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!