A Second Chance at Hong Kong

The first time I came to Hong Kong, I left hating it.

It was crowded, I had to drag all my luggage around with 50 other girls, and I didn't even get to anything because my flights got messed up.

However, my opinion on Hong Kong has changed drastically in the last 4 days.

My ever so kind Aunt and Uncle were nice enough to let me stay with them along with 2 of my friends. They have been so great to us and have helped us learn to love this city. But I can't decide what I have loved more...the actual city, or spending time in my Aunt and Uncles home. I think it was a big fat tie. This city is AMAZING. I feel like I am living in the future at times. I am pretty sure that everything in this city is connected by some sky bridge, or underground thing, or something. The buildings are incredible. Some are obviously extremely tall and you will see random roads or elevated train tracks just weaving in between the buildings above you.

We were able to just wander the streets, do some shopping, and we got to visit Victoria's peak with my Uncle. We had a ton of fun walking around the peak, and then we were lucky enough to eat at Bubba Gump while overlooking the city at night. It was literally spectacular.

My aunt and uncle have been so kind. They not only let us stay here, but they fed us! They fed us real American food. I got to eat cereal, milk, cheese, carmels, yogurt, strawberry jam, potatoes, ham, the list goes on. All of which I have not eaten since august! And they have a shower that is actually a shower, not just a sprinkler on the wall of the bathroom. And I didn't have to wear shower shoes. And I have a bed that doesn't sink in, and they have couches that aren't wood, and they have a washer...and a DRYER! I feel like I'm in Heaven. And my Aunt and Uncle are the angels.

Sidenote: I GO HOME TOMORROW. Yes. That is correct. I am waking up and going to the airport. Am I excited? More than you know. Am I showing it....? No. Why? Because it is 1 in the morning and I'm so tired. I can't wait to wake up!!!!! :)

HOME SWEET HOME! HERE I COME!

-Kambrie

Goodbyes

The last few days have been incredibly strange. It has seriously been a roller coaster of emotions.

There has been a lot to do and a lot to think about.

But mostly I think about two things. Leaving China and Going Home.

These are some of the things that I'm going to miss:

• Da Fu Yen. 
• Motor Taxi Rides
• Feeling like a celebrity
• The little noodle shops
• 3 Dollar hair-washes
• Oolang Smoothies
• Madeli Bakery
• The cheapness of everything
• Sky train rides
• Playing charades with everyone
• Eating peanut butter with everything
• Having so much time to do whatever the heck I want
• Waking up to Chinese children's music everyday. "Wo shi baba, wo shi hua shu!!!"
• Listening to the children sing their national anthem. It really is just adorable.
• Being able to say whatever I want, wherever I want, because no one understands what I'm saying.
• Kelly. I know she isn't a thing, but I will miss her.

Leaving China is a tender topic for me at the moment. I just recently said goodbye to 50 children. 50 children who have literally changed my life. I could easily tell you about each one of them, who their friends are, what their favorite color is, what they like to do, how they think, and how much I absolutely adore them. Saying goodbye to them was literally the hardest thing I've had to do in a while.

Little tender moment's throughout the whole week have cause me to let the tears come streaming down.

The moment that I told you about earlier, with precious little Oscar.
Then there is the time when we were all standing behind our classes during opening and I look over and see
 Megan just break down. A lot of the children noticed and I could just see the concern on their faces. Concern that only comes from love. The children really do love us. That made me shed a few tears.
Another time was when I went to Owen's house for a home visit. I walked into their tiny little apartment and I was immediately humbled. It was not what most people picture as an ideal home. It was tiny. It was cold. It was cluttered. It was falling apart. But it was happy. I could feel the love that Owen's parents had for him. All they want is to give that little boy a good life. They explained to us that they have seen a big change in Owen since the beginning of this semester. They said that Owen has been very sad because he knows we are leaving and he doesn't want us to go. He loves us because we play with him. Such a simple thing, but they said that it is because we have taken the time to play with him that he has become more confident and outgoing. They couldn't stop thanking us. I am so grateful that I have been able to be a part in changing a child's life.
The next time was yesterday when Vivian was sitting on my lap. She put a sticker on my hand, like she always does. She laughed her little scrunchy faced laugh and I realized that I only have so many more chances to hear her laugh. I kind of lost it then. I held her and cried a good cry. She let me just hug her for a while and then she looked at me and said, "Teacha Kambrie, No!" as if she was the mature one telling me to suck it up and take it like a man. hahaha. I love her so much.
Yesterday when Andrea, Kenna, and Megan left for Thailand. We were at the bottom of the stairs next to our kids classrooms. The girls had some last minute Taobao stuff come in and so we were hurrying to shove them into their suitcases so we could run to their bus! As we were stuffing, we saw about 20 little head's pop out of the door. "Teacha! Teacha! I love you. Don't leave. I miss you!" We waved at them and told them we loved them! We were in a hurry so we didn't think we should start another hug fest. However, before we new it, ALL of the students come charging after us. They attack us with hugs and kisses and "I love you's." Some of them were literally sobbing because they really didn't want us to leave. They understand that they will never see us again. Anyway, they wanted to help us. All of them shoved us aside and grabbed a suitcase.  We would try to help them and they would just say, "Teacha, you no help me. I help you." They are such good little kids. They walked us all the way to the gate and wished us on our ways. It was absolutely adorable.
Today Jerry, precious little no-teethed Jerry, just melted my heart. Time after time. He would come up to me and give me the best hugs, grab my face and look into my eyes and say, "Teacha Kambrie I love you." He would just hold my face and smile his innocent, kind smile. "I will miss you Teacha." Love him.
The students surprised us today by bringing us cake and teats. A lot of them drew us pictures or wrote their phone numbers for us. "Teacha, this is my mommies number. This is my daddies number. I want you're number. I call you tomorrow!" So now I have a stack of pictures, and phone numbers to take home with me!
Then came the time when I had my last homeroom class. This was killer. With all of my little blue class sitting around me, we just had so much fun! I took pictures of them being their silly little chinese selves, and then I took a video of them saying hello to my family! And then I started counting their tokens. "1, 2(sniff, sniff), 3(sniff), 4...." I just couldn't take it. Tears came streaming out and I just looked at them and wanted so badly for them to be able to just feel my love for them. They all got up and came and gave me a huge group hug. They would rub my face and try to wipe away my tears. They would turn my head so they could look at my eyes and give me a "Happy Face!". They would pat my shoulders. And they would tell me they will miss me, and that they love me. I'm telling you. Nothing feels better than feeling loved my children. NOTHING. It is so great.
Lastly, the actual moment when I literally had to walk away and leave them. They were all getting settled into their beds to take their afternoon naps. I opened the door. As soon as I did they all stood up on their beds and started SCREAMING, "TEACHA I LOVE YOU! GOODBYE! I MISS YOU!" It was so powerful. I just waved at them and blew them thousands of kisses. And then I left. I shut the door and walked away. Up the stairs. To my room. Shut the door. The tears came again. For a long time I just sat there and cried. Until I was all out of tears to cry.

I just wish I could take a piece of what I'm feeling in my heart and post it on this blog for you all to feel. I wish I could take a little piece of each on of the children's hearts so you could know them, and how good they are.

I love them so much. I miss them already.

Good thing in five days I will be seeing some people that I have been missing for four months.

I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE MY FAMILY!

Tomorrow is Hong Kong. I have four days there with my Aunt and Uncle. I am so excited to see them and be able to spend some time with them. And then, it is homeward bound for me.

Hello Family. Hello Christmas. Hello bed. Hello food. Hello P90X....haha

I WILL BE SEEING YOU SOON!

Peace out China.

-Teacher Kambrie.

The Beginning of the End.

Wow.

I have exactly 1 week left in China.

Not sure what to think about all of it. I'm absolutely devastated, and completely ecstatic all at the same time.

Every time I see my beautiful children, I just realize how I am the luckiest person ever. To have 50 children who love me, and I love them. SO MUCH.

Today they all kept saying, "Teacha, no go home!" If that doesn't pull on your heartstrings I don't know what will. It's one thing having to say goodbye to them, but it's a whole other thing when they say goodbye to you.

Today as I was leaving the class room, I did my usual "Goodbye everyone! I will see you tomorrow!" And then they all reply, "Goodbye teacha Kangry. See you tomorrow!" Except I glanced over at my little Oscar and heard him say, "Teacher, no tomorrow. No tomorrow!!" So I stopped. Could he actually be saying that he wasn't going to be there tomorrow?! So I ran to the Chinese teacher and asked her if today was the last time I would see him and she gave me the answer that I didn't ever want to here.

I ran over to him and pulled him out of his chair and gave him the biggest hug. And he hugged me back. And then I just started sobbing. In fact, the tears are trying to stream down my eyes right at this very moment. I pulled him back and said, "Oscar. I will never see you again. I will miss you SO much!" He replied with the most precious little voice saying, "Goodbye teacha Kambrie. I love you." And then I gave him another giant hug as the tears kept rolling down my cheeks. I told him how much I loved him and gave him a kiss. If only he knew just how much I love him. Then I had to run out of the room. I couldn't handle seeing all of the kids. Because when I look at them now, I just know that I only have so many more days to see those beautiful little faces. Those brown eyes. Those big smiles. Their crazy outfits. And only so many more days to hear their precious little voices saying the funniest things.

Ah. I don't know how I am going to get through Friday. It will be a miracle.

The one thing that is helping me get through it is that I know I have 4 adorable little faces waiting for me at home. Braelund. Landon. Paige. Karter! Aunt Kambrie will see you soon!!!

-Kambrie

Chinese Sundays.

As so many people know, China isn't exactly known for it's large Christian population. Many people from older generations might not even know who/what Christ is at all. It's so strange to me.

Anyway, It makes for interesting Sundays.

First we have to understand what a normal Sunday is like for me back at home.

I wake up. Go to church for three hours. Come home. Have dinner with my family. And then often times there is another meeting, or devotional, or fireside that I would go to that evening. Overall I usually stay kind of busy on Sundays. But not a bad sort of busy. A good, spiritually productive sort of busy.

Here in China, I wake up at 6:30 in the morning. Take a 15 minute walk to the bus station. An hour long bus ride. Switch to another bus. Another 45 minute bus ride. And then another 15 minute walk to the tiny little apartment that we all cram into, led by a 23 year old guy. We sing a song. Pass the sacrament, and then listen over Skype to the Branch who meets about 2 hours away from us. Then we have a 30ish minute Relief Society/Preisthood/Sunday school lesson. (There is about 45 girls and 2 guys..). Then we take the long journey back home. Where I usually have lunch/dinner, which is nothing close to what a meal should be. Then I try and find ways to fill in the rest of the time with good uplifting things instead of just sitting on the computer all day.

And then, if no one else in my apartment wants to go, I can't go. Can't travel alone, it's against the companies rules.

All in all, I really miss Sundays in America. I miss getting dressed up and feeling pretty. I miss going to church for three hours and coming home feeling spiritually uplifted. I miss having priesthood holders all around me. I miss the time I get to spend with my family on Sundays. I miss going to church in Rexburg, seeing hundreds of young adults making their way to their meeting spots. I miss the way that it is just so easy to feel the spirit there. Here, I have to try a lot harder.

I am grateful that I even have a chance to take the sacrament here in China! I have gained such a deeper appreciation for it since I've been here. It is worth the 2 hour journey.

Anyway, I just love the gospel. I love my savior. I love my Heavenly Father. I'm so grateful that I can talk to him whenever I need. And I need to SO often. I can't wait for these people in China to have the opportunity to know Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ like I do. And I can't wait to be back in a land where the fullness of the gospel is everywhere!

Have an awesome Sunday everyone!

-Kambrie

17 Days Left. WHAT?

As I tore off another day on my paper countdown chain, I realized that it was getting pretty small.

17 DAYS.

WHAT?

I really can't believe it...

My day has consisted of 5 things:

My bed.
Potatoes.
Mormon Messages.
Les Mis.
My own thoughts.

I know. My life is awesome. I find days in China often turn out to be like this. Sometimes (actually most times) I absolutely hate it. I am in CHINA! I need to be out exploring every second I can, right?

Well then I get to thinking, as I often do, and in exactly 18 days I will not have the luxury of thinking to myself, while watching Les Mis, while eating potatoes, while sitting on my bed. I won't have the time to just relax and think and ponder things to this extent. So you can bet you're bottom dollar that I am going to enjoy it while I have it.

Sidenote: I am BEYOND excited to see the new Le Mis movie. Yes I did use all caps and bold. That's how serious I am.

Anyway. My time here in China is quickly coming to an end. It's a weird feeling. I now have a small idea of how strange and hard it is for missionaries to go home. Having to face the world again, and leaving behind a world that you have grown to love so much. There are some people who I will miss dearly. Like Kelly.

I don't know if I've told you about Kelly much, but let me tell you now. Kelly has made my experience in China better than I could have ever hoped for. Kelly is our Chinese coordinator. Aka: Our translator, our little chinese helper, our Taobao order'er, our train ticket buyer, our travel guide, and so much more.  But out of all of these things, the best part about her is the way she just befriended us and makes us feel welcome! She always knows how to make us laugh, to keep our spirits up when we get down, and she is always there for us! I seriously owe so much to her. She is so great.

I am going to miss all of the cute adorable Chinese teachers at Ming De. They have been so kind to us. Whether it's inviting us over to their house for the weekend, or making us lunch when we can't face the fish again. They are so great! Katie, Lulu, Judy, Milly, and Q-Bi. I love all of them!

I am going to miss the beautiful girls I have been so blessed to share this experience with. Maddie, Andrea, Megan, Rachel, Makenna, and Dani. These girls have been so great. We have grown so much over these last 4  months and we have gone through so much together! Teaching our precious little children, traveling all over China, trying to navigate our ways around with the handful of Chinese words we sort of know, making trips to Da Fu Yen...everyday, having deep conversations on bus rides, facing the school lunches together, riding on buses packed fuller than I ever though possible, being separated on those buses and yelling to each other across the bus to figure out if we are at the right stop, making faces on our chins, preparing impromptu performances for the Mayor..., missing American men, scrunching around a little computer screen to try and watch movies, ordering way too much off taobao, going through food phases(rice cookies, A-OK smoothies, peanut butter dumplings, moon cakes, peanut butter on EVERYTHING, Oolang oreo smoothies, bran muffins, madeli), seaweed face masks, climbing stairs, and more stairs, and more stairs, living in our struggling apartment, getting eaten by mosquitoes(oh wait, that was just me..), having hopes of working out and never actually working out, feeling like movie stars everywhere we go, motor taxi rides, fancy dinners with nasty food, surviving the winter with no heater, and the heat with no AC, planning our futures, playing our ukuleles together, killing cockroaches, getting crafty, never looking good.

Needless to say, we have made a lot of memories here in China and I think I can speak for all of us when I say we are going to be sad when it's over. Love those girls.

The hardest people to leave are obviously going to be my kids. I don't even want to think about it. It makes me cry...I have so much love for all of them. All 43 of them.

Which makes me think of one quick story and then I'm done.

The other day, it was Megan's 21st birthday. So to surprise her we decorated the classroom and when she walked in all the kids were standing there to scream happy birthday and run and give her a big hug! I was on camera duty and I was taking pictures. She walked in the room and all of the kids yelled, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY TEACHER MEGAN!" and then proceeded to run and give her a giant group hug. However, as I was taking pictures I noticed someone holding on to me saying, "Teacha Hangry!" I looked down, and my precious little Vivian had her arms wrapped around me tight, flashing me her scrunchy little smile, and staring at me with her big, light brown eyes! Why she ran to me instead of the birthday girl, I do not know. But I felt so loved. I love that little girl so much.

I love all of them!

Anyway. I think I will get back to my Le Mis obsession. While sitting in my cold, dark room. We don't have a heater so its always freezing. And to top it off I have to put a fan on in order to dry my clothing. SO COLD. And, my light broke yesterday so my room turns pitch black at about 6 P.M. It's the best.

Good news is that Bond bought us new comforters. So now instead of sleeping on a cold, hard bed...I get to sleep on a slightly less cold, slightly less hard bed. It's really is a blessing!

I love my life. Love this awesome adventure that Heavenly Father has allowed me to experience. And I love the lessons I've learned, and the person that I am becoming. I have a long way to go, but I am slowly getting there.

Love you all, HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

-Kambrie

Feel the Love.

If there is one thing I have learned from the precious little children that I teach, it would be this.

You don't know how to love until you have felt the love of a child. 

I obviously don't have my own children, but being with these children every day has given me the opportunity to give and receive SO MUCH LOVE. It reminds me of the love that I feel for my cute little niece and my nephews. A love that I'm sure could only be outdone by your own children. There is just something about being loved by a child that is so special. It's given me just a tiny glimpse at what it might be like for Heavenly Father to love all of us.

Today for arts and crafts, I helped the kids learn how to write their names in English letters. After they wrote them, I got glue and traced over their names with it and then let them choose glitter to shake over it. As I helped each individual child, I just felt so much joy. I wanted to help them make their names as perfect as possible. I wanted them all to know how cool they are. I wanted to give all of them the individual love they deserve. Even though they were running around, smearing each others names, complaining about it, getting glitter EVERYWHERE, and talking 5 cm's away from my face, I just felt nothing but love.

Vivian, my favorite child(I give up on the no favorites rule), stood behind me during store today and just put her head on my shoulder and hugged me. Occasionally she would just tenderly pat my shoulder. "Teacha Kangaly..."(I give up on trying to teach them how to say Kambrie too.) It was seriously just the best. She shows me the kind of love that is just so pure and innocent.

Yesterday while teaching, Norah ran up to me and put her mouth to my ear to "tell me a secret".

"14 tokens!", she said with a huge smile on her face. I started laughing so hard while she just skipped back to her chair as if she just told me her biggest secret in the world.

Oscar noticed that I thought it was funny, so he ran up and whispered, "1,2,3,4," and then ran back to his seat laughing his head off, which ultimately made me laugh my head off! Then Jessica caught on and ran up and whispered, "Rule #7 tokens in your token bag,", followed by kaycee, and aubrie, and eric, and vivian, who all just thought of the first english words they could think of and whispered them into my ears. They were laughing so hard!! Then, John runs up and instead of speaking any english he just said something along the lines of, "balgahblefara,". That one took it over the top for me and I started laughing so hard that tears were coming out of my eyes. My laugh got really high and squeaky and the kids just looked at me with the most concerned faces. I'm sure they were wondering why Teacher Kangary was sad, and why her face turned so red. hahahaha. But once they realized I was laughing, they all burst out into the biggest bunch of goofballs and started laughing with me. Overall it was just a big laugh fest. The best laugh fest I've ever been a part of.

If any of you reading this are wondering if you should volunteer for ILP or not, I would encourage you to give in. Just give in and come. You will not regret it. I just wish I could make you understand that.

To learn about it, visit the ILP website by clicking her here. Do it, do it, do it. Give in to my peer pressure.

Anyway, have a happy day, or night, or morning, or whatever it is in your part of the world.

-Kambrie

I'm still so annoyed that I can't post pictures on here. If you want to see pictures, you can try to find me on facebook and look at some maybe! Good luck!

There's so much to be thankful for.

As we all know, it is now November and November means Thanksgiving.

Being here in china has sort of given me a new perspective on life. There are little things that I have, or don't have here, that have made me realize how blessed I am. So, because it is always good to put a voice to gratitude, I'm joining the crowd and I will post one new thing I am grateful for, everyday until Thanksgiving! Here we go!

Nov 1st: Today I am grateful for my parents. For their never ending goodness and their constant outpouring of love and support! Even when I'm so far away from home, I can still feel their love! I love them more than words can express!

Nov 2nd: I am grateful for the fact that food is so cheap in China. Bought a whole grocery list of food for only 8 American dollars...BOO YA!

NOW EVERYONE PRETEND TO BE SUPER INSPIRED BY ME AND GO OUT AND BE GRATEFUL! YAY!

(maybe the all caps was a bit much...)

-kambrie

Chinese Peruvians?

Heavenly Father does answer prayers. How do I know this? Let me explain.

I absolutely love China, don't get me wrong. But I really can't handle the whole "let's eat rice for breakfast, lunch, and dinner!" concept. In fact I hate it. I used to love rice and now I gag at the thought of it. Unfortunately that is kind of my only option to eat here at our school. Rice, weird veggies, and cold nasty meat that should be illegal. I always get food to show respect to the chef, but I always end up throwing most of it away. It's either throw it away, or eat it and accidentally throw it up...

Needless to say, I have been pretty hungry lately. And this is where the answering prayers parts come in.

One day Andrea, Maddie, and I were walking around Da Fu Yen (the big shopping center here) and we saw some people that weren't Asian. Any time you see other foreigners it's just super exciting. The girl in the group saw us too and came over to talk to us. She told us she was from Peru and then introduced us to her other family memebers. Her older brother, Daniel, is quite the character. His sense of humor is very similar to my uncles sense of humor so it was kind of refreshing to joke around with him! Anyway they ended up inviting us over for dinner so that we could celebrate Halloween! But it wasn't just any dinner.

We got to their apartment and it smelled amazing! He had two marinated chickens roasting in a roaster! They made potatoes, and the most incredible sauce to put on them. We asked him what was in the sauce and it's some sort of cream, cilantro, crackers, and some other stuff. It was DIVINE! Then he made a salad. And I don't know if you know how exciting that was. We haven't had fresh lettuce since we left the U.S. The Chinese people always steam it. So we were so excited! It had lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, and avocados with this yummy lime mixture that he spread all over it. It's not dressing, just lime juice or something. It was SO good. The mother made some fresh papaya juice, which was also amazing. And then to top it off the sister (Mayo is her name), made dessert called Delica de Lemon. At least i think that's what it was called. It was heaven.

We stayed there for a long time and just talked to them. I think I might know more Spanish by the time I come home than I do Chinese.. haha! But I left feeling so happy, grateful, and full! Bless their Peruvian hearts!

-Kambrie

9 Weeks Down, 7 More to Go!

I know I still have 7 weeks left in China, but these are the things that I am really looking forward to doing when I get home. Like...

-Eating a homemade meal. I don't even care what it is, I just can't wait to eat it!

-Riding home in the car with my family, listening to Christmas music, and telling them ALL about how much I love China.

-Laying on some carpet. I haven't seen carpet since I left the U.S.

-Devouring my mom's sugar cookies.

-Playing my piano and the guitar.
-Watching as many Christmas movies as I possibly can fit in before Christmas.

-Taking a shower in a real shower. And then taking a bath.
-Actually getting ready. We never look cute in China...haha
-Making Christmas treat with my mom.
-Sleeping in my bed. With sheets that smell clean, and are clean.
-Washing all my clothes in a washer, and drying them in a dryer (as much as I love hang drying..)
-Playing with my niece and nephews. I miss those little buggers so much!
-Drinking a big class of milk.
-Going Christmas caroling.
-Spending as much time as I possibly can with my family before I go back to school.
-Girls night with my besties (aka Jessica, Kaycee, and Kelli).
-Eating cereal for breakfast!

Yes. Yes those are the things that I can't wait to do.

-Kambrie

Creeper on Halloween

I am so pleased with today. Halloween (in China at least).

Even though I have been running on next to no sleep, I had the best time. Today we were able to have a Halloween party with our kids! Obviously Halloween isn't as big in China as it is in the U.S., but the kids still got all dressed up, along with all of us teachers, and we had so much fun. No tokens. No BMC's. No rules. No lines. Just fun!

We took tons of pictures, painted faces, played mummy games, at candy, and just had the best time ever!

I was a witch. Classic. Vivian was Snow White. She's my favorite child. Love her.

Tonight we had a giant Halloween party with all of the families who have children in the Bond Program. There was about 400 people probably. Us teachers had to prepare a dance to perform for the entire group! So we put our clever little brains to work...and copied the dance from Just Dance to the song "This is Halloween" from Nightmare Before Christmas. We painted our faces like zombies and dressed up all scary. Typical, I know. But hey, at least we didn't do thriller..

Not only did we have to perform, but our cute little kids had to as well! As much as I'd love to say it was an enormous success...it was actually kind of a huge flop. But we will pretend it went just as we planned it!

And last but not least, we were in charge of the Haunted House! It was a pretty legit haunted house if you ask me...at least for children. But let's just say, what we think is just a little scary in the U.S. is actually terrifying to the Chinese people. There were quite a few tears shed...but not because of me. Let's be honest, I'm awful at being scary.

Although I am totally missing Halloween in the U.S., I had such a good time today! Now I am ready to wipe this atrocious makeup off of my face and go to sleep...for a very long long time.

Goodnight.

-Kambrie

P.S. To explain the title: Tonight I had to lie to a drunk Asian, who claimed he was in love with me, and tell him that I was married. Every other girl here get's the cute Asian's to obsess over them(and yes, there are some cute Chinese guys)...me? I get crusty drunk men. My future looks depressing.

Confessions of a Chinashopaholic

Not sure if you know this or not, but everything in China is ridiculously cheap. And I mean RIDICULOUSLY.

I just purchased:

1 Coat.

2 pairs of boots.

1 pair of warm moccasins, (Rexburg is a cold land.)

1 pair of suede flats.

2 pairs of toms (one for me, one for my sis.)

1 pair of Nike Free Runs (for my brother)

3 Scarves.

3 Nike shirts (for my brothers)

1 floppy hat.

5 skinny belts.

All for less than $100 . In America that would cost roughly around $535. 

I LOVE CHINA.

(don't even begin to ask me how I'm going to back everything for the trip back home. i will fight that battle when it comes...)

-my name is kambrie and i'm a chinashopaholic.

I'm Pretty Sure I'm Going to Miss This...

When it comes to teaching, I'm pretty sure I'm going to miss...

• Walking into the classroom every day and hearing 20 adorable little children say, "Good morning Teacher Kandy!" (they struggle with my name...kandy, kamblee, hangly, hamry)
• Watching Wingel sing the Moose Song.
• Leo bug and little Sammy. We are all pretty sure they will be husband and wife someday.
• Vivian. At first she was hard to read, but now she and I are best buds. Yesterday she quietly walked up next to me, put her nose into my hair and took and big deep breath. Then she walked away saying, "Yummm," with a big ol' smile on her face. I seriously died of laughter. 
• Matthew and his studly ways..."Good morning Teacher beautiful, Beautiful, BEAUTIFUL Kambrie." He just melts my heart.
• Jessica and how she always reminds me of an Asian grandma. 
• David. He always pinches my belly when we sing the baby shark song. (hahahah.)
• The way Mikey is just leaps and bounds cooler than I could ever dream of being. He totally rocks his eye patch and he's got some mean dance moves.
• Kaycee's hugs and loves.
• How John can be the biggest pain, but I love him anyway.
• When Oscar tries so hard to be quiet, so I will call on him first, by screaming, "I'M BEING QUIET!"
• The moment you realize a certain child is actually learning something from you. 
• The moment when you realize you are learning more from a child than they will ever learn from you.
• The way Aubrie always secretly tries to get my attention throughout the day.
• Eric and his smile and his raspy little voice. Not to mention how incredibly precious he is when he cries. Not that I rejoice in his sadness, but he is just so cute!
• Gordon's little tiny smile that is actually the biggest smile in the world.
• How Norah is just the most adorable little Chinese girl ever. And how I named her after my future daughter.
• The sense of accomplishment you feel when you actually complete a whole lesson!
• The way Boyee already knows the answer to every question. 
• How Alice always says the rules so perfectly.
• Emmett and Bruce and their inability to concentrate on anything but yet you love them still.
• Jackson running up to me saying, "Teacha, I want 100 tokens. Please, please, please..".
• How Tony is secretly the best child in the world.
• Henry(not Harry), trying to translate our lessons for the rest of the kids. 
• Michelle and her sassy ways.
• Quinn. I love Quinn.
• The day that we played a relay game where you have to stick a spoon inbetween your teeth and balance a pom pom on top of it. Jerry couldn't figure out how to hold the spoon in his mouth....probably due to the fact that he only has one tooth..
• The way Habibi is a spitting image of the mean boy on the new Karate Kid, but a lot less mean.
• Athena, so quiet and perfect.
• How little Tony, Brinlie, and Lorin. Three adorable children who make teaching much harder than it should be, but make it worth every second!
• Coco. Her name says it all.
• The way Abby always says exactly what you need her to, and it just makes your day!
• Jackie and his chubby little cheeks.
• Owen. He tries to be a rebel, but we all know he is nothing but goodness.
• The two days that Ivy was an angel.
• How we had to change Kelly's name to Rabbit. Parents orders.
• When Tate pretends he is FURIOUS and tightens his lips and shakes his little head.
• Dori. Adorable outside of class, your cutest nightmare in class.
• The way Riley almost looks constipated when he is concentrating. Hilarious.
• Neville's big brown eyes that could melt the whole continent of Antarctica. 
• Angel. She really is an Angel. 
• Justin...well you just have to know him to understand him. But we all love him dearly!
• Brendan. He isn't even one of my students but the little guy captured my heart. He is precious.

I didn't start this post with the intentions of writing about every single student I teach, but I couldn't leave any out. I love each of them, all for different reasons. Every time I see any of  them my heart is filled with a happiness that nothing else could give me, and I remember why I am here.

I am here for them. 

-Kambrie

Sick, and Slightly Homesick..

You know when you don't feel good and all you want to do is snuggle up on your couch at your own home and let your mom take care of you?

That's kind how the last few weeks have been.

I know I am getting older and I should be able to take care of myself when I'm sick, but nothing heals a child like their mother's heart. And I'm pretty sure that is how I will feel until the day I die.

As I mentioned in previous posts, I have been sick for a while. It all started about 2 weeks before we went on our vacation. I think I just had a head flu, along with most of the other girls. However, like usual, everyone else got over it and I didn't. Mine just got worse. When we went on our vacation I came down with a fever and was battling it the whole 12 days of traveling. I should have just slept it off, but we were doing things that people literally dream of doing and I wasn't even about to let a sickness get me down. So I pushed through it for the whole 12 days.

In the midst of those 12 days I got a dose of my worst nightmare...it literally makes me want to throw up when I think about it, but one of our hostels had bed bugs. And no, not the cute little cartoon bed bugs you think of when your parents used to say, "Goodnight, don't let the bed bugs bite." These are the real, creepy, nasty ones that make you want to just curl up and die. They bit me 70 (yes SEVENTY) times. All over my legs. I didn't notice until two days later when my legs just started itching uncountably. I took of my pants to find tons of red bumps from my knees down. I thought they were mosquito bites on steroids. They were awful. So I had to deal with those the whole trip as well.

When you are sick, it is easy to be grumpy and cranky and I feel so bad for the 6 girls who had to travel with me. I tried my hardest to be a good sport though! But every once in a while I would break and complain...they were so kind! I couldn't have asked to be put with a better group of girls. I love them!

Now I have been back from the vacation for almost 2 weeks, and although my fever and sore throat went away after I got some good rest, my awful bites didn't. I went through and deep cleaned my room, and the living room just to make sure there wasn't any bed bugs creepin around our apartment. I never did find any so I just assumed the new red itchy spots on my body were mosquito bites.

Then came the worst night of my life.

My room and the living room don't have AC, so my dear friend Maddie offered to let me sleep in her room where there is AC. I fell asleep and all was well, until I woke up an hour later. I was having a hard time breathing. There was so much pressure on my chest, it was pretty painful. And then I noticed my tongue was swollen and how itchy I was. I felt my neck and I had little bumps everywhere. I got up and looked in the mirror and from my stomach up was just a big mess of redness. I ran to the shower where I washed myself in soapy water for almost 30 minutes until I just started sobbing, like a baby. Everything just caught up to me and I lost it. After 6 weeks of being sick I just couldn't handle it any more....I was officially as homesick as I have ever been.

I wrapped my towel around me and just sat on the couch and cried some more. I felt so alone and so helpless. Then I prayed, and prayed, and prayed some more. And let me tell you Heavenly Father does answer prayers :]

I never did go back to bed that night. I couldn't sleep. So for 7 hours I just sat there. Then I skyped my mom for a very long time and she made me feel better, cause that's what she does best.

The next day my Chinese teacher insisted that I go to the hospital. I was a little weary seeing as I've only been to a hospital 3 times in my entire life, but I went and I'm so glad I did.

After three shots in my bum, and a bag full of pills to take home, I finally had my peace of mind back. The new redness on my skin was not bed bugs. THANK GOODNESS. It's was just some sort of allergic reaction to something. So I went home and slept for the rest of the day, into the night, and it felt amazing.

After reading this your probably thinking, "And how are you having so much fun in China?" or your thinking, "Kambrie is the most over dramatic baby and needs to suck it up..." which would be slightly frustrating but whatever.

The thing is, I feel like this is all part of the experience. China is making me see life in a whole new way that I've never seen before. I feel like all of these experiences are just slowly making me a stronger person. And if anything I've learned that even when you feel like crap, it IS possible to push it aside and see the bright side of things.

I'm living in China.
I'm not dead.
I am surrounded by lovely people.
I survive off of apples and peanut butter, one of my favorite snacks.
I get to wake up and play with the cutest little children, EVERYDAY!
I get to go to church every Sunday.
I can talk to Heavenly Father and he can hear me.
I am making friendships that will last me forever.
I am finding myself more and more every single day.
I have a fan that keeps me sane at night.
I can buy a whole loaf of bread for less than 1 American dollar.
I am so Happy.

:]

-Kambrie

Yangshuo.

THE 4TH AND FINAL STOP OF THE MOST EPIC VACATION EVER: YANGSHUO!

Yangshuo was one of my favorite places of the trip, but for completely different reasons. If you want to see what Yangshuo is like, click here.

By the time we made it to Yangshuo, we were all gross disgusting messes of girls. All of our clothes were filthy, we hadn't had a decent shower for a few days, and I was still sick as ever. Stuffy nose, fever, and an extremely sore throat. However I had a new problem...I had about 70 bug bites on my legs. At that time I thought they were all mosquito bites because they itched like crazy. They were awful...when we finally got home from the vacation I learned that they weren't mosquito bites. They were actually one of my worst nightmares...bed bug bites. Eww. I can't even think about it. It literally kills me inside.

Needless to say, I was feeling like crap and when you feel like crap and you are in a foreign country, far far away from home, it is really easy to get homesick. I was trying so hard to hold it off but I just couldn't. All I wanted was America. I wanted my home. I wanted my mom's food. I wanted my bed. I wanted my shower. I wanted to wear nice clothes. I wanted to be able to talk to people without playing charades. I wanted fresh air. I just wanted anything but China.

Luckily Yangshuo was a pretty good place to find a little bit of refuge. It is a very touristy place so there was a lot of white people, or Chinese people who spoke English. (I will admit, I feel so guilty being in a different country and not knowing their language.) And Yangshuo is just a giant party. Literally. Everyone just has so much fun and I met so many people from all over the world!

The first day we were there we spent a while at our hostel (which was so cool) just getting cleaned and resting up a bit. They had places to wash clothes and dry them so we took advantage of that! We met up with some boys from America for dinner! We met them earlier that day and they told us about an American restaurant to eat at called the Minority Cafe! I had a cheese, garlic, chicken pizza and it was divine. The best food I had in months. After dinner we all went to a night fishing show where you get on a raft and follow a Chinese man and watch him fish. It sounds boring, but the man trains a bunch of ducks to fish for him. It was so cool. When it was over we got to hold the ducks. It was pretty sweet! After the fishing show we met up with our Chinese coordinator Kelly and her two friends Mary and Star. We walked the streets and bought all sorts of souvenirs for ourselves and our friends and family. We ate a lot of food...smoothies, chocolate/peanut butter pancake things, ice cream, everything! It was a great night!

The next day we all went and had a feast of a breakfast at the Minority Cafe. Eggs, hash-browns, toast, fruit, pancakes, yogurt, juice, bacon, the whole works! It was amazing. None of us have really had a good breakfast since we were in America! It was the best! After that we split into two different groups. My group went kayaking on the Li River. It was so great. It was just 5 of us, making our way down the river all by ourselves for three hours! I loved it. The mountains in Yangshuo are incredible. they look like they came right out of a Dr. Suess book. It was gorgeous, even though we did pass a dead cow floating down the river...eww.

After kayaking my body had just about had enough. I was absolutely exhausted and could hardly even talk because my throat was so messed up. I went and had some potato soup from the Minority Cafe and then went back to the hostel, showered, and went to bed while everyone else went out and had fun. It was kind of nice to be alone and just relax though.

The next day was our last day of the trip! We took our time getting ready and then made our way to meet up with a lady who would take us to the mud caves! She gave each of us a bike and we followed here down the windy roads that lead through the mountains. We road our bikes for about 20 minutes until we finally got to the mud caves! This was one of my favorite parts about our stay in Yangshuo!

After we changed into our swimming clothes, we hiked through the caves until you come up to what is literally a giant mud bath! We jumped right in and had so much fun! It felt so good. You can just lay in it and it floats you. You don't even have to try! It was so cool. We stayed in there for a while and then washed off and went and jumped in the hot springs. The whole experience was just so relaxing.

After we were done there we went for one final meal at the Minority Cafe, where I got more potatoe soup and some cheesy garlic bread. Then I went to McDonals and got a delicious cookie ice cream concoction. Then we met up with the rest of the girls and made our way to the sleeper bus that would drive us 10 hours, all the way back to Xiaolan! Luckily most of us were able to sleep the whole way.

By the time we got back to our apartment we were all SO ready to be home! It felt so good to be able to unpack, wash our clothes, and take a nice shower!

I still can't believe this is my life. This is real life, at least for 4 months. I am so blessed.

There you have it! The most epic vacation ever.

:]

-Kambrie

Fenghuang.

THE 3RD STOP OF THE MOST EPIC VACATION EVER: FENGHUANG.

This was another one of my favorite places. My friends who came to China through ILP a few years ago told me I had to go here. So I really pushed for it to happen and my friends agreed to go there. Little did we know, we were going to the coolest place ever. Too bad we only planned for 1 night there!

If you want to see Fenghuang (which you totally do), click here!

The train from Zhangjiaie took us to a place called Jishuo where we had to get a bus to take us to Fenghuang. We were traveling on a huge holiday in China so there was TONS of traffic and it took us and extra hour to get there, but we finally got there. We met some awesome people on our way who offered to help us get to our hostel. If they wouldn't have helped us I honestly don't know if we would have found our way. Because it was the holiday, the whole entire city was literally PACKED with people. Shoulder to shoulder. It was insane. We passed all sorts of street vendors and stores and cute little shops. It was one happening place! Our hostel was right in the heart of all of the fun!

Once we got all settled and cleaned up, we ventured out into the madness. It was so much fun! When you are white in an Asian country, you can get away with a lot more than the average Asian. We found a real, legit ice cream shop that played American music at it so we obviously sang along with Taylor Swift as she told her boyfriend they were never ever getting back together.

One thing about Fenghuang is that there is tons of food. It all smelt so good and I wanted to try all of it, however it kind of backfired. Every single thing I bought either tasted AWFUL, or tried to kill me, literally.

The next day we just walked around and explored more. We walked across the bridges and had a jolly good time. Actually, everyone else had a jolly good time. I was still struggling with whatever sickness was trying to ruin me so I was kind of cranky, and then a bunch of people came and wanted pictures with me which is fine. However they ended up knocking my camera out of my hand and putting a big dent right in the lense. I got really angry and decided to not talk to anyone for a while so I didn't hurt them. I just wanted all of the Chinese people to go away, and I wanted good food, and my bed, and my mom.

HERE COMES THE MOST EXCITING/TERRIFYING PART OF THE ENTIRE TRIP.

After our stay in Fenghuang, we needed to find a bus to take us back to Jishuo so we could catch our next train. However after a series of unfortunate events, we found out there would be no more buses leaving until the next day. This would not do. We found some people who spoke English to help us try and find a taxi to take us! However none of the Taxis were even taking passengers because of the traffic. We had no clue what to do. If we stayed in Fenghuang we would miss our train, and we wouldn't have any place to stay! We HAD to make it to the train station and we were running out of time.

As we were in a panic trying to figure out what to do, a few motor taxi drivers came and offered to take us. The thought was kind of absurd seeing as Jishuo is a good two hours away...however we were hopeless and desperate so we jumped on. 4 motorcycles, two girls on each motorcycle, with our huge backpacks...I still can't believe we did that. But we did. We took off, trying to squeeze our way past buses and cars full of people, bumper to bumper. About 10 minutes into the ride the second taxi broke down. The first taxi didn't notice and kept going, luckily my taxi and one other taxi was still behind them so we stopped to make sure they were okay. We ended up waiting about 15 minutes to find another taxi driver and then we took off again. Between all the traffic we all got separated, which I was fine with until we turned off onto a dark, creepy, lonely road.

At this point I literally was preparing for the worst. I was with a strange man who I didn't know at all, who I couldn't even speak to if I tried. We were driving down and empty, dark road, passing random strange creepy people walking on the side. My phone was dead so I didn't have any way to call anyone if I needed to. I didn't have any important numbers memorized. I was with another girl who was even more terrified than me so I had to be calm and collected for her sake. We were squished on a little motorcycle with our backpacks hanging off to our sides. And it started to rain. All I had on was shorts and a little sweater.

Then all of a sudden the driver pulls up next to this building. I honestly started preparing an escape plan. I was terrified. He pulled out a bag and started ruffling through it, trying to find something. Then he pulled out a rain coat and told me to put it on...hahaha. PHEW! He was just being a nice man, trying to take care of me. I put on the coat and we took off again. Even though he was kind, I still had my gaurd up. We were still traveling down some creepy roads. We had been going for a little over and hour when his phone rang and we stopped again. At his point, my tailbone felt like death from the position I was sitting in. A few minutes after we stopped another motorcycle pulled up next to us. My first thought was, "Great. This is his friend who is going to help him murder us." However, as I looked I saw my dear friend Rachel sitting on the back of the motorcycle. She looked at me with the most happy, yet terrified face ever. She was crying! I jumped off of my motorcycle and ran and gave her a big hug. The poor girl was alone on her bike and was just as scared as the two of us on my motorcycle! We all thought these men were going to do bad things with us, however the fact that we were both all in the same place was SO relieving. It gave us a sense of peace and comfort!

From that point on both of the motortaxi's stayed together until we finally reached the train station and met up with everyone else. I can't even explain to you how happy we all were! We were all equally as terrified, but we made it and we were all in one piece, with 10 minutes till our train left! We grabbed our bags and ran as fast as we could to make our train! We made it just in time and for some reason we were expecting to be able to relax on the train...hahahaha nice thought. Our seats were right next to the smoking section on the train. I literally spent 8 hours holding my scarf over my entire face so that I could breathe. I was having a hard time breathing without the smoke just because I was sick, so the smoke made it awful. There was also more trash on this train than any of the other ones. I was so grossed out. Longest 8 hours of my life.

I didn't ever think we'd make it to our next and final stop, however we did. In one piece.

HELLO YANGSHUO!

Zhangjiajie.

2ND STOP OF THE MOST EPIC VACATION EVER- ZHANGJIAJIE.

I will have to admit, Zhangjiajie was not my most favorite place ever in terms of the actual city and the people. It could have been due to the fact that I was sick and irritable, but the people there were kind of creepy. I don't care what country you are in, it is just not okay for middle aged men to hit on younger girls.

Anyway, we did do some pretty incredible things here. And I also found my favorite cookies in the world. I asked someone what they were called and they said "Chocolate Cookies." What a clever name...haha.

If you don't know what Zhangjiajie is and want to see, click here. You wont regret it.

The first night we were there we didn't really know what to do, so we went to the Yellow Dragon Caves. For pictures of this, click here. They are just these giant caves with incredible colorful cavey features, for lack of a better term. It was pretty sweet!

The second day in Zhangjiajie was amazing. We took a cable car (and by cable car I mean the worlds longest cable car), all the way to the top of the Tianmen Mountains, which you can see in the first link I posted. When you are at the top top of these mountains you feel like you are on top of the world. It's incredible. You walk along this path that is literally on the edge of a cliff, so if you don't like heights I probably wouldn't recommend going there. But you can walk around the entire mountain. Unfortunately I was still extremely sick and had to stop, for my sake and to stay back with another girl who was sick. But it was still amazing!

After we were done walking around the top of the mountains, we took the cable car down a little ways and got off at the stop for the Heaven's Gate. To see pictures of this, click here. Even though I'm sure you've seen pictures on Pinterest. Basically there is this giant whole in the mountain and you climb up about 1,000 stairs to reach it! It was one of the coolest things I have ever done. However, I looked ridiculous the whole time. Earlier that day I had to borrow my friend pink shorts because my pants were irritating some bug bites on my legs. Then later it got cold, so I put on the sweater I brought, which just happened to be pink as well. Pink shorts, pink sweater, and pink shoe laces. I looked like a giant piece of bubble gum! haha!

By the end of that day my sick little body had just about had enough. I had a delicious dinner at a little restaurant near our hostel, then I went back and slept. When I woke up I still felt like crap, so I slept until we had to leave the hostel and catch yet another train to our next stop!

FENGHUANG!!!

Wudang Shan.

Hello Friends!

I hope you don't mind if I post 5 different blog posts in one day, because I'm going to anyway. There is far too much to write for one post.

After very carefully shoving 2 weeks work of clothes, snacks, and toilet paper in one small backpack, we took off for the adventure of a lifetime. A two week trip traveling all over China.

FIRST STOP: WUDANG SHAN

Before we get to Wudang Shan, I have to tell you how we got there. I got to ride on my first sleeper train. I would love to tell you that it was just 12 hours of pure joy, but I would be telling you the biggest lie ever.

Pros of the Sleeper Train: You have room to spread out. You can sleep.

Cons of the Sleeper Train: It smells like smoke (everyone in China smokes, everywhere). If your bunk is the top or the middle you can't sit up straight, you must awkwardly slouch or else your head touches the ceiling. Everyone has to take their shoes off, so you get to look at everyone's nasty toes...eww. The carpet is wet. I don't even want to think about the reason why. The toilet is non existent, but the squatter is very existent in the sense that you can smell it no matter where you are. And to top it off, I ended up getting sick on the train. I came down with a fever...hip hip.

After 12 hours on that lovely train, we switched to a regular train for another 4 hours. This one started out much worse than the sleeper. The tables were piled with garbage, the floors were covered in sunflower seed shells, and it still smelt like smoke. People were yelling and tried to strangle each other the whole time. I just felt so stressed. Luckily on this train we sat next to some kids our age. Some of them knew English and we all became friends! Even though I couldn't tell you their names. Something like Wong Werng, Ni mao su, and something else...we taught them how to play ninja! It was so much fun!

Now on to Wudang Shan. If you don't know what this place is and want to see some pictures, click here.

Wudang Shan (Shan means mountain in Chinese) is the actual mountain the Tai Chi was created on, over 600 years ago. It is probably one of my favorite places on the entire earth. The people there are different from all the other people in China, that I have interacted with at least. They are so diverse and peaceful. Also a fun fact: They filmed parts of the new Karate kid with Jackie Chan and Jaden Smith on this mountain. Yes, I did kiss the ground were Jackie Chan walked...

The first day we were there we walked around through some old, and I mean OLD, parts of the city at the base of the mountain. I met a man who was making a quilt from the cotton off of his sheep. I met a blind woman. We told her she was beautiful and she shed a few very happy tears. I visited with a lady growing garlic in a bowl outside of her tiny home. It was a very eye opening walk.

That night we were trying to find our way to a show at Tai Chi Lake. However after a few unfortunate events due to a dumb bus driver and our inability to speak Chinese, we were lost. We kept trying to find people who spoke English to help us and after about the 30th try, we finally found a boy in an old ancient looking chinese robe with his hair in a bun on the top of his head who could help us! His name was Li and he was the most precious boy ever. We all fell in love with him and he ended up inviting us to his martial arts school. As we followed him there we didn't have a clue what was a head of us. We turn the corner and there stands a 600 year old temple, right next to his 600 year old school where tons of attractive boys were practicing their kung fu. In other words we just stumbled upon heaven. Li introduced us to all sorts of people from all over the world, including his good friend Igor. Igor is quite the character. He has long golden blonde hair, his eyes are skinny and pointed, and he has a Russians jaw, which makes sense since he is Russian. His face is just so intense. He has been studying kung fu for 12 years. The two of them became our friends and ended up being our little tour guides for the next few days. They made our experience 10 thousand times better!

The next day we woke up early and took off for the mountain. This was probably my favorite day of the entire trip. Wudang Shan has 4 main stops on it. You start out at the bottom where a bus takes you to each stop.

Stop #1- The Princes Palace. If Mulan was real, her home probably would have been at the Princes Palace. This place just screams ancient China. The walls of the entire palace are red, with green shingled roof tops that you only find in China. I wish I could post a picture of it, but china wont let me.

Stop #2- Monkey Valley. If you have seen the new Karate Kid you would recognize this place when they are by a lake working with the kung fu sticks and Mr. Haun says "Your focus needs more focus." It is gorgeous. The water is perfectly still, there are two old beautiful bridges on either side of you, and you are surrounded by nothing but the silence of nature. It's magical. The reason it is called Monkey Valley is kind of obvious. There are monkeys there. The workers told us we wouldn't be able to see them because the pathway broke...whatever that means. Anyway, we didn't listen to them and figured out how to get there on our own. There were workers along the whole way, repairing the path, and they were more than happy to help us find the monkeys. After a nice little walk, we finally found some! A bigger one and two smaller ones. Monkeys can get mean so we tried our best to please them by giving them food. The climbed all over us! It was quite the experience.

Stop #3- The Purple Palace. This wasn't my favorite place ever. You had to pay extra to get inside and we didn't have money so we didn't get to see the coolest parts! But the buildings were very similar to the Princes Palace.

Stop #4- I can't remember the name of it, but if you have seen the Karate Kid you will recognize this place as well. There is a part in the movie where a woman is balancing with a snake on a stone dragon head, dangling over a giant cliff. That's where this is! As me and two of the other girls were trying to find our way to the stone dragon, we got kind of lost. A little man in a martial arts robe offered to help us. We told him we were trying to find the place where karate kid was filmed and he said, "Oh I was in that movie!" We got to talking and his name is Master Shining (sheening). He teaches tai chi on the mountain. He ended up becoming one of our good friends and we all met up with him after we were done exploring. He offered to give us a free tai chi lesson on the base of the mountain that night!! He also introduced us to one of his students, Thomas. Thomas is such a good man, I wish everyone could know him!

From stop 4 you can go on a giant hike to the very very top palace called the Golden Palace. However it's an all day thing so we decided to save it for the next day. We all took the bus back to our hotel and got freshened up for our Tai Chi lesson! Master Shining met up with us at our hotel and took us to some square, which is actually a giant circle made up of the Ying and Yang Sign. We followed him as he performed his peaceful tai chi routine. Meanwhile tons of other Chinese people came and took pictures of us, like always. Anyway, after we were done Igor and Li found us and We all went to dinner together! At dinner, Master shining offered to let all of us come back and learn Tai Chi on the mountain for 1 year, free of charge. If I didn't already have a life at home, I would do it in a heart beat.

The next day, we woke up bright and early again and started the long and treacherous hike up to the Golden palace. There was step, after step, after step, after step. So many steps! Over 6,000 to be exact. It took us over 3 hours to reach the top. Needless to say, we were all pretty dang tired. We thought we were in good shape...HAHA! However, the view from the top of that mountain was worth ever dang step. You could see for what seemed like forever! And the air was so fresh and clean, which is rare for China. The palace was fantastic. I am not exactly sure how they built it up there 600 years ago...the must have been beasts!

The funniest part of the whole day was when we found a shady corner to sit in and rest. About 2 minutes after we sat down, one by one people started coming and sitting right in the middle of us to get their pictures taken with the 7 American girls. 1, 2 ,3, 4, 5, 6...10, 11, 12...they never stop. Then one man with an extremely long white beard made us all get up and get a picture and that is when all hell broke lose! Chinese people swarmed us and their cameras started flashing like crazy! It was insane. I've never felt so important in my entire life. We couldn't take one step without someone else grabbing onto us telling us to smile. It was insane, but I have to admit it was so much fun at that moment!

That night, we met up with Igor and Li for one last time. We through Maddie, our head teacher, a little birthday party and then took off for the train station, where Igor and Li waved goodbye to us. I've always wanted to experience that. Being in a train, driving away, with someone running after the train waving goodbye! hahah It was cute.

There you have it.

Wudang Shan will always have a special place in my heart.

:]

-Kambrie

and that's why this is worth it.

When I woke up today, I honestly thought, "Ugh. This is going to be the worst day ever."

I was so exhausted from having only have gotten a good 10 hours of sleep within the last three nights that I didn't know how on Earth I was going to make it through the day. But I did what my good ol' mom and dad taught me and I just shook it off and got out of bed.

Everything was uphill from here.

• The lesson I planned to teach my kids today was a very fun one. One that actually had the potential to keep children entertained for longer that 3 seconds. 
• It is Monday. Monday means Flag Ceremony. Flag Ceremony means I don't have time to teach two of the 5 rotations. The two of the five rotations just happen to be the two worst classes for me. So, it worked out nicely.
• I FINALLY GOT MY CAMERA! After one whole month of waiting for it to finally get from America, into my own hands. I cannot even tell you how happy it makes me. Ahh :]
• All of my classes went incredibly well today. I love these little kids more than you will ever know. 
• Wingel (one of my most favorite children on the planet), ran up to me today and grabbed my hand and whispered into my ear, "Teacher come with me." So I followed him to his backpack where he pulled out one of his motorcycle toys and handed it to me. "Teacha, for you from Wingel." He gave me one of his favorite toys. It was so simple, but it made me feel so loved by that little boy!
• I got a deep tissue body massage for about 7 US dollars. It was the second most painful thing I've ever experienced and I'm not even exaggerating. I could have cried through the whole thing. But it was so necessary. My body will thank me in the morning.
• We ran into our kids during their swimming lesson at school....cutest thing ever! Leo was wearing a tiger swimming suit and the best part is...it had a tail on it! It was so adorable. 
• One of our Chinese teachers gave us coupons to a "Spa". A Chinese spa is more like a YMCA or something. But the best part is that it has this huge section where you can get water massages. So you just go to these different stations in the pool and the water shoots out in specific ways that feel amazing. They also had a hot tub but it had ginger, lemon, rosemary, and all sorts of other herbs in it. It smelt so good and I'm sure it's all sorts of healthy. 
• We ran into two of our students and the SPA. Bruce and Emmet. They are twins and they are adorable! 
• Every time I see my kids it makes me so incredibly happy. I wish I could explain it to you...I love them so much. 

It's day's like this that make any of the less fun parts of this Chinese experience totally worth it. 

-Kambrie

Week 4.

Ni Hao!

I always feel awkward trying to start  new blog posts. Usually people are really clever and can say really cool things...not me. So just bare with me.

This last week has been kind of crazy. Last weekend we all got sick. Not deathly sick or anything. We just caught the flu bug that's going around. However, WE ARE IN CHINA and none of us really want to waist our time laying around doing nothing when there is so much to do out there! So we all have just kind of been pushing through it. Some of the girls got over within a few days, but of course I haven't gotten over it yet. So here I am, finally laying in my bed doing nothing but drinking zip fizz and blowing my nose.

This last week has been a blast:

• Dinner with our student's Henry and Coco and their families. They took us to a fancy restaurant and I had the best meal I've had in a month. Probably because I could make it more American. They bring out a big bowl of broth and put it on a stove in the middle of the table. Then you can just put whatever you want in it and make soup! So we put beef, potatoes, corn, garlic, cilantro, mushrooms, and noddles in there. It was divine! 
• On our way home we decided to get in tune with our Asian selves and tell everyone we saw how beautiful we think they are and ask them for pictures. You would not believe how happy it makes them! It's so cute. 
• While we were taking pictures we made some new friends. Some 16 year old skateboarders haha. They are so sweet. They said, "It's getting dark. We know kung-fu, we walk you home and keep you safe." haha How adorable is that?
• I got two meals, a new pair of shoes, a skirt, and a manicure all for less than 10 American dollars.
• I was at the mall sitting on a bench, waiting for the other girls to come out of the grocery store. Everyone that passed me just stopped for a second and starred, so I would smile at them and say "Piao liang" (beautiful), and then their hard faces would turn in to beautiful smiles! It feels so good to make people smile. So I pulled out my ukulele and started singing. Then I felt like a celebrity because everyone passing by just stopped and listened to me. Tons of people swarmed me! It was kind of overwhelming, but so fun! I just smiled and told them all that I love them.  As I was doing this, a man and his daughter came up to me. The little girl gave me a piece of gum and the father said, "You are a very good person. We watch you and we know you very happy girl. You are very good. You never stop smile." It almost brought tears to my eyes. These people are the sweetest people ever. It seriously just made my day. 
• We went to a salon to get our hair washed and styled. Ended up getting an amazing head/neck massage, and a twenty minute hair wash, and a style! All for like 2 dollars. I felt bad for the poor guy who tried to do my hair...I don't know if he has every had to style curly hair. I kept looking at his face and he was trying so hard. He ended up just blow drying it and calling it good...hahah it was so funny!
• I taught my cute little kids how to say I love you. Now when they see me they say, "Teachwa Kandy, I love you." Precious, I know.
• I got to go and visit another school about 20 minutes away! Let's just say I'm SO happy that I'm at my school :]
• The teachers invited us to "Watch the Moon" with them. Little did we know this meant we would get to see every single teacher in the school perform a dance, and then have to give and impromptu performance ourselves. They all had these sweet dances prepared, we beatboxed to The Princess Pat...hahahaha. It was so funny!

China is being so good to me. Even though I'm sick, and I'm tired, and I'm hungry, I wouldn't want to be anywhere else right now!

-Teachwa Kandy (hahah)

P.S. For some reason, my pictures wont work on my blog. So if you want to see them you must go to facebook.

Giraffes, Motor Taxis, and Bafalooms.

Just a quick update...

Last weekend was crazy fun! After a long (slightly awful) day of teaching on Friday, we were invited to a dinner with the mayor. All of the teachers in Xiaolan got to go eat at a really fancy restaurant, and the great part was that it was free! It was incredible, however I left kind of hungry. Chicken head, pig legs, and giant fish aren't really up my alley. But it was so fun. Our Chinese coordinator tricked us in to believing that the mayor wanted us to do an impromptu performance. Luckily they told us it was a joke before we started singing the Princess Pat in front of the mayor...

Saturday was long, but so great! We woke up early and took the sky train to Guangzho (the neighboring province) to go to the zoo! It was incredibly hot that day so we didn't have too much energy, but it was still way fun. I got to hold a weird snake and feed/pet a giraffe! It was pretty sweet! My favorite part was definitely the black jaguar. New favorite animal for sure. I would totally be a crazy cat lady if I could have one of those things! They have so much power and their fur is so gorgeous. Anyway, the zoo was great!

They tricked us into holding the snake, then made us pay 20 yuan...how annoying.

This is my favorite animal as of Saturday.

This is obviously me feeding a giraffe..

All of us teachwas at the zoo.

A few other random things I've done in the last few days:

-We painted our chins to look like faces...then filmed ourselves talking. If you're ever bored, do it! It entertains for hours.

-We watched Snow White and the Huntsman. I'm in love with Chris Hemsworth....he is one hunk of a man.

-I rode a Motor Taxi for the first time.

Pitcha please?

-I also used a squater for the first time ever. Pretty exhilarating...

-We did seaweed face masks last night, while watching Mulan. One of the best nights I've had here so far!

soo much love for these girls!

-I bought a bunch of stuff for really cheap. I love taobao.com. I love China.

-Today was teachers appreciation day. We woke up to children bringing us all sorts of flowers/gifts/cards! Got a pretty nifty water bottle, and a chinese cat piggy bank. Sweet.

-Sidenote: Whenever the kids need to go to the bathroom they say, "Teachwa, may I go to the bafaloom?"

Leo, showing us the card he made!

These girls were adorable. They did a little performance for all the teachers!

These are the younger kids we teach. Oh how I love them! My favorites are Angel (top left with the pink shirt), Aubrie (named after my sister, standing to the right of Angel), Norah (named after my future daughter, standing right in front of me), Sammy (bottom left corner, totally oblivious..), Oscar (middle of the bottom row with his hands on his hips), and sweet little Eric (Bottom row, yellow shirt, he melts my heart.)

The Last Few Days.

[this may end up being a really long post...sorry!]

I don't think my words can explain to you how much I love Xiaolan China.

I love, love, LOVE it.

So to start out, we got to Xiaolan late on Thursday night. We entered our school through this cute little gate!

We had to lug our bags all the way up 5 flights of stairs. It was quite the sight. 7 girls hauling their huge big heavy bags up the stairs, in the swealtering hot, humid weather. Once we got everything to our apartment we were drenched in sweat. It was disgusting. Also, 5 flights of stairs is equivalent to about 10 of these....

The building we live in looks like the one in the picture below. That's actually how all of the buildings in Xiaolan are. Our apartments are very simple. White tile, white floors, a living room, a kitchen, a bathroom, and 3 bedrooms. My bedroom doesn't have air conditioning in it at all, so I sort of adopted the couch in the living room until it cools down. But our bathroom is really neat. The bathroom turns into a shower. The shower head is on the wall and you just stand on the bathroom floor between the sink and the toilet and shower. I actually really like it. Why don't Americans do that? It would save so much money!

                                             

















On Friday we were invited by the principal of our school to go on a hike and then have dinner! We obviously were more than happy to accept that invite. We had to take about an hour long bus ride to get there and we got to play with this little cutie the whole way. She is 2 and knows how to work an iphone better than any of us!

This one is of all of the staff at the school and some of their family members. They are the sweetest people on the planet.

All of is ILP teachers, and the cute little Chinese girl!

    

This is the temple that we got to climb up to! It was so gorgeous, even if we are not haha! We were seriously drenched in sweat from the heat/humidity.

This is easily the biggest spider I have ever seen in my entire life. It's legs are about 3 inches long...CRAZY!

After the hike we got back on the bus and got dropped off on a path that took us back into the mountains. We followed it and ended up at the most incredible little restaurant in the middle of no where. I wish so badly that I had pictures of this experience, but I don't so a description will have to do.

The first thing they brought out was orange juice and sprite, which is like so Chinese. If ever you see orange juice there is sprite right next to it, or visa versa. 

The second thing was some "Chicken Soup". You learn why it is chicken soup when you pull your spoon out and find a soggy chicken foot on it. Not my favorite..

Next were the chickens. We each got our own little chicken to eat. You just put on some gloves and go to town pulling it apart and eating it. I kind of felt like a savage, but it was so yummy! However, I went to pull one piece off and realized that it had a mouth, and eyes, and that it was actually the head of the chicken. I screamed, and it was about this time that the rest of the girls realized the head as well and we all started making strange noises of terror and disgust. Soon ever Chinese person within 200 feet was laughing hysterically at the wimpy little American girls...

After that they brought out some pork, tofu, weird green plants, a big ol' fish, orange chicken, pig legs, big stomach, strange potatoes, corn, and tons of other stuff. We were definitely full by the time we left! It was one of the best times I've had here so far.

Saturday was SUCH a fun day! We were able to explore the city of Xiaolan a little bit more and it was and adventure. Trying to order food when you literally don't know what you're going to get is always crazy. And people just stare at you no matter what you are doing. I love to smile at them and tell them they are beautiful because it just makes their entire day! 

Since I wasn't really ever able to celebrate my birthday, they decided to do it on Saturday night. What a fun time it was! First we went out for noodles. That whole plate of food is only two American dollars. Sweet eh! (Also side note, not that tank tops are awful, but I don't usually wear them. It is just so hot and humid here that I literally cannot handle it so I was desperate...maybe I'm silly for having to justify it, but it's my blog and I can say what I want! hahaha)

After noodles, we went and had a karaoke night! Doing karaoke at a place like this is so fun. You get to rent out your own little room and just go crazy, which is exactly what we did.

Kelly is our Chinese coordination. She is the sweetest, cutest girl on the planet. If everyone was like Kelly the world would be such a happy place. Anyway, she sang happy birthday to me and she has such a sweet/beautiful voice. Love her!

This cake....magically good.

Ah, these girls are so great! Megan, Maddie, Me, Makenna, Dani, Rachel, and Andrea. 

Heaven in the form of a cake...

Okay. This story is the best. As we were leaving the building a little Asian man comes running to stop our elevator and asks us to get out. We were so confused. He told us he had some friends who spoke english and they wanted to buy us a drink. And then we were scared that they were going to make us drink alcohol or something crazy, so we said "Doi bu chi bu shu," or sorry but no thank you. Then he told us that they just wanted to give us juice, so we were like what the heck why not. So we go in there and these boys were just so happy. They gave us sprite and just wanted to talk to us. Their english wasn't very good so it was hard to understand, but they were just so happy! We asked them if we could have a picture with them and they about had a caniption. They were SO flattered. "ME? YOU WANT A PICTURE WITH ME? ME SURROUNDED BY AMERICAN GIRLS, YES YES YES!" It was adorable. I love that just by doing such simple things, I can just make someones day.

Sunday was also just so great. After a two hour walk/bus ride we finally made it to church in Kaiyan. We had a testimony meeting. It was really nice. Its such a different feeling. At home I get to go to church. Here in China I WANT to go to church so badly. Bad enough to travel 2 hours there and 2 hours back every sunday!

This is us by a super cool tree on the way home from church.

Another hilarious story.

When we got off the bus after church, I look up and at the end of the street I see this...

A whole group of Chinese motorcycle taxi drivers just waiting for us with big huge smiles on their faces. Chinese men love American girls. These guys just followed us and wanted to kiss our hands and say hi to us a million times. Anyway, it was absolutely the funniest thing I've seen here so far so of course I had to take a picture.

Hahahahaha.

If  you can't tell, I am just loving every bit of this experience so far. I mean, I could do without the dreadful humidity/heat, or the 20 mosquito bites all over my body, or the warm water, but overall it is so great. I am so in love with the people here. If you have self confidence problems, come to China. They will tell you how beautiful you are even if you look like I do in all of these pictures hahaha.

Hope all is well back in the homeland. Love you all!

-Kambrie