Yes, this was a Happy Halloween. Full of fun and excitement!
So This past week besides auditions, police stations, and halloween parties, we have been spending our time at the Community Center. The building was huge and very fancy. There was a cool pond type thing in the courtyard. Our group, and the group down the street, were put in charge of the haunted house! Haunted houses are my favorite part about Halloween. Too bad I had to miss The Haunted Forrest this year. But this may have been better.
So a while ago they told us that we were in charge of the haunted house and that some finance company was sponsoring the whole event so we needed to make a list of what we wanted and they would get us for us. Here they go, saving face again. telling us things that they can't follow through on. To make a long story short, we spent our Thurs-Sat Afternoons building a haunted house in the entrance of the community center with mainly black garbage bags, tape and string. I am not going to lie though, it turned out pretty neat.
We split up our group and the haunted house consisted of 4/5 ish sections.
Entrance: Kandace, alicia, Jadan, and I had a creepy clown theme.
Next: Brett and Chase had some psycho/human butcher thing going (to be honest I am not really sure what they did exactly but it consisted of chopped off human limbs, ripped up newspaper, and lots of numbers).
Next: Jess, Kim, Mark, Callie, and Liz had some graveyard theme, with Adam to finish it up, he had hung ropes and "bloody" things around. not really sure what he was going for either. but it works.
Finally: The girls down the street were in charge of the exit. It was pretty much one big scare fest. Their room was just open and creepy.
Miranda, and our Coordinator, Gloria, helped lead people through.
I had a blast! Kandace was our artist and painted everyone's faces. We looked pretty good I thought. We made our costumes from random things we found in the supply room, and I think we turned out pretty great.
I love haunted houses, I love getting scared, but being the scare-er is pretty exciting too.
The fun part for me was being a clown. Reason: It is hard for me to stay serious and not laugh when I am trying to scare someone; so, whenever I was going to laugh, I could just cover it up with some creepy laugh and it worked. I would try to stare people down but holding in a laugh was hard, so I came up with some creepy high pitched cackle/laugh thing. everytime it got quite Chase would come in from next door and say "do the laugh, lauren."
It was weird though because we tried practicing before and all my laughs just sounded silly. and if I try to replicate the laugh it doesn't really work. It was just kind of an "in-the-moment" thing.
And now to answer the question that I am sure is burning inside of all of you...
Does China celebrate Halloween?
No. It has just kind of become something they do with international schools or schools that have foriegn teachers. BUT. don't quote me on that because I have actually heard a few different answers to that question. That was just the latest.
Day 65
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Friday, October 29, 2010
Party, Party, Party.
Every morning I get up and teach at 8:30. We start with a ten minute opening. During Opening we talk about the date and the weather and then we sing songs. If they are being good they get to pick the song out of the jar. For the past 2 weeks we have not been letting them pick songs. We have been teaching them a new song "Purple People Eater". They love it! and it is SO SO cute to watch them do the actions. My favorite to watch is Jack. He is one of my 7 students. And then Eric, he is one of Callie's (he is the one we went to visit) always shouts "one more time!" after we finish singing. It is adorable. I love our kids!
Well, today, being Friday, was our last day teaching before Halloween so we got to have a party. Normally, after opening we switch and teach 3 rotations with the older kids. Then we switch and teach our younger kids 3 rotations. But not today. Today we skipped the switch and just taught our 3 younger rotations. Then we all piled into the older kindergaten room where we had our mini party.
We started our with our performance. Our kids sang "purple people eater" for the older kids. And the older kids, while we were practicing "purple people eater for the last 2 weeks, they learned "the Addam's Family" Theme song, so they sang that for the younger kids. and then We had them all sit down and us teachers did our "Ghostbusters" dance. So it didn't go to waste after all! The kids were laughing, so I was happy!
When that was over we sat the kids down to watch Monster House while I took some small groups to decorate bags and Kandace painted their faces one at a time. Then we got them all to go trick or treating. There are several doorways in the room so we had them walk around and fill their little bags with goodies. It was so much fun to just play with the kids! I even got my face painted! Happy Halloween!!
Day 63
Well, today, being Friday, was our last day teaching before Halloween so we got to have a party. Normally, after opening we switch and teach 3 rotations with the older kids. Then we switch and teach our younger kids 3 rotations. But not today. Today we skipped the switch and just taught our 3 younger rotations. Then we all piled into the older kindergaten room where we had our mini party.
We started our with our performance. Our kids sang "purple people eater" for the older kids. And the older kids, while we were practicing "purple people eater for the last 2 weeks, they learned "the Addam's Family" Theme song, so they sang that for the younger kids. and then We had them all sit down and us teachers did our "Ghostbusters" dance. So it didn't go to waste after all! The kids were laughing, so I was happy!
When that was over we sat the kids down to watch Monster House while I took some small groups to decorate bags and Kandace painted their faces one at a time. Then we got them all to go trick or treating. There are several doorways in the room so we had them walk around and fill their little bags with goodies. It was so much fun to just play with the kids! I even got my face painted! Happy Halloween!!
Day 63
Monday, October 25, 2010
Dress Rehersal??
Okay. So today we had to go to the Bond Kindergarten. There are 2 schools here in Kaiyin. The School where I teach and the Kindergaten. There is a group of girls that came a month earlier than i did (lucky ducks) to teach at a summer camp. They live down the street from us and they teach at the Bond kindergarten. It is about a 20 min bus ride from where we live. Anyways, we had to go to the kindergartern for a "dress rehersal". We are getting ready for a HUGE Halloween Party and we all had to come up with dances to perform. Every group had to have 2 dances. Our School was doing Monster Mash and Ghostusters. Since we have twice the amount of teachers as everyone else we were split into 2. I was in the group doing a dance to Ghostbusters.
We got to the school and took turns doing our dances. Everyone had come up with some really good dances and really fun to watch. They were all very well choreographed. I had been the one to come up with most of our dance. Ours had been more like a skit put to Ghostbusters. I thought it was funny. Sure enough, we got the response I was hoping for. Everyone laughed. When we were finished, everyone said that they loved it. It was so funny!
At the end of the "dress rehersal" They announced that they would let us know if we would be performing at the Halloween Bash... Auditions?! No one told us! We would have practiced more if we would have known. So what happened was this: It ended up being longer than they expected and they were going to cut one dance from every group. They would know by tonight who had made it, and they would inform our head teachers. So it was between Ghostbusters and Monster Mash for us. Who do you think go cut... Ghostbusters. Turns out, ghostbusters was the ONLY dance that got cut. What a round about way to say "your dance sucked" huh? So, we decided that it wasn't humor they were looking for. They wanted precision and good dancing. Ghostbusters lacked both. We were all about having a good time and making the crowd laugh. But I guess it's not even all that funny if you can't even understand the Lyrics of the song. So that was part one.
Here is where it gets exciting: They asked us to stay and wait for about 45 mins as soon as we were finished with the so-called dress rehersal. Then they took us to the Police Station. All 30 some-odd teachers. While we were waiting though I taught a bunch of girls a line dance. "Fishin' in the dark" So on the way to the Station Life became a Musical... Yes, we did our line dance in the streets of China. It was pretty sweet. I had my lap top, and Alicia had her speakers. So we blasted our Country song and danced our way to our destination. We were having a blast!
When we got to the station, they crowded us all into a big room and made us sit there while they spoke to us in Chinese (like any of us could understand) If they asked us any questions, we weren't allowed to say English, and Teacher, in the same sentance. "We are here for a cultural Experience, We are at the schools to spend time with the children..." Apparently we are all here illegally. Not really. They just don't understand "volunteer" we are all teachers and we don't have working visas. So They gave us 3 months to get it figured out or else they are going to kick us out. Good thing we only have 1.5 months left, right? I guess it is because of the Asian games. They are taking place in November, not to far from where we are living and so they just wanted to check up on things.
So I'll say today was a pretty eventful day, wouldn't you?!
Day 60
We got to the school and took turns doing our dances. Everyone had come up with some really good dances and really fun to watch. They were all very well choreographed. I had been the one to come up with most of our dance. Ours had been more like a skit put to Ghostbusters. I thought it was funny. Sure enough, we got the response I was hoping for. Everyone laughed. When we were finished, everyone said that they loved it. It was so funny!
At the end of the "dress rehersal" They announced that they would let us know if we would be performing at the Halloween Bash... Auditions?! No one told us! We would have practiced more if we would have known. So what happened was this: It ended up being longer than they expected and they were going to cut one dance from every group. They would know by tonight who had made it, and they would inform our head teachers. So it was between Ghostbusters and Monster Mash for us. Who do you think go cut... Ghostbusters. Turns out, ghostbusters was the ONLY dance that got cut. What a round about way to say "your dance sucked" huh? So, we decided that it wasn't humor they were looking for. They wanted precision and good dancing. Ghostbusters lacked both. We were all about having a good time and making the crowd laugh. But I guess it's not even all that funny if you can't even understand the Lyrics of the song. So that was part one.
Here is where it gets exciting: They asked us to stay and wait for about 45 mins as soon as we were finished with the so-called dress rehersal. Then they took us to the Police Station. All 30 some-odd teachers. While we were waiting though I taught a bunch of girls a line dance. "Fishin' in the dark" So on the way to the Station Life became a Musical... Yes, we did our line dance in the streets of China. It was pretty sweet. I had my lap top, and Alicia had her speakers. So we blasted our Country song and danced our way to our destination. We were having a blast!
When we got to the station, they crowded us all into a big room and made us sit there while they spoke to us in Chinese (like any of us could understand) If they asked us any questions, we weren't allowed to say English, and Teacher, in the same sentance. "We are here for a cultural Experience, We are at the schools to spend time with the children..." Apparently we are all here illegally. Not really. They just don't understand "volunteer" we are all teachers and we don't have working visas. So They gave us 3 months to get it figured out or else they are going to kick us out. Good thing we only have 1.5 months left, right? I guess it is because of the Asian games. They are taking place in November, not to far from where we are living and so they just wanted to check up on things.
So I'll say today was a pretty eventful day, wouldn't you?!
Day 60
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Eric's House.
Okay. So I am not as dumb as I thought. In China, Blogspot is blocked and so I have to find ways to access it. Through the Proxy, some options are not available. Loading pictures is one of them. I also can't change the template. But that is okay. Photobucket is not blocked. I have downloaded pictures there. The link is: Photobucket.com/elmarie-ski.
Anyways...
Last night I got to go on another home visit! This was onle of Callie's students. First of all, Their house was HUGE, even for American standards. They didn't speak any English, but we did have our Native English teachers with us, and our coordinator, Marine. Eric's dad picked us up in his fancy new minivan. (I just liked that it had the new car smell) and when we got there they served us some delicious sandwhiches and fruit and then Eric's mom kept pulling things out of the fridge for us. She poured us all a cup of coffee and then when she noticed that Alicia, Callie and I hadn't touched it she brought us some vanilla coke... And, guess what, I drank it. I know, miss "I don't even drink caffeine", yeah, I drank it. and vanilla coke is really good. but i didn't want to be too picky. I felt bad, but I won't make a habit of it.
Eric was so sweet. He kept serving us our food and asking us if we wanted more. He kept handing us things. My favorite was when he stuck his hand right into the bowl of cranberries and put it on my plate. His mom kept getting mad at him for touching the food.
After Eric was done eating he started pulling out his toys. He would come to me and say "coming, coming" which translated to "come here" and then he would have me play with him. we played with a little picnic set and then, we played with a "Rushhour" game. of course it was driving the cars all over the chair I was sitting on.
Next was my personal favorite. He had me drive around the room on his little motorcycle. I chased him in his little convertable. I was a little big for the motorcycle. But he told me it was okay because his mom would drive it. (I was head and shoulders taller than his mom and probably 100 lbs heavier). BUT I had so much fun. and the teachers got a kick out of me sitting on that motorcycle. I loved that they were all sitting around talking while I ran around the room with Eric. I think it would have been better had I not been wearing a skirt.
So, I love teaching. But I would so much rather run around and play with the children. Eric's mom even invited us over to play with Eric on the weekends! I hope we can! Not for the next two weeks though... We are really busy with Halloween plans... But I'm not telling you about that yet. You will have to wait and be suprised! :)
Day 55
Anyways...
Last night I got to go on another home visit! This was onle of Callie's students. First of all, Their house was HUGE, even for American standards. They didn't speak any English, but we did have our Native English teachers with us, and our coordinator, Marine. Eric's dad picked us up in his fancy new minivan. (I just liked that it had the new car smell) and when we got there they served us some delicious sandwhiches and fruit and then Eric's mom kept pulling things out of the fridge for us. She poured us all a cup of coffee and then when she noticed that Alicia, Callie and I hadn't touched it she brought us some vanilla coke... And, guess what, I drank it. I know, miss "I don't even drink caffeine", yeah, I drank it. and vanilla coke is really good. but i didn't want to be too picky. I felt bad, but I won't make a habit of it.
Eric was so sweet. He kept serving us our food and asking us if we wanted more. He kept handing us things. My favorite was when he stuck his hand right into the bowl of cranberries and put it on my plate. His mom kept getting mad at him for touching the food.
After Eric was done eating he started pulling out his toys. He would come to me and say "coming, coming" which translated to "come here" and then he would have me play with him. we played with a little picnic set and then, we played with a "Rushhour" game. of course it was driving the cars all over the chair I was sitting on.
Next was my personal favorite. He had me drive around the room on his little motorcycle. I chased him in his little convertable. I was a little big for the motorcycle. But he told me it was okay because his mom would drive it. (I was head and shoulders taller than his mom and probably 100 lbs heavier). BUT I had so much fun. and the teachers got a kick out of me sitting on that motorcycle. I loved that they were all sitting around talking while I ran around the room with Eric. I think it would have been better had I not been wearing a skirt.
So, I love teaching. But I would so much rather run around and play with the children. Eric's mom even invited us over to play with Eric on the weekends! I hope we can! Not for the next two weeks though... We are really busy with Halloween plans... But I'm not telling you about that yet. You will have to wait and be suprised! :)
Day 55
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Home Again, Home Again
Okay. So... I have been out and about. I have loved my traveling experiences. But let's get down to brass tacks. The real reason for me being here is to teach english. I am sure you would all like to hear about that.
I LOVE it!!! I love the kids so so much! I can't even tell you! This week I taught kitchen. We made blueberry buckle (which was really just blueberry muffins), Biscuits, fruit pizzas, ants on a log, and my personal favorite, no bake cookies. Oh boy did I love it! not only were the kids pretty well behaved, but I got to snack all morning. I tell ya, that food really keeps their attention. HA. I think that I would teach kitchen EVERY week. besides that it gets pretty expensive. It seems that we have other supplies in plenty, but kitchen is lacking. If you ever plan to teach with ILP I reccomend bringing things like powder sugar and baking soda and yeast. Maybe I can find it here, but I haven't yet. The fruit here is really good though.
Okay, Okay. Enough of that food tangent. The kids seem to be picking up english pretty well. I mean, they aren't fluent yet, but we're getting there. By the time we are finished, these kids will be PRO! ;)
This week I was lucky enough to go on a home visit with our Native Coordinators. Actually, two. We went to 2 different houses in one night. Sharalynn, and Kevin.
Sharalynn: Her house first of all, was BEAUTIFUL. It was huge! the floors were marble and they had a HUGE chandelier! You get it, they were pretty well off. But Sharalynn sat her couch and hid behind her stuffed animal cow. The 2 other girls and I sat there, quiet for the most part, while the other Chinese teachers talked to her parents in Chinese. The parents actually lived in Canada for a while. That is where they met. They spoke english pretty well. So that was fun.
But then there was Kevin: It was just him and his mom. His mom didn't know much english at all. But Kevin, he wanted to show us every toy he owned. He was bringing out one at a time. but then, he brought out his whole box and dumped it on the ground!! Then he took to throwing a top around the room. It became a game of hot potato between Kandace, him and I. His mom only cut in when he started throwing the oranges off the table at us. But she did let us each take one when we left.
It was a good time. I liked it, and can't wait to go on more.
We also got an awesome oppertunity to help some people practice their English. On Saturday we were invited to attend this activity where a bunch of Natives would get together with other people that spoke english so that they could practice. We got some free food, then we got fitted for a free pair of tailored jeans, and then we got to play games and hang out and mingle. We were just there so that they could practice. I made friends with a group of students about my age. Vera was the name of the girl that sat by me on the bus. They took us to a park to go on a "hike" (a short walk up some stairs) and then we watched as the little kids played some games. I was excited to see one of my students there. Tiger. In class he is a little bit of a pain, likes to run around, doesn't like to listen, likes to distract the other students. But here, he was actually really shy.
Anyways it was fun just to hang out, and it gave us something to do. And now I know where to find a good park. Maybe I'll go fly a kite sometime. that seems to be a popular activity here.
Well. There is my first blog. ever. I swore I would never do this, but here I am. Hope you Enjoy!
Day 52
I LOVE it!!! I love the kids so so much! I can't even tell you! This week I taught kitchen. We made blueberry buckle (which was really just blueberry muffins), Biscuits, fruit pizzas, ants on a log, and my personal favorite, no bake cookies. Oh boy did I love it! not only were the kids pretty well behaved, but I got to snack all morning. I tell ya, that food really keeps their attention. HA. I think that I would teach kitchen EVERY week. besides that it gets pretty expensive. It seems that we have other supplies in plenty, but kitchen is lacking. If you ever plan to teach with ILP I reccomend bringing things like powder sugar and baking soda and yeast. Maybe I can find it here, but I haven't yet. The fruit here is really good though.
Okay, Okay. Enough of that food tangent. The kids seem to be picking up english pretty well. I mean, they aren't fluent yet, but we're getting there. By the time we are finished, these kids will be PRO! ;)
This week I was lucky enough to go on a home visit with our Native Coordinators. Actually, two. We went to 2 different houses in one night. Sharalynn, and Kevin.
Sharalynn: Her house first of all, was BEAUTIFUL. It was huge! the floors were marble and they had a HUGE chandelier! You get it, they were pretty well off. But Sharalynn sat her couch and hid behind her stuffed animal cow. The 2 other girls and I sat there, quiet for the most part, while the other Chinese teachers talked to her parents in Chinese. The parents actually lived in Canada for a while. That is where they met. They spoke english pretty well. So that was fun.
But then there was Kevin: It was just him and his mom. His mom didn't know much english at all. But Kevin, he wanted to show us every toy he owned. He was bringing out one at a time. but then, he brought out his whole box and dumped it on the ground!! Then he took to throwing a top around the room. It became a game of hot potato between Kandace, him and I. His mom only cut in when he started throwing the oranges off the table at us. But she did let us each take one when we left.
It was a good time. I liked it, and can't wait to go on more.
We also got an awesome oppertunity to help some people practice their English. On Saturday we were invited to attend this activity where a bunch of Natives would get together with other people that spoke english so that they could practice. We got some free food, then we got fitted for a free pair of tailored jeans, and then we got to play games and hang out and mingle. We were just there so that they could practice. I made friends with a group of students about my age. Vera was the name of the girl that sat by me on the bus. They took us to a park to go on a "hike" (a short walk up some stairs) and then we watched as the little kids played some games. I was excited to see one of my students there. Tiger. In class he is a little bit of a pain, likes to run around, doesn't like to listen, likes to distract the other students. But here, he was actually really shy.
Anyways it was fun just to hang out, and it gave us something to do. And now I know where to find a good park. Maybe I'll go fly a kite sometime. that seems to be a popular activity here.
Well. There is my first blog. ever. I swore I would never do this, but here I am. Hope you Enjoy!
Day 52
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Update
Wow! What an adventure!
So you are going to have to pull out your pop-corn and a comfy seat for this email I am sure. No, I will try to keep it short(er). I don't want to take up too much of your time. But I have just traveled all over China. And wow there is just so much to see! I would just like to copy my journal right into this email but that would be 30 pages front an back and you would get so bored I am sure. So, I will try to condense it for you.
First of all I have now been to Shanghai, Beijing, Guilin, Yangshou, and Hainin Islands.Yes, I still continue to LOVE China more and more everyday. Let me give you a little background. As ILP volunteers the school is required to give us a certain amount of vacation days. We get 2, 4 day weekends and 1, 10 day vacation. They fall on chineese holidays and it just so happens that mid-autumn festival and the moon festival are about a week apart. We had a 4 day weekend, a short week of teaching and then a 10 day vacation. I can't even tell you how much fun I had, but oh boy, does it feel good to be home!!
So, the next time you are planning a trip to china, I wouldn't reccomend planning Beijing and Shanghai in a 4 day period. It will pretty much kill you, not quite, because I am still here to tell the tale, but it'll wear you out! We spent a day and a half in Shanghai. The first night we spent walking around the city and seeing what was there for us to see. We walked along and saw The Bund. You know, that famous city scape with the super tall tower thing? That tower is called the Oriental Pearl TV Tower. It is 1,536 ft tall and is the 3rd tallest TV Tower in the World. It was all lit up and very beautiful! Also very crowded. After hanging out for a while it was time for our Acrobatic Show. We met up at our hostel and ran to see the show. We had to make one stop for Krispy Kream Doughnuts!! Yup, they have one here in China, and oh boy, they have never tasted so good!! The Acrobatic show was amazing! These Chineese really know how to perform! I was really amazed at some of the things they could do. I got some good video footage. and some pretty good pictures as well. But I do reccomend going to see one if you ever have a chance! In the morning I, along with some others in the group, decided to get up early and walk along The Bund. I tell ya, that was an excellent idea! It was just a little foggy and rainy, it was so pretty and there was almost not a soul in sight. A great way to start out any day. And THEN the best part, we ran into a group of people doing Tai Chi!!! one lady let us follow along as she did it. AWESOME! and I tell you what, I really felt at peace after that. I don't mean to sound cheesy or anything, but it was great!
The rest of the day was spent at The World Expo. Holy Cow! that was so neat! We got there around 9 so that we could wait in an incredibly long line. If you know Chinese, they don't do lines. They push and shove their way to the front. So we did like the Chinese. but it was so crowded that we didn't move very fast. We just made sure no one pushed in front of us. The Expo was really incredible. They set up Pavillions representing each country. There are tons. It was like an amusement park. lots of waiting in lines. but at the end of the lines we were getting stamps on our fake passports instead of riding rides.But it was really neat and some of the displays were beautiful! My favorites were The Africa Pavillion, The New Zealand Pavillion, and The Carribean Pavillion. They were pretty cool. and there were a lot that were cool from outside. We just didn't go in because the lines were way to long. But it was really neat and it was totally worth it. One could spend over a week there and still be missing out on a lot of stuff. and that was Shanghai.
Beijing. Incredible. We did EVERYTHING we possibly could. We went to the Silk Market and the Pearl Market more than Once. I got a lot of good deals! We went to the Great Wall. Personally it wasn't all I hoped and dreamed. But it really was incredible! I guess I was just disappointed because it was so crowded. I wish we would have taken that extra hour to go somewhere that was less touristy. But what am I complaining about?! I walked on the Great Wall of China!!! Really, I couldn't contain my excitement the whole time I was in Beijing. I was really just in awe! Every child talks about digging a hole to China right? All my life China has been just a fantasy in my mind. But now, I am living here! I've experienced things that I thought that I would only ever talk about or see in pictures! Amazing! We went to Tianamen Square. The largest meeting place in the world. not only did we walk through the Forbidden City but we had our own little photo shoot. We saw Frozen Mao. We got up at 4 in the morning to see them raise the flag at Tianamen Square. And we saw it go down. Everything was just exciting. From the moment we got there, it was just Go Go Go. Non-stop. and at night we had our own personal fashion shows to see what everyone got during the day. It was CRAZY! But, it was fun and I loved every second of it.
The next four days back to teaching. We were all sick. We were all behind on sleep and it caught up with us. Stuffy noses and all. It was not fun. We still had to teach. and Gym was hard. try teaching a bunch of little kids games when you are sick. They go crazy and it is so hard to contain them.
But don't worry. Only 4 days later and we were back on the road. We piled onto a sleeper bus for a 12 hour ride to Yangshou. We got there around 5 in the morning. Piled off the bus and had no Idea what we were doing. but there were a bunch of Taxi drivers there ready to take us where we need to go. We started wandering the streets looking for our hostel. We found it. We had reserved our rooms online but they somehow didn't get our reservations and the price was highger. So we went looking elsewhere for somewhere to stay. Our group all had different plans so it was Me, Jess, Mark, and Callie. The 3 other boys were with us, but when we had troubles finding a place to stay, we split up. Then after trying several hostels and getting turned away (they were full for the Holiday, or really expensive) we went back to our original hostel. At this point it was around 8 and there was someone that spoke better english. So we got in for the price that we wanted. It was great. After a long crappy bus ride we needed some sleep. So we crashed for the rest of the morning. About lunch time we went to find our beloved golden arches. McDonalds makes me want to barf in the States, but here... it is soooo good! While in Yangshou we did the Riverboats, we wandered the streets, we rented bikes, and we went to the Mud caves. It was relaxing and it was so much fun! I had so much fun!! Yangshou is BEAUTIFUL! Everything is so green and pretty. The mountains are everywhere, they are just Gigantic rocks shooting up out of the ground and covered in trees. West street was the main street and that is where our hostel was. It was a cute little touristy Village. There was lots to do and lots to see. There were some really good places to eat (When in China, if you can find an American food restaurant, it's golden!! the food actually fills you up and you aren't starving in between meals.) The mud cave was really cool. It was a big cave tour and at the end you got to take a mud bath. It was so fun! We seperated from our tour group somewhere in the middle and got the mud bath to ourselves for a while. The bamboo raft was really fun! It was over an hour long and it was just a scenic ride along the river on this cool little raft. I would go back to Yangshou. There was a lot more to do, but Mark was behind on getting sick so when the rest of us got better, he got sick and we took things a little slower. besides, after our last vacation it was nice to take things slower.
Next stop, Guilin. So Guilin was supposed to be like Yangsuo, Scenic outdoorsy things. We were excited. So we got up, went to our favorite restaurant, Ryley's Cafe and had crepes for breakfast. Then, on to the bus ride. it was a 2 hour bus ride to get there. That ride was no fun at all. It was really bumpy and crowded. but hey, This is China! so we got to Guilin. I already wanted to turn around and go back. We were in the middle of a busy city. I didn't get it. Everything I had heard was that the 2 cities were similar. But, where were the Mountains and the beautiful Scenery. I didn't see it anywhere. And on top of that, The bus just left us at some random stop. We weren't at the bus stop like we thought we would be. so we wandered around with our luggage trying to find our hostel. We found the bus stop about a block away and there was our hostel down some creepy alley way. good thing it was the middle of the day or I wouldn't have wanted to go down there. We walked up 2 flights of stairs to find the lobby. Then we had to take our luggage up 4 more flights to get to our room. We were all kinda bugged. After a short nap we went back to see what there was to do. Only to find out that everything required a 2 hour bus ride back to Yangshou. I tell ya, disappointment, right there. But the hostel had a TV room and really good food. After a bit of hanging out we went for a night on the town in search of a DVD store. We never found one and we couldn't find those comforting Golden Arches either. So we went back to our hostel for a good game of nertz. The next morning after breakfast and another game of nertz there was a large group of americans that checked in and looked about our age. We went to talk to them and find out, they were another group of ILP teachers. It was still just Me, Jess, Mark, and Callie. The rest of the group had hopped on a 26 hour train ride up to Xi'an. Chase, one of the boys in our group hoped to meet up with some of his friends up there. Turns out... They were the ones checking into our hostel. There had been some miscommunication and they had already been to Xi'an. We had a good laugh over that one! So we went out on the town again with this new group. We learned some of their secrets and shared soem of ours and made some new friends. They taught us about the street food at the night market. Street food is something that we aren't used to because we don't have it in our city. Most of my group is afraid to try it anyways. I tried somethings. Although, I have no idea what they were because I didn't want to ask.
The next day we went to Seven Star Park. That was beautiful. I discovered that Guilin had something to offer afterall. Walking through the city we would see some of those rock mountains shooting up out of nowhere. And Seven Star Park was just beautiful! it was right in the middle of the city but it was a huge scenic park with lots to see. Right in the middle of the Park there was a big cave. The rocks inside were lit with colourful lights and it was really pretty. I enjoyed it thoroughly.
On this trip I decided that everyone needs to make a trip to China. I can tell you that I love it. I can show you pictures. I can try to explain it's beauty to you, but really I think everyone should come and see it for themselves. You can go from the nasty stinky streets to the beautiful mountains and caves. You walk through this country and you see people living in such crappy conditions and yet they seem like such a happy people. Most of the people are just so nice. And it is always fun to feel like a celebrity as you walk down the street and people want to take a picture with you. It is just fun to be here. I like being on the other side of the world seeing these people and thinking, these are God's Children too and I love seeing all of God's Creations over here! It makes me feel so happy inside and I can just feel God's love when I think God created all of this for our enjoyment. Even when at first it may seem like a dumpy city. But if you look closely, even the run down buildings, although rotting and destroyed, they have a beauty of their own.
Our next stop was what I had been waiting for the whole time. Hainin Islands... The BEACH!! Well we got there really late, so we rode the bus to our little Inn. it was a tiny lobby that looked pretty sketchy, especially with the cabinet of interesting laundrie lining one wall. The rest of the Inn consited of a tall thin stairway leading to rooms. The rooms were huge with 2 small beds that were hard as rocks and a small water closet that I suppose was the bathroom. The Shower was basically on top of the squatter and then there was a sink and shelf for towels. The lights gave the room a pretty eery feel. Since it was still just the 4 of us we got 2 rooms and it was actually kinda nice to be apart from Callie and Mark. Not because we didn't like them, but because it made the whole bathroom/changing situation easier and it also gave Jess and I some freedom. To stay up and talk or to just be girls. ya know? but it was fun. The next day consisted of Pancakes at McDonalds and the beach!! it was so much fun and the beach was really nice. We were worried because it was cloudy. Turns out that it had been rainy all week. There was supposed to be more rain, but it didn't rain once while we were there. We met a nice couple from Provo while we were there. Aaron and Crystal. Aaron was on some program with BYU. He has been studying Mandrin for 3 years. They had been in Sanya for a couple days and so they said that they would meet us later and show us a good place for Western food. We were excited. After getting all cleaned up we met Aaron and Crystal and they took us to a restaurant called the Dolphin. Jess and I split a Delicious Salad and Chimichanga. We had been craving some Mexican food. It was So good. We had to enjoy it because our vacation was almost over and we will be going back to our usual rice and who knows what.
After dinner they took us to get some cool Coral Gems. So you know when you go diving and you find Coral? well, if you were to try to polish it and make it into beads it would just crumble. BUT, if you go deeper there are Coral Gems. It is a little harder and it makes some beautiful jewelry. It is local to the Hainin Islands. So we got some things there. We made friends with the owner of the shop. She and her husband loved us and asked us for english names. We named them Joy and Frankie. Then just down the way we found a little smoothie shop. Then it was time for bed. We had spent a lot of time in the sun and we had no more energy.
The next day, Callie was too burned to do anything. Me Jess and Mark went for a hike. We went because Crystal told us you could see monkeys... It was called Deer Mountain. We were pretty disappointed. We didn't see a single monkey. It was really pretty though. and when we got to the top there was a beautiful veiw of the island. and there were deer at the top. although they were all locked up in a cage and it was actually really sad. That night we went our for Big Macs and more of those really good smoothies. We hopped on the number 2 bus because we had seen it at the bus stop by the ocean. but, we hopped on it going the wrong direction. We ended up at the edge of town... yeah I know, a normal person, when realizing they are headed the wrong direction would get off and go back the other way. not us. We rode it until the end and then rode it back... Then we got off and got on the number 4 bus since that is the one we were familiar with. Once we had our smoothies we went for a walk on the beach. Man, I wish I had my suit the beach seemed like a fun place at night! I was so ready for a nice swim. but since we didn;t have our suits we just walked in the water and enjoyed the night scene and took some pictures.
Then it was Sunday. the last day of our vacation and Jessica's birthday. We went back to the Dolphin for Jess's birthday breakfast. She wanted french toast. And boy was it good. Then we went back to pack and get ready for the trek home.
Well... That was my adventure. it was fun, but boy am I glad to be back in my own bed. it feels good to be home.
You may have noticed that I didn't mention conference... Well that is because I haven't had the chance to watch it yet. I haven't had my computer and we have been out and about. But don't worry. I will be watching it as soon as possible!! I can't even wait. I have been preparing myself mentally and I am so excited. You are all so lucky to have been able to watch it live. Today I spent my traveling time reading past conference talks. I know the Lord loves me and is watching over me here in China. I know that My Saviour is always at the ready to help and all it requires is my asking. I have vome so close to my Saviour these last few weeks.
Love you all!
Lauren
PS. pictures take forever to upload but I will try to get more on photobucket. Also, keep the updates coming from home!
Sorry it was so long.
So you are going to have to pull out your pop-corn and a comfy seat for this email I am sure. No, I will try to keep it short(er). I don't want to take up too much of your time. But I have just traveled all over China. And wow there is just so much to see! I would just like to copy my journal right into this email but that would be 30 pages front an back and you would get so bored I am sure. So, I will try to condense it for you.
First of all I have now been to Shanghai, Beijing, Guilin, Yangshou, and Hainin Islands.Yes, I still continue to LOVE China more and more everyday. Let me give you a little background. As ILP volunteers the school is required to give us a certain amount of vacation days. We get 2, 4 day weekends and 1, 10 day vacation. They fall on chineese holidays and it just so happens that mid-autumn festival and the moon festival are about a week apart. We had a 4 day weekend, a short week of teaching and then a 10 day vacation. I can't even tell you how much fun I had, but oh boy, does it feel good to be home!!
So, the next time you are planning a trip to china, I wouldn't reccomend planning Beijing and Shanghai in a 4 day period. It will pretty much kill you, not quite, because I am still here to tell the tale, but it'll wear you out! We spent a day and a half in Shanghai. The first night we spent walking around the city and seeing what was there for us to see. We walked along and saw The Bund. You know, that famous city scape with the super tall tower thing? That tower is called the Oriental Pearl TV Tower. It is 1,536 ft tall and is the 3rd tallest TV Tower in the World. It was all lit up and very beautiful! Also very crowded. After hanging out for a while it was time for our Acrobatic Show. We met up at our hostel and ran to see the show. We had to make one stop for Krispy Kream Doughnuts!! Yup, they have one here in China, and oh boy, they have never tasted so good!! The Acrobatic show was amazing! These Chineese really know how to perform! I was really amazed at some of the things they could do. I got some good video footage. and some pretty good pictures as well. But I do reccomend going to see one if you ever have a chance! In the morning I, along with some others in the group, decided to get up early and walk along The Bund. I tell ya, that was an excellent idea! It was just a little foggy and rainy, it was so pretty and there was almost not a soul in sight. A great way to start out any day. And THEN the best part, we ran into a group of people doing Tai Chi!!! one lady let us follow along as she did it. AWESOME! and I tell you what, I really felt at peace after that. I don't mean to sound cheesy or anything, but it was great!
The rest of the day was spent at The World Expo. Holy Cow! that was so neat! We got there around 9 so that we could wait in an incredibly long line. If you know Chinese, they don't do lines. They push and shove their way to the front. So we did like the Chinese. but it was so crowded that we didn't move very fast. We just made sure no one pushed in front of us. The Expo was really incredible. They set up Pavillions representing each country. There are tons. It was like an amusement park. lots of waiting in lines. but at the end of the lines we were getting stamps on our fake passports instead of riding rides.But it was really neat and some of the displays were beautiful! My favorites were The Africa Pavillion, The New Zealand Pavillion, and The Carribean Pavillion. They were pretty cool. and there were a lot that were cool from outside. We just didn't go in because the lines were way to long. But it was really neat and it was totally worth it. One could spend over a week there and still be missing out on a lot of stuff. and that was Shanghai.
Beijing. Incredible. We did EVERYTHING we possibly could. We went to the Silk Market and the Pearl Market more than Once. I got a lot of good deals! We went to the Great Wall. Personally it wasn't all I hoped and dreamed. But it really was incredible! I guess I was just disappointed because it was so crowded. I wish we would have taken that extra hour to go somewhere that was less touristy. But what am I complaining about?! I walked on the Great Wall of China!!! Really, I couldn't contain my excitement the whole time I was in Beijing. I was really just in awe! Every child talks about digging a hole to China right? All my life China has been just a fantasy in my mind. But now, I am living here! I've experienced things that I thought that I would only ever talk about or see in pictures! Amazing! We went to Tianamen Square. The largest meeting place in the world. not only did we walk through the Forbidden City but we had our own little photo shoot. We saw Frozen Mao. We got up at 4 in the morning to see them raise the flag at Tianamen Square. And we saw it go down. Everything was just exciting. From the moment we got there, it was just Go Go Go. Non-stop. and at night we had our own personal fashion shows to see what everyone got during the day. It was CRAZY! But, it was fun and I loved every second of it.
The next four days back to teaching. We were all sick. We were all behind on sleep and it caught up with us. Stuffy noses and all. It was not fun. We still had to teach. and Gym was hard. try teaching a bunch of little kids games when you are sick. They go crazy and it is so hard to contain them.
But don't worry. Only 4 days later and we were back on the road. We piled onto a sleeper bus for a 12 hour ride to Yangshou. We got there around 5 in the morning. Piled off the bus and had no Idea what we were doing. but there were a bunch of Taxi drivers there ready to take us where we need to go. We started wandering the streets looking for our hostel. We found it. We had reserved our rooms online but they somehow didn't get our reservations and the price was highger. So we went looking elsewhere for somewhere to stay. Our group all had different plans so it was Me, Jess, Mark, and Callie. The 3 other boys were with us, but when we had troubles finding a place to stay, we split up. Then after trying several hostels and getting turned away (they were full for the Holiday, or really expensive) we went back to our original hostel. At this point it was around 8 and there was someone that spoke better english. So we got in for the price that we wanted. It was great. After a long crappy bus ride we needed some sleep. So we crashed for the rest of the morning. About lunch time we went to find our beloved golden arches. McDonalds makes me want to barf in the States, but here... it is soooo good! While in Yangshou we did the Riverboats, we wandered the streets, we rented bikes, and we went to the Mud caves. It was relaxing and it was so much fun! I had so much fun!! Yangshou is BEAUTIFUL! Everything is so green and pretty. The mountains are everywhere, they are just Gigantic rocks shooting up out of the ground and covered in trees. West street was the main street and that is where our hostel was. It was a cute little touristy Village. There was lots to do and lots to see. There were some really good places to eat (When in China, if you can find an American food restaurant, it's golden!! the food actually fills you up and you aren't starving in between meals.) The mud cave was really cool. It was a big cave tour and at the end you got to take a mud bath. It was so fun! We seperated from our tour group somewhere in the middle and got the mud bath to ourselves for a while. The bamboo raft was really fun! It was over an hour long and it was just a scenic ride along the river on this cool little raft. I would go back to Yangshou. There was a lot more to do, but Mark was behind on getting sick so when the rest of us got better, he got sick and we took things a little slower. besides, after our last vacation it was nice to take things slower.
Next stop, Guilin. So Guilin was supposed to be like Yangsuo, Scenic outdoorsy things. We were excited. So we got up, went to our favorite restaurant, Ryley's Cafe and had crepes for breakfast. Then, on to the bus ride. it was a 2 hour bus ride to get there. That ride was no fun at all. It was really bumpy and crowded. but hey, This is China! so we got to Guilin. I already wanted to turn around and go back. We were in the middle of a busy city. I didn't get it. Everything I had heard was that the 2 cities were similar. But, where were the Mountains and the beautiful Scenery. I didn't see it anywhere. And on top of that, The bus just left us at some random stop. We weren't at the bus stop like we thought we would be. so we wandered around with our luggage trying to find our hostel. We found the bus stop about a block away and there was our hostel down some creepy alley way. good thing it was the middle of the day or I wouldn't have wanted to go down there. We walked up 2 flights of stairs to find the lobby. Then we had to take our luggage up 4 more flights to get to our room. We were all kinda bugged. After a short nap we went back to see what there was to do. Only to find out that everything required a 2 hour bus ride back to Yangshou. I tell ya, disappointment, right there. But the hostel had a TV room and really good food. After a bit of hanging out we went for a night on the town in search of a DVD store. We never found one and we couldn't find those comforting Golden Arches either. So we went back to our hostel for a good game of nertz. The next morning after breakfast and another game of nertz there was a large group of americans that checked in and looked about our age. We went to talk to them and find out, they were another group of ILP teachers. It was still just Me, Jess, Mark, and Callie. The rest of the group had hopped on a 26 hour train ride up to Xi'an. Chase, one of the boys in our group hoped to meet up with some of his friends up there. Turns out... They were the ones checking into our hostel. There had been some miscommunication and they had already been to Xi'an. We had a good laugh over that one! So we went out on the town again with this new group. We learned some of their secrets and shared soem of ours and made some new friends. They taught us about the street food at the night market. Street food is something that we aren't used to because we don't have it in our city. Most of my group is afraid to try it anyways. I tried somethings. Although, I have no idea what they were because I didn't want to ask.
The next day we went to Seven Star Park. That was beautiful. I discovered that Guilin had something to offer afterall. Walking through the city we would see some of those rock mountains shooting up out of nowhere. And Seven Star Park was just beautiful! it was right in the middle of the city but it was a huge scenic park with lots to see. Right in the middle of the Park there was a big cave. The rocks inside were lit with colourful lights and it was really pretty. I enjoyed it thoroughly.
On this trip I decided that everyone needs to make a trip to China. I can tell you that I love it. I can show you pictures. I can try to explain it's beauty to you, but really I think everyone should come and see it for themselves. You can go from the nasty stinky streets to the beautiful mountains and caves. You walk through this country and you see people living in such crappy conditions and yet they seem like such a happy people. Most of the people are just so nice. And it is always fun to feel like a celebrity as you walk down the street and people want to take a picture with you. It is just fun to be here. I like being on the other side of the world seeing these people and thinking, these are God's Children too and I love seeing all of God's Creations over here! It makes me feel so happy inside and I can just feel God's love when I think God created all of this for our enjoyment. Even when at first it may seem like a dumpy city. But if you look closely, even the run down buildings, although rotting and destroyed, they have a beauty of their own.
Our next stop was what I had been waiting for the whole time. Hainin Islands... The BEACH!! Well we got there really late, so we rode the bus to our little Inn. it was a tiny lobby that looked pretty sketchy, especially with the cabinet of interesting laundrie lining one wall. The rest of the Inn consited of a tall thin stairway leading to rooms. The rooms were huge with 2 small beds that were hard as rocks and a small water closet that I suppose was the bathroom. The Shower was basically on top of the squatter and then there was a sink and shelf for towels. The lights gave the room a pretty eery feel. Since it was still just the 4 of us we got 2 rooms and it was actually kinda nice to be apart from Callie and Mark. Not because we didn't like them, but because it made the whole bathroom/changing situation easier and it also gave Jess and I some freedom. To stay up and talk or to just be girls. ya know? but it was fun. The next day consisted of Pancakes at McDonalds and the beach!! it was so much fun and the beach was really nice. We were worried because it was cloudy. Turns out that it had been rainy all week. There was supposed to be more rain, but it didn't rain once while we were there. We met a nice couple from Provo while we were there. Aaron and Crystal. Aaron was on some program with BYU. He has been studying Mandrin for 3 years. They had been in Sanya for a couple days and so they said that they would meet us later and show us a good place for Western food. We were excited. After getting all cleaned up we met Aaron and Crystal and they took us to a restaurant called the Dolphin. Jess and I split a Delicious Salad and Chimichanga. We had been craving some Mexican food. It was So good. We had to enjoy it because our vacation was almost over and we will be going back to our usual rice and who knows what.
After dinner they took us to get some cool Coral Gems. So you know when you go diving and you find Coral? well, if you were to try to polish it and make it into beads it would just crumble. BUT, if you go deeper there are Coral Gems. It is a little harder and it makes some beautiful jewelry. It is local to the Hainin Islands. So we got some things there. We made friends with the owner of the shop. She and her husband loved us and asked us for english names. We named them Joy and Frankie. Then just down the way we found a little smoothie shop. Then it was time for bed. We had spent a lot of time in the sun and we had no more energy.
The next day, Callie was too burned to do anything. Me Jess and Mark went for a hike. We went because Crystal told us you could see monkeys... It was called Deer Mountain. We were pretty disappointed. We didn't see a single monkey. It was really pretty though. and when we got to the top there was a beautiful veiw of the island. and there were deer at the top. although they were all locked up in a cage and it was actually really sad. That night we went our for Big Macs and more of those really good smoothies. We hopped on the number 2 bus because we had seen it at the bus stop by the ocean. but, we hopped on it going the wrong direction. We ended up at the edge of town... yeah I know, a normal person, when realizing they are headed the wrong direction would get off and go back the other way. not us. We rode it until the end and then rode it back... Then we got off and got on the number 4 bus since that is the one we were familiar with. Once we had our smoothies we went for a walk on the beach. Man, I wish I had my suit the beach seemed like a fun place at night! I was so ready for a nice swim. but since we didn;t have our suits we just walked in the water and enjoyed the night scene and took some pictures.
Then it was Sunday. the last day of our vacation and Jessica's birthday. We went back to the Dolphin for Jess's birthday breakfast. She wanted french toast. And boy was it good. Then we went back to pack and get ready for the trek home.
Well... That was my adventure. it was fun, but boy am I glad to be back in my own bed. it feels good to be home.
You may have noticed that I didn't mention conference... Well that is because I haven't had the chance to watch it yet. I haven't had my computer and we have been out and about. But don't worry. I will be watching it as soon as possible!! I can't even wait. I have been preparing myself mentally and I am so excited. You are all so lucky to have been able to watch it live. Today I spent my traveling time reading past conference talks. I know the Lord loves me and is watching over me here in China. I know that My Saviour is always at the ready to help and all it requires is my asking. I have vome so close to my Saviour these last few weeks.
Love you all!
Lauren
PS. pictures take forever to upload but I will try to get more on photobucket. Also, keep the updates coming from home!
Sorry it was so long.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)