Snapshots.

Here is the latest photo album:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2476917&id=10003281&l=2567e7af19

Adventure..Changes..Peace Corps..

Earlier this week, a group of us went to the Expo Center in Shenyang. It is a large botanical garden that has many different gardens from different regions in China and different countries of the world. The gardens were cool, but that wasn't the best part! There was a large water park where there were many obstacles of how to get across the water - all with the intention of you falling in. There were rope swings, barrels, tires that sank as soon as you stepped on them, team ones where all four of us had to work together to avoid the water and many other different things. It's always fun to get out and play and be active for a day! In addition to the gardens and the water activities, there were rides. Oh, how I love rides. We went on the 'crazy train', where I was too small for the seatbelt and was tossed around in my seat the whole time. Bruises and all, Chinese rollercoasters are so fun! We were all exhausted and worn out by the end of the day, but it was definitely a really good day. A special thanks to the students who took us there and showed us around all day!

Changes. It seems there have been so many changes lately, and so many more to come in the next few weeks.

I don't know how many of you I have told, but I got nominated to a position in the Peace Corps last week. The position is business advising in a French-speaking country in Africa leaving in June of 2010. After thinking about it a lot, praying about and it talking to many people...I am going to pursue going into the Peace Corps. This is my dream job, and something I have been hoping would happen for a few years now.

This means that I will not be coming back to China to teach for another year, and leaves me with 6 more weeks in Shenyang. Even though I am so excited about the opportunity to do economic development in Africa, it seems that my 'plan' for the next few years dramatically changed...Asia to Africa. There is so much more I want to do in China, and I know these last few weeks will be filled with many more adventures with those of us here.

(Jensen, in the middle, and the guys in Dalian.) Today is Jensen's last day in China. He is heading back to the US for his graduation from Brown and to go on to medical school there (smarty pants). It is weird to think that as a group, we are beginning to go our own ways and all we did here together is starting to end. We have definitely had a ton of fun together exploring China and hanging out in Shenyang, and will definitely miss Jensen's quirky and witty comments that make us all laugh. I am sure these next few weeks will be filled with many 'lasts' but I know all of us have enjoyed the time we have had together in Shenyang.

The Philippines!

I was lucky enough to get to spend 8 nights in the Philippines and definitely enjoyed the sun, beach, and relaxing. We indulged on western culture; we are adapted to Asian culture and adding English was a huge bonus to us! It truly did feel like we were home...even though we were still in Asia!

We spent the first two nights in Manila, where we fully enjoyed western food chains for super cheap and watching a movie in the theater again! The second day, we ventured out to Splash Island, which is a water park about an hour outside of Manila. Because my Manadarin is still so limited, its hard to find out how to get to new places in China, so it was nice to be able to ask how to get to Splash Island. We had a good time riding down water slides and floating in innertubes on the lazy river!


(After laying out all day, before going out to dinner.)
Then, we headed to Cebu City...on a different island from Manila. We spent a night in the city and explored around there. There was definitely a different, smaller, feel than Manila, and it was cool to check it out. We layed out on the grass and watched a huge thunderstorm!

We then spent the next chunk of time in Moalboal and Panagsama Beach, which was about a 3 hour bus ride from Cebu City. We stayed right on the 'beach' (even though it was a very short beach and shorter than what we were used to in the US), layed out, read English magazines, drank mango shakes and relaxed. At night, the beach turned into tide pools at low tide, so we would go explore and look around at the starfish, fish and coral that was in the tide pools. It was pretty cool! During the day, I managed to get a pretty good sunburn too!

(On the river trek!)
For the next two days, we decided to be adventurous. :) My favorite day for sure was when we went on a river trek! We took some random cargo truck (at least that's what I thought it was!) out to Kawasan falls, a very popular and tourist destination. We hiked past the falls for awhile and then hoped in the water. From here, we swam out in a canyon, under the jungle and climbed up waterfalls, cliff jumped, swam till the next fall, climbed some more, and repeated the process. It was amazing! So beautiful; clear water, tons of water falls, the jungle all around, and just a beautiful view everywhere you looked. When we finished the trek, there was a huge Philippino meal waiting for us - fish, chicken, pork, potatoes and rice all cooked over a fire with a traditional Philippino sauce. Delcious. We definitely had a blast this day!

The next day, we continued the adventure, haha, and went SCUBA diving! Neither of us had been SCUBA diving before, so we did discover diving. They taught us the essentials in the shallower water of the ocean and then headed out to dive for 45 miniutes or so. It was awesome, we were on this cliff of coral to one side and then the other was just blue ocean. We dove down till around 10m and saw tons of fish, all colors and all sizes, and very different sizes and colors of coral. It was really amazing. (The view of the ocean and overlooking restaurants in Panagsama beach.)

Then, we had to head back to Cebu to fly back. We enjoyed getting to see the new release of Wolverine and eat one last American meal: pizza! It was a very relaxing, fun and memorable vacation!

Now, back to school. It is fun to be back with everyone and I am looking for Lindsey and Chelsey getting back from their travels so we can all hang out and share stories and pictures!

Here are some pictures:
Pictures from the countryside and last month or so in Shenyang:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2472280&id=10003281&l=edadffbcff
The Philippines:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2472274&id=10003281&l=7bc5b23db6

It's been awhile since I've last written a blog - - our internet is still flaky at home, and its hard to find a time to write, when the internet will let me post it!

(Students working together during the first lesson).

A few Saturday's ago, I was able to go into a small city in the countryside. The city was called Heishan, and it was about a 3 hour drive south of Shenyang. Shaun was asked to go teach, and I was asked to go as the photographer...in one day I took nearly 400 pictures!

(We saw many donkeys pulling carts all over the town, and when we were taking pictures, one passed in front of us).

It was a very fun and interesting day. We left really early in the morning, and since I never go outside of Shenyang unless by train, it was a cool drive to see the countryside and actually be on a highway. Shenyang is a HUGE city. When we got to Heishan, class started right away. The lesson that was prepared was way too hard for the students. We got to improvise and teach about time, making plans, what we do on the weekend, and other things like that. There were about 50 students in one classroom with rows of long desks and a chalkboard at the front. Overall, even though the students were shy, we think they enjoyed the day.

(Signing the notebooks for the students.)

After teaching, we went to lunch at a restaurant in the town and had a traditional northeastern Chinese meal. And then, we went into the countryside to teach a lesson at a school there. There were about 100 students in the second lesson, and Shaun taught simple phrases and greetings. The students were very eager to have us sign their papers...Wayne, the Chinese teacher that went with us, said it was the first time many of the students had ever seen a white person.
(A man walking in the countryside).
The students were very interested in why we came to China and if we like it or not, what our name is, and tried to ask us as much as they can with their English skills. They were all so cute, and I really enjoyed seeing the countryside, meeting the students and just getting to experience the whole day.

Since then, we have all been enjoying life in Shenyang and hanging out together. The weather is starting to get nicer and its been pretty warm on certain days. Josh, the newest intern, came about a month ago now, and he fits right in with all of us. We have been making a lot of American dinners as a group...tacos, grilled cheese and tomato soup, Shaun and Josh made us hamburgers and french fries...it's been fun to hang out, cook, play cards, and watch movies at night. Last week we had an intern breakfast at Eli and Mollie's apartment. Because they live in the same complex as us, our apartment was bragging that we got to sleep in the latest because we only had to walk ten steps to get to their apartment...So, the night before, we had an impromptu "sleep over" at our apartment. Shaun, Jensen and Josh decided to watch a movie and sleep over so that they too could just walk ten steps to get to Mollie and Eli's. It was fun, all 5 of us slept on the big rug and watched a movie..it felt like we were in the 5th grade all over again! Breakfast was really fun, it's always fun when the whole group is together...After breakfast we got to play a makeshift game of ultimate frisbee. It's been a busy but good week!

Hope everyone is doing well at home. Emily - Happy Birthday! I wish I was there to celebrate with you today! Much love.

Starting Over and Halfway..

..Starting Over..
One huge perk of my internship with Langston is that part of our contract is to attend language classes to learn Mandarin. Because of a few different factors, we had to switch up Mandarin classes, and as of yesterday, I have one hour a day of private Mandarin lessons with Mr. Zhang (Zhang laoshi) who only speaks Chinese. I walked out of class feeling really overwhelmed, and kind of like I am starting over. The board was covered in Chinese characters and I am not too sure what my homework assignment was…but, in the end, starting over or not, I think this is a great opportunity for me. I can’t use English as a crutch for explanations, I am forced to speak in Chinese and use the (few) words I know. I am getting an hour of only Chinese lessons every day I go into work, and even though these next few weeks will kick my butt, it will help me get closer and closer to the long term goal of becoming fluent.

..Halfway..
Today is exactly halfway from when I arrived in Shenyang to when I leave. Crazy. I can’t believe that I have been here for three months and that there are only three more months to go. On one hand, I don’t want to go at all, but on another, I am getting really excited to sit on my parents’ deck just talking with the whole family since we will finally all be in Portland again. I don’t want to leave Shenyang, and the roommates and close friends I have here, or the students/staff at the school, but I know that each adventure in life is just for a season. But, even with not wanting to leave, I am really starting to miss friends and family, and just being able to spend time with them talking and doing nothing, I miss eating dinner with my parents, Portland and sunny weather of Tempe, and of course being able to dry my clothes in a dryer. :)

When I sat down to write this blog, I thought it’d be fun to share some highlights of the last few months, but, it seems that it is so hard to describe, because really, it’s the little things…
I love going to the market down the street from my apartment and fumbling through communicating to try and order vegetables, fruit, eggs and meat.
I love learning Chinese, and being able to speak to people or understand what people are saying to me.
I love the students. Ok, to be perfectly honest, I love most of the students!
I love the train rides to different cities and getting to explore different cities.
I love that for the last few weeks Lindsey and I have slept on each end of the couch every night because the beds in our rooms are far too hard.
I love that I ordered water for our water cooler and the person actually understood me.
I love getting packages and little reminders of home, which also serve as reminders that I am getting to experience a totally different life and culture here.

I’m sure the list could go on and on and on…but, it is truly the little things and relationships that I have that make this such a once in a lifetime opportunity. That’s all for now, and hey, I’ll see you in three months. Much love.

YouTube

Yesterday, I did my CCF (culture class) on YouTube. The students and I had a good laugh watching random videos and learning about the monster of a website. At the end of class, we made a video and posted it on YouTube. I told them, "my parents and friends really want to see this video, so tell them something about China.." and here is what they said. I swear I didn't put them up to anything! :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHBvhrmLLmU

Snapshots..

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2452368&id=10003281&l=d449e4def5

Much love.