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.