Qingyan Ancient Town

Hi everyone!

So this Saturday was so fun! The four of us went to Qingyan Ancient Town which is.. well an ancient town. It is a ways out from the city, along the countryside. It is a tourist destination, but most of the vendors are local ethnic minority groups selling hand-made things. Guiyang is home to many of these ethnic minority groups, the biggest being the Miao people. We plan on visiting other minority villages that are scattered around Guiyang because we hear it is really cool to see and experience their unique culture.

Anyway, we had to take 2 buses for a total of about 3 hours to get to the ancient town. We got off a couple stops too late for the second bus but luckily we were able to walk back to the right station! But the place that we did get off was pretty cool! There was this little lake full of lily pads and we walked down a little street market. Then we walked to the right stop and took that bus all the way to Qingyan.

It didn't look like much right when we got there because it is sort of in the middle of nowhere. It was fun to get out of the city though and see some Chinese countryside! The weather was cloudy and perfect too! As we kept walking through we saw a ton of shops full of awesome hand-made crafts! The first (of many) souvenirs that I bought was a little hand-made/ hand-painted doll. It's so detailed! We spent most of our time exploring these shops and stocking up on souvenirs / Christmas presents ;) And because of that, I won't tell you everything that I got, it's gotta be a surprise!

Looks like a statue right? Nope, real dude. He kept scaring people!

Creepy masked performers!

This guy was doing these carvings by hand! They were gorgeous! (Yes, I bought one)

Hand painted shoes. I think they were going for "Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas" but missed the mark... Haha Christmars...

We also got to admire some of the ancient architecture. There was this really cool look-out spot that looked out over some fields with the mountains in the background. So beautiful! And because it is a tourist spot, we got asked to have our picture taken many times... oh, the life of celebrities! ;) We also saw an American family walking around but we didn't really talk to them, just said hello.

There was a little band playing in that balcony

Everyone loves taking pics with the blonde one ;)

 Before we left, we all got kissing fish pedicures! These fish are also known as doctor fish or nibble fish, and they basically eat off the dead skin and bacteria on our feet. It was so hard to put your feet in though because it tickles! They just start going crazy as soon as you put your feet in. Eventually we all got over the weirdness of it and were able to keep our feet in for 30 minutes. The worst was when they tried to get between your toes, so weird! I'd say our feet ended up quite exfoliated! And we decided there is something wrong with Evan's feet because like 5 of the fish in his tank died.... oops. Haha it was such a fun experience!

We both finally got both feet all the way in!

What the heck are we doing?

We were all so exhausted on the the bus ride home! When we got back we decided to get dinner at a restaurant near mine and Lindsay's apartments. It was really interesting trying to order when the menu is all in Chinese and there are no pictures... but we managed to get some rice, yummy wonton soup and some beef and onion dish which was pretty good! The people there were so nice and helpful! The owner speaks some English and so does his wife so they talked to us for awhile. He got to know the China Horizons teachers from last Fall semester really well and talked about them a little bit. He taught us how to say the name of all our food in Chinese. He also tried to learn our names which was funny because he could say all of ours except Evans. I learned his name but now I can't remember what it is... Anyway, it was a lot of fun, we all talked and laughed together!

Today, Sunday, we had to teach :( My classes went okay though! After dinner tonight, Lindsay and I are going to watch the Women's broadcast and Elder Holland's BYU-I devotional since we missed church this morning.

Just 2 more days of school until our 7 day break!! Yay!

Birthday Party!

Good news! I am feeling much better!

I guess taking all these pills, 3 times a day, did the trick!

Saturday and Sunday were pretty rough still and I spent most of the day sleeping and watching netflix... exciting right? By Sunday night I was feeling better but my throat was still really sore and it still hurt to talk so I decided not to teach on Monday. I only have two classes so I figured it would be okay to miss them and get one more day of rest. Lindsay didn't teach on Monday either. We did go to the doctor again and he said we were definitely getting better and gave us some Vitamin C pills.

By Tuesday my throat felt well enough for me to go and teach. I was worried about having seven classes because I still didn't want to strain my voice too hard, but my teacher aids were all very helpful in keeping the class quiet so I didn't have to raise my voice. The kids were so sweet too! I guess the teachers told them that I had been sick because they would come up to me and point to their throat and frown and then give me a hug. They also seemed so excited to see me. It was cute! My classes all went well and the day actually seemed to go by fast so thank goodness for that!

Yesterday (Wednesday) was Lindsay's 21st birthday! The teachers and her students spent the day showering her with gifts ;) It was cute to see her students coming up to her and wishing her a happy birthday all day. They even had a special birthday party at lunch for her! The cooks made dumplings and some noodle dish that I guess if you eat on your birthday then you will live a long life. I love learning about Chinese traditions! And of course, there was a big plate of spam burgers... haha and a cake! We sat with a bunch of the English teachers and it was a lot of fun :) We sang to her and she blew out a candle on her cake. These people are really just the sweetest! After school we were too tired to really celebrate so we just got some treats and watched the Lizzie McGuire movie.. haha it was a good night though!

Cake here always has lots of fruit on/in it! Yum!

I made her wear the crown ;)

On Saturday, all four of us are going to Qingyan Ancient Town which we heard is really cool so we are excited for that! Then we are going to celebrate Lindsay's b-day again with the boys. Also, we have to teach on Sunday this week :( Because of the week long holiday, they make up time by having school on Sunday. It's a bummer, but oh well! Only one more week until we leave for Chengdu!

The weather has been cooling off a lot and I love it! It feels like Fall :) I can actually wear my cardigans! And it is getting me excited for the holidays. Even though I know it will be different here in China, away from my family, I can't help but love holiday season! I am excited to teach my students about Halloween and Thanksgiving!

P.S. I also just have to say that I am super jealous of all my friends at BYU-I that got to see Elder Holland speak at devotional! I heard it was a great talk. I am planning on watching it on Sunday since I am going to miss church.

Rainy Days > Sick Days

Hello friends and family!

So I don't have a lot to report this week. It rained like non-stop on Wednesday and Thursday which is good because 1. I like the rain and 2. It cooled the weather way down so no more sweating in my apartment! (no AC).

On Wednesday after dinner, I got to my apartment and realized I didn't have my key.. shoot. I figured I just left it in my apartment and forgot to bring it with me when I left. So I called Sylvia and she told me she would call the guards to tell them I was coming to get an extra key. So I went to the guard building outside our building and they didn't seem to know what I was talking about.. One guy followed me up to my apartment so I thought he understood but no. So I called Sylvia and asked her to speak to the guard. Then she told me the guard would be right back. He came back with key in hand so I thought he was going to open my door. Buuut it didn't fit. So I called Sylvia AGAIN and gave it to the guard who talked, then hung up then gestured to follow him. We went back down to the guard building and he just gestured at me to sit down and he started writing in some notebook. He did this for a few minutes before gesturing to my phone. I called Sylvia once again and she talked to him. Then she talked to me and said she had meant the guard building at the school! I don't know why it took so long to figure out that she was talking to the wrong guard but I walked in the rain over to the school, got my key and finally made it home!

Fun story right? Sorry, like I said, it wasn't a very exciting week. Although we did get train tickets and a hostel booked for our trip to Chengdu! Lindsay, Chris, Evan and I are going on October 3rd until the 6th. All of China has a week off school starting the 1st of October. We would've left the on the 1st but we waited to long to book tickets. It is a popular time to travel. But we are going to a giant Panda Research Center and some other fun sights while we are there. And we are going to experience staying in a hostel which is sort of like a dorm room. 4-6 beds in a room, shared bathroom with the hallway. It only cost about 11 US dollars a night (some cost as low as 5) and it is a popular place for backpackers to stay and often time foreign backpackers. It should be quite an experience!

We thought about going from Chengdu to Xi'an which is where the Terracotta Warriors are. But again, we booked too late and it is a lot of traveling. We are talking 20 hour train rides here. Oh well! I'm hoping to take a plane sometime to Xi'an (not on a big holiday) because, as an art major, I am really interested in seeing these beautiful sculptures!

So now for bad news. It is Friday and I woke up this morning with a fever, burning sore throat, difficulty swallowing and pain in my ear. It was a rough night. Awful. I called Lindsay and she thought it might be strep because she also woke up with a burning throat, just no fever. Obviously I stayed home and texted Sylvia to let her know. Lindsay still went to teach her classes. I took some Ibuprofen then was able to fall asleep for most of the morning. And now I have to brag about how amazing the people at our school are. Sylvia came over around noon to bring me lunch! She brought me warm, delicious dumplings and some sort of warm porridge. She even brought some kind of tea packets? I think? She said to dump the packet in warm water and drink it to help soothe my throat. Haven't tried it yet... How sweet of her!! She takes such amazing care of us. Just what I needed since I don't have my mommy here to take care of me! I'm serious though.

Then after Lindsay was done teaching she called and convinced me that we needed to see a doctor. There is a clinic at our school that Sylvia said she would take us to. I was worried because we had heard that often times doctors in China will put you on an IV drip when you are sick. I don't handle needles well... Luckily, the doctor just took my temperature, looked down our throats and prescribed us some antibiotics and gave me a fever reducer. Sylvia helped us pick up our prescription. Antibiotics for 28 yuan (less than $5) is crazy! That is with no insurance or anything either. Anyway, we are going back to clinic on Monday to see if the meds worked, otherwise they might try an IV. Let's hope not! So again, Sylvia came to our aid and we just love her! She even asked the cafeteria to make a special meal for us for dinner.

I also have to give a shout out to my cat friend, Lindsay. (Yes, we call each other cat friend.. long story). Even though she is sick too, she was still looking out for me. After the doctor, she came over and brought some foods and treats and this yummy vitamin C drink to help cheer us both up. And then we bummed around watching netflix until dinner. I am so grateful to be going through this experience with her!

Even though I get so tired after teaching each week and sometimes I am homesick or overwhelmed.. or sick with strep.. it is soooo comforting to know that I have these people to rely on when I need help. I don't know if I could do it without them!!

And since I didn't have any new pics to post, here are some older ones that I haven't posted yet for some reason!

Clothes with cats on them is a big deal here... I love it!

My favorite boy and his poses <3

How cute are these two?

Photo cred: Lindsay. Another pose and copying Lindsay's gesture to smile ;)

Teacher Appreciation, Tug-of-war and Monkeys!

Week 2 down!

(Warning: the following post contains many adorable photos of both children and monkeys.)

This week was definitely less stressful than the first. I feel more confident teaching and I am getting more and more comfortable with the city and living here. We have made some friends with other teachers at the school and I feel like everyone is so nice and wanting to help us with anything. I am so grateful for them and it really helps make us feel more at home.

Wednesday was Teacher Appreciation Day at our school. The kids kept bringing me cards and pictures that they drew and we were given flowers by the English teachers. It was very sweet! Also, there was cake and soda at lunch so that was exciting! I am surprised at how well I am getting used to the food. I mean, there are good days and bad but usually I find enough to fill me up!

The collection of flowers from throughout the day

Student's gifts hanging next to my desk :)

On Thursday after lunch the teachers told us that the last two classes of the day would be cancelled for "push and pull game" for the students. We weren't sure what that meant but we were certainly interested! So we headed out to the field and the students did a big tug-of-war tournament thing! What? So random, but it was sooo funny! They were divided up by grades and each class played against each other and then I think the winners got to face each other and so on. It was so fun to watch my first and second graders! Then of course the teachers had to play each other and they wouldn't let me and Lindsay be on the same side. The first time, Lindsay's side won and mine the second time. The kids (and teachers) got a kick out of watching us. Overall, it was a nice break from teaching and we enjoyed getting to just hang out with the kids.

My first graders :3

This kid is PUMPED!

Ok, this kid is hilarious.

Lindsay's students

Group hug/attack teacher time!

More of my adorable grade 1 students!! Melts my heart!

Friday, me and Lindsay went into town for a bit to do some shopping since we didn't bring a lot of clothes with us. Unfortunately, we weren't able to find much that we liked.. the style is just different here. Quite frankly we find the men's clothing more attractive than the women's. I guess we'll have to keep looking!

And Saturday, we went to Qianling Park which was awesome! It is famous for the monkey's that just hang around and will come up to you. Monkeys! It is just about 20 min away so the boys came over and we decided we'd take a taxi. As we were walking down the street we ran into William who is an American teacher that teaches at the boy's campus. Lindsay and I met him once before briefly. He lives here with his wife who is from Thailand and their son who is probably 3 years old or so (and super adorable). They had just bought some big plants or something so Chris and Evan offered to help carry them to their apartment. They live just down the street from mine and Lindsay's apartment complex. It was cool to chat with them some more and see their place. They even told us they would have us all over for some Mexican food sometime so we are looking forward to that!

Then we headed back out to get a taxi. We were prepared with the name of the park written down in Chinese to show to the driver and there was no problem. The park only cost 5 yuan to get in (about 80 cents) and was waaay bigger than I was expecting! We walked around for awhile just trying to figure out what we wanted to go see and where all these different paths would take us. We did a little hiking along the paths. So many stairs... but it was so dense and green and we walked down paths just covered by bamboo. It was really pretty! On one of the trails there was a map that we were trying to decipher when this Chinese man randomly comes up and starts speaking in English! He asked if he could help and gave us some direction and told us where the paths would lead. So nice! We headed to a little zoo which just made me sad. Just animals locked up in small concrete cages... not my favorite part of this place. There were some gorgeous tigers though!

This lady was writing on the sidewalk with just water!

So many stairs......

Random, strange statues..

After the zoo we decided to head up to the Buddhist temple at the top of a hill. It was on the way that we found the monkeys! Holy moly there were a ton! And they just wandered around, totally not caring about all the people around. People were feeding them, but we didn't bring any food :( It may have been a good thing though because they can get greedy! One of them came up to me and had her little baby holding on to her back. She just sat next to me and held my leg, hoping I would give her something. The little baby kept playing with my shoe.. so cute! Then the mama tried to get into my backpack. She kept grabbing at the zipper but I wouldn't let her open it. Some of the monkey's got a little aggressive with Chris trying to grab his empty water bottle. They loved to grab bottles out of people's hands and they knew how to open them. Once they realized it was empty they would eventually drop it again.

The babies would just grab on to there mom's!

See, look at that sweetness!

I really just can't get over how cute that is!

My little pals

Reaching for the zipper, little sneak! 

Going for the bottle. Lindsay was a little uncomfortable with the monkeys ;)

Chris's water bottle just kept getting stolen!

There was a lady holding a tote bag and the monkey's kept trying to get in it and eventually knocked it out of her hands. Of course she had a bag of grapes and a bag of some kind of bread that went spilling everywhere and the monkey's went crazy! Oops.. Haha it was pretty entertaining.

They ate the inside of the grape then spit out the skin for some reason..

Anyways, so we kept walking along the path and saw some cool structures we think might be burial sites? OR shrines of some sort. They were cool! Then we climbed a bit to a lookout tower that we thought was where the temple was. It was so neat, you could see the whole city! But we realized that we past the temple on the way up, so we went to it on the way back down. It was really cool. Lots of big statues of Buddha and other gods. People were praying and burning incense all over. I'm pretty sure we weren't allowed to take pictures so we didn't want to risk it. It was quite beautiful though! And pretty big.

Evan, Lindsay, Chris. Looking tough next to stone dragons I guess.. ;)

Lindsay doing some meditating

View from the lookout tower

Another view. This is our city!

Getting photo bombed..

We walked around and hung out there for awhile before heading to a lake that William had told us to go see. It was surrounded by trees and hills. So beautiful! We saw a lot of paddle boats and peddle boats out on the water so we went to see how much it was to rent. The sign said 30 yuan (5 dollars) but the lady seemed to be asking for 100 so we thought maybe it was 30 each but 25 with a group? It's hard when you don't speak the same language! We decided to go for it anyway so we got a peddle boat and cruised around the lake. It was way fun :) When we got back we had to give the person our ticket back and then they gave me 70 yuan back. So I guess it was a deposit.

After the lake it we were tired so we went back to the entrance and walked around the surrounding area outside the park, looking for something for dinner. Then we got a taxi (surprisingly fast) and headed back home! It was definitely a fun day!