Sports, Hair and Hamburgers

There has been a lot of things that have happened since the last blog post. This past week has been CRAZY! Monday we found out that our classes were being canceled because of the school sports day. Let me tell you about this sports day. It's like a mini Olympic event. Each grade learns a dance or some weird entertainment show and they have opening ceremonies where all the kids are outside around the track just watching. Then kids run the track, throw the javelin and other throws and jumps. While all of the other kids are sitting in the bleachers playing on their phones... We were supposed to run against the other Chinese teachers but they saw some of us running around the track earlier in the week and decided that they didn't want to run against us. But classes were cancelled for everyone Wednesday through Sunday so Cyd, Lizzie and I took a bus to Chong Zhou where we saw Cyd's kids that she taught last year. They were WAY cute! We stayed the night there and explored the city. We had lots of fun and I found myself a knock off Casio watch that looks exactly like my blue one! :-) We left that afternoon and got back to Ningbo that night. Friday we have soccer with the Chinese teachers at 3. Lizzie, Keelan and I went and played. I have to say, Chinese P.E. teachers might look a bit heavy but they are freaking fast!! We played against all these Asian guys and Lizzie and I were the only girls. I didn't do too bad and my soccer skills were slowly coming back but these guys were brutal and all a good head taller than me so they were pretty much knocking me around like a rag doll. I pulled off some pretty cool foot skills and was totally getting around them until I was involved in a huge take out. I slide tackled this pretty big guy and he lost his balance and we ended up tumbling around and colliding. I ended up in the fetal position with him sprawled on top of me. He was perfectly fine. I got up with a knee that was already bruised and swelling. Couldn't really even walk on it... But I kept on playing ;-) It was really fun and I can't wait for next Friday to do it all again! Except that next Friday the high school boys want to join so it'll be really rough...but fun!

Saturday the school took us to Hongzhou. It's this really pretty town. We had our coordinator Angle with us and we went with a tour group which was cool. The tour leader told all the other people in the group to look after us and make sure that nothing bad happened to us. A lot of the people in our group asked to have their pictures taken with us. We went to West Lake which was absolutely beautiful. Then we went to a couple of different temples and tea houses. We also went to a silk factory. It was all really cool.

This last month we have been discovering some fun places in Ningbo. We found a night market that's only two bus stops away from our school that has some fun clothing and jewelry and some amazing street food. We also found a fantastic hair salon. Something interesting here is that it is men who are usually the stylists here. Every now and then you'll find a woman doing hair but not often. You haven't lived life yet until you've had your hair washed, colored and cut by a beautiful straight Asian man! Just sayin. The guys at the salon we go to are hilarious. Sonny, the owner, doesn't speak a lick of English but through the Chinese we've learned we found out that he is quite blunt and funny. His wife (couldn't spell her Chinese name if my life depended on it) helps him out and they have a little boy who is about a year old and always has a Mohawk. There is Tony who is freakishly tall and very shy and it doesn't help him that he only knows a few words in English. And there's O-wen who speaks a little bit of English and is pretty funny. Tony went out to smoke and O-wen said to us that "Smoking... is bad for health." that's when we asked him if he smoked and he got all red and replied "sometimes." It was funny to see him so embarrassed but not surprising since most of the men here smoke.

I never thought I'd say this but thank goodness for McDonald's!! Seriously, some of the food here is crazy! I don't even know what most of it is . Honestly I don't really want to ask either. But we figured out that people here don't really look at their food. They just eat whatever is in front of them. So having a hamburger and knowing exactly what's in that hamburger can be very comforting. I don't think I'll qualify as a picky eater anymore when I get home.

Food Poisoning and Such

Jen sent this update to me with the last updates but it got lost. My bad!

So this week was our seven day vacation (national holiday to celebrate communisium) We were going to go to Beijing but decided not to. Then we were going to go to Zhujoe. That didn't happen so we're really just exploring Ningbo. But guess who decided to get sick at the begining of our longest holiday. That's right, I did! I either got sick with an epic dose of food poisoning or the chinese flu. I've been stuck in my apartment at the empty school for four days now, throwing up and sipping on water. I do have to thank Keelan and Arial for all the caring they have shown me. They brought over saltine crackers which are very hard to find here, along with ginger ale. Keelan was also nice enough to give me a blessing which I was very very very thankful for. Those two are going to have an amazing life. I'm really glad Lizzie came along with me. She's been taking care of me and making sure I've been eating and getting enough rest. She's been the girl who holds your hair when you throw up (well technically she didn't hold my hair but she has done a lot more than that.) But sitting in my room for four days made me realize that me getting sick is a blessing. No, that's not crazy talk. I realized that I was just going and going, from here to there, near , far. Never really stopping and calming down since I got here. I feel like me getting sick was God's way of showing me that I need to slow down and take it easy while I can. It's nice to know that I don't have to be anywhere and that I can relax and regenerate.

Being sick does make you a little homesick. Thinking that a nice bowl of chicken noodle soup sounds good. But you don't want to buy it hear because the meat will probably be all fat and who know's if there is going to be bones in the soup. Then you just try not to throw up again thinking of Chinese food.

The last meal I ate before I threw up was Greek food. And it was delicious! So good. Then the first thing out of my stomach was the delisious Greek food. Lets just say it wasn't that delisious anymore. I don't think I'll be having Greek food anytime soon.

Students

Well it's been a month now that I've lived in China. I've experienced a LOT. I can tell you that any weird disgusting stories about China are probably 100% true. I've been on buses where you stand on the step by the front door because that's all the room there is on the bus. I've had little kids rub my arms because they think it's so cool that I have hair on my arms.

The past week my group has been taking Tai Chi lessons. And yes, it is the coolest most amazing workout ever! Soothing with a combination of power. Our teacher is one of the P.E. teachers here at the school and I think he's the most beautiful Asian man I have ever seen! So that's a bonus right?

Oh and this past week Cyd and I were walking around the barter market and we had a Chinese girl com up to us. She started to talk to us in English and said that she is in her fourth year in college majoring in English so she wanted to shop with us so she could practice. She is way cute and funny and has become a really good friend of ours. She also gave me a Chinese name. I don't know how to spell it or tell you what the meaning is behind it because she was going on and on about it and I really don't remember it all... But I have a Chinese name now so I feel pretty cool.

So teaching has gotten better. My home room is sometimes fun, but sometimes they can be the biggest pills! We get to teach our home room last, so the kids are probably tired from the classes before, and I'm tired of teaching the same lesson over and over again. So those two combined together makes it hard. But I still love them!

Left to right

Eddie who just has a bunch of energy and just flings his arms and legs in every direction.

Home: Smartest little boy you'll meet. He's so quiet but when everyone leaves the room he just wants to talk to you but you don't know Chinese and feel bad when you don't know what he's saying.

Sky: She's a little pill! She acts like she is sick so she can get out of class and she always just whines.

Sue: She's the cutest little thing! I want to take her home with me!

Ruby: She's the kid that does what she's told and doesn't really stick out but isn't shy at the same time.

Candy: This girl has an attitude. She does what she wants. I feel bad for her. Usually the kids go home for the weekend but she stays at the school. Both her parents work so they just have her stay at the school. And really all the girl wants is some attention. I feel so bad for her. :-(

Lucy: Oh Lucy, she is just unique and so loveable!

The kids are really fun and this week we're going to make light sabers and swords, I'm going to take pictures and get them posted as soon as I can. Also the kids love to sing songs with actions so we taught them the Itsy-bitsy spider, Snowman, Popcorn Popping and Old McDonald. One day they just got bored with all the songs and I couldn't control them so I taught them Book of Mormon stories. They LOVED it! But we can't sing that song in front of the Chinese teachers so every time one of them comes in they want to sings BOMS I have to shush them so they don't get me into trouble.

Shang Hai Trip

Alright, so I've been getting a lot of e-mails about how I need to update this blog so I guess I will. I tried e-mailing my sister with a huge detailed message on my vacation in Shang Hai but right when I was about to e-mail it my Internet went out and it didn't save in my drafts. (Sad face). So you don't get as good of details as my first one but here I go.

We took a bus from our school to the train station which took about an hour. After that we took the three hour fast train to Shang Hai and there we took the subway to our hostel. The hostel that we went to was way cool. They had a bar/cafe that had the most AMAZING bacon cheese fries. They also made really good pasta. But anyways, there were people from everywhere at the hostel. We )as in me, Lizzie, Emiliegh, Amy and my head teacher Cyd) med some really fun Swedish guys. Well, technically they did because I was reading on a really comfy sofa...

The first day in town we went to a fun little market on the street that way by the famous tea house. We just took pictures of the tea house.

After that we headed to the antique market which was really fun. Basically anything old Chinese that you're looking for you can find there. Unless you are looking for a Big Buddha ring that actually fits my tiny fingers... good luck with that one. But you can find old scrolls, chopsticks, fans, statues, little Chinese, even a little statue of Joseph Smith!

But these are what some of the stands looked like.

When we went to Shang Hai they were having their moon festival so one night we were able to go to a parade... which took forever!! Each float or band was at least a quarter of a mile away from the one in front of it and behind it. So we only stayed until Emiliegh saw her old high school band pass by.

The next day we went to the knock-off market and the pearl market. The knock-off market wasn't the best deals. I was going around just price checking how much fake converse would be and the lowest I could get the for was 50 Yuan which wasn't really a good deal. And that was hard enough getting a lady down to 50. So I didn't buy anything there because there is a market here in Ning Bo that is for the locals and you can get converse around 20 Yuan. The knock-off market in Shang Hai is for more tourists. Then we went to the pearl market. Our branch presidents wife was telling us that she has a pearl lady there so she gave us the ladies business card. We found the lady and she gave us the lowest price because we were friends. So we didn't even have to barter! Yes I got a lot. I also was able to get some jade and silver from her for 15 Yuan which is about $2.

Ya, that's right! One night we went and saw Chinese acrobats. Most amazing thing I have seen! They make gymnasts look like a stuff toy soldier. If you haven't ever seen them... Wow. Totally recommend it. This is just a picture of us there... we weren't allowed to take pictures of them.

Anyways that was basically our trip in Shang Hai. This is the first picture we all took when we were in Shang Hai. Left to right Emiliegh, Amy, Cyd, me and LIzzie.

First Weekish

Whoops! So I had this all set to post and somehow it got saved instead. Jen sent this to me over a week ago and I'm hoping to get another update soon.

Today was teachers day so we had a really nice dinner with all of the other primary teachers. I was adventurous and tried oyster, craw fish, crab and squid. First time trying any of them and they were all delish!! We went out with five of the other guy teachers (two PE teacher, one math and one geography) who were all really funny. One of the other girls I was with was eating with her chopsticks upside down so the math teacher politely said "no, no, no" then too her chopsticks and flipped them the other way. It totally cracked us up.

So I was using the microwave and I blew he circuit so now we don't have any electricity. Also, our water heater wasn't working for the first week so we were taking cold- wait, very VERY cold showers. It was an adventure but now I really kind of like cold showers, wakes you right up! But it's fixed now so at least we have the option.

We've taught a couple of days now; it's been difficult but enjoyable. There is this kid named Nick who is the cutest kid but the biggest pain in the bum. Wallin is also one you really have to yell at to get him to do what you want. Very frustrating sometimes. But then there are these three girls, Lucy, Sue and Amy, they are so cute and smart and they catch on so fast.

We went to church on Sunday. Getting there was AWFUL! I was a half hour bus ride to get to David's place, the David took us on another bus for an hour and a half. After that we walked at least ten blocks before David called the branch president who sent his driver to pick us up. After at least two hours of travel we finally made it to the house where we had church. It was very small but very spiritual. We all sat around in a dining room and had sacrament, the branch president's daughter sang a song and played the violin and the we had testimony meeting. After that we watched a conference talk for Sunday school in the living room. Afterwards we had an amazing homemade dinner of completely American food! Roast beef, mashed potatoes, corn, carrots, salad and some fantastic rolls. Our group that day was only 11 people but it was so spiritual and the whole time church was going on I had to keep thinking to myself "Don't cry, don't cry, don't cry".

Anyways, tomorrow I'm hoping to find a cheap shop to buy DVDs!!

Please shoot Jen an e-mail if you have time. I know she'd love to hear form everyone. Her e-mail is jenesey@rocketmail.com and if you have Skype keep an eye out for her. We're still trying to figure out regular times that we can chat with her.

Flying High

Rodney decided he wanted to go with his Aunt Jen.

So I met up with my group at the SLC airport. We had about one-hour flight to San Francisco. I ended up sitting by these three guys who were buying alcohol and talking about Dungeons and Dragons... Quite hilarious to tell you the truth! Then they started swearing and air-guitaring which are two of my WORST pet peeves. Once we got to San Francisco our flight to China was delayed until the next morning. We had to get a hotel for the night but we did get to go and walk on the coast which was very pleasant. The flight to China was VERY long. It was pretty funny when we started to get closer to China because we flew into some bad turbulence; so bad that people on the plane were screaming! I was laughing the whole time... Turbulence is fun! :-)

We made it safely to the airport though and the car ride to the school was awesome!! They really don't pay attention to traffic laws and people are honking left and right. It was pretty fun.

The people here are very, very nice. We've gotten a couple of odd looks and little kids staring but it's cute and funny. Everything is pretty cheap too. I haven't been to a good market yet though. We got to our apartment and there were tarps on the stairs and it smelled really musty but our rooms were very nice and they'd even installed AC for us. The cafeteria smells like wet dog though so you lose your appetite by the time you get your food. I also haven't had a single cold meal since we got here. Their breakfasts are all hot and it's crazy hot and humid so it's hard to even eat breakfast.

That's all for now, hopefully more soon!

I'm going to China!

I'm going to China to teach little kids how to speak English. Yes it does seem a little crazy and I did have to pay for it, but it'll be a fun and new crazy adventure. I found out from a friend about this program, it's called ILP (International Language Program). They send people over to different countries to teach English. You pay $2,520 (you can get discounts) and that pays for housing, food, your Visa and some some cultural lessons for about a 4 month trip.

To get ready for the trip I needed lots of school supplies. So I went to Staples and Michael's and bought a whole bunch of supplies, then my dear friend Lizzie went to church and asked people to donate for her supplies. She got a lot!! So she let me take what she couldn't and I returned all of my supplies, I also need to bring nice teaching apparel and of course, the basic traveling supplies.