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Check out this site to see awesome pictures of china and from our last vacation!!! : )

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Our last Vacation

It was gorgeous! Our last vacation was set two weeks before our 

planned arrival in America. We were heading to Guilin. Tim helped 

us find a bus to Nanchang so that we could get on our train. The 

bus was full, as usual, and we sat on stools in the isle way most 

of the time. Some Chinese people are a little too comfortable with 

strangers. This one older man kept leaning on me with like his legs 

or his arm and it was really freaking me out. I just wanted to gag 

but I tried to be polite and hoped that was just a Chinese thing. 

They should be used to being that close to strangers with their 

packed buses and crammed trains.

The Train ride was alright. We met a handsome young man that we 

named Tanner. He could barely speak a lick of English but he taught 

us how to play a Chinese version of scum.He played and played it 

too. Then another boy joined in. We named him Alex. He was crazy 

and full of life. He knew more English than Tanner but still 

struggled. It was a good time playing "musical chairs" with 

everyone that night.

We didn't get much sleep but we were off the train early that 

morning and off to find our hostel. The itineraries were left at 

our school so we had to do some adventuring out. We made it to one 

hostel that let us use their Internet to find our real hostel. 

There was an older gentleman with greying hair but he seemed fit 

and like he had travelled many places. He was also looking for the 

hostel we were going to. His confidence in knowing the direction of 

our hostel and his 'map' gave us incentive to follow him. He was 

rather cheerful and friendly. Well it turns out he apparently has 

had plenty of experience but he shared more than needed. I am not 

sure if he has heard of TMI but that is what he was spilling. We 

were suddenly creeped out and could not wait to find our hostel! We 

could not read the map and it was not adding up. The street was not 

very busy so we asked an elderly couple. The old man lead us 

through some back alley ways until we came to our hostel.

 
 
We met Lizzie, a senior high school girl graduating soon, and she 

helped guide us around town. We tried the special Guilin rice 

noodles and those were delicious! We spent most of the day shopping 

and looking around. The next day we took a bus on some very 

beautiful back roads to the Li River. We climbed aboard the 'bamboo' 

rafts that were really made or PVC pipe shaped a bit like bamboo 

and bamboo benches to sit on.

The river ride was gorgeous! The 

green mountains were sprawling across the land. We saw a bride and 

groom taking pictures on one of the small beaches and was not that 

so romantic? It made our journey so precious. To be honest though, 

I did sleep most of the way. The scenery did not change too much 

over the few hours we had on the river. I was exhausted.

*We made it 

to the city and had another small adventure finding our backstreet 

hostel, had some more noodles, and went shopping. West street was 

just one big shopping street.

 
 
We spent plenty of time there and even met another group from ILP 

along the way. That night we went and watched the cormorant fishing. 

It was really neat. An old Chinese man took cormorant birds, which 

are mean looking duck like birds, and trained them to fish. They 

have a string tied to their neck so they cannot swallow all the fish 

they catch and then the man can use the rest of the fish. He did it 

with a spot light in the night. After about 20 or 30 mins, we 

stopped and the guy let us hold the birds on our shoulder or arms. 

I did not let them but some of the other girls did.

 
 
The next morning we rented bikes and went to a mud cave. That was 

probably my favorite part, not the mud cave but the bike ride. I 

had a pink retro road bike. 

The traffic is crazy in China but we 

just had to become one with the traffic and then it was fine. I got 

to relax. The view was incredible. The mountains were everywhere 

with green foliage just streaming down them.

 
 
The mud cave was probably the biggest disappointment. It was an 

amazing cave but the mud part was not really mud. It was mostly 

just dirty water with a little mud build up. It was also awkward 

with our guide and another guy taking our pictures just watching us. 

That was a time I wished we had a bigger group so that it did not 

feel so strange. In that cave, they also has hot springs. Those were 

amazing. I have never been in a hot spring in a massive cave. That 

was a pleasant treat.

 
 
We took our time going back to the hostel on our bikes and did any 

last minute shopping for the night. Ashley and I found the two 

cutest shops! The first was just like an American boutique. It was 

adorable. We fell in love with it. Then right across the way, was 

another fantastic store. It was more scrap booking, earthy and 

indie-retro. Ashley bought four brown polka dot mugs. They were too 

good to pass up. 

 
The next day we went to the rice terraces. It was a long ride and an 

interesting one too. There was a tourist trap along the way. They 

took us to 'the Long Hair Village' where all the ladies have long 

hair. Then they tried to get us to pay 60 yuan to go to a little 

show they put on. They said that was to get into the village as well. 

The 5 of us and about 6 other people decided we did not want to. 

After a while, we managed to go into the village with no problems. 

No one asked us for money or anything. We knew it was a tourist 

trap then, if we did not already.

 
We had bamboo rice at a local restaurant which was an interesting 

dish served right out of bamboo shoots. We had an hour to hike up 

the mountain and look at all the terraces.

Then we had an hour to 

make it back to the bus. It worked out almost perfectly for Bryndi, 

Nicole, and I. We took our time coming down and got to talk to some 

nice people. Ashley and Kim made it just in time. They had gotten 

lost and taken the wrong way. They had to run most of the way down. 

We got back to the bus and rode it to Guilin. We got on a train and 

headed back to Nanchang.

The train ride was awesome! We met more really cool people. We 

played cards with Bruce Tu, who named himself after Bruce Lee, and 

we named the other guy Lewis. They were excited to practice their 

English and hang out with the foreigners. Bruce wrote an adorable

letter in Ashley's journal. It was like a journal entry from him.

Tim finally did us right and got us a school van to meet us at

the train station. Our favorite driver, Arnold, picked us up.
  
Arnold was our first driver in China. We have a special bond
 
with him. It was a pleasant trip, all the way back to our school
 
where we taught only about an hour and a half after arriving

back there. We love China. :)

Another school, another Adventure!

I thought for sure, going to the other school would just be a pain.
Some more work for us to do and something we could possibly negotiate
for things we would want from Tim. Mostly because of the way he is
deceitful and the way it always starts. It always starts with us being
oblivious to when we are actually going to be doing something. We
thought this trip would be made on Saturday but instead we would be
leaving Wednesday morning. When did we find this out? Tuesday night
after performing in Mayflora's Children Day Program. We sang 'The Star
Spangled Banner' and then while Lindey sang 'My Heart Will Go On' and
Raza, the foreign teacher from Pakistan, sang a Chinese song, Ashley,
Nicole, and I painted some flowers. It had been alright. We did not
crash and burn. Afterwords, Bill told me all about how Wednesday was
Children's Day and what they would be doing. He got excited and told
me, "It's MY day!" and we chanted that it was his day, Bill's day,
together. I walked with him and his class (which was made up of all
our ILP students)  to the corner where we would split to go to our
rooms. We had a short time of waiting at the corner for his teacher.
While we were waiting, he told me, "Tomorrow, want to play game with
you." In his raspy Bill voice. He managed to say in his broken English
and pointing that I should come over in the morning to Grade 3 and
play games with them. I was so sad to have to tell him we would
probably be leaving before that time and would be gone for a couple of
days. It took him a minute to register the English but he understood
and just looked disappointed. I asked him what time, just in case we
weren't leaving. I could come over if we were leaving later in the day
but alas, we left at 7 am. It was much too early to see my kids.
 
 Tuesday night, we got to go over to some of our kids' rooms. We were
going to read them books! They loved it! I brought books but I did not
read one. I had several little boys just take off with them, switching
and looking at all the pictures. I had a very enjoyable time. My baby,
sweet Charlie, was adorable. He does not know very much English but he
was excited to have us there. He made letters with his glow sticks and
I guessed what letters. Then he would say random words in English. He
slipped into his covers and motioned for me to sit down on the bed at
one point. It was just the cutest thing ever. If you can imagine a
little boy with shorts and mayflora uniform shirt, with a funny little
attitude, trying to motion and talk to you in hushed tones. Mostly
making noises and jumping around, that would be him. He would say, "I
drinkded the water." haha and then he would whisper to me random
things. He came back to water and motioned the he washed his face and
brushed his teeth. He motioned that he washed his body and he used
quite good English to say it too. Oh I wish I could explain how
thrilled I was. I just wanted to stay there and tuck him in like my
own kid. I wanted to fold him up and put him in my pocket. At about
10:30pm, we left so that they could sleep. I returned to my apartment
in time to skype the designer for my wedding dress. It went over
swimmingly! I fell in love with my dress all over again! I just hope
that it turns out close to what we talked about. = ) Then I took a
shower and wrote myself a list of things I needed to pack for this
small trip. It was about 2 am when I went to bed.
 
I automatically assumed going to this other school was not going to be
a good time. Everything added up to a negative in my mind. When we got
to the other school, we were herded into classrooms to play games with
kids. We took pictures with all these kids we had just met for few
seconds and we just had to figure out what it was we had to do in each
class with broken English and hand gestures. The first game I played
was a marble game. I raced with a little kid to get as many marbles as
i could into a bowl. The best part was I had to use metal chopsticks.
I must say, I dominated that game. I have skill. I really think I will
come back home and use chopsticks for as long as I can. = )
 
When we were done, we were swarmed with kids. Most of them wanted to
have our autograph. Talk about feeling like a star...I tried to write
nice little messages with my name so that they would have a little
something special but sometimes their were just too many so i would
write Desi B. We finally got to go to lunch. We went through the
cafeteria and I was just thinking, "Great. More Chinese Cafeteria
food.' Instead, we were lead into a room with the lazy suzane in the
middle. We knew we would get a nice lunch as soon as we saw the
table. We were stuffed. Then we went to see some of the sites. We went
to a pagota temple and the stairs were really cool. It was pretty fun
with buzzed Raza and Tim. They both drank beer at lunch. Then we went
to the lotus fields. Tim showed us how to tell which ones to dig up
for the lotus roots. He called the mud, mood. We had fun making jokes
about it. Tim had no idea what we thought was so funny. Then he said,
"I have to take off my clothes to get in the mood." BAHAHAHA It just
went crazy from there. Raza convinced him that he did need to get in
the mud and pick the lotus root. We were all scared. He took off his
pants. Oh my goodness...It was quite hilarious but he got down in the
mud and pulled up lotus root for us to try. By the end, Bryndi,
Nicole, Kim, and I had gotten into the mud but we just rolled up our
pants. I barely got in with my feet. They sunk into the mud but it
felt good. I didnt really pull anything up that was good enough to
eat. We washed up and headed out. At our hotel, we took a nice nap.
Then we headed back to the school and had another big meal. The
headmaster took us to his office and he gave us a present. He gave us
fans that were 1 meter long. They are HUGE! We are hoping that we can
bring them home...Then we were taken out to the stage and track where
people were gathering for their Children's Day Program. They sat us
close to the front in chairs with back support. At this point, I felt
like they truly treated us better than our own school. At our own
school, we sat on foot stools. Other teachers at our school did too of
course, we werent being singled out. Then the program started and they
had an English translation for the principal's speech and the first
part. That was amazing! There was an English skit by some of the
young students. We were quite happy. Then we performed the same way we
did the night before at Mayflora. Only this time, for painting we had
to fake it even more. Ashley was the only one who really painted a
flower that night. It was the same painting we used to practice on.
The headmaster had us run up on stage while another guy was singing
and give him flowers and balloons. When Lindey did, she gave him a
kiss on the cheek. It was a great time! We had kids still asking us to
write our names on their books and papers. We had random people trying
to talk to us and welcome us. One kid reminded me of a mix of some of
our ILP students. They were being crazy but adorable.
 
After the program, we went to a small local restraunt. We had two
tables with headmasters and others from the school we were visiting.
We did not eat much but we toasted with everyone repeatedly (as is a
tradition in China). We 'Gombayed' with many. (It means, 'empty the
glass' so we downed drinks.) Everyone was drinking beer, except the 6
ILP teachers. We were drinking a milk juice drink and water.
 
Oh the memories of that dinner will be engraven in my mind. They had
us singing and they were singing. While we sang 'My Heart Will Go On',
the headmaster guy stood up with Tim and did the famous balcony scene
from the Titanic. I cannot even explain how hilarious and how great
that was. Every time i hear that song, I will imagine those Chinese
men. We had people busting out in song for a while. We convinced them
that we needed to go to KTV-which was our plan in the first place but
it was getting late. We dragged all the drunks to this karaoke party.
Tim is so much nicer when he is drunk. We have a good time with him.
We sang on and off with Chinese people for 2 hours. The smoke was
bound to kill me but I made it through. I danced with Tim once. He was 

pretty friendly by that point. I was a little nervous but I just
laughed it off. Bryndi and I sang "Baby" by Justin Beiber and that was
the funnest thing. We went crazy. = ) We were all very tired by 2 am.
We went back to the hotel and passed out.
 
At 7:30 am, we had to be to breakfast. I ate lots of food. It was
awesome to have salted peanuts. That is rare in China. Just normal,
salted peanuts. I put them in my rice porridge. Our last thing before
we went to Mayflora was to go back to that school and take pictures
with EVERY class. We were tired and felt like just advertisement. It
is a strange feeling. Everytime a group would come up, take pictures,
and start leaving I would say, "Go. Fight. Win." They would just look
at me funny but still in awe like, 'she is talking to us!' haha then i
would say goodbye and they all understood that and said it back.
 
I had a great time! Those are memories worth keeping!! <3
 

Trippin' on Over to Shanghai‏

We were not sure what we would be doing. We had to pack up 

everything and be checked out of the hostel in Beijing by noon. I 

realized there was so much stuff I had to carry and was not sure how 

it could be done. I had to purchase a cheap large bag to put 

everything in. I knew it would kill my back but there was no other 

reasonable way. While packing, we decided to go see Mao dong's 

mummified body. It would be closed to view if we did not hurry. 
 
That was a strange sight to behold. His face looked like it was 

glowing but it was just the light shining on his face. The feeling 

in the room was unsettling and I knew we all felt it. It was 

something worth doing though. There was not much left to do in 

Beijing. We conquered it pretty well and we were mostly tired. What 

do you do when you are tired and sore? Pamper yourself of course! 
 
We went to get pedicures. We did not understand what they were 

saying so the guy just scrapped the dead skin off our feet and cut 

our nails. It was interesting. When he first pulled out the tools, 

Bryndi was first up and she was frightened. She said, "what's he 

going to do?! He has a scalpel!" That was a bit of a let down 

because we were expecting more. Some of us decided to do more. Kim 

and I got Chinese medicine massages on our feet plus a full body 

massage. Kim got more of a beating than a massage. The lady that did 

mine was nicer, still hit me but not near like Kim's. 
 
Next we had to get our ice cream fix at KFC. We walked down the 

street and then back down the other side to get to our noodles. Kim 

and I sat in there for about an hour just having a chat over noodles. 
 
To wrap up our night we went through the subway to get to the train 

station with all of our junk. My back hurt from my huge bag but we 

made it. As we were getting on the train we met a new friend, Kevin. 

I sat between Kevin and someone who did not speak any English. 

Kevin's English was very limited too though. Across from me, Lindey 

sat next to a college student that could speak english quite well. 

Kevin had this guy translate most of what he was saying to us. One 

of the first things he had to mention was that he is a part time 

model. Then his full time job is being a hair stylist for models. He 

works for 20 Guy or something, as far as we know. He showed a video 

of him cutting hair and it was cool but not very interesting after a 

while. Lindey watched the whole thing so I did not want to be rude 

and not watch it. He was adamant about saying how much he loves 

America. I totally agree. He wants to move there in a couple of 

years.

Lindey and translating college student

Well it was a pretty full train and we would be riding it all night. 

It was getting late and I was suppose to be getting sleepy. Kevin 

and I were sharing music back and forth and he told me I could lie 

my head on his shoulder if I wanted to sleep. That was really nice 

of him. While I was suppose to be asleep, he took a picture. That is 

normal to be like, 'oh look, foreigner!' I thought it was funny so I 

smiled up while he took a picture and he just laughed. He was  a lot 

taller than me and there was not much room to move legs anywhere 

with four or more sets of feet in the small space. So he put his arm 

around me. That was a little awkward so I did not let that last long 

and tried to find a position to sleep but I was not tired at all. He 

switched seats with me so I could lean against the wall. I still 

could not sleep. I could tell he was more tired than I was. I tried 

to switch back seats for him but I could not explain I was not tired 

to him. After a while, he looked frustrated, like he could not think 

of how to say something. He looked at me and just said, "You are 

really beautiful." My cheeks filled with color as I blushed. I just 

thanked him and turned my head away. It was fairly late into the 

night when he had that frustrated look again. Then he whispered, 

"Phone number?" I must have looked confused because he repeated it 

and did some sign language on his hand to show me. I told him, "No  

phone."

Kevin and I

you can also see the bandaid i gave him on his finger, I'm so prepared.

                                              

He understood that and went back to silence for a long while. At 

about 4am, when basically everyone else was passed out sleeping, he 

started typing something on his phone. He nudged my arm and showed 

me what was on the screen- 'miss kiss you'. I felt really bad at 

this point. I just smiled and kindly shook my head and said no. He 

was disappointed but being the kind guy he was, he did not push it 

at all. Kevin simply said, "oh ok." Then he shifted his position and 

said, "I'm sorry." I told him it was ok. With our lack of 

communicating skills and my feeling bad for him, I could not tell 

him I had the best guy ever already waiting for me. Instead I just 

was friendly and kept it light. For the next few hours we fell 

asleep on and off. Switching seats, positions, and randomly waking 

up for a while happened all through the night and morning. We did 

started our adventures in Shanghai. 

 

 

 

 

<3 <3 <3 The Best Guy Ever, and I, being in Love! <3 <3 <3 

<3 The Perfect Match! <3

                        Forever & Always <3      

Tryin new Things‏

It was easy to see how the day could turn out to be by waking up. 

Waking up to loud talking from roommates, or one roommate, can be 

disconcerting. I was not very happy and said something pretty rude...

I was grumpy and annoyed.

I was the last to  be ready to go but I think I was just being 

bitter and slow. After we stepped outside, Kim and I realized we did 

not prepare very well. Neither of us remembered sunglasses, sunblock, 

or snacks. It would be such a pain to go back by then. We lived on 

the second floor and in the corner of our hostel. We just kept going 

and bought sun hats on our way to the Forbidden City. The Forbidden 

City, or Palace Museum was huge. There were lots of different 

buildings and tons of tourists. It took us less than an hour to 

be done with it. It was another old Chinese place. We met back up 

after an hour and took the long way out, looking at more of what the 

Palace Museum had to offer. I started to get low-blood sugar because 

my breakfast was not big and I did not pack snacks. Luckily, I have 

awesome friends that let me have some of their crackers and peanut 

butter. I was at least more conscience. Still felt grumpy because 

when my blood sugar goes low, I get easily irritable and 

dysfunctional. We decided to go to the 'Snack Street' but we could 

not find it for a while. The walking was getting very tiring. When 

we finally found it, it was quite interesting. There were scorpions 

on sticks that still wiggled around. Then they would fry them for 

people to eat. Nicole ate two and let Bryndi try one. Bryndi got it 

chewed and swallowed. She took a drink and we were walking again but 

suddenly she started gagging and then throwing up. She got down on 

her hands and knees and hurled up some of the other food we had just 

consumed. Quickly after, she stood up nonchalantly and kept walking 

like nothing happened. She had thought about it too much and Bryndi 

has a weak gag reflex. I had expected her to throw it up but after 

she got it down and walked away, I thought she had it made.

: /

I did not try any scorpions but I did take a bite of a gritty 

starfish and chewy cooked snake. The meatless dumplings were good 

though and the fried banana. Then when we had our feel of that 

street, we went to McDonalds. Why McD's? Well they had REAL ice 

cream. We got delicious McFlurrys. Our next feat was to find a 

subway to get close to the clothing market. This was my first time 

on the subway. It was pretty simple when I just followed the other 

girls. It was crowded but not overcrowded. Then we had to walk some 

more to get to the market. We walked around the market and found new 

purchases. One lady that was selling jeans, dragged Kim back to her 

stall. It was so funny looking! We found a little DVD store and when 

we were finally done shopping, we went to get ice cream. Why again? 

Well it was Cold Stone Creamery right across the road!!!! I was so 

excited! The ice cream was perfectly delicious and sitting down, was 

more than a treat. Our legs, ankles, and feet were dying. They hurt 

from all the walking and walking and walking. 

Just for you Henry! : )

We did not want to carry everything back to our hostel, especially 

with how far away we were by then. We grabbed a taxi and when I saw 

how far we were, I was even more glad we had decided to take it. I 

showered when I got back and my feet were still a ting of black. I 

do not know if it was from the street dirt getting between my shoes 

and my feet or the dye from my cheap shoes. It felt good though to 

take a shower and scrub down. Then I got a cold water bottle and 

along with drinking it, I used it to cool my feet.  I settled in for 

the night and skyped the best guy in the whole world, the love of my 

life, Super Amazing Man, the handsomest guy I know (other than my 

dad ;) , and the guy I am going to marry in less than two months. =] 

I fell asleep soon after. 

Climbing the Great Wall!

I did not get cold in the night. The sleeping bag must have worked 

it's magic. The wall was as hard as expected with the little mats. 

It was just like camping. We looked up at the stars and I stuck my 

head way down in so my face would not freeze. The one real 

difference was the normal sized pillow. Something I usually do 

without when going backpacking and camping. 
 
I woke up to Kim and Ashley talking about going to the bathroom in 

the bucket. Yup, a bucket. That was the bathroom on the Great Wall. 

They both ended up using it but Ashley was much more reluctant. I 

was the last up and out of my bag. If you know me, that should not 

surprise you at all. I stayed in that bag while I brushed my hair 

and put my clothes on right. Then I slipped out of the bag and put 

my shoes on. Oh burr! It was chilly! Kim, Ashley, and I forwent 

bringing big jackets or anything because we did not want to carry 

them around on our vacation. So I had a thin jacket and all morning 

I was cold. There was a bit of a breeze on top of that tower as 

well. We watched the sunrise at about 5:40am. The sun felt great on 

my skin. It felt wonderful sinking in through my clothes to warm my 

body. Mr. Wong brought our breakfast at six o'clock. We had a banana 

and muesli. I actually enjoyed it. I do not like raisins but they 

were in there and I just went for it. Delicious. In the muesli, we 

poured a little bit of milk also and Mr. Wong brought coffee, tea, 

and hot water to make them. The three ILP teachers took some hot 

water, mostly to warm their hands. When it cooled down just enough 

for me to not burn myself, I swished it down. It warmed my insides 

and calmed my little shivers. Only, it was still chilly and I had to 

keep staying warm. 
 
We left Mr. Wong to start our excursion. The shadows stayed cool but 

the sun was bright and helped kindled the fire inside of us. Willing 

us to go on. We climbed stair after stair. Some were steep and 

others could barely be recognized as steps because of the wear and 

tear of so many years. A gorgeous sight to behold, the massive walls 

that took those historical Chinese civilians hundreds and hundreds 

of year to build, still there. 
 
We travelled along, trying to enjoy and soak in as much as possible. 

Our cameras grew sore from the use we were getting out of them. At 

the middle, there were two Chinese ladies that began to trek with us. 

They were kind and seemingly endearing. We soon realized their true 

intentions when one of them told us she was a local farmer. She also 

told us her house was small and gave a piteous spiel about how hard 

she had it. Then she pointed to her backpack and said, "Later you 

buy souvenirs? Later. Then I go home and you go back." It did not 

take long to realize what she was doing. This lady was trying to 

wrap us around her finger so that we would buy things from her. We 

just said we did not know and that maybe we would. She told us, 

"Ssank you. Sank you." (Th is one of the hardest things for Chinese 

people to pronounce.) That did not deter us from enjoying our time. 

At the end, they both tried hard to sell us their souvenirs from the 

bags they carried but we refused to give in. It was strange because 

they only worked on the three of us. The others they may have only 

asked once and then let them be. Ashley was getting hit the hardest 

but I think it was because she is always so friendly and she sounded 

like she was bargaining. She was but only slightly. She told one 

lady that she got a shirt for 15 yuan and so if she went down to 15, 

she would buy it but did not budge at all from there. The lady did 

not go down to 15. It was obnoxious to have those sellers even 

follow us to the Great Wall but we enjoyed our adventure just the 

same. 
 
After climbing through 15 towers, we were ushered to go down a small 

pathway with yet another million stairs. By then, my legs were 

shaking uncontrollably. At the bottom it was even worse. Our driver 

was waiting at the bottom with the large white van we had taken the 

day before. I could have gone for a good snack about then. My energy 

was pivoting on that small breakfast and it was not holding up. I 

was glad I had a few cashews and dried bananas to hold me over. 

About an hour later, while driving back to Beijing, I dug into a 

scrumptious Snickers bar. 
 
There was one other important story. Before we got far, a few of us 

needed to go to the restroom. We stopped at a public bathroom in the 

small local town. For the girls, only Jasmine and I needed to go. 

When we turned the corner and peeked in to see the conditions, we 

realized that there were no stalls at all. Just three holes in the 

cement stared at us. I took the appropriate course of action and 

backed out saying, "After you. I'll wait out here." It worked out 

just fine. No one else came while we took our turns. One thing to 

know also is that most bathrooms in China you must provide your own 

toilet paper and if it is an actual toilet (which the squatters are 

considered real ones, any that flush that is), then you must put the 

something I still am not used to and probably will not get used to. 
 
We stopped at the Olympic building place and that was very 

interesting. I never really thought about it before but they are 

massive buildings and have interesting characteristics about them. 

The Ice Cube is made out of a material that actually cleans itself 

with only a little rain and wind. The Bird's Nest is just HuGE and 

shaped like a bird nest. 
 
Finally, we got to eat lunch. It was at a busier restaurant but the 

bathroom was really nice. The food was not bad either. We got 

ourselves some fried rice! For dessert we had something deep fried 

that turned out to be basically fried milk. Do not ask me how that 

works but I thought it was good. I have a sweet love for fried foods 

and sweet foods. It does not have to be too special for me to like 

it. Again, I was filled to the brim with rather good Chinese 

cuisine. After lunch, our tour was over and they took us back to our 

separate hostels. 
 
Our problem now was that the other three ILP teachers had gone out 

and had the only key to our room. So we adventured out to find our 

'I Climbed the Great Wall' t-shirts. We went to several shops and 

found that 20 yuan is the limit because by then they only make about 

6 yuan, or a dollar. Since we were out in the shopping area, we also 

got distracted with other things. Then we went to one of the shops 

that we had been to on previous occasions and we talked to this 

funny guy. He is fairly witty and knows English really well. We 

teased him about selling us stuff and tricking us but that is how we 

found out about the 20 yuan limit on the t's. He liked talking with 

us even though he pretended to be annoyed. The lady that helped run 

between their stores would tell him to stop talking and just give us 

the price. It was fun. 
 
Ashley saw ice cream on our way through so she wanted to go back and 

get some. It was not as good as we had hoped. It was 'Chinese Good' 

which is what we call anything that is relatively good for being in 

China. 
 
Returning to our hostel, we found our door unlocked but no girls. We 

took showers and the girls returned but only to do the same thing, 

shower. They had met some new friends and decided to have dinner 

with them. Kim, Ashley, and I went out to get ice cream again and 

this time was just as bad. We did not know what to do so we kept 

walking. We turned down a random and shady looking road. It went on 

for so long, we thought it was never ending. I was surprised not to 

see one other foreigner on that road. Then again, there may have 

been a reason. Kim was hungry so we tried a bakery but it was closed. 

We just kept walking. It was on a main road but mostly apartments 

lined the street. I was surprised when I saw Lyndi's hat pop up on 

the other side of some shrubs. We whistled and called out to her. 

She was freaked out but soon realized it was just us. The other 

girls were not far ahead but the were busy talking to their new 

friends. So we came up behind and grabbed them. They were pretty 

scared but Nicole said she saw Ashley earlier. Lyndi joined our 

group and we split up again. Hit KFC at 21:50. They had the smallest 

portions of mashed potatoes and veggies I have ever seen. The mashed 

potatoes needed more flavor. It was like eating baby food. The hot 

milk was delicious though. I loved it. We finished our night late 

and planned a decent hour to rise. Bryndi and Nicole were suppose to 

be to our hostel by midnight. Twelve minutes late, she comes in like 

a train apologizing to the completely quiet sleeping room, except 

me. I was writing this blog. Everyone at least turned over in their 

beds and went back to sleep. That concludes this interesting day. 

Well it started out absolutely amazing so that counts. :) 

Camp Out in China

The day began rather quickly. Simply waking up and doing the menial 

tasks of the morning was normal. Then I transferred all of the 

things from the bag I packed the night before to my backpack. It 

would be for the Great Wall and I figured it would be more 

comfortable than a shoulder bag. 
 
We met Judy Du near the front desk. Judy was our tour guide. She was 

cute and her English was great. We always love when we can joke with 

them because then we know we can communicate well enough. Our driver 

was also nice and he taught us some Chinese while Judy went into the 

next hostel to get four other people who would be joining us. They 

took longer than we did since we were excited and practically ready 

the night before. Then we picked up one more guy from a hotel. 

Surprisingly, all five of our new friends are from Australia. I 

appreciate their accents and friendly personalities. The four from 

the hostel are actually two couples: Brett and Zoey, Adrian and 

Jasmine. Aaron is here because his girlfriend's grandparents live in 

China. I assume she is staying with them and he is just doing all 

kinds of sightseeing.

Judy Du our tour guide

Ash, zoey, jasmine, adrian, Aaron

Our first stop was the emperors' burial place for the Ming dynasty. 

There were lots of statues and the animals represent something 

different that a country needs. The lion is power. Transportation 

was the camels' meaning and peace was the elephants'. There were two 

Chinese mythical creatures that stood for protection at night not 

only the day. 
 
We only saw one tomb out of 13 or 16. At first we were going to see 

Ding Ling's but it was too busy so we saw the third emperor's. His 

name sounds like Judy. That is all I can remember. It was 

interesting to learn more about the history of China and the culture. 

By the end of that, we were starving. We did not get lunch until 

14:30. It was a superb meal though. It was at a pretty nice 

restaurant. Green beans, broccoli, eggplant, peanuts, and rice is 

what I ate. I felt completely stuffed. As a little bit of dessert 

there was also a little pastry and a sweet sauce to dip it in. It 

was a little bit like a donut. Then we were off for a 2 hour ride to 

the Great Wall. 
 
The moment we could see the wall, we were astonished. It is long and 

massive. Just like the pictures. Millions of steps are all along the 

wall. We stopped to use the restroom and to get a drink. Then we 

climbed up to a lovely area to watch the sunset. What a gorgeous 

view!! I think I took 30 or more pictures of just that sunset and 

area. The steps are old and have odd differences is sizes. I sat 

back and watched the beauty of the Earth. Our group took pictures of 

each other and had a nice time. I could not help but wish there were 

some other people here that I love so they could experience it with 

me. I felt a little alone as I walked back down for dinner. 
 

Amazing!!!!

At dinner, which was at someone's little home/shop, we gorged 

ourselves on dumplings, cauliflower, cucumbers, egg, and some other 

dishes. The people putting this together gave us each a flashlight. 

They were ones you can pump to recharge. They made loud noises 

though as one recharged them. Mr. Wong is a pretty cool guy. He only 

learned some English from the people who come here. I think his 

favorite word is beer. Which the Australians had a few of those. I 

am surprised at how Aaron could get them down. He had at least four. 

Anyway, he seemed to handle it well. Mr.Wong hiked with us up some 

more steps to the tower we would stay in. We all got a sleeping bag 

and two small pads. Ashley,Kim, and I found a good corner. We could 

see all of the stars. It was gorgeous. I felt like I had not seen 

them in years. Pollution, clouds, and the fact that I am usually 

inside and not paying attention to the sky at the school plays a 

role in that. It really was beautiful. We were camping on the Great 

Wall. 

Shoptastic

I awoke several times in the night. Once I needed to go to the 

bathroom but I decided I would just go in the morning. It was a 

hassle to put on shoes and walk down the steep steps and down the 

hallways to get there. At 5:30am, I heard someone get up, move stuff 

around, and then go out the door. I was wondering why they would 

because it sounded like they were going to the shower not just the 

bathroom. It turns out, Ashley thought it was a lot later when she 

looked at the time. She did get up and shower. 
 
We agreed the night before that we would be out the door by 9:30am at 

least. We were. We were out by nine. The walk to the 'Temple of 

Heaven' was about one or two miles. It was mostly like a huge park 

with random steps and Chinese buildings. That took about an hour and 

a half...but we had agreed to meet at the entrance in two hours. So 

waiting in the wind was a bit obnoxious but I sat on the corner of a 

sign that blocked a good portion of the wind. While here at the 

temple, there were again, many white people but we rarely ran into 

or found Americans. (as far as we knew) Sometimes we could tell by 

their accents or when they spoke another language other than English. 

It was fun to try and guess. 
 
For lunch, we found a random little street and random little 

restaurant that had pictures to point at. The noodles were good. They 

were salty tasting. Then right across the way was the pearl market. 

Kim was so excited that I almost had to hold her back. 
 
It was insane! Chinese people trying to sell anything and everything 

they had, at outrageous prices (because they know we do not really 

understand or know good prices). Not to mention that most of the 

things were knock offs or fakes. Sifting through everything and 

bargaining with these people was so crazy! I hated when they would 

grab our arms and make us stay there or really think we were stupid. 

Some of the sellers would pretty much chase after you. There was 

plenty of walking away, many coming backs, and some coming back after 

a while when we feel like they were not ripping us off and it was a 

good deal. I got some nice things but probably spent too much. 

Especially for being in China. It is a learning process with these 

things. 
 
At one point, Ashley was helping someone buy and bargain for a coat 

and the people were asking way too much. She told them she paid 50 

yuan for a jacket like that and by that point, the seller was really 

getting frustrated and angry because she wanted her price. So she 

told Ashley, "You look like 50 yuan!" we get a good kick out of that 

line. She was also called, "too tough". One of the sellers said, "a 

little tough is good but you are too tough." We had to be tough 

though and that was the lesson we all kept learning...over and over 

again. At the end of the day, I think we were all quite proud and 

happy with our purchases overall. I still think my 10 yuan bag is my 

favorite purchase so far. 
 
To go back to our hostel, we took the long way. No, not on purpose. 

Our sense of direction is a little off. As well as our map reading 

skills. (They sometimes just have bad maps though-not in this case.) 

we went backwards and down a questionable street. We found a 7 Eleven 

on our way back for dinner. The peaches and pistachios I bought were 

delicious! The pistachios were spicy and good. The walk back, was 

painful. I had all of my purchases and other equipment in my new bag. 

I could only have it on one shoulder at a time and it would dig in. 

My feet got swollen and hurt. It seemed like an eternity. When we got 

back, we showed off our buys and enjoyed just crashing in our room. I 

got my bag all ready for my next Big adventure-sleeping on the Great 

Wall of China. Yeah. Excitement was in the air. 

Beijing-aling

Oh was that ride ever long. We did not get much rest. Not enough 

people got off as got on. We could not stretch out or claim two 

seats or more. There was not much to do. Then there was the cold air 

conditioning that was kept on all night. My shorts were not the best 

for these conditions. First we were roasted and then put in the 

refrigerator. Every hour I woke up or did not fall asleep and looked 

at my watch. It lasted for what seemed like forever. The morning was 

no different. We arrived in Beijing at 11 am. Finally. 
 
Our hostel is nice enough. It is in the heart of a tourist area. I 

have not seen so many white people (or black for that matter ) since 

we got here. One Asian looking man asked us to help him at the ATM 

because actually, he was from France and did not know what withdraw 

meant. Speaking of the bank, that was first on our agenda. We had 

maps and even the guy at the front desk showed us on a little card 

how to get to it. Yet, we prevailed only in finding it after at 

least 35 mins of searching. It just made no sense. Next on the 

agenda was noodles. We found a restaurant we had seen on our way to 

the hostel. The sign read something like this: 'Califorlan beef 

noodles USA'. Who would believe that? Not us, but we did want 

noodles. I got 'flavorless' noodles and added a little of the normal 

spice. It was very good. I ate the whole bowl. Which is really a 

feat if you realize how big the bowls always seem to be. I liked it  

though. I eat a lot of what I like to eat.

The Cafe that was is in the hostel.

         The front door! :)

Stairs leading up to to our room.

 





open court area with rooms up on the top level.

The only thing left to do was shop. We considered just some window 

shopping or getting a feel for pricing but we were out the rest of 

the day until 20:15. We all spent a bit of money but felt 

accomplished in our good finds and bargains. My favorite is a bag 

that is half my size. It has two silly people on the front and it 

was only 10 yuan. I love it. There is also many things to share when 

I get home. It is quite exciting though. :) we really have to bargain 

with some of the sales people but it can be entertaining when they 

are so persistent with a price and with you buying their item. Oh 

silly Americans. We may have still been cheated on several occasions 

but it is a skill and a work in progress. It is still cheaper than 

in America.

My 10 Yuan bag

It was a fun filled day with new opportunities and learning 

experiences. China is good. =o I know, you can start breathing again. 

I said it. Hopefully it continues to be well worth while. I am 

grateful for this amazing amazing experience and for the wonderful 

wonderful people that made/make it possible! I cannot believe I am 

actually here. What a treat and blessing! I thank the Lord for 

everything I have. 

We escaped the prison once again.

And so, this new extravaganza begins. We taught ILP classes early on 

Thursday, April 28th. Teaching began at 9 am and went until 11:30am. 

It was a pretty normal day of teaching other than that lasting push 

to get through and have a good time because vacation was just hours 

away. Snow White was the story of the day. When I tried to have 

parts acted out, it was difficult with only one girl per class and a 

need for a queen and snow white character. Most of the time I 

improvised. On occasion, that meant I had to be a character and at 

one point I had to use Kim for my Snow White.

Finding our way to lunch was easy but the food was not all that 

appetizing. We went back to the apartments to finish packing and 

last minute projects. Checking things off my list, I said my last 

few goodbyes and 'i love you's to my fiance before vacation. I never 

know what will happen or how much time I will have to message or 

talk with everyone while on vacation. Simple things sometimes become 

daunting tasks that I only think about doing. 
 
At 13:00, we signed ourselves out and sat in the office waiting for 

our driver. I had my towel separate from my other things so it could 

have a chance to completely dry. Eventually we were in the bus, on 

our way to Nanchang. We hit up Walmart when we arrived. Everyone 

told us, including Tim, that we had one hour. Well, Tim called while 

we were in the supermarket an tried telling Kim that the headmaster 

called him and said the driver was very busy today. So naturally Tim 

says, "Maybe you find your own way to the station?" (the punctuation 

may be incorrect because it usually was more than a question but a 

way of trying to avoid asking or telling us). Kim just said no. It 

was obvious that we would never make it to the train station without 

our driver in time. In spite of this, we tried to be quick and at 

least trimmed off 10 minutes of our hour. Which is really 20 minutes 

if you count the 10 minutes already taken up in our hour by traffic. 

No matter. We got what we needed and we got to the station in good 

time. 
 
We stood awkwardly in line for our train. Noticing once again the 

stares and our alien status. Ashley voiced what sounded like a 

forming thought, which is sometimes how she starts conversations. 

"I think I know how Harry Potter felt. When he had to go somewhere 

foreign and didn't know what he was doing at all." I let it sink in 

for a second before considering responding but she continued, "of 

course, he knew their language so that definitely helped." I 

explained that there were words he had to learn like muggle, 

non-magic humans. We thought of a few others but agreed that they 

still knew the same language and it would be easy to explain the 

unknown words with words he already knew. Yes, the whole time I 

realized we were talking about a fictional character of whom never 

really lived. We talked as if he did and if something made up and 

pretend can comfort you and bring a sense of not being alone, why 

not? We both know it was not real but the idea is the same. 
 
As soon as we stepped on the train, the air changed. It became hot 

and stuffy. I hoped it was just the in-between area but it was not 

so. The heat laid thickly through the whole cabin. The sweat came 

and so did the crowd of people. There were people leaning over each 

other, pushing through, and standing in the isles. No windows 

cracked. Our newspapers, notebooks, tickets, and papers became fans 

for our dripping sweaty bodies. My thoughts turned to the Holocaust 

and for at least the fourth time in my life, I felt a sympathy for 

the Jews and others that were squished in boxcars of trains, 

sometimes naked or in other horrible conditions being transferred to 

camps. The heat was overwhelming. The bodies were not even that close 

to me personally because I had the middle seat and not an edge, but  

it did not matter. We joked about dying this way or losing lots of 

carbs as we sat in our sweat. Only vaguely begging for relief. It 

only took 25 mins or so for the train to start moving. A ridiculous 

amount of time when you have to breathe in 100 people and swim in 

your sweat.

Lindey and I on the train ride.

The train had air conditioning that finally gave us the relief we 

sought after a while. I spent the first hour finishing a book I 

purchased for my kindle app early in my adventures to china. It was 

much shorter than I was hoping and 'Gossamar' was finished and done 

with before I felt the story had began to make interesting 

connections. It could have been so much more. I read a few chapters 

of The Book of Mormon and finished the book of Alma. 

Ashley and I

We wrestled with our bags overhead to get some food that definitely 

did not satisfy us in most means. We lucked out as usual to find 

that the girl facing us was majoring in English. She was freshman in 

college but her English was rather good. At one point, I noticed a 

guy standing by and watching us. He would sometimes make slight 

indications that he might know what we were saying. I guessed it 

right away and whispered to Ashley that I was certain he did. An 

opportunity arose for him to sit across from us, next to the nice 

English majoring girl. He began talking to us. It was a treat. He 

told us of his job as a seaman and told English-Chinese jokes that 

we found amusing. His English was difficult to understand at times 

but the pair made good efforts to fill in gaps and correct mistakes. 

It made for an entertaining ride. He got off sooner than we would 

have liked but it happens. It seems we can only meet these strangers 

and enjoy their company for a while, then there is just their small 

memory. A picture and a few written notes. Then they are gone. 

Without a way to connect again. In America we could exchange numbers, 

Facebook profiles, or other such connections but it usually is not 

the same here in China. We do not carry personal phones, QQ is their 

type of Facebook, and there are many barriers between that usually 

leave us all with just goodbyes. This may be the romance of 

traveling. A meeting of random strangers that can have impacts on 

ones life and the way they think. To have a brief moment and not 

exchange more.

English girl and Tong

It is a long train ride. 
 

Breaking Free!

Tim has become more and more...demanding and we have become more and 

more suspicious and cynical to all requests, words, and actions 

taken by the small Chinese man. He does make us laugh but most of 

the time, sarcastic or sympathy laughs/giggles. He expected us to 

paint in front of the whole school and we declined. He was a 'jerk' 

according to Kim. His quiet pretentious attitude does not mask his 

real intentions anymore. It is almost sad that he has pretended to 

take such good care of us when really he does it so that he has 

leverage for all of the things he wants in return. Sorry Tim, we 

know your generosity is not so generous. It continues to be our 

prison in Mayflora.

When Steve came from ILP, the weekend was wonderful. Tim and 

everyone else made special efforts. It did not last long. As in, 

Steve drove away, Tim went back to his quiet 'maybes' of seemingly 

never ending fake efforts. *sigh* Yet, we feel a real conquer in our 

new adventures outside of the school. The first time, Kim, Ashley, 

and I went on a little walk. We wanted to wander the hills and 

discover what was near us. When we signed out at the gate, Ashley 

put 'adventure' for where we were going and we would be back 'before 

dinner'. We found a road being constructed and walked. And walked. 

And walked. We passed by a few places of water. There was a paved 

path through some houses that lead to a beautiful lake. On the other 

side of the lake was a quaint town. The kind of town you could easily 

imagine when you think of china. There were several people working 

hard in their rice fields which were closest to the lake. We spent a 

good while there. We watched as the worked and cooled our burning 

feet in the clear 'Green' water. We were not completely prepared for 

the warm sun because when we returned, we realized we were sunburned. 

It was not bad though. Within a few days, my burn turned into tan.

The second time we took the same route but this time Nicole and 

Bryndi joined us. It took less time to get there but probably 

because we knew our destination and were not out for new discovery. 

I supplied myself with an umbrella this time and wore shorts to 

accommodate the heat and eventually the water I would indulge in. 

Bryndi wore her swimsuit but she did not get in. It was still 

questionable waters and there was no one to ask. I think we all just 

agreed silently that if we only stuck our legs in, we were safe 

enough. There were many small fish biting at our toes but we may 

have attracted them with some crumbs of food floating atop the 

water. Relaxation anywhere but our apartments is a treasured 

commodity. Most of the time it is too awkward with the people 

staring and interest in the foreigners. There are too many people or 

always someone where ever we go. This was a retreat. We spent hours 

just bathing our feet, soaking in the quiet, and some of us, the sun. 

This time the three returning venturers were smarter about the sun. 

Less time in the sun using umbrellas and sunscreen. Or maybe just 

Kim and I. Many of our books found companions on this excursion. 

This free Tuesday was lovely. We were exempt from teaching that day 

because the kids were taking exams. That did not hurt our feelings 

in the least. We found relief. 
 
My new area of teaching is drama. It has been quite interesting. My 

best friends have become books. The kids eat them up. Every picture 

brings about new things to talk about and experience. Sometimes I 

have to draw my own 'books' and I am always surprised at how well it 

comes together. 

                       Lesson plan for Drama-using a book with Winnie the pooh, 
                      then Kim looks over them and makes comments and what not. 
                                       Need to find joy in the work!!! ; ) 

My home class loves to talk about so many things and 

I have really enjoyed teaching them. Bill is one of my favorites. 

When he warms up to you, he is entertaining and fun. He and Lily 

have a special relationship. It always feels like a married couple. 

She gives him 'the look' sometimes and he knows it. They are in 

cahoots more than often. They are both fairly good with English. It 

makes for much better lessons and conversations. Bill has a unique 

rasp in his voice that makes him even more likable. A good example 

of their conspiring relations is when they convinced another of my 

home class students, Victor, to buy a small valentines bear that 

held a plastic rose for 100 tokens. He bought it and when I came 

over to them later, I saw Lily had the rose. Victor was excited to 

tell me in his broken English, "me" pointing to rose, "Lily". Lily 

tried her best to help explain after I gave all the words needed to 

complete a sentence, "He gave me rose." She was happy as can be as 

she scrapped the fake water drops off the petals. "What's this, 

teacher? Teacher Desi, what's this?" I had to choose my words wisely.

I simply told her it was suppose to be water. Then before I could 

ask what happened to the bear, Bill walked around me and grabbed into 

one of the open desks. He pulled out the bear and said, "He give me." 

Bill had a triumphant air about him, as he usually did when he got 

his point across or when he made a smart comment. Plus, he knew he 

and Lily had accomplished what they were after. Victor smiled and 

tokens. I figured out from all of their hand motions and English 

enthusiasm that he had traded it for that and Bill also pitched in 

5 quay. These children and their cunning understandings amaze me.

Charlie is my baby. I named him the day he joined our classes. I 

have to use patience and slowly show him that I mean nothing against 

him but adore when he tries. Charlie could easily convince me to let 

him splurge on more than what he had in tokens but at some point you 

have to teach them the right way. He would get angry when I did not 

let him take what he wanted. His little fists would usually find 

themselves in my back but I could only try to ignore it and show him 

we were just in misunderstanding. I wanted him to get what he wanted 

by participating and actually learning. I can tell it has helped. He 

is growing.

Colt

Lory is the prodigy child. I sometimes in the past have daydreamed 

about adopting him. I have learned since, that he is more demanding 

in attention than I thought and sometimes his temper spurts when we 

have misunderstandings. Why is he the prodigy child then and why 

would I think such silly thoughts in the first place? Lory is 

talented. He plays the piano well and we still watch in amazement 

when he plays. He is not a genius but  definitely better than most 8 

year olds. The things he does is adorable. He not only knows Chinese 

and knows more English than most, if not all, of our students but he 

also speaks Japanese. His parents live in Japan. They are both 

Chinese but technically Lory is of Japanese nationality because he 

was born there. I enjoy his spunky spirit and the way he randomly 

breaks out in song and dance.