Home Sweet Home

Well I haven't been doing very well at keeping this updated but I shall try harder to do such from now on. I am home from China and living in a new apartment in Provo, UT! I absolutely love it! Great ward and Awesome room mates! Meeting lots of new people and enjoying school. I am still teaching at home a few times a week. Anywho, I am still deciding on my next big adventure, Peru? The Philippines again? Australia? I have yet to decide :) A great happening this past week was we FINALLY got some snow here in Utah! Yeah! We already planned a trip to go snowboarding/skiing this Saturday and it is going to be a blast.

A new favorite thing of mine is working out at Gold's Gym. I do enjoy working out but this place has the coolest thing ever and I may have to build one in my future house :) Cardio Cinema! Lots of cardio machines and one big movie screen on the front wall! Let me tell ya, running is so much easier while watching things like Lord of the Rings :)

Single Digits!

I am down to 9 days left of my China life. I am very excited to go home to my normal life and my family and friends! I will however miss my little kids :( I got quite a few kisses on the cheek today and they were adorable. Going to miss those cute little faces everyday! Good thing I still get to teach kids again when I get home in swim lessons! If this trip has done anything it has made me so extremely grateful for everything I have back at home. I have also affirmed to myself that I really want to be a 1st grade teacher, I just love these little kids. Yes, they are frustrating at times and horrid at others, but the sweet little things they do makes them all worth it. We have had a change in schedule for parents day tomorrow (Friday), we are teaching in the afternoon for only an hour instead of the morning SO Kailey, Cami, Kate and I had a girls night and watch a movie and chatted most of the evening about things we are excited for back at home...mostly food...haha. I think every person here is excited for real food. Word of advice to those planning to visit China, bring lots of snacks. I don't know who came to america and decided that Chinese food at places like Panda Express was considered Chinese...it is not even close to legit Chinese food. Well today the weather dropped to about 15 degrees with an icy wind that is blowing so hard right now the building is whistling! No snow yet, but we had flurries all day today, not wet enough to stick. Oh well, it'll make the home coming even better if the first snow I see is at home :) We get to sleep in tomorrow morning! Yeah!

Last of my Thankfulls!

23rd- Hot showers. We only had about 1 minutes worth of hot water at our hostel this week and showering in cold water in the winter is not my favorite!

24th- Vitamin C! Everyone in my group has been getting sick and I am very thankful my mom sent me two bottles of vitamin C, it has thus far kept me from catching the ILP cold!

25th- I am thankful for skype! I have been able to keep in touch with my family and friends back at home while I have been living in China.

26th- My car! I have been riding in taxi's and on public buses for 3 months and it is just so much easier to drive yourself places, I'm very happy to have my own car!

27th- I am thankful for my head teachers. They have been our mothers here for the past 3 months and have had to put up with a lot of stuff from everyone and yet they are still around, thanks Cami and Marie!

28th- It has been bitterly cold here as of late and I am very grateful that I have a winter coat and gloves! I would probably freeze without them! Thank you mom for sending them!

29th- I am thankful for oatmeal. Strange thing to be thankful for, I know, but seeing as I very much dislike rice, this has been a life saver that I could even purchase it here in China!

30th- I am thankful for the opportunity I have had to come and live in another country. It has been the most challenging thing I have ever gone through thus far in my life, but I have learned a lot and I am more grateful than ever for all the things I have back at home.

Well that wraps up November! Onto December! Only 15 days to go :)

Qingdao

We have left and returned from Qingdao already and I wasn't able to get blogger to work in our hoste so I will fill you all in on the happenings of our final vacation!

Qingdao was an old German settled Chinese town. We went and visited the old part of the town...or what is left of it, it is pretty small now and beaten up. Also were able to take a tour of the old German prison! It was way neat and super creepy! In the main building there are tons of pictures of the prison from back in the day and even some really graphic ones of those on death row. The creepiest part was the actual jail area. Most of the doors were closed but a few were open and had very realistic looking wax people in them! It was so creepy! Then we reached this spiral staircase that went down into this tomb looking area with very small ceilings. It was there version of torture chambers! They had all the devices used still down there and even had blood on the floor still...sorry if that's a little too graphic, but it's true! Next we went and wandered around the boardwalk by the ocean and met lots of interesting people and walked out on the pier. We found this really neat shopping market by accident on a search for breakfast one morning and loved every minute of it! There was a small bakery about a mile or two from our hostel that we went to for breakfast "danish's" each morning. We had a fun adventure one day in search of the Wal-Mart..which we never did find...we just kept hoping on random buses and had some very funny moments on them. The bus drivers in Qingdao are insane! How could I describe this to you...For any of you who have ridden the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland...it was EXACTLY like being on that. We all thought we were going to get thrown to the back of the bus multiple times! The weather there was quite chilly and very foggy/smoggy for most of the trip. It was neat at our hostel though, because we had the 10-bed room (5 sets of bunk beds) which was not attached to the rest of the hostel, we had our own little cabin so to speak which was way nice. I think my calf muscles grew about and inch in that 4 days. Our hostel was on the top of a hill and everything to do was at the bottom...we hiked up and down these steep hills all day long! Never thought good would come of climbing 300+ stairs everyday at school but it certainly helped here! We hopped onto a bus to come home earlier this afternoon, about a 4 hour drive and our bus looked like a space ship! Instead of walking in the door and finding a seat you had to climb this big stair case and the seats were like in the upper deck of a double decker bus. We sat right in the front, over top of the driver, reminded me of our old motor home we used to have with the bed above the drivers seats. When we got home to Weihai it was way cold, but alas, still no snow. 19 More days!

Catching up!

I am quite a bit behind in my Thankfuls!! Here comes my catch up :)

17th- I am thankful for my religion. It has been a great asset to me being far away from my comfort zone and I am lucky to be a part of it!

18th- I am ever so thankful for my health! I see so many people in China with these horrible coughs or illness' and I have friends back at home battling some hard health issues and I am so grateful that I have been able to be pretty healthy for most of my life!

19th- For my little sister :) I know I drive her crazy and probably annoy her the rest of the time, but I do it out of LOVE. And even though we don't hang out a super ton here in China, I do not think I could of done this trip to China without her. Just knowing part of my family is down the hall is comfort enough most days when I feel homesick. Love you Abs!

20th- Only fair seeing as I mentioned the sister...My Awesome little brothers. I am so thankful I have them around. They are both the comic relief in life as well as an inspiration. They are both amazing athletes in running, as well as Matty's swimming and I am so proud to go to their meets and races and scream ever so loudly (I am sure it embarrasses them both) for them both. I love being able to go around and say "Yeah, THAT's my brother :)" Love you Kenz and Matty!

21st- WE GOT OUR HEATERS TURN ON TONIGHT! And I can honestly say I am so thankful for the furnace in my house! We have small radiator looking things on the wall that are heated by hot water so unless you are touching it the heat doesn't get much farther. So thankful I have a furnace that blows hot air through out my house!

30 day countdown!

Well it has finally come, we are in our final month of our China experience. 30 more days and we will all be on flights home to our families and friends, just in time for Christmas! The song "I'll be home for Christmas" has a whole new meaning this year...and yes Kate and I have been listening to Christmas music, probably since like halloween :)

We woke up this fine Sunday morning and to MY amazement, it was snowing outside! I LOVE the snow! Many of our other teachers were not so excited. It was pretty wet snow...more like slush...and didn't stick on the ground, but it looked pretty coming down anyways!

Today Kate and I were bored so we went through our suit cases and checked through all the stuff we had bought to see what else we needed to get this coming weekend. Afterwards, I decided to put away all my summer/fall clothes that I new I wasn't going to wear again and packed them all up, along with things I am not ever going to use. I have found I am going to actually have tons of room going home, I am pretty sure this is due to all the food I brought with me here that is not making the return trip :)

As I was going through my drawer of stuff I came upon my swim cap and goggles...You know I think this is the longest I have ever gone without being in a pool, in my life! I have not seen, been near, or swam in a pool in 3 months! That has NEVER happened to me before! I actually miss swimming and being around pools, I even miss the smell. So for about an hour this afternoon I wandered around with my cap and goggles on my head, everyone got a kick out of it...except my sister she didn't find it very strange haha.

This Friday we are heading out to Qingdao for our final 4 day vacation. We are gone Friday till Tuesday night. Qingdao is an old German settled town in China, we are all really excited for the fun stuff they have there and our final big shopping trip!

We have had a count going for teaching and we are down to our last 18 days of teaching. I went through this afternoon and planned out all my lessons for the rest of those 18 days and I am excited to make these fun crafts and activities with my kids. We have also decided to have kind of a "picture day" with the kids when we get home from Qingdao, so we can have a picture of us with each of our kids. It'll be nice to put in my China scrapbook when I get home.

I am thankful for...

13th- I am thankful to have such easy access to church buildings and temples! In China, we have to attend church in someones bedroom over skype. I have been so used to living down the street from like 5 different meeting houses and I am thankful to have both them, and temples, so close to where I live.

14th- Hand Sanitizer....I know it may be an odd thing to be thankful for but pretty sure I could not of survived the last 3 months without it!

15th- My job. My family can attest to you that I have not always enjoyed my job but after being away from it for so long I am very thankful to have it and I can honestly say I miss my lesson kids!

16th- Warm clothes! We have not had any heat turned on in our school yet so we've been having to layer up on all our clothes to keep warm and I am so thankful that I have warm clothes to do so with!

1 down, 6 to go!

Well I am well on my way of attaining my goal of reading all 7 Harry Potter books before I get home! Just finished the first one this afternoon and on to the second book! I haven't read these since the movies came out because...well lets just admit it, I do love movies far more than books :)...but I noticed how well they actually adapted the first film to the first book! It is almost identical! So far 2 of my favorite book series' I read have become films...this is somewhat of a problem because I much rather watching than reading, and yet they seem to be making EVERY book I actually read into a movie! Just saw The Hunger Games trailer and I cannot WAIT until March!! Well off to start HP #2!

A race against time...

So I started reading The Hunger Games series on my way here and finally decided I needed to finish it! I was just starting book two 3 days ago and finished the 3rd book tonight! Never read so fast in my life, those books just drag me in! Seeing as I know how quickly I can read now when interested I have decided to try and read All 7 Harry Potter books before I return home...which is in 35 days! I will keep you posted on how it's coming along :) The first 3 shouldn't be to hard to get through because they are all short...however the next 2 and the last one are very long. Well here goes nothing!

More thank-fulls!

9th- I am thankful for my friends! I have THE greatest bestest friends in the entire world, no one else's can compare :) We have been through the best and worst times with each other and I will always be so grateful for having them in my life! LOVE YOU ALL!

10th- I am thankful for my parents. I know I do not tell them enough, but I look up to them in so many ways and I am so thankful to be their daughter. Especially now when I am so far away from them, I have been grateful everyday to be able to talk with them over skype. They are the greatest parents and I hope to be more like them when I am older.

11th- Before I left for China, I have this heat pack I carry around everywhere when I am cold, sick, etc. Anyone who knows me can attest that they have seen me literally carry it around. Alas, it weighs a ton so I wasn't able to bring it :( I am so thankful for that old bag of rice! I am so cold without it!

12th- I am so thankful to have a car! I drove around all day today on 3 different buses to get where I needed to go. You always take a bus and it takes so long to get anywhere, I am just grateful I have my own car to get me where I need to go!

Weihai Frame

Well today we went out on a day long adventure! We got up and made muffins for breakfast and then got on the bus and rode it over to the Happiness Gate which is this giant building shaped like an upside down U. All along this park you are right next to the ocean and there is a huge long park with lots of crazy statues and exercise parks. We walked for probably 3 hours before we finally got to the frame. It is a gigantic metal frame that has two huge hands holding it on either side. After we hung out there for a while we went to McDonalds for Dinner and then headed home. Now we are having a girls night...which it always is because we have 19 girls here and 2 boys haha...but we hand girl chats, princess movies, and make overs :) Off to watch Harry Potter 7 part 2!! I ♥ this movie!

6th- I am SO thankful for heaters! They won't turn on the heat here at our school until...go figure...the week we leave! Here's to buying more fleecy blankets!

7th- I am thankful for my students today who kept saying they had to tell me a secret but when I bent down, I got kisses on the cheek today, it was very sweet, makes me even more excited to finish my major!

8th- Today I am very thankful we have running water...that is drinkable! We have to carry 25 lb water jugs up 300 stairs to have drinkable water. I shall never take my sink for granted again!

30 Days of Thankfuls

So I am doing Thankful November...Each day of November you write down something you are Thankful for that happened that day, great idea seeing as I should do this, living in China makes you VERY thankful for everything you have back at home. I'm a bit behind so I'll do 5 today!

I am Thankful For...
1-The internet, so I have been able to stay in touch with my family and friends back home!
2-Running water! Ours was turned off the other day!
3-A healthy body. I have started running again and I had to stop due to shin splints and I miss it!
4-Having 3 meals a day to eat, even if it is rice.

And for today!

5-Today it was down pour rain and I was very thankful for my umbrella and warm blankets!

Remember, Remember, the 5th of November.

Well I haven't updated this in quite a while...not really because I keep forgetting, mostly because nothing very eventful has happened. A few very random things have happened so I suppose I shall list them off for your entertainment :)

1. The people in China LOVE their Celine Dion and Justin Bieber. We were on the bus coming home from big world market the other day and we are sitting behind this lady, she turns around and says hello and asks for our names. Cami and I were listening to my iPod, and then she proceeds to ask if we know the "My heart goes on" song, at first we were like what is this lady talkin' about! Then she asked again "You know my heart goes on song? from movie?" We then realized she must be talking about My heart will go on from Titanic and asked if that is what she meant and she says "Yes, yes, I very much like that song, you have it?" as she points to my iPod.  I said yeah I have it on here. (I knew as soon as I said that it was a mistake) She then proceeds to say "You sing for me?" Haha right now, here, on the bus, you want us to sing this song for you??? Lady I think you are loosin it! Now I didn't really say all that but it was most definitely going through my head at the time. She says "Yes Yes you sing for me right now" (Ooookay lady, you asked for it) So yes, we 6 white Americans proceeded to belt out Celine Dion's My Heart Will Go On, on a public bus, to a bunch of Chinese people. Some smiled at us, some laughed (I would of too if the situation was reversed), some older women looked down right shocked! After we sang that song, the lady liked it so much she assumed we were taking requests! Justin Bieber was next on her list, she wanted to hear Baby...so once again we sang, and rapped, to Justin Bieber's Baby....Thankfully her stop was next, I really think we were starting to scare some folks on the bus.

2. We decided to watch a scary movie tonight in my room...not really a scary one, just Disturbia, but afterwards Cami started telling these scary stories, and as we all know I love a good scary tale so I found a website that told stories about all the haunted places in Utah and we read them out loud to each other! As I am typing this Cami is now sleeping on the floor in Kate and I's room...she was too scared to get out of her little cushion bed. Anyways, she wanted a pillow from in our porch area and our curtains were closed and the door was locked, but the window was open, as she got up to get the pillows a breeze blew and made the curtains move....I thought I was gonna have to clean up an accident off my bedroom floor she was so freaked out! We are now playing Disney music softly so she can fall asleep :)

3. There is this place called The Dumpling Place...actually it is probably not really called that, but that is what we call it :) Benefits of not being able to read anything in Chinese...You get to rename everything yourself!! Can be very very fun. Anyways, this little restaurant has Gua Bao Row, it's like orange chicken from Panda only it's sweeter and it's pork not chicken, but it is THE greatest tasting food I have had since coming to China. In fact we get it so often that the second the 18yr old boy who works there see's me or kate, he says "Lionga Gau Bao Row, Da Bao?" and I say "SHI!" (translation: 2 orders of sweet pork, to go) He knows our order! I have always wanted to be such a regular somewhere that I don't even have to order, they just know what to get me :)

Before I moved to China, I used to always watch the movie V for Vendetta on the 5th of November but I couldn't find a copy of it anywhere to watch today...very disappointed. That is all the random moments I can think of right now so I'm off!

We came, We saw, We....woah, double take...

In all the wandering around China we all do, we come across many things a day were you have to do a double take because you're not quite sure what you just saw. Was it your imagination? a mirage?...nope it is very much real. So I will say it again...Welcome To China

10 oddest things we have seen since moving to China

1. Babies wear no diapers and their pants have the bum cut out of them so the little bare bums are always sticking out...no diapers...your questions were the same as ours! Where do they go to the bathroom?! The parents hold the kid in a odd position with their little bottoms inside the public trash cans ** Note to Self: Never touch the tops of said trash cans!**
2. I think the Chinese don't think American's eat because every time we eat anything around the Chinese in public they look at us like they have never seen a white person eat food before. You can imagine the looks we get when 10 American's are eating at McDonald's, doesn't get more cliche than that!
3. When waiting in a line, do not worrying if suddenly there are 3 new Chinese people shoved between you and the guy in front of you. They don't believe in lines in this country, if there is room for a small child, 5 people will appear.
4.This one ties in with #3. "There is always room for 1 more"...a philosophy the Chinese live by...You thought the subway was crowded on the 3rd stop, just wait till the 10th!
5. When ever cars, trucks, or even scooters drive by they have to honk at us...as if to say "hey look! an American!" You would think after 2 months they'd be used to us being here, but no. I am thinking of getting a shirt made that says "Yes I know I am white, no need to honk!"
6. If the only word someone knows in English is "Hello" you can be sure they have driven all over Weihai to find us to use that word, but as soon as we say hello back they run away as if they are afraid of us.
7. Don't be hatin' on the Ping Pong...very serious stuff that ping pong in China.
8. Most things in China say "Made in Japan or Taiwan"
9. Being healthy is very important to the Chinese, advertised everywhere! Exercise parks, gym class for kids, walking/running everywhere, no elevators or escalators, small portions of food....and yet EVERYONE smokes cigarettes...
10. When walking down the side walk, if you have the urge to pick up a rock and throw it in the road just make sure it isn't brown...because that ain't a rock. The word "sidewalk" in Chinese means toilet, my translation dictionary must have been wrong.

LET THE COUNTDOWN BEGIN!

As of tomorrow morning my new life in China is half over. In 62 days I get to come home!!! Not a whole lot has been happening since we came home from Shanghai, this is the long haul though. The longest time we will continuously be here in Weihai without a vacation. It has gone by relatively fast. We were told last week that due to unhappy parents on parents day we would be switching all of our students for the next 2 weeks. So the downstairs kids are who we teach these next 2 weeks and our kids go downstairs with other teachers. It is really dumb actually seeing as ILP drilled into us that routine with these kids is EVERYTHING, and now the school is ruining the last 7 weeks we've had them in a set routine by switching the to another room, another teacher, another routine. I am just praying they remember their REAL routine when they come back in 2 weeks. It was very cute today though, I had to walk my new kids down to the main floor to go to lunch and after they left my real group of kids came running down the stairs all excited to see me and they all are giving me a group hug and it almost knocked me over! There are still the select few kids who still have to walk by and smack me as they leave...just to remind me they are still not little angels. When we came home from Shanghai a bunch of us decided to go running with each other every night and thought it would be fun to call it "Biggest Loser-Weihai" so now every night you can choose from running a 7pm, Jillian Michael's 30-day shred  at 8pm, or Zumba at 9pm. It is pretty crazy and funny :) I have run 2 miles everyday thus far! HUZZAH! haha haven't run that far in a very very very....very very long time. Kate and I were doing P90X, but seeing as we have to climb like 300+ stairs ever day we decided to quit because walking is very necessary here and after 2 weeks of P90X you don't walk anymore, you waddle. Well we received packages from home a few days ago! Thank you to all who helped get them here and to our parents! We love you guys and appreciate the treats you sent! My sister got 2 bottles of vitamin C...If any of you have seen the TV show "House" then you will know Dr. House walks around and pops one or two Vicodin every hour...that was Abi with her bottle of vitamin C alllll weekend. Today is definitely a nap day! Love me some afternoon naps!

Mid-Vacation post

Well we have been in Shanghai for a total of 5 days now and we are all loving being able to relax and just do anything we want! We have hit up quite a few tourist-y things such as

The Shanghai History Museum
Nanjing Street (expensive shopping district)
Peoples Square Civilized Gardens
Hershey's World
Shanghai Art Museum
A very big, cheap, shopping market.
Shanghai Acrobatics Show

They have all been very interesting and fun. We hit up a new favorite food place here in Shanghai and they even have a branch in WeiHai! It is a Muslim Noodle restaurant. They are homemade and fresh noodles, made right there in front of you, and they taste so good! Pretty sure we can just walk in the shop and they already know our orders, that's how often we go. The greatest part is...it only costs $1.50! For a big plate of it!! Aside from doing all sorts of tourist like things we have been just hanging out here at our hostel. I have never stayed in a place like a hostel before and it has been a great experience so far. We have met quite a few new friends in the past five days and were sad to see them go this morning! Kate, Cami, and I have an extra bunk in our room so we have been having lots of random room mates all week. Our first was a girl from Poland, whose name was also Kate, she is living in the Northern most city in China teaching English! Crazy how that worked out. We didn't really see her much though because she came with a group of friends but she was fun to talk with. Our second and current roomie is Linley, she is an older lady who in from New Zeland. She has been in China for almost 8 months now....teaching English to 1st graders! It is fun to hear the stories of what she has and doesn't have at her school and how she teaches compared to us. Although last night I think she woke up every hour to ask me if I was hearing that noise or this noise or telling me she thought we had a mouse in our air conditioning unit and then turned on the light and made me get up and turn it off! Ah! I really hope she sleeps all night because I do not want to be up all night again telling her that the noises are not mice or gun shots. So we found a old guy who sells DVD's and the greatest chocolate ice cream bars just down the street from our hostel. I got all the seasons of the tv show House for $8!! So excited to start watching them! Today we hit up the fashion markets and bartered for all kinds of stuff. I got a pair of real UGGs (boots) from Australia for $16. These originally cost $148 in the states!! It was a steal! I may go back tomorrow and get the pink pair too :) I also got a bunch of stuff for gift but I won't mention those on here ;) Well we are going on a water village boat tour tomorrow morning bright and early so it'll be exciting!

Shanghai

We arrived late yesterday afternoon in Shanghai! We are staying in the City Central International Hostel and it is way nice! Our room is good sized with 2 bunk beds in it, 4 beds total, and has all amenities. There is a common room down stairs where we can access the wi-fi and it is like a common room. Open bar and just a large room with couches and tables/chairs. The bar has got drinks obviously but the best part is the cheap food!! It is all western style! Like pasta, lasagna, french toast, pancakes, soups, salads, sandwich's, onion rings, garlic bread, etc!! So many good american foods! Free breakfast with our stay here...toast with jam, rolls, cereal, oatmeal, juice :) It is going to be a glorious 8 days!! We met a lot of cool people thus far, met some scottish guys last night that we talked to forever, they teach English here in Shanghai. Also we met a guy who has been traveling since February all over the world, he is from Great Britan and his name is Matt!

VACA!!!

So today was our last day of teaching for 9 whole days!!! This next week is a national holiday in China, kinda like the 4th of July in the States or 1st of July in Canada...so no kids!! We are leaving on a plane tomorrow afternoon at 1:30pm for Shanghai and will not be returning until Sunday the 9th. Very happy to be spending a relaxing vacation with new friends. Tonight we went to dinner at a Muslim restaurant, the noodles tasted very good but they were extremely spicy, like every other food in this country! So i went back over to the dumpling place we ate at a few weeks ago and got take out. I ordered Chinese take out...in China...in Chinese!! I got the Gua Bau Row or sweet pork :) It tastes like orange chicken from panda express! So so so yummy. Well tonight my head teacher Cami wanted to watch a scary movie, so we did, haha she wanted to see When A Stranger Calls because it isn't too scary, but I am now having to walk her down the hall to and from her room. It is pretty funny. After indulging in everything that is sweet in China and watching 2 movies I am feeling rather sick to my stomach and ready for bed. Going to sleep in tomorrow and then pack for VACATION!!!

1 month down!..well almost :)

Well we have officially been here in China for almost an entire month! It will be one month officially on Sunday. Not to much has happened from getting back from Beijing. We still wake up each morning and go teach our crazy little kids. They are getting a little bit more behaved...I think, it could simply be that we are used to the bad behavior so it's not so bad anymore but either way we now get hugs at the end out class, and sometimes more than once during class, it's very cute. I caught a cold this week, which is strange for me seeing as I hardly ever get them at home in the states, but then again from what I hear it is part of being a teacher. I must say though that the children here are far less clean than the ones at home...trying to get them to wash their hands after using the bathroom and when I hold up soap they look at me like they aren't really sure what I want them to do with it. Oh well, WTC. This is an acronym we came up with since being here, it stands for "Welcome To China". We generally say it whenever something bad, weird, really gross, or wrong happens, which is daily. We have gotten some exploring of the city in this week, Kate and I, not by choice. You see while trying to find a bus on Friday we got lost for about 3 hours and finally found a taxi driver who knew the school. Then today we were not feeling like eating rice for dinner so we hit up McDonald's :) totally worth the 35 minute bus ride...although once again we tried to find a bus home and ended up walking about 3 miles before we were actually able to find the bus that would take us home! I have never walked so much in my life as I have in the past month. We asked Kelli (our native director) why the Chinese have stairs EVERYWHERE! She says that stairs in China mean empowerment, so you are empowered when you can climb stairs...again WTC :) We have our 10 day long vacation coming up that we have begun planning, we are going to Yangshuo and Guilin, they are in southeastern China, quite a ways away **drum roll please** it's a 30 hour bus ride. Yeah, NOT so excited about that part but hey we get to spend an entire week in a gorgeous part of China, NOT being dragged around by a tour guide who doesn't understand us, and we get a week of no teaching! Going to be a great week. We booked our hotel, it's actaully an Inn but it looked very clean and nice and we have an 8-bed private suite so 6 of us get the entire room to ourselves, for the whole week and it is only is costing us $40, for the entire week. I wish hotels in the states were that cheap!! That's all for now, I have to go to bed, it's almost 1AM here, but I had a 4 hour nap today so thats why I'm not so tired :) WTC!