Guiyang

We are in Guiyang and it is freaking beautiful here! But before I get into that I need to tell you about our adventures at the night market that I mentioned in my last post. This was Thursday, our last night in Beijing, and we took a subway to a different part of the city where they have this really big night market. This is where you can eat some weird stuff.. like scorpions or starfish or squid. Of course Lindsay and I didn't try any of that but some of the others in our group did. They just have these living scorpions on sticks and when you want one they fry them up! Gross. We did get this really good fruit kabob thing that they caramelized so it has like a hard sugary coating and that was super yummy! I also bought a bamboo flute from this super nice guy who let me bargain the price down pretty cheap.

Scorpions on a stick anyone?

Our fruit kabobs! Mine are strawberries, Lindsay's has grapes and some mystery fruit..

So after we walked through the whole thing, Lindsay, Chris and I decided we were going to head back to the hotel instead of waiting for the group and our mentors. We were pretty sure we knew how to get back to the subway station buuuut... we were wrong. We totally got lost. In the middle of Beijing. At night. And it was raining. We wandered for awhile, trying to find something that looked familiar and we tried to ask people where the subway was but no one understood. Finally we found a different subway station and were able to get back just fine. Haha it was quite the adventure though and we were all exhausted after that.

So Friday morning the four of us going to Guiyang were up before everyone so we could head to the airport. They pretty much just gave us our flight info and sent us in a van to the airport. It was a little confusing trying to navigate a Chinese airport that we've never been to before but we figured it out. The flight was about 3 hours which wasn't bad. They even gave us a meal on the plane.

When we got to the airport in Guiyang, a guy named Marcus picked us up. He is an English teacher at the school we will be teaching at. He's very nice and bought us some KFC at the airport. Then he drove us to a hotel and checked us in for two days. We were a little confused because we thought we would be moving into our apartments right away. We tried to get some info from him but it didn't seem to know much. He told us another girl from the school, April, would be coming by later to give us more info. So we all decided a nap was a good idea while we waited for April. She still hadn't shown up even hours later so we were pretty confused about the situation for awhile. Luckily she did show up later that afternoon with Marcus and was able to tell us more about what was going on.

So, Lindsay and I are teaching elementary school on their original campus and Chris and Evan are actually teaching middle school at their new campus that is not too far. The original campus used to be elementary and middle school but now it is just elementary school and the new campus is for middle and high school. She said the reason she was late is because they were super busy moving stuff to the new campus all day. So Lindsay and I will be living in apartments close to our campus and the boys will actually be living on the new campus in the dorms.

After April left we walked around outside our hotel to find something for dinner. The neighborhood is cute and we saw some random chickens all over just wandering freely.. haha. We got some really yummy fried dumplings from a guy selling them on the street. He didn't speak any English but some young students helped to translate for us which was very nice! And he had these tiny, kid sized tables on the sidewalk to sit on so that was interesting. After we ate we bought some fruit and bread that we were planning on eating for breakfast the next day. And some popsicles for dessert, of course. Then we all hung out and watched Mulan. Fitting right? Then we got a call from April asking if she could take us to breakfast tomorrow and show us the schools.

Our first Guiyang meal together :3

So Saturday morning we met April and her fiance, Laughing (yes, that is his English name. April doesn't like it) and they took us to breakfast near the elementary school campus. I haven't mentioned this yet but China drivers are crazy! In Beijing as well. They just kind of do whatever it takes to get where they need to go, even if it means cutting each other off or crossing a double yellow to get around someone. And no one seems to care, it is just the way it is done! Anyway, for breakfast we had rice noodles and beef and it was actually pretty yummy. Then we toured our campus which very cute and I am really excited to teach there! Then we headed over to the new campus which is beautiful. It is up on a hill and has a stellar view of the city and surrounding hills. There was still a lot of construction going on at that school but we got to see most of it. April's office is going to be at the new campus so she has been moving her stuff there.

After that, they took us to the mall downtown that also has a Carrefour super market underneath. They helped us gather some things that we would need for our apartments like towels, laundry detergent, hangers, etc. So nice of them! We met Marcus there as well then they took us to a Thai restaurant for lunch. I realized that the best part of family style meals is that if you don't like one of the dishes, you can just eat the dishes that you like and not feel bad like you are wasting the ones that you don't like. Haha, I say that because there were a few of the dishes that were super yummy and others that were.. well weird. Like soup with sea urchins. Over all it was yummy and we had a good time getting to know April, Laughing and Marcus. They're just awesome!

Now we are back at our hotel, probably just going to hang out till tomorrow when we get to move in to our apartments! I can't wait! This city is seriously just so gorgeous! It is surrounded by green mountains and hills. It is nice and cool temperature wise for the most part. I definitely think we are going to love it here! And no, I haven't taken any pics of the city to show you yet, but I'm working on it!

Beijing continued...

Day 4: August 26
This morning we went to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. It was hot and a lot of walking but really cool! A lot of Chinese people asked to take our picture throughout the day and as soon as one person came up to ask, a bunch of others decided it was okay so we would just do a ton all at once. I still can't get over how funny it is! When we get to Guiyang it will probably be even more of an occurrence because they don't see as many foreigners out there. Anyway, after we walked through the Forbidden City, we went to Jiangshan Park right behind it where you can climb a hill to a little temple at the top and it has a beautiful view of the whole city! It was probably my favorite part. Inside the temple was a giant gold statue that was absolutely breathtaking but we weren't allowed to take pictures. Some people were bowing and burning incense. It was beautiful.

Tiananmen Square

Lindsay!

This place is so huge.

This girl wanted to take a selfie but she didn't know the word for it in English so we got to teach her!

The gorgeous view from the top of Jiangshan Park

We were pretty tired out by now!

 When we got back there were a these five girls playing out in front of our hotel so we started talking to them and asked if they wanted to play a game. They were so excited so we taught them red light, green light and they loved it! We also taught them head, shoulders, knees and toes which they picked up so quick! It was cool because we got to help them with some of their English and they taught us some Chinese words. They loved when we took pictures of them or videos! When we had to go back inside to meet with our group to go to dinner, they followed us into the lobby and tried to hide from the hotel staff so they wouldn't get kicked out, it was so funny! Some of our group was there and so the girls showed them head, shoulders, knees and toes. They also loved Emma, the director's 5 year old daughter. They were hugging her and picking her up and Emma was just loving the attention! It was so fun!

Then we went and had noodles for dinner before going to the acrobat show! That was seriously so entertaining! There were these girls that could bend and twist there bodies all crazy. And these guys that did cool tricks on this giant, double hamster wheel type contraption that spun around. And acrobats jumping through hoops and they put like 10 ladies on one bicycle riding around in these cool formations. The coolest though was the finale. They had a huge metal spherical cage and a guy on a motorcycle covered in light went in and was riding all around the inside of the sphere. Then they kept adding more motorcyclists until there were 8 total! They were just spinning all around and never hit each other. It was insane.


Day 5: August 27
We had training in the morning, before which I skyped with my family which was nice. Our training meetings have been really helpful and gotten me so excited to start teaching! Then we grabbed a quick lunch and took the Subway for 17 stops to the Summer Palace. The palace was cool but my favorite thing was that it was just surrounded by trees and gardens. It was beautiful! It was a pretty hot day though and we were pretty tired out. I also didn't take a ton of pics because I realized I left my SD in my laptop instead of putting it back in my camera, so I just had to use my phone.

This a little stream just covered in lilypads!

When we got back, Lindsay and I decided to just grab some snacks and veg out and watch a movie. We wanted to see a movie in the theater but we couldn't figure out how to find showtimes so we settled for netflix. I have become obsessed with these fruit snacks called QQ something. They're so yummy so we stocked up on those. Haha oh side note: while we were walking back to the hotel after grabbing some snacks, we saw this little boy run out of his house, butt-naked, and just go pee on the side of the rode then run back inside. It was so funny! It is pretty common though for kids to just pee on the road. And baby clothes have just an open butt so instead of diapers I guess their parents just hold them somewhere to let them go. It is definitely different!

We actually found regular flavored potato chips!

Yum Yum!

Day 6: August 28
Hey, I've caught up! Not a lot of excitement today. We had more training this morning and they prepped us for heading off to our separate cities tomorrow. Most people are taking a train (some for up to 9 hours) but because our Guiyang is farthest out, we get to take an airplane. It is only about a 2-3 hour flight but we are leaving earlier than everyone. We leave at 6 AM. Woo. There are four of us going to Guiyang; me, Lindsay, Chris and Evan. They are cool and we have already talked about some cool stuff we want to while we are there!

We had one last group lunch at the same place we had a first group lunch. It went by so fast! I am sad to be leaving our little Hutong and the rest of the group, but I am excited to get settled into our city. Tonight we are going to a Night Market where I guess they have all sorts of weird food and stuff so that should be fun!

Anyways, I am finally updated! My next post will be from Guiyang!

Beijing Baby!!

Hi friends! I'm in CHINA!!!

I haven't had access to my blog and Facebook because of China's firewall, but I got my VPN to work so now I've got some catching up to do! 

The flights weren't too bad but I wasn't able to get much sleep so I ended up being awake for over 24 hours by the time we got to our hotel. It's a nice little hotel right in the middle of a hutong which is like a little neighborhood made up of narrow streets/alleys. It is so cool! There are always people out on the streets selling food and playing cards and such. Right outside the hutong there are bigger, busier streets full of shops and restaurants. It is pretty hot and quite humid here and there is not a lot of AC. It was rough at first but I think I am getting used to it. I've learned that the men around here deal with the heat by walking around with their shirts pulled up over their bellies (no matter the age or belly size) or no shirt at all. And they slap their bellies! We also saw one guy just hanging out in his silk PJ bottoms. No shame!!

Hutong early in the morning before it was busy

Day One: Saturday, August 23
Even though I was exhausted Friday night when we got to the hotel, I still woke up a like 3 am thanks to jet lag! Luckily I have adjusted now, though that makes it harder to get up early. Lindsay and I were up pretty early and had some time to walk around the hutong and buy our first Chinese meal for a sweet lady on the street. We tried  frthisy bread type stuff and I tried a little bun of some sort covered in seeds. Lindsay also got bouza which is like a dumpling. We bought it then found some steps to sit and eat on when some sweet lady came up to us to give us some cardboard to sit on, it was so nice of her! Them we all gathered in a conference room of the hotel for some ESL and language training. We learned some mandarin words and phrases and a little bit about how to teach English. We also got prepped for our trip to the Pearl Market later that day by learning how to barter in Chinese. 

After training we went to a restaurant for a group lunch that was pretty darn good! We had a family style meal which means they bring out a big bowl of rice and then a bunch of other dishes and put it in the middle and you just serve yourself! My favorite was the kung pow chicken. We also had these like green beans that were crunchy-ish and salty that were pretty good. They were cooked with sichuan peppers and if you eat one, it numbs your tongue! It was weird and kinda fun. I also loved these little fried buns that you dip in sweetened condensed milk. So yummy! I am still horrible at using chop sticks though.. haha.

Some of my new friends!

After lunch we went the Pearl Market. They sell all sorts of stuff like knock-off name brand purses and watches and stuff. But the pearls and the silk are real and you can get them for a cheap price... if you barter for it. Luckily, most of the shop keepers spoke English which was good because I certainly wasn't comfortable with my Chinese phrases yet. They are crazy through. They will LITERALLY pull you into their shop and try to get you to buy something. Lindsay and I discovered that the ladies on the purse/wallet floor were the most aggressive. I had two ladies, one one each arm holding me there, trying to convince me that I needed a Michael Kors wallet. Haha it was nuts, but mostly fun! I bought a silk robe and a pearl bracelet. I was pretty proud of by bartering skills too. The key is to act like you are not really interested and start walking away. Works every time. We were pretty tired out after the pearl market (stupid jet lag) so we just bought some dinner from a corner market and went to bed.

Lindsay trying to get a good deal on some pearls

Our silk robes!

Day 2: Sunday, August 24
We got up, got some breakfast them got on the subway to go to church. My first time on a Subway I might add. It took probably an hour to get to building where the Beijing branch is held. We just went to sacrament meeting, but it was pretty cool. It was in English, but the two speakers were Chinese and they would read a paragraph of their talks in English then repeat it in Chinese. Even though their English wasn't great, I really appreciated the effort. It was a small branch but with our big group there and a study abroad group from BYU-I there, it seemed pretty big! 

Me and Lindsay decided we just had to try McDonalds in China so we went there for lunch. It was pretty much the same, they just didn't put any tomato or lettuce on anything. And the menu was smaller. It was nice to have some french fries!

We had more training in the afternoon, then we split up and went to dinner with our mentors. We went to a hot pot restaurant. Hot pot is were they bring out a big boiling pot of water/broth and then some thin raw meat and you just put it in and cook it! We had lamb and chicken. After you cook it, you dip in some garlicy sauce and wrap it in a piece of spinach and eat it. It wasn't my favorite but it wasn't too bad! Then we got dessert at a little shop where we bought these super yummy ice cream bars and popsicles (we pretty much live off of these now - they taste so good when it is so hot!)

Hot Pot!

Awkward food-in-the-mouth pic for ya..

 Day 3: Monday, August 25
Great Wall day! We got up early and took a tour bus for a couple hours to get to the wall.  Then we took a ski lift up to the wall and started the lovely hike! The mountains are seriously beautiful up there. The wall is super cool and so dang huge!

You can see the wall along the top of the mountain

Tree Pose on the Great Wall

When we were done exploring we rode a Tobaggen all the way back down (it was like an alpine slide) and that was super fun! After the Great Wall we ate lunch at a restaurant nearby. Yay, more rice... haha it's pretty good though but I'm sure I will be sick of it after awhile.

Next up, Ming Tombs! On the bus ride their we had a little karaoke party which was pretty hilarious. And Clement, our super awesome tour guide guy, told us all about the history of the Ming Dynasty and the tombs we were about to see. 

It is also really funny because when we go to all these touristy places, Chinese people always ask to take a picture with us! Sometimes they just take pics of us while we are standing there, but some come up and ask for a photo. It makes me feel like a celebrity.. haha or just a white person. It really is hilarious because they get so excited when we agree to take a picture. Anyways, I'll have to post some pics later. After the tombs we had a long bus ride home and were so exhausted we just crashed in bed! 

Beijing adventures To Be Continued...