Disney Voluntears

Today we volunteered for a local school in Nanjing.  It was an amazing experience and it really brought things back into perspective.  Today we walked into a regular elementary school in a poorer area and the kids went crazy.  They were running through the school following us around like we were famous people.

We went into the classroom and I was in a 3rd grade class.  The kids were so funny.  They were all wanting to know about me.  They wanted to know what kinds of things I liked.  If I could speak Chinese.  If I liked their work.  What kinda fruit I liked.   We just did simple craft projects with them and it just seemed to make their entire day.


I was nervous going into the school because I wasn't really sure what I was supposed to do with the kids but       the kids were amazing.  They were just so excited to have foreigners in the building.  They tried to use all the English they knew and were so excited to make the crafts and play games.

I was reminded today of how lucky our kids in the states were when I walked into their school they have just basic desks with one computer.  They had no heat and have to wear jackets all day.  There were 32 kids in the class and one teacher.  That was  a lot of kids to have in one room.

At the end of the day the principal asked to take pictures with the classes and us.  The kids were so funny they were all trying to hold my hands.  And then at the end we took a picture with the staff and the kids were pulling out their phones to take pictures of us.

It was such a great Christmas reminder about how much we have and how little others have.  It was a great day for all of us and I think it just reminded us of how blessed we were.

7 months later

7 months in China...HOLY CRAP!  The time has flown by...This has been such an amazing experience thus far.  I have experienced so much in such a short period of time.  I have truly had to learn to stand on my own feet.  I have an amazing support group of friends over here that I am blessed with but it has still been a challenge at times.

When I left 7 months ago, I was lost and looking for something more.  China has def.  been something more.  I am amazed by it all the time.  I miss home more and more but  I know I am in the right place.  I could not have asked for a better experience.

I think back to my Gainesville days and I am just so happy that I got to experience something more.  I never felt like I ever really got to challenge myself in Gainesville.  I was looking to be independent and wanted a life of my own.
Boy did I get what I asked for.  In the past 7 months I have mimed to people in stores and restaurants more times than my ego would care to count.  I have subway surfed my way through Shanghai.  Learned a little Chinese.  Made new friends and  lived completely on my own for the first time.    I have plunged and scooped buckets of water from a toilet.  Flooded my bathroom more times than I can count.  
I learned to cook a little.  Burned the crap out of food and learned to eat it just because.

I have tasted grasshopper, intestines and lord knows what else.  I have played with chicken feet and had whole birds and fish laid in front of me.

I have been sooo lost in my town many times.  I learned to use the metro and hail taxis.  I have discovered the greatness of the high speed railway system.

The one thing I was thinking about tonight walking home is that in the states walking a mile or two home is just not really something people do but here I am to the point where asking a taxi driver to drive me two miles home just seems crazy.  I just walk home and never think twice about it.  

I have traveled a little and learned a lot.  I have had many massages and def not enough sunlight.  I have bought a winter coat and actually live in a place where it is necessary to use one.  I have boots and tights and leggings to layer.  I now have hats and scarves.  I have seen fall leaves and witness real seasons.

I have started a budget and failed at sending money home.  I am now used to not having a dishwasher or a dryer.  I can say small phrases and communicate with my kids better now.

Crazy things like children peeing everywhere and people spitting so close to you you almost have to dodge the spit.  seem normal to me now.  I have done KTV and seen the sunrise in china more times than ever in the states.

I am now learning the fun that comes with winter and a bad water heater and bad heaters in the house.  

Experiences are what you make of them.  I choose to look at everything I experience here as a blessing and an answer to many prayers that I have sent up.  Though I miss home often I am blessed by every adventure China has to offer me.

I can't wait to see what China has to offer me in the next 7 months!!

Winter Adventures

This winter I am very excited to be in what I would call a real winter.  However this is a learning process for me seeing as I have never really lived in a place that winter starts early and gets really cold.  I have learned that carpet floors make for a much warmer house.  I miss those because my floors are freezing.   

I have learned that slippers are a must in order to keep your feet from freezing every time you walk around your house.   I am learning that there is no such thing as too many sweaters or Jackets.

I am loving the fact that I get to wear scarves and gloves and most of all I love to wear hats.  they are so much fun!  I love them.  I love that I have found a million wonderful pairs of cheap leggings that go under pants to help make me stay warm or on warmer days they make for delightful pants to a longer sweater.  

I love that boots are acceptable here and needed because it is actually cold here.  I love that I have now seen more shorts on girls here than I did in the summer.  They wear the leggings underneath the shorts and then boots.  

I love that the leaves have changed colors and now are falling off the trees so on my walk to the metro I get to stomp on them the whole way.  Nothing better than crunching leaves and stomping through piles of leaves....never gets old hearing the sound of a crunching leaf.  

I love that even though we are in China Christmas trees are going up like crazy everywhere I look there is a giant beautiful Christmas tree.  

I don't love that every morning I have to coax my Gas into working because it apparently doesn't like the cold and so there for has to warm up before lighting and heating the water.  I also don't love that I can't sit in my living room because it is too darn cold cause the heater doesn't well enough in there to heat the room!  

I will be buying another heater for that room when I get paid again :) 

I love winter and I love the change.  I am excited for the potential snow and fun that is to be had with a real winter :) :) :) 

A wonderful night in Nanjing

Just another delightful night in Nanjing.  I went to the Confucius temple and night market it was so pretty and had neat little shops here are a few photos from it.   The tree photos are just photos I saw while I was walking around today.  I thought it was neat that this is just in an apartment complex growing randomly.   

Thanksgiving Day!

Thanksgiving this year was very different for me.  I have to say it was one of the best Thanksgivings I have ever  had.   Our on boarding group got back together for Thanksgiving and it was just an amazing day.  Two friends from on boarding were gracious enough to host us at their house and we all gathered for a meal of duck, chicken, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, veggies and more...it was good times and good laughs.  It was interesting because it really felt like a Thanksgiving day back home.  While a few of us were on our way over there we all had a moment where we forgot the stores would be open because it just felt like we were back home and everything would be closed.

We made turkey hands and ate and drank wine together like it was old times.  We all laughed at the memories or our on boarding days and emails exchanged between all of us before we made it to China.  It just felt so nice to be around the people that started this adventure with me. They truly feel like family.  The people that you have shared the best of times and sometimes the worst of times.  They shared the beginning the craziness that was the flight to China, on boarding and figuring out China.
We went out later that night and just got to let loose and have fun it was great to have some down time with these people again.  I know I shared the photos on facebook but here are some of my favorites.

Fall in Nanjing!

 Hehehe China

 The buildings are the coolest...

 I love the random art on the walls...

 Little bit of fall....

 Random

 Fall....

 Yay! Fun Statue

 The Sweater Store that is my favorite place... The best and the worst thing in Nanjing :)

How a great day of wandering today.  I love the days where I just wander the city :)

November

Well winter is hitting here in Nanjing.  While it is not horribly cold yet it is getting colder as the days go by.  It is interesting because here in China after a certain point in November it is time to turn on the heater. It doesn't matter how cold or hot it is outside the heaters are on because that is what you do after a certain date.  The kids show up no matter what in at least four layers now because it is past October and that is what you do.  We are having the battle at work with the Local staff because they have turned on the heat which means we loose control of our air in our classrooms and now it is the heat air or nothing.  And when you have two projectors and 15 children with singing in dancing it very quickly heats up.  

I wish I could transfer some of that heat to my house.  It is obviously a challenge living in China with the language barrier and I knew that coming into coming to China but sometimes there still surprises...such as I forgot that the remotes to my ac would be in Chinese so now I can't figure out how to turn the heat on.   There for the house is freezing all the time.  I did by a space heater today though it is little but hopefully will be enough to heat my bathroom.  I am leaving it by my bed so it heats at least part of the room so it isn't sooo cold.   

I have talked before about China days.  The days that China seems to kick your butt.  Today was one of those days.  I am sick and I didn't sleep well last night so it didn't start my day off well then I have construction that is next to me that starts so early that I am always woken up by it.  

I got to work only to find out that there are changes coming my way that are not going to be fun.  While I am a very adventurous person and love to be spontaneous I am not always someone that loves change.  So needless to say that it didn't help the day.  On top of it all it has been cold and rainy so it makes for a down mood.   

The upside to China days is just when you think that China has almost won for the day something happens to make the day better.  Tonight it was fireworks right outside work.  When something happy happens in China people shoot off fireworks....often times they are just fire crackers but tonight they were the really pretty fire works that are set off on the Fourth of July. They were so pretty and just what I needed to end the day on good terms with China :) :)     

Thoughts for the day

Sometimes it is hard to not look back on the past with some regret.  Sometimes I think to myself well If I hadn't done some of the things I did how different my life would be.  How if I had stayed in Tallahassee I never would have ended up moving back in with my parents or gotten myself into debt.  And sometimes I think about the amount of time I spent dating people that I didn't end up with...how different my life would have been if I hadn't spent so much time in effort making those relationships last. If I would have just let them go when they were going bad the first time maybe I would have been traveling sooner...maybe I would have finished school faster because I would have stayed in school in Tallahassee and not taking time off.

But I have to be careful when I start with regrets because of the memories that were made in those lost years.  I moved out and had two of the greatest roommates and one of the best years of my life that year.  I think about how much fun we had getting into trouble together.  Then I think about the time I moved to Cocoa beach and how lost I was at that time but I had one of the greatest summers of my life. I lived with my best friend and I got to meet new people and have a great adventure there.

It is hard because the times have changed so much.  I am not longer a young 20 year old.  Sometimes I feel like I wasted time spending so much time focused on one person...that I could have been out there living life to the fullest. But even though it is hard to remember the good times I know that for a long time I was truly happy and had great experiences because of it.

The choices in your life define who you are.  Even though sometimes I regret some of the choices in my life that I have made I look back and realize with out every single one of those choices I would not be the person I am today.  Every time period in my life has shaped a part of me.

If I had not had made those choices I would not be discovering who I am today in China.  I have to think about these things because sometimes the future is overwhelming.  The choices that have to be made in the future will continue to shape who I am and it is a little scary to think about.  I know that there is a purpose in everything that happens and that the puzzle pieces of my life are slowly coming together and I just have to be patient and remember everything happens for a reason and time flies too fast to sit here worrying because before you know it the present becomes the past and you look back on it and realize how great those times truly were.

My board at work

weeeee my board at work... My room is pixie hollow I have been wanting to change my board at work and when we moved it was the perfect time!!! Started with the idea of Tinker bell and went from there!!! I love how it turned out!!!

Little surprises in life :)

I feel that it is important to celebrate and remember the happy times in China because lord knows there are China days....For those are you that are not in China with me....these days are the days where you feel like China is out to get you....the days that are recognized by everyone over here as the day where you really feel the impact of living in a completely different country on the other side of the world from everything you are comfortable with....

I have had these days that have come in stretches of two weeks spans...even though there are good things that have happened in those weeks the over all gist of the week is China days.....

I have learned that when you are having a good moment it is important to really live in that moment....that way when these days come the memories of the great days soften the blows until the next great thing happens. This weekend has been one of those weekends that I feel the need to celebrate....I finally jumped on the Hunger Games wagon and I was able to read the entire series in less than a week.   It was great to spend my weekend with my nose in a book it has been a while since I have read a book and I forgot how much fun it is.  

With the fast pace life we sometimes live I am starting to really enjoy the weekends where I can spend time in my house just relaxing.   Yesterday, I left my house long enough to get some food for a friend and chat with her for a bit and then  I was back at the house nose in a book...Today I woke up and finished the series...which meant I did not get out of bed till four...and to be honest with you it was so great!  

I decided tonight would be a great night to clean up and organize and I was putting something away and I found the pants that I have been looking for for 3 months.  I also found money in the pants and just for the fun of it when I was cleaning other things out I found more money....Like I said on facebook the one fun thing about being a little disorganized is that there are constant surprises in life :) :)

Other happy things about China....figuring out that there is an SD drive on this computer before I bought the device to upload pictures to my computer....not owning a car...having a wonderful apartment...with its quirks all to myself....and just everyday being an experience....it always seems to be the homesick days that I end up finding out why I love China the most.... I am thankful for the little blessings in my life that keep me going through the China days and homesick days :) :)

Moon Festival National day and Chengdu!

So after a week in Hong Kong and a week in Chengdu I must say I am very happy to be home.  However my experiences these past couple of weeks have been absolutely amazing.  I am truly blessed.   Chengdu is a city Northwest of Nanjing.  It is a bigger city very well known for the Panda's they have there.  After much teetering my friend Ivana decided on Chengdu as a great place to spend the week.  We started off the week seeing the Pandas.  This made the entire trip.  The pandas are about the cutest thing I could ever imagine.  They look like people in a panda costume.  Pandas paws are like hands.  They pick things up and hold things with them.   When we first arrived at the park there were six pandas completely surrounded by bamboo.  They were laying with it all over them and lounging all over each other it was so funny to see.  Then we walked through the park and saw red pandas and pandas climbing trees and hanging in a tree sleeping.  We saw baby pandas that were two months old.  Ugh they were so cute.  I took a million photos of them and many will be posted down below.  (when I can get them uploaded).  While on this trip we met some people that were staying at the Hostel that also worked for Disney English.  We met some other nice people too. We met a British couple that were traveling through China as well.      
     When we were done with the pandas we decided to walk around Chengdu and try to find a market.  We ended up running into the British Couple and went to the park with them.  This park is very famous for sitting and drinking tea and getting your ears cleaned.  So of course we had to try this.  I did not get my ears cleaned but Ivana did and it was the weirdest thing.  After the park we decided to get a message.  It was like a game of cat and mouse trying to find this place that was recommended by the hostel we must have walked in circles for two hours trying to find it and no one knew where it was.  Finally we realized it was on a different street that we later found.  We walked on that street also and had no luck so as we were walking home a guy stopped us and asked if we were trying to get a message...we were said yes but  a little weirded out.  Turns out he saw the card in Ivanas hand and was the owner of the message place.  It was so weird that we randomly found him on the street after hours of searching.   We ended up with a great message and headed back to Hostel to hang out for the night.

The Hostel is one of the coolest places...It has an entrance area with computers you can use...a small little selection of books you can check out also.  Then there is a little outdoor patio section that you can sit in.  It felt like we were in a little garden area.   There was a common area with a couch a few tables a little bar area, a pool table and a few cats.  They always played really chill music and it was a great place to sit and mingle.   Ivana and I decided to eat dinner there and then head out to this square area we had seen on the way in the night before.  The one thing about China is everything is prettier at night.  The buildings always have some design of lights running up and down them there are tons of lit signs and decorations.  This particular area had a little water show that was timed to the music...there were lights and fountains and trees that looked like fireworks....We bought a fun little toy in the square and just hung out there for a bit before heading back to the hostel.

The next morning we got up bright and early and headed to Leshan to see the worldest largest buddha...this was an interesting adventure because we went with the people that we met from Disney and took a bus to the bus station and then took another bus to Leshan...We got to Leshan early and had heard you had to get the the line to see the feet of the buddha early...I didn't know that this was the way to see the whole buddha so we didn't rush to the line...by the time we got in line we waited for an hour and half and then realized there was like 4 more  hours of a line and with the way that people push and shove here we opted against waiting in line and found a place where we could see most of the buddha then we took pictures and headed off to Emeishan where we planned to hike the mountain at sunrise....not realizing this was another huge attraction we didn't book a hotel room in advance so we ended up having to pay 200 rmb a person for the one night in a hotel room we woke up the next day and there was no sunrise due to rain but we still hiked around the mountain...this is where I realized there is no nature in China...everything is a tourist attraction...the mountains are paved or have stairs there are vendors everywhere and you have to pay to climb a mountain...we decided it was too much to pay to get in and the main attraction there was too far away to make it back in time for the last bus so instead we headed out a little early and hung out in Chengdu.  We found these delicious fries cooked on the street...and ate lots of street food and fruit on a stick :)

The next day we decided to go to QingCheng Mtn and then do the opera that night.....So we headed out early the next morning and went to QingCheng Mtn.  This was a cheaper mountain with beautiful views....and lots of temples...we also saw a cave and walked down almost 90 degree angle stairs that were skinny and slick from rain...luckily we didn't fall....We got a little lost on the mountain but made it back in time to catch a bus back to Chengdu for the Opera.....The bus was over crowded so the guy put me in the front seat so I could get a delightful view of him running every stop light...There were girls sitting on the part that I think the Engine was under and every time passed cops or went to a toll the man had the girls huddle down so no one could see that the bus was over crowded...that ride was an experience in itself...

We made it back for the Opera and met some really nice people at the opera....It was a neat experience nothing like what I thought it would be...there was not really any singing...

The hostel room we booked was a mixed room and so we met a nice couple that stayed with us a few nights and then came back and had to stay in another room...the night before QingCheng Mtn we were at the hostel hanging out in the common area and we saw them so we just chatted with them and decided that we all wanted to go out the last night...so we met up after the opera and had dinner and then went to a club it was such a great ending to a wonderful trip!