Guilin Trip and pictures of Xian trip

This Vacation was such a great experience for me! It was so much fun, and I definitely have good stories from this trip. I think over all it was good, even though some parts weren't what I wanted, and just crazy. The Xian trip wasn't my favorite just cause of how crowded it was, and so when we got to Guilin, it was so nice! i love it there. it reminded me of being in the states? it felt like i was walking down California or something?? except 10 times more beautiful. and there weren't many people there. It was nice too cause we just relaxed the whole time in Guilin. Me and Sarah have been hanging out with "the Cousins" their names are Hannah, Danny, Kristi, and Lacy. These girls are so much fun! These girls are my favorite! I'm going to miss them so much when we leave.

We went to the mud caves/hot springs in Yangshou which was so much fun! we got all muddy and then sat in the hot springs! it was sweet tho cause we went on a raft ride through the Dr. Seuss mountains for about an hour and a half, it was gorgeous! it didn't even seem real, i felt like i should be watching the scene from a movie or something! I just sat back and enjoyed the ride. after that we crawled onto this little van thing and it took us on a ride through a little town with farms and little shack houses which was beautiful as well, that led to a bus ride to a bike shop where we rented tandem bicycles and rode to the mud caves! haha it was so much fun. they were a lot harder than it looks...! The funny thing about this trip was that Sarah and i had to carry our luggage around with us that whole time! hahaha cause the guy told us at the hostel we would be able to lock our luggage up in another hostel (because we were planning on staying in yangshou instead of going back to Gulin) but no..they didn't let us put it anywhere till after the raft and van ride and bus ride! The bike guy finally let us leave it somewhere...I'm not really sure where it was either?? but everything turned out good.

When we got to Yangshou we only had like half a day so we just walked around our little area and then got on a van to drive to the airport. I thought we were going home the next day, but no. plans changed, like they always do in china, we flew to Shanghai and got there around 12:30 am. well after a long debate, we decided to get a hotel instead of sleeping in the airport. so we hoped in a taxi and took off. but, our taxi drivers were ridiculous! they tried to take us half way across shanghai to a hotel so that it would cost more. we passed like 12 hotels and i kept yelling at the taxi man to pull over but he wouldn't! he just kept driving and he started laughing! when he finally pulled over we called someone to translate for us and told him to take us back the other way to a closer hotel. when we finally got to a hotel, the taxi ride ended up costing 200 yuan. i was so mad cause we were all stressed and it was late at night and i didn't have that money to just give to a rude taxi man! And to make things worse the hotel was not cheap. we asked a guy in the airport how much a room would be and he said about 200 yuan a night, and there was 6 of us so we decided it wouldn't be that much to split it. but no. this hotel cost 660 yuan a night! but there was nothing we could do at this point. The guy wasn't even going to let us have 6 people in a 2 person room but we literally begged him cause we had no where else to go. Everyone that night was just falling apart. Sarah had broken down crying in the taxi, i was yelling at the man to stop laughing and everyone was exhausted. The beds were tiny too. me and Sarah shared, Emily and Kayla shared a bed, and Matt and Braden slept on the floor. it was ridiculous! but it was nice to get some sleep.

This trip was really a testimony builder. It made me realize how much heavenly father loves me and to know for a fact that i was being looked out for. Every time something went wrong and i didn't think we were going to find a way to stay somewhere or have enough money, it all worked out. i was scared because after all the money i had to spend on he taxi and hotel i wasn't going to have enough for the bus ticket home. and i prayed that i would be fine and that the ticket would be less expensive or something. and when we got to the place it turned out to be more. it was 322 instead of 278. i wanted to cry cause i literally had no money left and there wasn't' an ATM, but i reached in my pocket for something and in it was another 80 yuan, which was perfect for the ticket and lunch. i don't even remember putting that money in there. That wasn't the only time i was being watched over either. i never knew where i was going and what i was doing, but somehow we always found our way. we always took the right turn or asked the right people. This trip has defiantly strengthened my testimony. I haven't ever once felt afraid here.

Pictures of Xian Trip-

Just when you think things can't get worse. lol

All I can say about Xian is wow! This was definitely
the craziest vacation! I've been thinking to myself,
how am I am even still alive!? Haha so we wake up
early to go to the Terra-Cotta warriors. We had to
take a bus there so we went to stand in line and it
was PACKED!! Like the line curved every which way,
it was like a Disneyland ride line on crack...ridiculous!
Well we were standing there and all of a sudden the
people went crazy! They all started running towards
the bus so, we all run to! Everyone was packed in so
tightly in this line. I've never been so close to am
Asian before...! I really think that if I would have
picked up my feet, I would have been able to stay in
the same position it was that squished! Well, this
angry Chinese man by me started yelling and shoving
his way through everyone. When he got to me he grabs
my side with his long nasty fingernails and pulls me
back and scratches my whole side! I thought I was going
down but Sarah saved me! The whole thing was just
ridiculous! When we finally got to the terra-cotta
warriors, it was the same thing! There were just so 
many people there and we had to wait in lines for
everything. So I actually got to see the warriors
for a total of 7 min. I got a couple pics, nothing
to exciting! So after that whole adventure we still
had to find a bus ride back to our hostel...we waited
for an hour crammed pack in the same. I was literally
on top of Amanda (my head teacher) the whole time. I
helped a deaf Chinese woman find her lover when they
got separated tho which was cool. One of the girls
in my group Ellyisa started like convulsing and crying
because she was so stressed out about being in this
line for an hour...it was bad. We couldn't do anything
either! And when we finally got to he bus it took 4
hours to get home because the traffic was Terrible!
We were stopped on the road forever.  We even had
to switch buses for some reason?? Oh my gosh it was
seriously like the worst vacation day ever!! Here's
a word of advice, don't ever go to Xian! I'm hoping
that tomorrow after our 27 hour bus ride to Guilin,
we will be able to relax and have a good vacation!
Were planning on going to some mud caves and a zoo
and just see some pretty scenery! I'm crossing my fingers!

The Xian Experience

So we finally made it to Xian After the 24 hour
bus ride here. It was definitely not as cool as
the last bus that we took! The squatter was broken,
and therefore clogged! It was soon over flowing
and splashed when the bus shook... Que asco!  It
was interesting too when we would stop and pick
up random people off the road... they would sleep
in the isles of the sleepers, which was crazy because
the isles were so small. I don't know how they did it.
We made it to the hostel of most our group. But when
the last 6 of us tried to get in it was booked, so we
were trying to either find our hostel by ourselves..
It was pretty interesting! We couldn't find a cab so
we got into this car thing..I don't think it should
even be cAlLeD a car...it was a motorized  tin box...
Lol it was soo funny tho! Only 3 of us could
fit so we sent off the first 3 hoping to find another.
But, before we had time to look, the other tin cab
came back with another empty one following right behind!
He had gone and gotten his friend for us. We were bustin
up about the whole thing!  And then, the first tin cab
died!!! So we turned around and started pushing it
with ours. I thought we were going to push it the
whole way, but I  guess it just needed a little jump
start. I thought that I loved those tin cabs! Until we
found our hostel and they wanted us to pay 100 yuan
for each cab! Sarah and the driver got into it bad..
she straight up was like "NO" in his grill and so finally
we payed 35 which I thought was reasonable.. We couldn't
believe they wanted to rip us off that much! Oh well.
Well we got to our hostel finally and saw that we have
combined bathrooms and the shower has no divider...yup
I could be showering next to some hairy old nasty china
man...! Hahah I'm just kidding I rather have greasy hair
and smelly armpits! Well other than that my day has been
laid back!

Beijing Trip

This is of me at the Olympic stadium! We rode our bikes
there from the hostel.















Setting on the part of the great wall! It is amazing.










This is Tiananmen Square

Some of my Kids

This is Tom, Panda, and Swimmy. Tom is good when he's not with Tommy...they are devil children when they're together! haha Panda is the chairman son or something like that, he is super smart and knows a lot of English. Every time he sees me he says my name for some reason? haha he is cute. Tom and Swimmy are best friends they are always together! Swimmy keeps him out of trouble. He is the sweetest boy!













This is Mike! he is sooo funny! He causes a lot of trouble too, but you cant ever yell at him, because everything he does is hilarious so i have to try super hard not to smile when i tell him to calm down..these kids are so much fun! they're crazy beyond all reason, but i love them!









This picture i just took of the kids because they were super cute!I don't teach some of these kids so i don't know some of there names, but aren't the adorable?? One of the boys is Josh, Tony and Ringo! (from left to right) these boys are oUT oF cOnTrOl!!! Ringo is my favorite tho...he always wants to help (maybe a little too much) and is so sweet to the other kids. But he is always the one to distract others!! Whenever he sees us at dinner, he will come eat with us. he is so cute! Josh and tony are crazy as well. No one can control Tony, and if josh is alone, he is really

good! he loves to participate in the lessons. These are my Crazy boys!

The pic of all the girls, is my favorite class! they are a handful, but i love them for it! it goes Kitty, Jenna, Mary, Emma, Sarah, Miya, Ralph, and Jamie. Jenna has THE biggest attitude Ive ever seen in a little girl! she definitely knows what she wants and will cry and pout till she gets it! Her and Emma wine about everything!! but when they are happy, they are super funny, and i love them! Kitty and Jamie always want to hold my hand. they are so sweet! they hang on me constantly, and always sit by me when i teach. Sarah and Miya are never apart from each other! Sarah is the leader, and she informed me the other day that unless i brought candy to class that she wasn't going to go to my class anymore! so of course, I did:) no worries, they still love me! Ringo used to be in this class, but we switched him and Ralph, so i haven't really gotten to know him yet. he is pretty quiet in that class of all girls!