Xi'an Pictures (tour day) part 3 of 3

TOUR OF XI'AN.
we left at 9am and got back at around 7pm. Our tour guide was hillarious, though a little inappropriate at times but he was enjoyable. He started out with my name is bruce.... lee. lol. So we seriously called him bruce lee the whole time. He would tell jokes that werent that funny but the way he said them and how he cracked himself up was funny. The first place we went he made this noise like "loolooloolooloo" to get our attention and to get us to follow him. At first he said it was probably what the ban po people sounded like? lol. and at first we were just like... uh.. what? but throughout the tour it was actually smart because we always knew where he was because the sound was so weird we could hear it over all the other noise. Our tour group was cool too. There was a mom travelling with her two daughters, one high school age and the other a university student who studies in hong kong. They were french canadian, so the mom didnt speak english at all but the daughters could speak it better. The university girl, who was named evelyn was really cool. Then there was a couple from europe, a couple girls from spain, some guy from we dont know where, and then after the terra cotta soldiers we split off and joined another group which was a guy from japan and then a guy from england traveling with his girl friend from switzerland (they were really cool). So overall, probably one of the best days in china. :)

1st stop: Ban Po Museum
This museum was a sit that showed the habitation of early man. they say it dates back to the Neolithic period, so its pretty much 6,000 years old. It was really neat because of how old it was and how preserved everything was and they were talking about the significance of different things, like how the bodies they found were buried and water vessels they found and whatnot. The pictures arent that exciting and it def wasn't the highlight but it was still pretty neat to go and see.

2nd stop: Xi'an Ceramic Art and Laquer Factory
This place was pretty neat. It's the only place that can make replicas of the terra cott soldiers (either they're the only ones who can do it right, or they may just be the only people that have permission to do it). We first went in and watched a lady making some mini replicas. There were tons of replicas everywhere. they pretty much filled the room. So our tour lady for that place told us how to distinguish the different types of soldiers and their importance and whatnot. It was really neat. Then the rest of the factory was other artists working, there were people that made porceline sculptures, furniture, rugs and whatnot.

3rd stop: Emperor Qishihuang (chee-shir-hwan) Mausoleum
Creeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeepiest place ever. Seriously. Okay so this Emperor Qishihuang was one messed up guy, like for reals. He's the one that had all of the terra cotta warriors made to protect his grave and to help him into the afterlife and whatnot. So along with the thousands of slaves that died in the process of that, he also had the surviving soldiers buried alive with him, and his barren concubines were also buried alive with him. And turns out he's the emperor that originally started the great wall (a few other people continued it, he just started it). So yea this place was like a replica of his tomb? but they had like life size wax figures of the concubines and a lifesize replica of his dead body in the casket. You walk down a bunch of steps, because its like you're going down under the ground, like you're being buried. and its all dark so everythings little up. And first you see a miniature of his kingdom and the city wall and the layout then you walk into the tomb. And its this huge room where you look down onto the tomb and then surrounding you is a bunch of medium and small sized wax figurines and buildings. It was like some messed up creepy its a small world from... yea.. so it was just creepy.

4th stop: TERRA COTTA SOLDIERS
yes. its as amazing as everybody says it is and even more so. I never thought i'd be that excited to see the terra cotta soldiers but once our trip was set and we knew we were going to, it set in. Seeing the terra cotta soldiers was probably one of the most awesomest things i've ever done. It was just ridiculously amazing. The place is divided into 3 pits. The first one is what you see pictures from all the time. Its the room with hundreds and hundreds of them all lined up. In the back in a bunch that still have pieces missing. Pit 2 is still being excavated but it has all the different types of soldiers on display in glass cases so you can see them up close. And pit 3 is what they think was the command center, but alot of it has been destroyed. Oh really cool thing. We actually got to see the man who discovered them. He found a head in his well one day and thats how it got discovered. But he was at a shop signing books. It was sad because he was like 80-ish years old and just there signing books. But it was way neat that we actually got to see him. But they were way strict about taking pictures. but yea, enjoy :)

5th stop: Huaqing Hot Springs
Huaqing Hot Spring is famed for both its dainty spring scenery and the romantic love story of Emperor Xianzon and his concubine Yang Guifei in the Tang Dynasty. This place was a just a pretty place that we walked through. There was the place where Chang kai-shek stayed as part of the Xi'an incident. It was a pretty big deal but i think its one of those things that you cant get the real story inside china. So yea you can look that up and read about it on your own. But the rest were pools, and baths and fountains where Emperor Xianzon bathed and what not. The love story was really like he stole his son's wife to make as his concubine but it was all romanticized. It was just a really pretty place and we paid .5 yuan to go use the fountain. You can wash your hair or face but we just rinsed our hands in it. It was so warm, or hot.... since it was a hot springs...

Rest of the day Saturday
So the tour van headed back and dropped us back at the hostel. We just hung out for a little bit then Chantelle and I wanted to head back to Muslim Street and lisa said she wanted to go with us and adam from australia tagged along. It was so much fun. Adam is a really really cool guy. we just went down bargaining alley again got some muslim food and just hung out. At the end we went through a tunnel to get home and there was a bunch of people there that drew faces, not like goofy caricatures , but like real pictures. and we thought it'd be a fun experience. We're pretty sure we got a really crappy guy because lisa got eyes that were in two different directions, adam looked like a pretty 12 year old boy, i looked like a boy and chantelle looked like a sad old lady. it was bad but we didnt care if it looked good. we were going to try to make copies of it but we forgot before we left so adam has it and i have a picture sort of of it. And on the way back home there was a group of like 19 year old chinese boys who asked to take a picture with them (it happens all the time with like couples, and families, and boys and whatnot) so we humored them and took a picture with them and then headed home. :)

over all, pretty darn good day.

xi'an pictures!! (ps dad its pronounced SHEE-AN) part 2 of 3

traveling to xi'an (pretty self explanatory)

Xiangzimen Int'l Youth Hostel.
seriously the coolest hostel ever. totally old china architecture. it was just one big long hostel. the pictures were taken as i just walked through the hostel, so they're in order. first you walk in and you're in the lobby (theres not a picture of it sorry) then you go outside to a courtyard with a little table. then the second building (which i think just had maintenance rooms), then over a stepping stone outside to the third building. first its an eating area then it opens up to the rooms, stairs on bother sides of the room. we were on the second floor, bathrooms were down the hall and showers on the third floor. then still downstairs if you kept walking you go into the bar/lounge/restuarant (which had way way good food) then out the other side of the hostel and you pretty much are face to face with the city wall.

Xi'an,
this is downtown xi'an, within the city walls. it was full of huge shopping centers and huge malls and way high fashion stores like prada, gucci and whatnot. this guy at our hostel told us to go to muslim street. and thats pretty much where we spent all of our time. it was a long road and then there was a huge long ally of bargaining booths set up. it was way fun. we felt like we were back at yangshuo. and there was some way good muslim food too. we tried these pita bread things covered in spices and then there a picture of this thin tortilla filled thing we had that was deep fried. soo good. we can definately tell we're not in the south anymore. the north is famous for its spices. but we spent most of our time there and found another side street called city god temple street where shrines and a temple were located in the farthest part of the street. you get around going through underground sidewalks. it looks like it'd be a subway or something but its just huge halls. but we instantly fell in love with xi'an and it was a hard place to leave.

xi'an. part 1 of 3

friday march 21, 2008
yesterday we arrived in xi'an at about 11pm. we're here with girls from the kaiyin school and some of them had to teach thursday, so chantelle and me picked up a girl sharon from kaiyin and got here thursday night. sharon actually was one of the girls chantelle and me carpooled with in rexburg to get to the ilp training in Salt Lake City. so we actually knew her before so it was pretty cool. it was about a two hour bus ride and two hour flight to get here. and everything went AMAZINGLY smooth. dont worry, things like that dont go unnoticed with me, or at least i try to make sure they dont get passed by.
xi'an is AMAZING. i thought it would just be a little place of old china not much. but this city is HUGE. theres a big fatty mall right in the center of town and everything else seems like its shopping. alot of it is high fashion stuff like prada and louie voutton and what not. but its just busting full of people. and its what i thought china was going to look like. the architecture here of the buildings still has the old china pagoda-ness to it but has western and regular stores. our hostel is AMAZING!! seriously. coolest hostel ever. and the people here are SO SO nice. we have a 4 bed mixed dorm with 3 of us, so we dont think they'll put a fourth person in it. the only downside is that bathrooms are down the hall and showers are a floor up. but seriously the awesomeness of this hostel makes up for it.

stories of the day:
so 3 of us arrived thursday and the rest of the group showed up today (friday) at like 5:30 so chantelle, sharon and me thought we'd just explore a bit today. so one of the guys at the hostel told us about this muslim market street. it was about 15 minutes from the hostel and was AWESOME. it made us feel like we were back in yangshuo. total bargaining street. it was still chinese, but they have a bunch of muslim kabob/ pita bread / other food restuarants. its just a really neat place.

okay, so i've wanted like a little mini flute, and i figured i'd just get one in beijing but we found like these stone egg flute things. its really cool i'll take a picture of it. so we saw them at the booths at the beginning of the muslim street and saw them pretty much everywhere. so since we're bargaining pros we'd ask everyone what they were willing to pay. somebody said like 35 yuan, but another lady started at 10. so i'm like sweet i can get a smaller one for like 5 yuan. so we go through the whole street and i see some booth and a guy has them. so i ask how much and he says 65 yuan. i pretty much laughed in his face. literally. so i start to walk away and they always go "okay okay, give me price and they have a calculator out. so i'm like seriously? seriously? how much i want to pay and i push the 5 button and he's like no! no! no and i'm like yes yes yes (seriously this was the converstaion. so i told him i can get it for 5 yuan at a booth right down the street. so he's like okay and he punches in 15 and i'm like no.. so i walk away and once you walk away thats when they go down. so he's like okay okay! 5 yuan so i go back and now i'm just picking out which one i want and theres like 3 sizes and he picks up a medium sized one. he says this one is much better and taps it to show me the deeper sound. so i said yes but this one is 5 yuan. but he plays it for me and says he can give it to me for 10 yuan. so i'm like, alright i'll get that one. this is the best part. i handed him a 20 yuan bill and he gets my change and like bows to me when he hands it to me and puts the flute egg in a bag and bows to me again, and of course i bow back as i receive and we're both just smiling that, my friend is when you know you are a good bargainer. haha. it was funny.

then the rest of the kaiyin group girls showed up at around 5:30. they had to leave friday because they taught late on thursday.

and we were so excited we saw a poster up for dumpling making party at 8pm on friday nights. so of course we went. and it was so much fun! we made so many little ones. and we met some cool people. i'm seriously in love with hostels just because of all the people you meet. we met this red headed guy (we never did catch his name) and he was just doing a world tour. its ridiculous how many people we meet that are just touring the world because they can. he was like late 20's i think and from america. and he was traveling with damien, from FRANCE. they met at a hostel in beijing and just decided to keep travelling with each other. so pretty much spent the night with redhead guy and damien eating dumplings. :) its so ridiculous. i feel like this is all made up sometimes.

okay well the other girls booked an 8 bed mixed dorm room and there were actually a couple other guys staying in their room. (a bit awkward, but what can you do..) and some of them were actually american. but one of them was a guy named adam from AUSTRALIA. seriously for reals i love international hostels.

then the girls said they saw a WALMART!! on the way in so of course we had to go. lol. then me and chantelle went back to muslim street and then just headed home. for the night. but def in love with xi'an. ♥♥

(ps. the connection at the hostel's really wierd/not good, so pictures are going to have to wait until i get back to guzhen. sorry!! but theres a lot of goodens!!! i promise!! it'll be worth the wait)

the day china hated jessica

so chantelle and me wanted to go to xiaolan today just to explore. so, projected plan we take the 4:10 shuttle, and go exploring xiaolan, and we had a couple of things we wanted to look for and then take either the 7:50 or 9:10 shuttle back
good to go right?
ha
so we take the 4:10 shuttle and we're on it
and its only us and another guy
so it takes approx 25 minutes to get to xiaolan if he just takes the straight way there
but this is the most unpredictable bus driver, he has a bunch of ways he always goes but we're used to it
well this time we start going the regular way and he turns into some alley road
and we're like uh.. alright. never been this way cool
well traffic was really bad on the main road
so we're thinking he's just avoiding traffic
but then he turns to a road that headed us back in guzhen direction
and we're like, um.. okay
so pretty much like half an hour later we're back on the main road heading to xiaolan again
so pretty much waste of time
then we're going and he takes a completely different way we've never ever seen
like we passed all of these tree farms and all of this stuff
okay so we get to a kind of townish part, because before we were somwhere out in the country
and then the bus driver just pulls off to the side and we're like oh maybe he's dropping this guy off,
no he turns off the bus and just sits there
and the guys just sitting there like nothings happening
so we're like um.. alright
maybe he's just waiting for something
so we wait like 15 minutes
and these guy just dont even acknowledge us
so we have no idea whats going on
and the drivers talking to this other guy on the bus and we hear him say 7 oclock
so we're like um, is he just going to sit here for 2 hours until his next run?
because i think he was too late for the xiaolan pickup/dropping us off
and they're not telling us anything
so we're kind of laughing kind of like what the heck
so finally we're just like okay lets just get off and get a taxi to the RT mart (the mall in xiaolan)
so we go up to the driver and are like okay let us off and they just laugh at us as he opens the door and gives a retarded buh-bye to us
and we're kind of peeved at this point in time
oh yea
so
its pouring today by the way
like raining non-stop
aaaaaand my umbrella broke
okay so we get off the bus and are walking in the rain to a street we see where we might catch a taxi
the whole time just cursing this guys name
so we're walking down the street and no taxis are driving by
so after about 15 minutes of walking we're like, ugh.. should we just get a motor-taxi?
and i pretty much was okay with going through my china experience never having to ride one of these
its a guy on a motorcycle and you get on the back
so we decided to do it, but i'm like um.. i dont want to ride alone can we see if me and chantelle can ride together
so we find 2 callie's on one and me and chantelle are on another
and we're just going down the road for a bit. and holy crap we have no idea where the shuttle driver was taking us because number one we were still in guzhen and number 2 we were pretty much in the middle of nowhere
so we're riding along and our guy is following callie's guy
and then we get back to the main road headed to xiaolan, so we're like oh good, something familiar
then we take a turn and split up from callie
mind you when i say we're going through traffic, we go through the traffic
as in squeeze past cars like 6 inches away from us
go on sidewalks
whatnot
chinese driving
and its two girls on the back of a motorcycle i'm just holding onto the guys jacket and chantelle's holding onto me, and we dont have helmets and chinese driving scares us enough without having to be on a motorcycle
so we split off and then we get to this bridge we normally cross
well our guys on the wrong side of the road on a motorbike sidewalk
and he just stops in the middle of the bridge and says something in chinese
and we're pretty sure he wants us to get off
and we're like um. no.
we're not at the RT mart
so we keep saying du fan yen (thats how you say it)
and pointing
and finally he takes us across the bridge and then just stops
and we're like um, what?!
and we see his gage is on empty so we're like oh, maybe he's just run out of gas
and the traffics pretty bad so we're like oh, maybe he just cant get through.
but after we thought he ran out of gas we pulled up a little more, so clearly we still had gas
and then we sat there on the side of the road and waiting for no joke like 20 minutes and we get off the motortaxi
because we're just kind of confused
and we wait long enough to where the traffics cleared
so we have no idea why this guy stopped
so we're standing there and the guys not going anywhere and not acknowledging us at all
so we're just confused
so we try motion to him and tell him we're just going to walk
so then he says something in chinese and then goes on ignoring us
so we're like.. um.. what?
so we try and figure out if he just wants us to wait and he'll take us or if we're done and he wants us to pay him
after prolly 25 minutes of standing next to him we just hand him some money and say we're walking
so then we're out in the middle of nowhere
we always cross that bridge to get to xiaolan and its pretty much at the beginning of the shuttle ride
so we're like nowhere
so we walk
in the rain some more
and we're just trying to find a taxi at this point
but again no taxi
and i swear this wasnt a coincidence
but we see one of our vans from our kindergarten that takes kids home
and we see one of the drivers we always say hi to
and he honks and waves at us
probably thinking what the heck are the english teachers doing out here
so he offered us a ride but we asked what direction the RT mart was and he pointed us in the right direction
so we thank him and go off walking
and we give in and just get another motor taxi
ugh
and thankfully this guy takes us to the RT mart
but on this one there was nowhere to put my feet so i just had to hold them up
and its pouring, and we dont have hoods or umbrellas
and pretty much just got puddle after puddle in my shoe
so we got there
at 6:10
a 25 minute shuttle ride, took us 2 freaking hours.

oh china.

buh bye andrew

because of high demand i'm going to try to do this everyday

cute kid story of the day:
i'm teaching drama and kitchen this week (we each have two subjects) and for drama i did mary had a little lamb. i made a little lamb hat with ears on it from paper and cotton balls and had the lamb where that and then we have wigs and costumes, so i had mary wear a blonde wig. the kids were hillarious. apple was in the first class i did it with and he played the lamb and when i asked him what do lambs say its stick his tongue out kind of and make a loud "baaaaa" sound. even if i gave him a line to say, he'd still just make the noise.
i also switched the story a bit. so we have a strike system with the kids where they get a strike if they break a rule. 3 strikes, you're out, 4 strikes you dont get store (prizes redeemed for the tokens they got that day) and then i dont know how it happened but 10 strikes, and we throw you out the window (we're on the second story). so whenever we go over the rules they always shout at us "10 strikes!! 10 strikes!" and we're like "yea, 10 strikes and we throw you out the window" and they started this funny thing, theres a kid andrew who always gets a bunch of strikes, so they started saying "buh-bye andrew" in a higher voice as they wave out the window and then they do a soaring noise and then a andrew-just-got-squished-on-the-ground-dying noise. its funny. (teachers have been known to get thrown out of a window too "buh-bye teacher jessica...) so part of the mary had a little lamb was the teacher threw the lamb out the window and we all said, "buh-bye laaaaamb." it was way cute.

oh and chantelle made two kids cry today. ha ha. okay so she didnt make them cry, they just cried in her class, and it was two of the boys. one of them had this chapstick thing that he would not give to chantelle and she gave him a strike and got stern with him and he still wouldnt give it to her. we think he might've taken his mom's or something because when she finally took it he just broke down and started sobbing. so chantelle let him go put it in his packpack instead and that seemed to calm him down a bit. but it was just kind of funny. and then the class right after that paul started crying because chantelle wouldnt let him go to the bathroom. they get to go one time during class (it used to be 2 but they abused that priveledge). and so paul had already gone and he asked to go again so chantelle told him he already went his one time. and i guess that really upset him. i dont think he had to go it was just that he couldnt. he kept saying "teacher? bathroom?" in the sad puppy dog eyed way. and started crying. so chantelle had a bit of a rough day. i have kitchen this week which pretty much makes me the favorite and most anticipated teacher to get to through the rotations.

we're going to xiaolan tonite for FHE with the xiaolan group. we take a free shuttle that drops us off like 5 minutes from their school in front of this huge shopping mall. but its funny because when we have the catch the one back, its the last one for the night so theres a mass of people outside waiting for their bus. and as soon as they see which one they need they start booking it into the streets, barely letting the bus pull in. so its always an adventure. people dont know what lines are in china. people just cut anyone at anytime and nobody seems to care, but when you need to get on a shuttle, its do or die. its funny because people are shoving us as we're trying to make sure all of us get on and i'm usually just laughing because none of these little guys are getting past me. and its just a swarm of people just to cram themselves into the tiny space of the bus door. so yea. mondays are pretty much an adventure.
wish us luck that we all make it on tonite :)

weekend in guangzhou

this weekend we travelled to Guangzhou (gwang-joe) for district conference for church. it was about a 2 and a half hour bus drive and it was kind of unfortunate because callie, our head teacher, gets motion sick really bad so she actually got off at the stop in xiaolan and just came back because she got sick. so that was sad.

this weekend has been kind of a thinking week for me. i've just thought about a lot. i think it started when we sat next to two business men from egypt, and i'm just sitting on the bus and thinking to myself um.. theres an egyptian sitting next to me. what? like this stuff doesnt happen to me. i'm the one who hears about it from somebody that has these experiences or watches it on tv. it doesnt actually happen. i think its finally sunk in that i'm in china. and its what only been about 2 months.

so we (chantelle, jae and me) stayed at a youth hostel on bar street. its pretty much the night life street and its pretty sweet, if you're into bars but it has some pretty good restaurants and its right on the waterfront of the pearl river. so that was really pretty to get to look at everyday. and at the hostel the cheapest room was a dorm room where theres 3 bunk beds so you actually just share a room and you have a big locker to store your stuff. so since there was only 3 of us there were just random ladies that would show up or i'd wake up with some stranger in front of me. it was a neat experience..? haha. really it was alright. i love international hostels because they're just busting full of foreigners like the first night i sat down in the lounge on the internet and theres a group of people from england just laughing and having a good time outside singing some drinking song (which actually got really annoying after a while) but theres just tons of people you see from germany, russia, and the middle east. its just a cool environment to be in.
we just explored a bit around there while we were in guangzhou and found some sweet shopping streets. and then we took a taxi to the hotel where our meetings were held.

saturday it was at this fu cheng gardens place and then sunday we had it at the ramada inn. pretty much never thought i'd ever have church at the ramada. lol. oh so funny story, callie volunteered the four of us here in guzhen to actually sing at this district conference. ha. and callie gets conveniently sick. lol. but i actually think it went really well, jae and chantelle are amazing singers so they covered up my mediocreness. but i think we sounded really good.

we also met some new friends. so we went to the saturday night session and this district conference was with people from the shenzhen branch (ours) and the guangzhou branch. so we met 2 girls and a guy named gilbert who were from the phillipines. the girls were teachers and gilbert was a designer. and then there were two other guys from the states that are here on an internship from BYU. and really wierd but jae actually knew one of them like him and her boyfriend are really really good friends, he was from idaho and totally had the idaho accent that just reminded me of rexburg. so after the meeting we went to mcdonalds and got some ice cream and hung out.

Brother Garn was our main speaker, he's the asia area authority. so that was really neat to get to hear him speak. and after the sunday session they fed us at the inn and then we got a young single adult session with him which was really good and way neat.

just meeting all of these people and getting to experience all of this has just made me so grateful for everything. getting to be here and live with the chinese people and getting to experience a new way of life has just been really humbling and i hate to say it but i dont know how i'm going to leave. its tearing my heart in two and theres still like 3 months left.. uh..

sleeping through the static

so we're pretty much happy because its warmed up quite a bit here in guzhen.
tomorrow we leave for guangzhou to go to district conference for church. we have meetings saturday and sunday but are leaving tomorrow (friday) so that we can explore a bit because guangzhou supposedly is a pretty neat place. so we're excited about that.

and now its looking like we're actually going to head to xi'an next weekend. we have a four day weekend because of easter (they give it to us off). so we were going to go in may, but found plane tickets like $100 dollars cheaper, so we're pretty stoked about that. it will be chantelle, me and 5 other girls from the kaiyin group. (ps. xi'an is where we'll go see the terra cotta warriors)
alright um.. for other news. we had duck today. which we've had before but never knew what it was. its pretty good, we just have to eat it off the bone.

oh i know i havent done this in a while. cute kid story:
so we have this girl bree (in the picture), who is the tiniest cutest little girl, she looks like a doll. and she's also probably the smartest student in the class. like at least a couple of levels above the other children, like she can form her own sentences and all that good stuff. something a couple of the kids like to do with us before and after class is they'll just point to things and say "teacher?" and we say "thats a book" or "thats a chair" and whatnot. well we have our supply closet in the backroom of a classroom they dont use anymore but the kids wander in there sometimes. and bree will come in a start pointing to things, and sometimes she teaches us the chinese. well callie was walking with her and bree was just pointing to stuff. and there was something that bree was making a mess of and callie says, "bree, thats gross." and bree just nonchalantly goes, "teacher, you is gross." i just started busting up from the backroom because i was just cutting something out. and i'm like oh no bree, i know you did not just do a comeback. it was hillarious. and then she pointed to the garbage can and callie said, "thats garbage." and bree says, "teacher, you is garbage." its so funny because she'll just say it so matter of factly like doesnt even realize what she's saying. its funny. so thats our new thing to say to each other is "you is gross".

other than that we just have another chinese lesson and are just keeping up with these little buggers. we're on the second story and andrew decided to throw a handful of kleenexs out the window. lol. he was embarassed when callie walked down with him to go pick them up. its the little things like that that just make you want to hug them and strangle them at the same time.
but i'm loving it here and alls well. :)

harry....potter?

thursday we had our second chinese lesson with tina. tina is a our native coordinator now that lucy went back home. we LOVE LOVE LOVE tina. she's even tinier than lucy and is the cutest girl ever. she's 24 and she used to be a teacher in xiaolan (shaow-lawn) (the town next to us). she does the funniest thing that is just hillarious. so she's taught us that chinese people also communicate through sounds and face expressions. lol. we've learned this from just being around her. if theres something that surprises her or is kind of shocking she'll do this noise kind of like an awhhhhhh? and with her eyes as big as can be. lol. i wish i could record it and have it so you can hear it. its funny. but she does it to everything.
so she is teaching us mandarin now every thursday and she is a very good teacher. lol. but i think we make her tired. and i think we're coming along pretty well but we still get pronounciations wrong and say a lot of bad words that make tina embarrassed. for example callie had a spot of dirt on her coat and she asked tina how to say this is dirty. and apparently you're supposed to like point to the spot and casually say it but i pointed at callie and said it a little strong, and apparently when you do that you call them a prostitute. and instead of saying dad (baba) callie said sh**. haha. tina wouldnt even tell us what she said. whenever we say something bad we have to force tina to tell us, but she gets embarassed for us so she wrote it on the white board. she's cute
and as for new news (you know compared to the old news i give you.) there is a new teacher that works for bond. bond being the english teaching company that we work for. but anyways new teacher, he's 24 and from ENGLAND!! his name is harry and when tina told us that callie goes, "potter?.." haha. it was funny. and then we found out his name is Harry Waters. lol. i love that it rhymes with potter. anyways. he's way tall, like 6'4'' and we've figured out that he is probably the most arrogant person we've ever met. ha. but he has an accent so its okay. haha. no but seriously he's fun to be around and he seems like a cool guy, just some of the things he says, oh man. lets just say he needs to take some classes in humility along with his mandarin classes. but its way cool that he's here now and he's way fun. and dom, an australian teacher who's worked for bond for forever is back from his vacation. he's older, probably mid-thirties a bit on the stout side but way fun and so so funny. so we have a cool little group at the bond office.
okay and then friday night tina invited us over to her apartment. she actually lives with gary, his wife bella, and nina (another employee at bond). and i've actually been a tad under the weather the week and lost my voice (which didnt help when my job is speaking english all day). so tina said she knew this good pear drink she could make me and then she would cook us dinner!! we were so excited. we want her to teach us how to cook but she thinks she's not a good cook at all. so the pear drink was pretty much hot melted rock candy. haha. with a pear slice in it. it was really good, just really really sugary. but dinner. oh my gosh. SO SO good. we are going to force tina how to cook. because it was amazing. and harry came over that night too for dinner. it was fun.
then tonite (saturday) dom started this english corner thing on saturdays. its where chinese people learning english can come and practice their english. so we go so we can talk people and they can use us for practice. it was way fun. i talked to two girls lori and fionna. who were so cute.
it was way way awkward but went well enough. we're going to try and go every saturday if we can. its just such a good opportunity for us to make some friends! and dom is so happy when we come. him and harry seem to run it now. so we all get to hang out, its just way fun. i'll try and get a picture of them so you can have a face to put with the stories. :)

next friday we head to guangzhou for district conference for church so we're pretty stoked about that. we have meetings on saturday and sunday but we're going friday after we get done teaching so we can explore guangzhou because i spose its a pretty neat place. and we (as in the four of us here in guzhen) volunteered to sing in church? dont ask how that happened but i'm just glad we all have pretty decent voices. so wish us luck!

so this is WAY WAY overdo

okay so in case you still think i'm living in some hole in the ground.

this is my apartment.

(and the wall of boys is our joke. there's this magazine called EASY which is like for preteens that callie always buys. the wierd thing is that all the boys look like girls. so i decided to put them up on my wall. but in all seriousness we have our love eyes set on three in particular, wang leehom, jay chou and pan wei bo. all are singers and very very goodlooking. theres a picture of a band with a white boy in the middle, short version of a very funny story, his name is benji, he's from idaho, went on a mandarin speaking mission to australia and was on chinese pop idol and is now trying to make it as a pop star. callie's met him at the branch in shanghai. needless to say he's a big fat joke. our favorite is wang leehom who is callie's and i have jay chou (he's the one in the giant picture) (pan wei bo is second on the top left) (i'm yet to find a good wang lee hom one). so dont think i'm serious. its just my joke. but i love them all, all the same)

and i'm sorry these are soo late.

oh yea.. and this little guy snuck into our lunch pales the other day and gave us a bit of a fright/

this is chicken soup, china style. (we drained the broth)