Oh Buddha....

Next stop, was the big buddha. He happens to be the biggest sitting buddha in the world. There were loads of stairs and a nice little hike/walk to get to him. It was green and lovely. We felt like we could actually Breathe! Which in most of China, it is polluted and people blowing their smoke all around you.

We had a few 'moments' while on this adventure. When we were taking pictures, we all looked very silly raising our arms and making different poses but we only stuck out as much as usually because other Asian people were doing the same kinds of silly things.

arms up

why

Asians silly too

Stairs, this wasn't even close to all of them

The one moment that stood out the most was when we were leaving and took a break at the top, Bryndi thought she had lost Lindey's chap-stick that she had borrowed (some of the girls have lost many things on this trip so it was almost not a surprise). She was feeling really bad and fairly confused. She had just had it on her way up. She looked all around. She raised her voice to ask Lindey, who was on the other side of this little bridge, if she had it by chance, and had to tell her that she lost it. We went on talking and relaxing. We had almost forgotten about the chap-stick when I look over at Bryndi, who is still silently searching, and she reaches where? Into her shirt and to her dismay, she had placed it promptly in her bra. Now, Bryndi is not a quiet person. In fact, when she feels a strong emotion, she usually yells. So she starts going on about how she didn't even remember putting it there and then she yells for the girls on the other side of the bridge to hear. She tells them she found it and then goes on to exclaim rather loudly, about how it was in her BRA. Well, the next thing we know, we see a white guy, turn the corner and obviously, we know he can understand English. Ashley was laughing so hard, her face was turning red and her eyes were tearing up. What a fine adventure we were having.

After a good day at the old buddha, we went back to our lovely Chengdu and Traffic Inn hostel.

It's the Place to Be!

Kangding. What a place. This was our Tibetan City.

We took an eight hour bus ride that lead into the night. About 45 minutes before we arrived, they put in an American movie. I believe it was rated R. They had it Chinese dubbed, except for...when they would say bad things, it would change to English. That was awesome. Imagine 6 LDS girls in a full bus (nice seats, video at the front, speakers all the way back). Suddenly we could understand a sentence. What was this phenomenon? Oh, it was there censorship. How wonderful for the six of us to hear. A few F words and a few of that and those. I realized that quickly and each time it went into English, I would plug my ears and sing to myself. = ) It was funny. That I cannot deny. What a horrible way to censor a movie! Who knows how many of those people know English or not?

That bus drove on some of the most windy and curvy roads I had ever been on. It also drove on dirt roads. That is right. For about 20 minutes or more, we drove on dirt roads with huge bumps and crazy construction. At night, it was not so bad. It was rather mystifying. You could see huge vehicles for construction and their lights would hit the mountains and you would realize how massive the valleys and river running near, under, and around you was. Yet, it was only a glimpse in the dark.

When we got to the little bus station, there were at least 10 people surrounding us. They were asking questions and trying to find out where we were headed. There were two women that were offering us rooms to stay in. At least, that is what we got out of their hand motions for sleeping and pointing across the street where they would come back and forth from. Then others were offering their driving services. We pulled out a couple of Chinese phrase books and tried our hardest to communicate. One guy had someone who spoke English on his cellphone. It was quite a mess but eventually, we had two men escort us by walking, to our hostel. Did I mention it was freezing? There was snow and ice on the ground. It was a good thing I wore my rain boots right? What a treat this would be.

When we found someone who actually worked at the hostel, she guided us down and behind another building. There was no way we would have found it on our own. It did not have a sign or hint of being a hostel. Apparently everything was quite new. Construction was going on almost 24/7 on the building. We had 4 rooms for us. We also had 3 different levels on which those rooms were located. To get to the 2nd and 3rd floor, we climbed these bare wood stairs and it just kept going. The nice thing about all the new wood and construction was that it did not smell like China. It had a delicious wooden smell.
But oh how the bitter cold winded us. Each bed had an electric 'blanket' or pad in the middle, under our sheets. It helped but it also helped us want to stay in bed when we needed to be out and about early the next morning.

We woke up early, and no one showered. Why, you might ask. Well, first of all, it was freezing so taking layers of clothes off seemed to be a terrible idea. Also, some of the girls did not bring towels because they hoped the hostels would provide them. Which some did and some did not. This one did not. Oh, and one last thing,  there was not a door on the shower. That is right. No door. This place really must have been brand new.

How am I doing so far? Are you enjoying this? Please Comment and let me know you read it!!


The craziest thing happened early in the morning. I heard crashing above me. I thought, well if something happens, it was meant to be, and promptly fell back asleep. Well, have I mentioned that the hostel was partially IN the mountain? By the shower, the mountain actually peaked in and the wall was built around the boulder jutting from the mountain. Awesome. When Bryndi and I talked to our head teacher, Kim, she had a much harder time 'going back to bed'. Apparently rocks had fallen INTO her window seal. She could have died!! Good thing there were bars on the window (now partially bent). The window seal did break though and it was coming into her room. The next night, she was rooming with Ashley. = )





So out the door at 6:45am. We followed the large raging river upstream for a while. Then headed down a small road. We found interesting shops and spotted places we may want to come back and eat at. We tried to find a trail up a mountain but instead we just found a very neat temple and some beautiful mountain views.

We walked around in this city all day. We found some nice shopping experiences. My favorite was near the end. A SCARF shop. There were scarves galore! It was also the cheapest price I had heard all day and then I regretted not finding this place first. It was funny though, I only got a couple of scarves here and the best thing of all was my HAND WARMERS! I plan on gifting some but they are adorable. For only 10 yuan each, I was thrilled!

For Lunch, we stopped at a little Tibetan restaurant. There was yak meat dumplings that each girl seemed to love, yak milk butter tea that tasted just like when you put everything except the cheese in your mac and cheese, yak meat with noodles, and yak meat in fried rice. I had some noodles and fried rice but I prefer to stay away from meat. = ) 

We found our way back to the hostel and Bryndi and I shared a room. I had bought some corn in a can to eat (easy to open lid, no can opener) because it was the best looking food around. I warmed it up in our little pot for hot water. Worked like a charm. Then I realized I had no fork but oh ho ho, I'm in China. I had meticulously placed chopsticks in my bag before I left. I pulled those out and ate my delicious corn right out of the pot!

It was colder inside the hostel than outside! It was a surprise for sure. We jumped in bed and did not want to get out! We sat and talked and read our books. The other girls dropped by to say they were going to the bakery for dinner and we could come. We decided against it. Afterward, I realized it would have been warmer to go and we missed out on seeing dancing in the square! Oh what a pity. The next day, we had to catch a bus early and head back to Chengdu. This time, I could see the whole canyon/valley. I got very carsick in the front seat, squished in with my backpack, and on those awful roads. Good thing I had motion sickness pills!! I slept a long time that day.

Some Pictures From Ashley's Camera

http://s1230.photobucket.com/albums/ee489/ashbaby089/

There are some of the vacation and just China in general.....yeah....

VACATION!!!

To start a story of seemingly never ending proportions is an 

overwhelming task. That is why I have not even indulged  in my 

desire to write about my vacation.

We were finally free. As soon as dinner was finished, the six of us 

jumped into the van that would take us to Nanchang. We got at least 

30 mins away when both the driver and Mrs. Kim Schofield got a call 

on their cellular devices. Apparently we left too early and our 

coordinators both did not expect us to leave as early. Our driver 

turned around and we were all very confused and annoyed. This would 

add more time to our already disastrously long traveling time.  When 

we got back to the school, Angel and a friend of hers, got in the 

van with us and made us sign a paper since we did not sign out 

before we left. What a great start to our vacation.

After arriving in Nanchang, we went to the train station to wait for 

our 20 hour ride. We arrived at least an hour and a half early. 

There were so many people that we had to stand for the first 30 

minutes while we waited. We had people staring at us like never 

before. We humored ourselves by making the staring subjects feel very 

awkward. We would all turn towards one person who was obviously and 

rudely staring, and stare while talking. Most of the time they would 

get the hint or walk away for a while and come back. 
 
Boarding the train, there were 3 girls that got seats and 3 girls 

that got to have 'sleepers'. I was one of the girls to get the lucky 

top sleepers. The 3 of us had to deal with about 2 or 3 feet of 

space and climbing over the other 2 sleepers where people were 

already settled in and dozing. I am glad I am so small because it 

did not bother me to be squished in there. Although, 20 hours on a 

hard bed that I cannot sit up on, is still not comfortable and 

 blissful. 

Kim is taller than the rest of us and I have no idea how 

she fit on one of those beds. She said in the morning that she has 

never had claustrophobia except that night. Our saving grace was 

when people would leave, we could work our way to the bottom bunk 

with plenty of room and there were fold down seats by the windows 

that we could use when otherwise unoccupied.

Within the first few minutes we found out the great company we were 

in. Kim pointed out that across from her and on the bottom bunk, 

there was a man sleeping, his hands in cuffs around the stairs 

leading to the other sleepers above his. He moved from one bunk to 

another at some point and I am sure she got to be even closer to 

him. We now claim that Kim slept with a convict. It just makes for 

good conversation right?

Other than the convict, we had a little family that was very 

interested in the foreigners. Their baby was adorable! The man would 

try to talk to us in Chinese and we would tell him we did not 

understand. He laughed and would turn back to his family and talk 

about us to them. He stared continuously. It was strange but not as 

bad as the train station.

The train took us to Chengdu. We got there later in the day and 

after purchasing our ticket for our train out of Chengdu, we went 

straight to our hostel. The hostel was fantastic! I sometimes claim 

that I would come back to China just to stay in the Traffic Inn 

Hostel. It was clean, provided towels, had many showers to 

accommodate for more people staying there, had western toilets, had 

a nice little cafe where I ate a cheese sandwich one day and a 

banana split, and the people were entirely kind and trusting.

The hostel provided a van to get to the Sichuan opera. There was 

some singing but it was not like what most people would think of 

when they heard the word 'opera'. They did a few little skits, a 

puppet dance, quick clothes and mask changing, hand shadow show 

(probably my favorite part), and a man performing playing a Chinese 

instrument. We were all feeling exhausted when we went back to the 

hostel.

The next morning I woke up to find that the bus station next door 

would not give us tickets to our next destination, Kang Ding. We 

would have to find the other station after we attended sacrament 

meeting at one of the member's house.

Sacrament meeting was tremendous! 

I wrote this while I sat in their home listening to the 

teleconference from our branch, "couldn't fathom how I missed 

sacrament. How I missed being with the saints. I most of all, tried 

to block out those views because if I had thought too much about it, 

I would be more homesick, more sad, and more annoyed at our 

conditions. Here I am though, faced with the reality of how much it 

means. Here it is in front of me. All of us take upon ourselves a 

precious eternal name. Even the name of Jesus Christ do we take upon 

ourselves. The spirit is so strong. I am unworthy. I am a sinner and 

servant no better than the rest.

I don't want to leave. I want to mingle even after church meetings 

to see why they are here. How they do it. I want to know about the 

saints here. I want to feel of their beautiful spirits. Yet, we plan 

to leave early and my heart is torn. It's being pulled down and I 

don't want to say goodbye. This feels like a home. It is a home where 

the Spirit can dwell freely. Does that not make it a home for all? I 

want my home to always feel like that. If you walk in, my home is 

your home because of the Spirit. How can we leave our home so quickly 

and so bluntly? I do not want to. I cannot. I cannot without my heart 

being wretched out and a part of me left here. Even the children have 

a spirit about them that makes me miss my niece and nephews and soon 

to be nieces and nephews. It makes it even more like home for me.

The atonement is real! God loves us! Answers our prayers and blesses 

us for our faith. Always have faith. 

I knew we could not leave. Not so abruptly and for something where we 

are only taking a chance. We could have lost money and possibly had 

to find a way back at half way or more. We were going to go to a 

Tibet city (still in China) but a family tried to go only a couple of 

weeks ago and the bus got stopped by policemen. They had to get off 

and find a way back. Apparently it is easy to come back but a loss of 

money and time. We will probably stay in Chengdu and find things to 

do here. Our hostel is really nice and it is a big city. I am a 

little sad we could not fill our Tibet cultural experience as much 

but I think it will be worth it. It is just amazing to be in China!
 
Turns out, we just left later but we did take our chances and found 

ourselves on an 8 hour bus ride at about 3 pm. Let's just say, it 

was a whole new adventure and I'll write it as such [Soon ]. 

Looking up?

Last night I got a HUGE stomachache and basically sat in my bed at about 5:30. I was waiting for Sam to skype me at 8 and I swear, minutes before he was suppose to, I got a crazy sweat come over me and I thought i was going to throw up. I ran to the bathroom and then realized I might have a problem with the other end. It was a good thing I sat on the toilet is all I am going to say. Sam tried to video call me at about that time but it took me a couple of minutes to recover and return to bed before I could talk to him. It stinks that we can hardly ever get his camera to work. Last night was one of those nights.
It was so great though! I seriously needed to talk to him!! We talked until about 11:30 and it was really great. I know, you probably don't want to hear about it but really, it was great. = ) I was just really happy and had a good time joking around and remembering how wonderful I've got it ; )
I'm really marrying the best guy ever!! <3


Today I started teaching arts and crafts. I got some materials ready for each lesson for the week and I'm trying to get most of the classes ready before I teach them. Then I will have more time to plan my next lessons and ELE. I will also have things more prepared and ready. When I went to teach and I was nervous. I just kept trying to remember happy thoughts and kept smiling (like the big bolded letters above). It made me feel good and before I took a shower and felt really good physically. That helped. Classes went rather well. = ) Most of the kids want to finish their projects. That helps them pay attention and try to keep up. (most of the time) I enjoyed it with most of the classes. I say 'most' quite a bit because there are always some downers. ; ) My project wasn't even that cute but it had a lot of details and different steps. It worked out nicely. I am feeling really good. I don't know if it will last but I pray it will!!!!!!!!!!!!!! <3 We have vacation starting Friday! Whooo Hoo!!!! = D

Oh the things we do in China baby....

Another week has flown by. The days really do drag on but weeks are gone in a flash!

It's hard here.

We managed to get ourselves a 9 day vacation for this next Friday. I'm not sure how it went from 4 to 6 exactly but it was something Tim wanted us to schedule in right. This is the story of the nine day trip exchange:
Tim came to Kim one night and said, "I am going to Nanchang this weekend. You all will come. I have a business meeting in Nanchang. So you come. "

We all thought this meant that since he was going already we could just use the bus he is to go into town. Plus he told us we could get supplies for dumpling making for Sunday.
About a day later or so, Bryndi and I were taking our warm up laps for Kung Fu with our friend Casey. (Casey is the Tai Chee teacher) As we got to talking, Casey said she heard we were going to Nanchang Saturday. She asked us about some hotel and said it was some kind of activity in which we go to talk to people from other schools. You can imagine our confusion and partial anger towards Tim for not explaining anything to us. -I would like to insert here a brief note about our dear coordinator, Tim. He is a bit like Yoda we decided. He says things but never gives it all away. We have to search for the rest of the meaning. Hahaha and he uses us very last minute with his 'kindness' always backing it up. Hmmmmmmm.....-
The next thing to do was to take our new news back to Kim and figure out what was happening. We all conspired to get a trade from this day he was taking away from our weekend. (we would have come back thursday from our vacation to teach Friday and then had the night and weekend free) it was only 2 hours of teaching we needed to be here for and our ELE classes that Friday. We were determined to get it off and add the weekend to our vacation since he was having us technically work on a Saturday, even in Nanchang. Kim talked to Tim who talked to the headmaster and approved it. Hence, out 9 day vacation.

--now this past Saturday in Nanchang, we ate breakfast at KFC because they didn't have breakfast ready at the cafeteria we usually eat at. The 6 of us ILP teachers brought overnight supplies because Tim would never answer when we would return to the school and made it sound like there may be a possibility of staying the night. Well it turns out, the hotel was just were the conference thing we went to was being held. No overnight. It was annoying to be carrying around now useless materials. When we go to this conference bit, we still didn't know what we are doing and to this day~don't understand completely. We sat around making small conversation with random Chinese people. We think we might have just been there to show that Mayflora was international and for people to practice their English on us. Seriously. The program was for foreign exchange students. There were random college reps there from Canada, Michigan, New Hampshire, and a few other places. There was one lady I sat next to that was just there to give help for visa interviews. It was boring as all get out. Even Tim came over and was telling us how boring it was. Hahahaha

Lunch was great though. It was a big all-you-can-eat buffet of Chinese cuisine. I piled on some veggies and tofu. Then some sponge cake and semi-fried rice(it just had scrambled eggs in it and was more sticky). There were lots of other little things to try as well but I'm not very adventurous I guess or not enough to brag about. =)

Sunday we had a Chinese lady come show us how to make dumplings and we made a ton! I might have to try to make some when I get home. I'm also a fan of some of the tofu here... So I might have to hit up Chinese markets it get me some tofu and tofu noodles when i get back.
Hope this week goes well. I have arts and crafts this week so that should be a whole new experience. Hip hip who-raw. Haha.

Trials and Tribulations

Yesterday I had a really hard day. I like freaked out about my ELE 

class and what I was going to do. Then they were telling eachother 

answers and stuff so I was way annoyed because I can't speak 

Chinese and tell them exactly or stop them. So after it was over 

and I turned a corner, I just started crying and when I got back 

Bryndi tried to comfort me and I just cried for a little longer. I 

think I'm just way stressed. But I wrote down the things I need to 

accomplish and hopefully that will help. It was awesome though when 

Kim came and told us we only had to teach one rotation of kids. We 

had a good opening and like some of my kids like me! Whoot. Haha. 

Then I taught my homeroom class and ran around taking pictures with 

all the kids and of all of them. :) that was fun. Then we sat in 

Tim's office until it was time for the teacher meeting/assembly 

thing. He took is to the gym and had use pull out notebooks (just 

for show) and we doodled,wrote lists, and did lesson planning while 

sitting through a very very boring assembly of only teachers. The 

worst part is just not being able to understand a word. The speakers 

were right in front of us Blaring! I could have sworn I would go 

deaf by the end! Oh and Tim told us while in his office not to be 

smiling loud. Hahahaha or in other words, don't be laughing and 

giggling. Which we would have been really out of place and awkward 

if we had. 
Most of us didn't want to go to Tai Chee or Kung Fu but we had 

already cancelled two nights in a row. So instead we bundled up and 

faced the cold. It turned out being really good and I'm glad we went. 

Casey is really excited about the Tai Chee. She is adorable. I kinda 

turned from Kung Fu to do more tai Chee with her. :) 
She taught me about rings on their fingers and that is really neat. 

If there is a ring on the pinky, they are single and want to stay 

that way or have to. If it is on the pointer finger, they are single 

but are looking or can find someone. The middle finger means you are 

in love or like a really good relationship. Then the ring finger is 

for being married. Casey is married but she wears her ring on the 

middle finger and says she likes to wear it there because it means 

they are 'hot lovers'! Haha well that is why she said but not sure 

that is what she meant. She also tried to explain that it is like 

they are always falling in love. Forever in love. Very cool.

Just for Fun

Oh it's been another crazy week! I did rotations this week- switching each classes kids. It was insane. The kids were wicked bad for the first few days.  Sometimes I wouldn't even have to teach one rotation of kids or only teach for 5 minutes because it would take so long to get them to hold hands, be quiet, and not hurt each other. That was the good end of the deal.

My 7th graders get bored easily and don't know how to line up. Most of them didn't quite get the concept of pictionary but they did play it the full 45 mins I was teaching. That was nice.

So on to the part of the week I like best, the {week}end!!!!!!! We found out last week that on Fridays, we only teach for two hours. This week we changed the schedule to fit. I barely taught that day. I had an hour before dinner to relax. When I went to get Kim for dinner, I met the other foreign English teacher. We had all been expecting this teacher all week. It turns out, he is from India! He had a pretty thick accent and it is difficult to understand his English sometimes. His English name is Peter because apparently Chinese can't say Vinay. (veen-a). He is Hindu and tells us of some very interesting cultural differences. (in the picture is Ashley and Vinay)

Saturday we went to the city, Fuzhou. We did some shopping and bought food at the supermarket. We rode the public bus to and from. To wasn't that bad. We all got seats and it is a 45 min ride. It was adorable when this lady was watching Ashley write letters because she was standing over her. She had her two kids look over the seat at her. Ashley didn't even notice and went on writing normally. I pulled out my camera just a little too late to catch them. On the way back, it was a little insane! There were so many people that we barely fit on! Many of the people were interested in who the foreigners were. Because Nicole and I were in the doorway of this jam-packed bus, a nice lady offered to hold our bags in front of her. We slowly made our way to the back of the bus as people got on and off. When I was holding onto one of the bars on the top of the bus, I thought my arm/shoulder might get dislocated because of all the quick stops and the frequencies of the stops and turns. The people were super nice! Most of them let us sit down instead of taking the seats. I felt a little bad but most of them got off in only a few stops. When we had about 10 minutes left, it was pretty empty and we all had plenty of room to stretch out.

We were so tired when we returned to the prison....I mean school, that most of us crashed or wanted to. It didn't take long for there to be a knock at the door. Another spontaneous teaching experience. We all went to teach some kids and play games. I didn't realize how tired I was until we had to walk up the hill. We played red rover. Naturally they lined up girls vs. boys. They would always take back the kid that was already on their team. It seemed like an eternity.
Sunday was wonderful. I was able to skype my love. I didn't want to stop talking with him and I ended up being a little late to 'church' in the other girls' apartment. Testimony meeting was a little hard to hear but Sunday school was really good. Lunch was delicious-carrots, little green bean things, big white beans, cabbage and rice. :) at 1 we went to the monastery. We took a bus to a certain point an then climbed soooo many stairs up a mountain to get to the temple.

It made me appreciate our temples and the gospel. Im so glad our temples are not so public and remain sacred. I feel like people were disrespectful there and it was dirty. People were everywhere taking pictures and talking loud. There wasn't a ton of worshipping going on it seemed. It was a very interesting place though and I'm glad we went.

Definitely a good Chinese experience!

Later, we had a visiting teaching meeting all together with our new Relief Society group leader, Nicole. Before I went to sleep, Bryndi and I put in 'the Best Two Years' and projected it onto our wall.
All-in-all it has been a nice weekend :) I need to stop eating so much, especially my junk food!!

p.s.-Tofu is becoming a rather regular thing in my meal plans. . . It really depends on the day if it is good or not. Hopefully it is good for me.

Everybody was Kung Fu Fighting!

Well Kung Fu is pretty tough. Master Fu is pretty awesome. he is nice but we cant understand him so this one lady translates for us. Then he says yes, no, and good. haha One time he just watched what i did then said no and walked away. hahaha then he just laughed at me yesterday. then a mixture of both tonight. i love it. lol. Bryndi thinks he is cute. So we hardcore make fun of her, and him. Its great because we can, right there, and he doesnt even know it. = D bahahahaha good times. We couldn't do painting last night because the teacher had a migraine but tonight we moved on to cherry blossoms and bamboo. hahaha not sure how i feel about the painting. we cant understand him either. = ) this girl, Flora, comes in sometimes now and helps translate while she learns to paint too. Since the Kung Fu teacher was late, Casey (the translator, a teacher, and the lady that is taking us to the monastery on Sunday) showed us some Tai Chee moves. She is going to teach us. She says on June 1st we will preform it in our uniforms that we will buy, if we are good ( i think we will do it anyway because she is so excited about it and is she going to tell us we stink??) hehehe. The one thing I really don't like about Kung Fu is the warm up. We have to do 2 laps around the track before we start. I also am not much of a fighter. . . I don't want to hit anyone. It might help get my frustrations out though instead of on the kids ; ) which have been really bad the last few days. I ended up not teaching one of my classes because they took so long to rotate. They were going crazy! oh man...love it. I swear, that should count as at least one lap for our warm up!! ; )

How we Party in China! ; )

We had a birthday party for my roommate, Bryndi, today. It was a lot 

of fun. We each got our own little microwave cake or brownie dish.

We played pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey. I obviously won with my gift. 

My "spidey" senses told me the direction. It was only a half an inch 

off! Haha. Because I am so awesome, I won a pack of strawberry 

shortcake Extra gum. It smells just like it! It tastes pretty good 

too. 

Then we played Amnesia. The game that you have a person's name 

taped to your head and you ask yes and no questions to everyone else. 

You try to guess "who you are". I was rather horrible at this game. 

My first was Mr.Darcy. I was the last to guess mine.  Then I was 

Yoda and I should have had it sooner than I did but I forgot that I 

had asked if I wasn't a cartoon character. Our last game together 

was 'what if'. It was silly and fun. 
 
One really great thing about Bryndi's birthday today was dinner. Tim 

arranged for us to eat with him and have a formal dinner at the 

hotel. Oh it was good. It was a great break from our cafeteria food. 

I am gorged still. I filled up on our last dish, can you guess? Yup. 

Fried Rice!!! I almost ate a whole plate of green beans and eggplant 

that was cooked in Something delicious. We are very tempted to tell 

Tim it's one of our birthdays every week! =) 
 
I cleaned my side of the apartment today. Another thing I did 

today and i am going to try out tonight is, taping my sheet to my 

bed. I don't have a fitted sheet and so it goes every where at night. 

I hope it works! It was quite a pain. Typing of pain...my nose is 

being rubbed raw because it is running ALL the time!! I can never 

catch it. I don't know if I ever will....

Getting to know China!

Well a few things to know about china:

• They don't have deodorant. At least not widely available.

• Lots of girls don't shave arm pits or legs here. (I bought men's shaving cream)

• Chinese have less b.o. And less hair. But it doesn't mean it doesn't exist. :)

• Most people really do eat rice for every meal. At more formal dinners, the rice comes last, and it is usually fried rice (restaurants do this). When you eat with new friends, you toast with them. Just good manners.

• It is normal, and common to spit the bones out on the table and the floor.

• It is normal to spit on the ground and floor. (dodging luggies on the ground is quite common for me)

• Many people smoke.

• Chinese people are generally very curious. (what you have, what is around, what things are like,and staring.)

• Things change quickly and can be very last minute.

What a day!

First of all, we woke up at 7:00am. Almost an hour before we usually 

do. We were going to breakfast at about 7:33am and Tim, the 

coordinator, called Kim, my headteacher, to say that we needed to be 

at his office at 20 mins till 8. Kim said, "sorry we are going to 

breakfast and be there as soon as we can." she was still not excited 

about the speech she was going to have to give. Who would be when 

they were just informed the night before that there was even going 

to be an awards assembly for the teachers at Mayflora School? She 

didn't memorize the speech but she did fix the Chenglish. After 

breakfast, we went straight to his office, all dressed up as we were 

instructed. Kim practiced her speech with her 15 year old Chinese 

translator. The girl was a doll. She translated Kim's speech into 

Chinese so the rest of the school would understand. (Kim read a line, 

then the girl translated, then Kim, then Chinese. Back and forth 

until the speech was over. It was only a couple minutes long so that 

was good!!) 

Our Dear Tim

We filled into the gymnasium with "some of the students" from each

class (k-12) and teachers. Since we are teachers and obviously 

*special*, we got to sit on stools. While all the students sat on 

the floor. When it was Kim's turn, I recorded it. The assembly 

itself was... Well as exciting as most of my high school assemblies

...not very. Then to top it off- I couldn't understand what they 

were saying and I didn't have that attitude of "well at least we get 

out of class". Instead I yearned for my firm but WARM bed back in my 

apartment. As it lead on, I began to wonder if my toes would turn 

into Popsicles and they would serve them at our next meal. I tried 

to sit up straight and set an example for the students. The relief 

that came when kids and adults started standing and turning toward 

the back of the gym, was overwhelming. I gladly stood up and began 

to walk. Oh what pain it brought me! My feet were so cold, it 

literally hurt to walk. It was like needles slicing into my precious 

feet. The apartment seemed like an eternity away! 
 
Not to mention that while we were heading that way, I found out I 

would be teaching an ELE class( which are older students) earlier 

than originally planned. I figured, schedules change. Especially 

with assemblies and what not. 
 
Oh I forgot how crazy this day was until now. 
 
So as we returned to our humble foreign abode, I simply lied in bed 

and stuck my earphones in. I listened to dance music and I do 

believe my mind was running the whole time but I can't remember 

because I started to drift off. Alas, there was a knock at my door 

only 54 minutes later. Which seemed but a very small moment. I 

wheeled myself to get up and out the door. 
 
Angel, Kim, and I went towards the class I was going to teach. I was 

unprepared and had no idea what to expect. I was hoping for 

talkative kids and some getting-to-know-you ideas. Yet, I couldn't 

be more unprepared for what Angel had in store. She saw the book I 

was carrying and realize it was for 7th graders. Which was my ELE 

class. Apparently, Tim had added yet another class to our schedule 

and they were (what we expect might be) 9th graders. I decided not 

to be too worried, if they were older they could speak more English,

right? 
 
Wrong. The class wouldn't speak a word. I couldn't tell if they were 

just trying with all their might not to not talk to the American 

English teacher or they just didn't understand me. I'm guessing the 

first though because I looked over their books and they looked 

pretty advanced for English students and they were acting ...teenage. 

I was frustrated as all get out. At some point, I think Angel told 

Kim that I could just read the vocabulary and show them how to say 

it. I did that. They repeated each word. Then...
 
Silence. 
 
I was relieved when the bell rang and class was over. Angel was not 

happy with the students either. She said they were very bad and that 

she would talk to the head master. Kim says we won't teach that 

class. Thank goodness! What a disaster! 
 
I was just about to crawl back into dreaming about my bed when Kim 

mentioned my REAL/original 7th grade class. Oh yeah, had to teach 

that one in 10 mins. Great. 
 
We walked down some steps, across a walk way, and down a hall. 7th 

grade, was much better. They were just learning some basic things 

-where people live, likes,dislikes, and so on. So it was perfect. I 

learned all of their names (English names) and talk about siblings. 

Then we talked about food. Not bad. 
 
There wasn't much time to rest but I still wrapped my one 

comforter/blanket around myself and warmed my body before going to 

lunch. Lunch was good. This time there really were Lima beans! 

Delicious! Along with good sliced potatoes, spicy cucumbers, and 

rice ;) 
 
You thought my day was over. Nope. I slept back in bed and wished we 

could do what the Chinese have been doing and suddenly change our 

schedule. As in, tell them I just wasn't going to teach today 

because at this point, we still hadn't taught our regular youngsters. 
 
I picked the easiest to prepare for lesson and went to face the 

music. Five classes later, exhaustion was setting in. They weren't 

their worst today or their best. I still ran around grabbing them by their coats,

trying to keep them from touching things, from touching each other, 

being bewildered when they honestly wouldn't do anything at all, and 

yelling because the classes echo and I'm competing with 4-8 other 

voices and more if there are random Chinese teachers just in there 

talking to each other. Welcome to ILP in Linchuan Mayflora School. :) 

yet, the kids can be adorable and some kids are really trying. 

Sometimes they enjoy the activity and cooperate. There is however, 

another factor of tokens but I think I've gone on long enough. 
 
Dinner was basically cooked cabbage, cooked greasy carrots, and rice. 

Meager but I kept going back for more carrots. 
 
Now I must do lesson plans that are due tomorrow night and hope it 

all goes well. 
 

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.