Making our Mark on Beijing

I’m back from BEIJING!!!!!! Ok. So if any of you ever have the opportunity to go to Beijing TAKE IT! I had so much fun there! Beijing is a really cool city with so much to see and do! We packed so much in and barely even made a dent in it!

The adventure started with our bus ride. The bus pulled up and we found out that it was a sleeper bus! That was a first for me! It was so cool. It’s sad when the beds on a moving bus are more comfortable then the ones in our apartments... Yikes! haha! :) It was the most comfortable 12 hour ride of my life!

This is my first time on a legit "night bus"! :)

We got to Beijing around 6 in the morning and jumped right in! We stayed at the Candy Inn. It was way cool! Hostels are really fun and social. We met a lot of cool people during our stay there from ALL OVER the world! The food in Beijing was amazing! Street food... it’s about 50 cents in US money, and it’s delicious! :) There was this chicken sandwich place right next to our hostel that we frequented. They were divine!

Day 1: We went to the Summer Palace. The Summer Palace has a lot of shrines, former Emperor’s homes, and gardens. It was really beautiful! The group I was with had a lot of fun exploring, eating street food, and bonding. It was a blast! After we had our first experience at the Pearl Market. And that’s when my shopping began! I learned how to barter really quickly and actually became one of the best in my group. You should never pay more than 10% of their original offer... most of the time even less. It’s all about pretending your not all that interested and saying you’ll go get it somewhere else! You also never give in to their price. ALWAYS make them come down to yours for the final one! It’s actually kinda fun! That night was the Moon Festival! Our hostel had a giant party with free food, music, etc! It was a lot of fun! Moon Cakes are definitely not my idea of dessert, but apparently they’re a big deal here! I don’t even really know what the Moon Festival is, but I’m glad it happened! It gave us a vacation! :)

This is the beginning of our adventures at the Summer Palace! :)

This is the Summer Palace. It was really gorgeous!!

Day 2: The GREAT WALL!!! It was seriously so exciting to see the Great Wall! We had so much fun hiking around the wall and taking pictures! If we were stationary for more then 5 seconds then we had a whole line of Asians wanting to take pictures with us. I seriously have never had so many pictures taken of me in my life. I should have kept track of how many! But we had a blast on the wall and it was amazing to see!

Just chillin on the Great Wall!

It's me sending my love from China!!

Yes. I HAVE done a handstand on the Great Wall! haha! We literally got applause for this picture. Thank you... thank you.

We saw the Ming tombs, jade factory, and silk factory that afternoon, too! We ate lunch at a delicious restaurant. It was the first place that tasted like legit Chinese food to me! YUM! It was awesome. We had the craziest tour guide ever. Her english name was Sherri. She was nuts. She liked to sing Christina Aguilera to us... and she would just babble on in Chinglish... She would tell the most awkward stories. It was slightly uncomfortable, yet hilarious! She knew the oddest english phrases and it made me wonder what type of person taught her english. Come to find out she’s marrying her english teacher next month... so ya! Sherri was quite the lady!

This is our crazy your guide

That night we went to the night market in Beijing. It was a blast! There were the craziest foods there... such as scorpion, starfish, and sea horse skewers! AH! There was delicious foods as well. There were these breadsticks that were amazing.. and candied fruit skewers that made us all completely sticky AND completely happy! :)

The night market! It was such a fun place

Day 3: Tian An Men Square and the Forbidden City! I seriously felt like I’d stepped into Mulan. Yes, my group did sing Mulan the whole day. And take ninja pictures! It’s weird to me that this whole mini city was completely closed to everyone and it was only for royalty and their servants. It’s huge!! It really was beautiful! And we met some cool people from Sudan! It’s funny... When you see other foreigners you make eye contact and it’s like you know what they’re going through with the looks and pictures. It’s like an automatic bond! Haha! Unless they’re Russian... then they look a little angry.

I'm holding up the guard! :)

We're ninjas!

This is supposed to give you good luck.

:) Like I said... We're ninjas!

That afternoon we found a bakery! My group is so easily entertained... it’s hilarious! We sat there watching this Chinese lady decorate a cake for like 20 minutes! When she was finished she spun it around to show us and we all applauded. I think it made her day! After that little detour we went to the Temple of Heaven. There was an entrance fee to get into the park and then when we got to the temple we found out there was an additional fee. Well, some of us were being cheapos (we knew the big day of shopping was coming up!) so we opted to not go in. We decided to explore the rest of the park. While walking around Cierra, Samantha, Heather, and I heard music. We decided to find the source... it wasn’t that hard. We turned the corner and there was about 20 middle aged Chinese women dancing to Chinese version of techno in the middle of the park. Naturally we joined in. Best decision ever! We learned some of their dance moves and they were just eating it up. They thought it was hilarious! So we decided to see if they would follow us. We started doing the Boot Scootin’ Boogie... imagine a group of middle aged Asian women doing that line dance in the middle of the park. It was AWESOME! When that song got over we decided to see how the Macerena would go over. It was a HUGE hit. They LOVED it! I thought it was awesome seeing them doing the Boot Scootin’ Boogie... it was even better to see them doing the Macerena! :) Eventually we had to meet the rest of our group, but before we left we were mauled by people wanting pictures with us... the crazy, dancing Americans! :) It was seriously one of my favorite moments of the ENTIRE trip thus far!

Here we are dancing....

This lady was by far the best at the Macerena!

We just thought this picture conveyed the joy we felt after the dance party! haha! :)

Day 4: We started out by going to the Olympic Square! I LOVED it... you know me and my love for the Olympics! :) I started singing all the songs from the program I participated in when the Olympics were in SLC when I was in 5th grade. Yes, I still remember them. Thank you Madi for having that cd still! :) haha! But I had those songs stuck in my head all day and now my group knows them too! I’m sure they really appreciate it! I got to see the Bird’s Nest, the swimming place.. the water cube that changed colors and that Michael Phelps DOMINATED, and where the Olympic flame burned during the games. It was sa-weet.

The BIRD'S NEST! I felt like a champion.

Kayla and I drowning at the swimming place!

After that we went back to the Pearl Market... SHOPPING! Like I’ve never shopped before... literally! It was pure madness and yet so much fun. Even the boys enjoyed themselves and made some good purchases! Thank you Hilary for the advice on jeans... the vendors were trying to say they couldn’t go under 120 Yuan, but I KNEW Hilary had gotten them for 90.... So after a lot of persuasion, walking away, and threatening to buy from a different vendor I got my way! :) I feel like I’ve gained a talent at bartering that will be null and void when I go back to the states! I can see it now... me walking into neighborhood wal-mart and refusing to pay the given price! haha! It’s weird because you barter/haggle/bargain EVERYTHING here... and you very rarely do it back home! It was a full day of shopping and I got some souvenirs people should be excited about! :) I was exhausted by the end of the day!! That night everyone was doing show and tell with their purchases and it was fun to compare what people got and the prices they got it at! We are all REALLY good at imitating the vendors now... “Cheaper for you!” “I give you the best price!” “Buy from me pretty lady!” “Give me your final price... no joking. No joking!” “It’s different! Mine’s better quality!” “That price is impossible!” “I make-a no money!!” “What’s 10 yuan to you?!” “I give you because we friends. Just because we friends!” “Fine. Your price.” “You’re tough lady!” “Tell your friends to come to me!” It’s always the same!

Day 5: The morning was really crazy. A few people had left super early in the morning to go see Mao’s body, but the rest of us were leaving for church at 9. Everyone thought that Stuart and Amanda were with the Mao group and they were the ones with directions to the branch! So Kayla and I searched until we found President Lewis’ phone number, found a phone to use, and got directions. Come to find out Stuart and Amanda had decided not to go, but woke up late! So the stressing wasn’t actually necessary. Half of us had already checked out of the hostel so we went first (since we’d already made the effort to get directions...) and then the second half still had to check out and come a little later. Well, a few people in the group I was with like to think that they know everything about traveling... or maybe they don’t know how to read a map... I’m not sure yet. But when we got to the subway I found the route we had to take. It was 2 stops. I looked up and my group was getting ready to get on a train... the wrong one. I tried to tell them that they were going the wrong way, but they wouldn’t listen to me. The train they were getting on WOULD get us there.... it would just do nearly a complete circle and take one transfer and 16 stops. My way had one transfer and 2 stops... But they didn’t have the directions and they just got on the train. Since I was the only one with the directions I had to follow them. I was so frustrated because no one would listen and we were going to be late... I found a new route that would require one transfer and only 6 stops, so I made them follow me and do that. The few who wouldn’t listen to me complained the whole way. Well, when we finally got to church the later group had beaten us there! They were baffled. I was right. Haha! But it was crazy... as soon as I got to the floor church was on there was an instant calm and suddenly I wasn’t frustrated anymore! :) Church was great! It was cool to have normal bread for the Sacrament! And during Sunday School Sister Lewis passed out cookies- real, homemade, peanut butter and chocolate chip cookies!!! They were amazing! Not a trace of China taste in them! It was my first cookie in over a month and it was glorious! :) Sunday School was all about the temple. I hadn’t realized how hard it has been on me to not be able to go to the temple, but it has been! I am excited to reinstate Temple Tuesdays with my beautiful friend Jess when I get home! :) Going to the temple regularly has blessed my life immensely and really helped me have an added measure of the Spirit in my life.

After church was lunch at the Lewis home. The Lewis family rented a bus to take us there. Ya. They rented a freakin bus! And not one of those broken down, old school busses. It was a nice, soft seat, 50 seater bus! They are seriously the most generous people I’ve ever met. We got to their house and as I walked in I realized this was the first home I’d been in for a month. It was kinda weird to think that! It was so nice though- carpet, real bathrooms, a kitchen, pictures and quotes on the walls, a piano, a candy dish, AND it smelled good! :) Sister Lewis fed our whole group! Now, I know I’ve only been gone for a little over a month, but at the same time that’s a long time to be without familiar food! She made us taco soup with sour cream and cheese, a fresh green salad, fresh fruit, and homemade rolls and jam! We were all freaking out!!! It was the best meal I’ve ever eaten! :) haha! And she had root beer! That’s all I’ve wanted for like 2 weeks now! For dessert she had 2 different delicious pies with ice cream. We were all in heaven! We all sat around, talked, laughed, and felt right at home. We had a wonderful devotional together and then it was time to go. She had treats for us to take with us. I really wanted to cry when we were leaving. I will always remember that experience... not because of the amazing food, but because of the impact it had on me. President and Sister Lewis are the type of people who go above and beyond in their callings. They showed us so much kindness, hospitality, and love! I can’t believe how gracious they have been to us. They have made my experience in China a spiritual journey rather than just a physical one. I hope one day to be the kind of example the Lewis family has been to me.

This is the wonderful Sister Lewis! :) And the bus they rented us in the background.

The bus the Lewis family rented for us took us right back to our hostel. We had a little less than an hour until we had to leave for the bus station, so we just played games and talked. We finally left for the bus station with our suitcases much heavier and our wallets much lighter then when we came. We had another sleeper bus. A bunch of us stayed up late talking and laughing. I can’t even imagine having to say goodbye to these people at the end of this experience- we’ve all bonded so much! The walk back to our school at 5 AM was ridiculously long and awkward with all of our stuff. When we got back Cierra and I felt so fortunate... we were the only ones who got to go back to sleep. I love the school we were assigned to! :) haha! That day we got a package from home! We love our moms! :D

This week we teach like normal. I’ve been to my Tuesday classes. My class #2 is my hard class... I don’t even know what to do with them! But the rest of my classes are really good! (And Tom was wearing a pink jacket today. Why couldn’t you have worn that the first day?! ha!) I’m glad I got to name my students because it makes things so entertaining. So many of them have attributes of the people they’re named after! It can be hilarious. Today I had to tell off two students for messing around together- Harry and Ron. Haha! :) And one of my girls, Leslie, cut her own hair... it’s the funniest thing I’ve ever seen. This girl surprises me every day. The other day she was completely covered in blue chalk... haha! I love my kids! The teachers at the school we teach at are so good to us! It’s fun to work here! And the cooks love us! Today we started English Corner. That’s where 5th grade students who have already taken english classes come to talk to us, ask us questions, and just practice speaking. It was a pretty relaxed thing and actually quite fun. Every single person we asked what they liked to do said ping pong or badminton! HAHA! I thought that was pretty funny!

Next week is National Day here in China- it’s like the 4th of July... China style. Everyone gets next week off, so yes... we get another vacation! I’m excited, but at the same time it’s kind of a bummer that our vacations are so close together! We’re going to have a long stretch from mid October to December without any breaks! We’re going to Xi’an and Guilin. It will be a LOT of traveling, but it should be a lot of fun! :)

I got to talk to my mom, dad, and sister on Vid when I got home! I just missed my brother and brother in law! I love my family! My mom had to get surgery during my adventure to Beijing. That was crazy to find out, but I’m glad she’s ok! And I’m grateful to the people who have helped my family out while I’ve been gone. I also got some sad news! One was the accident of one of my neighbors, ward members, and friends’ dad. I just wanted to let them know I’m praying for you! I’d also ask any of you reading this to add Brother Kapp to your prayers! The other piece of heartbreaking news I got was the death of my good friend’s brother. I am so sorry for your loss and I love you so so so much! I seriously was so sad when my mom told me! I wish there was more I could do! So dear blog readers, please add the Neilsen family to your prayers as well!

I’m having a better experience then I dared hope for here in China! Sometimes it’s hard, scary, and tiring. And sometimes I just want to curl up in my Northridge Choir blanket on my soft bed... But it’s all added to my experience. I’m really loving it here and am so grateful I’ve had this opportunity! I hope all you at home are having amazing things happen for you too! Love you!

PS I FINALLY reclaimed my high score on Bejewled from Cierra. WOOO!

A Week in the Life of an ILP Volunteer

Ni hao! I’m sorry I’ve been so far behind on my blog! This week has been really crazy! Last weekend was a blast! Cierra, Samantha, Kayla, and I rented a paddle boat at the beach.

Just 4 girls paddle boating in the ocean! :)

The Lewis family came to visit us from Beijing on Saturday. It was so fun to have visitors! They organized our group so we will be able to meet on our own for church! We’re excited for that! It’s really cool doing the conference call, but sometimes it’s really hard to pay attention... staring at a white wall the whole time! Except for last week we had a visitor during church...

This was seriously the biggest spider I have ever seen! I’m pretty sure he escaped from the Forbidden Forest and that it’s the offspring of Aragog!!

Like I said, this week has been crazy. On Monday morning Cierra and I rolled out of bed, put “professional clothes” on, and went to the flag ceremony at 7 AM. We hadn’t even done our hair, brushed our teeth... nothing! We were planning on going back up to our apartments after the ceremony and then getting everything ready for the day! Well... our plans were changed! Leslie and Heather woke up really sick that morning, so Lauren came running and begged us to teach. Of course we said yes... but it was crazy! If you know me at all you know I HAVE to eat breakfast. Well... there was no time for that. She found us, gave us Heather’s and Leslie’s lesson plans, and took us straight to our classrooms. Teaching itself went really well... I was just starving and felt pretty gross!

Tuesday was a full day of teaching at our school. It went really well! After all our classes we have a meeting with the English teachers. They pretty much tried to hand over the department to us. We tried explaining that we’re not allowed, much less qualified, to do that. It’s interesting trying to resolve problems in very broken English...

Wednesday was spent doing everything we planned to do on Monday. That night we had FHE and played a lot of fun games. My group is a lot of fun! :) Have you ever played the Mexican horse name game? I learned it at EFY my first year... Someone (the person who is in on the game) assigns everyone a Mexican name. You hit your legs to make galloping sounds and yell “HOOF [insert name here]”. We spent a lot of time that night playing... Kayla went for rounds and rounds as “HOOF Arted” and didn’t catch on. She didn’t understand why the rest of us were laughing so hard. Childish? Maybe. Hilarious? Definitely.

Thursday was another full day of teaching.... after we finally got there! The van was a half hour late picking us up. Once again, it can be very interesting trying to resolve problems when you’re not speaking the same language! Teaching went AWESOME! My classes are great. There are trouble makers and all that of course, but for the most part they are just good students!

In my last class of the day I was calling students up to demonstrate actions for the rest of the class. I called on Tom. Now, the first day of class Tom was being a real handful, so I named him Tom after Tom Riddle. Since then he’s been pretty good. A little crazy sometimes, but who’s not? Tom has worn the same blue and yellow shirt everyday and he has short spiky hair. Well, I called Tom up and noticed he was wearing a different outfit... A princess shirt. And flowered leggings. Turns out Tom is a girl. WOOPS!!! HA! What a terrible blunder on my part! I started laughing so hard and my class had no idea what was going on! So yes. I have a little Chinese girl named Tom after the most evil wizard of all time. Classic.

This is Tom in the yellow shirt. See! Anyone could have made the same mistake! Sometimes girl first graders look like little boys! *cough* Madi *cough*

Our group found out on Thursday night that we had to teach Saturday because we have our vacation next week (Beijing, here I come!!!!). So Friday was spend doing a lot of last minute preparing. I’m currently teaching my kids parts of the body.

I spent a good amount of time putting this body together. It was a big hit. The kids loved it!

Friday night Cierra and I had the best idea ever: No Bake Cookies!!! Seriously. It was the most delicious thing I have eaten here. We didn’t have anywhere to actually make them into cookies, so we just ate the batter. DELICIOUS!!!

The biggest No Bake Cookie ever! :)

Teaching Saturday went pretty well. I have one class that was really restless, but the rest of them were pretty good! I was so tired by the end of it... apparently my body could tell it was a Saturday and it was not used to being at school!

These are some of the kids I teach!

This is my "family". Nate, Brian, Cheryl, Nancy, and Dan!

Tomorrow we’re going to celebrate Kaity’s birthday. We got a cake from the local bakery... I hope it’s ok! Heather says Chinese cake is different, but hey... at least it’s cake! :) I also have the opportunity to speak in church. You know how when people get up to speak they’re always like “I’m so glad I got this topic” blah blah blah and it fits right into their life? Well, that’s never happened to me. Until now. I got the topic of the Restoration. How does that fit into my life right now? Valid question. Well, ever since I came to China I have been thinking and reading a lot about the Restoration. My testimony has been strengthened so much on that particular matter (see the blog post about the Buddhist temple!!). I had just been talking to Sister Lewis about that particular subject and then soon after Stuart asked me to speak on it on Sunday. I’m actually excited! We’ll see how it goes! Two things are for sure... they’ll find me more entertaining than a white wall and less frightening then a giant spider. Well, at least I hope!

Next week we’re heading off to Beijing! I don’t know if I’ll get another post done by then or not, but stay tuned to find out all about our Beijing escapades! :) Wo ai ni (I love you)!!! See you later! :)

P.S.- Ever seen an asian with a mullet? I have!

And That’s When I Knew I Was In China!

Hello world!! :) I hope everyone is happy at home! I’m happy here in China! :) It’s weird... even though I’m half a world away sometimes it doesn’t feel like it! It’s a different language, culture, and all that, but sometimes it seems like I’ll just go on a little drive and end up at home! But then there are moments where I am suddenly startled back to the realization that I truly am in CHINA. Some of those moments include when:

-Being “white” was actually an ADVANTAGE in basketball!

-We saw the price tag on concord grape juice... 189 Yuan.

-Getting dairy products is a nearly impossible feat.

-Having visitors who spoke English seemed like a Heaven sent miracle!

-The lady next to me on the bus took out her phone and just took a picture of me.

-McDonald’s became one of my favorite restaurants!

-I cooked muffins and anything else you can imagine in a microwave. Apparently the Chinese don’t believe in ovens...

-I saw a little boy in a shirt with a little American flag on the front. On the back there was a bigger American flag and under it it said “Great Britain”.

-I used a squatter... and had to bring my own toilet paper.

-I tried to eavesdrop on someone’s conversation and couldn’t understand a word of it.

-Taking a warm shower became a luxury.

-I was excited to go to sleep... on my board bed.

-I booked my first hostel!

-A fish jumped out of the tank in the market and was just flopping around in the middle of the meat section... no one did anything about it!

-I rode in a “Tudza” (“Rabbit” in English... they’re little taxis around our city. They are QUITE the experience)!

-I did my first video chat.

-September 11^th came and went and no one but our little group noticed.

-Three of us teachers got photographed for the local newspaper. (Ya... I’m pretty much a celebrity! HA! Just kidding!)

-We got excited because there was something worth eating at dinner in the cafeteria… 2 nights in a row. Definitely a record!

-I realized Peanut Butter has become one of the staple of my diet.

-Saying “thank you” in Chinese is more natural than English...

-I had my first formal Chinese class.

-Seeing fireworks nightly is the norm.

-Cierra, Samantha, and I were drawing pictures in the sand to communicate with someone.

-Our school asked us to pretty much run the English program… uh… ok? That’s not what we’re here for… we’ll just keep teaching, thanks! We’re not exactly qualified to run your school! Haha!

-I woke up with a swollen lip from a bug bite in the night… twice!

…And those are some of the times when I knew I was in China!

“More Firsts in China”

Tuesday (HAPPY BIRTHDAY, NATE!!! I love you, brother!) was mine and Cierra’s first day at our new school. We were picked up at 7:10 from our school. The school we teach at is about 40 minutes away. When we got there we were seriously like celebrities! We were escorted into the school... we are the first American teachers to teach there, so everyone was enthralled by us! We were introduced to the headmaster and given a tour of the school. Then, we FINALLY started teaching.

This is the name of our new school... ya...

The number of students at this school makes it impossible for us to use ILP’s traditional teaching method. So, pretty much we had to take all our training and everything we’ve been doing up to this point and throw it out the window. We just had to wing it! I teach 4 classes of about 20 students. Cierra has about the same load. This is these kids’ first english class... it was REALLY hard. They literally had no idea what I was saying. However, it was so cool! By the end they could do Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes and the Hokey Pokey! They could also follow all my simple commands. I taught them about 10 commands and they were able to recognize them even when I mixed them up or asked them individually. Teaching these kids is a lot of repetition, practicing, modeling, and acting things out. It’s surprisingly fun! I’ve really discovered this trip that I love teaching. I think it’s a blast! The kids were really well behaved and eager to learn, which definitely helped. They also LOVED us. We’re the fun teachers from America!


Since this is their first english class I got to give my kids their english names. My first class is full of my closest friends and family’s names. I just did it randomly, but Nancy, Brian, Nate, Cheryl, and Dan are the smartest kids in the class! So, kudos to you family! :) Alli won’t listen, Madi won’t talk, Steph rocks the middle part, Dustin is STUBBORN, and Kye picked his nose all class. The rest of you were pretty normal... HAHA! I love having little Asian children counterparts of my friends and family. It’s quite entertaining.


My second class is all the ILP volunteers’ names with a few other random names thrown in there. Stuart will be thrilled to know that his namesake just sat and hit himself with the english book all class! My third class is full of my extended family’s names and my friends’ families’ names. To make it easy for me to remember I sat them strategically... Sherri, Robert, Morgan, Darren, Chase, and Tanner all sit by each other. I sat Mark and Janna next to each other... things like that! Haha! It’s excellent!


My fourth class... well, that class has Jim and Pam (the Office) in it, but then it’s mostly Harry Potter names (the simple ones). My Arthur is the goofiest looking kid you’ll ever see! Fred and George look alike... :) (to be honest, a lot of them look alike to me... ha!) I fear I may have doomed the kid I named Tom to a life of the dark arts! And my Harry.... he has round glasses!!!! I was so excited when I saw him!


Judge me for my naming technique if you want, but I already have most of their names memorized!! :) I’ll DEFINITELY remember Harry.


Once in the morning and once in the afternoon we get a break. Miss Tao (one of the teachers who we work with) took me to the teacher office (Cierra teaches in a different building). There was this teacher there who knew no english, but was fascinated with me! She kept having Miss Tao translate things to tell and ask me. She was shocked at how “big” my family is! Every time my water got even half way empty she’d go and fill it up. And during both breaks she gave me an apple! It was so funny. I wasn’t hungry, but I didn’t want to be rude or anything.... ha! :) We were asked SO many questions. Everyone wanted to know where to visit in America. We asked where in America they were going... their answer? “Um... America!” We tried to explain the concept of states, but they just weren’t grasping it. They loved when we asked them stuff about China. It was really fun! And I think I’m going to LOVE it there!


My group is still getting along SO well! We have so much fun! Right now we’re trying to figure out what’s going to happen for vacations. It’s really hard because everyone wants to travel together, but not everyone necessarily wants to go to the same place and it’s not really practical for ALL of us to go together! I’m stoked for our first vacation! :)


The other night Cierra and I came home to a surprise on our door. Heather calls us the Wizards... we don’t really know how it happened. It just did! But this is what we found on our door:

We LOVE it! :)

On Monday night Samantha so kindly let me use her Skype (mine wouldn’t work... long story...) and I got to talk to my parents for the first time since I’ve been here! It was so fun! It’s amazing that I was here in China on Monday night and my parents were just waking up Monday morning in the states... And we could just video chat! It’s so cool! I was so happy to be able to talk to them! I don’t currently have Skype, but I have Logitech Vid now! So if anyone has that I’d love to talk to you! It just either has to be early in the morning or late evening because of the time difference! :)


I hope things are going well for everyone back at home!!! I’m having a great time! It’s already been such a worthwhile experience! Stay tuned for more adventures and more firsts!! :)

More adventures...

This weekend was awesome! We are having a lot of fun adventures here!


It all started during the day on Friday. Since Cierra and I don’t start at our school until next week we had the day off. We decided to go into downtown Wehai and get massages.... for less than 8 bucks! :) Mine was absolutely delightful! It felt so good, especially after sleeping on the “beds” we have!! Cierra either had a really strong lady or she is a pansy... We haven’t been able to decipher which yet! ;)


Friday night was karaoke night!!! :) Our AWESOME foreign coordinator, Kelly, treated us to a night of karaoke. Oh man. Let me tell you, the Chinese know how to do karaoke right!!!! Wow! The place was insane! You got these private rooms with dance lights and all this crazy stuff! It was an awesome time! I just love our group! We were all singing, dancing, and having the time of our lives! I think it says a lot about how much we’ve already bonded because no one was sitting out, scared, or holding back even the tiniest bit! It was seriously a BLAST! I wish I could take you all... but alas, it’s in China! Oh and yes, they had songs in English!




We were singing our little hearts out!




We were all just singing and dancing together. This was most of the girls in our room


This is our entire group! I love them! Kelly is the Asian in the front doing a peace sign! Awesome! haha! Love it!

Saturday our group took a bus and went to this Buddhist Temple. It was beautiful there! There was this huge water show (like the Bellagio, but not quite that level) that was really fun! We got to see a ton of statues, temples, gardens, etc. It was a good experience to see a bit more of the history/culture/beliefs of the Chinese.



These are my friends Anna and Kayla. We’re at the water show!


There was one statue that was HUGE! It seriously reminded me of going to the Statue of Liberty... just with a lot less security! ha! It was really awesome and had an AMAZING view. You could see the whole park, the mountains, the city, and the ocean. It was breathtaking.




This is the statue. Now I know what you’re thinking... “How many times did you have to try before you got that picture?” Once! Ya. Mad props to our photographer, Lauren!



Cierra, Samantha, and I got sweet parasols! Now we’re sure to fit in!


Going to the Buddhist temple was a neat experience. It was definitely peaceful there. It helped me see how there is truth all around us. While I am not Buddhist and don’t necessarily agree with all of their beliefs, I felt that there was some inspiration and truths within their practices. Being here has helped me understand and gain a stronger testimony of the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It was peaceful at this temple, but there was a spirit and feeling missing. It did make me miss being able to go to the LDS Temple every week! I am excited for when I get to do that again! :)


Today we got our Skype church to work. We have a cool set up! There were 26 different calls connected and 94 people listening in this week! I am grateful for the technology we have! It makes it possible for me to interact with people of my own faith and to keep in contact with all my friends and families at home!


Sundays are a little hard for everyone in our group. We’ve come to the conclusion that it’s because back at home we all usually spend this day with our families and have delicious food... neither of which we have here! If I were back at home I’d be going to my Grandma Slagowski’s for dinner tonight... the first Sunday of the month! I’ll DEFINITELY be thinking of that when I’m eating in the cafeteria tonight... I hope my family knows I love and miss them!! That’s what I miss most (don’t worry friends, you are a very close second!!)... My dad with his big smile and ability to make you happy (except me in the mornings...), my mom with her crazy connections and answers, my brother who entertains me nonstop, and the most perfect couple in the world- Cheryl and Dan with their constant ideas for games and fun! I am very lucky to have a friendship with my siblings and I love and miss them!


Anyway... that was kind of a rant! :) I’m excited to start at my school this next week! It will be nice to finally get our permanent assignments and classes!! I’ll let you know how that goes and keep you informed of our journeys! Love you!


I'll send the last picture next... it's being weird.

One week update!

I’ve been a resident of China for over a week now. These are some things I have learned that I think you all should know:


1. When guys are hot here they just lift up their shirts and walk around with their bellies hanging out.
2. China is like anywhere else in the respect that cafeteria food is NASTY!! When I first got here I was so worried thinking that all the food tasted like the “food” in the cafeteria. It doesn’t! I’ve been to some DELICIOUS places!


This is a group of us at a fabulous little dumpling place! YUM!

3. There are NO traffic rules. Lanes are more of a guideline.... they use their horns A LOT. They squeeze into TINY spaces, even if it means driving on the sidewalk. They don’t believe in helmets or seat belts.
4. As for pedestrians... they do not have the right of way. Crosswalks are rarely used... it’s more like a giant game of frogger.
5. Very few Chinese people believe in diapers. More often you see pants with a giant hole in the crotch and babies being held over garbage cans. Lovely...
6. People will stop to speak ANY English they know to you... which usually consists of “hello” “hi” and “beautiful”, but when you try to speak Chinese to them they just ignore you!
7. There are a million toilet shops lining the streets, yet there are “squatters” everywhere...
8. The equivalent to a “your mom...” joke is “your ancestors...”
9. Staring at white people is not rude... neither is taking pictures... or filming... or stalking... I had this one girl follow me for like 20 minutes at the beach. She kept looking at my nails, hair, and trying to read my book over my shoulder...
10. They really use fireworks to celebrate anything! They’re just always going off in the street! It’s pretty sweet!


Those are some things I have observed over the time I’ve been here! It’s really interesting immersing yourself in a different culture like this! It’s amazing how different things really are! I’m learning to love certain aspects of it. At the same time, I’m finding out how grateful I am for my own culture!


Things are going so great here for me! Our group is quite big and they’re splitting us up to teach. 9 are staying here, 8 are going to one school, and 2 are going to yet another school (then there’s our 2 head teachers. One is over the people staying, one is over the people traveling). We’re all still living here together and doing everything together, we’re just being split up to teach. Who are the lucky 2 going by themselves? That’s right, Cierra and me! Originally it was going to be Cierra, Samantha, and me, but they needed one more person in the other group, so they took Samantha from us! It’s ok though! She’s going to be teaching at a WAY nice school, so that should be great!


We don’t really have any information about the school we’ll be teaching at. All I know is that we officially start there on Monday. Chinese people tend to be a little disorganized... so, we probably won’t know details until Saturday or Sunday! Haha! Lucky us! I’m excited though! We’ve been teaching, but it’s been in random places where we’ve been needed. I’ve loved teaching and I love those kids! But I’m excited to get my permanent class! :)



These are some of the kids I've been teaching. The two in the front are Kyle and Coco! They were little angels! :)


Our group is going to start Chinese lessons soon (once again... Chinese people tend to be a little disorganized...). But I’ve been really anxious to learn! Heather will tell me how to say something (at meal time, at the store, teaching... any random time), so I’ll come back to my dorm and write it on a sticky note. Cierra and I have sticky notes covering our cabinets! We’re trying hard to learn!


Lately, Heather has been getting bombarded by our group since she’s the only one who knows Chinese. Well, she doesn’t mind HELPING people, but she really doesn’t like DOING it for them! She came in the to our room the other night and saw us trying to learn how to count! She was so excited! Cierra and I left for a few minutes, and when we came back she had labeled our room in Chinese! It’s awesome! Heather is SO hilarious and I just love her! She’s been an amazing asset and blessing to our group!




This is an example of Heather's labeling! It's ALL over our room! :)


A group of us went to the night market a few nights ago! It was way cool! I am now the proud owner of a Hello Kitty watch. I figured it would help me blend in a little! :) Plus I needed a cheap watch to keep track of class time... ha! But we saw some crazy things at the night market... skewers full of chicken heads, cockroaches, squids, and many other unnamable things. At least we don’t have that stuff in our cafeteria!!



This is my new watch. There's also a little taste of the night market in the background! haha!


I hope everything is going well back home! I’ll keep you updated! Love you!