It's been too long since I've actually typed on an actual computer and put thoughts to blog... Ever since coming back to NYC after backpacking through Shanghai, HK, Guilin, Beijing and even Xi'an--I have truly been bitten by the travel bug. I now have to go back to a 9-5 job to start saving up again for another opportunity to travel again even though it may not be to Asia--I just need to be able to get out of the city and explore what the world has to offer.
Coming back and coping with the fact that I'll have to be stable again makes me feel a bit uneasy. Back to the same 9-5 everyday job as I go through life. This isn't what I want or need--I need to explore and be free to choose my own life and mistakes.
At least before I travel again, I'll be saving up for one of my best friends' wedding because I have the honor of being one of her bridesmaid . This definitely means I have to save A LOT!
Since being back--I've been trying to find some way of being happy again even without the constant traveling. Meeting up with friends, catching up, finding events to go to and trying to meet new people. Trying to meet new people is hard--especially out of college. Conquering this should be...fun...
Sunday, May 4, 2014
Saturday, September 7, 2013
Mountains, rivers and fresh air of Yangshuo
Guilin-Yangshuo!
After Shanghai, we headed out to Yangshuo which is located outside of Guilin. We hopped on the train from Shanghai to Guilin, hard sleeper middle bunk for about 16+ hours. The ride itself wasn't painful, but the kids underneath our bunk was. 3 kids + non caring parents= DISASTER for 16+ hours! I couldn't wait to get off the train especially when they were screaming, running around and jumping on the seats in front of our bunks. I also wanted to kick the leader brat who was leading them but I refrained...barely... My backpack kind of fell on one of them--I swear not on purpose, but it was karma I like to think.
After making it to Guilin, back sore and tired, we got on line to purchase our ticket out of Guilin to Hong Kong in a few days. They didn't have ANY sleeper beds, we had to settle for a hard seat. It was hard seat or no seat aka STANDING! I took what we had and booked the hard seat for another 18+ hours to Hong Kong.
Finally everything was purchases and settled, we hopped on a bus going towards Yangshuo. We thought we were home free, but sadly the driver decides to argue with the traffic cop and that held us up for about half an hour. I was so pissed, I told them to refund us and we jumped on another bus. The universe really didn't want us to arrive in Yangshuo at all because after a hour, our bus wound up with a flat tire. Thank goodness there was a shop there to fix it, but that meant waiting for another 45mins before they finished. I was too tired to care at that point and really wanted to be at the hostel. Eventually, we ended up in Yangshuo but had to walk to the bus station for the cab to pick us up and THAT took ANOTHER 30 mins. By the time we reached the hostel I literally yelled out 'THANK YOU Jesus!'
We checked in and finally had a chance to register everything that happened. We were starving so ordered a late breakfast special and breathed in the mountain air. Our surroundings was just what we needed: fresh air, mountains and loads more trees. We were finally in paradise.
We spent the rest of the day trying to figure out what we wanted to do with our time there and ate dinner outside of town at West Street. Tried their local cuisine and they were known for beer fish. Walked around the bustling night markets filled with bars that had teddy bears chilling on lawn chairs and vendors trying to sell trinkets to passersby. We ordered dessert from a durian place which offered everything durian and mango. I tried their coffee with durian slushy and it wasn't that bad.
-----
Kayaking. That's what we did at 9am on the Li River. We drove for about 45 mins outside of Yangshuo and picked up a group of other tourists for the same trip. We arrived at this little strip of a road and saw life jackets as well as kayaks.We were told to get in and with no further instructions, we paddled out onto the river. A ferryman followed us with our belongings and for our safety. This trip would take about 3hrs down the river until we were to be picked up again and driven back into town. Let's just say I was sunburned quite a bit while kayaking for those 3 hours...
After returning I wanted to rent a motobike to tour around the surrounding area, but sadly the motorbike they had was meant for big American sized guys...I couldn't even keep my arms that far apart for 5 mins due to kayaking for so long! I gave up on that dream of a motobike tour and opted for a normal bike which was ok as well. I biked to part of the Li River, parked my bike and went to dip my feet into the river. It felt grrrreat! After 30 mins of just soaking in the river, I decided to bike around the other side of town until I couldn't anymore and headed back to the hostel to shower.
That night we had tickets to go to Impressions: Liu San Jie. Zhang Yimou who did the Beijing Olympic Opening Ceremony was one of the directors and it was so...precise! It was insane to see a production that size (over 600 people) do the show. I knew I should probably expect it since he did do the opening ceremony but still I couldn't help but be amazed!
The next day we were leaving so we did the most lazy thing you can do--bamboo rafting down the Yu Long River. Spent half the day talking to the driver and drifting down the river. We also ate amazing river fish that was so tasty we ended up ordering two!
Yangshuo was brief, but so memorable and I would love to visit again at some point and stay longer!
After Shanghai, we headed out to Yangshuo which is located outside of Guilin. We hopped on the train from Shanghai to Guilin, hard sleeper middle bunk for about 16+ hours. The ride itself wasn't painful, but the kids underneath our bunk was. 3 kids + non caring parents= DISASTER for 16+ hours! I couldn't wait to get off the train especially when they were screaming, running around and jumping on the seats in front of our bunks. I also wanted to kick the leader brat who was leading them but I refrained...barely... My backpack kind of fell on one of them--I swear not on purpose, but it was karma I like to think.
After making it to Guilin, back sore and tired, we got on line to purchase our ticket out of Guilin to Hong Kong in a few days. They didn't have ANY sleeper beds, we had to settle for a hard seat. It was hard seat or no seat aka STANDING! I took what we had and booked the hard seat for another 18+ hours to Hong Kong.
Finally everything was purchases and settled, we hopped on a bus going towards Yangshuo. We thought we were home free, but sadly the driver decides to argue with the traffic cop and that held us up for about half an hour. I was so pissed, I told them to refund us and we jumped on another bus. The universe really didn't want us to arrive in Yangshuo at all because after a hour, our bus wound up with a flat tire. Thank goodness there was a shop there to fix it, but that meant waiting for another 45mins before they finished. I was too tired to care at that point and really wanted to be at the hostel. Eventually, we ended up in Yangshuo but had to walk to the bus station for the cab to pick us up and THAT took ANOTHER 30 mins. By the time we reached the hostel I literally yelled out 'THANK YOU Jesus!'
We checked in and finally had a chance to register everything that happened. We were starving so ordered a late breakfast special and breathed in the mountain air. Our surroundings was just what we needed: fresh air, mountains and loads more trees. We were finally in paradise.
We spent the rest of the day trying to figure out what we wanted to do with our time there and ate dinner outside of town at West Street. Tried their local cuisine and they were known for beer fish. Walked around the bustling night markets filled with bars that had teddy bears chilling on lawn chairs and vendors trying to sell trinkets to passersby. We ordered dessert from a durian place which offered everything durian and mango. I tried their coffee with durian slushy and it wasn't that bad.
-----
Kayaking. That's what we did at 9am on the Li River. We drove for about 45 mins outside of Yangshuo and picked up a group of other tourists for the same trip. We arrived at this little strip of a road and saw life jackets as well as kayaks.We were told to get in and with no further instructions, we paddled out onto the river. A ferryman followed us with our belongings and for our safety. This trip would take about 3hrs down the river until we were to be picked up again and driven back into town. Let's just say I was sunburned quite a bit while kayaking for those 3 hours...
After returning I wanted to rent a motobike to tour around the surrounding area, but sadly the motorbike they had was meant for big American sized guys...I couldn't even keep my arms that far apart for 5 mins due to kayaking for so long! I gave up on that dream of a motobike tour and opted for a normal bike which was ok as well. I biked to part of the Li River, parked my bike and went to dip my feet into the river. It felt grrrreat! After 30 mins of just soaking in the river, I decided to bike around the other side of town until I couldn't anymore and headed back to the hostel to shower.
That night we had tickets to go to Impressions: Liu San Jie. Zhang Yimou who did the Beijing Olympic Opening Ceremony was one of the directors and it was so...precise! It was insane to see a production that size (over 600 people) do the show. I knew I should probably expect it since he did do the opening ceremony but still I couldn't help but be amazed!
Yangshuo was brief, but so memorable and I would love to visit again at some point and stay longer!
Sunday, August 11, 2013
Post-APSA Program Feelings
I'm currently sitting in miss me cafe while it's thunder storming outside. Winds are blowing, thunder and lightning is crackling and somehow this does not disturb me like it normally would. There is a sense of calmness about it this time around. I've been sitting in this cafe for about 4 hours now, staring at a mock Van Gogh 'Starry Night' mural on the wall as I'm uploading the last batch of APSA photos.
These few days have somewhat been a blur since the kids left. There's no more culture excursions, language excursions, morning punishments for being late or even meetings to meet about the days ahead. With all this free time, it is really sinking that the kids really did leave on that bus and are already home in the U.S. This is a very surreal feeling because even though we spent 6 weeks together, it's not enough. Sure, we all wanted to kill one another at one point or another, but who doesn't after 24/7 interaction in a confined space for that amount of time?
Truly, this has been a great experience to share with everyone on the program. I have no regret in quitting my day job and coming half way across the world to Beijing and doing this 6 weeks program. It has been an awesome-eye opening experience for me personally and I will forever remember the time spent here. It is rare to have moments of joy, pain, and sadness all in one setting but this was that. This experience rolled all emotions into one giant adventure and in the end I came out of that a somewhat different person but yet remaining who I want to be. We are in constant search for self and in the end, we always come full circle to the beginning and reinvent what we already know and want.
Thank you APSA/Jump! for this experience! Thank you for pushing me to do things I would not do normally on my own, making me step out of my comfort zone without pushing me into the deep as well as supporting me in my endeavors with compassion and knowledge. I've learned so much from my fellow colleagues as well as the students. Thank you all for contributing to my life experience and let's meet later in life again!
"We shall not cease from exploration and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time. " --T.S. Eliot (Four Quartets)
These few days have somewhat been a blur since the kids left. There's no more culture excursions, language excursions, morning punishments for being late or even meetings to meet about the days ahead. With all this free time, it is really sinking that the kids really did leave on that bus and are already home in the U.S. This is a very surreal feeling because even though we spent 6 weeks together, it's not enough. Sure, we all wanted to kill one another at one point or another, but who doesn't after 24/7 interaction in a confined space for that amount of time?
Truly, this has been a great experience to share with everyone on the program. I have no regret in quitting my day job and coming half way across the world to Beijing and doing this 6 weeks program. It has been an awesome-eye opening experience for me personally and I will forever remember the time spent here. It is rare to have moments of joy, pain, and sadness all in one setting but this was that. This experience rolled all emotions into one giant adventure and in the end I came out of that a somewhat different person but yet remaining who I want to be. We are in constant search for self and in the end, we always come full circle to the beginning and reinvent what we already know and want.
Thank you APSA/Jump! for this experience! Thank you for pushing me to do things I would not do normally on my own, making me step out of my comfort zone without pushing me into the deep as well as supporting me in my endeavors with compassion and knowledge. I've learned so much from my fellow colleagues as well as the students. Thank you all for contributing to my life experience and let's meet later in life again!
"We shall not cease from exploration and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time. " --T.S. Eliot (Four Quartets)
APSA/Jump! Family 2013
Saturday, August 3, 2013
Off to the Hospital we go!
I took an afternoon off to go visit the hospital because if not people will kill me (including big sis and students).
One of my coworker was nice enough to take me to Bei Da 3rd hospital (Beijing University 3rd hospital) because he was familiar with it. I was actually in that same hospital almost 4 years ago for different reason. I was there the first time for blood test when I was allergic to Beijing in the most literal sense. Now, I'm back for a sprained ankle. It's like a horrible anniversary to say the least. This time it was a lot better because I went to a different section specifically for bones, but lets not get ahead of myself.
My mode of transportation thanks to my friend was a bike! He rode up to the apartment and was like tada! He had a giant smile on his face and was like this will be our transportation to the hospital! Isn't this exciting?! Let me tell you--this would be my 2nd time on a bicycle in Beijing and it terrifies me to no end! 1st time was from subway station to get some duck at my friends' area and now to the hospital..All I could keep thinking was please don't let me stay at the hospital for a serious injury due to biking there....
As we started to bike, within 5 mins, it started to pour! We had to hide under a bridge until it stopped a bit and continued our way. Almost half way there it really started to pour all over again. This time we hid under a giant umbrella by the side of the road...It was not a smart thing to bike that day apparently.
Eventually we made it to the hospital and I proceeded to go through the process of a Chinese hospital. Pay for card/fee, go to see doc, consults and do other things like xray..pay for xray...wait.. come back for xray... wait for doctor consult again with xray and pay for med and get fee back for card once returned.
The doc wanted to plaster me up in a cast! Hell no! I'll rest when the kids are gone but I ain't going around Beijing with a cast on my feet.
After the whole situation was dealt with, we biked back again to the school and of course it was raining but this time we said fuck it and rode in the rain. It was really soothing when cars/buses weren't trying to run you down.
Wished I was in Beijing more to actually start appreciating the bike culture here.
One of my coworker was nice enough to take me to Bei Da 3rd hospital (Beijing University 3rd hospital) because he was familiar with it. I was actually in that same hospital almost 4 years ago for different reason. I was there the first time for blood test when I was allergic to Beijing in the most literal sense. Now, I'm back for a sprained ankle. It's like a horrible anniversary to say the least. This time it was a lot better because I went to a different section specifically for bones, but lets not get ahead of myself.
My mode of transportation thanks to my friend was a bike! He rode up to the apartment and was like tada! He had a giant smile on his face and was like this will be our transportation to the hospital! Isn't this exciting?! Let me tell you--this would be my 2nd time on a bicycle in Beijing and it terrifies me to no end! 1st time was from subway station to get some duck at my friends' area and now to the hospital..All I could keep thinking was please don't let me stay at the hospital for a serious injury due to biking there....
As we started to bike, within 5 mins, it started to pour! We had to hide under a bridge until it stopped a bit and continued our way. Almost half way there it really started to pour all over again. This time we hid under a giant umbrella by the side of the road...It was not a smart thing to bike that day apparently.
Eventually we made it to the hospital and I proceeded to go through the process of a Chinese hospital. Pay for card/fee, go to see doc, consults and do other things like xray..pay for xray...wait.. come back for xray... wait for doctor consult again with xray and pay for med and get fee back for card once returned.
The doc wanted to plaster me up in a cast! Hell no! I'll rest when the kids are gone but I ain't going around Beijing with a cast on my feet.
After the whole situation was dealt with, we biked back again to the school and of course it was raining but this time we said fuck it and rode in the rain. It was really soothing when cars/buses weren't trying to run you down.
Wished I was in Beijing more to actually start appreciating the bike culture here.
Monday, July 29, 2013
Weekend Off: Cuandixia Village Hiking Trip
Another week passed by with a blink of an eye with only a week and 3 days left with the APSA kids. I'm really going to miss them once they leave and hope they will cherish these last few days with each other. Most of them will never see each other again while others will try to maintain some sort of friendship. I do hope their friendship can carry on even though they will be back in America.
Even though this was my weekend off, I decided to join in on the Cuandixia Village weekend expedition! I'm so glad I did because it allowed me time to take in the beauty that Beijing had to offer. We traveled by bus for about 2 1/2 hours outside of Beijing where we were surrounded by mountains upon mountains. The view was breathtaking because these mountains have been there for god knows how many years!
As the road become more narrow, we buy entrance tickets for the village and chug our way to the village. Once we reached the village, I saw that we were surrounded by enclaves of mountains and the first view I see is the pagoda on the top of the hill. I loved that I was surrounded by nature and so much effing GREEEN!
As we unloaded the truck, we made our way to our rooms to settle down before touring the village.We hiked up to the pagoda and saw the village in its own bubble surrounded by mountains. Mei (Moho) came for the weekend as well so it was great! We left the kids and found a quiet spot we picked out while touring the village to come back to at night. Flashlight, ukelele, and camera in hand we headed toward the spot. It was still foggy leftover from the afternoon so we didn't see any stars. Got us two bottles of beer and just chatted and she played some songs. As we were heading down, I of course flip on the stone steps and twisted my right ankle!!! (3 years I also twisted the same ankle!) It wasn't too painful, but I was still limping around was just pissed with myself that I had to slip and fall!
I was bummed, but I was not about to let this twisted ankle stop me from hiking up the mountain! Next day, it was a bit swollen but I could still put weight on it so I was determined to climb the mountain. I, of course had to keep in mind if the pain did get worse, I'd stop before I actually fracture something. While on the hike, it was a bit hard due to the fact it wasn't stable ground. The path was made of small pebbled rocks, large slippery slabs of stone and some straight paths. As I hiked, I was mindful of where I placed my foot as well as taking it easy. I had my walking stick so it really helped a lot with placement and just pace.
I hiked up the mountain through dense layers of fog every so plateau of land we encountered. Eventually after 3ish hours of hiking, we came to the top and it was GREAT! The mountains were surrounded by fog and mist. It was sort of drizzling as we made our way to the top and we devoured our PB&J sandwiches we made earlier. The group even laid down a bit for a nap before continuing to a higher peak for better photos.
I couldn't believe where I was and what the process was to get up there. I did not want to give up and was so happy I stuck it through. I really wanted to stay up there the whole weekend and just take in the scenery because I could not believe where I was. Fog, mountains, trees, wild flowers and misty rain--all made the scenery that much more beautiful. I tried my best to capture some of the scenery but I feel like I can't do it justice and it's one of those things you have to experience.
Eventually we had to hike down to make it back to the van so we can get back to the village before sunset. It started raining harder which made going down the mountain even more dangerous due to the slippery rocks and the angle we were coming from. Everyone from the team slipped once if not twice due to the rain. We made it back down and luckily by then it stopped raining.
After dinner, we set up the bonfire in the village and it was awesome. S'mores, bonfires and songs --what more do we want? That night due to the rain, the sky cleared up and there were STARSSSS! Tons of stars could be seen shining ever bright in the dark mountain skies. I found little dipper and even Orion's belt. That was a perfect ending to the weekend.
I take for granted little things like this because in even though I like nature, I never truly had a chance to fully immerse myself in it. I normally don't camp, hike or even be around nature let alone spend time in the 'wild'. The stars made me remember being back at Mount Holyoke campus and laying on the green watching the night sky go by and looking out for shooting starts. So many good feelings can come from just looking up at stars in the sky.
I really truly appreciate the opportunity this summer job has given me both professionally and personally. This has allowed me to view Beijing in a different light as well as grow as a person. I'm really enjoying the Beijing I'm seeing now which is filled with nature and hope.
Now, I just have to figure out my sprained ankle business and I should be good.
Even though this was my weekend off, I decided to join in on the Cuandixia Village weekend expedition! I'm so glad I did because it allowed me time to take in the beauty that Beijing had to offer. We traveled by bus for about 2 1/2 hours outside of Beijing where we were surrounded by mountains upon mountains. The view was breathtaking because these mountains have been there for god knows how many years!
As the road become more narrow, we buy entrance tickets for the village and chug our way to the village. Once we reached the village, I saw that we were surrounded by enclaves of mountains and the first view I see is the pagoda on the top of the hill. I loved that I was surrounded by nature and so much effing GREEEN!
As we unloaded the truck, we made our way to our rooms to settle down before touring the village.We hiked up to the pagoda and saw the village in its own bubble surrounded by mountains. Mei (Moho) came for the weekend as well so it was great! We left the kids and found a quiet spot we picked out while touring the village to come back to at night. Flashlight, ukelele, and camera in hand we headed toward the spot. It was still foggy leftover from the afternoon so we didn't see any stars. Got us two bottles of beer and just chatted and she played some songs. As we were heading down, I of course flip on the stone steps and twisted my right ankle!!! (3 years I also twisted the same ankle!) It wasn't too painful, but I was still limping around was just pissed with myself that I had to slip and fall!
I was bummed, but I was not about to let this twisted ankle stop me from hiking up the mountain! Next day, it was a bit swollen but I could still put weight on it so I was determined to climb the mountain. I, of course had to keep in mind if the pain did get worse, I'd stop before I actually fracture something. While on the hike, it was a bit hard due to the fact it wasn't stable ground. The path was made of small pebbled rocks, large slippery slabs of stone and some straight paths. As I hiked, I was mindful of where I placed my foot as well as taking it easy. I had my walking stick so it really helped a lot with placement and just pace.
I couldn't believe where I was and what the process was to get up there. I did not want to give up and was so happy I stuck it through. I really wanted to stay up there the whole weekend and just take in the scenery because I could not believe where I was. Fog, mountains, trees, wild flowers and misty rain--all made the scenery that much more beautiful. I tried my best to capture some of the scenery but I feel like I can't do it justice and it's one of those things you have to experience.
After dinner, we set up the bonfire in the village and it was awesome. S'mores, bonfires and songs --what more do we want? That night due to the rain, the sky cleared up and there were STARSSSS! Tons of stars could be seen shining ever bright in the dark mountain skies. I found little dipper and even Orion's belt. That was a perfect ending to the weekend.
I take for granted little things like this because in even though I like nature, I never truly had a chance to fully immerse myself in it. I normally don't camp, hike or even be around nature let alone spend time in the 'wild'. The stars made me remember being back at Mount Holyoke campus and laying on the green watching the night sky go by and looking out for shooting starts. So many good feelings can come from just looking up at stars in the sky.
I really truly appreciate the opportunity this summer job has given me both professionally and personally. This has allowed me to view Beijing in a different light as well as grow as a person. I'm really enjoying the Beijing I'm seeing now which is filled with nature and hope.
Now, I just have to figure out my sprained ankle business and I should be good.
Wednesday, July 24, 2013
Week 4: Forbidden City, Coke and Scorpians OH MY!
It's almost the end of the 4th week with the APSA scholars on their epic Beijing trip. I finally feel the kids are starting to open up to each other, girls have sleepovers and gossiping as well as just finally forming more of an actual relationship rather than superficial relationships.
During our cultural excursion exploration, my group decided to go to Forbidden City and it was a great to see their reactions as to the enormous space that it actually takes to build as well as to preserve. I told them to actively think of all the people who have crossed the same halls as them and picture life in the palace before them. Gave them a mini history lesson on the court life as well as the concubine situation with the Emperor back in the day.
For our company visit this week, we went to Coca-Cola factory based in Beijing. It was very interesting because we got samples of their drinks (Fanta, Sprite, Sugar cane juice/tea, green tea as well as normal Coke) and tour their facilities. The factory really smelled like slow churning coke sugar...I'm not sure if anyone knows what I mean, but if you drink a coke and smell a bit of it, that's what it smelled like but more overwhelming. We received lots of free products from them such as an olympic coke sponsored pin, more coke but this time in old fashioned glass bottles (which we were not allowed to keep) as well as LOTS of photos around the factory lol
As a continuation of exploration for the kids, we decided to have a night out in Beijing so we took them to Wangfujin! Kids were going crazy on our way to the locations from singing on the subway to just plain ol' being silly. The full moon--it does have quite an effect on people lol
I made my whole group eat scorpion as a dare/promise. One of the kids pinky promised me and I was like Nope! You promised for the whole group, we eat it together! It was great because it's just an experience they will not get in the States and where else would they find chuars filled with scorpions, spiders and grasshoppers?! It was great to see their reactions and I even ate one...It tasted like really old chicken that's gone stale lol This dare even made two of my kids eat the bigger scorpions!! I'm so proud of them!!
Tomorrow we head out to Cuandixia! I'm so excited to be in this village surrounded by gorgeous mountains! Even though it's my weekend off, I really do want to do the hike up the mountain and just my streak of doing things I would not normally do!
Hopefully I'll take some good photos and maybe even catch the sunrise!
During our cultural excursion exploration, my group decided to go to Forbidden City and it was a great to see their reactions as to the enormous space that it actually takes to build as well as to preserve. I told them to actively think of all the people who have crossed the same halls as them and picture life in the palace before them. Gave them a mini history lesson on the court life as well as the concubine situation with the Emperor back in the day.
For our company visit this week, we went to Coca-Cola factory based in Beijing. It was very interesting because we got samples of their drinks (Fanta, Sprite, Sugar cane juice/tea, green tea as well as normal Coke) and tour their facilities. The factory really smelled like slow churning coke sugar...I'm not sure if anyone knows what I mean, but if you drink a coke and smell a bit of it, that's what it smelled like but more overwhelming. We received lots of free products from them such as an olympic coke sponsored pin, more coke but this time in old fashioned glass bottles (which we were not allowed to keep) as well as LOTS of photos around the factory lol
As a continuation of exploration for the kids, we decided to have a night out in Beijing so we took them to Wangfujin! Kids were going crazy on our way to the locations from singing on the subway to just plain ol' being silly. The full moon--it does have quite an effect on people lol
I made my whole group eat scorpion as a dare/promise. One of the kids pinky promised me and I was like Nope! You promised for the whole group, we eat it together! It was great because it's just an experience they will not get in the States and where else would they find chuars filled with scorpions, spiders and grasshoppers?! It was great to see their reactions and I even ate one...It tasted like really old chicken that's gone stale lol This dare even made two of my kids eat the bigger scorpions!! I'm so proud of them!!
Tomorrow we head out to Cuandixia! I'm so excited to be in this village surrounded by gorgeous mountains! Even though it's my weekend off, I really do want to do the hike up the mountain and just my streak of doing things I would not normally do!
Hopefully I'll take some good photos and maybe even catch the sunrise!
Sunday, July 21, 2013
Great Wall Unrestored!
(The hike up on the unrestored portion of the Wall)
The weather for the hike was gorgeous! It was sunny and clear blue skies not the typical Beijing weather we normally get (smog) so I was really grateful. It took us about 2 hours to hike up the mountain to reach the wall where we had to keep following the wall back to the restored portion of the wall. We crossed broken down portion of the wall where it was very easy to slip and fall off the wall. In my head, I kept thinking please don't let a kid fall off or slip or twist an ankle! Luckily, all the kids made it in one piece across and Team Moderate/Team X'treme was cheering on our kids as they approached the restored portion which was a great boost of energy. I'm glad these kids have settled into the idea of family now with each other. The cheering and encouragement really shows the support they have for everyone.
(The path where we came from-had to climb through this window)
After reaching the fortress on the restored part, we had lunch and prepared for the student presentation. They had 3 different topics regarding the Great Wall: Past, Myths and Modern views of the Great Wall. The kids had awesome presentations where they used the information given and ran with it. After the educational bits were done, we continued onwards so we could explore more of the wall and make our way down the restored part so we could get back to the city in time.
(Us facilitators joining on the fun)
As we passed different forts on the wall, we climbed upon them and took lots of jumping photos which is a must clearly lol I believe the kids really did enjoy the day and even though most thought they were going to die from the hike, in the end it was truly worth it for them personally and overall great experience.
Within the same night, we had a social event where we laid out sleeping bags in the common room and watched Mulan through the night. It was a great conclusion to the night because the kids was just at the Great Wall as well as Forbidden City in the same week.
Sunday rolled by and they had history class and we surprised them with KTV afternoon filled with English music. Kids sang Bieber, Kanye, Drake, Zedd as well as Beyonce. Everyone had a great time singing and dancing. This was a great break for everyone in general because usually we pack the schedule with heavy items that need to done.
Today is the start of a new week--new excursions and even more new experiences that needs to be had.
'Till another time.
Deuces
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