I came, I saw, I conquered

I came, I saw, I conquered

4-29-13 Monday

I am very happy to report that today, when I woke up I felt much better than yesterday. Yeah, I’m still sick, I cough more often than not and my nose is so stuffy, most of the time. I can't taste the food I eat but I can function and I don't wish that I was laying in my grave. It’s all about improvement! I got up early this morning trying to decide what would be good to wear since we don't really know the weather here in Guilin. It’s really humid and warm but it’s supposed to rain... this Utah girl doesn't know the first thing about humidity so I was clueless and just took advice from the others in the group. Light weight capris with shorts underneath and a dark shirt in case I get wet I won't be see through and I won’t be too hot.... I hope. Mark, Sarah, Kristen, Andrea and I couldn't book our hostel for two nights so we checked out and took our backpacks into Andrea, Susan and Cindy's room and put it up on their bed. They had a 4 person mixed room so that means they had a random guy sleeping in their room when we left. We all rushed out and hopped into the taxi when it donned on me, this guy is going to wake up to a bed full of back packs. One contains a perfectly good MacBook pro... I’m. an. Idiot! Holy crap what is wrong with me?? my stomach sank a little when the though occurred to me how popular apple is here and how much people would be willing to pay for the iPhone let alone my laptop... *Gulp* not only that, but I have everything right here on this device, I’ve never really had much of a relationship with my laptop like I do with my car and phone. I have so much on my phone and adore my car but I guess I just took my computer for granted. We took a taxi to the Bus Station and started our 3 hour journey to the Rice terraces where I had all the time in the world to contemplate everything I have on Mackenzie (that's my laptops name) and how much I really do have stored on her. If I lost her I would lose all the pictures of me and Moe, good thing I have those saved on Cds at home. But then there goes all my essays, the movies I have made in my free time, my pictures from China so far, my iTunes creations and so on. I realized how much I really do rely on my little Mackenzie and hoped that when I got back I could have the chance to see her again and really show her how I feel... ;) oh geeze, look at me. Talking about my love for an inanimate object. I guess you could say I really am a true blue Mac lover. We drove for about an hour and a half and I prayed a million times in my heart that the integrity of the people at the Hostel would show mercy on me at least 10 times before we had to change busses and hop onto the next bus. I think the humidity here has had soothing powers on my throat because it was just fine. My nose? Not so much, I was still blowing more often than not and grossing myself out but I could take it. Anything but what I was feeling in Xi'an please! We got onto the second bus and was blown away by the beauty of my surroundings! I was in total shock. I really had no idea what to expect with the rice terraces, but from what was around me, I didn't really care what we did that day, my expectations were already met. I stepped of the bus on the side of a winding road in the middle of a canyon. Mountains towering over me ever where I looked, the only separation was created by a paved road traveled by buses and scooters driven by the locals. The pavement stopped at a cliff hidden by trees but revealed by a river running alongside of it. The seemingly gloomy weather provided the perfect temperature and mystical fog that rose from the river and gathered around the rare bridges providing an inviting option of direction to the driver. This place was straight out of a story book. This is fairytale towns name is Heping. Maybe I am just oblivious or ignorant when researching, but when looking at the rice terraces in Longsheng, no one ever warned me about Heping. Before I got here, I would close my eyes and imagine china with little old men holding large amounts on a stick thrown over their shoulders, kids running up and down dirt streets while their parents worked in shops or out in the fields. I knew that places like Bejing would be far from what I imagined but after two months of being in china I was beginning to think that the image that I had painted in my head with the homely, hardworking, traditional Chinese people was nonexistent. That was until I saw the people of Heping. Sitting in the front seat of the big yellow bus pulling up and taking the whole dirt road, climbing the hills of this town, I have never felt so out of place. I stared out the window I felt a new admiration grow in my heart for these hard working people so disconnected to the world but totally content with their lives. I don't know if any foreigner of this little community could ever adapt to their way of life. As we climbed higher and higher up the mountain and further into these peoples hidden world, I became more and more mesmerized by this new life I had gotten a glimpse of. We got into Longsheng which was no different than Heping by taking a one lane road lining the monstrous mountainside of the giants surrounding me. To my left was a  rock wall built by mother nature, meanwhile to my right was a cliff built by gravity and here I was, sitting on a full bus of ILP teachers and natives getting on and off at each stop, wide eyed with terror and awe. As we took each corner, snaking up the mountain, the bus driver would honk his horn, thinking to myself, it echoes no matter where you are dude.. I figured that out in first grade. That was until a car came up head on. HELLO! Bus, winding road, mountainside, cliff... oh my gosh think skinny!!! and we squeezed by just in time. Im telling ya, Terrified and astonished in every sense of the words.

We wound around mountain after mountain until we got up to the Rice Terraces. There were native people there walking around in traditional clothes including these cute little lady's with pinkish outfits and a black hat. We were in such a rush this morning we didn't get to eat so we were trying to find some food to eat and finally found a little shop that sold crackers and water bottles. We sat down and ate our crackers and drank our water and paid for our tickets and then we started up the path. We really had no idea how long things took or where to go, we were just proud that we got ourselves here and figured we could just figure things out as we started going.

We walked up the paved path until we got to a sign that had arrows pointing in two different directions and took Robert Frost's advice. It didn't matter which way we decided to go, there was no bad area or something not worth seeing. Everywhere you turned, there was labor and the fruits of it. These people don't do anything the easy way, anything done here is worked for and nothing is left to go to waste. I can’t help but admire their hard working lifestyle. We followed path after path playing eenie meanie minie moe at each cross road, walking through old village homes and shops until we were so far into the greenery the only signs of life were our pumping hearts, heavy breathing, sweaty bodies and photosynthesis taking place all around. We hiked up and around incline after incline,

our hearts were racing and the humidity was looming on every inch of our bodies, but the tree enclosed path, revealing hidden waterfalls and glimpses of the village below us was more than enough to keep us climbing. Occasionally we would hear the sound of hoofs and Chinese and before long we saw a horse or donkey loaded to their max capacity with noodles or vegetables and their owner or guide walking behind them. One guide specifically stood out to me when

he approached us standing on the path while taking a break and stopped his horse to tell us that he saw the 3 other people in our group who were ahead of us were up the path and around the corner a little bit. We told him thank you and kept going with the information we already knew. We made it to the very top of the mountain we unintentionally climbed driven by our curiosity and admiration of the beauty around us

sweaty and short of breath. But more than satisfied by the view. Picture after picture was taken but never able to capture the serenity of the summit. After taking time to sit and soak in the sight before us, we headed back down the mountain. Mark has an inhumanly fast pace no matter where he goes and somehow Kristen is able to keep up with it so they took off and the rest of us

started our decent. On our way down our lovely friend who was watching out for us and trying to make sure we had tabs on our friends ahead of us, was climbing back up the mountain with not one but two horses with shoes in hand. To think he does this all day everyday. He waved enthusiastically and said hello as he passed with our horses and bare feet. As we neared the bottom of the mountain the thunder started rolling and the rain started to sprinkle down. Taking cover under the tree's shelter, we made it down to the bottom of the mountain and under the porch roof of a small restaurant before the rain started really pouring. After this morning’s traveling and afternoon mountain hike, our bodies had well used up whatever nutrients we got from our crackers earlier this morning so we found it only logical to find a menu and order some fried rice while at the Rice Terraces in Youngshuo.
The rice was amazing. Whether it was from local farming or I was just starving, but it was really good rice.

By the time we got done eating, the rain had stopped and we started to head back to the entrance but not without stopping in the village and look in the shops. We were looking around when I noticed a post card of girls in the pink traditional clothes I mentioned seeing the ladies in before but their heads were tipped down as if they were bringing their hair out of the water from the stream they were standing in. the only strange part was that their hair was long enough to be touching their feet while standing straight up. I looked at the next post card and realized that the black looking hats on their heads were not hats... it was hair!!! they wrapped their hair around their head and then covered the back with a black wrap. What the heck? I found out their names are “ladies in red” so I need to research what that is all about!

After shopping and browsing around, we decided it was time to get back to the hostel so we could go to our next Hostel about 10min away from the one we stayed in the night before. So we headed to the parking lot and started looking for a bus or drivers who would take us back to Guilin. We started talking to guys offering to take us in a van for 50¥ but we had a card talking about a bus that would take you for 30¥. we were in the middle of bartering with these guys and trying to talk them down when a lady came over and tried to talk to us. We were about to give up when a third lady came up and pulled out her fanny pack with a card that looked just like the one we had that said Youngshuo → Guilin 30¥. no need to say more! We agreed and followed her to the very full bus. We sat down and I was out. Amidst the jerking up and down, back and forth, and honking by the drivers aggressive driving on the road we were taking yet again on the side of the cliff, I was able to find some sleep here and there but was startled by honking and harsh braking more often than not.

Finally, we entered the city after trading buses and seemed to be getting closer when I was told by Mark and Crista to look out the window to find another group of ILP teachers waving out their windows. Geoff was in the van that the other teachers were in and he knows ASL so I signed to him and turns out there were coming back from the rice terraces too! So funny that we were able to see them! We got off the bus and got taxis. There were 9 of us and we can fit 4 in a taxi so that would mean two taxis and one person walking... so we chose Kristen should walk so we got in our taxis and left her there ... jokes. No we got the driver to say he knew where he was going and before he knew it, crammed 4 in the back and 1 up front and then shut and locked the door. We knew what he was trying to tell us but we pretended we didn't and finally he just drove. When we saw he didn't start the meter we knew he was going to try something fishy. We pulled out 10¥ because that’s how much it cost us to get there in the morning and waited to get back to the hostel. We pulled up and got out and made him real mad when we wouldn't pay him 30¥ we pointed to the meter and then to our brains and said

“we know” Rachelle told them in Chinese and we walked off. They tried to follow us and wave us down but then gave up when we went into our hostel. Nice try buddy charging triple the price. I went into the room saying a little prayer before I opened the door and there was our stuff sitting there untouched waiting for their owners. Halleluiah. We walked out of the room and mark realized he left his ipad charger so he went back to our old room and just knocked on the door. A girl opened the door and told him it was still there, walked over and pulled it out of the wall and handed it to him. Wow I love the people in this hostel honesty is the best policy!

Unfortunately, we had to check out and move to another hostel but it was supposed to be only a few blocks down so we started walking. We decided to follow the river and look at the many land marks along the walk and then finally came to the conclusion that we were satisfied with looking over the river and we didn't need to pay to go see them so it was time to call a taxi and head to the new hostel. I am supposed to meet up with Sam and Crista here because they skipped going to Xi'an and went to some other city instead and hiked what’s called the “avatar mountains”

we got in the hostel and I connected to Wifi to see if Crista had messaged me and it showed she did 5 min prior to me connecting and got the message that she was there! So I went up to my room and met the two of them. I was really excited to see them but probably more so than they were to see me.  The group I just came with, Mark, Sarah, Kristen, Rachelle, and Andrea were planning on doing something while we were here so we hit the night market! We were getting ready and convinced Crista and Sam to come with us and found our bus. The first double decker bus I’ve ever been on! It was pretty cool. We went to the night market and started looking around. Rachelle was feeling... well, I don't know she wouldn't tell me so not herself? So Crista was talking to her and Sam and I were walking up and down checking things out and catching up/ filling each other in about the trips. Rachelle was feeling better, I guess, so I was standing next to her and walking with Sam Crista when I looked down at a booth and then looked up and they were all gone... great, here we go again. This time wasn't as scary but yet sort of at the same time. I knew how to get to the hostel I thought but then again I am in some random city not just Weighi. I stood there for a little bit trying to set a time limit on how long I will wait there until I just give up on them noticing that I am missing and head to the hostel. I decided ten more min. a few min passed of me awkwardly standing there next to what looked like a police officer, you know, in case someone decides to take a white girl standing there alone in the street. I looked over to my left after two min or so and saw Sam and Crista walking down towards me. Yes! They noticed I was gone! I walked back up to them and they said they thought I was with the other group until they found the other group and I wasn't there. Whatever, I’m found and I’m hungry let’s get some food. The group wanted to go to Mc Donalds and I was leaning towards more street food, something good but cheaper than Mc Donalds. So I tried this fully cooked. Chicken sandwich thing. It was actually pretty good. We headed into Mc Donalds to join the group and of course I couldn't go without ice cream so that was divine but half of us, including me, were ready to call it a night. Tomorrow we are supposed to take a bamboo raft to Youngshuo and stay there so when it started to rain we were a little nervous about not having an umbrella for the raft. We couldn't find any cheap enough for our stingy taste so we decided that tomorrow morning we will see if its still raining before we buy an umbrella. After our full day I was pooped. I took a nice warm shower, remembering what it feels like to be clean; I laid my head down and shut my eyes. And that’s all I can remember.

28 Hours.. I got time for that!

Sunday 4-28-13

on any other day, if you would have told me that I was going to be stuck on a train for 28hours I would have let you know how much I badly I was not looking forward to it. But I’ve spent the day trying to take advantage of the time we have stuck in a train car dedicated to getting better. I not only slept in but slept till 11:00, I heard Susan reading a church talk so I listened but didn't realize until I got up and bought water from the cart that goes up and down the aisle, made oat meal and took some airborne and vitamins it was because its Sunday. I listened to the talk and then went back to sleep. It was not until about 2:00 that I got up and brushed my hair, wearing the same clothes I wore yesterday.

I got up and just talked to people in my group. I bought 3 water bottles this morning and drank them all in an attempt to get myself more hydrated and realized how bad it had gotten when I finished my third bottle of water and realized I hadn't gone to the bathroom since yesterday morning in the Underground palace bathroom. Once I started on my fourth bottle of water, I finally had filled up my body enough to provide myself the opportunity to submerge myself with the one and only train bathroom experience. This train ride isn't as cool as the last for many reasons, one would be the fact that I am coughing up flem  so much that my abs lungs and throat are constantly sore but the part that tops it off is the grandma and crotch less baby in the bunk right across from me. Let me start out by pointing out the obvious here, China is weird. But I feel like I have done a really good job of accepting the different culture and customs of the Chinese people. I throw my used toilet paper in the garbage, I look away when the old men plug their one nostril and blow snot on the street, I’ve even developed the skill of squatting but the one thing I will never understand is the baby's with crotch less pants. Babies here in china very rarely are seen wearing a diaper and after asking Kelly about it, she says that is because they train the baby's to poop in the morning afternoon and night so they don’t need diapers and I was too confused to ask about peeing. Well that doesn’t solve the whole squirts problem. I have done enough babysitting  in my life to know that babies poop isn’t always ideal and controlled so what happens when their tummies aren't settled and they have the squirts? Well, I learned that today... they squirt. Right there on the train floor next to your shoe and mom rushes the baby to the bathroom and grandpa wipes it up with a dry toilet paper and then lets the rest air out.. what?! Don't worry though because the same thing happens when they start dry heaving but its best to just let them sit there and puke on the ground and wipe it up... twice. Yeah?  This all happened to me today.

Baby squirted threw up twice on the floor next to my shoe by my bunk.. let’s just say I have found time to visit people around the train car today. If that’s not bad you can bet I was real excited when I walked back to my bed and found the boy sitting on the edge with his butt cheeks firmly planted on my sheet... nice kid. My throat still hurts and my nose is still runny but my glands on my neck aren't quite as sore. Sam boy had some breathe Doterra that he let me borrow but I still wish I could just be healthy and not have baby's pooping and puking all over when it clearly could be avoided. Is that too much to ask? If it is, just let me know, I am just really looking forward to having my package from my mom with medicine that will help me enjoy my time here 100%. If I am 100% honest, I wish I was home. Not home home. Just home with my kids practicing my nanchuku, teaching Lee English and having Candice laughing at me because I am struggling on a simple pedal as she finishes a master piece. I realized today that I was going to have one less cuddle session on the bus with my sweet Charlie and every kid on the train reminds me of my cute kids back home. Dang it, they have my heart and I don't know how I will ever be able to say goodbye to them. I saw the warriors and that’s all I really cared about for this trip but maybe that’s why I am feeling this way. Who knows maybe I will get to Guilin tonight and go out tomorrow and be so thankful that I am there? Either way, I am going to be traveling for 9 days and I know my attitude can make it or break it and for heaven’s sake if I can chose, why would I be miserable? I was able to take a few more naps and get up and talk with people towards the end of the train ride and very thankful that I am starting to feel a little better! I got off the train and walked down the street to find our Hostel. Mark and Alicia had the name and directions to the hostel and with Mark, the tallest on in the group leading the way, it felt like we were speed walking! Our calves were burning and were working up a sweat! Guilin is definitely humid! But that’s kind of good with a dry sore throat right? We arrived at our hostel just fine and like usual, it’s pretty sweet! I really like hostels. I am in one room with 3 bunk beds and 1 bathroom. It’s called a 6 bed mixed room which is usually cheaper but it’s nice because it’s me. Rachelle Andrea Kristen and Mark filling up the one room but if we only had 4 people we would have 2 random people put in our room so I can't complain there! I took one of the coldest showers in a long time because I just spent 28 hours on a train and 12 hours before that walking around in the hot sun so it was much needed. Especially because I don't want to repeat my last vacations shower streak once is enough for me! Tomorrow we plan on seeing the rice terraces which look pretty legit so I am off to bed and happy to be alive and well!

Sweet dreams! Praying that I wake up tomorrow happy healthy and terrific! :)

Xi'an in a Day

Saturday 4-27 – 13

Well, today perhaps could be one of the biggest paradoxes of my life. I am so happy and amazed it happened but also so thankful that its over! I woke up this morning feeling the cleanest I have felt in the longest time but still waiting for my miracle. My face is so weighed down, my throat is so swollen not to mention, on fire. Oh man, this is going to be rough. I got up and turned on the shower so I could breathe in the steamy, humid air while brushing my teeth and putting in my contacts, took some airborne and headed on our way. Maddie and I met Ben and Josh at the Lobby at 6:30am to check out and headed off into the distance. We hopped into a taxi to get to the train station which wasn't that far away and found our ever so talked about, bus 5/306. During our journey, Maddie and I picked up an apple from a store and ate it while waiting in line for the bus to come, we heard the first bus leaves at 7:00am so we were there about 6:55am which was the perfect time. We loaded on and paid our 7¥ and headed out. I literally blew through a package of tissues. Luckily I brought an ample supply, and tried my hardest to take a nap. I noticed a few white girls in front of us but not American and fluent in mandarin, But didn't think anything of it until we got off the bus into an empty parking lot at 8:00am. A guy was talking to them and we weren't all too concerned about it until she told us that the Terracotta Warriors weren't open until 9:00am and this guy can take us to a few sites for about 5¥ if we pay for admission. We didn't really care but she was saying it was cheaper if more people go and we could be back in time for the Warriors to open. Whatever, let’s do it.

We hop into the car and the whole time he is driving I just keep thinking to myself.. blog post title “RIP Dell” and the fact that the last time  my group and I were seen was April 28th, 2013... No really it wasn't all that bad but I wasn't going in the car with the group with no guard up. I figured this was going to be one of those “you should have been there it was crazy!” or a total bust and we are left on the side of the street with nothing but the clothes on our backs and not so happy feelings. We drove maybe 10min before we pulled up to this building that said “underground palace” we paid 30¥ to get in and headed in. we saw a miniature version of some sort of palace layout in the middle of the square room with statues and figurines displaying daily life and/or military fighting, placed along the outside edge of the room. It was dark and hard to see inside but I was given a pamphlet that gave some sort of an explanation of what I was seeing since it was very much in Chinglish. Basically what we paid to see was a replication of the emperor's tomb who built the Terracotta Warriors... I think. It was the Qinling Underground Palace. We walked around the first floor thinking what the heck is this? I found a corner off to the side that had no figurines and some stairs. I waved Maddie over as I started to descend the stairs so she would know where I was going.

I saw that Maddie got Josh and Ben's attention as I lost sight of the group and started to climb even lower and lower. I felt like I was reenacting a movie scene, descending a spiraling stone staircase feeling the air get colder and the lights get weaker until I finally found myself face to face with a corridor... no way this is too cool and so creepy!!! I stood there motionless excitement and fear surging through my body. Is this really happening to me? This is too good to pass up but so freaky! I heard Maddie calling for me so I told her to come see this, she was even more freaked out than I was! I couldn't help but think of this past summer with Maddie and Makayla and all our haunted and abandoned house experiences and that made me just suck it up and put one foot in front of the other. But not without pulling out my phone to start recording just in case I didn't make it out and somehow my family got the video they could know I died with pure adrenaline and thrill running through my veins. AKA happy.

We walked for about a minute or so to turn the corner and see two frail looking bodies in a case. That was a great icing to our thrill as we looked closer we realized yes, it was fake but still what the heck is that there for? We continued walking and found ourselves standing on a balcony that ran across the whole room in a square. With figurines and sculptures representing different dynasty and social classes surrounding us. In the middle of the room, there was a square tomb set diagonally with a very decorated man inside. I’m assuming that was the emperor. It really was amazing to see but I am sure it would have been even better if we could have known exactly what we were seeing.

 We walked back up and back out of the building. I half expected the driver to not be there anymore but then again, we never paid him so it made sense that he jumped up and walked us over to the car. We got in and headed back over to the warriors. We paid him 5¥ each for his transportation and then made our way to the warriors.

We got there right on time at 9:00am and the place was already hopin! We started to head over to the entrance when I saw a building that said “information” so I peaked in there to see a man sitting there with a bunch of books around him. A lady walked over to me and told me the books are all about the warriors. (could a guessed that) but also, that I could get a book signed by the guy sitting by the books. At first I was confused why I would want him to sign the book but then after some explaining, I found myself face to face with the man who found the terracotta warriors! If that wasn't cool I don't know what was!

Yes, I know there were many farmers who found pieces here and there so its hard to credit just one man but I have met at least one of the farmers whose accidental encounter with underground clay pieces uncovered possibly one of the most intriguing modern day discoveries. Of course I got the book signed and then continued onward.

Maddie and I were approached by a tour guide who told us she could give us a tour for 120¥ we weren't really sure about it until she told us that we could get tickets for 60¥ instead of 120¥ if we showed her our student card (any card that has our picture on it, ie. High school card, college ID or drivers license) Ben and Josh didn't want to have a guide at all and I couldn't help but think, this is the one thing that I wanted to see on this vacation. I am traveling for 9 days and the main reason is for today. So I was willing to pay 60¥ if Maddie was, so it would be like paying full price but with a tour guide included. Maddie was in and we were set, the two of us, and our tour guide Lilly. Today is the day that I will see the Terracotta Warriors! We walked up to the first building of three, Lilly told us all the information that I write down from the Warriors, the 60¥ was worth it with all the things I learned from Lilly.

Emperor Qin Shin Huang, like all leaders of Chinas history, was very concerned about life after death because of their beliefs of where their souls will be when they die. When he was 13 years old, he started the construction of his tomb and the underground kingdom he felt would be under his rule after his death. If you ask me, Qin becomes quite obsessive and psychotic about the whole thing. All those who built the tomb or assisted in the construction were buried alive to keep its whereabouts a secret.

  All around this guys tomb, were pits dug up and filled with individually carved statues of a royal army. Each statue bearing a unique dress, physic and facial features. It is believed that each statue was carved to resemble a once living member of his army. Qin died before he could finish the statues and despite his son's efforts to finish the royal army of clay for his father, he died before they were all finished too.

After their deaths, the orders made by the Emperor to burn books, Confucius scholars and extreme acts to secure their spot on the throne and no possible way of a coup, their actions backfired and the farmers revolted. The Warriors were never fully finished but there are enough breath taking figurines to make the visit very worth while. I have a love hate relationship with these handcrafted ancient artifacts. As you walk into the first building, or “Pit 1” you are hit with the biggest and most intricate view of all 3 of the pits.

The rectangle shaped infantries and chariots form quadrate battalions. The formation of the warriors is as life like as you can get with Flanks facing outward to guard the sides and the rear of the army. This pit is actually not the real warriors. They were taken to preserve the original warriors. All the warriors are weaponless as their brass bladed swords were constructed with a wooden handle that decayed overtime and are not repairable. As I mentioned before, these warriors were kept a secret so the artists would construct their master pieces and then cover the top of them with a wood roof and soil over top of that to ensure the secrecy of the location and contents of the pits. Over time, the weight of the soil and the instability of the wooden roof caused the destruction of the underground royal army when the roofs caved in and the clay warriors were crushed. We took our time listening to Lilly and marveling over the intricacy of the warriors. Each Warrior has a signature on a part of their body to show the stamp of the artist. At first, I was thinking how cool it was that the artists got to be credited for their work until Lilly told us it was to see if the completed warrior did not pass inspection, that someone would be able to pay for the mistakes. No pressure.

We were lucky today as we looked over and saw a group of people in blue uniforms actually working in the pit, excavating some pieces! There are many parts of the pits that are not excavated because they want to preserve the color and condition of the Warriors. When I thought of the warriors I always just assumed that they were clay. But they are all not only individually carved but also painted! So Lilly was telling us that the Government wants to develop better technology before they do any more excavating so they can preserve the color of the rest of the warriors.

We moved to pit #2 which was a Ceremony pit where the generals and officers were found along with bones of animals that came from a sacrificial ceremony to ask for a successful battle. This one was smaller but like the first one, breath taking. The details of each Warrior and the time it would have taken to reconstruct the warriors is incredible. The artists that built the warriors built the warriors from the ground up, they started with the feet then the legs, did the body then the arms and hands and then pieced them together and finished with the construction of the head. That’s why there are so many warriors that don't have heads, not because they were stolen or not yet found, but because the artists didn't have time to finish them.

There are a few random pits throughout the warriors which turns out was a grave for a farmer built years after the Warriors had been crushed by natural causes. So really, there were many, many times the Warriors could have been discovered, but it wasn't until the farmers digging the wells decided to say something, when the world was introduced to this underground masterpiece. We saw the place where the well was dug and the rest of pit #3 which was mainly large replicas of warriors found underground and the significance of the few famous statues. This whole time I was amazed that I was standing in front of these Warriors. The things I have seen in books and never fully appreciated until now. Which is where the hate comes into my relationship. I wish so badly that I could capture what I saw today and show it to everyone but also, so I could continue to relive the experience for the rest of my life. But it’s just one of those things that I will never be able to fully describe in words. So I guess what I am trying to say is, you gotta see it to believe it.

Maddie and I met up with Ben and Josh at 11:30 and headed back to the train station. Again, my phone saved the day from taking pictures of the map at the airport last night, and we found the bus we needed to take to make it to the Great Muslim Mosque that everyone was saying we wanted to see.

We got off next to the Bell Tower which was also on the list of things to see in Xi'an so we walked up to the tower and saw... well, a whole lot of nothing other than a big bell.

 
It was so incredibly hot and we were so tired that we had to find motivation to get ourselves back up on our feet after sitting down to get to the mosque. I have been stuffed up, sore throat and sweating bullets all day and I was feeling it. Every time I put my back pack on, I swear someone put a brick into it. I was proud of myself for getting my things all into my back pack and thought that I was pretty awesome for having a 9 day vacation packed into a back pack, but the whole time I was second guessing the necessity of every article on my back. I was sweating, sniffing and trying to remind myself that this sickness is not going to be the reason I didn't see something. We ended up taking a stop at McDonald's and after devouring a double cheese burger, fries, orange juice and a Mcflurry guilt free and able to eat more if I wanted, I realized I might have been just torturing myself from lack of nutrition. I did feel better being in a cool place and having food in my tummy. How does one keep properly nourished and on a diet in China? Cuz I haven't figured it out. We headed down the street from McDonalds to find this so called Muslin Mosque. Our first glimpse signifying that we were in the right place was a woman standing on the street pushing a stroller with a head dress on. We turned the corner and headed into a market Maddie appropriately called the “hell hole” I don't know if it was the fact that I was already struggling with my own health and the weight on my back but its a good thing that I know all of China isn't like this place. There were lines of bloody skinned pigs hanging on chains in rows, stacks of meat and fly’s everywhere. The whole place was so dirty and stuck so bad that I could even smell it. The place was just so dirty. We walked out of the market area which I was very thankful for because we couldn't find the Mosque. I don't know exactly what it was but I felt so uncomfortable. If there was anywhere I felt that Taken was going to become my life story, it was there. I told josh and Ben if they wanted to see the Mosque then they needed to figure out the location within the market themselves. Maddie and I sat on the steps for a little bit them Ben and Josh came to tell us that the mosque was 100 meters in the market and on our left. Okay, here we go. We turned back into the nasty pit and held my breath to limit the amount of intake of air protruding from the place. I kept thinking, its not rocket science where the Bird flu came from... we walked for a few min when I told ben and josh to ask someone if we are going in the right direction. Josh pulls out the paper and hands it to the first person he saw... an old man barely able to put one foot in front of the other, so naturally standing up straight is out of the question. His coke bottle glasses weren't good enough to read large print let alone the paper Josh was trying to hand him but if the thinned hair, wrinkled skin and no teeth wasn't enough, perhaps the drool falling out of his mouth trailing on the ground? no. Ben took the paper out of his hand as maddie and I looked at each other... surrounded by a bunch of idiots. It was probably our lack of sleep, water intake and 100lbs on our back that caused the outburst of laughter from Maddie and I. We got directions from a girl capable of keeping her saliva in her mouth and continued on ward. If ben wouldn't have stopped us I would have walked right past it. We opened the creaking gates into a court yard of potted plants and faced the Mosque. Not going to lie, I was pretty disappointed but maybe it’s because we came at the wrong time? Either way, it made me thankful for the churches and temples. I am thankful for the sacredness our religion has for our temples and buildings. As I was sitting on the bench outside their prayer hall, I was having a hard time remembering the clean feeling I had getting up and out of bed at our hotel. Was it really less than 12 hours ago that I felt so clean and calm? Yeah, I felt crappy and sick but at least I was clean. I suppose because I’ve been raised LDS and surrounding myself in that culture where looking and dressing your best to go to church or the temple is respectful, I found myself thankful for the way my places of worship are built. I know that when I walk on the temple grounds I feel a difference, the grounds are kept and the environment is quiet and peaceful inviting a thought provoking environment allowing self-reflection. But sitting here on a bench, I couldn't help but feel bad. I realize that these people are happy with the way they are and with the way they worship because if they weren't, they wouldn't do it. But I am very thankful for the knowledge I have of the gospel and the ability to have places to worship that create the feeling of separation to escape from this crazy busy world.

We went back out of the street and decided that we would hit the Wild Goose Pagoda which was the last thing on our list, but being as tired and drained as we were, we voted to take a taxi. During our travels we checked off the Drum tower and the City wall so the tower was the only thing left. We hopped onto the taxi and made our way. We arrived at the Pagoda and walked through the park surrounding it. We found a patch of grass and set my jacket down. Situated my bags, propped my feet up on my stuff and woke up 40min later. It was so nice to get some sleep and some sort of relaxation. Ben had gone exploring with Josh while Maddie and I “watched” our stuff. It was time to make it back to the train station so we went on the street and tried to flag down taxi after taxi... 30min passed by and that is when I had to keep reminding myself that panic won't do anything but give me zits so I needed to stay calm and look like I needed a ride. Finally a car pulled up, not a taxi but he asked where we wanted to go and told us it would be 20¥ no problem, I remembered what my mom said about “black taxi” where people pick you up and offer to take you somewhere for cheap but then they drop you off and take your stuff and leave you stranded. But here is the deal, if we said no, we wouldn't have a ride and would miss our train and be stranded or we could take this guy’s ride and maybe get there on time. The only difference if he doesn't take us to the train is we wouldn't have our stuff which was only weighing me down right then, literally. So we piled the 4 of us in his 4 seated car, and rolled down the window. It was so hot in the car cramming 3 in the back and Ben in the front with our driver was way too much body heat along with the heat of the sun. if I wasn't sweaty before I definitely was then. With my bags on my lap, just in case he tries to ditch us I could keep it with me; I set my head down on my bag and closed my eyes. It was about 20 min later that I opened my eyes and found us stuck in traffic. Hmmm shoulda thought of rush hour when deciding what time to get back to the bus... oops. So I struck up a conversation with the bus driver with my English to Chinese dictionary/phrase book. I told him that we are new fried. Instead of friends and he thought that was pretty funny. A couple hundred mis pronounced words later, he dropped us off at the train station. Thank goodness he didn't want to abandon us on the side of the road! Although after he gave me his QQ number I was pretty sure he wasn't planning on stripping us of everything we own or selling us to a human trafficking ring. We got out and Ben insisted we had to run. I wasn't stressed. We had 25min till the train left and all we needed to do is go through there sorry excuse for security but, I followed the crowd and ran with my million pound backpack on my back. We got through security and I helped Maddie learn how to read the ticket and figure out which platform we were on and which car to get into and we arrived 10min before the train was scheduled to leave. Phew! After the Warriors, I was looking forwards to this train ride. You know that I am not right in the head when the thought of a 28hour train right is a relief. I really really want to enjoy this trip and experience everything but it’s so hard with how crappy I am feeling right now! I hopped on the train, found my bunk and said hi to everyone. I strategically placed my bags and rubbed my tender shoulders, took of my shoes and laid down. I peeled my eyes open and was confused on why it was so quiet until I realized it was 9:59pm... huh. Well, I followed the crowd and lay back down to sleep for the night. I woke up this morning waiting for a miracle, but perhaps the miracle had already started and was that I made it through today. It was one of the most amazing and grueling days of my life. Happy it happened but so glad its over.

Peanut Butter Bomb

Friday 4-28-13

Today we went to Grimm Kindergarten for more parent’s day! I was pretty tired after a rough night of sleeping through some heavy snores from the bed next to me, but I survived so it’s all good. We got to the gate 8:00am sharp like we usually do and headed off to Grimm. I wore my new skirt to show Lilly which took no more than 3 seconds for her to notice and approve! This is definitely my home girl! We arrived at Grimm ready to teach so we could maybe get home early and be all ready to go on our vacation and not end up pulling a Dellany, getting home and leaving within 15min. But we were told that we wouldn't teach until 9:00 or so, o well, its no big deal. We were sat in an office and asked to wait which we were perfectly content with doing, until we saw our kids outside performing their morning exercise routines for their parents which is a mild version of zumba! There was no way we were going to pass that opportunity up! These are our kids too you know! ;)

Watching their cute arms waving back and forth and jumping up and down made me realize just how hard saying goodbye to this place is going to be. Dang it, I hate goodbyes!

We finally ended up being able to teach our kids at 10:00 and it went well, turns out that I teach Julianna's son too! Wow! No pressure! Today we were going to make flowers by tracing and cutting out our hands on a paper and wrapping it around a straw and curling back the fingers to make the pedals, but with the excitement of the parents being around and the chaos of rotating classes and times being messed up, we ended up tracing our hands and cutting them out and having the kids write their English name on the hands and then blow them across the table with the straws. One class turned it into a race and I was totally fine with that because they were talking about winning and losing. Welcome to the great part about ILP. I love that I can take the classes whichever way I want to promote speech. One class drew faces to describe expressions and feelings while the other blew hands across the table and race but the whole time they had fun and got to learn. That’s what I love the most about this. No matter how simple the task or lesson, when they are laughing, I am laughing. When they are having fun, so am I and now I found out, so are the parents. I caught a few of them repeating the words back to me with the kids even! Today was a really fun day teaching, but it always is at Grimm. I love this school.

After teaching, we got home and I finalized my packing. I had a few hours so I went up on the roof and practiced some nanchuku that Lee taught me. I practiced over and over again but had a break when I smashed my hand and developed an extra knuckle! Haha oh man, when it hurts that bad, you learn pretty fast cuz I didn't do it again! After I practiced enough to be able to visualize everything in my head so I could practice on the trip (can't take metal nanchuku as a carry on) I headed back down and tidied up my room.

I took out the trash and locked my door. Its time to partay! We loaded up into our van and headed to the airport. After an hour we arrived and got our tickets. We went through security and must have forgotten to take my “I’m going to blow up this plane” sticker off of my forehead. They took my peanut butter out of my bag and the guy at the scanner kept pointing to my bag, I figured if I can’t have peanut butter then I can't have soybean paste either so I pulled that out and gave it to him and that seemed to satisfy both of them … last time I checked, peanut butter isn't a liquid. I am clearly annoyed about this because I had my dried bananas to eat with it and cucumbers to dip in my Korean soybean paste. Freak, do I look like I know how to make a peanut butter and soybean paste bomb? My deodorant is the detonator.. but don't tell cuz that’s a secret. Don't worry though cuz my razor to shave my legs is just fine, I've still got that! Oh China?

 We waited for about 10min and then boarded. I got sat in the middle seat sandwiched between Ben and another Chinese guy who slept for the whole 1 hour flight we were really confused because the flight was supposed to be 2.5 hours so when they landed we were relieved when they said you can leave your stuff on board we are just loading other people on the plane here is your return boarding pass. I have never had this happen before but what’s new? I am in china you know. We got off and some of us (including me) brought our bags with us while others just left theirs on the plane and got our boarding pass. We stood there for 5min and then just got right back onto the plane and sat down. I pulled the I don’t speak Chinese card and had Ben slide in so I got window he got middle and when the Chinese man come over looking at his seat I pointed at it and started to stand up when he waved no and just sat down on the aisle seat. Score! I got my window seat and got to lay my head down. This flight was rough. The pressure caused by being in the air pushing on my head and in my sinuses was worse than I have ever experienced before. Luckily 1.5 hours seems like no time at all after my previous traveling. I really love airplanes and flying. There is nothing like it. So I knew I was really sick when I was counting the minutes till we landed. We got off the plane and hit the airport bathroom with signs that say “slippery” as a caution... sick. But whatever, I’m sure I’ve already stepped urine what’s more? We met out in a group and asked a booth which bus is no. 1 she asked how many people were in our group and when I told them 19 she offered us a “minivan” I asked if all 19 would fit so she pulled out a picture and pointed to what we would call a bus... cool. It would cost the same for this minivan as it would for the bus so we all agreed to do that. Our original plan was to hit the Muslim quarters and then go to the hotel so that we could get one of the places we wanted to see checked off the list but after sitting on the bus, there was no way. I was ready to cry I felt so crappy and was ready to kill over. I was trying to figure out a way in my head to find some Chinese medicine place, kill over or just cry without anyone seeing me. So we decided to just hit the Muslim Quarters tomorrow and just head to the hotel. Ben, Josh,Maddie and I booked our hotel before the other group so it was just us 4 in our hotel but it was like $2 more and so worth it. We got to our room and I was so happy. Maddie and I shared a queen bed but before I went to bed, I hopped into the shower past hot water times at home and it was so hot!! The steam as so think and it felt so incredibly nice! I didn't feel gross, the walls were clean without mold and the bed had at least 2 inches of padding! I felt like a queen! The only thing it was missing was Wifi so I couldn't talk to Dan Dan and Mars or my Family and Moe which I was pretty bummed about but it was nothing I could change so I got in the shower and just stood there, trying to wash off the germs infecting my body and praying for a miracle. My heart and spirit want to be here and enjoy this vacation so badly but my body is struggling hard core and there is no way to fix it. Its times like that where I miss my mommy. Wish she could wave her magic wand and make everything better, but Its also times like these that I need to grow up and take care of myself. I need to tackle this on my own. Perhaps that's why I didn't get Wifi in my hotel, so I couldn't whine to my mom and beg her for a cure as irrational is it would be, I know I would have hoped that she had one. Instead, I wracked my brain for anything she might have told me to do in the past. Hot shower breathe in the steam, check. Water, check. Air born, check. Sleep, don't need to tell me twice.

Anyone there?

Thursday 4- 29 - 13

Today was an interesting day! I got up and felt like I had been breathing fire all night long. My throat killed! So I decided I would try to get some breakfast to try and put out the glowing embers that seemed to still be left over. I headed down to some rice porridge stuff that I really like. I hated it in Bejing but naturally, I love it now. I got two hard boiled eggs and headed back upstairs. Luckily, the porridge helped a little so I could swallow without wanting to cry.

I got up to my room and wrote in my journal for awhile until it was time to go down to the gate. I packed up my laptop and headed down to wait with Rachelle. We both waited and waited for a good 45min. We finally gave up because our classes would almost be over and headed up to write Kelly a note because today is a big day at our school. Every spring they have open classes where potential student's parents can come watch classes. So all the teachers have been pretty stressed getting everything ready for today. Rachelle and I knew that our classes were going to be the least of Kelly's problems so we were just going to write her a note. We saw her in the hallway and told her about our situation. our assumptions were confirmed when she said “you have the day off!” well that’s awesome! I wasn't about to hang around for anyone to change their minds and I headed back upstairs. I got water on my way up and made sure everything was cleaned up. By this time my body seemed to have woken up and felt way better than I did this morning! I did laundry and packed almost all of my stuff so I wouldn't need to worry about it and took off to meet Lee so I could teach him about the American Flag. Mom sent me quite a few American flags in my package so after I showed him what the stars, stripes and colors mean I gave him the flag. He seemed pretty happy after I insisted he take the flag. I learned quite a bit of things today while practicing but had to cut practice short to go to calligraphy.

Calligraphy was so much fun because we got to learn how to paint baby chickens! Haha Candice's friends were there including one of the Chinese teachers named May. May came up to me while I was practicing and showed me pictures on her phone of me teaching at Grimm!!! What the?! You are a spy?? Turns out I teach her daughter! Zoe is one of the sweetest girls I teach so I was excited to tell her how much I love her daughter! I didn't even notice that May was there! I guess it shows just how zoned out I get when I teach! But it also shows, you never know who is watching! When I go to heaven, one of the first things I am going to ask is to see all the pictures people have taken of me that I don't know about... that'll pass the time I’m sure.. Ten years later, I’ll be done looking at all of them!

We cut calligraphy class a little shorter today because the high school students asked if they could get to know us a little better so at 5:00 we headed down to the flag poles and talked to a bunch of students. I bounced from group to group just asking names and ages and what they wanted to do in the future. Some said doctors others said military. These kids are just like us. They are really cool.

We all planned to go out so that we could take Cherish around town we ate at the noodle shop and then got ice cream at KFC and just hung out. Cherish seems like a pretty cool girl. She just insisted that she find a blow dryer ASAP... she has got some learning to do.

All Packed and ready to go !!

Dan Dan QQ ed me while I was practicing nanchuku in the common room and told me that she has a test and can only meet up with us around 12:00 that would be fine except I have no internet and can't call or text... dang it. We are just going to try and play it by ear but something tells me I’m not going to be able to see my friend which really sucks but what can you do? I am just really stoked about being able to see the terracotta warriors!!

Today felt like it went by so fast! I got a lot of packing and cleaning done because the school never showed up so I feel like I am totally ready for our vacation! I just need to get through tomorrow and head on out! I can't help but feel kind of bummed about not being able to stay and learn more from Lee. I made sure that I had everything he taught me down well enough so that I could visualize it. Too bad I can’t take nanchucku on the airplane...

Shop till you Drop

4- 28 -13

Today was Grimm’s parent day so we made sure that we were dressed a little nicer. Despite the gut I have developed since coming to china, I wore my dress and did my best to pull it off like I did when I got here! We got to the school packed with people. We tried to make it to our classes but then got told that we would be starting at a different time. Well, that’s fine we can wait. They are splitting our classes up so today we have only 2 rotations and then Friday we will come back and teach our last rotation so that there aren't too many parents at the school all at once which was a brilliant idea because I can't imagine any more people trying to fit into that school. It was packed! We were asked to sit in an office and wait so we did until we saw out cute kids in the hallway. The poor teachers at Grimm, we are just like another kindergartener when we see our kids, jumping out of our seats to go give them hugs and high fives. We got to teach 2 rotations or 4 classes and I think it went pretty well. They cut a few classes shorter so I was frazzled with Popsicle sticks and pipe cleaners sticking out everywhere but I made it through the day and gave myself a pat on the back. The parents were very enthusiastic about watching their kids as they stood right behind their kids and helped them answer in English. I felt like it was almost a replay of a tv clip where the mom is sitting behind her son and raises her hand saying “he knows the answer” while pointing to her son. O well, I just kept on going with the flow. After we got done teaching we found Lilly and asked her about shopping. She was totally willing to go if we would wait. We were down. We walked around and found a class full of little kids dancing, so we joined in until Lilly told us to come with her. Lilly doesn't have the best English but she does have a translation App on her phone. So when I say “Lilly said” it’s more, Lilly typed out on her phone and let us read... which is totally fine with me. I appreciate the effort she makes to communicate with us! We headed out to her car and she told us we were going to get Korean food. Yummy! I love me some Korean food! We headed to what we call Big World and were shocked to find out that we were so close to big world! This whole time we thought that Grimm was off in a different part of Wei hai, come to find out, we have been in familiar territory this whole time! Lilly took us to the Korean place and let us order. I got some really tasty food but as Korean food usually is, it was served still boiling. Me, being the fatty that I am just dug in and burnt any surface of my mouth that came in contact with the first bite... perfect. Good thing the texture is nice haha. Lilly was so sweet and helped us order. We got sushi and the best food and then felt so bad when Lilly pulled out money to pay for it. We tried to pay but she insisted. Man she is so nice! We walked out and she asked If we wanted any coffee or tea. We told her no so she got us a hot boba instead and yes, paid for it all. Lilly! You are so nice!! after the boba drinks, we walked around from store to store. We hit us a cute trade shop full of little trinkets and then went out to more market looking areas and tried on more clothes. Everyone got at least one thing, I got the cutest navy blue pencil skirt with yellow polka dots that goes to my knees. I love it.

 Half way through the day we made a stop at her car and she pulled out water bottles for all of us and let us store our treasures in her trunk. This girl is so sweet. She was so fun! Even though we couldn’t really communicate, she was the first one to hold my bags when trying on my skirt and to give me a thumbs up when she approved. It reminded me of having my shopping buddies Maddie and Makayla back home with me! I miss those girls! I had a really fun time with Lilly today. We asked her if we could go back when we finally ran out of shopping juice and hopped into the car. Lilly was about to get going when we leaned back and handed us all a necklace with a harmonica on it! Okay home girl is too good! We were so grateful for her hospitality and fun attitude! Its times like these that I wish I could speak in Chinese and really tell her thank you for everything! The worst thing is feeling something and not having means to express it!

We came home and went up to our rooms. We missed in-service so we had to get a catch up and found out that there is another ILP teacher that is coming! Wow! Two more girls? Sweet! I hope they are cool.

It was too nice of a day outside to not go running so I did my best to run a few laps with my crappy cramping feet. I made it far enough to run up until it was time for Kunfu class. Which starts at 3:15. I practiced until 5:30 and headed off to dinner.

After dinner I went straight up to practice some more. Practicing is such an easy thing to do when you have a coach or teacher as dedicated as Lee. I feel so honored to be able to learn from him. He is so good at what he does and has made it apart of his life. I would feel too embarrassed to show up to class the next day having not gotten better. Not only would it be rude for me to do but how stupid would I be to not take advantage of this amazing opportunity? Regardless, I am so happy that I can be learning all of this. I love China!

Just another day in WeiHai

Just another day in WeiHai

4-27-13

Today was just another day in China! How can that be boring right? Well, today we taught at Dani. Rachelle and I weren't feeling the whole sit and watch kids when we needed to be packing and getting ready for our vacation so we came back to the school right after teaching and skipped lunch. Lunch is really good there but I wasn't feeling the greatest and like I said before, we just weren't feeling it today. Which is normal right? We can be humans and have an off day.

I got back to the school and got some water for our room and lugged that sucker up what seemed to be a million flights of stairs! Whether I was here for 5 years or 4 months, I don't think I will ever be able to carry those massive things up to our rooms without breaking a sweat. When I got to our room I noticed that there was a puddle of water around our water dispense and figured out that over time the water had built up in the tray beneath the spouts and was spilling over every time it was bumped. I spent the next little while moping and sweeping the area and figured while I was at it, I might as well just clean up and organize the rest of my room. When I get into the organizing zone I organize everything including my backpacks and my folders for each kindergarten which was good because I have been a little lazy with that lately. I got my lesson plans all ready for next week. (after the vacation) which was one of my top priorities so I wouldn't need to stress about it on the vacation. One thing that I learned from the last vacation was that I really do need to plan for the AFTER not just the DURING because it was rough trying to get back into the swing of things the last vacation which is half as long as what we are doing now!

I headed down to lunch which, let’s face it, will never beat Dani's but its bearable. I went back up to my room to finish organizing things and rushed down to meet Lee to teach him some English. Lee came running up the track a few minutes late with a bag full of clothes. He gave it to me and to my excitement, I pulled out a KungFu uniform much too big for me because it was Lee's when he was practicing, but I don't care I loved it! After teaching him emotions, and descriptive words. I watched the second graders practice and then went outside with the older kids doing the Nanchaku. This is when Lee had me join in the class. He gave me a pair of Nunchuks to use as well as some techniques to practice. I learned the form that the kids do in class after a few run through so Lee gave me even more things to work on. Finally, after the class was over he told me to show him what he taught me. I showed him the best I could and after a second of thinking, Lee told me “you learn much, I worry you forget.” so I asked him If I could borrow the nanchuku so that I could practice and I promise I won't forget. He was more than willing and then headed off to dinner!

After dinner I headed back up to the room to a seemingly upset roommate with Crista and Rachelle surrounding her bed. I asked what was wrong but there wasn't really an answer. I wasn't about to pry so I just said okay and let it be while Crista and Rachelle talked to her. Sam came to the consensus that she needed to just get out and do something like go to the JiaJiauye but she can't go alone so I offered to go with her. I didn't really need anything but I just wanted to help out. We got ready to go then Crista decided to come with us. We took a Rabbit there and I basically just wandered around and picked up some bread and yogurt while I waited for Sam and Crista to be done.

After we got all our things, we got an ice cream cone and then headed home. When we got back I was realizing how bad I have been about working out with being under the weather and all, its clearly showing in my new rolls just waiting to pounce. Since I was feeling fine at the moment I took the opportunity to get some abs workouts and cardio in which felt really nice, as it usually does. I have been practicing my nanchaku, and I am getting the hang of it, But tomorrow is a big teaching day so I am going to call it a night!

Go Go Go. There's no other way!

Monday 4-22-13

Phew! What a day!! I feel like I say that a lot but that’s the only way I would have it! I got up nice an early to hop on the bus. Today I teach a new SPE and I chose arts and crafts! I love crafts so I figured this would be right up my alley! I didn't pick it before just because its sooo much prep work! I know, that sounds bad, but you have to get everything precut etc. and at times seemed very overwhelming. Being a few months into this, our supply room has started running low on paper so we have been trying to be careful about our use of paper. With me having to teach the same lesson and have to make a good 200+ of whatever craft I chose to make, I tried really hard to use the least amount of supplies possible but I still wanted a good class obviously. I searched the supply room and decided my craft based on the items I felt we had a surplus of... pipe cleaners, Popsicle sticks and beads.

I got up and headed out to the gate, when I arrived, I saw Susan and Alicia waiting for the bus too! Dang it! Gonna get evaluated on my first day teaching this SPE for the first time! That’s stressful.. but I gotta do what I gotta do !

We got on the bus and sat down. Susan was excited to see her Bus buddy again until he hopped on and sat across the aisle from her, next to me. Haha I teach Charlie my second rotation and loved having him cuddle up next to me! He was so cute. I was totally fine with him sitting next to me, I was pretty stoked he wanted to sit next to his teacher, but when I reached over to give him a hug after we got “high five” down, and he snuggled right up to me I was more than happy to give him loves! In the seats there are patterns of snoopy the dog wearing all sorts of outfits, some of him as a chef, another of him with a back backpack and another with him as a pilot. Charlie started a game with me by pointing to a snoopy and I would say what he had. He loved to point to the chef because he knew that meant I would say “hat” and mess with the cute ball cap he wears to school every morning.

We hopped off the bus and went to a glorious breakfast. I expect nothing less! The cooks know us American teachers love the rice porridge and their rolls so every time we walk in they welcome us with a new bowl of eggs and a fresh pan of rolls. This week we got a roll that had a sort of crumb on the top of it that was amazing! But, amazing food aside, it was time to teach, I headed up to my room with Susan following.

This week I taught my kids English by making Butterflies! I pulled out my paper with a Butterfly drawn on it and we figured out what a butterfly can or can't do. They can't swim or walk, the fly! We also catch butterflies but they are too fast! That’s when I would pull out my pre made butterfly and have them try to catch the butterfly, after that I pulled out the popsicle sticks, had the kids ask each other for sticks to practice conversation. After the sticks were passed out, we felt the surface, we talked about wood coming from trees and making an X with our sticks. I pulled out the tape and we talked about Sticky things and what is sticky. After the tape was passed out and the sticks were stuck together, we pulled out the pipe cleaners. These kids love pipe cleaners! It makes me laugh every time I pull them out and the class responds with a *Gasp* man they are so cute!
We felt the fuzzy sticks tickle our faces and then folded them in half, we twisted the bottom to make a body. “We all have a body”. We put the X on the pipe cleaner sideways and then twisted our sticks in place. After we looked though the beads “i can see you!” we put them on the end of the pipe cleaners and twisted them over to make their antennas. Depending on the class, I would then pass out markers and have them write their name on the butterfly wing or I would one by one write butterfly as they told me what butterflies could do. “Butterflies can fly!”.



When I first heard we had twenty min classes I had something short of a panic. That is such a long time! Now, I would give anything for 30min classes! I love hanging out with my kids and I have so much I want to teach them! The first class I taught, I felt was a little rough, so I am a tiny bit worried about my evaluation score but, time will always tell! I feel like I smoothed out the bumps by the end of the day though and I am excited to teach crafts tomorrow. We went outside after we were done teaching and met up with Susan and Alicia. Turns out Equal, the principal of the school come out to talk to us and told us sorry he hasn't seen us, he has been very busy. We talked about all sorts of philosophical things because he is just that kind of a guy. He told us that the teachers and cooks really love us because we are so excited every morning and because we love their food! Haha it pays to be fat! ;)

The weather today, again, was amazing! So warm and we spent the hour between teaching and lunch like last week, enjoying every bit of it! After the hour was up, we went to eat a delicious lunch and then headed home with our favorite driver! Oh man he is so cool! He hopped into the van, raised his eyebrows with the perfect impersonation of Bruce Lee and says, “are you ready?!” In between our laughs and shrieks, he put the van in gear and cruised down the hill leading up to the school... I’m almost 100% positive we got air.

We headed back to the school, singing song after song off the top of our lungs. At our driver’s request, I wrote down the songs names and gave it to him. The weather was great, the classes were awesome, everything is better when its warm! I went upstairs talking with Hannah and Maddie about my need for some jeans and my lack of bodies willing to come with me to find jeans, they wanted to get their nails done (its $6.00 to get Shellac) so we thought why not go right now? I was supposed to teach English corner with Sam tonight so I asked Crista if she wanted to trade and teach with Sam today and I could teach tomorrow. I knew that she would be fine with it because those two are quite the besties so after I got that squared away, Hannah, Maddie and I went on our way!

We hopped onto the bus that takes us straight to the infamous Big world. Big world is basically a street market indoors. You walk in to shop after shop with every variety of clothing articles to accessories. All I needed were my pants so needing to start somewhere; we walked into the first pants store we saw. I tried on a pair with legs so skinny my foot wouldn’t go through the ankle hole. So, we started to describe the pant leg and saying straight leg, not skinny. The next pair went up to my ribs and screamed Ganny pants so loud you might have heard it over in America! That was the only style they had in that store so we decided to move on to the next... and the next... and next... I tried pants on that were snug on my hips but made to look like they are sagging... a style that I will never come to terms with. I am generally a very fashion open person, from hipster to chic, even if I wouldn't wear it, I can appreciate someone's style... until you start to sag. Boys need loose pants, I agree with that but there is never a time or a place for your jeans crotch to be at your knees... ever. The funny thing is that here in china, girls wear their pants like that too! Only they are sewn with extra fabric so it looks like sagging without actually sagging... yup tried on of those pairs on accident. The only pair I tried on in that store. It still baffles me. I suppose here in China more often than not, girls have the wonderful thigh gap. Dellany over here does not, so if the style suits you, (your brain needs to be checked) all I can think is ouch.. Chafing much?

I finally ended up finding two pairs of Jeans that fit me just fine and held true to my American fashion standards which I never thought would be such a feat! Thank goodness for Maddie and Hannah's help and patience! They were so fun to shop with and hang around! We went from shop to shop looking at clothes and laughing at shirts. We were ready to be done shopping so we hit up a little nail booth. I picked my color of Shellac and sheepishly nodded my head and said sorry when I put my short little fingernails up there on the table. I cannot stand my real nails being long and even when I get acrylics, I have them pretty short. I just feel like finger nails are a bacteria pool thriving off of my body and the thought of that doesn't quite tickle my fancy. The ladies who did our nails were so cute and so funny! They just loved the fact that they were doing our American nails even if mine are nubby. And we had fun trying to communicate with them with our terrible Chinese and there terrible English! It was 38¥ which is about $6.00. Score! I am definitely down with that! We took pictures  and headed out to grab some grub and head home! Maddie and Hannah love these things called Chinese tacos. I am not too much of a fan so I walked around and found those Burrito looking things that Kristen and Igot in Jinan!! yes! So of course I got that and an ice cream before we headed home.

I am really thankful that Hannah and Maddie were willing to come with me or let me come with them and help me get pants. I don't generally like to shop with groups of people and more often than not, prefer to shop alone. I think that developed after Morgan left and I lost my shopping buddy. But today was much needed and Hannah and Maddie saved me. I am thankful that I got to hang out with Hannah and Maddie outside of the teaching setting and get to know them a little better. Besides, now I have my nails done and happy hands make a happy girl! ;)

I got back to our rooms and threw my jeans in the wash and cleaned my room to try to get ready to start packing for my vacation coming up! I took a shower and now it’s off to bed for this girl! Goodnight world!