China Part 1

China was simply incredible! I'm hoping to go back really soon--perhaps December! We'll see. I loved those people so much! They were so incredibly sweet. I miss them already.
I've seen Paris, Mexico, Chicago, and New York, but I've never gotten to see how the people of that region live. In China, we lived with the students on their campus, and walked their city streets every day. It was amazing to see how they live their lives.

Olivia, Laura, Mao Mao, Anney, and me at the lake on campus. These girls were the cutest, sweetest things EVER! they were so funny! We taught them about "sarcastic" and they would tell each other, "You look beautiful today!.... SARCASTIC!" It was hilarious!

Playing Chinese hackey sack while meeting new friends!

My bathroom in the dorm. The shower, sink, and toilet have nothing separating them, so EVERYTHING got soaked when you took a shower. It was definitely something to get used to!

This was my bed. The mattress was literally a piece of plywood with a thin topper on top. it was probably as comfortable as sleeping on a rock. But it was just another thing to get used to!

We visited the Buddhist Temple. It was rather awkward for our team because we don't believe in Buddha, but it definitely opened up some amazing conversation about religion. Amazingly, my friend is a believer and had never been to the Buddhist temple. However, some of the other Chinese students decided to take that time at the temple to worship instead of talk. But it was a really cool experience.

This is my Chinese name, given to me by my friend, Anney. It means smile! How fitting! She taught me how to write it, along with several other things. It was exciting

We also learned about Chinese calligraphy. Let me tell you, it's one thing to write characters on paper, it's completely different to write them with a brush and ink on scrolls. It was hard! But I'm so proud of my finished product!

We also visited the violin factory! It is incredible to think that all of these violins were hand crafted! And these were only a few of the thousands that we saw in the factory. The workers work for hours at a time on a single violin, with little light and poor ventilation. I couldn't do thier jobs!

We also saw a Peking Opera with a cast of children! They were so talented! We watched them get ready for thirty minutes doing hair, makeup, and costumes. I was amazed at how patient they were! The performance only lasted about 60 seconds, but it was really cool to see all of their hard work come together!