a model at a photo shoot all night. A zombie photo shoot.

It was a really busy Halloween week. I think that's the most I've ever done for Halloween. But it was fun. I like being busy so it was nice to have something to do and look forward to.

I would add some pictures but my internet connection is too weak for that. Stupid.

Until next time,

Enjoy the Ride!

Shanghai Adventure

October 4 - October 7, 2015

SHANGHAI!

Day 5 - Oct. 4th

 After our fabulous night at the airport, we woke up and headed to our hostel. Rock & Wood International Youth Hostel. We were able to drop off our bags and found some breakfast around the corner from our hostel. I've found that some of the best food is street food for two reasons; not only does it taste good, but it's usually pretty cheap! Our first stop of the day was the Yuyuan Gardens. Within the grand architecture of a crowded street market you will find a very beautiful and intricate garden, as the Chinese call it. However, in this garden I only found one flower. Again, garden doesn't really mean beds of flowers here. It's more like a large area to walk around that has buildings and places to sit and enjoy company. I can't think of what the equivalent would be in America. Probably because we don't have anything like it. In any case, it was really pretty. 

After a quick nap back at the hostel we set out to find some dinner. We found a place called the Noodle House so we figured it was a safe bet. One of the items on the menu was called specialty fried rice. I ended up ordering that and some of the others got some noodles. They brought out noodles and more noodles, but no rice. When we asked them where the specialty fried rice was they pointed to one of the plates of noodles. Hmmm. Interesting. But it was the best specialty fried rice I ever had! It was so good! 

We then went to one of the tallest buildings in the world called the World Financial Center. We took an elevator up the 94th floor and were able to see out the windows overlooking the entire city of Shanghai. It was really cool. Especially at night with everything being all lit up. We explored the city a little bit more and then called it a day.

Day 6 - Oct. 5th

 What's a trip without some good souvenirs?! Yes, we went shopping again! This time the market we went to was under the Science and Technology Museum, apparently. It was a pretty big market with some really good deals. Either it was way easier to bargain there or we were just getting a lot better at it! We got some really good stuff and we were all feeling pretty good about ourselves. That night we decided to go to the Bund. It's a part of town in Shanghai that is really popular mostly for the view across the river. It's similar to seeing the New York City skyline. The view was really cool but getting there was a nightmare! Since it was still the holiday we were among thousands of people in this city. There were so many people that they had the military out on the streets to help control the crossings. When we weren't supposed to walk there was a line of military men standing in front of us blocking us from walking. Then when we could cross they moved out of the way. It was really cool to witness. But also really crazy that it was so crowded they had to be there. After being around all these people all day and walking so many miles we were pretty tuckered out so we headed on back to our hostel for the night. 

Day 7 - Oct. 6th

This was the day I got to ride an Elephant!!!! We woke up bright and early and made our way to the Shanghai Wild Animal Park. It was really cool to see so many different animals! Pandas, Giraffes, Camels, Lions, Tigers, Flamingos, Monkeys, Apes and Elephants! Just to name a few. They had an area where you could hold a baby tiger and it was kind of sad to see just how drugged up the tiger was. :( At first it looked like it was sleeping but as they continued to pass it from one person to the next you could tell that it wasn't asleep, it was drugged. That made me sad. I liked seeing the animals because it's cool to see these animals that you don't get to see everyday. But it does make me sad that they are kept in confined spaces. 

We ate dinner at the Noodle House again. Yummy! And then we headed to the airport to again, sleep there and wait for our flight. Unfortunately it wasn't that simple. We got the airport late and turns our we were in the wrong terminal. So we had to get to terminal 2 which is doable if you go by subway. The subway didn't close for another 10 minutes so we all ran to the security entrance but they wouldn't let us go through. We couldn't wait until the morning because our flight was early so we had to take a taxi to terminal 2. We get there and the terminal doors are closed!!! We had resigned ourselves to sleeping outside in the somewhat cold weather, until a kind Chinese man told us that the arrivals gate was open and we could sleep on the floor in there. So that's where we went. And let me tell you, I hate sleeping on the floor! 

But after a restless nights sleep and a bout of procedures in the morning, eventually we made it home in one piece. 

It was such a fun trip. I have loved being here in China, experiencing the culture and seeing the sights. It's been a huge blessing. 

Well that's all for now! Until next time! 

Enjoy the Ride

Beijing Adventure

September 29 - October 7, 2015
There's so much to write about my most recent trip! I'll probably have to break it up into separate posts. So let's just start with Beijing.

BEIJING IS AMAZING!!!! I loved every minute of being there! I wish we could have gone when it wasn't a national holiday here because there were so many people! But it was still fantastic. The holiday that just occurred was the mid-autumn festival. Basically the equivalent of the U.S. fall break. We stayed in a hostel called the Dragon King Hostel and it was such a great place to stay. It was really close to the subway station. They had a great cafe with delicious Western food that we ate at almost every night. The staff was incredibly helpful and they spoke pretty good English as well. :) I recommend it to anyone looking to stay in Beijing.

Day 1 -Sept. 30 

Day one in Beijing. We step out of the airport and head on to the subway to get to our hostel. I'm no foreigner to subways so I know that you need to keep an eye on your belongings. Well I had my back to the wall and I was talking to my group. There was a guy next to me but I didn't think anything of it because my bag was up against the wall. We were about to get off and I looked behind me to make sure I had everything and I see this guys hand slowly creep back under his jacket. I looked at my bag and the zipper had been opened about 2 inches! My heart started pounding even though I know he didn't get anything but the fact that he was trying to, and would have had I not looked, that was terrifying. I would have been stuck with no money on the first day of the vacation! Scary! Welcome to Beijing!!!

Aside from that the subway is the absolute best way to get anywhere. Unless you want to see more of the city, then you can walk but it takes longer, obviously. Our first day in Beijing we decided to go to Tiananmen Square and Forbidden City. Unfortunately the Subway wasn't letting people off at the Tiananmen stop so we decided to get off on the stop before it and then walk to Tiananmen Square and I am so glad we did! We ended up happening upon this awesome street called Wangfujing street. It was a street filled with tons of shopping and down one of the side streets was a ton of really great food and market shopping where you could bargain for trinkets and souvenirs. I'm really glad we found it!

Eventually we made it to Tiananmen Square and Forbidden City. Honestly the whole city kind of looks the same. But it was still really neat. There were "gardens" throughout the city that were for different purposes and they had pretty seating areas. I say "gardens" because when you think of a garden you think of flowers and bushes and things like that. No, these gardens are more like trees with a few lily ponds, but mostly sidewalks and pagodas to sit at. It's really pretty and intricate!

After Tiananmen we walked back to Wangfujing street and hung out there for a little while longer then finished our day at Silk Street (or Silk Market). It sounds like a place where you'd find a lot of silk right? Wrong! It's an indoor market full of all sorts of chinese trinkets. They have knock off Prada, Nike, Converse, Adidas, North Face. All sorts of stuff. Yes, I bought quite a bit! In the silk market it is expected that you will bargain for what you want. They'll start out at ridiculously high prices but when you say it's too much and start to walk away they ask you, "Ok, how much you want to pay?" Then you go back and forth and if they still won't give you the price you want you just walk away and more than likely they will come after you and give it to you for the price you are asking for. It's pretty intense sometimes! I actually didn't like the feeling of it at first because it just all felt so contentious and hostile. But once you get used to how to bargain it's better. Some of the people in my group were really good at it.

Day 2 - Oct. 1

We woke up early and headed out on a bus to the Great Wall!!!! Seriously one of the best days of my life! The wall is so cool! I cannot believe that people built the wall that huge and that long!! It amazes me! The day we went the weather was absolutely perfect. There was no pollution, the sky was clear, it wasn't too hot. It was overall just a fantastic day. We visited the part of the wall called Mutianyu. It was a good part of the wall to visit because it's a little less touristy, but also when we went it wasn't quite the holiday yet either. So that helped. At this part of the wall they had a toboggan you could ride down, like the Alpine slide. It was pretty fun, however I wasn't able to go as fast as I'd like because an Asian woman in front of me was going so slow! That was a bummer. But the lunch that we got after the wall made up for it! I know I complain a lot about Chinese food, but that's because the food I mostly eat is the terrible cafeteria food at our school all day every day. But this food was actually really really good! If that was the food I was eating everyday I would be totally fine with life. Sigh....

After the wall we went to the Silk Market again. So much shopping! haha 

Day 3 - Oct. 2

This was the day that the holiday actually started for all of China, so when we went to the Summer Palace this day it was SOOO crowded!!! It was pretty terrible how crowded it was. Not only was it crowded but walking through the palace grounds you were only allowed to go one way so everyone was filtered in and out together. It was like walking through a herd of cattle. Very crowded. But the Palace itself was really pretty. So huge. All the architecture in China is so amazing. Though after a while, all the buildings start to blend together. You see one you've seen them all. Ok not quite but close. There was a place when you first walk into the palace grounds, it's called Suzhou street. It's a mini water city. There are shops all around the water and a little bit of a ledge that you can walk around on it. In the middle of all the shops is water and there are little boats that they would use to get around in. 

The Palace grounds themselves are HUGE! We spent a couple hours there and we still didn't even see a majority of it. There is a medium sized lake in the back of the complex and around the lake were more places you could go see. We didn't get to that side of the lake though. We were pretty tired of the crowds by the time we finally left. 

That night we went to an acrobatic show. Chinese acrobats are so crazy! There was a giant metal cage in the shape of a hamster ball and a guy on a motorcycle went inside the cage and rode around in it. Then another joined him, and another, and another, and another. I think by the end of it there were either 5 or 6 motorcycles in this cage all driving around, amazingly not running into each other! It was insane! 

Day 4 - Oct. 3

This was our last day in Beijing before we headed to Shanghai. We went to the Temple of Heaven which isn't necessarily just one big temple, but rather a big park with a lot of neat buildings all around. It kind of felt like we were in central park a little bit. In the park there are so many people that just hang out there. There were individuals playing music, people dancing, people doing some sort of exercise, entire orchestras playing music, people singing in groups. It was such a relaxing atmosphere. Even though there were still quite a few people there it was way more spread out and enjoyable. It was so fun to see these Chinese people in their element doing their own thing. When we came across a group of people singing and dancing they started pulling people from the crowd to dance with them, so my friends and I went into the middle and danced with them. It was so much fun! I really enjoyed the Temple of Heaven. 

After that we went to the Pearl Market. Again, sounds like a place full of pearls huh! Well it kinda is. It's an indoor market again with multiple floors. The first floor was full of t-shirts, scarves, makeup, beats, electronics, etc. One floor was all bags, another floor all shoes, another floor all jewelry. It was a great market! I actually liked the Pearl Market a lot better than the Silk Market. I was sad that we didn't spend as much time there as we did at the Silk Market. I liked the layout of the Pearl Market better and I feel like it was easier to bargain there. 

After the market we had to head to the airport to catch our flight to Shanghai. We got into Shanghai that night and spent the night on the airport benches and floor. That was an adventure I'd rather not repeat. We did it that way because we thought we were going to get in later and then it would have been hard to get to our hostel because the metro closes after a certain time. Turns out we could have made it on time to the metro and a hostel...but oh well. Hindsight 20/20. 

Well that sums up my trip to Beijing! I absolutely loved Beijing! It was such a fun adventure and I am so grateful I was able to go! I will post separately about Shanghai! Though I do have to say it wasn't quite as fantastic as Beijing....Maybe that's just because it was towards the end of our trip and I was tired. But it was still amazing! :) 

Till next time! 

xoxo Enjoy The Ride! 

They Call Me Teacher

The younger Kindy group. They are definitely harder. 

These are some of my students. Just try to tell me they aren't cute! They all love pictures so anytime a phone is out you can expect to be bombarded! 

These kids have my heart! I love teaching them. I never realized how exhausting teaching is. It is seriously so draining. I come home at the end of my 3 hour teaching day, (only 3 hours!) and I'm ready for bed! They can wear you out! Kudos to the teachers that stay there all day long with those kids. They definitely deserve an award. 

Sometimes I feel like all I do the whole day is speak loudly to the kids to get them to listen or pay attention, By the end of it I've almost lost my voice. My mom told me to try speaking quietly or whispering, but that doesn't really work for some reason. Maybe on kids that speak your own language it would work better. What makes it difficult is that we have two classes that share one room, so not only do you hear your kids but you also hear the other teacher and their kids. So even if my class is being quiet and listening to me it still feels incredibly loud in the room because of the other kids. That can be difficult for the kids as well because they will get distracted by what's going on on the other side of the room. But if I make my lesson more interesting and entertaining they will want to listen to me. Therein lies the challenge! Somehow we make it work. 

Lang Lang, Dora and CiCi

These are a couple of the kids from my older Kindy class. They know so much English. It is definitely easier to teach them because they respond more to what I say and they are generally more interested in listening. I have too many favorites to even say that I have a favorite.

Lang Lang is very smart. He speaks a lot of English pretty well. And he's just so cute! 

Dora is adorable and she knows it! The first little bit she did really well with talking a lot. The past week though she hasn't been talking as much which is weird. Hopefully that will change this coming week. 

CiCi is such a fun girl. She likes to participate and she's very smart. Although the other day I had to correct her a lot and ask her to stop playing with her skirt and pay attention. Man she did not like that. If looks could kill I would be dead right now. That look she gave me that day was the nastiest stink eye I think I've ever received. She was not happy with me. Unfortunately, sometimes you have to be the bad guy. 

Pirate Odin!!!

Our little old man Andy and Cutie pie Linda

I love these kids! I don't think I could say it enough! If I were in to picking favorites Odin would be at the top of my list! He's just so sweet, always nice, participates in lessons and he's just cute! But then there's Adam too. He has the smallest mouth and he has a little lisp to go with it. He's just adorable! He's also at the top of my favorites list. There's just too many! And I love them all! I love watching them grow and learn English. It's so fun when they think you are the funniest person ever. My favorite lessons are when I can get them to laugh. Too cute to handle!

My man Adam! Cuter than words!

Well, I could probably talk a lot more about a lot of my students but I won't bore you. Just know that they are all cute as can be and I'm having a blast teaching them and learning more about myself! 

Until next time.

 Love, Hugs and Smiles!

Enjoy the Ride!

The Beautiful Yangshuo

Sorry I didn't post for a while, our internet has been spotty. But it seems to be fixed and working much better now. 

Two weekends ago my group had the opportunity to go on a 4 day vacation. It was incredible in so many ways! 

If you have never heard of Yangshuo, China you should definitely put it on your bucket list. It is seriously the most amazingly beautiful place! China is definitely not how I pictured it! At least not here in the southern part. It's basically like California but with a lot of humidity and a lot of palm trees. In Yangshuo they have mountains that are referred to as the Dr. Seuss mountains because of how they are formed. This is just a glimpse of the lush beauty!!

This is the Li River. It's murky and brown but the scenery is absolutely stunning.

However, if you get the chance to come here, raft down the Yulong river on a real bamboo raft. I wish we would have done that but our trip down the river was still fun.  

As we were rafting we saw water buffalo along the side of the river. They were so big. Also the 20 Yuan (The Chinese 20 dollar bill) has these same mountains on it. It's really cool! 

We stayed at the No Kidd Inn (a hostel) and they helped us arrange all of our activities that we did. It was very helpful and decently priced. 

The second day we were there we rented bikes and biked out to Gold Water Caves. Driving in China is crazy! Everybody that drives is so aggressive!! I'm amazed there aren't more accidents! They follow really close, cut people off very sharply, block traffic when they try to turn one way or another. It's madness. So imagine riding a bike alongside that! I was afraid for my life! Ok, not really, but I was slightly nervous at times. The Gold Water Caves are so cool! They have different colored lights to light the caves and make it look so pretty. Towards the end of the cave there was a mud pool that we swam in! It was so gross feeling, but cool at the same time. If you sat down in the water and then lifted up your hand and legs you would float there, you're bum not touching the ground and your head staying completely above water. It was so strange and cool! Everyone who did it freaked out about it! It was fun. I would post a picture but my computer is being weird about letting me get pictures from my phone. :/ So that's unfortunate. 

After the mud caves we went white water rafting down the Lingjong River! That was by far the greatest thing I have ever done! When I think of rafting I think of Snake River in Wyoming which is huge and you're sitting in a big 10-15 person tube. Well this definitely wasn't that! It was a small two person raft and the river was narrow and probably not extremely deep but deep enough that we were still able to raft. It was so pretty too! Just like everything else in China it was lush and green and jungly! SO amazing! I took the GoPro down the river with me! Definitely a few gems on there! haha. I'm so glad I had that! Thanks for letting me borrow it Merik! I am extremely surprised the raft didn't pop. Those things were very durable because there were some rocks we went over that felt like they should have popped the tube. I would have gladly rafted that river every day we were in Yangshuo! It was SO MUCH FUN!!!! 

Our group before we went down

We were looking very sporty in our awesome life jackets, helmets and "safety shoes". 

I love my group. There are 16 of us and sometimes it can be quite a chore trying to keep us all together but we make it work. 

We're so excited!

My raft buddy Kaitlyn!

L-R: Ian, Ellen, Me, Josie, Tristan

 Going down the river with Kaitlyn was so much fun! She laughs at everything! Multiple times during the ride she said, "We're gonna die!" Haha. We were both screaming a ton and having a blast. Almost every time we went over a drop or a fall we were sideways! It was so scary because it felt like the tube was going to flip!
Still so much fun!

Right before the first drop! 

Loving life!

  Most definitely a high light of my life! 

The next day was a little more relaxed. We rented mopeds and drove around the city. We drove to a place called Moon Hill and hiked up it.

Moon Hill! We made it!

Funny story: As we pulled up to Moon Hill and were parking our mopeds these older Chinese women came up to us and told us they could get us in for 15 Yuan for 2 people, whereas at the gate it's 15 Yuan for one person. So we said okay and decided to follow them. They take us around this back entrance, though we didn't know that at the time, and the lady guiding us tells us to be quiet. Suddenly she runs over to the brick wall and jumps over it expecting us to follow. WHAT!?! So we all followed suit, jumped over the wall and she led us on this unpaved path to the real path. 

She snuck us in to Moon Hill!!! It was so funny! We were all dying because of the situation. 

The view from the top was really pretty! Hiking up there was so humid and hot! Not only that but the incline was pretty steep too, and a lot of stairs. It was kind of ridiculous! Dripping sweat by the time I got up. But the view on top was definitely worth it! 

After Moon Hill we decided to ride around a bit, and then we got caught in a rainstorm. Kaitlyn was driving and this video will show you what happened during this time! haha It was scary in the moment but funny afterwards. Luckily nobody was hurt. (Sorry I didn't/couldn't edit the video before I posted it.) I thought that I had stopped recording after the accident but apparently I didn't. So after the wreck you can stop watching. :)

This is what happened to our Moped

Ok apparently the video doesn't work so you can't watch it. But basically what happened was we were riding our moped on the side of the street and there was nobody in front of  us. Remember how I said driving in China is crazy? Well, suddenly this white car pulls off to the side of the road and just stops! He didn't even pull off all the way. He stopped right in front of us and we couldn't just swerve out into the road, otherwise we would have been hit by other cars. We were able to miss crashing straight into him but we ended up hitting the back corner of his trunk. It left a couple scratches on the trunk but our moped definitely got the worst of it.
They got out of the car to talk to us but we couldn't understand what they were saying and they couldn't understand us so eventually they just waved us away. There was nothing we could do! We didn't have an insurance card or anything, or a number to write down. Plus, we didn't live there!

Oops!

 When we took the Moped back to the lady we rented it from, she didn't notice at first that it was broken and she said, "Thanks, bye!" (In Chinese of course) So I started to kind of walk away but then my conscience got to me and there is no way I could have just walked away without saying anything and let her find it later. That just was not right. I actually started to cry when I thought about doing that. I would have had so much guilt and regret. So I turned around and showed her it was broken, then showed her the video. In the end we only payed 400 Yuan for damages, though she wanted more, I just didn't have it at the time. I felt terrible. Luckily nobody was injured though!

While we were walking around in the park, there was a guy making cotton candy and he made this awesome flower for me.
Well, that's all for now. I know it's a lot and that doesn't even begin to explain or cover the amazing experience I had in Yangshuo. We had delicious Mango smoothies, explored the magnificent walking street, and also got fish pedicures! Definitely a first and last time for everything! haha It was so weird! I screamed and couldn't put my feet in for the longest time!

Until next time! 

 

A cotton candy flower. So cool!

Enjoy the Ride!!

The Past Two Weeks

8.30.15
I don't quite understand how people function here on a normal, daily basis! It is just ridiculously hot! I made a video and I intended to post it on here but apparently the file is too big. So that's unfortunate, because in it you would have seen awesome beads of sweat just dripping down my face. Constantly, that's what happens. I don't think I've ever been more physically uncomfortable in my life! But what can ya do? Eventually I'll get used to it.

So day one, we did practically nothing all day long. It was weird how it turned out because we were supposed to be doing all sorts of stuff but then we didn't. Idk. I woke up around 8 or so maybe and then we were going to go the supermarket at 10 but it took us forever to get going. We have native coordinators here that help us out a lot. They came and inspected our apartments to make sure we had everything we were supposed to. That took a while. So we got a late start getting to the market. The second you walk through those doors though, actually, before you even make it to the doors of the market you can smell the most pungent stench. It made one of my friends from my group cough a ton. It was pretty bad. Now I've kind of gotten over it. It still smells bad but at least I can prepare myself for it!

The next day we went into town to a place called Walking Street. It is a pretty neat place! There are tons of shops and stores to go in to and lots of people out on the streets selling their crafts. Some of the stuff is really neat! They have these really cool bikes made out of colored wires that were really fascinating. I think I'll go back and get a couple as souvenirs. While we were out at walking street we also went to a KTV place. For those of you who don't know (like I didn't) it's a karaoke place! They call it KTV. We went in and it's not just a big room with a mic in the front that everyone goes into. We got our own private room for our group with a big tv on the wall to project the song/music video. Basically all of us just screamed the songs together so it wasn't really karaoke but it kinda was. Two people had mics and they got up to sing but everyone else sang along. It was a lot of fun!

Also, while we were walking around Walking Street we got caught in a downpour! It's so interesting, when it rains here it dumps for maybe 20 minutes and then it's over. It might sprinkle again or it could dump again but it's usually pretty spread out. It's nice because then we can still walk around and just wait it out if it's bad. We found a really gorgeous place on one of the side streets. There are these stairs that lead up into what looks like a jungle, (which is all of China actually. It's SOOO green here!) Once you get to the first landing there's more steps leading straight or you can go to the left up a few smaller steps. We went to the left and saw the most gorgeous view of the city from an overlook. There was a circular archway that led to the overlook that was very unique to China. It really made me feel like I was somewhere foreign...which I am.

9.10.15
I've now spent two weeks here in China and it still blows my mind that I am here. It almost doesn't phase me since I have my big group that I'm with and we all speak English to each other. And when we teach we teach in English. I'm pretty much used to seeing only Chinese people now. When I see Americans or white people that aren't in our group it's an oddity and it makes my heart leap a little. I just want to talk to them and see how their experience in China is! It's funny. I haven't felt homesick or anything which is great, except when it comes to food...but we'll get to that later.

Clockwise: Lang, Dora and CiCi

We have started teaching and the kids are so adorable. Sometimes while I'm teaching I don't think that because they can be little terrors and behave badly, but for the most part they are just so stinking cute! They call me Teacher Alyssa. :) It makes my heart melt! Especially when I see them outside of class and they get so excited to see me and they call out my name! It's adorable and heartwarming!
Pic on the right clockwise: Lang(pronounced long), Dora and CiCi
Pic below: Odin,
Easily 4 of my favorite kids!

Pirate Odin! 

Teaching is interesting because I really just feel like I'm yelling all day. Well, all morning. We only teach for 2 and a half-ish hours each day, from 8:40-11:20. I'm teaching Kindergarten, the 4-6 year olds. We call it Kindy for short. Each class has 7-8 students in it. We don't have separate classrooms for each class, we just use one big room for 3 classes and sit on opposite sides of it. It makes it difficult for some of the lessons because the kids in one group will get distracted by the kids in the other group. And if the other group is being loud it makes it hard for you to hear your students and it all just feels loud all the time! I'm almost hoarse by the end of each day. But it's ok. The kids are cute and we make it work. When they smile and laugh and think you're the greatest thing since sliced bread, it makes everything else ok! It especially makes the awful cafeteria food worth it!

Now, back to the food. Oh there's so much I could say about our cafeteria food. Pretty sure my insides are all sorts of messed up because my body can't process all the freaking rice and oils I'm eating!!! AH! The rice really isn't the worst thing. It's actually the only real staple I have....in every meal. I am seriously lacking on the protein though. Anytime they have meat you're lucky if you get enough of it that doesn't have bones. They just cook everything, bones and all! Then you get to play "find the meat". Or it simply all looks sketchy so you'd rather not try. Or it's dark meat and we all know I'm just not a fan of that. They serve shrimp that still looks like real shrimp and you have to peel it, vein and all. I don't like seafood anyway but if I did and I had to peel all that off I don't think I could do it. The side dishes they have are all drenched in oils. It's as if they don't know how to steam a vegetable! That's all I want is just a steamed veggie. Not an oil drenched, soupy veggie. With all that being said, I am grateful I at least have food. I could go out to eat every night for dinner but that's just a poor choice for the wallet. Even if the american dollar is equivalent to 6 Yuan, it still goes fast. On the plus side, I'm really good with chopsticks now! :) I thought it would be hard to eat with them, and it can be depending on the food, but for the most part I can eat almost anything with them. Even slippery noodles. PRO!!

Sorry this is a long post, I just haven't updated in a while. There will be another lengthy post soon about our 4 day trip to Yangshuo last weekend! It was so amazing! Definitely a MUST SEE place!

Until then! Love, hugs and smiles! :)

Oh, also, I'm learning Kung Fu! :)

EnjoyTheRide 

Longest Day Ever!

I finally made it to China!! I lost an entire day in the process but that's what happens when you fly half way around the world! My flight itinerary said I was to leave Salt Lake on Tuesday morning at 8:59 and have a 2 hour flight to San Francisco. Then there would be a 3 hour layover and at 12:45 we would board the plane to Hong Kong landing at 6:40 pm Wednesday! (Time travel is possible people!!!) Then, we'd have a 30 min ferry ride to get into China, then a bus ride (we weren't told how long) to get to our apartments. That all sounds pretty simple and easy right?! Well when you're traveling with a huge group of foreigners that have no idea what they are doing it ends up taking quite a bit longer! 

So here's how my past 29 hour travel day went: 

They want us at the airport at 6:30am. So I woke up at 5am and Todd drove me to the airport around 5:45am

I got through customs and security and went to wait for my flight. 

8:45am - Our flight was delayed to we had to wait another hour before we could leave. Boarded and left around 9:45.

Get to San Francisco around 11:00am and think we have to get to our connecting flight by 12:45

We wait for our flight to board and are told that our airplane is out of service, so they have to redirect us to another airplane. We don't leave San Francisco until 2:00pm.

(Insert 13 hours on a plane here) --->
I watched three movies and maybe slept for an hour that whole flight!

We land in Hong Kong around 7:15pm Wednesday evening. (See, time travel!)

Then it takes us forever to get off the plane and figure out where we have to go to get on the ferry that will take us to China. Once we figure that out we have to wait another hour or so. The ferry doesn't leave until 10pm. At this point I was able to meet up with my friend Marilee! :) That was happy! A familiar face!

We finally make it into China around 10:30pm, but it takes us a good half hour just to get all of our luggage. We had to drag all of our luggage from the ferry to a bus. And when I say all the luggage I mean each person had AT LEAST 3 bags! It was rough! Not to mention that it was sweltering hot! Seriously, just sweat dripping down my face, back, everything. Mind you it's late at night and it's that hot. Imagine how it will be during the day! AH!

From there we had a 2 hour bus ride to get to Kaiyin. That's the city and school I will be teaching at and where we are living. By this time it is 2am! 2am people!!!!! And I think in all of that time I maybe slept for 2 or 3 hours total. I don't do well sleeping on planes or any sort of automobile. 

So, my math may be a little off and it may seem like some time was lost somewhere in that hullabaloo, I just attribute it to the luggage shifting and group traveling.

 But there ya have it. My first experience in China. I made it alive and safe and I'm excited for the adventure to continue. 

What's Happening!?!

T minus 32 hours until I board the plane to China! What am I getting myself into!?! I've never even thought about visiting Asia. It never appealed to me. But then my dear roommate and friend, Marilee, told me she was going to China to teach English for 4 months with ILP (International Language Programs). Somehow she was able to convince me to go with! So, here we are. I am excited and nervous and anxious! All of the above! It will definitely be an adventure. A time to learn to love new things. I am a picky eater so that will be an obstacle to overcome. But what's life without a few challenges?!