12/30/13: You've Been Good, China

MY LAST FULL DAY IN CHINA.

I can’t handle it.

But I held on and stayed strong, I did.

I had to.

Okay enough about guts and glory, ehm, and to my lovely day-

My. Feet. Hurt. So. Much.

I have no idea why. My toes started off, and I think they’re getting blistered as if they haven’t been walked on at all for these last four months [they have never done so much work in their lives and just now they’re beginning to hurt like it here?], and trying to stay off them, now the pads of my foot were hurting. And then with all the pressure off my right foot now my left hurts too. It’s so dramatic and painful and not fun!

So that went all day, not a happy thing, that’s for sure.

All right, so first thing… we chilled around until about nine before heading out. We wandered out to the bakery, where I bought a small [almost half loaf size] of some yellow honeyed bread- with sugared honey or something seeping through the whole thing! Very good! Then we caught the metro into town, towards the People’s Square. We passed through some food areas into the park, which was so lovely! Seriously, these Chinese parks are the best, I love them. They were so peaceful and serene, it was almost ridiculous. I took a lot of pictures, obviously. A few gazebos, lovely trees, a bit of ice over the ponds… perfection in nature!

Then we wandered from there finally, and found that the Urban Planning museum Abby and Greg wanted to check out was closed on Mondays! So stupid! It was ridiculous… so we ended up crossing over the street [through an underpass] and over to the Shanghai museum. We passed all these pigeons, some being totally white and kinda pretty, and wandered inside.

Free! And super cool. There was a Roman section as well, which was definitely random but still thoroughly enjoyable because I love that. It was super neat! We moved on towards the second level where we got Greg hot cocoa because he hadn’t eaten all day and he needed something in his stomach… and hot cocoa counts, so there.

My feet were exhausted, so I stopped to join the elderly people on benches outside the tea/coffee shop while Greg and Abby progressed onto the third and fourth levels. I know, it makes me feel super old and it’ll never change over the next 80 years and all, but… well… I was tired and my feet hurt! Haha. And then I ended up dozing off a bit. The older woman next to me kept glancing over and hopefully it was more of concern than anything creepy or suspicious…

Greg and Abby ended up joining me about a half hour later, finished with that. They had to wake me up and it was, to be honest, a bit embarrassing. But hey, that’s life! I’m amused with it now, haha… And we headed out after that.

We were barely out of the building, back by the pigeons, when we ran into three guys from the CH program! That was pretty cool. We stopped to chat for a few minutes before we went our separate ways and wandered back to the hostel.

Gotta love metro systems!

Anyways, I grabbed dumplings Abby had earlier that day on the street next to ours. They’re baked with meat inside, super juicy, with green onions and sesame seeds outside. They’re a bit pricy, but I really wanted to try them.

It was then that I split with Abby and Greg so they could go together to a restaurant for a nice meal. I took the key card, they turned out, and I continued towards the hostel. On the way I stopped once again at the bakery to look for a hot dog thing because I wanted another before leaving the country. They had a weird thing, kinda like a thick hot dog but only half the sausage, with cabbage and mayo and ketchup. Nor was it warm.

Still, I bought and took my treats with me back to the hostel. I sat down and enjoyed my food- A FREAKING TON- because those were basically some of the best dumplings I’ve ever had in my life and if I could eat them for the rest of my life I really would, I don’t think you understand. I would marry them. And the hot dog thing was weird but okay. And the dumplings were to die for. I would probably kill for them, too. Just saying.

Anyways, I chilled in the hostel for about an hour until Abby and Greg returned. Thence we continued to chill in the hostel together for almost two hours, computers and dozing between, before we finally headed out again.

For shopping!

We’d heard about a few possibilities, so we decided to try them out. We tested line 10 twice, going out to the stops and wandering down a few streets to no avail. It was disappointing, but it was still enjoyable to see the city from different areas and such, I really enjoyed that. Our third attempt made us switch lines to go a little further down line 2, our line, and that was successful! A shopping area basically in the metro station. 

And it was pretty darn big!

And holy crap they tried to rip us off so bad you have no idea.  As in Abby and I wanted “I Heart China” shirts and they tried to do it for like 240 I don’t know about for both or just singular. THE POINT IS we talked them down to 25 [the basic price for non tourists for tourist shirts] each. Seriously, it’s ridiculous. But I refuse to spend more than 25 on a tourist shirt in China.

But I did get more goodies… SORRY KATIE I GAVE IN. We found me a lovely teal robe. I personally think I paid too much, but it was good enough for me. Something else… oh and a really fun gift for my brothers because I’m a super nice person and didn’t think I got them enough gifts and didn’t want to hear them complaining and if they don’t like them then I will light everything on fire [which’ll seem funnier when they find out what they are…], and dance around them like a caveman. Woman. Thing.

We were there for about two hours at least. Reminded me of the big market in Beijing with some of the pestering people but otherwise it was pretty swell!

It was getting late so we finally headed back on the metro to our stop. Just down the street there was a “3 RMB” shop that I wanted to check out- a few last things to get, and everything there was super cheap so I may have gone crazy and spent nearly 40 RMB but hey, it was fun and totally worth it!

I even got the funniest thing for Katie [I think it’s awesome] but I can’t say what it is until she gets it…

After we finally left the shop, we went the other way, away from our Hostel, to Happy Lemon. The funky drink shop with SALTED CHEESE DRINKS and no I still wasn’t brave enough to try them, sorry. If I ever return… I’ll try it. But not until then. Seriously. Too sketchy, haha.

Then, limping, the three of us returned to the hostel.

We went over our goodies, and attempted to repack things. Hopefully everything works out!

And we watched Mulan! Because obviously that’s a must-do in China!

Good night, China. I’m leaving you tomorrow. You’ve been good to me.

12/29/13: Time Differences

There isn’t any real time difference changes around China- it all works on the same time. So it’s dark before six, and still dark at 8 in the morning. It’s just really dark and the day rarely clears up.

Still, it’s a great place even if the lighting sucks!

We all slept for a good while until about 8, until we started getting up and showering and figuring out plans for the day. Abby was able to finally get in contact with some church members who told us where to find a branch to attend church, so we figured we’d do that for the afternoon.

Before that, we needed food so we headed out around 10 to look for food and find something to do. We weren’t too interested in anything in our area, so we ended up taking the metro to the Century Park to look for food there. I got a baked pita bread thing with some green onions on top. The middle was hard and not as good, but otherwise it was decent and super filling because it was round and I think bigger than my face.

We went around to the park there, bought tickets for later, and then headed back to find church. We took the metro to another stop and walked down the street for a little while until we were able to find it. And we did! It was on the second floor of some random building.

A guy told us where to go for Sacrament Meeting, over a little bridge thing into the next park of the building- with super fancy doors! Seriously, its like the entrance to a fancy ball or something. It’s basically a ballroom inside they use for the meetings, seriously. With fancy colorful carpet in flowers and designs, and a stage and nice cushioned chairs and everything…

We crept inside to the seats and sat there to enjoy church in person for the first time in about 4 months or so. To be honest, I did doze a little but that’s because I didn’t sleep too well last night. But the meeting was really nice overall with talks about ‘the most important things’ with chill people. Abby found her stake president there, kinda random, and then I talked with a lovely woman for a few minutes before she wandered off to teach primary or something.

Two men welcomed us in and asked where we came from, what we’re up to, and so on. Very curious people! But very gracious, and they had tips for us about shopping and food and more. It was pretty nice talking to them, and we eventually left.

Back on the metro and we were back to Century Park to wander around! Where we spent the next two-three hours. It was so beautiful! I love the Chinese parks- it’s not so much about geometric art, putting a lot in a tiny amount of space, or distracting people with technology or anything. It’s about freedom and unlimited time and peace. It’s so lovely.

It was kinda fun seeing people with tents, chilling out. All the tiny square storage tents so they don’t stay the night or anything, but they seem to chill in there for most of the day, I suppose? I’m not really too positive on what else the tents would be for otherwise…

Anyways, we did a lot of walking around, which was a bit of a bother because my feet have been hurting still with any pressure on them- well it was just my right foot for the last couple of days but my left foot started aching as well! Not cool! But the park was so peaceful, I just had to keep going. There were some cool bridges, scenery, trees, a bonsai tree garden, and towards the end even a little amusement park!

Abby and Greg did a little wheeling-cart around the little park and I took a few pictures of them. Then the main park was getting ready to close so we ended up heading out, and took the metro back to the hostel.

Relaxation at last! By then it was a bit after five.

Abby and Greg weren’t quite done yet for the day, but unfortunately, I was. So shortly afterwards they grabbed directions and headed out to take a river boat or cruise or something around the harbor- something I would definitely enjoy but my feet are pretty much finished for the night.

So I tried eating all the snacks I have left to munch on so I have some extra space in my backpack, and then watch a movie or something for the evening! Peaceful, restful, and swell. 

12/28/13: Sent to Shanghai

My alarm went off fifteen minutes before six. But I stayed in bed for another five or ten minutes, without any desire to get up. And I was still a bit cold even though I had the heater in my room running all night. Not fun.

Eventually I got up, though, as did Katie. Slowly we pulled ourselves together, pulled on clothes- I had seven layers on my top half body! And tried to fit everything in our bags afterwards. We put a few final things away, double checked everything, and ran out the door!

Still we were running a few minutes late. Darn me for staying in a cozy bed.

Turns out, Nicole wasn’t waiting at the van like usual. We waited a few minutes for her but apparently she was locked inside her apartment because the door wouldn’t open? I guess that kind of thing happens in China- not cool! Thank goodness that never happened to us! But it could, because at the bottom of the apartments, you need a card key to get inside, and you have to push an electronic button to be let out. Bit of a bother, really.

So we had to go on without her! Katie talked to her to make sure we could work things out in the airport all right as we went to pick up Abby and Greg. There we had to rearrange bags again and put a few of them up with us in the seats because we had so much! We all had two carry-ons and a big bag to be checked!

We rode to the airport and arrived in time, thank goodness. We checked out the board with flight schedules, and got in line to put our checked bags to… well, get checked. Katie tried checking her luggage straight home, but they didn’t want that, which is lame. And then of course mine was too heavy! What is with that? Seriously…

But thank goodness, Greg was willing to take a few things off my hands for that flight- and that flight only since I part ways with the couple soon. So he took my big sweats and several DVD’s for me, and that was perfect! Now I just have to work out a better strategy, yikes…

So we got checked through the lines, finally, and made our way down the escalator, found that they switched doors [just across the room], and it was time to be boarding so we went straight on the trolley, nice and crowded tight, over to our plane. Hiking up those stairs to the plane with my heavy carryon suitcase and backpack was definitely not a joyride, and my arms were totally shaking when I heaved that suitcase into the overhead bin. Note to self: find a [hopefully cute] man to help me put it in there next time!

Abby and Greg got lucky, sitting together in Economy Plus, which was pretty neat. Katie and I both got window seats- you got it, both of us. We were in different rows. But it wasn’t a big issue because we fly alone all the time, and we got to do a bit of napping.

Chinese airlines spoil you! I got drinks, as well as a boxed meal. It had a honeyed rice cube thing, a roll with bean paste inside, dried fruit, shortbread cookie and a wet towelet for your face. Super nice, right? That was pretty neat…

I dozed on and off during the flight that lasted less than 3 hours. It was quite pleasant, and I loved the view. I got a good chance to say good bye to Guiyang- it’s so weird to know that I’ll never return. I have no plans to come back to China, and it’s unlikely I’ll ever come back, to be honest. There’s a lot more of the world I want to see. But it was great while it lasted, and I loved it.

We soared above the clouds, and they rolled and calmed like the ocean waves, a majestic view below us in the giant bird. It was incredible to see the sparse clouds from on top of them once again- I always loved that. I really enjoy flying when I’m at the window!

Then we landed!

Shanghai! Right before 11 AM, too, not bad!

We got cleared through, grabbed our luggage [took forever to get to baggage claim, it was ridiculous], and then we stepped out. There we had to part way with Katie!

I was going to be in China for a few days WITHOUT KATIE.

But I was composed, cool, and chill about it. She was going to try and catch a flight into the States and hopefully she caught it- so far today I’ve only gotten one email that said her passport was stamped and she can’t leave the airport now since she’s “not in China anymore.”

So the rest of the time, I was with Abby and Greg! We talked about it a bit and decided to take the ‘Maglev’- the fastest commercial train. It ended up only being a few minutes which was cool but in a way kinda lame you know? But it was still pretty neat. And we got good seats so we could look to the city.

Kind of had a Hong Kong feel, but quieter. That might just be the areas we’ve been in that are talking, but I really like it…

We got off, went down and decided to take the metro to our hostel. Which was a bit tricky and crowded and not too fun to drag our luggage everywhere. Katie’s ticket once didn’t work and let her out so she had to crawl under the bars, and this time Greg had to do it. It would have been funny if we weren’t all tired of dragging our things around. But it was super tricky…

Anyways-  we got out of there all right, but we still had a while to go! We ended up crossing about 5 streets, going down a few blocks… it wasn’t too fun trekking through town like that- and it was a bit chilly! Wearing about 7 layers on top kept my torso and arms good but my legs were chilly!

A few minutes later we finally got to the hostel. We never got lost! I’m always so paranoid about that, no matter who I’m with. But it was perfect, it was swell. We got situated all right in our ‘Family Room.’ I think I had dreamed or something that our bathroom would have mirrors for walls… It came true!

Luckily there’s this super amusing wallpaper screen that takes care of seeing through the two rooms. Other than that, the beds have springs [oh my gosh I’m siiiiiiinkiiiiiiing], and there’s a heater even though it’s weak [WEAK, I tell you!], but it’s all good!

I had just started getting situated [tossing a ton of things on my bed], when we decided we wanted food, so we headed out. Just back on the main road there’s a few food places and we finally decided to a sit down place to eat at, pretty chill and urban-looking, actually. We ended up ordering noodle bowls with beef and Abby got chicken. The beef was covered in dark sauce and sesame seeds and pretty good- reminded me of some food at P.F. Chang’s, I think? There were a few pieces of hard fat, hard as bone, that I had to avoid, but otherwise it was delicious! About 15 RMB total, for being a nice place, and tasty!

Done with that, we returned to the hostel to relax for a few hours, and Greg dozed for a bit while Abby and I chilled on our computers. We didn’t do much, just a bit worn out and glad to have no real concerns for a bit, that kind of thing. We debated on even going out but finally we said yes to that and out we went!

Out to the Bund!

Which is a weird name but whatever.

We just crossed the street twice on the right from exiting our hostel, and we were at the edge! It was a bit different from what I expected, but it was still pretty epic and incredible. I thoroughly enjoyed our time checking out the scenery and skyscrapers and all of that. The buildings were amazing and beautiful. A lot of European styles, which surprised me. I instantly loved the place as we walked around [ignoring the pain in my foot. I don’t think it’s my shoes because they haven’t bothered me before, but it’s ridiculous and hurts whenever I put pressure on it], and I was constantly taking pictures.

The Shanghai Skyline is breathtaking.

My favorite one I’ve seen so far!

The three of us took our time strolling around, taking pictures, and taking it all in. The night was climbing in quick and the farther we went, the more people we found. It was still very cold so we didn’t see any vendors until we finally left the river’s edge and made a roundabout path back towards the hostel. We checked out a few food options before finding a Family Mart. There we were able to get water and Abby found Reese’s! That’s pretty cool.

We finally found a few street vendors but weren’t too interested in what they had- everything is more expensive here in Shanghai, obviously. We wandered about some more- and then found another tourist shop! It was awesome- main Chinese souvineers and such. Luckily I hadn’t brought much money with me and I have very little left so I didn’t spend anything… but we might be going back! Hehe! But still, it was fun wandering around and checking everything out. Plus it was a little warmer than outside, jeesh!

Finally we turned back to the street next to our hostel. By then we were interested in food so we ended up at this dumpling place that let us inside. We ordered three different dishes to try and share, but only one of them got finished! One was on a platter with weird meat sauce- super odd! Another had meat inside [all of these were boiled by the way, and so hard for me to eat! I had to use chopsticks and a spoon] and that one got eaten quickly, and then there was another bowl with greens and meat and mushrooms, I think, in it. Not too shabby! I enjoyed them all, though the meat was definitely the favorite. But there was so much food together, we could never finish all of it. We paid for them, 30 RMB together, and then headed down to the bakery.

Because you need the bakeries in China. So freaking good. I got chocolate milk- let’s see how that is! And a few rolls that look super moist. Abby and Greg got some eggy cake slices and more breads and such before calling it good and we returned inside to the hostel.

The sun has set and it’s been a relaxing, efficient kind of day! Chilling on our beds, we’re waiting for sleep to come and still dreaming of our time to come whilst in China.

12/27/13: The Close of Guiyang

Our final day in Guiyang. The horror, the tragedy, the weirdness!

I slept until 8- I meant to get up a little earlier, but I couldn’t bring myself to do so, and thus in bed I remained for a little longer. But we had some ‘officer’ apparently coming over to check out the apartment at 9 so we needed to do a little extra cleaning. We didn’t think it was a cleaning inspection, so we just tried to have everything mostly tidy for the time being.

The officer came a little late, and arrived with Nicole to translate for us. It was good to see her! We had hoped to hang out with her Christmas night but I was to talk with my family and there just wasn’t that much time overall.

Anyways, it went by pretty quickly and overall, pretty smoothly thank goodness. They were mostly just checking to make sure we hadn’t stolen or sold any furniture. Which we hadn’t, of course.

Katie had class less than an hour later, so we hurried up and got ready to go to school. We grabbed the last of our pennies and candy and headed out! I paused to take pictures of course, trying to remember the last time we would ever end up walking to school… sad day!

We got to the office and I chilled out while Katie went to class. It got a little crazy though, kids constantly coming in and out, to snoop through things, ask for money or candy or pictures, talk to us, play with our things, and so on. They got pretty loud, too!

Ah, well…

It was also found that kids had taken about all of my extra pictures [remember, I had about 100 left?], and they had also found Katie’s candy… the candy she was going to give to her class that morning. Darn kids! Luckily there was still a little left though. I offered her some of mine but she wouldn’t take it. Turns out, her kids probably deserved it more than mine…

Katie went to teach her kids, while I tried to make the kids in the office behave a little bit. I had to make sure I had everything cleaned out of my drawers and into my bags, and make sure I had taken everything I wanted off the computer and onto my thumb drive… I ended up leaving the servers and passwords on, unfortunately, because we were tight for time later-

At the time being, Katie hadn’t returned by the time I had to run off to take care of my class.

Grade 5. I wish I had gotten them over with earlier, instead of ending with them. Katie says it’s a good thing it ended like that so I wouldn’t miss teaching so much. And right now, I still don’t miss it. That class was absolutely ballistic. I had three boys constantly coming up to me and talking in Chinese- and it was so, so blatantly obvious they were mocking me and being cruel and rude.

I put up two signs on the board- if they were good, they could get a DVD with checkmarks. Then I posted four lines on the wall- if there were still some lines by the end of class, they would get candy, too! Before I got the class in order, I had already taken off a line. The three boys were still being a pain in my face so I took off another line for their insolence.

There were also four boys in the back tossing a ball back and forth! I couldn’t get that under control. Also, the computer was having issues so I didn’t have anything to really distract them with for a while. For some reason my thumb drive wasn’t registering on the computer- one of my kids bent it a few weeks ago so I guess the wires might be acting up which is NOT good- so I had one of my better behaved girls run to my office to borrow Katie’s thumb drive hoping she still had the same slide on there.

She was gone for about 8 minutes or so. Turns out my girl was a little confused and wanted my thumb drive, even though I had showed it to her. But Katie finally decided she’d give hers to me, but she had taken off the Christmas slide, so she pulled it onto the computer and uploaded it on there before the girl brought it to me.

Of course right before she returned, my thumb drive finally worked.

By then, the class was still chaotic! I couldn’t get anyone listening to me! Girls were, talking, playing hand games or drawing. The three boys were still getting in my way, egging each other on, boys dancing and boys throwing balls around. It was ridiculous.

They were also playing with the lines I’d written on the board. I finally erased all the candy lines, leaving No Candy on the board- of course they erased the first word. They also erased the NO in the NO DVD line. So I just erased everything and tried to get it all under control.

No one was even phased. I have no idea how that was possible.

I wasn’t going to give them any candy but I knew Katie didn’t want it- we were trying to get rid of it! So I finally pulled up the Christmas slide on the screen, and pulled out the bag of root beer barrels. They had to tell me about the picture. If the answer was good enough, I gave them a piece of candy.

So, obviously, I picked who got candy and who didn’t.

And yes it may have been super childish, but the three boys talking to me in Chinese can’t speak English and it’s not my fault they refuse to listen to their teachers or pay attention in English lessons. So they didn’t get any candy. They tried and constantly rose their hands. I gave them a chance or two- when they weren’t trying to trip me, but they failed.

No one would help them with the answers either- the ring leader sat next to probably the smartest boy in class [he looks like a cute little nerd], who refused to give them the answers, so then I’d pick him and he’d obviously give me a smart answer so I gave him candy and the other boys sulked.

I had over 100 pieces of candy that I just about all got rid of in that class, except for about ten.

I’m not saying class went well, obviously- all that drama and chaos continued during the class except for a few occasions when I managed to get kids back in their seats. But I’d walk down a row to hear an answer better and then kids would be all over me, out of their seats and yelling in my ear “Let Me Try!” And grabbing my arm- which I didn’t appreciate it.

They were so ill-behaved, it was unbelievable. But I didn’t know who to turn to, so I just rode it out.

The bell rang finally before I realized what was happening- I hadn’t even told them I was leaving! Most of the kids ran out of the classroom after that, because it was lunch time.  Then another handful mobbed me into the corner, demanding candy. So I made them work for it and then lied and said I was out of candy to make them all go away.

I had three random boys hanging around at the end, and I gave them an extra penny as I passed out the pictures and pennies on the now empty desks. I told them I was leaving, and they could tell the others. Figured that would work, though there were a few girls I really liked and wish I had time to tell them and say good bye…

Oh and right before I had gone to teach Grade 5- Jason, the nutty kid from Class 3, gave me a lovely purple box tied with a pretty bow. I asked him if it was for me and he nodded and opened it- first I saw a picture of him, aww- with a little glass apple!

It made me feel like such an adult, such a teacher! It was crazy. And so nice. I’m still paranoid that it wasn’t even for me, truth be told. I don’t feel like I deserve that, you know? A temporary teacher and all… But it was so nice!

Worn out from the crazy class, I made it back to the office with a few more hugs from my cute kids in Grade 3. Katie was there, whirling around on her chair and saying we were late- we were going to get dumplings with Abby and Greg for lunch!

Except there were still kids everywhere and we had to get rid of some pennies and candy… so we had to do that for a little while. The kids are so insane about things like that, though! They want me to give them more and more and more and more! I made them get in a line for the pennies. They moved pretty fast for that one.

We went out into the hall, passed out a bit more- then I snuck into my favorite class’s room to find a few girls sweeping so I gave them candy as well. Then Katie took a bag of candy to her favorite class’s room for the teacher to find and hopefully pass around. So I sneaked into my other empty classroom and put a few pieces in a few desks to be found.

A few more goodbyes on our way out, there we met Abby, wondering where we were! I felt so bad, we were about 20 minutes late because of the crazy kids and I had to make sure I had everything and turned the computer off [though I did forget, like I said, to erase the servers and all].

Chatting, we strolled up to the bus stop and waited forever until the bus arrived and we headed into town! We crossed to eat our favorite dumplings with Abby, and enjoyed our last fresh batch there. They were perfect! Hot, fresh, juicy and delicious! We paid and then we asked Abby to translate and tell the sweet old guy who owned it that we were leaving for good but his dumplings were our favorite, then we gave him some American coins. He was very happy and sweet!

Two shops down and we got chocolate drinks! Well, Katie and I did. Abby bought a banana smoothie. Good, but much too cold to enjoy in such cold weather! Seriously! I don’t know how she did it, brave woman.

Again we split paths with Abby because she had to go teach, and the two of us didn’t want to be done with Guiyang just yet. So we crossed the street and took the bus further into town!

We got off after the Temple Stop and headed down the mall at H&M. There was a big Christmas tree still up! It was pretty epic and beautiful and definitely awesome, yay… Then we wandered around inside the mall for a little while- checked out the levels- before resigning ourselves to H&M again. Katie had some extra money she wanted to spend, so we wandered around in the goodies. And ended up spending money, yay!

Too full from our chocolate drinks, we didn’t eat or drink anything else at the mall though we had planned on it… And then we were bored and out of ideas and it was too cold to do much so we ended up hiking back up to return to the bus stop and head home, basically. I know, not too exciting.

On the way home, Magi started texting Katie because she wanted to say good bye to us, so we made plans to hang out there for a little bit. The bus ride home took a little while, but we eventually got home. Katie showered and I started cleaning up some more and then Magi came over.

We chatted, remembered the good times, talked about if she came to America, looked through pictures, and then found out she might be in trouble for leaving the school grounds at that time so we let her go an after later or so. Back on our own again, we texted Nicole to make sure plans were still good for that night, and then we worked on making sure our bags would close [we had to reorganize a few of my things and such], and cleaning things out.

Then Nicole came over! She had just come back from the school. We gave each other gifts- earrings! Haha. Hers came in adorable little boxes, so freaking cute! We also gave her some cute fake roses, candy canes, and a prettily decorated apple. Then I went through my luggage again to pull out a movie and then the two ladies ran down to get Nicole a noodle bowl to eat with.

I also enjoyed a delicious watermelon soda with my meal, though the carbonation was definitely strong! Like really strong ‘like alcohol’ as Nicole so kindly put it. It was pretty awesome.

Anyways, we watched Rise of the Guardians. It’s not really a Christmas movie, since its Easter time and all, but I figure it counts [okay you can totally watch it all year round and I totally will], so we did that. I love that movie and Nicole liked it and Katie likes it and it was a fun little party!

It was a little late after that, so we said our good byes and she promised to see us in the morning- and she wouldn’t make us carry our bags up the hill, thank goodness, but the bus will pick us up downstairs, thank goodness…

At the end of the movie, to our surprise, Katie got sick in the bathroom. Which she’s been wanting the whole time since she was here! We even joked about her getting sick on the last night here… which is kinda funny but she ended up curling in bed and being in pain most of the night.

That gave me time to chill and clean up the house, carefully sweep and mop everything on the floors and wipe down the walls a good bit. Hopefully we got everything cared for decently, although I know we still left a thing or two out since we were in a rush that morning and all… But more on that later-

It was almost midnight by the time I finally crawled into bed, satisfied with the close of our time in Guiyang!

12/26/13: Photo Books, Plants and Zombies

Thursday… only two more days in Guiyang. Holy crap. Holy crap.

I slept in until eight, which was nice but definitely not enough! I got up to shower, and my skin is more dry than ever, it’s ridiculous. And it’s so important to me to have the heater afterwards or else I think I’d probably freeze to death within a minute or two of being out of the shower.

Anyways, we headed out two hours later to meet with Abby at the bus stop. We boarded, chatted about Shanghai, Christmas, and more, as we drove to our food stop.

Our main priority of the day, we went up to the overpass to get manicures! 80% of the shops, if not more, were closed. We got a bit worried but luckily there was one small nail salon open! Yay! So Abby and I sat down at the tables, Katie sat by the heater, and we got our nails done. It was really fun to chat and hang out that way- and it’s been forever since I actually took care of my nails. Seriously, I bite at them and call it good, that’s it. We didn’t end up getting colored nail polish, something got lost in translation [I blame them], so it was pricey to me for 30 RMB and you can’t really see much improvement- BUT it was fun and definitely worth it.

After that we were STARVING. So we walked back down towards the bus stop. I bought another fried bread with egg and onions in it- Abby bought a round one with some slightly spicy meat inside. Katie walked a little further to get a similar patty like mine, but it got folded over with spice and a piece of real lettuce tucked in. Weird, but super good! We ate our food, and then I bought a weird fried and lettuce thing for myself. Abby bought a mango and banana cold smoothie- super good but a bit cold! Then we walked to get Katie some spicy potatoes.

There we split ways with Abby- she wanted more adventures and we had to get back to the school! So Katie and I crossed to the bus stop. There we found that Katie’s potatoes had the numbing things which are not cool. She didn’t finish them and went to the stand behind the bus stop to get some new ones. I wanted to have my final fish on a stick so I got two of those- which should not have been more than Katie’s bowl of potatoes but apparently was! Stupid... but tasty!

Suddenly the bus arrived, we grabbed seats and headed to the school!

We put away our candy and chilled until our classes. There were kids constantly coming in and out, wandering through everything or asking for pictures, pennies and candy! It was a little ridiculous but still super cute!

Katie went to teach one class, and then her favorite class was cancelled for a test! It was so terrible, I’m so glad that didn’t happen to me. She was super bummed and I don’t blame her a bit! So wrong to take that from her, seriously…

After that I went to teach Grade 4.

However, I got held up- I realized I didn’t have my thumb drive so I went to go get it but my Grade 3 Class 1 was out and about getting ready to use another classroom, so I had more kids tackle me- even a boy or two in the mix- and say “no go America! No go America!” It was so cute and so sad! But they seriously nearly pulled me over, I was so off balance. I barely got to my office in time- just as the bell was ringing! So I ran back to the classroom to teach Grade 4-

 Who was terrible, that class was going nuts. Today they had six boys conducting and no, they were not making anything better. It was chaos and ridiculous. I mean, I had almost six students listening and they were trying so hard to be good- I had one sweetheart repeating and then rephrasing my words to understand them, she’s so smart!

I was so lenient, I spoil those kids. I still gave them candy but I really shouldn’t have. I shouldn’t.

Oh well…

There was no time for a DVD, either. I passed things out haphazardly- they all kept trying to get in my face and I was so close to yelling [I try not to ever yell, only speak loudly and firmly] to make them sit down, it was ridiculous.

What broke my heart was when I was making them all be quiet, and the sweetheart up in front asked, “Teacher, are you angry?”

“No. I’m sad. I’m sad everyone is talking.”

Ugh, that was so sad, I felt so bad for her. I mean, I know I am not always smiling- maybe rarely ever smiling, truth be told, but still, that hurts to be heard. I don’t want to be known as the angry teacher, the angry girl, the angry anything…

Anyways, only a few of them were bummed I was leaving. I don’t know if anyone else understood, or what, I don’t know… But I hugged one or two of them and rushed out to go. I switched books in the office- with a few girls clinging to me then- and finally made it into the classroom as the bell rang. One of the kids took my pen to write on the board, and I talked with a few students until I managed to get everyone into their seats, and tell them about the possibility of candy!

It helped with class, but only a little. They lost half their lines because they were being so noisy! We went quickly through the slightly dull Christmas lesson, and then I told them they were good enough for a quick DVD, so they watched that as I passed out the candy and then the pennies, which the kids were super excited about!

Then that was over and I still had ten minutes of class- which I prepared for just in case. I pulled up my slide and explained, as best as I could, to the best of their understanding. I think a few of my kids already knew, and they grabbed me in hugs as I was going around trying to explain the situation. I passed out pictures and gave them all away because some of them wanted more than one.

And of course I had a few liars saying they hadn’t gotten any candy, the stinkers.

Anyways, I finished up taking a few pictures of them for the last two or three minutes of class. Then I hugged a few of them for a while after the bell rang and they all ran out.

I was cleaning up the board when Journey came through with the other teacher, and made them file back into the classroom… yikes. Hopefully they weren’t in trouble or anything! I don’t really know. But I apologized for the time, gathered my things, and went back to my office.

There, Katie told me how she had showed her children the candy and the pennies, promising if they were good she’d give them to the kids. And they were good enough, so towards the end of class she started passing out the pennies-

And all the kids started trying to eat them!

Funny faces, confused expressions, dismay written in their eyes- the whole works. They were pretty upset and then Katie ran around explaining NO, that’s not the candy, and then she had to show them the bags that WERE the candy. Super funny! Too adorable, silly kids…

We were still pretty full from having such an awesome lunch, but I didn’t want that to be the only food we ate today so we went to the cafeteria to eat some food, which wasn’t too bad, yay! And which might be the final meal we eat at the school, aww…

After that we headed home.

There’s some official/officer guy that’s coming over so we started really packing things away and trying to clean up and all… I repacked and then kept finding more things I needed to pack. Then Katie and I questioned the weight of my big bag, so she opened it to find it’s nothing like her packing job! Huzzah! No, I’m kidding, it’s not really a good thing. Haha. She made me toss some things out, go through some papers and such. Hopefully it’s okay!

Then we had to put more things in my suitcase carry-on, so that’s freaking heavy!

Then we had the hot drinks we had given each other. I thought the one I gave her would be chocolate or coffee… it was bean paste flavored! Insanity! She couldn’t finish it- but it had come with boba which she really enjoyed, so that helped I guess. She also opened these crescent moon cookies that had been put on her desk on Christmas- they were like moist shortbread. Very delicious! We sat around, talking and eating for a while.

Finished with that, I went to my computer to pull things up and finish the photo books that we’ve been putting together of our time here in China, except now it won’t let me save it or anything. And then I had to catch up on the entire week of journaling- yowza that’s a lot of work! During that time Katie caught up on the day of journaling, played Plants vs Zombies and then fell asleep on my bed while I worked.

We never ended up watching the movie, which I guess is okay. Except now our house still isn’t very clean although quite empty, I’m staying up till midnight but I’ll have to get up early, and it was a pretty dull evening over all. Such a shame.

Now, one more day in Guiyang. That’s so sad!

12/25/13: A Christmas of Spamburgers and Skype Issues

Christmas!

Didn’t feel like it.

Though as tradition, we didn’t sleep in. We went to the school early for breakfast! Which was better than it has been in a little while, truth be told. It was excellent, with lovely rice porridge [I didn’t add enough sugar, shame], and with lovely noodles and slightly cold but still yummy awkward potsticker-style dumplings. We enjoyed our Christmas breakfast and I ended up taking a bit of it back with me to the office to enjoy for later!

I didn’t really have to do anything for a while so I wrote on some more pictures and started cleaning out my desk, yikes! Took care of that for a bit and then Greg called asking if we could cover his class. Turns out Abby’s family changed their plans and suddenly they wanted to talk at the one time when Abby actually has a class.

Greg offered to teach her class but he teaches at that time so he needed someone to cover his class. Turns out it was the same time as Katie’s morning class, and I didn’t have anything else to do.

Unfortunately, that meant it ruined my small surprise for Katie! Shame… I told her what I had wanted to do for her that day, and she waved it off so I ended up teaching Greg’s class! I was a bit run down and they weren’t too enthusiastic either. Greg said they’re usually bad but I was new so they didn’t really mind and mostly behaved.

He gave me a run down of what to teach, because Magi wanted them to be working on the lesson. She was there when I started class, making sure that was taken care of. We read through the dialogue twice, and then spent a while testing them on the words and making sure they knew everything. It was pretty boring but at least nothing dramatic happened! Magi left soon and then with fifteen minutes of class left, we had overdone the lesson so I let them watch some of How the Grinch Stole Christmas before leaving.

Katie and I enjoyed a basic meal after that, before heading back home.

I tried to skype my family for a while and we talked for about twenty minutes but they were a bit tired and everyone was doing their own thing so it was short, and then I had to finish working on wrapping Katie’s gifts.

Afterwards we brought the stockings and gifts into my bedroom where the heater was. Warmth really matters! Seriously… We opened stockings- she gave me full ownership of a scarf we had been sharing, quite a few goodies to eat, pencils, and more! I made her friendship coupons and an I O U for a gift I hadn’t had time to work on- hopefully I’ll get that done when I get home and she can have it there!

Then we opened gifts! Like I said, she’s practically impossible because she doesn’t like objects or do-dads, her bags are full and she’s always at my side! But she still enjoyed the things I got her, I think…. Haha. Plus there was this bright red pony thing with Chinese designs to stick on the inside of her car- she had me buy it for her at our last trip to Wal-Mart because she wanted it! Very silly… she ended up giving me some DVD’s she didn’t want and also gave me OUR movie, Puss in Boots! I also got her headscarf, and so on. It was pretty fun opening and laughing, finding things that we didn’t really want because we already had them lying around the house… haha.

Soon we were finished with that and had to head back to school!

I went to go teach my Grade 3 Class 1.

For the final time.

As usual, they were a bit nutty but I was lenient because it was THE LAST TIME EVER. It was super sad and I almost got my words stuck in my throat towards the end, it was terrible. The Christmas lesson worked a little better with that class, thank goodness. And I started telling them my time in China was up a bit earlier, with almost 15 minutes of class left, but that still didn’t do very good at all.

For starters, the kids weren’t really understanding. But Babbie was in the class, and she had overheard Abby talking to Katie’s students about it, so she stood up, tears in her eyes, and starting telling everyone off for being cheerful because I was leaving them forever.

It was a dramatic moment.

The kids loved the pictures, it was hard to get them passed out to everyone and a lot of the girls wanted two, but thank goodness I had enough. However I had one girl, Vickey, come hug me by my desk and burst into tears.

Which… may… have… made me… ehm… tear up … a little?

And that made like five more girls start crying and hugging me. Then to the side I had boys confused and asking me why I was crying. It was tragic, and I couldn’t even think of what to say to explain it anymore, I had nothing. More tears than I would prefer leaked out before I managed to pull myself together. I have the sweetest little girls in that class and it was so hard knowing I’ll probably never see them again!

Eventually I had to push everyone back to their seats, which was cruel, and then pass out candy to them, and pennies, which was cute. Then I had two girls give me back the pennies with somber expressions which sort of ripped the rest of my heart into tiny little shreds for the rest of the day… it was so sad and sweet!

Finally I left the classroom, almost running. Thank goodness no one was in the office for a while after that!

Then I had the rest of my embroidery floss there at the school, so while I waited for Katie to finish her classes, I started tying knots and making bracelets! I had two of my girls come in, and I gave them the finished products. I had another one finished as Eaddy came in, my favorite boy!

He didn’t want a bracelet, but he did want to learn how to make one! So I set it up by my desk, and set him to work. It’s pretty easy but tricky at the same time… but it was pretty cute. Then I had the two girls return, and of course they had to make one, too. I explained and got them started.

More kids came after ten minutes or so, when classes officially ended and all. A ton of my kids came to say hello and to come snooping through everything, obviously. I ended up setting up another bracelet making spot. By then, I had almost half a bracelet done and one of the girls switched to mine because I had gone twice as far as all of them [I’m just so speedy…], it was pretty funny. I took a few pictures of the kids for a while, but Katie was patiently hanging around waiting to go to dinner, so finally I told the kids good bye and headed over with her.

It was okay, nothing special. As we took our plates over to the bins, the cook lady- super sweet, adorable- she looked so shocked and showed us the spamburgers wrapped in foil for us! So we thanked her profusely, because she’s sweet, and took them with us to go.

We ran into some older girls entering the next building, so we each gave one away for them to share. I had to go back to the office to return my Santa hat- I always forget I’m wearing it!

Anyways, more kids were in there! I ended up giving my other burger away before leaving, and finally we headed home!

Katie ate hers- apparently it was pretty good once you take the spam out, haha. Then I had one or two of my goodies while sitting around. We ended up watching Christmas Vacation and then we sat around and talked for almost two hours.

Soon she was super exhausted- okay, I was, too- but I had to skype my family for their Christmas morning chat with Jenessa on her mission! I was pretty excited for that. But it took a while for things to set up. And my family was barely waking up. The only one who seemed awake and happy to see me was my Grandpa, who was looking good with a big smile on his face. I haven’t seen him in forever! It just was really awesome talking to him again!

Then it was time to talk to Jenessa, but she wasn’t online and we started freaking out a little but after like twenty minutes she finally logged on. It took another five minutes or so for me to be disconnected and reconnected on another line.

Jenessa was doing super good and super busy, but life is awesome for her! And she’s pretty blonde right now, it seemed… but good for her! And she’s already been extended to stay through most of July instead of coming back early June. Crazy! But she’s super happy about it, so we couldn’t help but be happy for her!

She only had half an hour to chat, unfortunately. And I’d even moved to sit on the floor in the hallway to chat with them since my bedroom light doesn’t work… anyways, she logged off soon and then my family wanted to open their gifts, so they said good bye to me and I finally closed up my computer for the night! It was midnight and I was exhausted.

Overall, an odd Christmas. I’m not a fan of it this way. I’d rather escape to a fun wonderland on my own or something… but still, I’m in China and that’s kind of worth it!

12/24/13: Christmas Eve!

Christmas Eve!

Weirdest Christmas season ever. I mean, we’ve tried but it’s just not the same. Still, it was super cute through the day with kids wearing little Christmas hats and such, telling us Merry Christmas and Happy New year, so cute!

We ate breakfast at the school, not too shabby, and headed to our offices. Luckily I had remembered to bring two bags of candy, pennies and pictures for kids! Grade 3 Class 2 was my first class of the day and it was the last time I was going to teach them. Ever. I was dreading telling them, trust me.

Anyways, I spent a while writing little notes and my QQ number on the back of my pictures before class started. My kids were going a bit nutty, but I got them calmed down and promised them candy if they were good.

They were a bit bored with the Christmas lesson- I just had a ton of pictures of gingerbread houses, drinks, Santa, and so on. But I got them using a few words and that helped! And then towards the end of class, I pulled up my slide [we had ten minutes ago and I wanted to give them a DVD], and then I got kids almost in tears because yes, I’m leaving and they’ll never see me again! And I’ll never see them again!

It was so sad and terrible. I had a kid or two return the snowflakes I’d cut out for the class- over forty! But only for that class because they’re that awesome- for me to keep which was precious.  I got all my kids to write down their names on pieces of paper and tried getting a few pictures but they started mobbing me a bit and it got a bit nutty so we had to stop.

Took forever but I got most of them back in their seats and as the bell rang, I hurriedly passed around my pictures, pennies, and candy. I had a lot of the girls wrapping up my picture and then kissing it and giving me the sweetest, most tender looks and I was trying to keep my heart from breaking. The only good outcome was that I managed not to cry, basically. That is all. It was terrible!

Then lunch time, that was okay.

Katie left after that, and I headed back to the office to chill out and write on more pictures. Turns out I brought almost one hundred more than I needed. But I went to work on writing them- and kids love coming in and taking one or two, so they’re going away pretty well!

However, since we were going to do Christmas together after morning classes the following day- Christmas!- I needed to get some more things at the store. I also planned a little surprise- a poem at her chair after her class, and then getting her lunch as part of her Christmas gift [she can’t fit anything more in her bags and there’s just about nothing she wants, and I already had a main thing for her], so I ran down to the grocery store.

I was super paranoid the whole time, wondering if she was there or not. Turns out, she’d been there and gone back home shortly before I left the school. Good thing I didn’t end up going a few minutes after her! She was paranoid as well, haha… Anyways, I got her a handy dandy pen because she likes the pens here, a cute very Chinese blue high lighter, then a boba hot drink, noodle bowl and a milk as well.

There was a Watermelon flavored soda so I bought that to enjoy later, yay!

I carried everything back to the school and hid them in my desk. I fiddled around with my things for a while before finally having to go teach class!

 Grade 4 was nutty. Kids ‘conducting’- four boys- but more than anything they keep the fights going, the kids talking, and it doesn’t help at all. I told the kids I was giving them grades, and tried to use that as leverage as Katie had to keep them behaving, but that didn’t do too much good. I got a kid to read the names out loud, but we ended up getting like four kids crowding around, one of whom ended smacking him in the face! So I sent him to the hospital- poor boy was in tears- and they go the school hospital for everything- and found another kid to call the list and make the other children sit down.

That took a while, and then we did the trivia game. Which went pretty good with them, but a little nutty as usual. They got a short DVD at the end, and we watched clips of the The Grinch before finally leaving at the ring of the bell.

I hurried, switched a few things and headed over to Grade 5. Yay.

They were almost as good as they were at the very beginning! It was pretty impressive and confusing. But it may have helped that I offered them candy on Friday if they were good, so… yeah. Yay! Anyways, so we did the trivia game which went pretty well and kept things going okay for the majority of class- and for the first time in forever, they got a DVD piece! I think they really enjoyed that…

Again I hurried to my office after the bell to switch books and head over to Grade 3 Class 3 which was pretty chaotic as it has recently become. We did the trivia game though that usually gets me a tiny bit of control. They love games like that, and it keeps them talking in English which is even better! Although I think they were still a little nutty so we didn’t end up watching any DVD for that class.

Finished with my final Tuesday, I went down to the bus stop to meet Katie, and we boarded the bus to get good seats and head into town for dinner! Of course to the corner for our favorite dumplings, yay! We went and bought chocolate drinks, and then we went to our dumpling place! They’re seriously the best dumplings and the best people, seriously. Some of the girls there ended up giving us these paper roses. A big thing they seem to do for Christmas? That and wrapped up apples! [The Chinese word peace sounds like apples or something like that?]

It was so sweet of them!

We headed home shortly after, warming up on the heater to watch How The Grinch Stole Christmas. Which Katie has never seen! That’s so crazy… well, the human one- she has seen the cartoon one. But yeah, we enjoyed that in the warmth of my bedroom and with the heater! It was pretty swell! It was a ton of fun watching the movie.

Also, she had an early gift for me… her gray sweater that I had been interested in, along with her sketchpad! It was super sweet of her. Although she still has to draw me something in that notebook, ehm… but still. It was sweet! So I concluded the little ‘4 Weeks of Christmas’ that I had been doing for her… basically just another candy. Yay… haha.

Then we called it a night! A decently boring Christmas Eve, hallelujah.