Pictures from my weekend in Guangzhou!

Intruding....... sorry Sarah. ;) I'm sure you don't mind.

SO....I was posting some pictures on here for you Sarah and thought to myself, "I think I am going to have a little fun." ;) Hope you don't mind.

Just a few things I miss most about you!

.Grocery shopping with you...because you were like my mother. ha (Got to stick to the budget) ;)By the way, I have no problem sticking to a budget without you. You just make it easier.

.Working out with you...because we made it fun ("STOP LAUGHING Sarah!...I can't finish this if you're making me laugh!")

.Driving with you- yep. I miss someone critiquing my driving. ;)

.Laughing with you- we're ridiculous...I don't know anyone I can be with who makes me laugh like you do about the most ridiculous, hilarious, random things. Half the time they aren't even real situations. They're just things we make up and laugh about. ha...(remember when Lisa told me I had a dry sense of humor? It crushed me, because you were hysterical and I wasn't) :)

.I miss some very interesting things you'd do with clothing. I can elaborate on this for you over chat or email. (oh, and remind me to tell you a funny story about this-:) it'd make you so proud)

.Trips home (or anywhere for that matter)- Tarah: "You want me to drive Sarah? You drove last time, so I will if you want me to. Really, I don't mind."
Sarah: "Well, if you really want to you can, but I prefer to drive. I don't mind it- I like it."
Tarah: "OH GOOD because I really didn't want to drive- I just wanted to offer."
haha....so funny because this is quite literally how it went every time.

.Sharing a room with you- The first couple weeks after you left was so weird Sarah! I'd be in my room, and it was completely silent...it wieirded me out. It's still weird- just takes some getting used to I guess.

.I miss your logic. You're just a logical person, and not to mention incredibly laid back. You just kinda go with things. I love it!

.I miss your sneezes. Even though they made me flinch in fear EVERY single time because they are so loud ha...

."Let's go do something SUUUPER fun" days with Catie.

.I miss our tan pants that we share that you took with you. ;)Don't worry though, I miss you more than those.

.You are the person who tells me when I should NOT do something because it's stupid or ridiculous...see, since you've been gone, I've probably done a lot of stupid and ridiculous things. And I miss not having you here to say something. But hey! You weren't here to tell me not to....so I did it. :)

.Mostly, I miss that you are missing out on part of my life, and I am missing out of part of yours. Makes me a little (or a lot) sad sometimes. But! I guess that just IS part of life. And we roll with it! I love you!

There's so much more. I think you get the jist of it though. I MISS YOU! I love that you're having the time of your life there. :) Muchos besos!

I simply cannot wait!

Today was such a wierd, random, hysterical, and fun day with the kids! We got to school and half the kids were gone... evidently they're all sick. So we had to combine classes because our classes were way too small... only two and three in each class. Mikelle and I taught the first two rotations together, and by last two rotations, those two classes had picked up a few more students each so we split for that one. The rotation where Mikelle and I were teaching my homeroom, William... who is a total spaz. I love William. Something about WIlliam that is just funny. He is always busting some kind of dance move. If you pat his head, he's always suuuper sweaty because he's always moving... he's just dancing.. ALL THE TIME. Anyway, I sat next to William so that I could keep his attention focused on Mikelle and while she was teaching and Jillian came in to evaluate it and she also, sat right next to him. She had just put her chapstick on and it is some kind of fruity scent. During the lesson, William looks over at her, kind of grabs her neck and pulls her down, smells her lips and says, "Mmmmm, Teacha you so yummy." We all just laughed and Jillian said "oh thank you William!" But then he grabbed her neck again, pulled it down, tilted his head, closed his eyes, puckered his little lips and definitely starting going in for it... HAHAHA! Jillian just kind of let him go up until he almost kissed her and then she pulled away with a response something like this, "Oh! Whoa William... None of that now!: :) Oh my! Maybe it was one of those you just had to be there moments, but really. Oh man. Children do and say the darndest things.

I was sitting beside Leo during snack time, and we were just chatting, he was eating and Julia one of our notoriously late students walked in. Leo muttered something under his breath and I thought I heard one thing but I wasn't sure, so I said, "What Leo?" and looking straight ahead the entire time, with his huge little Leo grin that could just melt you... he says, "Julia so beautiful." :) Aw he was so cute. Sweet Leo has a little crush on Julia.

I love children. I absolutely love them. I cannot wait to be a Mom, and have little chats with my kids. I can't wait to get to know them, and watch them develop their own unique personalities as we raise them and help them grow in the Lord's gospel. Mmmmmm. I love it.


*I'm grateful for imaginations

I think I live with a Skitzo.

My roommate Jillian... she does this thing. She remembers movie lines like Tarah remembers birthdays... flawlessly. So she will just come out with a quote randomly. And when she gets going, she just goes and goes. Normally, 95% of the time they are Disney movies. I've noticed she favors Aladin, Toy Story, both 1 and 2. Mulan, Hercules, The Lion King, and Pirates of the Carribean. I love it. I really get a kick out of it, mainly because she is so good at imitating the voices of the characters she is quoting. Anyway, sometimes, I will be in the bathroom or on the bed and she'll start quoting something, and I often times don't realize that she is quoting so I think she'll be talking to me. Earlier on, I thought she was so random, because sometimes the quotes aren't exactly on topic. Now, I've just learned to wait it out, don't answer, and if she's talking to me she'll specify, otherwise she will just keep going. It can get really funny too because she will take on the roles of all the characters in a scene, all in their different voices. So, pretend for a minute you're me and you are just sitting on your bed. All of a sudden, Jilly who is in the bathroom starts randomly saying something in one voice, then answers or responds in another voice... and the conversation continues. It's almost like I live with a Skitzophrenic. :)

We just broke the law. Curse Miley.



*I'm grateful for singing/belting parties!

Oh MY goodness. Yes.

Conversation that took place in class today:

Me: "Once upon a time..."
Leo: "Teacha Sarah! Teacha, teacha, teacha!"
Me: Leo! Shhhhh.
(Assuming he would just stop talking and listen)
Leo: [whispering] "Teacha Sarah. Teacha, teacha, teacha."

Hahahah! These children are hysterical. I love them.

There is a heinous smell coming from our bathroom recently that is kind of unbearable. Jilly and I think it's coming from the pipes which happen to be located right there close to our bathroom. It's not always there though, it will just come every now and then at random times and it is horrific, because we are then left with no other choice than to saturate the air with lysol spray which really doesn't smell incredibly pleasing either, but better nonetheless.

I think I have a little crush on a Chinese guy. Yeah, I do. Maybe even a big one. But not really. He is a teacher at Kaiyin and he is quite handsome (he has glasses, and there really cute on him). I mostly really like the way he interacts with the children, and how he walks with his hands in his pockets, and his happy eyes, his friendly but suuuper shy smile, the way he holds his bag, and just the way he carries himself. His mannerisms. He's adorable :) So we're not supposed to have romantic relationships while we're here... that's part of the contract. Walking home from dinner today we were talking with our head teacher Jillian about this and we came to the conclusion that it wouldn't be breaking the rules to kiss a Chinese guy. ILP forbids romantic relationships but they are all game for having unique cultural experiences. So we concluded, that kissing an Asian would be the ultimate cultural experience. I think everyone who travels abroad should be able to experience that. Wo bu zhi dao. I'm just sayin'. :)


*I'm grateful for friends. Good friends that are honest and inspiring, and uplifting.

I feel good! danah nanah nanah. SO good! dun-dun...SO good! dun-dun ...

The past three days I have been in Guangzhou with John, Sonia, Vickie, Christy... and Buddy. Oh, sweet Buddy. It was a fabulous weekend; any days spent with family are days well spent. Indeed.

Our trip began Friday evening. I took Mikelle and Abby along. They wanted to go and do some shopping and I don't mind the company. Buses are interesting, and work so wierd here. There are so many stations, so many locations. I don't know that I really understand them, but... all the same, we got on a bus friday night expecting to be in Guangzhou within an hour to an hour in a half because we had made the trip before, we thought we knew what to expect. Well, we didn't and about 2 1/2 hours later, we arrived at our bus station. Ni zhidao shen me? We loved it! We saw the city at night, which is really quite something. It's beautiful, all lit up, and Guangzhou is just a HUGE city. There is so much to see. Plus we had a great discussion on the way up, Abby and I. She's funny. Every now and then she will ask at very odd times the most random questions, but they're not just silly, quick answer questions. They're the type of questions that provoke a ton of thought and require a lot of thinking, you can't just shoot out an answer. I think one of the questions she asked me on the way was "What is a character or personality trait you want your spouse to have that you just could not, or would have a really hard time living without?" "Uhhh, I don't... umm, well....uh, hmmmm. Let me get back to you on that Abs." Sheeesh louweeesh! Hard question right? It started a great conversation. Anyways, that's Abby for you. I really love her, I do. It's good to have to think about those things and get your wheels turning.

So we finally got there and poor John and Sonia were expecting us around 7 prepared dinner and were waiting up and we didn't even arrive until close to 9:30, and we had no way we could communicate with them. But sweet John and Sonia made a delcious home cooked meal for us. Sonia made a noodle dish that was so yummy. I loved it, I plan on learning and putting my new culinary skills to use when I return. Then there was a potato dish, and John made a curry dish that lit my mouth on fire. And he would do that! :) Little Buddy is their new dog. He is a .... it spaced me now that I want to put that knowledge to use. I didn't think it would matter that I knew what kind of dog it was, and now that I want to remember, I can't. That's alright. Not important. What's important is that... I am not a dog person. At all. Never really have been. Jennah was a good dog, and they'll always be a little soft spot for her but unless its a cute little puppy, I don't generally do the dog thing very well. They smell, lick, poop, shed, bark, annoy, make messes, cost money, etc. However! This little dog was JUST too good. He hardly made ANY noise, didn't lick, if he did shed, it didn't end up on any of my belongings, and above all... he puts up with constant abuse from those two little girls and I gotta hand it to him. He is just a good dog. I think we ended up getting along just fine. Plus he has cool kicks and wears a bow in his hair.

Abby and Mikelle took the spare, John and Sonia got Christy this time, and I got to sleep with Vickie :) John warned me that she wets the bed on occassion, and the first night... we were good, dry as could be, no problems... but I spoke too soon. Second night I woke up in a puddle. :) Mmmmmm. It was fun though. She is such a doll, with SO much attitude. Sonia taught us how to make Onion pancakes for breakfast. Way good. Their like crepes with a twist. We had a great morning with John. He took us to a few places to shop and look for some specific things. Simon, his friend who we went to dinner with a while back during my first visit to Guangzhou to see them wanted to treat us to lunch because I was back with friends :) He is such a sweet guy. They are such nice people here. He took us to a really nice restaurant where they serve Northeastern food, which is where he is from. We had a nice visit. So sweet, and he was all game for a night on the town too. :) Sonia took us in the afternoon to the pearl market and to another shopping center. Guangzhou is sooo huge. I can't believe how big it is. There is so much to do and see. It is crazy.

That night, we made dumplings with Sonia! Best Jiǎozi I've had in China thus far! Hands down, and she taught us how to make them. Dumpling parties will be a reoccurring event wherever I reside once I return. Dinner wrapped up, we kicked John and Sonia out for a date night, cleaned up dinner, played with the girls a little bit, then put them to bed. The idea was to go to bed ourselves soon after but of course we ended staying up a while chatting. We had a really great gospel conversation. One of those conversations that make you realize just how complex this gospel is, and just how much there is to it. It makes me feel like I know nothing, which isn't all too inaccurate because I really don't. There is so much to learn, always.


*I'm grateful for families

... ... ...Yes.

My card came today! Oh it came! I am so grateful. Thank you.

Quick shout to my beautiful friend Jentry Ann Dixon. I got her wedding announcement today, and loved it. Congratulations to her! I wish I could have been there.

Next time you eat an apple, eat the whole thing. The entire thing. Seeds, core, everything but the stem. Yes.

* I am grateful for feet to walk with.

power nap?

This morning I woke up to a lawn mower running in the complex. It put a smile on my face.
I came home today, absolutely exhausted. I thought, "I will take a 15 minute nap." So I did, fully expecting to wake up 15-20 minutes later feeling refreshed and energized.
......................................

{Two hours later} The girls woke me up to go to dinner. We went to dinner, and I still feel like I could sleep all day long. Who does that? What is wrong with me? But it felt sooo good to sleep, and sleep well.


Thursday Cooking class: We learned to make won tons.

Ni zhidao kung fu ma?

I was made perfectly aware tonight, just how uncoordinated I am. Kung Fu is one of the hardest things I have ever done. It kicked my hiney, and my knee. There is a reason I play soccer, not basketball... or any other sport that requires hand/feet coordination. Although it is a great workout and our two kung fu instructors are absolutely adorable and hysterical. If anything it is a workout and great entertainment. They are just good to take on the job of teaching us. :) We meet Fridays after school and Wednesday evenings. Spring, the main instructor is sure that by the end of two months he will have us all doing the splits but he says he needs two nights a week. They're funny. I'm looking forward to seeing that.

Oh no! Not google!

Walking home today, I realized how much I can't wait to be able to go on a walk and not be the center of all attention. I just want to be able to go on a walk... amidst strangers and blend in, be able to just disappear in the crowd. The other day I was walking home, and I had my tie-die shirt on, cut off jeans and my red back pack and I was thinking, “Wow... I probably look like the ultimate tourist right now.” But in reality, that's silly because it doesn't matter what I'm wearing or what bag I'm carrying... I will always stick out like a sore thumb, everyone will always stare at me. They just will...I'm excited to not be the minority. :) But in the meantime, I am... and it's great.

I think that google might have withdrawn from China. Well, google still appears but it is all in Chinese. Which means, gmail might possibly be next. :/ Hmmm. This complicates things a bit. I sure hope it doesn't pull out.

Túpiàn...! pictures... scroll down for more...

These are a bag of rolls that Michael sent home with us one weekend, as he does every weekend. They are so good.


And this is the Madeli Bakery that we have all banned ourselves from because it's starting to be an addiction.


Leo! Sweet sweet Leo.


Purple. She is so sweet. Love her to pieces. She's not actually one of our students. She was one of my students for winter camp but not for the actual semester.


[no caption necessary]


This little boy was a few seats ahead of us on the bus the other day, and he repeated over and over again the entire way into the city that he loved us. haha "I love you. I love you. I love you." So adorable.


This is the cafeteria at the Kaiyin school where we eat dinners. We eat our other meals at Bond, the school we teach at.


This is a random picture, but this is the bus stop at the fruit stand where we spend a lot of our time waiting :)

Sunday March 21, 2010

Church was so great today. We held sacrament meeting at our place today and we will be for the remains of our time because we have the most space in our flat for all of the people who attend. Today there were almost 30 in attendance, and it was fabulous. There was a sweet spirit that accompanied everyone as they gathered and it lingered for the rest of the day. We're so blessed to have worthy members of the priesthood in our group that can administer the sacrament to us each week. What a blessing that is.

Abby and Mikelle performed a musical number, "Come Come Ye Saints" and it was beautiful. They are both so talented and I love that they love to help us feel of our Saviors love through the spirit by sharing their talents with us. Abby arranged her own version on the guitar and she harmonized beautifully while Mikelle sang the melody.

In the past there have been 3 other ILP groups that come, but this week a fourth group made it. It was fun meeting them and getting to know them a little better. Although I will say, spending time with these other groups make me appreciate the girls I am with that much more. We have a very layed back group and after hearing about the others experiences, it is clear that we have a great attitude about China and the experience as a whole and it is really such a great thing. I'm grateful for that.

Today flew by. I got to skype Mom and Tarah for a lot of the day, which I'm sure had a great deal to do with that... and just like every other time, it was so great to talk to them. I love skype! and gmail chat, and google talk, and every other program that allows us to connect with eachother! I don't know who invented those... but I want to find out because I'm going to write them a thank you note. I love seeing them! It makes me excited to go home and just squeeze them! AH!

Friendship Gardens

I planted about 15 trees today, all of which contributed to Zhongshan's own "Friendship Garden". It is Friendship Day. We met at the stadium this morning with about 75 other foreignors in the Guangdong Province. The Mayor of the city was there with a number of other leadership figures and there was a big ceremony. The vice-mayor gave a speech. It was very nice. Apparantly Zhongshan city has been trying to open its borders to foreignors and make it an international city which I think is such a great thing. We first went to the tree planting ceremony and toured the park. That was followed by lunch.

Lunch was a new experience today. Up to this point, I have been brave with food and I have not been too disgusted or disappointed. My stomach has handled things quite well, but today... my stomach was having a really hard time with everything. Even things I have tried in the past at restaurants. I took one look at things and just felt queezy. So strange. I tried the chicken feet, because I tried it and really didn't like it before but today when they brought them out I felt like I needed to give them a second chance because they are such a big thing here. So. I did, and it did not go well. We had pigeon as well. And pigeon is what Zhongshan is known for, it is a delicasy. We've had it before but today they served it, as the whole pigeon. Head, eyes, face, beak... the whole little things staring up at you. I took a picture. I will post it soon. Anyway, today was a fun day. We met a lot of new people. It was strange carrying on conversations with others that spoke your language, or being able to evesdrop and understand, or having to watch what you say because everyone else understands you. Something we've not been used to the past little while :)


Group picture at lunch


Chicken feet. Mmmmmm.


Pigeon heads


For the Friendship garden ceremony, we were each given a balloon and once they cut the string and the speeches were finshed, we all let them go! It was fun.


Speeches!

When we returned, at around 5 o'clock, half of our group went to dinner with a few of the other bond teachers we met today, a couple went home, and I went to the kindergarten. Unfortunately, we are switching our SPE's this next week and I am going from Kitchen to Drama. Yesterday when I was preparing my lessons, I was really struggling and didn't get anywhere with my plans so I decided to go to the school today and try to focus and get them done. It was nice to be alone for a little while though. It was such a lovely evening, and the walks to the school and back to the bus stop were so nice.

I was thinking on the bus today. Someone said something that triggered something in my mind about home and a plethara of childhood memories just bombarded my thoughts. I thought about being home, and growing up with my brothers and sisters, and I missed it. Like a lot. I miss passing notes during sacrament meetings, and singing opera when the notes were unreachable. I miss pulling weeds on Saturday mornings with the country music cranked, "She thinks my tractors sexy...da da da da da. It really turns her o-o-on!” Kenny Chesney baby. Mmmmm. I miss mud pools in the flower beds, and running around in the sprinklers. I miss little Jordan singing really loud, or doing things just to bug us because that's what little brothers do. I don't know. I was thinking about that today and how I would love to just go back to that... and just be a young kid again and hang out with my awesome brothers and sisters all day everyday. All the time. :) It was fun to think about. Wo ai wo de jia!

A Little Spring Cleaning Shall We?

I think I just might.

Our apartment has been swamped, quite literally a number of times within the past few weeks because of the humidity, and because of it, we have mold growing everywhere in our apartment. And it was really in need of a good cleaning. Jilly and I came home and got right down to it! Cranked Michael Buble ... I don't necessarily know why we cranked him, but it's a good thing we did because Michael just makes ya feel good.

"Ignorance is Bliss"

Cooking class today was an eye opener. There is this spicy sauce here at the school. Michael is famous for it, and the girls LOVE it. Everyone loves it. He makes a massive jar of it every monday and it's long gone by Friday. The Chinese teachers, the teachers I'm here with, everyone! People don't eat anything without the spicy sauce. I am trying real hard to be better with the spicy things but it usually doesn't end well if I do. I cry. Big crocodile tears and my face goes bright red! I have those pansy sensitive taste buds I guess. Anyways, Dad would LOVE this sauce. I'm excited to come home and make it for everyone. :) So we were learning to make the sauce, and also an eggplant dish that Michael makes for us quite often and I have never witnessed SOOOO much oil used in one dish before, in my entire life. It made me think of Bekah's story in Costa Rica when they watched their host mom make their meal for them. :) If I remember correctly, it was a similar experience... with excess amounts of butter. Mmmmm. No wonder it's so hard to maintain a figure in foreign countries. I'm just trying to figure out how the asians stay so thin. Beats me. Michael came in carrying a 5 gallon of oil and he used half of it... HALF OF IT on a jar of sauce and a small dish of eggplant. They fry everything in the oil and it absorbs it up so fast. It's unbelievable, but SO delicious. That's the problem :)I'd rather not know what was in what we eat everyday... especially how much of it. Mmmmm mmmmm good.

So a few days ago, Mikelle, Abby and I decided to dread our hair. It's wierd, we didn't use honey so they weren't the real deal, just cop outs. All the same, we did them, and I had planned to leave them in for a good couple of weeks, but I felt so gross and dirty teaching with this hair that I washed them out today. I am usually a quick shower taker... but it took me a good hour all together to get those things out of my hair. Good experience... can't wait for next time.

Topped the night off with a very enjoyable bike ride. Shaila and I rode down to the little man made lake here in Kaiyin and had a nice chat on the dock. It's beautiful. If only the weather stayed right here! Apparantly we can expect warm weather for a little while. Mid 80's tomorrow. Can't complain though, I asked for it.

Two things I'm going to do when I get home...

1) Watch Mulan
2) Climb the tree in our backyard.

Xie Xie Tarah

Thank you Tarah for always being patient with me and posting my pictures.

Well, vacation ended today. We started back at school, it was fun to see the kids again :) It's St. Patty's Day here and because it is an English school we try to celebrate as many holidays we celebrate in America with the kids, so... in honor, we made a nice big COLD green salad in kitchen. It was established that the kids don't eat too many cold vegetables. They ate the tomatoes, but the carrots and celery and lettuce... I think they prefer it steamed or boiled because there were a lot of kids spitting out salad fixings today. :) Kind of interesting.

It was Mikelles "birthday" today, but really her half birthday. Same deal with her as it was for me. It's really quite strange I don't understand why they do that, but! who's complaining? It just means we get a delicious cake from the Madeli bakery.

It's kind of unreal to me how fast the time here in China is flying by. In a couple of weeks, it'll be the halfway mark. So insane.

Pictures from Sarah's last Vacation!

SO...... Some of these pictures are just amazing! My chinese twin sister loves photography. I LOVE you Sarah, thanks for sending pictures for us to see!


The Island we spent our first day at. Ah yes.



fishing in bulk. :)







These ladies were so sweet, and the star fruit... the yellow looking ones, were by far, THE sweetest star fruit I have tasted thus far since I've been here. It was so delicious. The street we were walking on was lined with star fruit trees and they were just covered. It was like heaven. Mmmmm.




water obstacle course... so neat, looked like so much fun!

Sarah, these are my FAVORITE's! AH! Gorgeous pictures, not to mention the TOTALLY RAD ones like the bike one and the cranky old lady ha. I LOVE it! I Love YOU!!


The view from the top of our hike on Heng qin Island.


The view from the bottom...


She was not happy. And as soon as I took the picture, she grunted, scowled at me, then turned her entire body the other way. ha.





The falls at the top of the island.


The "fisher girl", Zhuhai's claim to fame :)


the beach we spent the second day on... so perfect, lovely.



this woman... is beautiful. I saw her, and watched her, and the more I watched her... I just wanted to know everything about her. I wanted to know about her life, where and when she was born, her family, just everything. I wanted to hear her story.

Zhuhai Vacation...

This was a different vacation. We had 4 days off. Saturday, Sunday, and Monday and Tuesday off from school. I was in a situation with my funds so I coulnd't go to one of the further distances we were looking at, which I was quite sad about it. But Mikelle, Abby and Jilly were planning a smaller vacation just an hour away to the city Zhuhai, and so we went and spent 2 days. We had intended to spend at least three but we got to the hostel the first day and decided, it wasn't worth 8 dollars a night to stay there when the bus fee back was only $3.50 :)

So Day 1... we crossed a bridge to an island at one end of the city. It was beautiful. There was a sidewalk going around the entire island, bikes for rent, families having picnic's, places to sit and just enjoy the breeze and the views. It was beautiful. We walked around the island a couple of times and climbed stairs all the way to the tip of the island to see it from up high. We spent the majority of the day on the island and went to dinner, for the first time since we've been here in China... at a Pizza Hut. I don't know if it's just because I haven't had pizza in almost 3 months, or if Chinese pizza really is that good, but it was so delicious. Hen hao chi.

Our hostel was an adventure. There was this cat! I am no fan of cats to begin with, and this bloody cat, it was sooo horrible. His name was Ting Ling, and it was this tiny little skinny thing, it creeped me out. The second we walked in, I think it sensed my hesitation and dislike for it and jumped right up on my lap. So then, I made it very clear how much I did not want anything to do with it, and it just started to irritate me more :) because that is what cats do. GUH! Serious though, we would get back to the hostel and it would just be waiting in front of our room door, just sitting there, waiting to try and sneak into our room and sit under our bed. ugh, gives me shakes thinking about that cat, wierded me out.

So we were informed there would be two beds in each room, but we got there and there was a twin in each room and we had reservations for 2 rooms, so Abby and Mikelle took one room and Jilly and I took the other room, and we snuggled right up! It wasn't a very restlfull night. We were definitley excited to go home to our own beds that is for sure. Ha. Made for a good memory though.

Day 2 we walked down the street to the market, got a piece of fruit, and some bread from the bakery for breakfast and then we started our day at the bus station. Quick sidebar, traveling in China is funny. No matter how well we plan, which doesn't matter, scratch that because we don't really plan well. We just kind of go! We buy our tickets there, book our hostels and we just go! Anyways, traveling is chaos because we don't know where we are going, we don't speak the language, and we just play sherades with the people to figure out what and where to go. So after about an hour of just that... we finally ended up just hailing a taxi to take us to this island. The island was called Heng qin, and I absolutely loved it. It made Zhuhai totally worth it for me. The first part of our drive through the island was city... but eventually it turned into a beautiful mass of farm land, and fields, fields and fields of rice and other things. Oh it was beautiful. Narrow dirt roads, small fishing and farming villages, farmers working in the fields. I love it. We drove through all of that down to the other end of the island to some natural springs. They were breathtaking. We climbed up a set of steep stairs all the way to the top and we spent ALL day up there. Just sat, chatted, enjoyed the fresh, clear, cool air and the falls. Mmmmm. So pretty. It reminded me a lot of Oak Creek Canyon up home. After spending all day, we caught a bus home and enjoyed dinner at our famous little noodle shop just down the street from our flat in Zhongshan. Mmmmm. Hen hao chi.

***pictures soon!

Written by my roommate Jillian Manley

"The city of Beijing is teaming with ample amounts of free public toilets. This blessing and curse is said to be more present due to the Summer of 2008 when the Olympics were held there. You know you will be passing the doorway to the public toilets about fifteen feet ahead of time and are reminded of the opportunity for the next fifteen feet once passed the doorway. The stench hits you full in the face like a wave off the ocean. As if all of China's sewage resides in that small square building, waiting to assault each passer's nose and gag reflex. The set up of the toilets with in the cement square constitutes a solid line. In some, three feet walls shield you from slanted eyes, but your privacy is compromised as full bowels and bladders walk down the narrow walk way, eyes searching for a toilet not being squatted over. In most however your privacy is completely nonexistent as are the dividing walls. Inhibitions must be released as you squat down among others to do the same with your fluids and excretion. After peeing you have the choice to bounce and rock a bit swaying on your haunches hoping to "drip dry" or never be with out tissues while traveling. Of course the people are accustomed to this uncivilised practice of relieving oneself, coming in quickly, squatting over the first available toilet, doing their business, buttoning up and pushing their way out. However when a foreigner comes to relive themselves in this primitive setting it is a distracting occurrence for the Chinese. Heads turn, necks stretch, eyes stare, pushes are distributed, all for the chance to get a glimpse of the foreigner and her parts. Finally the chance to see if we are indeed the same or if there is some deep dark secret difference between us never spoken of by either race. The squatters next to you may as well abandon all plans they meant to accomplish when coming in there, for you have just unveiled the most interesting exhibit in this smelly museum. As you leave with urine, excretion, blood and whatever else the floor has bestowed upon your shoes as a parting gift, you can bet that every pair of slanted eyes is following you out."

My roommate Jillian wrote this about public toilets in Beijing. Kind of... interesting, and funny.

Dear Sunshine,

I'm ready for you, you can come out now! And bring all the warm weather along!

Being from AZ, and growing up in warmer weather all my life, I never anticipated I would want it. But I do. At home, it is the best day ever to wake up to an overcast sky, and it would just be icing on the cake if it were raining. It's beautiful here! It is, the rain is beautiful, especially because it's not even a real rain down pour but it's more of a mist, which is lovely. I'm just ready for warmth. It is cold, I am cold, and it is impossible to escape the cold. Hopefully, we'll be able to enjoy the sunshine, and the beach, and the hot springs this weekend in Zhuhai for our vacation.

Really Tony?

Tony is going to be the death of me. He is, quite literally kicking my pahookie! OH yeah! I think I'm kind of partial to yoga... I like it, a lot. I am the furthest thing from flexible, but it's relaxing... which is odd because it's usually the non-flexible ones such as myself that find it least relaxing. Hmmmmmm.

I have such a funny story. Well, funny and sad, I guess it would depend. Josh, who is one of my old home room students visited our class today and for some reason he is always causing problems with every one of the other kids. He's either jumping on someones back, or pulling hair, or punching someones face, or... if you are Paul, another student in my homeroom, you will periodically get pantsed. Anyways, so today we were standing in line, and I was trying to enforce a STRAIGHT line (which is nearly impossible with these children because they cannot focus. Attention spans of about 10 seconds tops, all around) and Josh was at the front of the line, with Paul right behind him. I was just standing at the front with my hands folded just waiting for them to maybe notice me standing there when Josh... with both his hands grabs Paul's waistband and drops his pants! Now, this is not the only time this has happened, so I don't know why it was such a shocker, but I was totally shocked. My initial response, I laughed really hard, inside. It was absolutely hysterical but then I saw how sad Paul was and it kind of broke my heart. Poor Paul. The interesting thing was, he didn't even react right away to pull his pants up. He just sat there for a second with this face... just looking at Josh as if to say, "Really. Really Josh?... Awesome." Then he bent down, pulled them up and just looked at him. His face was more of a irritated angry by this point, not so much sad. Aw. Poor Paul.

We have a vacation coming up. Pray the mail comes tomorrow.

San ba jie kuai le!

Today it is Womens day! Kinda fun, they recognize and celebrate the life of all the women. A lot like our Mothers Day but it is for all women. And, evidently it is an international holiday, we just don't make a huge deal of it in America, so, San ba jie kuai le! To all the incredible women I know, Happy Womens Day! You're great! All the teachers at the school, chinese and english got together and had dinner and a dance party tonight in honor of it. We taught them a dance that Jaimie knew, it's called "big fish, little fish" and one of the chinese teachers taught us a traditional dance where we dance/jump in between bamboo sticks that are slapped in a pattern on the ground.　Really funny, wierd, but way entertaining and lots of fun!

What is this? It's a butterfly! A what?... a butterfly! I can't believe how fast time is flying, man a life! Today in kitchen we made butterflies out of the heart marshmallows Mom sent. We just poked toothpicks through them and made them fly! Then we ate them before they could fly away. Oh I love these kids! I do, I do. They are totally growing on me. I want to take all of them home with me already. This could be a problem.

China is confused on the weather front right now. It does this random night and day switch every now and then. And it is doing it again this week. The weathers warm, sweaty, humid, kind of unbearable... and the next day, we're freezing our buns off. Both yesterday and today have been rainy and very cold. My body is sore from tensing up to keep warm so much :) We have another vacation this weekend. It's not as long, only 4 days. We have Sat, Sun, Mon and Tue off, so we're going up to Hangzhou, West Lake. I can't wait! It's supposed to be absolutely beautiful there, but the weather there will be a bit chilly as well, so I'm sure we're just being prepared for it.

Happy Womens Day... and Happy Birthday Julia!
San ba jie kuai le!... SHENG RI KUAI LE!

A Pamelo Party = A Party in your Mouth!

We had a Pamelo Party tonight, which, to my flat mate Mikelle, can also be referred to as a "Party in your mouth!" I agree whole heartedly with that statement! Mmmm. SOOO good!

The last few nights I have gotten eaten ALIVE by mosquitos. Mmmmmm, I just LOVE it. We'll have to break out the bed nets. I'm hot all the time. The weather is beautiful, usually cloud cover, windy, but we are always wet because the air is so humid and sticky. It'll be fun to see how much warmer it will get, and see how much more sweaty, and smelly we can be. This is such a fun game!

Homework has kind of become my main focus the last few days. My online class started a couple months ago when school started, and I've been communicating with my teacher begging her to not drop me because I haven't been very involved because I haven't had my text book. She's been so great and helpful and I'm so grateful for her, but upon receiving my book in the mail this last week I let her know that I had it and I would plan on doing my school work and getting completely caught up these next couple of weeks. I was surprised when I got her response telling me everything would be due THIS sunday evening. So. My work has certainly been cut out for me for the time being and I'm sure I'll be busy for the rest of the semester. Oh boy! I get stressed planning my lessons, but I haven't been this stressed since last semester. But what can you do right? I asked for it. The things we do for Fafsa. :)

Oh yes. Friday.

Classes went well this week. I was doing my student evaluations today and it appears they are improving, and it is evident in class. Most of the kids seem to be speaking more spontaneously which is so good. Some of them just won't stop speaking Chinese dang it :) but I can't blame them. It is their language after all. Paul, Justin, Josh, Morris, Fe fe and Jackson are the worst. In their classes, it feels like the only thing I say is, "English only!" It's a big deal here when they don't speak English. Not so much to the school here as it is to ILP, but either way, it is encouraged for us to enforce using only English while they are in class. It's so funny too. We're not supposed to react at all to their Chinese because it will give them the idea that we understand and then they will want to speak to us in Chinese, and it kills me because I'm trying to learn Chinese so when I hear them talking and I catch wind of something familiar, something I understand I want to just jump in the conversation. But I can't!

Personalities are certainly beginning to shine! and, I L.O.V.E. IT! Alice is 100% little girl! She is always dolled up, accessories and all, and she has better fashion than anyone I know. I met her mom the other day though, and it is very clear why :) Belinda and Aiden are our best speakers. They have been in the program the longest. Aiden's dad is in the government and puts a great deal of money into the school, and Belinda's mom Sukki, who we love... is the principal. So both of them seem to get special treatment from the Chinese teachers, a lot of attention. Belinda definitely has a sort of "know it all" attitude. Often in our lessons, I will have her model a sentence or phrase and she'll just roll her eyes and repeat it as if to say, "Piece of cake, give me something I can call a challenge" :) Ha. I really love Belinda. Aiden drives me crazy! Absolutely off the wall. He is 5 years old and looks and feels like he is 9. He is always wanting to be front and center; first in line, first to speak, first to be rewarded. He tries real hard to be the teachers pet. It's not working. I like watching him try as hard as he does though. Ha! I should NEVER be a teacher, ever! Bella was one of my students at the beginning, in that first week we taught that was very stubborn. She didn't want to be there, she was very shy around us and she didn't speak much at all. She fought it. But! The last couple of weeks, she has totally blown me out of the water. She speaks almost as well as Belinda and Aiden. She seems like she really wants to learn and speak more, and she enjoys the activities I plan in my lessons. I love that! On top of that she is just a sweetheart. She always calls me by my name, which is just cute to me because the rest of the kids call me "Teacher" or "Teacher Sarah". Paul and Justin are just trouble, especially together. Inevitably, every day I have to sit them across the circle or table from each other, and even then they are still conversing like two teenage girls, which I would LOVE and totally encourage if it were in Englsih, but it's generally in Chinese. Justin will pretty much do anything for a token though, so while it lasts, I use that as his incentive to speak English. Paul is kind of hopeless, but I'm determined to break the barrier we seemed to have hit with him. He just doesn't care. Tokens won't make him speak the language and he is fairly un interested in most of the things we do. But we'll get him :) William... oh william. William is the youngest in my homeroom. He got stuck in there last minute to seperate him from Leo. Quick sidebar: They have such an interesting relationship, Leo and William. They are always hanging on each other, and kissing each others arms and faces. HA HA! It is even more funny to watch than it sounds just reading it. Anyways, with Leo gone, William behaves much better, but he's still way spacey. He reminds me of Ben. He's always in his own little world, you have to snap a finger in his face every 30 seconds... but we do what it takes. His language is coming along. That right there, is my homeroom. I teach about 20 other students in our rotation, but those 8 are my homeroom class.

It is such an experience teaching these kids. They are so sweet. I never anticipated how rewarding it would be to be able to see and watch the growth take place in them. It is wonderful.

M-m-m-music!

I just put together a little playlist... some of it's wierd, and random, but most likely there is a reason it's on the playlist... so, if you don't like it... just turn down the volume! :)

Enjoy!

Butt and Thigh workout up the Sha-ZAM!

Whoa! Okay. Jaimie and I rode our fancy shmancy, incredibly broken down bikes into school today. Last night we borrowed a wrench from Sparky and tightened all the bolts, which I'm sure are all just as loose as they were before after our trek today. Uh... I haven't had a workout like that in I don't know how long! We rode up hill BOTH WAYS! I'm not kidding. I know you hear that all the time, "we walked to school knee deep in snow, up hill both ways" and their lying, but we really rode our bikes to school, uphill both ways today. ......seriously. My legs have never burned so bad. It will certainly be a workout... every day. :) It took us 50 minutes one way riding at a pretty speedy pace the entire way, to get to school. I think we may take a break tomorrow though. We may need to do a bit more maintenance before we do it again.

I got a package from my dear mother today! My parents are THE greatest! That is not debatable. Period. There was a huge reeses heart in the package, amongst many other glorious things, but... a reeses! SO good, and SO missed. Xie Xie wo de Baba he Mama. I really couldn't have asked for a better surprise today. It made my day :)Of course besides skyping Tarah and Catie again. OOOh! SO good. Love it!

There is a constant breeze blowing through Zhongshan, and I love it. It makes me think of home, in Cornville.

Two of my favorite people!

Whoa! It's March 2nd. Where did time go? This is absolutely insane. Today we made peanut butter, honey and banana sandwiches in Kitchen. The kids loved it. I found out I'm teaching Kitchen for another two weeks though so if anyone has any splendid ideas for Kitchen please do pass them on :) That would be so helpful. The key is easy things, that don't require cooking or lots of ingredients because we don't have a lot of money to spend on supplies nor do we really have means to cook anything.

I skyped Tarah baby AND Catie bug today and it absolutely made my day! It made me so happy to see them there together, happy and smiling, and laughing and still just as beautiful as ever! Two of my favorite people they are... (says yoda, uhh...) It made me miss just being there and hanging out, the three of us all together, ALL the time. We'd have laugh attacks all the time, which happen to make for a really great time. I really miss hearing Catie sing all the time. I have 3 roommates that always burst into song like she does and I miss her angelic voice that rings pure as a bell. I miss when she would laugh so hard she'd fall onto the floor. I miss car rides, and LOVING her music. I miss belting our horrible voices with Tarah on car rides, and laughing... all the time... at absolutely nothing, but just because we cracked eachother up. Ha. And... now that it sounds like I am quite seriously IN LOVE with both Tarah and Catie, which I am so this is completely appropriate, I will just say, I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I miss them both... SO MUCH! :)

Just a quick clarification, I do NOT have a boyfriend or any boyfriends. Singular, or plural. I am NOT dating anyone over here. I'm just sayin'.

Pictures of Beijing Vacation.

Here are some pictures from Beijing. I posted pictures from Xi'an a few posts down under the Xi'an post.
Thank you Tarah for posting these!


Lanterns... they decorated EVERYTHING for the new year.


Temple of Heaven


Our Hostel Lobby :)


The Olympic Stadium




Inside the 'Not so' Forbidden City


The original brick floor of the forbidden city. It's been preserved all this time. Unbelievable!


Jilly and I outside the Forbidden City


Tian'an men Square


















This is just a taste of the steep climbs on our hike. But soooo worth it!










The group just before we hiked the wall.


Our hostel again... just outside our room. We loved our hostel :)


The Llama Temple.


The hoards of people we got herded into Sunday Morning.


A traditional circle doorway here in China.