Thursday, June 12th
Whew! It's been a super long time since I've written! Guess I've just been really busy and then when I have some down time, I just don't want to do anything at all! I hope you all enjoyed my pictures from Xi'an. I know that they don't really make much sense since there's no real descriptions of what things are and what we did....but I'll hopefully get to that eventually. I wanna catch you up on the last 4 weeks since I've last written. Hmm...so yes, we went to Xi'an for the beginning of May holiday (May Day) and it was a really great time! I love being able to travel around! The next couple weeks at work were pretty much the same. I always have a lesson to be planning, test to be making, something to grade, or just any type of preparations in general. I also had to do some curriculum paperwork for the new teachers that are coming next year through BCC so I was busy putting all of that together. Paperwork is such a drain! I only have about 3 weeks left of school so I have some students paperwork to do and last minute lesson planning to give to the teachers for next year. Hannah is getting really sad about me leaving and I am too but I have to say that I'm pretty excited! I'm in the less than a month of work left club!
On a side note, a month or two ago, I was going to change my flight to a week later than originally planned but decided not to do it because it was $300 just to change the date by a week. So, the other day, I was looking at my flight just to see what time of day I left, and for some reason, it got changed to the week after anyways! Instead of going home on July 17th, I am now coming home on July 23rd....an extra week! On one hand, I'm sad to be here a week alone without my friends to travel with but on the other hand, I get to travel to a few more cities that I didn't have time to visit during the school year! Bittersweet discovery! I'm going to call Delta just to make sure : ) But anyways, so yeah...work work work for the last few weeks. One weekend, we went to Benxi Water Caves, which I have pictures of and you will see below. Other than that, on the weekends, my friends and I just hang out, go to the parks, and then having some delicious Western food haha.
During the Dragon Boat Festival (May 31-June 2nd), Breana and I went to Chengdu which was a ton of fun! We got there Friday night and after checking into our hostel, we walked to the store to get some drinks, snacks, and dinner. It was a pretty low key night since we were both pretty tired from working all day, the flight that included a layover in the middle of nowhere (only 3 terminals in the whole airport) and then having an hour drive to the hostel from the airport. It was a long day!! We were in a dorm in the hostel with 2 other beds but fortunately, that night we had the room to ourselves. The next morning, our roomies came into the room around 9 so we got up and got ready for the day. We spent the day planning what we were going to do the rest of the weekend. I really wanted to do the Leshan Giant Buddha but because of our short amount of time and how far away it was, we couldn't do it. I was mildly upset but I guess I'll just have to visit another time! So that day, we walked around the city and saw some things that were pretty cool. The first place we went to was the Wenshu Monastery which was very interesting! Before we even went in, Breana and I saw these guys playing this catch game, which are what the pictures are about, and we both ended up buying a set of them! I've played with them with my kids and they loved it! After that, we walked around the grounds, did some shopping on the "cultural" street that was right next door. It was a really beautiful area and you can tell by the pictures! We did lots of jewelry shopping. but it was so hot that we ended up going back to the hostel to take a nap! After the nap, we went and walked around the city more. We went to the Bamboo Park because we thought maybe there would be some dragon boats...for the festival...but there was nothing. But the park was nice anyways! We also tried to find some places to shop but that didn't quite work out so we just went to a few temples and shopping areas that were around. We ended up at People's Park which was a lot of fun because there were so many people around dancing and all sorts of things! After a few more hours, we went back to the hostel (LazyBones was the best!), had some dinner, and then decided to go out adventuring again. We tried to find some bar street, but were totally unsuccessful, so we ended up going back to the hostel and just going to bed early.
Sunday, we had to get up early so we could go to the Panda Breeding Center! That was pretty much the whole reason why we had gone there so we were both really excited to go! There was a group of 5 of us from the hostel that went and we had a great time walking around the property! Our driver walked around with us the whole time so he knew all the best places to be and the pandas were all so active! On YouTube, I have a video of the pandas eating and they were so cute! It was feeding time for everybody so it was so adorable to see them all eating their bamboo and just rolling around on their bellies. It was a really hot day so it was a good thing that we had gone early because by the time we left (noonish) the pandas were all just laying around plus the lines to get into the park were HUGE! Breana paid extra money to get up and close with the pandas but I didn't get to see her do it. Me and the four other people walked around to see the red pandas, some other pandas, and then went to a small cafe to get something to eat and drink while watching a video that showed how the park was helping conserve pandas. It was really interesting! We did a ton of walking though so it was nice to be able to sit down for awhile. Once we got back to the hostel (around 1) we decided to have some lunch and then relax for awhile before venturing out again....a 2 hour nap haha. The sun and walking just wears you out! After that, we went to the Wide and Narrow Alley which had a ton of places to shop, eat, and just basically sight see. It was really crowded but we got some really good deals on souvenirs and had some good street food. We walked around there for a few hours and then went back to the hostel. We ended up just spending the rest of the night hanging out in the hostel watching movies and just hanging out with a few people that we had met there. I love meeting so many people from all over the world! That weekend, we met a couple from Brazil who live in Nanjing for a Brazilian company and then a guy from Canada who teaches in Guangzhou. It was really very interesting talking to them and hearing all their adventures in China!
The next day, Breana and I had to get up early to catch our flight back to Shenyang. We got back to Shenyang around 11:45 a.m. and ended up going straight to the park to celebrate one of the other teachers birthdays! The park was called Nanhu park and was actually really nice. It was another really hot day out but there were still a ton of people walking around. The parks around here are a combination of lakes/boats and then also amusement park type rides and attractions. A few people in our group went on some rides but I didn't wanna go on any of them....everything in China breaks!! Only a few people went on the rides though so it wasn't like I was the only one : ) Around 2, I got a call from Hannah telling me that school was cancelled the next day (Tuesday) and I was so so excited!! They were doing something with the water pipes so there was no water in the school, so the students actually didn't come back until Wednesday afternoon. So I had all day Tuesday off and then only had to come into work but had no classes on Wednesday. It was only a 2 day work week...I was so happy!! On Tuesday, Richard and I just went to Walmart and did some shopping. Nothing really exciting....a perfect day off : ) Wednesday morning I took the bus to school and just did some regular lesson planning/randomly searching things online....a usual day for me!
So, that was last week and then the rest of this week has pretty much been the same. I've been doing a lot of research on where I should travel to before I come back home....still have some decisions to make. Breana and I originally wanted to go to Thailand for a week but with the whole political thing going on, we decided that'll have to be saved for another time. So through much discussion about where else to go....trying to decide between Cambodia, Vietnam, Singapore, Philippines, Bali) I think we've finally decided to go to South Korea. I've seen a lot of really nice places we could go visit and I've heard nothing but nice things from people who have been there! Plus, it's super close so it's a short flight, the ticket prices aren't that bad, and I think we could budget well with travel there. So, I'm pretty excited to be planning that....less than a month before we go! Gotta get to booking some things! The week after that I'll be on my own so I have to decide what to do during that time too...I'm thinking Shanghai and some cities around there. Busy busy busy!! Well.....I will try to be better and update everybody again before the next month is done! See you later!
Check out my YouTube page for some new videos that I put on!!
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpmH17x7-lm5BSbKuL4qXBg
Whew! It's been a super long time since I've written! Guess I've just been really busy and then when I have some down time, I just don't want to do anything at all! I hope you all enjoyed my pictures from Xi'an. I know that they don't really make much sense since there's no real descriptions of what things are and what we did....but I'll hopefully get to that eventually. I wanna catch you up on the last 4 weeks since I've last written. Hmm...so yes, we went to Xi'an for the beginning of May holiday (May Day) and it was a really great time! I love being able to travel around! The next couple weeks at work were pretty much the same. I always have a lesson to be planning, test to be making, something to grade, or just any type of preparations in general. I also had to do some curriculum paperwork for the new teachers that are coming next year through BCC so I was busy putting all of that together. Paperwork is such a drain! I only have about 3 weeks left of school so I have some students paperwork to do and last minute lesson planning to give to the teachers for next year. Hannah is getting really sad about me leaving and I am too but I have to say that I'm pretty excited! I'm in the less than a month of work left club!
On a side note, a month or two ago, I was going to change my flight to a week later than originally planned but decided not to do it because it was $300 just to change the date by a week. So, the other day, I was looking at my flight just to see what time of day I left, and for some reason, it got changed to the week after anyways! Instead of going home on July 17th, I am now coming home on July 23rd....an extra week! On one hand, I'm sad to be here a week alone without my friends to travel with but on the other hand, I get to travel to a few more cities that I didn't have time to visit during the school year! Bittersweet discovery! I'm going to call Delta just to make sure : ) But anyways, so yeah...work work work for the last few weeks. One weekend, we went to Benxi Water Caves, which I have pictures of and you will see below. Other than that, on the weekends, my friends and I just hang out, go to the parks, and then having some delicious Western food haha.
During the Dragon Boat Festival (May 31-June 2nd), Breana and I went to Chengdu which was a ton of fun! We got there Friday night and after checking into our hostel, we walked to the store to get some drinks, snacks, and dinner. It was a pretty low key night since we were both pretty tired from working all day, the flight that included a layover in the middle of nowhere (only 3 terminals in the whole airport) and then having an hour drive to the hostel from the airport. It was a long day!! We were in a dorm in the hostel with 2 other beds but fortunately, that night we had the room to ourselves. The next morning, our roomies came into the room around 9 so we got up and got ready for the day. We spent the day planning what we were going to do the rest of the weekend. I really wanted to do the Leshan Giant Buddha but because of our short amount of time and how far away it was, we couldn't do it. I was mildly upset but I guess I'll just have to visit another time! So that day, we walked around the city and saw some things that were pretty cool. The first place we went to was the Wenshu Monastery which was very interesting! Before we even went in, Breana and I saw these guys playing this catch game, which are what the pictures are about, and we both ended up buying a set of them! I've played with them with my kids and they loved it! After that, we walked around the grounds, did some shopping on the "cultural" street that was right next door. It was a really beautiful area and you can tell by the pictures! We did lots of jewelry shopping. but it was so hot that we ended up going back to the hostel to take a nap! After the nap, we went and walked around the city more. We went to the Bamboo Park because we thought maybe there would be some dragon boats...for the festival...but there was nothing. But the park was nice anyways! We also tried to find some places to shop but that didn't quite work out so we just went to a few temples and shopping areas that were around. We ended up at People's Park which was a lot of fun because there were so many people around dancing and all sorts of things! After a few more hours, we went back to the hostel (LazyBones was the best!), had some dinner, and then decided to go out adventuring again. We tried to find some bar street, but were totally unsuccessful, so we ended up going back to the hostel and just going to bed early.
Sunday, we had to get up early so we could go to the Panda Breeding Center! That was pretty much the whole reason why we had gone there so we were both really excited to go! There was a group of 5 of us from the hostel that went and we had a great time walking around the property! Our driver walked around with us the whole time so he knew all the best places to be and the pandas were all so active! On YouTube, I have a video of the pandas eating and they were so cute! It was feeding time for everybody so it was so adorable to see them all eating their bamboo and just rolling around on their bellies. It was a really hot day so it was a good thing that we had gone early because by the time we left (noonish) the pandas were all just laying around plus the lines to get into the park were HUGE! Breana paid extra money to get up and close with the pandas but I didn't get to see her do it. Me and the four other people walked around to see the red pandas, some other pandas, and then went to a small cafe to get something to eat and drink while watching a video that showed how the park was helping conserve pandas. It was really interesting! We did a ton of walking though so it was nice to be able to sit down for awhile. Once we got back to the hostel (around 1) we decided to have some lunch and then relax for awhile before venturing out again....a 2 hour nap haha. The sun and walking just wears you out! After that, we went to the Wide and Narrow Alley which had a ton of places to shop, eat, and just basically sight see. It was really crowded but we got some really good deals on souvenirs and had some good street food. We walked around there for a few hours and then went back to the hostel. We ended up just spending the rest of the night hanging out in the hostel watching movies and just hanging out with a few people that we had met there. I love meeting so many people from all over the world! That weekend, we met a couple from Brazil who live in Nanjing for a Brazilian company and then a guy from Canada who teaches in Guangzhou. It was really very interesting talking to them and hearing all their adventures in China!
The next day, Breana and I had to get up early to catch our flight back to Shenyang. We got back to Shenyang around 11:45 a.m. and ended up going straight to the park to celebrate one of the other teachers birthdays! The park was called Nanhu park and was actually really nice. It was another really hot day out but there were still a ton of people walking around. The parks around here are a combination of lakes/boats and then also amusement park type rides and attractions. A few people in our group went on some rides but I didn't wanna go on any of them....everything in China breaks!! Only a few people went on the rides though so it wasn't like I was the only one : ) Around 2, I got a call from Hannah telling me that school was cancelled the next day (Tuesday) and I was so so excited!! They were doing something with the water pipes so there was no water in the school, so the students actually didn't come back until Wednesday afternoon. So I had all day Tuesday off and then only had to come into work but had no classes on Wednesday. It was only a 2 day work week...I was so happy!! On Tuesday, Richard and I just went to Walmart and did some shopping. Nothing really exciting....a perfect day off : ) Wednesday morning I took the bus to school and just did some regular lesson planning/randomly searching things online....a usual day for me!
So, that was last week and then the rest of this week has pretty much been the same. I've been doing a lot of research on where I should travel to before I come back home....still have some decisions to make. Breana and I originally wanted to go to Thailand for a week but with the whole political thing going on, we decided that'll have to be saved for another time. So through much discussion about where else to go....trying to decide between Cambodia, Vietnam, Singapore, Philippines, Bali) I think we've finally decided to go to South Korea. I've seen a lot of really nice places we could go visit and I've heard nothing but nice things from people who have been there! Plus, it's super close so it's a short flight, the ticket prices aren't that bad, and I think we could budget well with travel there. So, I'm pretty excited to be planning that....less than a month before we go! Gotta get to booking some things! The week after that I'll be on my own so I have to decide what to do during that time too...I'm thinking Shanghai and some cities around there. Busy busy busy!! Well.....I will try to be better and update everybody again before the next month is done! See you later!
Check out my YouTube page for some new videos that I put on!!
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpmH17x7-lm5BSbKuL4qXBg