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!