Shopping

Today was pretty much a fail in the shopping experience. I was sooo 

excited to be all cute like the Chinese girls. Everything I found 

had something I didn't like about it. Angel took us to the places 

she likes so I was a little disappointed because I wanted to see a 

lot more. The only place I really found anything I really wanted.... 

Was a maternity store...... Sad day. We all had to stay together and 

angel had to pretty much be everywhere for us. It was hard to shop. 

Then we went to walmart, and it feels like a walmart. Haha only 

everything is Chineseafied. Never knew there was so much food I've 

never seen before! We got tons more junk food and other snacks. We 

really want to eat food we like and make sure we don't starve when 

we have awful meals ;) which we occasionally have. I ate tofu 

noodles today. They were spicy and I could still feel the spicyness 

in my chest hours later. Dinner was pretty good too. I liked the 

beans we had. They were like Lima beans but smaller and greener. Ok 

not really like Lima beans. I dont know how to describe them. Oh! 

And we bought flavored popcorn for movie nights! Tonight we tried 

strawberry flavored! Pretty yummy! We have orange, chocolate, and 

cream flavors to try. I also drank some milk that was peanut 

flavored! It was just like the center of a nutter butter! Very good! 

So many new things too try. It definitely felt like I was in a  

foreign country today!

NanChung City

Tofu Noodles

Popcorn!!!

Peanut Buttery Milk!!!! YUMMY!

well today was a very successful day of teaching. I think it may 

have had to do with my attitude. I was thinking about it and I 

decided, this is like a calling. This wasn't just something I wanted 

to do but God directed me here. So if it is a calling, then I need 

to give it my all and just do my best. I'm not sure I can explain 

how it changed my outlook really, but it did change it sooo much. 

Another thing that may have helped was knowing it was the weekend! I 

was so excited! In my head, I said, "I just have to do teaching for 

25 minutes and 5 classes. Entertain if nothing else. Then, we have 

the weekend!" Those two things combined and then, it was my best 

teaching so far. The kids did really well and liked the activity. I 

used up all the time and used the 'Chinese chair' which is the chair 

we put kids in if they speak Chinese during our lessons. I could 

probably use it more but I used it rather well today. 

This is a picture of my first head teacher assessment. Which was 

really thursday's lesson. This helped also because I did much better 

than I expected. 

Teaching here is an acquired taste. ;) something that hasn't come 

easy but hopefully as we keep going, it will be easier and also more 

enjoyable. Ashley Mitchell says it will and the kids will make it 

worth it. I sure hope so!!!!

Teach hard and Play harder! ; )

Teaching went pretty well yesterday. I have to get next weeks plans 

done by tomorrow night. Excited about that. Last night was the most 

entertaining night so far since we have been here. We were gunna 

have a meeting but the head teacher lost her key and they haven't 

gotten another one for the girls on the other side yet so she didn't 

have notes. So we talked for a bit then Ashley brought ping pong 

paddles and balls so we went to practice. It got dark and we could 

barely see the ball. Then we all got a turn (the teachers). We would 

play until we got bored or whatever and then give someone the paddle. 

Then the kids were coming back from lessons and started playing with 

us. They were lining up and when they messed up their turn was over 

and they would get back in line. We couldn't understand them but 

when someone messed up they would say "game over for you"   Then we 

were asking ages but they kept lying so we never got a straight 

answer. They have a Chinese sign language for their numbers that we 

learned really quickly but it's hard to show like 22. Haha which is 

the head teachers age.  Hahahahaha that was fun! Then angel told 

them to go to their apartments because I think they were suppose to.

We then went to the little store here and they have the kids stand 

behind this gate but we can come back and look at all of their stuff 

either because we are teachers or because If we needed something we 

couldn't just ask them for it. Well, apparently more classes got out 

and tons of kids came. We had to stay back there until it cleared 

out a lot more because there were tons of people right up against 

the gate. Then we brought our goods back and tried them. Good 

stuff ;) like this chocolate that is 1 yuen (so reeeeally cheap) it 

is yummy! Anyway, that's about my life. Eating random stuff and 

hanging out and lessons. The other day at lunch, it was weird when 

the tofu was the best part of the meal.... Or this morning we didn't 

have rice pudding!!!! Whoa. Instead it was some noodles with 

mushrooms. Ate the noodles. And a tasteless roll (always have those 

for breakfast).

Yesterday was trying. Im really afraid of the next four months. Most of all IF we don't get everything settled in the first 2 weeks. I have gym and it is so hard. Some of the kids know quite a bit of English and others know none at all! It is hard to compensate for everyone! I even had to name a kid because he didn't have an English name. He didn't speak a lick of English either. So I'm pretty sure in each class or rotation he got a different name from the ILP teachers. My home class was really good but when we switched some of those kids were Wild!!! Apparently not as much as Russian kids. Kim says these kids are like angels compared to the kids she taught in Russia. Which is understandable. They were better than expected but still, kids. One kid said butt in Chinese to me and then another one did too and they were laughing but then told me what it was and I just gave them disapproving looks and said, that's not good. Oh children. I'm excited to teach again today. Can you tell??

Bean-Bean, Thomas, and Charlie (the kid Desi named)

Lilly, Bill, and Bean-Bean

Max, and Victor

Time to Teach

Well we don't teach until two twenty five today so I'm not sure 

what I'm going to do until then. Next week some of the mornings 

we will teach classes but idk what the schedule really is yet. 

I might have to start working on next weeks lessons. I've been 

playing diner dash for last hour or so. Haha it's so fun being 

here. I wish we were closer to a city or something. We are pretty 

much in the middle of no where with no way to travel right now. 

This next weekend we are suppose to be going to a city and one of 

our coordinator people, Angel, is going to take us shopping! :)

I'm pretty nervous to teach. This being the first day and all. 

They say the first 2 weeks is the hardest. I have a feeling we will 

mostly be teaching behavior and trying to get control. We will be 

instilling the routine in the next couple of weeks. Oh man, I hope 

it all goes well. I'll have to do a bit of praying the whole time. 

Who knows how it will be. One side of me thinks maybe they will be 

alright because I think they have been through one semester of ILP. 

The other side of me is thinking it doesnt matter even if they did 

because we are new teachers and they are still going to be kids! :)

Today the Chinese coordinator girl (whose name you need to remember 

because she is the funniest little thing and I will mention her 

often), ANGEL, asked if Bryndi wanted some rolls to take back to the 

apartment and Bryndi said sure. So Angel was asking how many she 

wanted and started joking around. Well...she ended up with ten rolls 

and Angel was telling her to put then in her pockets but Bryndi 

wanted to just take the bowl and bring it back to the cafeteria 

later. Hahaha Angel forced her to hide them in her jacket. ( still 

in the bowl though) hahaha so sneaky. Ten rolls and a bowl, it's 

pretty obvious but we made it out and Bryndi still has her fingers. 

Oh Chinese people are hilarious. The ones I've met so far, take 

everything that is free that they can stow away. Extra food from the 

cafeteria, extra toothpicks from a restraunt, and packs of tissue 

from another dinner. So crazy. Ashley Mitchell, the head teacher 

from Az that has been to china before, told me that the people are 

so chill and stuff but what I've seen is more like-rush rush rush, 

cut in line, go go go, take what you can get. Always giving though. 

It is pretty funny. Oh and the staring. That is Kim's , my head 

teacher, favorite. People stop just to stare at us. Many don't try 

to hide it. They just walk right around us staring like we are 

aliens. Hahaha I don't mind too much because I feel like doing the 

same to all of them. It just gets awkward sometimes and im surprised 

that so many don't even try to hide it. :) welcome to China. One 

cool thing is that when students walk by, most of them know how to 

greet you. Saying hello, hi, teacher, and things like that. The 

little kids are the cutiest! You see them standing in line, three 

year olds, and their heads just follow as you walk by but adorable 

faces. :) 

February 20, 2011 Church in China!!

We are calling from skype to our branch president, and having 

sacrament meeting with them today. We just get to listen to the 

talks, and sing the hymns with them. When sacrament is being past 

there, and in a few other places within our branch, we just use that 

time to reflect on what Christ has done for us and what the 

sacrament means to us. It will be sad not to have the sacrament 

every week but hopefully we will be able to have it once? or when 

we travel we might be able to join a meeting with the sacrament. 

I feel very fortunate to live in the United States and with the 

priesthood so close. I'm grateful for all the men in my life that 

have honored their priesthood. The men who commit themselves 

everyday to honor the priesthood they have been given. They are 

truly examples to me. 

Well....We tried to skype call but apparently we are handicapped in 

that area. =P So we are doing our own meetings! :)

February 18, 2011

Well I think it is a tiny bit warmer in our apartment but I'm 

pretty sure because we found the window open OR we are just 

getting more used to it. :) 
Lessons are pretty hard to plan because you have to make it fun, 

have a purpose other than language, and have many things to talk 

about for language. We teach alone but everyone can help plan. Oh 

and it is also hard because we aren't sure what classes will be 

like or what things are available to use. If we need anything from 

town, we probably won't be able to get it for two weeks- someone 

said because of their lantern  festival.

If you want to check out all of Desi's Photos so far then this is 

her Photobucket web page! 

http://s1088.photobucket.com/albums/i332/desiburden/

February 15, 2011 Finally at the School! = )

So we were suppose to take a train to one city and 

then get off and go on another train to go to our 

school which would be an over night ordeal but 

instead... We got on a train and went through like 

all the passport stuff and couldn't find the people 

we were suppose to meet there. When we did it was 

this little Chinese guy whose English name is Tim. 

He just grabbed some suitcases and lead us out of 

the train station in a hurry. When we were outside 

just standing there for a while then he told us we 

were gunna stay in a hotel that night and go in this 

little bus that barely had room for all our luggage 

(about two big suitcases jam packed and a carry on 

suitcase or big backpack per girl x 6 girls) and four 

of our bodies in a seat. Oh dear. So when we get to the 

hotel, I don't recognize it as a hotel...just a random 

stairway in the middle of a street right? With a neon 

sign over it in Chinese-just like the other places right 

by it. 
It's shady! Tim tells us to give our passports to the 

lady at the desk and then takes us to our rooms. You 

should have seen all these confused American girls. 

Frightened that we may never see our passports again... 

Which may mean so many things! Our wheels are turning and 

we all confide in one another but then we just take a semi 

deep breath ( because many people in China smoke so inhaling 

too much could have been more harmful then helpful, 

especially here.) and trust this new Tim character who must 

know what he is talking about. He is the one who can speak 

and read Chinese. Then after taking a gander at our rooms 

and after being gazed at and taunted by some young Chinese 

boys across the hallway, we went to find some dinner. 
Now mainland China is NOT like Hong Kong. Forget the English 

translation in and on most things. Forget about the LA strip 

feeling. This is China. Something is frightful about not being 

able to understand anything and having everyone stare at you...

not knowing their thoughts. Plus everything is a little more 

'shady' and not as free bird.
Dinner was in a restraunt that had some rooms off to the side 

so we were happy to be "in a box" as one girl said after she 

flung food onto the girl next to her and the wall trying to 

use chopsticks. Well she also burnt herself on the dish the food 

was in so her arm reacted quickly and uncontrollably. Oh what a 

dinner. The cool thing about formal dinners like that is that 

in the middle of the table, they slowly bring you one dish at a 

time and set it there. Then everyone who wants some of that 

takes some. ( most of the first few meals was a taste test for 

us all) then the meal gets bigger and bigger. They just add so 

many dishes you know none of you will finish off even one plate 

they bring out. 
At the end they bring out the fried rice, which is my favorite 

and the bulk of what I ate all night, that and peanuts. :) they 

served tea and orange soda with the meal. It was definitely an 

experience. We all ate with chopsticks all night,

(even the peanuts) my hand muscles started to hurt! :) But I 

already have my own pair of chopsticks and I'm using them at 

every meal ;) the drinks were mostly just to toast with which 

is what you do with your new friends, according to Tim. 
So after we go back to the hotel and we each get our passports 

back *what a relief*, we head back to the rooms. I was relieved 

to be moved down the hall where there were bigger beds so 4 of 

us could share that room, And it was away from the strange Chinese 

boys. It smelled of smoke and we aren't sure they even cleaned it 

before we went in. There were sunflower seeds on the ground and 

other little things but we were tired and there wasn't much we 

could do. At this lovely hotel, we got to experience our first 

'squatty potty' moments. None of us wanted to go and I held it 

in until the morning but alas, we all used that lovely porcelain 

hole in the ground.

Some Chinese people stayed up super late and

were really loud which I thought was strange. For some reason  I 

thought chinese people were quiet. Not exactly true. We slept on 

those super hard beds anyway and awoke 15 minutes before we left 

on our 12 hour van drive. Can't hardly explain that one but it 

sure threatened to mess up my sleeping schedule I had worked so 

hard to try to have. (sleep only at night) anyway, the school is 

huge! It has a hotel for parents that want to visit their kids 

because the kids live at the schools basically. 
When we got here, the dorms we are staying in were huuuuuge messes. 

We were solely disappointed in the last ilp girls that stayed here. 

It was disgusting. Thankfully we had some time today to clean up a 

bit. Although they still do have character. 

It has just been go go go since we got here basically. We didn't

have wireless until just a bit ago. Now I'm falling asleep on my 

nice firm - very firm- bed. And I quote from Bryndi who I share a 

room with, "this bed is so hard! I thought I was laying on a book 

that I needed to move for a second, but it's just the bed!" oh but 

it is Soooooo much warmer than in our room. It's so cold here. 

So cold. And our heater has been on for more than 24 hours and it 

still isn't warm. Still. It's freezing. 

February 12, 2011 still in Hong Kong

Last night all of my group except one that got here after 

i went to bed, we all played a game and told stories and 

stuff. That made me feel pretty good about the group. At 

least better.This morning we ate some little pastries 

from a little bakery in the hotel. That was good!

Well lunch/dinner wasn't bad. More fried rice. :) 

I didn't really eat dinner but lunch was pretty late. 

We walked to the temple today (40mins) and it was 

beautiful! You could feel peace as soon as you walked 

around the wall onto the grounds. Wonderful. Favorite 

thing so far. Loved it. We also walked back and then 

went to see the light show that the city puts on over 

the city. Pretty neat too.It doesn't really feel like 

we left the US. So many things have English written on 

them it's ridiculous! And most people can understand 

the basics of what you are saying. It's strange looking 

at the prices because they say dollar but it's the hong 

kong dollar. which is like one hong kong dollar to almost  

eight American dollars. And when we go to mainland china 

it will be different currency and it will be a little 

less than the hong kong vs our dollar. 

    apartment buildings outside the window of our hotel room! Hong Kong is full of them!

                                                       The Air Port in Hong Kong

                               Hong Kong Temple
 

Hong Kong!!! February 11 2009

The flight wasn't too bad. It was so nice to have people helping me.

The flight from la to Korea was 17 hours. I slept for quite a while 

so that really helped. Flying isn't so bad. But it was like an hour 

and a half to la then waiting for two hours or more. Then 17 hour 

flight and then more waiting and then another 3 and a half hour 

flight. So too much. Haha

Eating is the worst part so far. On the plane I tried some Korean 

food and it was alright but I made it too spicy. Then I tried rice 

porridge and I was glad i wasn't too hungry. But it was not horrible 

either. Dan gave me his strawberry yogurt and that was yummy ! It 

didn't have chunks. Then I was starving on the way to hong kong and

they had fried rice and it had some things I didn't like in it but I

just chowed down because I was so hungry and it really did taste 

good as long as I ignored some of the things and just ate it. Then 

last night for dinner we tried finding food and we went to the 

little shop on our street and we didn't really know what it was we 

just saw the picture and pointed. It was like ramen and these little 

strange ball things and some little chicken things. I ate half the 

ramen and I thought abt the chicken too long and I just gave up. 

Korea

Landed in Korea at six am. It's friday here. It is like we time traveled and skipped a whole day! Left wed. Got here Friday. It's been sweet! Glad I met Ashley Mtchell and Dan Jones at the Phoenix airport! Things are lookin up!

Departure

Date: February 9th 2011. Stop. Very soon. Stop. Three days. Stop. Miss my guy already. Stop. Let's hope I'm ready. Stop.