Ammon

The best thing about being in China is all the amazing tender souls I get to have in my life. I would've never known these people existed thousands of miles away! These people would've never been in my life and I would've gone my merry way through life without knowing them and how they could have impacted me. It makes me grateful for all the people I've come across in my life and the simple gifts they have given me just by being them.

One of these people in China is Ammon. I can't remember how much I've said about Ammon before, but his heart is a heart of gold. Maddy and I joint teach him in our 6th grade class. We recognized pretty early on that he had some sort of developmental and social issue. Some of the other boys would make fun of him. Which made us sad because he was always so happy to see us and participate in our lessons!

When we were giving our students English names at the beginning of the semester (which was really fun, I felt like I was naming a million of my own babies! One of my kids chose the name Nephi...hehe), we would ask our student what their favorite letter was and write a couple names starting from that letter and they would choose a name to go by in English. Most students didn't have English names. But Ammon did, and he insisted that he kept his name! Which we thought was really cute because he was probably named Ammon by a previous teacher and he wanted to keep that name.

These past couple of weeks we've been hanging out with him and his friends during their break and playing ping pong. One day he asked how we were doing and we said we were good and then he said he was sad. We asked why and sweetly but so sadly said "my home." My heart broke! This kid is 12 years old, isn't always excepted by his peers, probably feels demeaned in his classes because it takes him longer to understand and to top it all off he doesn't get to see his family for weeks at a time. And I realized how blessed I have been in so many areas of my life. It was so sweet because Ammon just kept giving us hugs. So tender! I love that boy. And even though he may have seen us as a blessing to him that day, he really is a blessing to us.

And after lots of hugs, making funny faces, playing ping pong and a couple rounds of rock-paper-scissors, I think Ammon was a little happier. :)

Hong Kong

I found heaven. And it's in Hong Kong. Why? It's clean, international (so we're not stared at all the time . YAY!!!), has lots of yummy food, the beach, and the CHURCH!!!! That's a recipe for pure happiness.

I love her. I'm soooo thankful for this time we have together. It has been THE best. :)

It was kinda cool.

We have so much fun together. It IS illegal.

So FIERCE.

When we first saw angel Moroni, I thought I was gonna cry. I was so happy to FINALLY be at the temple!

Monkeys. EVERYWHERE. 

See the terror in my face? YEAH. They were everywhere.

Funny story! So we're with our friend that we met at church who took us to go see the monkeys right? And he told us to not really make too much noise or sudden movements around the monkeys. And no smiling....that's a sign of aggression. SO. We're walking down the road and there were all these monkeys and so I'm like "la la la Imma take a picture." Turn on my camera and "rrrrring!" It makes a nice little jingle that I didn't ever really notice on my camera. Mr. Monkey turns and gets in total attack position! And he just starts jumping on Maddy and ripping out her hair!!! So she has this bald spot sorta...she pulls it off quite well. It was unfortunate.




...Just kidding! Maddy still has all her hair. And the monkey didn't attack her. But we were all kinda terrified there for a sec. It was hilarious!

Another cool story: Today is a holiday in HK, so the temple was only going to be open until 1. We headed toward the temple at 12 ish but then we accidentally went to the ward meetinghouse which was in the completely wrong direction! And so we're like CRAP! There's only so much time! So we figure out which was the temple is and get there around 12:15. We go inside to find that they were cleaning up the font and getting ready to close. We were bummed but it turned out to be a HUGE blessing in disguise and an amazing experience. The Chinese lady who was cleaning the font started talking to us and said she wanted to bear her testimony to us. It was the most amazing testimony and her life story is remarkable. She was so sweet, genuine and humble. Her name was Irene and I will never forget her. Meeting her inspired me to be a missionary, even in my daily living, and to never EVER give up and lose faith in God because he loves us. If you wanna hear the full story (it's worth it) then ask me! I can't possibly write it here and still have the same effect. Face to face is more awesome anyway. :) But anyways! Basically, even though we didn't get to do baptisms and help those on the other side, we still were inspired and given strength to help those around us.

China's Top Ten!!!

Top 10 Worst Things About My Life in China (you will find that it's really not that bad):

10: Eating basically the same school food alllll the time. And every dish is filled with mysterious things!

9: My bed is really hard. We are always excited to stay in hostels because they actually have mattresses!

8: I'd say 1% of the leaves have changed on the trees. Happy Fall?

7: Feeling lost when I go travelling. We're never entirely sure if we're on the right train or what not. It's frustrating!

6: Men hawking loogies in the streets.

5: I miss my family. And my dog. And cat. IT'S NORMAL, I LOVE THEM.
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4: When I'm bored and am sick of Pinterest and there's no one to email and all the kids are in class and all the teachers are teaching and I don't know what to do with my liiiiife. Imma take up indexing...so we'll see how long that entertains me!

3: When a lesson doesn't go well or the kids get bored of your lesson. The almost WORST.

2: Not having legit church meetings to go to. We call in on Skype every Sunday. I love it but, let's be real, GOING to Church is different than just listening to it over the phone.

AND LASTLY

1: Not being able to take the Sacrament. This Sunday is my first time in 2 months I get to take it! I'm so excited!

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But what about the top 10 BEST things in China?! There really are a lot more than ten. And it's really hard to rank them so these aren't in any specific order. Except for number 1. after looking at the worst things,I feel like they are petty compared to all the golden things that come out of China. So the Top 10 Best Things in China are:

10: Yummy Chinese food! The best is street food which we get to eat when we travel: Chinese BBQ, the best fresh fruit EVER, these things we call Chinese McMuffins, yummy pastries, steamed sweet potatoes, fresh corn...the list goes ON.

9: Being able to act or wear or talk about whatever we want because a) we're Americans so people stare at us anyways, b) style here in China is awesome because ANYTHING goes and c) nobody understands us...so we can talk about whateeeeever we want in public...so that's niiiice.

8: We are celebrities wherever we go and I think it's hilarious! People always ask to take pictures with us...I don't know why they think we're so cool but it cracks me up!

7: It is so COOL to be immersed in another culture. I think everyone should have this opportunity some time in life. I've learned so much and have gained a greater appreciation for different ways of life and for my own culture.

6: China is BEAUTIFUL. I never realized how cool and gorgeous China really is. Lots of people go to China just to see the Great Wall, but I think they are missing out on even better places like Yangshuo and Huangshan!

5: Chinese BABIES!!! THE cutest things alive. I want to adopt all of them.

4: There's a little baby boy who we see every day as we walk up and down the stairs to our apartment. Every time he sees us, he says in his cute little voice "jie jie" which means big sister. It melts my heart!

3: TRAVELLING! Travelling in China is awesome! I love going to hostels and meeting people from all over the world that we are sharing rooms with. I love seeing new things and experiencing new things and meeting new people on the way. There is SO much beauty in China, which you've seen in my previous posts. I wouldn't trade the things I've seen/done in China for anything!

2: I am so much closer to my Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. I am constantly leaning on them for strength, comfort and guidance. My testimony has grown in so many things: gratitude, faith and trust that God will direct me, and most importantly I've learned the power of love.

1: MY STUDENTS! I love my students with all my heart. They make my day. MY LIFE. They make me so happy and I love to play with them and joke with them. The best is when we get to play outside of class. Sometimes I'll play ping pong with the 6th graders and they'll teach me Chinese. Or yesterday I played badminton (terribly haha!) with some high schoolers. The kids are amazing and so sweet and kind. They have the pure love of Christ--even though they don't know it. I will miss them the most when it comes time to leave.

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No matter what stage we are in life, there is good and bad. We have bad days and we have good days. We just need to decide what we want to focus on and try and see good days. Of course China has been hard! Anybody would be lying to you if they said coming to teach English in China was easy. But the good stuff is BEYOND worth it! So, if you have any inkling to come teach, DO IT. You will not regret giving your time to something as amazing as this. I'm glad I did. :)

My Chinese Dwelling

Here's a little tour of our apartment! We live in a little apartment building on our school's campus where all the teachers live. And we're on the 5th floor!! So. That's a work out. But our apartment is definitely a LOT bigger than I was expecting! Have a looks-y:

Our kitchen/living room

Our balcony...I'd say our penthouse is pretty deluxe.

The pioneer stairs that lead up to the scary upstairs.

Zee bathroom. The toilet is at the bottom left.

We're not sure why this room is entirely necessary. It's huge and all we use is the sink. So we call it the dungeon...and other scary names.

My room! And yes, that is a wood pallet that I sleep on. And those are pictures from my students on the wall. :)

Xingping/Yangshuo/Guilin

Took a bamboo raft on the Li River to Xingping

Cool door knockers...they were cats actually so naturally I was excited.

Just cute little Xingping in the background

Camping on the Li River!! 4 people in a 2-man tent? DONE. In China.

Isn't Yangshuo just so picturesque? 

About to do something on my bucket list....

...SWIMMING IN MUD!!!!

Riding bikes through the mountains makes me feel so aliiiiive!!!

Found this cutie at Elephant Trunk Hill

Lemme tell ya, the Chinese cameras were going wild.

Oh...just exploring. Takin' it off. the. MAP.

A view of Guilin

This past week was National Day and so everyone and their pet duck went on vacation in China! It was pretty busy and hectic, BUT I'll tell you one thing. God was watching out for us 100% of the time. Every time we didn't know which bus to take or where to go, someone would come up and ask if they could help us. It amazes me how a) because of our faith, trust, and hope in God, he provides a way to where we need to be--every day I thank Him for keeping me safe and comforted and practically carrying me and b) people in China are sooo selfless. So many people have taken the time out of their lives to help the two American girls failing at talking to a taxi driver through broken Chinese and lots of pantomiming. They are so kind! And even when they are probably sooo nervous to speak English to us, they still help us anyway. 

When we were riding on the bus home, I had a cold and so I was fanning myself because I was a wee bit feverish. And then this cute little boy I had made friends with earlier (he was probably about 10) came over with a fan and started fanning me. Isn't that the sweetest thing you've ever heard? And honestly, I was so grateful because I was miserable. The littlest things can really help out. After,I fanned him and we had fun watching the Chinese action movie on the TV together.

Seriously, this week was awesome and SO fun. I am amazed at the beauty of this world and of the people that live on it. Everywhere and everyone is different, but it's all unique in its own way. I'm grateful to have experienced these fleeting moments of the present--they are moments that I will never experience again. Which is pretty amazing to think about, in a way. Every moment is so precious.