(That was a song reference. For those of you with it now stuck in your head, you're welcome! For those of you who are confused, continue on like this never happened.)
Today reality really hit me. First it was just telling someone on Facebook that I'll be home in 8 weeks. Even typing that now is hard for me. Then I finished giving all of my classes their instructions and sign-up times for their final exams. The worst one was this evening.
Tonight I had to tell one of my closest friends here about my last day of tutoring - next Friday. I almost cried while telling her and then she was trying not to cry as I explained my schedule for the next few weeks. She was so sweet about it. She said my last day was fine and she just wants me to enjoy my time here. She told me that I am always welcome here and I can come to her house whenever I'd like. I never thought this woman and her super shy daughter that I got connected to through a friend last September would turn into such a close relationship.
I have 8 weeks left here.
2 weeks from today my apartment will be all packed up and I will be making my way to another city for a few weeks of work.
6 weeks from now I will be back in LC again, leading the same english camp that started my year long journey.
8 weeks from now I'll be getting on a plane (with Evan by my side) and beginning the transition back to the states.
8 weeks. That's all.
I am SO excited for home life. There are so many things to look forward to. There are tons of people I can't wait to have around me again, simple things I've missed, luxuries I can't wait to have again (like cereal), and just the atmosphere of home that I long to have. But leaving China... is going to be tough. This is my other home now.
I'd keep this to myself, or share it with only a few people, but this is my journal for the year and I want to document it all. This is part of the process, and I want to have this to look at one day when I relive this trip, which will probably be quite often.
I'm trying to soak up my last few weeks of adventures here. It's not like I'm leaving this place behind forever, but it will definitely not be the same when I come back only for short periods of time. Who knows what the Father has in store for me though. The options are always endless and, if called back, I would be obedient!
Wednesday, June 5, 2013
Sunday, June 2, 2013
QiShan & Squid & Jiaozi
Week 2 with my guy is almost over and then I have to release him to the farm where the wild animals - I mean jr. high and high school kids - will attack him as he tries to feed them. Poor guy.
I can't remember all we've done since my last post. We DID climb the evil mountain in town. It's a fantastic workout - one which we are still feeling in our calves - and brutal on my pasty white skin. The purpleness on my back is starting to fade to a deep red. It was supposed to rain all day but of course the sky was blue and there were few clouds and the sun shot onto us like it was trying to cremate us before we could get down the mountain. (I've been in a decent amount of pain the last few days in case you weren't understanding that). Basically, Amanda and Evan kind of hate me for making them climb the mountain but I think they are sort of proud too. I don't feel too bad about it considering I'm the one who was/is closest to full cremation.
That was Wednesday. Monday and Tuesday... don't remember. I had class, we did lots of laundry, ate good Chinese food. Nothing exciting there, oh, except for going to my boss's house and making jioazi. Jiaozi everywhere.
Thursday and Friday we went back to the farm. We cleaned the outdoor kitchen area Evan will be using starting tomorrow. Thursday morning we went to one of the bigger markets in town. My sunburn was making me want to cry and there wasn't a whole lot in the market but we some good fruit and a few veggies for dinner. Plus, it's just fun to walk around markets.
FRIDAY was squid day! We went to this grocery store in town that I had never seen or been to. We had a van driver who pretty much was a stranger who stopped and picked us up. Hitch-hiking in China! He didn't know where the place was that I asked him to drop us off so I just told him to stop at some point and then we spent almost 2 hours in this Walmart looking paradise that had been hiding from me all year. We bought a squid (one of my favorite things to eat) and then my awesome chef of a boyfriend figured out what to do with it and we had a delicious dinner 2 nights in a row. One happy girl is what I am!
Saturday was another day at the farm. We shad trouble getting a taxi so we walked up tot he grocery store that has the vans. Then we had a drunk guy hop in our van and he started talking to me. He was slurring his words a lot but I understood a lot of what he said. He asked if Evan could speak chinese and I said no so he just said "Oh, he's handsome". Then he explained why people take vans. Later, he told our driver she was going too slow so she sped up and THEN, when we needed to stop after our driver started taking us further than we wanted, she didn't hear me so he yelled at her to stop the car. Drunk men in a van with you doesn't sound ideal, but he was quite a nice drunk, and very helpful.
We then ended the day with a ride back to town in the back of a truck (driven by one of our American friends - I saw 'our' because Evan has been working with him since he got here on menu stuff and they had dinner one night and seem to be pretty good buds by now. Evan wanted to high-5 someone on the road but nobody got close enough. We just waved to everyone and watched them freak out at the white people trying to get their attention. It was great.
Today we went to get jiaozi partially because we're obsessed with it but mostly because I needed to order some for him to pick up for tomorrow's lunch for the start of basketball camp. I'm pretty proud of my Chinese right now. I'm doing more than the basics at this point and it feels so nice to be able to say what I want in Chinese.
Fatty (Evan) thought he was sooooo hungry. To put this all into perspective: one basket of jiaozi has 7 pieces (it was 8 but recently they changed it to 7 I guess). A normal human being eats about 1-2 baskets for a meal. The other day we got 4 baskets and I ate a little over 1 and he finished the rest. That was a little shocking for me. TODAY, crazy guy said 6. SIX BASKETS OF JIAOZI. Unfortunately he didn't eat breakfast prior to our outing so his stomach was all tiny and he only made it through about 2 1/2 baskets. Somehow I ate the same amount. A lot for me, a little for him. But then we managed to get mango milk tea, made a grocery run so we can deep fry some oreos later (because we're healthy like that) and tonight we are having dinner with some American friends who recently moved here.
Only 2 more weeks in my apartment and it's time to pack up and start on our massive summer work adventure. I'm starting to get details of what we're going to be doing and it looks like a lot of hard work and a lot of fun. I can't wait! Home is getting closer and my time here is winding down, but I'm feeling really good about it all. Having Evan here makes all of this feel a lot easier so I am very, very thankful for that.
(And now he's just showing off and making sourdough. This. Guy. Is. Awesome.)
I can't remember all we've done since my last post. We DID climb the evil mountain in town. It's a fantastic workout - one which we are still feeling in our calves - and brutal on my pasty white skin. The purpleness on my back is starting to fade to a deep red. It was supposed to rain all day but of course the sky was blue and there were few clouds and the sun shot onto us like it was trying to cremate us before we could get down the mountain. (I've been in a decent amount of pain the last few days in case you weren't understanding that). Basically, Amanda and Evan kind of hate me for making them climb the mountain but I think they are sort of proud too. I don't feel too bad about it considering I'm the one who was/is closest to full cremation.
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| Imagine this for 2 straight hours going up. Stairs and slopes and stairs and more stairs. |
That was Wednesday. Monday and Tuesday... don't remember. I had class, we did lots of laundry, ate good Chinese food. Nothing exciting there, oh, except for going to my boss's house and making jioazi. Jiaozi everywhere.
Thursday and Friday we went back to the farm. We cleaned the outdoor kitchen area Evan will be using starting tomorrow. Thursday morning we went to one of the bigger markets in town. My sunburn was making me want to cry and there wasn't a whole lot in the market but we some good fruit and a few veggies for dinner. Plus, it's just fun to walk around markets.
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| They call these dragon eyeballs. They're super sweet on the inside and have a pit. Addicting, sweet, and expensive. But we don't have them in America so the splurge is worth it! |
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| It's opium! Yup, just scoop some up and eat it like peanuts. |
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| Isn't she pretty? I think she's gorgeous! |
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| Evan's new baby that he bought and spent 2 hours sharpening. It's quite lovely I think. |
Saturday was another day at the farm. We shad trouble getting a taxi so we walked up tot he grocery store that has the vans. Then we had a drunk guy hop in our van and he started talking to me. He was slurring his words a lot but I understood a lot of what he said. He asked if Evan could speak chinese and I said no so he just said "Oh, he's handsome". Then he explained why people take vans. Later, he told our driver she was going too slow so she sped up and THEN, when we needed to stop after our driver started taking us further than we wanted, she didn't hear me so he yelled at her to stop the car. Drunk men in a van with you doesn't sound ideal, but he was quite a nice drunk, and very helpful.
We then ended the day with a ride back to town in the back of a truck (driven by one of our American friends - I saw 'our' because Evan has been working with him since he got here on menu stuff and they had dinner one night and seem to be pretty good buds by now. Evan wanted to high-5 someone on the road but nobody got close enough. We just waved to everyone and watched them freak out at the white people trying to get their attention. It was great.
Today we went to get jiaozi partially because we're obsessed with it but mostly because I needed to order some for him to pick up for tomorrow's lunch for the start of basketball camp. I'm pretty proud of my Chinese right now. I'm doing more than the basics at this point and it feels so nice to be able to say what I want in Chinese.
Fatty (Evan) thought he was sooooo hungry. To put this all into perspective: one basket of jiaozi has 7 pieces (it was 8 but recently they changed it to 7 I guess). A normal human being eats about 1-2 baskets for a meal. The other day we got 4 baskets and I ate a little over 1 and he finished the rest. That was a little shocking for me. TODAY, crazy guy said 6. SIX BASKETS OF JIAOZI. Unfortunately he didn't eat breakfast prior to our outing so his stomach was all tiny and he only made it through about 2 1/2 baskets. Somehow I ate the same amount. A lot for me, a little for him. But then we managed to get mango milk tea, made a grocery run so we can deep fry some oreos later (because we're healthy like that) and tonight we are having dinner with some American friends who recently moved here.
Only 2 more weeks in my apartment and it's time to pack up and start on our massive summer work adventure. I'm starting to get details of what we're going to be doing and it looks like a lot of hard work and a lot of fun. I can't wait! Home is getting closer and my time here is winding down, but I'm feeling really good about it all. Having Evan here makes all of this feel a lot easier so I am very, very thankful for that.
(And now he's just showing off and making sourdough. This. Guy. Is. Awesome.)
Monday, May 27, 2013
Reunited
After almost an entire year with only getting to see each other for the 3 weeks that I was home, we are DONE with this looooooooong distance madness. No more skype dates, no more figuring out the time change every time we want to talk, no more being on opposite sides of the world. It is sooooooo nice.
We've had a pretty great week. He had a little hang up with his flights and got here a bit later than we hoped, but he got here. The first night we got into town we did Chinese BBQ, and have been eating out every night since. He absolutely loves China so far and I could not be happier about that.
We've gone to the lake, walked around the majority of town, had jiaozi more times in a week than most people do (and we're still craving it), worked our butts off at the farm (and by 'our' I really mean 'his'), gone to tutoring, and last night we had dinner at Summer's house with several of our tutoring girls there too. It was delicious food, duck-duck-goose, hide-n-seek, more food, cute kittens, and lots of tea.
He's up at the farm today trying to help a guy out with as many projects as possible before everyone shows up for camp next week. One more week of him in town before the summer madness really kicks off. He'l have 2 weeks of cooking, a few days back here in town as I finish up school and then we hop on a bus and travel around while doing service projects for the next few weeks. It's going to be a blast and a lot of hard work, but I am so thankful that I get to do all of that with him here.
We're trying to take pictures. This week we'll tote our cameras with us more. I plan on visiting the camp a few times so I can see all the fun they're having. I'll get plenty of pictures of that.
I'm (we're) down to 2 months and 3 days before we head home. It's coming so fast. I am still very much in love with this place and so thankful for that. It will just make saying goodbye a little harder than I hoped. A lot of great things can happen in these next 2 months and I'm just staying excited about it all.
We've had a pretty great week. He had a little hang up with his flights and got here a bit later than we hoped, but he got here. The first night we got into town we did Chinese BBQ, and have been eating out every night since. He absolutely loves China so far and I could not be happier about that.
We've gone to the lake, walked around the majority of town, had jiaozi more times in a week than most people do (and we're still craving it), worked our butts off at the farm (and by 'our' I really mean 'his'), gone to tutoring, and last night we had dinner at Summer's house with several of our tutoring girls there too. It was delicious food, duck-duck-goose, hide-n-seek, more food, cute kittens, and lots of tea.
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| We went to this little park thing for the end of tutoring. Luckily Evan had his camera! |
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| Traditional Dragon Boat Festival food. It's sticky rice inside of these leaves. Good stuff. |
We're trying to take pictures. This week we'll tote our cameras with us more. I plan on visiting the camp a few times so I can see all the fun they're having. I'll get plenty of pictures of that.
I'm (we're) down to 2 months and 3 days before we head home. It's coming so fast. I am still very much in love with this place and so thankful for that. It will just make saying goodbye a little harder than I hoped. A lot of great things can happen in these next 2 months and I'm just staying excited about it all.
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
Still Here
It has been a few weeks hasn't it?
I have been so busy the past few weeks. Nothing really exciting has gone on in my life, BUT I do have some great news. There is a new brother here! I am thrilled about it. He is a fantastic guy and knowing that he is someone I will get to see again in eternity is such a beautiful thing.
Small group is going great! We're really digging into what it means to make this decision something that changes your life - how to integrate it into your habits and how to build that strong foundation. It will be ending next week and I am so sad about that, but I know that the work has been good and every second has made some sort of an impact. I am thinking we have another sister, but I have not confirmed that yet.
I have one of my favorite people ever coming here in 2 days!!!!!!! I am beyond anxious at this point. I just want him to be here. I have been finishing up lesson plans, planning finals, getting odd things done and out of the way so I can just relax and we can enjoy our time we have together before he starts cooking for camps and I have to pack up my apartment. SCARY! Then it's projects and summer camp until we jump on that plane home :)
70-something days until I land on U.S. soil again. I cannot wait for what is to come when I get home, but I am still so in love with this place. Leaving it behind until who-knows-when I will get to come back is going to be tough.
Rainy season is sneaking in now and every time we have a storm it reminds me of the first time I came here and then I just fall in love with this place all over again. I cannot believe I am in month 11 already. I thought this part of the journey was forever away, but here it is.
Not much else to share. I am hoping to take lots of pictures once Evan gets here. Hopefully there will be some fun culture shock stories to share. I am curious to see how he takes it all in. Things are just normal for me now. The spitting, snot rockets (normal, but still grosses me out), language barrier, squeaky baby shoes, crazy traffic, restaurant behavior, grocery shopping, it is all just normal life for me, but for him it is going to be a whole new world! Should be fun!
Back to my to-do list and watching season finales.
I have been so busy the past few weeks. Nothing really exciting has gone on in my life, BUT I do have some great news. There is a new brother here! I am thrilled about it. He is a fantastic guy and knowing that he is someone I will get to see again in eternity is such a beautiful thing.
Small group is going great! We're really digging into what it means to make this decision something that changes your life - how to integrate it into your habits and how to build that strong foundation. It will be ending next week and I am so sad about that, but I know that the work has been good and every second has made some sort of an impact. I am thinking we have another sister, but I have not confirmed that yet.
I have one of my favorite people ever coming here in 2 days!!!!!!! I am beyond anxious at this point. I just want him to be here. I have been finishing up lesson plans, planning finals, getting odd things done and out of the way so I can just relax and we can enjoy our time we have together before he starts cooking for camps and I have to pack up my apartment. SCARY! Then it's projects and summer camp until we jump on that plane home :)
70-something days until I land on U.S. soil again. I cannot wait for what is to come when I get home, but I am still so in love with this place. Leaving it behind until who-knows-when I will get to come back is going to be tough.
Rainy season is sneaking in now and every time we have a storm it reminds me of the first time I came here and then I just fall in love with this place all over again. I cannot believe I am in month 11 already. I thought this part of the journey was forever away, but here it is.
Not much else to share. I am hoping to take lots of pictures once Evan gets here. Hopefully there will be some fun culture shock stories to share. I am curious to see how he takes it all in. Things are just normal for me now. The spitting, snot rockets (normal, but still grosses me out), language barrier, squeaky baby shoes, crazy traffic, restaurant behavior, grocery shopping, it is all just normal life for me, but for him it is going to be a whole new world! Should be fun!
Back to my to-do list and watching season finales.
Sunday, April 21, 2013
Campout
Second post within a few hours? I would say sorry, but I'm not sorry. This is my record of the fun things I do, and this weekend was really fun so it deserves 2 posts.
As if things weren't already great enough after the Water Splashing Festival, we had a campout Saturday night up on the mountain behind the farm. We took up our tent(s) and got things set up for the night, went back down and had a fun game night with some friends, and then headed back to our little campground.
I really wanted s'mores but that's a problem here. No graham crackers, no marshmallows, and no Hersheys bars. We did happen to have some tiny Christmas tree shaped marshmallows and decided to make chocolate chip cookies to replace the missing items. IT WAS SO GOOD!
We made a pretty great fire, made our s'mores and then went to bed.
This morning, I did yoga with Amanda because we like yoga and we were on top of a mountain in the morning and it just seemed fitting.
This afternoon I got to see Jenny & Locke for a bit and they got me set up with my QQ account, and then Summer picked me up so I could have dinner at her house and attempt to see her 3 day old kittens. Her daughter and 2 nieces were all there so we had some fun taking pictures on my phone too.
After dinner, Summer and I had a really good conversation just sitting downstairs drinking tea and eating sunflower seeds.
She told me that she has several friends at work she talks to about important things, and me. I have been so blessed by my relationship with her and now that I'm down to 99 days, I'm starting to dread the thought of the goodbyes that will have to be said at the end of this. 99 days is still a long time, but it doesn't feel like it right now. It feels like a week and I don't like that. Back to happy things though...
It has been an incredible weekend and I get to start my week knowing that at least one small group will be held this week! Be yarping for that and for the other one I'd like to have. My time on campus is running out and I really want this to happen. I know it will if it's the Father's plan so I'm just yarping like crazy that it is.
That's all for a few days I think. I can't make any promises though. 9 pm and I'm off to bed. This girl is TIRED!
As if things weren't already great enough after the Water Splashing Festival, we had a campout Saturday night up on the mountain behind the farm. We took up our tent(s) and got things set up for the night, went back down and had a fun game night with some friends, and then headed back to our little campground.
I really wanted s'mores but that's a problem here. No graham crackers, no marshmallows, and no Hersheys bars. We did happen to have some tiny Christmas tree shaped marshmallows and decided to make chocolate chip cookies to replace the missing items. IT WAS SO GOOD!
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| The picture is awful, but it's the best I could get with the lack of patience I had. |
This morning, I did yoga with Amanda because we like yoga and we were on top of a mountain in the morning and it just seemed fitting.
This afternoon I got to see Jenny & Locke for a bit and they got me set up with my QQ account, and then Summer picked me up so I could have dinner at her house and attempt to see her 3 day old kittens. Her daughter and 2 nieces were all there so we had some fun taking pictures on my phone too.
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| Rabbit |
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| Snake |
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| Fish |
She told me that she has several friends at work she talks to about important things, and me. I have been so blessed by my relationship with her and now that I'm down to 99 days, I'm starting to dread the thought of the goodbyes that will have to be said at the end of this. 99 days is still a long time, but it doesn't feel like it right now. It feels like a week and I don't like that. Back to happy things though...
It has been an incredible weekend and I get to start my week knowing that at least one small group will be held this week! Be yarping for that and for the other one I'd like to have. My time on campus is running out and I really want this to happen. I know it will if it's the Father's plan so I'm just yarping like crazy that it is.
That's all for a few days I think. I can't make any promises though. 9 pm and I'm off to bed. This girl is TIRED!
Water Splashing Festival
Well, today was the coolest day ever.
If you're friends with me on Facebook, you might have seen my status the other day/week saying that I wish I was Dai minority. China has many minority groups and I am blessed to be in a place that has a very large amount of those minority groups. I've become more familiar with the Dai minority this year and I have decided that I am making myself an honorary Dai woman. They are awesome. They're culture is very similar to Thai culture. The food is delicious. The dress is gorgeous. The music is beautiful. The festivals... dominate.
I got attacked by guys with buckets of water last weekend on my way back to the school. Just walking down the street by myself and guys chased me down with buckets of water. One guy even had a spare bucket on hand inside of the bank so he could run out and chase someone down. I ended up being that lucky girl.
Things actually started last Saturday when I went to one of the dancing squares to watch the dancing competition that opened the festival. About 45 minutes after the program started it started pouring. Conveniently, it happened as soon as my friend finished dancing.
On Monday we (myself and 2 other Americans) went to this Dai temple in town. They were supposed to be kicking things off with the washing of the Buddha. Well, it was raining and nobody showed up. BUT it was a great chance to get pictures of things before Friday when everything was flooded with people, and water. When we were leaving, these 2 local Dai women told us to come back Friday at noon and then they'd have a big meal at 4. Free Dai food? SOLD!
Fast forward to Friday.
I walked up to the temple around noon and things were just beginning. They had older women (and a few men) doing traditional dances and a few people were sprinkling people with water, but not many. [Side note: it was HOT today. At least 90F.] I wanted the water splashing to start ASAP! It did. Because it was so hot and because I figured I'd be getting drenched, I wore shorts. I'm already a walking target and my pasty white legs only drew more attention. For a solid 4 hours my shorts were dripping, my shoes were drenched, my shirt was soaked, and my hair was thankfully behaving despite the constant buckets of water being thrown on it.
It was madness! The women and men bang on drums as they dance around this big elephant water fountain and this man, who I call the leader of the pack, takes bowls of water and just launches them out over everyone. You can't avoid it. I had met this group of high school girls a few minutes earlier and they were soaked by that point. They asked if I wanted to go join them at the fountain and I said sure! I handed my bag off and after that it was insanity. [I speak more Chinese than they speak English. It was really good for me. And now, we're texting in pinyin which is difficult, but really good for my language skills.] We just went at it for a few minutes. I couldn't see anything. Once I was able to see, there were some photographers asking for us to just stand there pouring water on each other for pictures. It was so much fun!
Water pouring just happened throughout the day. You would think you were safe and then the next thing you knew, a man was pointing at you and some other man ran up from behind and poured gallons of water on you. I had a little boy stare me down with a water gun for a solid 20 minutes. His dad tried to get him to shoot someone else but he turned and pointed at me with determination.
I was on the side of the temple putting on more sunscreen and out of nowhere someone got me. The best one had to have been after dinner. Some man came up to my friend and grabbed her camera and said "I'm sorry" and then poured a bucket of water down her back. I watched, just knowing I was next and there was nothing I could do about it. The fact that I even got some pictures is a miracle. I spent about 80% of the day with my camera hidden in a plastic bag.
At one point, I got up and joined the women dancing around the fountain. I had 2 photographers in front of me the whole time. And people following me with water because apparently I looked like I really needed more water covering me.
The food was great! The dancing was great! The weather was great! It was a great day! Ha!
I was so sad when dinner was ending and I knew it meant I had to get back. I was burnt and tired, but I really didn't want it to be over. It was sooooo fun! Seeing old people getting drenched with the biggest smiles on their faces is such a cool thing. Everyone there looked like they were having a great time. I don't know how you couldn't have fun.
Sadly, that was the last big festival I'll experience out here I think. I could be wrong. I hope I am. But if that's the last one I get to experience, I sure ended it the best way possible. There's a mud festival coming up May 1st that I want to get involved in so hopefully that one is as memorable. We shall see.
Sorry for the long post and tons of pictures. The pictures really don't do any of it justice. I would come to China just for this festival. Seriously.
My life here is awesome. I can't believe this is all real for me. Today I even got QQ [Chinese Facebook] and as I type this I'm having a conversation - in Chinese - with my friend that I met at the festival!
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| Taken by OiLin |
I got attacked by guys with buckets of water last weekend on my way back to the school. Just walking down the street by myself and guys chased me down with buckets of water. One guy even had a spare bucket on hand inside of the bank so he could run out and chase someone down. I ended up being that lucky girl.
Things actually started last Saturday when I went to one of the dancing squares to watch the dancing competition that opened the festival. About 45 minutes after the program started it started pouring. Conveniently, it happened as soon as my friend finished dancing.
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| My friend Summer is on the left. Sorry the picture isn't the greatest. |
Fast forward to Friday.
I walked up to the temple around noon and things were just beginning. They had older women (and a few men) doing traditional dances and a few people were sprinkling people with water, but not many. [Side note: it was HOT today. At least 90F.] I wanted the water splashing to start ASAP! It did. Because it was so hot and because I figured I'd be getting drenched, I wore shorts. I'm already a walking target and my pasty white legs only drew more attention. For a solid 4 hours my shorts were dripping, my shoes were drenched, my shirt was soaked, and my hair was thankfully behaving despite the constant buckets of water being thrown on it.
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| LOVE the hat! |
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| Taken by OiLin |
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| Taken by OiLin |
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| This guy was rocking the dance! The guy behind him was too, with his ball of sticky rice in his hand the whole time! |
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| The group parading through the village. |
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| Taken by OiLin (from behind my umbrella). |
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| Taken by OiLin |
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| Taken by OiLin |
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| Taken by OiLin |
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| Taken by OiLin |
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| How cute is she? She was cracking up over something. |
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| Taken by OiLin |
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| Taken by OiLin |
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| Dinner time! |
Sadly, that was the last big festival I'll experience out here I think. I could be wrong. I hope I am. But if that's the last one I get to experience, I sure ended it the best way possible. There's a mud festival coming up May 1st that I want to get involved in so hopefully that one is as memorable. We shall see.
Sorry for the long post and tons of pictures. The pictures really don't do any of it justice. I would come to China just for this festival. Seriously.
My life here is awesome. I can't believe this is all real for me. Today I even got QQ [Chinese Facebook] and as I type this I'm having a conversation - in Chinese - with my friend that I met at the festival!
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