The Family BBQ!!

So one day Jess and I got talkin about home and what we missed and talk about BBQ's came up! so we decided we were going to have a BBQ... but then the bad news came... they don't really sell grills here! we found one but it was REALLY really small! so we thought our BBQ night was out... sad story!

well then one day we found out that Joe (our Chinese brother...) had a grill custom made so we could have our BBQ! how nice is that!? and let me tell you... it was SO fun!

Jessica, Kylee and I wanted to help so we offered to cook something! we choose good old fashioned BBQ chicken!! it was quite the experience! we had to go to the fresh fruit market and buy some chickens... (don't worry.. they were still alive! nice and fresh!) it didn't take long to kill em though! so we had the experience of killing and chopping our own chicken! it was scary chopping it up though! the knife they gave me was the biggest knife ever! Kim (Chinese sister) she is the cook of and for the family she ended up cutting it instead... haha so then we got to cook it! (oh!! and thanks family for setting me up with the recipe!) they LOVED It! haha my chicken was ALL gone! the only left over chicken we had was the stuff that was still raw because we couldn't finish it! we had so much food there! we had lamb, chicken, squid, fish, corn, eggplant, hot dogs! (ya that's right! REAL hot dogs!!) but they don't eat them with ketchup and mustard with buns... they eat them plain with honey! not my favorite but oh well its china! what do ya do? we also had fruit and watermelon! it was the best ever! aww so good! There was some other food to but i don't remember what else we had....

after dinner we played a mean game of Monopoly! ah! felt like home... well expect that I got my trashed kicked! that hasn't happened in a very very long time! Andy beat us! but Chinese monopoly was a little different then our monopoly! (especially my awesome credit card version!!) :) all in all it was a GREAT night and it felt a little more like home! my Chinese family is awesome!

Row Row Row your boat!...well kinda....

Today We made sailboats in class! the kids loved it! Especially the part where they got to sail them! some of the kids couldn't get their boat to move haha it was so funny to watch them blow the sail! so much fun! :) I just love them!

if this is what I REALLY look like to chinese people...I will shoot myself! ;) haha

So that night we went and saw the Pagoda Jessica had a BRILLIANT idea! We saw this artist and she said... "we should get our picture drawn!" haha so we thought hmm... ok! that could be fun! oh my gosh! we sat there for TWO HOURS posing! I felt like a little kid because I couldn't sit still and after 30 minutes of me just sitting there smiling he still wasn't done with my mouth! So I was like this is retarded! So I stopped smiling and i was getting grumpy because he wouldn't let us move! haha he kept getting mad at me was like "Smile" well he would actually say it because he didn't know ANY English... he would just grunt and point and me and smile, then drop his smile then smile again so i would get the hint... lol So i would smile and then we would look down and draw and I would make a funny face at him! haha it was awful! I seriously couldn't sit there! then there was this other guy who secretly drew a picture of me and gave it to me afterwards... haha when i saw it I was like OH MY GOSH! He had to draw one of my when I was mad while i had to sit there! So i look like a hobbit in the group picture and then i looked so mad in the other one! lol I showed my head teacher and she said I looked like a Disney princess but a mad version of it!... I didn't really know how to take that.... haha

the BIG GOOSE PAGODA

This is a temple! It was HUGE! we decided to go at night because there is this light/water show and its suppose to be amazing! So we decided to go! we were suppose to get on bus number 23 so we looked for a bus station and finally found one! we got on the bus and headed for the Pagoda! (so we thought) we were on the bus forever! and when we came to the end of the line the bus driver said we had to get off! the only problem was there was no pagoda... so we showed him a map and he starts laughing and was like "ok ok..." He drove us to this ally type thing and we were like what the heck? So we all got off the bus (me Jess Azure and Micky) and he took us to the bus station where they switched drivers! we got on bus number 23 all right but on the wrong side of the road! haha what idiots we are! oops! so they helped us get on track and to make a long story short we got there just as the show was ending! but we decided to stay and look around! we played in the water and looked at the temple and some statues! it was actually way fun!

A perfect day for kites!...NOT!

So we went to this really pretty park! It was in the middle of town so there were quite a few people there. It was HUGE though! There was a section for having picnics and just relaxing, a section for shopping and a there was a carnival spot! So we went into the shopping center and we were looking around when we saw these kites! we thought "Hey! that could be fun!" so we bought em'! well we tried to find a spot to fly them but it was tricky! We seriously tried for 2 hours to get those stupid things up... and we couldn't do it! Well i was about to give up when this Chinese girl named Jia said to me... "have you seen a kite before?" I looked at her and was like... "ya...?" she said "oh...do you have kites in your homeland?" I again looked at her like are you freaking serious?! so I said... "ya..." and she said... "oh! have you ever flown a kite before?" By this point I was thinking ok whats your point here!? so again i just said... "yes" then she got to the point.... "Oh... your not very good at flying kites!" I just kinda sat there and looked and her like "was that all you wanted to say to me or what!?" haha but me being the nice person I am said... "Ya i'm not very good!... why don't you try!" haha well so she did and she couldn't do it either... I thought about asking her the same questions she asked me but i didn't.. so we started to work together and about 30 minutes later of running and running and jumping and getting frustrated we got it up! it only lasted about a minute though! So I gave up after that! So Jia and I got talking afterwards and it was a matter of minutes before I had a crowd of people around me wanting to talk to me! that lasted about an hour and after that i was like I gotta go... haha

Chinese people! they never give me peace! I can't even walk down the street without someone coming up to me and talking to me or wanting their picture with me! its so annoying!! So thanks mom! I just LOVE my Blonde hair and blue eyes here! it gets em' every time! ;)

The City Wall! (Xi'an)

There was a City Wall they wrapped around the whole city! So we went and rented bikes and rode around it! It was about 6.2 miles so it wasn't bad! But don't even worry!.... Jess and I got a double seater! It was way fun! Our friend Micky went with us (so that's the guy you see in the pictures) I had a bell on my bike so I felt really Chinese because if someone was in my way I rang the bell like crazy! haha just giving them a taste of their own medicine! ;) I was the person who got to steer! (thank goodness!) well at the last stretch Jessica stopped peddling so I pulled over and made her get in front so she had to peddle! lol well it didn't work!... she is the worst at steering! we almost died like 5 times! And then i would freak out because she would almost ram us into the wall so I would try to steer and it would make it worse! haha it was awful!! We were laughing so hard! it was pretty funny! We raced a lot of the Chinese people and that was pretty fun! and then along the west wall i think it was... Micky kept grabbing on to my basket so he wouldn't have to peddle...dang him! So i slammed on my brakes and our bikes crashed into each other! oops! haha my bike made a clanking sounds the rest of the way! haha but along a different note... It was a really pretty view! and there was some fun stuff on the way! like the horse i am on! it was huge!

Terra-cotta warriors (Xi'an China)

So this last vacation we went to Xi'an (pronounced Shee-on) It was really fun! :) There is a lot of historical stuff there!...for example... the Terra-cotta warriors! It was really really neat! There were 4 different "pits" where the Terra-cotta warriors were, and a place where they had all the horses and chariots and then there was a movie we could watch. So we went and saw the horses and chariots first and then watched the movie! well it was really cool when we got there because the guy who found the Terra-cotta warriors was there signing books! So I bought a book and he signed it for me! It was cool!

Red, Yellow and Blue!!!

Today was such an awesome day of teaching! :) I loved it so much!!! I am teaching arts and crafts this week and its my favorite thing to teach! well... that and kitchen! So today we were doing stuff with paint! (everyone called me crazy and thought I was daring) Can't be a good teacher without taking a risk i guess! haha just kidding... i totally made that up! oops! so anyways we did straw paintings today! I had three colors, red, yellow and blue! We talked about which colors make what colors when mixed and just had fun painting! they loved blowing through the straws and seeing the paint slide across the table! every class loved it! :) This one kid Michael... he is pretty naughty started talking in Chinese and that boy loves the Chinese chair! so we had to think of something else he would have to do if he spoke Chinese... we came up with him standing in the corner with his nose in the wall. So I had him do that and don't even worry! It didn't work! He blew into the wall so it made LOTS of noise! I was like oh geez! It was really funny and I had to hold in my laugh because I couldn't let him see that it was funny!...but it was! darn that kid! haha So the rest of the day went well...then I had my 5th and last class. They are all four year olds and there are 12 of them! they are supercute but there are a couple of them that love to make mischief! One of them would be Eva! Towards the end of class Eva said to me.. "Teacher! I like to paint!" I replied... "I like to paint too!" Then she took her hand and wiped the paint off of someone Else's paper and I was like "Eva! Go wash your hands!"Well she did...but just not in the way I wanted her too... before I could do anything she takes her hand with blue, green and yellow paint ALL over it and turns to the kid next to her (Eason) and wipes it ALL over his hair! Oh my gosh! I was freaking out! I didn't even know what to say (and plus I was trying to hold back my laugh!) It was almost time for rotation so I took Eason and Eva and had them by the hand so they couldn't touch anything while Jessica came in to rotate the kids into the next class! So now I had a problem... My class was here and I had two kids with paint all over them! what was I to do!? hmm.. A Chinese teacher ended up coming in and taking over my class while I took the two little kids into the bathroom. I washed Eva first and sent her back to class and then I had Eason to deal with... haha I put Easons head under the faucet and got his hair wet... (oh p.s. their bathrooms have showers in them because some of the kids sleep at the school) So i got some Johnson and Johnson soap and I scrubbed him down! (Poor boy!) I felt so bad! but it was really funny! I was laughing so hard! It was a good/hectic day of teaching but on days like these...that's when I love it the most! :)

gettin down and dirty!

This was for sure one of my favorite things I did in Yangshou! We did this on our fist day and we rode our peddle bikes to the cave! It was a way cold ride!! We rode for at least 3 miles I would even maybe say 4! it was really fun though because we were taking pictures and making videos on our bikes...we almost crashed a few times but hey...its all fun and games right!? :)

The mud cave was so cool! we had a guide take us into the cave and everyone was like are you serious!? because he kept saying... "look! this rock looks like a beautiful girl!" or my favorite... "this looks like a hand but with two thumbs!" we were like what the! he basically BS his way through the cave. We climbed this rock called snow mountain and its really steep and wet.. (that would be completely prohibited in America!) they would probably make you sign a release form saying if you died it wasn't their fault! haha but it was way fun! we were so high up the pictures are way dark so we will have to lighten them up. After the tour we got to go play in the mud caves and that was rockin! I was caked with mud! I was even finding mud days later! After we got done playing they made us wash off..but no worries..the water was FREEZING! it was so cold that after 5 seconds under it you got a brain freeze! I don't think I have been that cold ever! it was not fun! they made me go back 3 different times to wash off even more because I never passed the inspection! I was so mad! haha they took us to an all natural hot springs after and it probably really wasn't that hot (prob luke warm) but since we were so cold it was a little piece of heaven! :) so so fun!

Will you look at those mountains! :)

This is when I was in Guilin/Yangshou! It was absolutely gorgeous!!! We got to see a lot of scenery because one day we rented mopeds one day we rented peddle bikes and then we rode buses and walked everywhere! It was a lot of fun! We took so many pictures! It was insane! :) I have never seen mountains like this before! We did go see moon hill. Its the mountain that's shaped like the moon and where you stand depends on what shape the moon is. It's really cool! We stayed in Yangshou and traveled to Guilin. It wasn't very far but Yangshou was so fun! Yangshou was more what I had in mind for China. Its defiantly the more poor and ghetto places you think about when you even think the word China!

Circus Day!

This is Brittney! she's really shy but she does really well when she talks!Leo walking the "tight rope" and Hula Hooping. This little boy has so much energy and can be naughty! but I love this kid! He is for sure one of my favorites! :)

This is Lee being the Penguin! He is so stinkin cute! He's a good student and laughs at everything! but put him and Leo together...and your just askin for trouble!


Circus Day Story!

I am teaching drama this week! So for today we had a Circus Day! I brought in costumes for the kids to dress up with and I also had a book about the circus. We all read the book and we talked about whats at the circus and what they do and just stuff like that! After we read the book I let them dress up and they got to walk the "tight rope" they hula hooped and had crab walk races! In my older class the 5-7 year olds, we did the same thing but added in cartwheels and walking on your hands.

Funny Story!

It was pretty cute...in one of my classes we were talking about how clowns walk on their hands! This kid named Nite got really excited and was like "Teacher! Teacher! I can walk on my hands! Let me try!" So I was like "Ok Nite! stand up and show me!" well so I was watching and he gets up and guess what he did?! He stood on his hands! like... I mean LITERALLY stood on his hands! his feet were on top of his hands! I was laughing so hard! It was pretty cute! :) It made my day! It made it even better because he was innocent about it and was so excited because he could stand on his hands! I love my kids! He didn't quite understand "standing on your hands" so I showed them and they were laughing so hard! They thought that was the funniest thing ever!

This is Kyle! He was the monkey but he wanted to wear the hat too! He is so dang cute! He loves to give hugs and is so nice! He is also not afraid to try anything and to get up and do things in front of the class. He is always the first to volunteer! I love him! (also one of my favorites!)

This isn't my home room class but its one of the classes I teach during the day! This is the 3-5 year old group and they are so freaking cute! This class is hard because they don't understand a lot of English but they still do very well! They loved the Circus!

This is me helping Peter! He couldn't quite figure out how to hula hoop! it was fun! He would spin his hips really really fast from side to side and the hula hoop would fall right off! he's such a funny kid! (again... another one of my favorites!) :)