VACATION: DAY ONE

Wowza. A week long vacation calls for lots of stories and many photos to share. I don't really know where to start honestly. (I am sorry in advance for a long post of rambling)

Our adventure started off Sunday morning... nobody woke up. It was 6:30am and our train was leaving at 8am. It takes about an hour and a half to get to the train station via public buses so you can imagine how frantic it became. After lugging our bags to the bus station our bus never came. We were waving down a taxi when it finally drove by and 7 American girls began speed racing down the street with huge suitcases trying to catch the bus.

Anywho... we finally arrived at the train station and boarded our train. It was literally like the choo choo trains you think of when you think train. It was old and rusty and could probably break apart at any second.  We were lucky enough to have gotten beds for the lovely 24 HOUR TRAIN RIDE. You read that right folks, twenty four hours. two four. twenty four. These were our lovely homes for the 24 hours of H E double hockey sticks....

The train had the famous squatters for bathrooms. You could see and hear the tracks below because your business just fell straight out of the train. Lovely I know.... We spent hours playing Go Fish, taste testing different candies, playing the question game, getting to know each other, watched You Again (my all time favorite movie in the entire universe), and spent a lot of time staring at the walls. No words will ever truly describe how uncomfortable that train ride was. You will never truly understand the pain or agony of that ride until you experience it for yourself.

A full day later we arrived in Guilin and had to catch another bus to Yangshuo. We were immediately greeted by many many people trying to give us rides. We found a guy who told us he was the bus driver and led us to his bus. He helped us load our bags under the bus, helped us get on the bus, all that jazz a kind gentlemen would do. He told us the bus costed 40 RMB and after we had paid him he slyly disappeared. We were hustled. He stole our money and we didn't even realize it until the real bus driver came around asking for money. It really only costed 10 RMB, but the sly dog took more than that. We tried to stay positive because in American money it wasn't that big of a deal, it was just frustrating we had let that happen.

That little fiasco started our two hour bus ride off on the right note, but the Chinese like to keep things interesting! We were gawking at the beautiful mountains when all of a sudden the entire bus swerves and BARELY misses hitting a car in front of us and then swerves back before we were hit by cars coming in the opposite direction. I swear to you I thought the bus was going to tip. A guy was flung out of his seat and landed on the floor and everyone was freaking out and it was beyond exhilarating. The bad driver stereotype is so true, so if the Chinese are freaking out about the driving you know something is wrong. Guys, it was terrifying and I am glad I can be here to share the near death experience with you today.

We finally arrived in Yangshuo and fell in love with the city immediately. It was exactly what I had imagined China to be like. Chinese flags hanging everywhere, little shops lining the streets, music playing, happy people everywhere! I LOVED IT. We got to our hostel and showered the stench of the train off and left to explore the city.

 

 I am kind of technology deficient and really could use Darci's/Slate's help with writing next to my pictures buuuuuut.... the first picture is the view from our hostel roof and minus the shack looking buildings it was absolutely BEAUTIFUL. The mountains were so cool because they were round on top rather than pointy. The next picture is with Jennie and I on West Street aka the coolest street in China. I was in heaven there. The next two pictures are of the Li River which was right outside our hostel. Goodness I just loved it so much. We found towering ice cream cones which were such a nice relief from the humidity. Later that night we found the famous place where fish nibble at your feet and eat the dead skin. It was the craziest feeling and it was really hard to get over the fact fish were eating me, but I did it! I started with the tiny fish and then moved up to the medium fish and finally ended with the huge fish. The big fish felt like humans were sucking on my feet and I'm surprised I didn't leave with fish hickies! And finally we ended the night with delicious dumplings!

Day one was the longest day ever, but I definitely loved it. Annnnnd theres day one, sorry for the overload!

The Adventure Continues...

I AM LOVING CHINA. I wish my family and friends were here so I could share all these experiences with them, but I have made such great friends with the girls here. Everyday is a new adventure and I never know what to expect with each new day. Yesterday the weather was perfect, as in the humidity was bearable. Today it was so humid I was suffocating. Tomorrow it will probably be steaming acid rain, but who really knows.

We got to go to Shanghai last weekend for the district conference and heard from Elder Toronto of the Quorum of the Seventy. He gave a really good talk and I heard a lot of things I needed to hear. There were actually a lot of people there, I didn't expect so many LDS members to be in China. I loved hearing everyone from different parts of the world sing the hymns together. I am so grateful I can be across the world, but still have the gospel in my life. I have a new appreciation and understanding for what I am blessed with back home.

So this happened. We were given tents to put on our beds when we first got here because the mosquitos and spiders have been known to make an appearance. Of course I didn't put mine on though??? So I woke up looking like I got beat up by the Chinese children. It was so difficult to keep my eye open and I was getting a massive headache from being half blind, so by the time lunch came around I had given up and was walking around with only one eye open.

As if getting a fat eyeball wasn't a wake up call, we got this visitor the next night. It was the size of my hand. MY HAND. America spiders are such wimps compared to these Chinese monsters. If you can imagine 8 screaming girls standing on one tiny bed, one girl crying in her bedroom, and another standing on a chair swinging a boot around then you can probably imagine how this scenario went down. It was traumatic to be honest.

I got to experience what we here in China call "The Troth." It is literally that. You squat. You do your business. You leave. A stream of water comes rushing down every couple of minutes to wash the motherload down. One girl was really mesmerized by the efficiency of it all and couldn't stop talking about it. The lady behind me must've had a bad breakfast because I got to see everything coming out of her stall rush between my legs. Sorry if thats too much information, but nothing in China is glamorous (except the street noodles we found in Shanghai. Those deserve an award of some sort.)

I RODE AN ELEPHANT. As I was walking up the stairs to get on the elephant it started to walk away and the man didn't even notice. That wasn't really all that comforting, but YOLO. I got on and as we started walking around the little path the elephant took a little pit stop and started digging in the trash. It was a little bit of a struggle because 1. Ive never rode an elephant before and 2. I didn't know how to yell "help the elephant has gone rogue" in Mandarin. Once that was sorted out the elephant started trotting and I was holding on for dear life as we sped up from 2mph to like 5mph. It cost me $5 USD and it was the best $5  have ever spent in my entire life.

I HELD A LION. The Chinese literally do not understand the concept of forming an orderly line so once the cub was brought out it became a madhouse. Luckily we were there early and were the first ones to hold the cub because he started crying and they had to take him back inside. He was so soft! When I was handed him I felt like I was being handed my first born child.

I FED A GIRAFFE. Their tongues are so long and naturally I felt some sort of connection to it. 

Feeding these fish was so mind-blowing to me. We were given baby bottles with fish food in them and sent in to feed these massive fish. They were no little gold fish. These things were jerking our arms back and forth while sucking on the bottles. One looked like an old grandpa and it was kind of weird. I wanted to stick my hand in the pond and let them suck on my hand, but they were so large I was scared they would eat my entire arm.

This is my new friend, Jennie, she's kinda cool. We have become really good friends these past few weeks and get along really well. We took this picture after the longest day ever, but we were so happy in the moment and didn't have any complaints so we decided to document the moment. Usually we both feel somewhat homesick or China smelt really bad that day, but after spending a day at the zoo, the district conference, and eating the best street noodles I have ever had, we went to sleep happy.

Three months from now I will be back home with my family and hopefully have a belly full of cafe rio, a green salad, A CHEESEBURGER, and a bean burrito.

BEIJING, CHINA

Beijing was beautiful and I will forever wish I got to spend more time there. It was a trip no words can explain and I would do it 100 times over.

We stayed in a hostel and us 10 American girls had much different expectations than what we got. Two girls and I walked into our room after wandering the dark alley to get to our hostel only to find a naked man laying on his bed reading his newspaper. It was terrifying in the moment, but now we can't help to laugh at it. Within the three days we spent there we met a guy from Canada, a couple from France biking across the continents, and another fellow American from Washington.

Beijing was an experience that can never be replicated. 

The Forbidden City was such a cool experience. IT WAS MASSIVE. I didn't realize the Forbidden City was actually the size of a city (duh Dakota). I definitely did not mentally prep my feet! It was so beautiful. I loved walking the same grounds as the people who lived here so long ago.

So funny story... We found out you could dress up for like $5 US Dollars so of course we seized the opportunity. The Chinese people WENT INSANE. We were swarmed within seconds and it was absolute madness. We are stopped ALL THE TIME by people asking to take pictures with us, but this was a whole new level of fame. Each of us were grabbed by random Chinese people and we couldn't get away. After about 10 minutes we finally convinced the people we had to leave and asked someone to take our picture, but like 50 people formed a circle around us and were snapping pictures like we were celebrities. It was seriously crazy. I don't know how real life celebrities deal with it. 

I got to see the Great Wall and it was as grrrrreat. It was so green and luscious and. It was actually difficult to climb and I don't know why I didn't think it wouldn't be hard. Some parts were just directly up and my little non-fit heart was struggling. It was cool to see people from all over the world in one place. Oh and I dug some dirt up with a bamboo stick for my aunt so it's still pure.

I autographed the wall so I am cool now.

The Great Wall is indescribable. Everyone needs to see it at least once (and take me whenever you go).

We ate a scorpion. I don't know why I did it. I truly don't. It was too salty and its tail got stuck on my lip so that was gross. It's hard to see but the scorpions are between our faces.

They were alive and kicking right up until the moment you eat them. It was absolutely terrifying. You can see the sea horses in this picture too. They had snakes and starfish on sticks too :(

We spent too much money at the Silk Market and didn't have enough room to bring every thing home so this was how we had to trek home. 

Getting home from Beijing was an experience itself. We got off the subway and were immediately swarmed by the Chinese taxi drivers. It was actually kind of scary and we were all getting a little panicked. The Chinese SWAT had to come get all the people away from us and then the subway security had to keep the people away from us. I didn't tell my parents about that, but I am still alive so it's okay.

Sweatshop

     Today was the longest day of my life. I woke up at 6am because my bladder was screaming at me (my dad would be so proud of me. I never drink water back home, but there is nothing else to drink here so I drink 3742084 bottles a day). We had a nice breakfast of rice and water and then headed to our office around 8AM. We spent ALLLLLL day in the office making decorations and planning our lessons for the next week. Our office doesn't have A/C and Ningbo is so humid so it’s our own personal sauna. We didn't leave the office until about 7PM and by then some of us were at our wits end, but luckily we are all still alive. 

Tonight we caught some little boys running around their apartment butt naked slapping each other with towels and it was so funny to watch them run around although we stopped because we felt a bit creepy. If only we were that comfortable around each other already :(

I start teaching tomorrow and I am super nervous to meet all my three year olds. I am basically a babysitter because they don't speak any english and are too young to plan real lessons for. I get to give them their American names and I feel like I have my own little family! I also get to teach the teachers english and thats what I am truly nervous for because you cant just make paper butterflies with adults for an hour.

Some random Chinese children

We literally went insane being stuck in a sauna for 12 hours

It's Been Picture Perfect

Saturday night we went karaoke singing to get to know each other. It was quite the adventure. I sang Poker Face by Lady Gaga with another girl in my group and Im probably trying out for American Idol when I get back.

We attended a branch of church here in Ningbo and it was a really cool experience although it was quite the journey to get there. We had to ride the bus to the end of the route and then walk through the city for 20 minutes. It took us about an hour to get to the hotel we were supposed to meet at, but once we were there it was worth it. There is a family from Hungary living in Ningbo because the dads job has brought him here and same thing with another family from England. Our group leader, Craig, is from England and his wife is from Ghana. It was really cool to have all of us from around different corners of the world be together because of the gospel. Even across the world the church is true!

It rained real rain. Like real rain. Coming from vegas it was like seeing snow for the first time. Of course we took advantage of the rain and danced in it and did the ALS challenge.

There hasn't been a dull moment yet! We are going to Beijing this weekend and I can't wait to go sight seeing and shopping! Love and miss you all!

I Have Arrived!

I finally arrived in China after a few quick (looooong) stops in South Korea and LA. HOLY HUMIDITY. It’s so weird, but I just feel like I am in California, except everything is in Chinese, no one speaks English, and I am a minority. It hasn't hit me yet I wont be seeing my family again for a couple months or that I cant just go home when I am feeling homesick. But I miss them more than anything.

It took me about 33 hours to get to Ningbo from Vegas and man oh man did all those hours catch up to me. I didn't sleep at all while traveling here and I felt like my eyeballs were going to explode and I am surprised I didn't have a breakdown because I was so exhausted. I didn't sleep on my 14 hour flight from LA to Korea, it was too uncomfortable and an Asian man fell asleep on my shoulder so I couldn't really move. Korea was awesome, they had cool toilets. The airport was actually on an island (the airport was basically the island) so we couldn't leave to explore Korea in the couple hours we had to spare. But they did have a Hello Kitty Cafe and the cool toilets to keep us entertained. 

China smells weird. The people have b/o, the air is so muggy from the pollution and humidity, and there is trash and waste every where. My environmental “save the earth” heart hurts so much every time I leave my apartment. Our leftovers from dinner (there’s always a lot of leftovers because us American girls aren't quite accustomed to chicken feet yet) are combined with the trash, like plastic cups and forks and all that. Then if you look out my bathroom window you can see where all the waste is dumped. It’s really gross and sad at the same time. We were walking into town today and there were just piles of rotten food and plastic bottles all over. I need to start an environmental movement here or something!

Our apartment is rather large. We have the entire third floor of the building. 10 of us live here and we still have empty rooms and closets. It makes me kind of sad we have all this empty space when we pass people living in shacks and such. I am sharing a room with the head teacher who is in charge of all of us. She is super cool and we share deodorant because both of her bags were lost at the airport so we've become good friends really fast. 

We have one bathroom, it’s literally a bathroom. It’s a room of 8 showers made of completely clear glass. We haven't quite overcome the “you're naked and I don't even know you” stage yet so it’s been kind of awkward trying to stare at the ceiling and not touch butts at the same time. We have two other bathrooms that have one toilet and three “squatters.” The squatters are just holes in the ground and I haven't quite mustered up enough courage to use them yet. Except the toilet seat is cut in half and will slice your butt in half as well if you sit on it, so we really have three squatters plus a raised squatter.

We have a teeny tiny washer and no dryer so we have to hang dry everything, except its so humid so nothing ever really dries. We sort of have air conditioning but I would really call it that. Each room has a tiny swamp cooler except two rooms already went out and I feel really bad for those girls. Mine leaks EVERYWHERE. We had to put bowls and towels down to catch the water. I am really grateful for what little a/c we do have though because the heat is seriously killer outside. 

We went into town today to get money from the bank and go to the market to get things we needed. We are already celebrities around here. People are not even discrete about taking pictures of us. It makes me feel bad for reading celebrity magazines back home because now I know how they feel always having people take pictures of them haha 

The market was so overwhelming because everything is in Chinese and you have to divide all the prices by 6 to figure how much you are really spending. Then after like 30 minutes it turned into “do I really want to spend 81 cents on 20 hangers or can I find something cheaper?” I didn't dare venture into the food section of the market. I smelt that section from across the store and you all know how easily I gag. 

I start teaching on Wednesday and am nervous about it, but I am excited to meet my kids. Im hoping I will get the youngest age group so I can give them their American names. I want to name one Leonardo for Breanna. 

Im excited to experience the culture and help teach the kids english. I miss my family and pb and j sandwiches, but the mango ice drinks here are to die for.

Turbulence Before Takeoff

     Five days before I am supposed to head to the airport and take off for China I get a phone call from the ILP office. Being as apologetic as they could be, I was told I am being reassigned to Ningbo, China rather than Nanjing (the city I was originally planning on living in). The girl I met at training, Emily, and I were planning on being roommates for the next four months, but we both got the unfortunate phone call. I am no longer with any of the girls I met at training who I totally loved and was so excited to explore China with.
     To others it might not seem like a big deal, but it has kind of put a damper on my excitement. I am still beyond thrilled to have this opportunity to live in another country, but I have been completely taken out of my comfort zone. Oh my goodness, what am I saying. Im going to China. Of course I am going to have the time of my life and will be completely out of my comfort zone while doing it. I'm listening to Adele and she's making me sad about not living with Emily or any of the girls I met a few months ago. I really am excited, I promise.
     Anyways, I leave in two days and I haven't started packing my bags at all. Ive said so many goodbyes and it's starting to hit me I am not really ever "coming home." I have college and that adult life waiting for me when I get back. I tell my family I can't wait to leave and not look back, but I am actually going to miss them more than I can explain. Gosh, they drive me insane, but I love them so much. (It's only four months Dakota, you're not dying and never coming back.)