Another day in China...

I taught my real kids!I was really excited to finally have my own kids and have my own rules and have a routine and everything! We have 2 rotations, the first is primary level (these kids have never done ILP before) and it's from 7:50 to 9:50. and then the 2nd block is from 9:50 to 11:50 with students who have only been with ILP for one year. The first rotation went really good!The kids are adorable!,They actually listen and participate and want to learn! We got to give English names to these kids. I was kind of sad because I was so rushed in naming them that I forgot to name one Jamal... :( but i guess that's good for the kid?? lol I named one after Peter, and he is soo sweet! he's definitely the cutest little Chinese boy ever! The second rotation went good too. We are supposed to be very strict the first couple weeks so they wont walk all over us like the other hellions did!I think I'm going to like teaching only in the morning.It will be super nice to be able to go into town and leave earlier when we travel.

We are going to the temple this Saturday! it has stopped raining finally, so it's a for sure thing that were going! i will take lots of pictures:)

So Sarah and I went back to our favorite noodle place, and we were sitting at our table when all of a sudden, this grungy old man comes up to the lady who took our order and starts yelling, and shaking his cigarette (eVeRy OnE here smokes...its annoying) in her face and just pointing and yelling in Chinese. Everyone in the store stops what they are doing and just stares! now this is all taking place about 5 feet from our table!! we didn't know what to do, or what he was saying, so like everyone else, we just stared. Then, out of no where, the "mama cook" lady comes out and she starts yelling at HIM in Chinese, and is pushing him away from her! she shoves this old man away, but he kept coming back. he would not leave this poor girl alone, who was now in tears. Now she starts whipping him with her towel...I was freaking out by this point. she is whacking this old drunk man! finally some other kid grabs his arm and takes him away..but it was just crazy! We had no idea what any of it was about..

Another scary thing that happened to us was when we went down town. Our whole group had to go to another school to watch our head teachers teach a lesson, but after that we all went down town, to the night market. it was crazy there! they just line the streets with little shops everywhere. they sell the most random things too,it's pretty sweet. well we were shopping and just kinda looking around, when everyone decided they wanted to go home, but 6 of us wanted to shop still, so we stayed and was going to take the 30 city bus back to the school at 8. so we shopped and shopped, I found the cutest skirt ever!!I cant wait to wear it..and then we went to dinner. ohh my! i didn't realize how good the food was here?!? i had some fried rice that made panda express taste like poop! Mmmmm:) well after dinner we went to the bus stop and waited..and waited...and waited some more..and waited. it was now about 8:20 and we had no idea what to do. it was dark outside now and everyone was shooting off fire crackers? (we found out later it was because they were celebrating something about the moon? if a store shoots of fireworks they believe there business will do better?) so we decided to see if anyone could help us, and lo and behold, Jimmy. he spoke pretty good English and he asked people around us if they knew which bus to take, after giving him the schools address. well he told us to get on bus 15..so, we did! we stayed on that bus for the 40 minutes it takes to get back home. if the maximum occupancy was 50 people, we broke the rules by at least 3 times that many people. so with me standing squished, an armpit in my face, and the bus driver texting, i thought to myself I'm never making it home alive to see my family. i cant remember a time where Ive been more scared in my life! and to make matters worse, Jimmy wouldn't stop following us. he wanted to make sure we got to the school safely...i wanted to run away as fast as i could but my feet hurt to bad from shopping to much! so, i stayed with the other 5 girls. we made it to the school finally, and thankfully, my friends the guards, wouldn't let jimmy in! i was saved and so happy to finally know where i was at. me and Sarah sat on our schools steps for about 20 min just watching fireworks, i was finally able to take a deep breath.

Tonight i had dumplings! they really weren't That bad...except now my stomach kinda hurts. i thought they were going to come alive. they look like aliens...like those pot sticker thingys! i also bought 2 long sleeved shirts. I'm preparing for this winter that is coming...i hope i don't freeze.
Bye for now

Finally some answers

On Sunday, we were going to skype into the branch in Beijing, but the connection wouldn't work for some reason, so we had our own sacrament meeting. We just had some people share some thoughts and favorite scriptures, I
really enjoyed it, I felt the spirit strongly. It's always an interesting experience having church when its not in a normal setting.

I'm not really sure whats going on with the itching, but last night I broke out in hives pretty bad..luckily Matt had some cream stuff to put on it that made it better.

I finally got my schedule for teaching!! I will teach the little kindergartners! I'm in charge of arts and crafts for 2 weeks. I start Wednesday and I'll teach from 7:50 to 9:50! I'll switch off from that time and 9:50 to 11:50. I'm pretty excited cause I'll get to name them, and I get to stay at this school. A lot of the other teachers have to go to other schools. which is like a 40 min drive..so I'm pretty excited!

We went to the beach today and it was a lot of fun! The water was kind of cold but not to bad! The beach was pretty nice, everyone stared at us, like always, and they video taped us playing down by the banks. The whole group went, and we got to meet Kelly's fiance! she getting married in October? So we'll be here for the wedding! i hope were invited..it would be sweet to go to a Chinese wedding!

After the beach we all went to this really nice restaurant and it was really cool, cause they just had a hot plate in the middle of the table and they brought out a bowl of broth with lots of herbs and spices, and then they brought out plates of raw meet noodles and veggies and tofu and lots of other things, and we would put them inside this dish and it would cook it all super fast! It was the first time that I've actually been full here. The food was soo good:)

Tomorrow we are finally going to go to the night market! I'm really excited. I budgeted my money to try to make it so that I won't take out any more money...we will see how it goes! Ii can spend 400 yuan a week. which is a lot here so i think it will even out when Ii go on trips and such! Dad would be so proud that I'm managing my money wisely!

We also found out when our vacations are!The first 3 day weekend is September 17th, and then we have a week long break October 1st, and then another 3 day break in November sometime! Everyone has started planning what they want do. I just want to buy some cute cheap jeans!! I'm so good at bartering now,everyone makes me buy things for them.I got Sarah a swimsuit for 25 yuan cheaper! boo yah! haha I'm lovin this here. I want to come back with peter sometime.

Shopping

So yesterday i didn't get to go to the temple because it was raining, so me and Sarah went on our own little adventure!! We found this amazing noodle place!! They were amazing...like it was better than panda. if only they had orange chicken...but they had beef in it? and it was really good! we made friends with the people who worked there. they laughed at us as we tried to order in Chinese, and act out certain things that we wanted. I'm surprised at how nice everyone is..like no one tries ripping us off (well at least what we know of..) and they all try to help and understand us. its awesome. we are going back to the noddle place at least once a week...! it was kinda funny cause everyone stares, and Sarah went up to get a box to put our food in, and I'm sitting alone at the table and some guy come up to me and he says "hello" in his thick accent, and he says something in Chinese, and then points to his phone...and tries handing it to me. like he wanted my number? i was like uhm i don't have a phone! sorry, and then i showed that ring on my finger and he kept trying to hand it to me anyways and so we said sorry and left...crazy Chinese people!

we also got our nails done, and the ladies who did it were soo nice! we used there computer to go to a translating site and we would type messages in and they would read it in Chinese. it was awesome! we asked them where good shopping was and they wrote down on a piece of paper the name of it in chinese so we could give it to the taxi driver! and they also gave us one so we could come back! we left them a huge tip for helping us and they said to come back cause they liked us. i have to admit i was a little paranoid that they wrote down a wrong address and we were gonna get stolen or something, but no worries, it was right!!

Shopping was soo much fun! i found some jeans, a shirt, and some shoes! i even got to practice my bartering skills...it was exciting! i tried one this one shirt and it was really cute but i didn't want to spend that much, so i said no and she lowered the price, and then i gave her a price and she was like no no! so i walked out and she followed me out of the store with a lower price! haha it was really funny, she really wanted me to buy that shirt. Its funny because these stores are so little so when you try them on the hold up a sheet in the corner of the store and you just get undressed! it's crazy..everyone wanted us to come in there store. we met a lot of friends there.

i calculated it out to see how much i spent and it was only 50$ in U.S. money..which i thought was really good! i bought food, ice cream (yes, i actually found IcE cReAm!!!!) the taxi, jeans, a shirt, shoes, and got my nails done. that would have been an impossible feat in mesa...! i was super excited:)


so I've been itching really bad lately, and i have bumps all over my body...someone said they think i might have bed bugs...I'm really nervous about that, i hope it's not true...i would cry...

we made our cake last night too!! we bought a pan and everything but then realized once we got home that it wouldn't fit in the microwave..lol so we used a Tupperware dish and put the cake batter in it! we had to do that like 5 times and we still have left over cake mix. it was sooo good tho...maybe i wont need those top ramon after all!! haha I'll just be like Kami and Jami and eat cake!

i don't know when my first vacation is? and i get my kids Wednesday or Thursday of this week. my first break probably wont be till the end of September? I'm not really sure!

oh i found a jacket that is really cute but it's not that warm...i need to keep looking for one. i love you and miss you!

You just have to laugh.,..or cry

So picture this- It's raining outside, cold dark and damp. Everything is moist, your clothes, the walls, and the floors. You climb the the 3 flights of stairs, huffing and puffing, and when you finally reach the level ground you barely catch yourself from falling on the slippery floor! the entire cafeteria is a massive water puddle. So, without thinking you start running as fast as you can without slipping, and then thinking your super cool, you skid across the room and come to an abrupt stop, because you have fallen, HARD, on your left knee, banging it on the cafeteria floor! Embarrassed, wet, and in pain, you sit there and join in with everyone around you that is laughing- That is what happened to me knee. ha ha sorry for the random story mode, i just felt like it needed to be done!

We didn't have the chance to go to the Temple today because of all the rain. so me and sarah went into town to get grocery's. my first experience grocery shopping! I'm just full of new experiences here. we got eggs, pans, and oil for our cakes! Question-is vegetable oil the same as corn oil? we couldn't find anything except corn, peanut, and fish oil? eww! Anyways, after that we came home to find that everyone had left us to go to the main street. we talked to our head teacher Lauren and told her we'd be back, but no.

I'm in a routine...

I go to bed at around 9 or 9:30 every night, and I wake up at 6... it's crazy, this never happens! like I've never felt this good before. It's crazy! I walk everywhere and I'm getting excessive everyday and I'm not eating fast food junk and other stuff so Ii just feel good. I want to keep this up when i get home! ?

The time difference is 15 hours. I taught today for the first time! I was so nervous, but it went really good! I taught arts and crafts and we made tambourine things and they loved it! Ii was super nervous cause this one kid named Kevin was really bad for Sarah, like he would hit himself on the head non-stop and run around the room and she said he climbed in a cupboard and wouldn't get out! hahaha. So I was nervous, so when he came in my class he ran to a corner and started hitting himself but a teacher came in and talked to him and I guess he was just really bad because his feelings were hurt so I had to talk to him the most and let him do things first and once I did that he was so good! He is really smart. All the little girls loved me!They wanted me to sit with them, and one time I was sitting on the ground, and white powder stuff got on my dress and the girls on either side of me started to wipe it off and so I stood up and it was all over my bum, and so one girl went and got a Kleenex and wiped it off for me. it was so cute!

I like a lot of the people in my group, they are all pretty cool. We normally hang out with Matt, Branden, Aaron, and Kayla. they are all fun! We also met this Chinese guy who always talks to me and Sarah in the lunch and dinner line. He always is so nervous to talk in English but he likes to practice. It was funny cause the second time we saw him we waved hi and he was so shocked that we remembered him! He was like "you beat my expectations that you remembered me!" it was funny. we couldn't remember his name so we named him Tony. i think he's like 21? but he looks 16.

funny

This is of me and Sarah riding in our rabbit! (taxi) i was so scared to get in it but its the best thing ever! After walking 15 minutes to the market and then walking for a couple hours, its nice to just get home fast. Its only 4 yuan, which is like 50 cents!















This is just a picture of the crosswalk sign, we thought it was funny cause the pic looks like they are running across the street, instead of walking...which is funny because pedestrians really do have to run, the cars will just run you over if you don't move! it's crazy!

Some Pictures fo the trip so far...

This is looking over the school from Leslie's dorm room















Looking out the other side of the room.















This is food that Leslie got on the bus! She wasn't sure what it all was.















This is Leslie's first squatter she used! We are so proud!















Eating at the mall, she doesn't know what it was but it was good!















Leslie's room. The day they arrived.















The mall (like Wal-mart) is walking distance.

The Long Ride....swollen feet

Traveling here was very long. i thought the day would never end! after the first 2 hour plane ride, we slept in the airport for like 3 hours until our next flight left. but then we realized we didn't have our boarding pass, so we had to hurry and find our terminal and get our pass, and check through the line in an hour. i was freaking out that we wouldn't make it. Nobody would really help us either! by the time we figured everything out we barley made it onto the flight! that flight was about 11 hours? then we made it to Korea and the next flight was 3 hours. THEN, we got onto the bus for another 13 hour drive to Weihai...it was the longest day of my life! we got to our school and unpacked then went to lunch. everyone stared and smiled at us. the food was alright? we had to order in Chinese to the people so Kelly, out Chinese helper told me how to say noodles. it was Wei-fan? or something like that! and they really weren't that bad. after lunch we went back and i showered in my bathroom, with freezing water. it was THE best experience so far. i was so excited to finally get clean and wash my hair.
Then we went into the town to the police station and they took our pics. then we went shopping!!! we walked down this shabby old street and walked into the supermarket and walked into this HUGE mall type thing? like a Wal-mart, but a mall. it was crazy.
it was crazy how everyone just stares at us and waves, i feel like a movie star! someone even took a pic of us as we were walking through the store..kinda creepy! lol i really do like this town tho, it's pretty cute.
my feet and back and everything else is so exhausted. we walk everywhere and there are tons ot stairs, i couldn't make it up the 4 flights of stairs with my suitcases, i almost broke down in tears after tripping and dropping my suitcase halfway up the flight and watching it fall all the way back down. whats even worse is that it's been raining non-stop since we got here. Maybe i should have listened to you and got a poncho...lol