Tuesday, April 29
It's been a looooong time. I feel like I always have so much work to do and never enough time to do anything...but I guess that's the story of everybody's life! Soooo, let me try to figure out where I left off and then start from there. Last time I posted, it was about Dandong...and that already seems like a lifetime ago! The weekend of April 11th, Breana and I went to Beijing for Kuo's wedding and that was actually really fun! I have more pictures on my camera of the wedding so I will have to put those up when I have it with me. We went out that Friday night and got home pretty early because we had to be up early to go to the wedding in the morning. Ji (a guy who works at BCC) came and picked us up at the hotel so that we could all walk together to the restaurant where the wedding was being held. It started around 10:30 and we were there until about 1:30. The ceremony was really nice even though we couldn't understand anything! They had a ton of food and it was all so good! We went back to the hotel, changed to go shopping at the Silk Market and then went back to the hotel and had a nap for awhile. Then met up with some of my friends for dinner. It was a ton of fun!! We went out dancing after which was also a lot of fun. Sunday we just kind of relaxed and didn't do much cause we were out pretty late. We went out to lunch and then made our way back to Shenyang. It was a crazy weekend and went by so fast! Doing things on the weekends have been making the small amount of time here that I have left go by so fast!
So, that next week, April 13-20th, many things happened. During the week, I was busy with classes and always had something to do! I am at work for so long and then just want to go back to my room and sleep. So, my days go by pretty quickly. That Monday (the 14th) I went into the city and did some shopping at H&M and got some shoes. It's so nice to be able to get regular size shoes there. Chinese people's feet are so small! Whenever I tell the people at the market what size I need they always show me the mens shoes and laugh haha. Oh well. The rest of the week went by pretty quickly. On Friday, I had to catch the train to go to Beijing to meet my parents! I got into the city around 8:30 and just went straight to the airport. While waiting, I had a delicious oatmeal ice cream because I had to wait forever! I waited for about 2 hours and then they FINALLY got there! We took a taxi to the hotel and checked them in pretty painlessly. They booked some really nice hotels. I can't remember what we did that night....I actually don't think anything at all. I was pretty tired and so were there. Saturday....we.....umm....let me think for a minute. Oh yeah! We went to the Dirt Market that my mom wanted to go to which was okay, just a lot of the same stuff over and over again. It was good for them to see though. After that, we....geezzz I can't remember. I'll have to ask my parents. I really can't remember what else we did! I know that night we went to the Olympic Park, which ended up being closed, silly park! It closed at 9:30 which is way earlier than it had ever closed before! Oh well. They at least got to see the Birds Nest from outside the gate. After that, we went to Sanlitun and had a nice glass of wine at Cheers which is a really nice imported wine shop. It was good fun! That was pretty much the end of Saturday. Sunday, we went to Beihai Park and just walked around for a little bit before I had to go back to Shenyang. We had a really great meal at a small place and everybody really liked it! It was so funny watching my mom and Aunt Donna try to pick up the food with chopsticks! I forgot how hard it can be! They also had to be schooled on proper etiquette so that was fun to do! After lunch, I pretty much just left for the train station and went back to Shenyang. It was a long, exhaustive weekend but fun! I have more pictures to add that I have to get on my camera.
Now for the next week, April 21-26. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday were pretty much normal days for me. I talked to my parents and Aunt Donna every night. They said they had a really great time there but definitely got sick of all of the people there. It is pretty overwhelming if you're not used to it! There was a lot of tourist groups around too because they went to pretty touristy places so that never is fun! Wednesday, I was busy doing some shopping and cleaning my room and realized I hadn't heard from my parents or Aunt Donna yet, which I thought was strange. I started to freak out a little bit cause they were supposed to arrive 3 hours earlier and I never heard from them! I had Joy call the hotel and they hadn't checked in yet!! It ended up that they didn't have an address for the hotel and couldn't find anybody to help them for that whole time they were there! My dad finally called me at about 10:30 saying they had finally found somebody to translate the hotel address and a taxi driver to take them there. Funny thing is, they really were only about a 10 minute walk away from their hotel. I guess that's just another China story for them though!!
On Thursday, I had classes as normal and then my mom and Aunt Donna came to my school around 4:00 and the kids loved it! They thought it was so cool that my family was here. We just hung out with the kids for awhile and had a pretty easy evening with them. That night, they stayed at school with me and we hung out in my room for awhile. Had a nice hour long Skype call with my Grandma Skiver but then after that, we were so tired we all just went to bed. The school was very nice and had a room prepared for them so they were all set! My dad stayed at the hotel in the city and he had some good adventures of his own! He did a lot of wandering around and found all kinds of good things. Friday, we had a semi-normal day. We had the kids write a Chinese English dictionary for aunt Donna's students. They were so excited to do it and even more excited to have her and my mom there to help us! I only have them for 2 classes on Fridays so for my second class, Aunt Donna read the books she brought for them, had the students read the books that her students made for them, and then my mom passed out the goodie bags that she made for them. It was a very exciting morning!! The kids were all wound up so I was more than happy to send them away to their parents after lunch!! After lunch, we went with one of my students and his mom to a recording studio. We had to record 9 students voices for the Three Little Pigs Play that we are doing. They wanted to record them so that they could focus more on the acting and just mouth the words. I think it's kind of silly but whatever! I just go with the flow here! We were there for a super long time (3 hours). Sorry mom and Aunt Donna!! They were stuck entertaining the kids while the parents just stood by and I sat in the recording studio working with the kids. It was a long afternoon to say the least!! After the parent drove us back to the hotel, we went to the mall next door and went to eat at Korean BBQ. I don't think they were too impressed but I thought it was delicious! After that, we went shopping at Yoohoo which is a big boutique market where they sell a lot of imported food so I was in heaven! My dad and I went to the bar afterwards while the girls stayed inside to sleep! Saw a few people I know at the bar so it was nice talking to them and having my dad meet them! Pretty relaxing Friday night really!
Saturday, we got up early......again : ( I feel like I never get any sleep! Always go go go! I took them to Wu'Ai which is a really large wholesale market that is supposedly the biggest market in North East China! They were a little overwhelmed there too I think because the stall are so small and packed in the buildings. I gave them the real Chinese shopping experience though! They picked up a few things to bring back home so I'd say it was a success! We spent most of the morning there and then had to get them back to the hotel to pick up their bags. We had a small rest and then we walked the 10 minutes it took to get to the train station. I still can't believe they got lost the night before!! So funny. So we walked to the station, got them some snacks for the train ride, and then they were off! I was sad to see them go but glad they had a good time. Less than 3 months until I'm home again! After dropping them off, I went and dropped my bags off at Breana's school and went out shopping with my friend Rich cause she wasn't home. We had a good time walking around Zhongjie (Middle Street) and then got back to the school around 8:30. Breana met up with some friends at a bar, had some dinner, and then went out dancing for a little bit. A super long day again! Sunday, we did some planning for our trip to Thailand and some other places. It's all in the works right now so there's nothing planned really. Beginning stages! We then went and had some dinner at one of their (my friends Danielle, Ridhwaan, Breana, and Rich) co-workers houses. It was really good and the first time I had curry! AMAZING! I'm going to get it more often now! We got back from dinner pretty late so just went to bed. I took the bus from their school that morning and came back to school. Yesterday (Monday) and today I pretty much just have been working. As usual! Whew...that was a lot!! I'm pretty tired by now cause I've been writing for awhile so I will just add some picture descriptions. I'll add more pictures later so...that's all for now. I hope you enjoyed reading!! We are going to Xi'an this weekend so I'll have more to talk about on Sunday or Monday!!
It's been a looooong time. I feel like I always have so much work to do and never enough time to do anything...but I guess that's the story of everybody's life! Soooo, let me try to figure out where I left off and then start from there. Last time I posted, it was about Dandong...and that already seems like a lifetime ago! The weekend of April 11th, Breana and I went to Beijing for Kuo's wedding and that was actually really fun! I have more pictures on my camera of the wedding so I will have to put those up when I have it with me. We went out that Friday night and got home pretty early because we had to be up early to go to the wedding in the morning. Ji (a guy who works at BCC) came and picked us up at the hotel so that we could all walk together to the restaurant where the wedding was being held. It started around 10:30 and we were there until about 1:30. The ceremony was really nice even though we couldn't understand anything! They had a ton of food and it was all so good! We went back to the hotel, changed to go shopping at the Silk Market and then went back to the hotel and had a nap for awhile. Then met up with some of my friends for dinner. It was a ton of fun!! We went out dancing after which was also a lot of fun. Sunday we just kind of relaxed and didn't do much cause we were out pretty late. We went out to lunch and then made our way back to Shenyang. It was a crazy weekend and went by so fast! Doing things on the weekends have been making the small amount of time here that I have left go by so fast!
So, that next week, April 13-20th, many things happened. During the week, I was busy with classes and always had something to do! I am at work for so long and then just want to go back to my room and sleep. So, my days go by pretty quickly. That Monday (the 14th) I went into the city and did some shopping at H&M and got some shoes. It's so nice to be able to get regular size shoes there. Chinese people's feet are so small! Whenever I tell the people at the market what size I need they always show me the mens shoes and laugh haha. Oh well. The rest of the week went by pretty quickly. On Friday, I had to catch the train to go to Beijing to meet my parents! I got into the city around 8:30 and just went straight to the airport. While waiting, I had a delicious oatmeal ice cream because I had to wait forever! I waited for about 2 hours and then they FINALLY got there! We took a taxi to the hotel and checked them in pretty painlessly. They booked some really nice hotels. I can't remember what we did that night....I actually don't think anything at all. I was pretty tired and so were there. Saturday....we.....umm....let me think for a minute. Oh yeah! We went to the Dirt Market that my mom wanted to go to which was okay, just a lot of the same stuff over and over again. It was good for them to see though. After that, we....geezzz I can't remember. I'll have to ask my parents. I really can't remember what else we did! I know that night we went to the Olympic Park, which ended up being closed, silly park! It closed at 9:30 which is way earlier than it had ever closed before! Oh well. They at least got to see the Birds Nest from outside the gate. After that, we went to Sanlitun and had a nice glass of wine at Cheers which is a really nice imported wine shop. It was good fun! That was pretty much the end of Saturday. Sunday, we went to Beihai Park and just walked around for a little bit before I had to go back to Shenyang. We had a really great meal at a small place and everybody really liked it! It was so funny watching my mom and Aunt Donna try to pick up the food with chopsticks! I forgot how hard it can be! They also had to be schooled on proper etiquette so that was fun to do! After lunch, I pretty much just left for the train station and went back to Shenyang. It was a long, exhaustive weekend but fun! I have more pictures to add that I have to get on my camera.
Now for the next week, April 21-26. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday were pretty much normal days for me. I talked to my parents and Aunt Donna every night. They said they had a really great time there but definitely got sick of all of the people there. It is pretty overwhelming if you're not used to it! There was a lot of tourist groups around too because they went to pretty touristy places so that never is fun! Wednesday, I was busy doing some shopping and cleaning my room and realized I hadn't heard from my parents or Aunt Donna yet, which I thought was strange. I started to freak out a little bit cause they were supposed to arrive 3 hours earlier and I never heard from them! I had Joy call the hotel and they hadn't checked in yet!! It ended up that they didn't have an address for the hotel and couldn't find anybody to help them for that whole time they were there! My dad finally called me at about 10:30 saying they had finally found somebody to translate the hotel address and a taxi driver to take them there. Funny thing is, they really were only about a 10 minute walk away from their hotel. I guess that's just another China story for them though!!
On Thursday, I had classes as normal and then my mom and Aunt Donna came to my school around 4:00 and the kids loved it! They thought it was so cool that my family was here. We just hung out with the kids for awhile and had a pretty easy evening with them. That night, they stayed at school with me and we hung out in my room for awhile. Had a nice hour long Skype call with my Grandma Skiver but then after that, we were so tired we all just went to bed. The school was very nice and had a room prepared for them so they were all set! My dad stayed at the hotel in the city and he had some good adventures of his own! He did a lot of wandering around and found all kinds of good things. Friday, we had a semi-normal day. We had the kids write a Chinese English dictionary for aunt Donna's students. They were so excited to do it and even more excited to have her and my mom there to help us! I only have them for 2 classes on Fridays so for my second class, Aunt Donna read the books she brought for them, had the students read the books that her students made for them, and then my mom passed out the goodie bags that she made for them. It was a very exciting morning!! The kids were all wound up so I was more than happy to send them away to their parents after lunch!! After lunch, we went with one of my students and his mom to a recording studio. We had to record 9 students voices for the Three Little Pigs Play that we are doing. They wanted to record them so that they could focus more on the acting and just mouth the words. I think it's kind of silly but whatever! I just go with the flow here! We were there for a super long time (3 hours). Sorry mom and Aunt Donna!! They were stuck entertaining the kids while the parents just stood by and I sat in the recording studio working with the kids. It was a long afternoon to say the least!! After the parent drove us back to the hotel, we went to the mall next door and went to eat at Korean BBQ. I don't think they were too impressed but I thought it was delicious! After that, we went shopping at Yoohoo which is a big boutique market where they sell a lot of imported food so I was in heaven! My dad and I went to the bar afterwards while the girls stayed inside to sleep! Saw a few people I know at the bar so it was nice talking to them and having my dad meet them! Pretty relaxing Friday night really!
Saturday, we got up early......again : ( I feel like I never get any sleep! Always go go go! I took them to Wu'Ai which is a really large wholesale market that is supposedly the biggest market in North East China! They were a little overwhelmed there too I think because the stall are so small and packed in the buildings. I gave them the real Chinese shopping experience though! They picked up a few things to bring back home so I'd say it was a success! We spent most of the morning there and then had to get them back to the hotel to pick up their bags. We had a small rest and then we walked the 10 minutes it took to get to the train station. I still can't believe they got lost the night before!! So funny. So we walked to the station, got them some snacks for the train ride, and then they were off! I was sad to see them go but glad they had a good time. Less than 3 months until I'm home again! After dropping them off, I went and dropped my bags off at Breana's school and went out shopping with my friend Rich cause she wasn't home. We had a good time walking around Zhongjie (Middle Street) and then got back to the school around 8:30. Breana met up with some friends at a bar, had some dinner, and then went out dancing for a little bit. A super long day again! Sunday, we did some planning for our trip to Thailand and some other places. It's all in the works right now so there's nothing planned really. Beginning stages! We then went and had some dinner at one of their (my friends Danielle, Ridhwaan, Breana, and Rich) co-workers houses. It was really good and the first time I had curry! AMAZING! I'm going to get it more often now! We got back from dinner pretty late so just went to bed. I took the bus from their school that morning and came back to school. Yesterday (Monday) and today I pretty much just have been working. As usual! Whew...that was a lot!! I'm pretty tired by now cause I've been writing for awhile so I will just add some picture descriptions. I'll add more pictures later so...that's all for now. I hope you enjoyed reading!! We are going to Xi'an this weekend so I'll have more to talk about on Sunday or Monday!!