Another day in China

Everyday in China that passes without us getting stranded for the night is marked as a success in my book.  So, yes, Valentine's day in China was a successful one.

We started the day off feeling better about ourselves than we had the day before.  I mean, we made it home after having no clue if we were going to be able to, so it was great!

We went downtown to go exploring.  I wanted to find a scarf and Shelby was looking for a hat.  We got off at a random stop that looked promising.  Again, we were looking in all the wrong places for a scarf and a hat.  We are really good at that.  We did come across an awesome meat and vegetable market.  It was like nothing I have ever seen before.  There were all kinds of raw meat hanging from the ceiling including, but not limited to, an entire pig leg, chicken feet, birds, etc.

We wanted to try to find the supermarket the Nicole had taken us to a couple nights ago because there were some cute hats outside that Shelby wanted to look at.  We thought we were going to be able to find it but we were wrong.  We decided to try to ask for help and a nice girl took us to the supermarket but it was the wrong supermarket.  We didn't let her know that and were just grateful for her kind gesture.  People here are so nice and so willing to help you even if they don't understand what we need.  We ditched the supermarket idea and decided that we needed to celebrate Valentine's day by going to a super classy restaurant, Pizza Hut!  Classy, right?  Actually, in China, they are pretty nice restaurants.  We ordered a salad (fresh leafy greens was an amazing sight!!) and a pizza.  It was delicious.  When we were just finishing up our pizza the waiter brought us another pizza.  We tried communicating to her that the pizza wasn't ours and that we didn't order it but she insisted and just kept saying, "pizza, pizza, pizza" so we took it home with us.  I have no idea if we accidentally ordered that pizza or if we even paid for it but there was a huge language barrier and no one understood.

We then headed to Walmart again (yes, even in China we go to Walmart once a day...).  We wanted to grab a few snacks for our upcoming train ride.  On our way we passed this cute girl who was so excited to see us.  My family doesn't even get that excited to see me when I have been away for several months.  She jumped up and down with joy and excitement and frantically waved at us as we passed by.  I think she may have mistaken us for some celebrity or something like that.  She was awesome so we had to take a picture with her.

A couple random funny things happened as well...  There were a couple guys on motorcycles and I thought they wanted to take a picture with us.  I agreed but I guess he really wanted to give me a ride on his motorcycle.  As soon as I realized what I was agreeing to I quickly declined.  Also, a random car stopped us while we were walking.  He asked us if we wanted a ride and he wasn't a taxi.  It is so weird and random.  Don't worry, I feel completely safe here in China.  That is not a lie.  I don't feel like I am in any kind of danger no matter what time of the day it is or where I am at.  Well, that was pretty much the extent of our day.  Here are a few more pictures we took...

 They don't mess around with Valentine's Day.  These were the biggest bouquets I have ever seen.  And the night ended with so many fireworks!

Almost stranded in China

It was a long and cold night but we made it through.  The next morning I woke up feeling very overwhelmed and alone in a city that I know nothing about and where I can't communicate with anyone.  I tried my best to hold myself together.  We cleaned our apartment and did laundry hoping that it would make this ice cold apartment feel a little bit more like a home.  It didn't really seem to help like I was hoping it would.  I finally went into the bathroom to get ready for the day.  I pulled out my straightener and went to plug it is but there are zero plugs in the bathroom.  Really?!  I couldn't believe it and that stupid little thing sent me over the edge.  I looked in the mirror and my eyes swelled up with tears.  What did I get myself into?  I knew it wouldn't be a piece of cake but I didn't know that I would feel so hopeless so close to the beginning of this adventure.  I again looked in the mirror and gave myself a little pep talk.  I could do this.  I LIVE in China.  That is awesome!  I don't know any of the language and I don't know how to get around but there are people here around me that love me.  I may not know them yet but they are here and they will become my second family.  After that, I was ready to roll up my pant legs, slap my calves, and take on the day.

Shelby and I decided that we would go try to find Walmart.  We needed a few things, like towels and a pillow case.  We had pretty good directions and a map so we figured we would be okay.  We got onto the bus and ventured toward Walmart.  We successfully made it to Walmart with only making one wrong turn.  We were pretty proud of ourselves because the map we were using was wrong.  (Or maybe we just don't know how to read maps.  I wouldn't put it past us.)  Walmart was so familiar and we were so happy to see it.  Shelby even jumped for joy.  Literally jumped.  I have never been so happy to see the Great Value brand until it failed us by packaging chicken feet.  At that point I had to rethink whether or not I could rely on Great Value.

After Walmart (yes, we may have spent two hours there) we were starving because we hadn't eaten anything all day and it was already 6pm.  We wandered around looking for a place to eat.  Apparently we were wondering all around the wrong streets in downtown because there were zero restaurants.   At first we were looking for a place that had pictures that we could order from but when we finally found a street with lots of restaurants we were disappointed to find that there were no pictures in any of them.  At this point we didn't care so we just decided to go in anyways.  As soon as we sat down we were handed a menu with only characters that mean nothing to me.  We pulled out our trusty little survivor guides and ordered from there.  Eight of the nine people in this little restaurant were gathered around our table watching us hopeless Americans trying to order from our survival guide.  They found it hilarious but, I will admit, we did look pretty funny and very out of place.  Every single person in that crowded little restaurant stared at us while we ate.  They were not sneaky about it at all.  All eyes were locked on us.  I felt like I was up on stage performing in front of people.  We must have cracked under pressure because five minutes after we got our food we were handed spoons.  Spoons!  Really??  The sad part is, I thought I was rocking at the chop sticks.  We broke our goal of only using chop sticks because we felt bad and used them out of obligation.

After dinner, since we have nothing but time, we decided that it would be a good idea to get back on the bus where we got off so that we could see how far the bus route goes.  It was about 7:30pm and I read online that the last bus leaves at 10pm.  So we figured that we had plenty of time and we would be able to make it home.  On the bus we started talking to this guy who knew very little English but he was very nice and gave us his phone number.  The next thing we knew, the bus was pulling into a bus parking lot.  Everyone got off the bus, including the bus driver.  Crap.  Our stop was the very last stop on the other end of the route.  We got off the bus so lost and confused.  Was the bus done for the night?  We had no idea.  The nice guy we met on the bus stayed with us in our lost and very confused state.  How in the world were we going to get back to our apartment.  We had no cell phone and we didn't even have the address to our apartment.  The guy from the bus and another lady were trying to tell us that the bus wouldn't be leaving again and that we would need to take a taxi or stay in a hotel for the night.  A taxi would have been just fine but we had no idea how to tell people where we lived.  That was a big mistake.  A hotel for a night wouldn't be so bad, right??  I was trying so hard not to freak out but what in the world were we going to do?  I looked over at Shelby and I could see that she was very concerned.  I had to keep myself together because if I lost it, I knew that she would too.  That would have been a pretty good sight, two lost Americans crying in the middle of China because they were lost and had no idea how to get home.  I tried so hard to communicate to the two people helping us that we needed to get back on the bus and that I read online it was supposed to still be up and running for two more hours.  They just stared at me because they didn't understand.  Just when we were going to give up and probably stay in a hotel, a bus pulled out from the parking lot to go do the route again.  We were so grateful to see this sight.  After an hour long bus ride, we finally made it back home.

Everything that happened today was a tender mercy from the Lord.  He is watching over me.  He knows that I am all alone in China.  He knew that we were worried about getting home to our apartment.  He sent that nice guy on the bus to talk to us and stay with us until we figured out what we were doing.  Even though we struggled to communicate with him, he was there for us.  It is crazy to think that He knows what every single one of us is doing.  Whether we are lost in China, stressed about school or work, or just confused about what we are doing in life, Heavenly Father is there for us and he is aware of our every need.  That is so awesome and so true.  I know it because I have have experienced it today and many other times in my life.

Living in China may not always be easy but it will be awesome!!

Guiyang!

I am officially in Guiyang, the place that I get to call home for the next five months.  This city is beautiful!!

Early Wednesday morning I said goodbye to my friends that I have known for just over a week.  Who knew that you could come to love so many people in just 12 or so days?  It just so happens that when you get to experience something new and awesome with people, it instantly bonds you.  Lately, I have struggled when I have had to say goodbye to my friends.  I definitely had a couple tears run down my face.  I am pretty sure I was the only baby in the group.  There is nothing wrong with being a little sensitive, right?  That's what I keep telling myself.

We headed off in a van to go to the airport while everyone else got on a train together.  I always thought that navigating through airports in the states was a little bit stressful but that is a breeze compared to navigating through the Beijing airport.  Yes, they did have signs that were translated into English but we still never really knew if we were in the line we needed to be in.  We got really good at the trial and error method.  At security I got patted down like I have never been patted down before and the lady did it like five times!  I was dying to tell her that really wasn't hiding anything under my clothes but I just let her do her thing.  They had to send our backpacks through the security thing about three times before they finally let us go.  We finally successfully made it through security and to our gate.  We even had some time to spare.

Flying into Guiyang is when I realized how beautiful the city really is.  Everything is so green, there are trees everywhere, and there are tons of little hills.  We got off of the plane and am 99% sure that we were the only white people in the airport.  That made it easy for our headmaster and liaison to spot us.  They both were so welcoming and made us feel very comfortable.  They took us to our apartments and then gave us a couple hours to get settled in before our liaison, Nicole, took us to dinner.

During those couple hours, Shelby and I walked up our street to see if we could find a little snack to hold us over before dinner.  This city is very different from Beijing.  We live in a very nice part of town and there are fancy hotels up and down our street.  There are a couple little shops and a supermarket that we wandered around.  It made me excited to go explore more of our city.

Nicole took us on a bus to downtown to a very nice restaurant.  The name of it translated into Bean Hot Pot., I think. She ordered us a variety of food and everything was so delicious!  There was a hot pot in the middle of the table that was full of beans and so much flavor but I couldn't tell you what it was.  We ate purple potatoes, lotus root, vegetable soup, tofu, pork steak, rice, vegetables and meat in the hot pot, and so many other things that I don't know the name of.  All of the food was full of so much flavor and spice.  I loved it and I ate until I was way too full.

After dinner, Nicole took us to the supermarket to get some things like toilet paper and shampoo and stuff that we needed.  That was so stressful and so frustrating.  We couldn't really tell what were were buying.  Was it lotion, shampoo, or conditioner?  Nicole was very helpful but even with her help we had a hard time finding the lotion section.  So we stuck with Johnson's pink baby lotion because we knew it was lotion.  That was quite the adventure.  If you smell two grown adults smelling like a baby here in Guiyang, it was probably us.

We went to bed on the couch that night (and probably for every night these next few weeks) in front of our only heater to try to stay warm.  We were ready to take on the next day.

Beijing!

Warning:  This post is very lengthy with a ton of pictures.  Good luck making it to the end.

I have so much to say about China and I don’t know how to put any of it into words.  First off, I want to start off by saying that I seriously love China!  I may have just opened up a can of worms that is going to cost me a lot of money.  I am becoming addicted to traveling.  It is so great and there is so much out there in the world that is amazing!  Different cultures, all the history, the strange food, all of the people you meet, and so on is all worth it. 

Random things/stories about China:

You can’t flush the toilet paper here.  I know, it’s weird and disgusting and it is a real struggle every single time.  I always forget and I really hope I am not the American that flushes the toilet paper and has to have the plumber come fix it for me.  That would be awkward.

      I swear that no one believes in personal space here or lines.  I first noticed this when we were in Houston getting on the airplane to go to China.  They called for the different sections to board and it was a mad house with all of the Chinese people pushing their way up to the front so they could get on the plane.  Also, the first day I was here I was at a little grocery store.  Clearly, we were the next people in line.  Nope, the little old Chinese lady decided it was her turn so she just pushed her way around us so that she could check out first.  When you are standing in line for something you are practically standing on top of the person next to you.  I am not going to lie though; it has been kind of nice because you get the body heat of everyone around you.

      

      All of those rumors that you have heard about China smelling weird are true.  Most of the time they are smells that you would rather wish you didn’t have to encounter.  Who knows what it is but you kind of just get accustomed to it and hold your breath. 

      The chop stick diet is all the rage here.  Well, that is if you are me.  I still can’t eat with chop sticks and I have been here for almost two weeks.  I don’t necessarily stop eating because I am full but I stop eating because I get too frustrated trying to eat my food or because my hand starts cramping up.  I am determined to become a champ at chop sticks before I leave though.  Good thing I have five more months because I am going to need the time. 

      It is very entertaining to order food when you don’t speak Chinese.  We have reverted back to pointing and hand motions and I am proud to say that we are all getting pretty good at it.  We have found that it is helpful to go to places that have pictures of the food so that way you can just point to the pictures.  If there aren’t any pictures then just look around you and find someone who had a good looking plate of food in front of you.  That usually seems to work pretty well.  One time, we ordered our food and then the waiter turned to a page in the menu that had zero pictures on it and he started pointing to that page and wanted us to choose something.  So we randomly just pointed to something that had a fairly good price.  It turns out that we ordered beer.  Oops.  Luckily there was a cooler full of beer that the waiter pointed to and then we all shook our heads no and he got the point.  You never know exactly what you are ordering and you never know exactly what you are eating.  It makes for a very entertaining meal time.  I love it.

      I have never been so famous before in my life.  Everyone wants to take your picture and everyone wants to take a picture with you.  They always say, “You are a beautiful girl.”  It is pretty hilarious and super random but I guess it is cool to have pictures with white people.

      I ate squid on a stick at a night market.  And I didn’t hate it.  I think that it is only because it was covered in spicy seasoning but regardless, it was still squid.  I also ate a star fish and I feel very guilty for doing so.  It wasn't even good.  I will never do that again.

      A group of us decided that we wanted to go get a foot massage.  Earlier that day we were told that foot massages were great but that we shouldn’t go to one that has pink lights or Christmas lights outside of it because those mean bad news.  So someone in our group lead us to a place where she saw a sign for a foot massage.  It was down the sketchiest alley ever.  Someone poked their head in to ask for a price while the rest of us were outside.  We then looked up and saw a strand of Christmas lights up.  I freaked out a little bit but I guess by this time we were committed to go inside but there were only room for four of us.  The girls decided to stay there while the boys went to find another place.  I couldn’t believe that they were going to leave us there with the Christmas lights but they reassured me that if they hadn’t seen us in an hour then they would come and find us.  Don’t worry, nothing happened.  It was totally safe and the best foot massage ever. 

      One night four of us decided that we were going to go emerge ourselves in the Chinese culture and go to the movies.  We picked the Monkey King.  It was the strangest movie of my life but it was awesome!  Thankfully there happened to be English subtitles but even with the subtitles I was still very confused.  I am pretty sure that they only way to understand that movie is to be Chinese.  It was a great experience though and I do not regret paying 50 kuai to see a movie. 

      The way you ice skate in China is on chairs and it was one of the most fun things of my life.  We were supposed to be doing an Amazing Race Beijing Edition but when we saw this frozen pond with people chair skating on it, we couldn’t pass it up.  You sit in a chair with picks in your hands and scoot yourself across the ice.  It was awesome!  We made friends with some Chinese friends there who are still posting random pictures of us on Instagram.  

China!

It's true, I am heading off to China in just a few of days.  I am so excited to start this new adventure!  I will be teaching English for about five months in a city called Guiyang.  Guiyang is about 565 miles from Hong Kong. 

I am planning on blogging regularly to keep my family and whoever else may be interested in what I am doing while I am across the world.  So feel free to experience China with me!