A Weekend For the Books

Ni Hao!

See, I'm already fluent! Ok, you got me... I'm really not... but I can count to 10 and ask how much things cost, and that's good enough for me!

So, the past few days have been pretty fantastic. On Saturday we went on a hike to a beautiful pagoda. It's at the top of a hill in this cute park.

The view from the bottom...

And the view from the top!

After we hiked to the top and came back down, we realized just how big the park was. There was a rose garden, a field, a lotus pond, carnival rides, a koi pond with paddleboats, and a zoo. It was huge! After we rode the teacup ride and hung out by the koi pond, we got a little lost, but we eventually we found our way back to the main road. 

After that, we took a bus to Nanlang for some amazing street barbecue! I had chicken and pork (I think) and it was grilled and seasoned to perfection. SO good, and definitely worth the 9 yuan (about $1.50) I spent on dinner.

Not the best picture, but you get the idea.

Sunday was a much-needed day of relaxation. If we're being completely honest, I didn't even change out of my pajamas that day. I broke into the American comfort food in my suitcase and watched Mulan with my roomies. It was great.

Then today, I treated myself! First, we went to a Thai restaurant for lunch. It was kind of expensive by Chinese standards, but the chicken curry and pineapple fried rice were pretty dang good. After lunch, we went to get our hair washed, and oh my goodness... It was the best thing that's ever happened to me. First they lay you down, wet your hair, and lather you up. Then they rinse and repeat. Then they start massaging your head. Then they move to your neck. Then they massage your arms and hands. Then they flip you over and massage your back. Then they start full-on karate chopping you. Then they take you to a chair and blow-dry and style your hair. And after it's all over, you feel wonderful. 

Noor and I, washed and dried!

So, all in all, not the most productive weekend ever, but definitely one of the funnest. I'm looking forward to many more like it here in China!

Thanks for reading!

Abby

Food and shopping... What more could a girl want?

Hello again!

I've been here in China for about 5 days now, and I'm loving it! We've had lots of fun exploring our town, and we've already had some adventures! Here are some pictures of what I've been up to the past couple of days: 

These are the dumplings we had on our first day here. They're filled with pork and stuff... I think. I don't even know. If it tastes good, don't question it, right? They are served with peanut sauce, and it's delicious. And did I mention it's less than $1? They also have peanut noodles there that I had for dinner tonight. They were pretty darn good. 

Yum.

For our second night here we were invited to the school's end-of-semester New Year's party. It was in a nice restaurant, and the other teachers prepared a bunch of skits and dances for entertainment. The food was crazy. Goose and pigeon and shrimp and some spongy doughy stuff, among other things. They just kept bringing more and more dishes to our table; it was wonderful. Why don't they have service like that in America? There was also a raffle, and Larkin and I both won! (Emily and Kayryn also won, but they won more than we did, so we won't talk about them.)

Fancy chairs at fancy tables

Lots and lots of food!

Larkin and I winning the raffle. I'm mostly blocked by Selena, our coordinator, but it's the only good picture I can find. Sorry!

The next day was our shopping day. We went to Walking Street, where there are a ton of shops and vendors! I got a lovely striped cardigan for only 35 yuan (it was originally 45, but I bargained it down to 35! And when I say "I", I mean Chris. Because she speaks a little bit of Chinese, and the only Chinese I've learned since being here is how to count to 5. Which is, for the most part, unhelpful.)

 

Walking Street from across the river

Walking street up close!

There were lots of shirts with random English words on them that made absolutely no sense. 

Exhibit A: "Come Rainbow P Closet." What?

We spent Sunday relaxing and planning lessons. Then, on Monday, we got to do what we actually came here to do: teach!

Annabelle, Sam, and Oscar. Aren't they adorable?

So that's been my week so far. It's been great! Tune in next time!

Abby

Welcome!

Hello there! Welcome to the blog. This is my first attempt at blogging, so no promises on cuteness or consistency (or coherence, for that matter). I don’t know if anyone but my mom will actually read this, but I’ll pretend that I have a nice big audience so I have more motivation to actually document this awesome adventure!

Which brings me to the whole reason I’m here in the first place! I’ve decided to take a semester off from school and go to Zhongshan, China to teach English to cute kids. I’m way excited to see what kinds of amazing things I will be able to see, do, and learn in the next 5 1/2 months.

So far the only things I’ve been able to see, hear, and do involve planes and airports and layovers. Pretty lame, but in the meantime I’ve had the opportunity to meet some of the girls I’ll be teaching with, and they seem great! I’m definitely looking forward to the next few months!

Until next time,

Abby

(Airplane meal 1 of 3. Glad that's over. Sorry it's sideways... I told you I'm not good at this blogging thing yet.)

(This is my "I hate sleeping on airplanes" selfie!)