For Future ILP Volunteers Going To Ningbo

We decided to make write down all the things we learned and the places we visited in Ningbo.  When we got to the city, we knew nothing about it.  There was a guy who had been in the last ILP group who had stayed on to teach for the rest of the school year, but sadly he didn’t really explore the city and so couldn’t really help us.  This is split up into sections: map, food, shopping, and entertainment.

Map:

While we were here they were building the metro so we didn’t have that.  I am not sure when it will be finished so this is the advice I can give you on getting around town with the bus system.  But I added some map pictures to help you.

330 is the bus number you will take the most.  If you get on you can go down to the very end of the line, takes about 40 minutes, to go to the city part of the city.  Tianyi square is the center in which was our land mark for everthing we loved to do in the city.  Once you get off the bus and to the main road go to the light and turn left and cross the street.  Head straight down the road till you get to a place called Shoe City. (don’t buy shoes there.  It is expensive.) There is an escalator that goes under ground.  Take it down.  It gives you three options.  One is Tianyi square.  The other one we used a lot was the one to Lady Fashion square.  These two will take you to the places that lead to the places listed below.

Have fun and explore!

Food:
There are a lot of good places to eat. I have seperated this section even more from cheap to expensive.

Cheap:

One of our favorite places to eat is what we nicknamed “Muslim Noodle Place”.  It is down the street from the school.  Just turn left when you walk out of the gate and head to the intersection. Cross the street and head straight.  It looks sketchy, but it’s fine.  You will walk for about 5 minutes.  You will pass the Dairy Factory.  You can buy cheap milk and yogart there, but it closes at 5pm.  After the dairy factory is an open market.  The market has a lot of good fruit and street food.  We recommend the fried flat bread and the pineapple.  After the street market is a convience store.  It has cheap drinks and snacks.  Although if you want cheap ice cream go to one of the tiny tiny stores that you pass.  After the pool tables you will see a place that usually has people outside.  The resaurant is in one of the little shacks.  When you look inside it has a giant board with pictures of the noodle and rice dishes.  You know it’s the right place if you go in and see the Muslim picture with the two kinda creepy looking white girls.  They make the noodles by hand.  It is very delicious.  All you have to do is point to the one you want and hold up your finger saying Yi ge (said like you are saying the letter e and good without the d at the end.) If you want it to go just say tao bao.  (On a side note, the word for this is jigga.  You can say it when you point out what you want.  This applies to whenever you are ordering food.)  When you want to order you say the number and add ge at the end.  Holding up fingers also helps.

There is also a cheap place to buy dumplings down the street as well.

Moderate:

Wanda Plaza has a lot of restaurants on the top floor.  Our favorite is the Peiking Duck restaurant and the Ningbo style restaurant.  You can order individual dishes or share.  It is cheaper eating family style.  (Side note, bring your own drinks.  They only serve hot water for free at the Peiking place.)  

In Tianyi square there is a place called Babela’s.  It is so good.  It is kinda of Italian.  They have decently priced pizzas that are actually really good.  

Expensive:

I use this term loosely.  They can get pricy depending on what and how much you order.

Indian

There is a nice and wonderfully staffed indian restaurant by the end of line 330.  You get off the bus, turn right and go to the corner.  Cross the street and turn right.  Walk down to the busy intersection.  Turn left at that corner.  Go down the street, there is a park across from you on the left.  You will cross a small road.  You will see it on your left side.

Lebanese

It is by the Indian place just a little further down.

Turkish

You go to Tianyi square and cross to the other side and exit by the Coke bottle to the busy road.  There is a bus top there.  Take bus 19 to LaiWeiTan. I believe it is one stop.  LaiWeiTan is a block of foreign foods.  Explore.

Irish Pub:

Also in LaiWeiTan.  

Snacks:

GoMax-get the mango drink

Shopping:

Groceries:

Tesco:

It is at Wanda Plaza and it is okay priced.

Markets:

They are everywhere and is usually the best places for fruits and veggies

Achan:

There are two that are close to the school.

Take bus 330 three stops past Wanda Plaza.  Get off the bus and turn left.  Walk down the street to the intersection.  Cross the street going straight.  Turn right and head down the street.  You will see it on the left side.  This one has the best selection of inported foods.  It is also not crowded and very clean because it is fairly new.  To get back you go back to the intersection and cross to the diagonal side.  It is a bit of a walk. You walk down the block and cross the street to the bus stop.

The second one is also on bus 330.  It is three stops past the first Achan.  You will see it on the right side of the bus.  The stop is right across the street from it.  To get back you go out of the store and turn left and cross the street.  It is more convient for the close bus stops but not very clean and very busy.  

Ole:

This is the most expensive place.  It is across the street from Tianyi by the Louis Vauton store.  

Clothes and Stuff:

The best place we nicknamed The Pagota Place.  It is by Tianyi.  In the underground walkway head to the Lady Fashion Square.  Walk down the street.  Cross the small road and you will see it.  It has a golden statue of the Jade Emporer.  The top floor is the cheapest. Lots of clothes on the first floor.  Good rule of thumb: if it has a price you can’t barter, if it doesn’t you can.  Never go for the first price they give you.  

Entertainment:

KTV:

go anywhere, it is cheaper on weekdays.

Movie theaters:

If you want to see a movie go on Tuesday’s they are half priced that day.  The price on the board or screen is the normal price when you pay they charge the half price.  A nice theater is on the corner of the Lady Fashion Mall right across from the Cathedrial.  

Student Store at the School:

This place is really nice for snacking and saving snacks for vacations.  The school gives you a card with money on it.  Spend wisely we went through it in three months.

*Don’t be afraid to try things.  Some are weird, but most are really good. Also make sure something is chocolate, some things look like chocolate and are actually beans.

Advice:

Have fun.  China is a strange and different country.  You will get stared at no matter where you go.  Everyone wants to say hello to you and people love taking you picture.  We ended up just asking them if they wanted to be in the pictures.  It made it fun, instead of awkward.  Meet people.  We have made many friends in the city.  People want to learn English.  It is a good way to have friends here, learn the language, and know of the places around the city.  

With the kids, disipline first, friend second.  If they have to have new teachers ever few months.  They like to see how far they can go.  Once everything is set, they will open up and be your friend.  They are so cute and it is very hard to leave them.  They become part of your heart.  

It rains a lot.  It can get freezing and incredibly hot.  The weather is tempermental.  Just go with the flow.  There were times that we just hung out in the apartments.  Become friends with your group and roommates.  None of knew each other before we came and you would never be able to tell.  

Be friends with the other foreign teachers.  Silvia is one of my favorites.  She is so cute and has good advice about the city and places to go in China.  The IB teachers know what happens around the school and are fun to hang out with.  They come from all over the world and have seen many parts of the world.  

The food they serve at the school is not what the Chinese food tastes like other places.  It is like eating cafeteria food back home.  There are good and bad days.  They serve a lot of fish, so if you don’t like fish I would save money for groceries.  On weekends the food is the same as the students get.  It’s slightly worse then the normal food and you have less choice.

Vacations:

Vacations can get expensive.  Save wisely.  

Trains:

Train tickets are the cheapest way to travel.  Buses are pretty much the same price but are not as fast or comfortable.  You can buy your own tickets by going to a train ticket purchasing building by Tianyi, by the bus stop that takes you to LaiWeiTan, by the coke bottle.  Passports are needed for ever trip to buy tickets.  Most tickets for a seat are going to be 192 rmb and a sleeper 330-350 rmb.  If you want a bullet train those are about 400rmb.  A good website to look at train times and tickets is www.chinatravelguide.com.  You can’t buy tickets online unless you want to be charged an arm and a leg. You can’t buy round trip, once you get to the train station in the city you are visiting buy your ticket home.  Easiest way to buy tickets if you can’t speak Chinese is to write the beginning city, an arrow and the desination, the date and time.  Time needs to be in military time.  

Hostels:

Hostels are the best way to stay for cheap.  Most are nice, check the ratings and reviews.  There are two good websites for booking hostels online.  www.hostelbookers.com and www.hostelworld.com.

Research:

 

Plan your trips in advance.  Book tickets and hostels at least two weeks in advance.  Most of your trips are set around a holiday in China and so lots of people will be traveling with you.  Research the cities you want to go to.  Plan, plan, plan.  We went to Hangzhou, Huangshan, Shanghai, Nanjing, Beijing, Guilin, and Yangshuo.  There are so many places to see and not enough time to see everything.  You will have to pick and choose.  

There are enterance fees for most places.  Bring at least 1000-2000 rmb a trip.  That should include train tickets, food, fees, and hostel.  It’s about $200-$300 a trip.  

For the shopping trips like Beijing and Shanghai bring more and make sure you have room in your suit case to carry it.

Metros:

 

In major cities take the metros.  Shanghai the average metro price is 4rmb to each desination.  Beijing has a set price of 2rmb no matter how far you are going on the metro.  

8 Days and counting....

We pretty much did nothing on Monday.  Some of us went to a market and got some veggies to make salsa for our pot luck that we had on Tuesday.  That was pretty much all we did.  Tuesday I spent the day packing and cleaning and chopping.  It was so weird not having any pictures or anything up.  The pot luck included those who are in our little church group that meets on Sundays, other foreign teachers we became friends with, and some Chinese friends of ours.  It was way fun and sad at the same time.  We had a lot of American, South American, and European food.  It was so delicious!  We went to bed early because we had to get up early the next day, Wednesday, to get to the train. 
 
I have never been on such a long train in my life!  26 hours.  OMG!!!  We had hard sleepers, which means a small pad on wooden planks.  Pretty much we have been sleeping on at the school.  It was an adventure of sorts.  
Guilin is so beautiful!  It has these mountains that remind of us "Oh the places you go".  Big bumping mountains! They are awesome!  There are a lot of caves to check out and a few mountains to climb.  At night the city lights up the sides of the 4 rivers and lakes with there bright colored lights and it is so pretty and romantic!  I have tons of pictures, don't worry.  That was my Thursday and Friday.

Saturday, we went to the LongJi rice terraces. They were so beautiful! We were the only ones there besides the villagers. It so peaceful. We also went to a tea field and they did a tea ceremony for us. I recommend this being one of the places you see if you ever get a chance to go to China! 

Sunday, we went around town. At 6:30 a could of us went to the train station to go to Shanghai. Now I'm sitting on the train. I have a top bunk on a hard sleeper car. The bunks high. So excited for the 20 hour ride. 

Love you and miss you!

Last week of teaching.... Bittersweet

This past week was the last week of teaching. It's weird knowing that I don't teach anymore. Monday and Tuesday we had or normal lessons. We really didn't do much although Sarah and I did go grocery shopping.

Wednesday it was rainy. We taught in the morning and cause of the rain we didn't do much outside. I got an email from one of the members in Shanghai, Sister Griffith. Her husband is the consult general on the US Consulate. She told me that another member of the consulate was going to email because they were going to be in town and wanted to meet us. So I got an email and emailed back and forth to figure or a time to meet. We decided to meet at 8pm on Thursday.

Thursday came and we had our normal morning class with the kindergartners. Then we took naps and stuff till our 4pm class. Dinner happened right after that and we waited till our class at 6, but at 5:20 I got a text from Marine, our Chinese coordinator, asking if it was okay for us not to have class so the kids could rehearse a song for a singing competition. I said that was fine and suddenly we didn't have to teach. It made it easier to get to our appointment with the consulate members since their hotel was across the city. We went to meet them. They treated us to mango smoothies from our favorite smoothie stand, GoMax, and we sat in the lobby of the hotel and talked with Brother Griffith and Russell Menyhart. It was really cool taking with them. 

Friday was normal, but crazy rain. Like a typhoon! It was so crazy!!! We had to test our ele class but it was a short test. It was a lazy day till close to dinner time, when the train had let up. Sarah and I went shopping. I had to but another umbrella since my other one got left on a bus.

Saturday we taught again it was or Thursday schedule except we didn't teach the kindergartners. It was kinda strange teaching on a Saturday. We went and bought our kids presents before we taught them that night.

Sunday was our last day teaching. Pretty much it was a party and we took pictures and videos. At 12:15 the kids, the teachers, and some parents held a performance party for us. We had fruit, the principal spoke, one of the parents spoke, or kids performed songs, and they gave us some gifts and notes. We sang Somewhere over the rainbow accompanied by Erica's ukulele. At the end the kids were.giving us hugs and that's when we all lost it. We were all crying, the teachers and the students. I am going to miss then so much! I love the 16 kids I taught. They are my kids and I feel like I just got to know them. I want to stay with them or take them home with me. It's so hard to leave them. I didn't just teach them, I played with them and tucked them in. Some of them called me their sister. I'm crying just writing this.

I love and miss you. It's bittersweet to leave but it is almost time for me to come home.

Almost done with my adventure in China

So we have only seven days left of teaching.  It is sad.  I will miss all of my kids.  I really have grown to love them.  We taught like normal.  Monday through Thursday.  Friday was Children's Day.  The school had a special activity for all the kids.  We painted the kids faces.  They have never had their faces painted before so that was a fun experience.  We spent most of day chilling out in the apartment.  We went out that afternoon to Tianyi and went shopping.  We went to Lebanese restaurant and walked through a really pretty park.  I love the parks in China. Saturday we went to Indian food and I got lamb saagwala.  It was so good!  Sunday I got to skype with Caden and all the dance people cause mom went to Big Show and I totally cried.  I miss everyone.  I don't know how you are doing it.  I have only been gone almost four months.  I bought you a present.  I hope you like it.  

Love and miss you always,

Brittany

Short Shanghai Trip (Short Email)

So nothing really happened this past week.  We taught like normal.  We pretty much spent most of the days waiting till we would leave to Shanghai. 

We left Ningbo on Friday right after we taught.  It took 3 hours to get to Shanghai.  It was like the perfect temperature, although it was a little more humid then I would have liked.  We got to the Griffith's house.  Brother and Sister Roundy are watching the house while the Griffith's are in Beijing and so we were technically staying with them in the Griffiths house.  This place is so nice and big.  

Saturday we spent 5 hours shopping and then came back with all our stuff and dropped it off.  A couple of the guys from the ysa group in Shanghai showed us parts of the city.  We went to a restaurant called More Than Toilet.  It was awesome! We sat on toilets and ate out of miniature squatters. It was great! We saw the city at night. We went to the pearl tower which is the tallest building in China. And we saw the construction for the building that when finished will be the tallest in the world. Shanghai is so awesome! 

I just want to stay here forever! We went and bought our train tickets on Sunday and then went to church. The branch here is so awesome! The members are amazing! There is a good mix of families and ysa. Everyone is so welcoming! The spirit was so strong. We went back to the Griffiths with all the ysa and ate dinner and talked. There are people from everywhere. I meet several guys who served in Taiwan. They are here for internships. We also had some Taiwanese members here as well. I met so many people and I wish I want leaving Shanghai. I want to actually get to know people instead of just meet them and then leave. Ningbo can feel so isolated. Eventually everyone left. We packed and went to bed. We are leaving right now back to Ningbo. Back to work.

Miss you and love you!
Brittany

Memory Blank

I really don't remember what happens each day anymore. It's pretty much the same. Teach, hangout in our rooms, and go to the store. 

Last Thursday night we tucked our kids in their beds. They are so cute! I will miss them so much! Friday the parents came and watched us teach and kinda talc to us. Saturday I got to Skype Mom, Dad, and Tony! It was so awesome even with my sketchy wifi. Sunday Sarah and I were invited to a students house. They love in a nice apartment area. (most people love in apartments/condos). His parents fed us lots of delicious fruits and cookies and cake. They also gave us some small presents. 

Monday I had a nice long Mothers day Skype with Mom and had a normal Monday. The rest of the week went as normal. Saturday we had a day trip paid by the school. They booked a private bus and your guide fir the island of Putuoshan. Shan means mountain so it translate to mount Putuo. It's one of the four Buddhist mountains in China. It was so awesome! A mountain with temples, beaches, and a giant gold Buddha!

Sunday we had church at 10 again although we are changing it to noon because of scheduling issues. 
We are all starting to think about and discuss what we are doing when we get home. It's strange thinking that this trip and experience is almost over. 

Love you so much!
Brittany

Beijing trip!

So we pretty much spent Monday night with the Westover kids. They showed us their school and we watched chopped and cake boss and had another delicious dinner. It was nice having a normal night. We woke up and got ready to leave. The Westover's have a driver and they scheduled to have us driven to the train station so we didn't have to take the metro. It was so nice if them and we don't even know how to thank then for all they did for us. The station we went to was Nanjing South. It is a new train station and is so nice and huge and clean. It's like a nice mini airport. We took a bullet train to Beijing. 4 hours! It was so awesome and smooth. We took the metro from the Beijing South station to the China world apartments. Sarah's aunt and uncle, Brian and Celia, live there. We checked in at the reception desk and got card keys to get into the building and the apartment. We didn't have to use the card to get into the building unless it was late cause they have a doorman. They had set up another bed so that we fit five of us. It was a nice apartment with a normal kitchen! We set our stuff down and walled 40 minutes down the street to the forbidden city. The actual museum of the palace is only open on Mondays and holidays from 8am to noon. So we didn't get to see that. We went down to a Chinese restaurant and ate dinner. We walked down a few street markets and then took the metro back to the apartment.

Wednesday we woke up early to go to Mao's mausoleum at Tiananmen square. Once we were half way through the long line they told us we couldn't take bags or purses in and we had to leave the line. We decided to let two of the girls go and we would watch the bags. There was a miscommunication between us and we didn't find them for four hours. We stayed at the same spot. There was thousands of people there that day since it was a holiday but still. We went to subway for loch and took the metro to the summer palace. We met up with four of the other girls in our group who were still in Beijing and toured there then went to a Lebanese restaurant with a belly dancing show for Camberley's birthday. We went to the apartment and went to sleep.

The next morning (Thursday) I didn't feel good and threw up. The girls decided to spend the day shopping and I took the day to rest since we booked our great wall tour for Friday. It was a good thing for me to take a day to rest. I mostly napped. When the girls came back we watched The House Next Door which one of them had just bought and went to bed.

We got up at 5am and got ready for the great wall. The can picked us up at 6am and took us to the bus. The bus drove for the hours and gave us McDonalds for breakfast. I honestly can't describe how amazing the great wall is. We hiked the wall for three hours. It was so incredible and surreal to be there. I took tons of pictures and videos. They feed us a late lunch buffet and we drove again for the hours back. We went back to the apartment. Brian and Celia had just came back that day from a trip to Tibet. They got us these grass bracelets that look like twigs and it only grows in Tibet. We then went to a Tibetan restaurant and dinner show. We ate yak. It was really good. The show was so good. We got white scarves and we got to go and like throw them a certain way and then place them around the necks of our favorite singer. At the end we joined in on a dance around the restaurant with the performers. We got videos of it all. We then walked past a bunch of embassies on our way to see the worlds biggest TV screen. So awesome! Then we went to the tallest building in Beijing, second largest in China. (the largest is in Shanghai). It was an amazing few of the city at night.

Saturday we went to the temple of heaven. It was really cool and huge. Then Celia took us to the cheapest place to get stuff. She had hook ups and we bought things for Pennies! It was incredible! We went back to see if we could fit everything in our suitcases. Brian and Celia and so wonderful! So welcoming and fun! I don't know how we are going to repay them either.

We got onto the long train back to Ningbo. Trying to sleep on a 15 and a half hour train ride in a seat that doesn't recline is awful. I slept for maybe there hours total. We got back to Ningbo and took the bus home. I unpacked everything and repacked all the presents and feel asleep at 1pm. Sarah just woke me up. It's 7pm. She wants me to be able to sleep at night and not Utah time. It's kinda weird being back. It's our home away from home. The trip felt short but good. It was an incredible experience. I think my luggage home is going to be much lighter then coming here which well be very nice. Can't wait to talk face to face!

Love you and miss you!
Brittany

Just a boring week

Nothing really happened this past week. We taught our classes like normal. I write a budget for out up coming trip to Nanjing and Beijing. Its been cold this week. So we mostly a stayed indoors. Friday after we taught Sarah and I literally stayed in our room for almost the rest of the day. It was raining and windy and so cold outside. Miserable weather. I read and wrote. We both took naps. We made cookies out of a cookie mix using the microwave. Those actually turned out to be good.
We bought our train ticket to Nanjing on Saturday. We will be starting with members while we are there and going to the Nanjing branch for church. I'm excited for a normal three hour church! I'm so excited for this trip! Tony, I don't think I told you that we are going to be in Beijing at the same time as the young ambassadors which means I'll get to see Cayel.
I was talking with a couple of the girls here last night about how weird it was to be half way done. We have all finally found our groove here and we've gotten used to the "China way of things" that it will be weird going home. I almost wish I could stay longer but at the same time I miss everyone back home and I miss some American things as well. I am really going to muss my kids. I don't know how I'm going to leave them.
What's happening in America is awful. Too many shootings, bombs, and whatnot. All we have in China right now is the bird fly and dead, diseased pigs in the rivers. Ha ha
Life is good! The church is true! I actually love my wood bed with the little padding on top! Washer is fixed! Love you and miss you!

Conference and Birthdays! Two amazing things!

So I finally finished watching conference on Friday.  I had to give a talk on my favorite conference talk yesterday.  I decided to combine two of the talks.  One was Elder Cook's talk from Saturday afternoon and the other was President Uchtdolf's talk on Sunday morning.  They were both mostly about finding peace and God's light in difficult times.  I loved them!  Of course I loved Elder Holland's talk too! All the talks were so good!

Monday was normal.  Just hanging out and teaching.  Tuesday night Sarah and I had a roommate date.  We went out to Tianyi and shopped and it was fun.  Wednesday after we taught Sarah, Sasha and I went into town and shopped some more and had dinner.  Thursday is still our long teaching day so all we did was teach and nap.  Friday we taught in the morning and while we were teaching a bunch of Chinese teachers and parents and kids from other schools came and like bombarded our classes.  They just stared and watched us teach.  It was intimidating and crazy.  We all hung out and chilled till dinner time and we went to Babelas.  Saturday was my birthday!  I got sung to several times in the morning.  We went to lunch at the Irish pub in Lai Wei Tan.  Everything in Lai Wei Tan is for foreigners.  All the restaurants and shops and spas are mostly European and owned by Europeans.  We ate burgers and fries and it was so delicious! We were eating outside in this courtyard area and another group of all guys were there too.  It turns out that they were celebrating a birthday too.  They are all on the football (soccer) team at the Nottingham college in Ningbo.  They were all from different countries.  France, England, Italy, Brazil, Guatemala, and two from Russia.  After lunch we went shopping again.  We really like shopping.  We came back home and took showers since we only have certain times when we have hot water.  On the weekends its at 7pm, which is annoying.  I got a call from one of the other foreign teachers at our school, Silvia, and she told me to come down to the PYP building for a surprise.  I went down and they had made homemade pizza and made me my own for my birthday!  It was so sweet of them.  We went to their apartments a little while later and had ice cream and strawberries.  It was a good birthday!  I can't believe how old I am! Sunday I spoke in church and after church.  Silvia (who had come to our meeting just to hear me speak.  She isn't a member) took me to where she gets her hair cut and they washed, trimmed, and styled my hair for only 10 yuan!  So amazing.  Interesting thing about China, only men do hair here.  There are only men hairstylists.  That's not true I have seen one women.  But they men here are obessed with their hair.  The women will either have it down, in a bob, or in a ponytail.  The men go crazy and worry about their hair.  It's rather funny.  That's really everything that's going on.

The church is true!  Life is great! Love you!

Disney Moments in China

I've had a few Disney moments today. One while I was looking at the river. The rivers are green and it reminded me of the rivers of America. It also smelled like it. Kinda weird but fun. Another was while we were on the bus. We were sitting at the back which is elevated. Riding a bus in China is like riding Indiana Jones. Lots of bumps, drops, and sudden stops. But no safety straps. Ha ha those are my Disney moments.

Okay so I know this is late

Okay so I know this is late.
Last week not a lot happened till the weekend. Monday to Thursday we pretty much just hang out at the school or taught. The kids had an day day school week because if the holiday this week. On Friday we have our short teaching day. Friday we went out. Saturday I went out with some of the other foreign teachers to a sports store called decathlon and we went to dinner. After dinner Erica met us and we went to one if the Catholic churches to go to the Easter processional and night mass. It was pretty cool but all in Chinese. We got up early the next morning to all go to Easter mass. It was good. All about Christ saving us by resurrection and how we don't need to fear death etc. We went to an Irish pub after for lunch. They had hamburgers, pizza, Irish foods like bangers and mash, ice cream. It was so good! We had regular sacrament meeting after that. It was really good! Easter is awesome! The church is true!
Monday we had a Friday scheduling of class so we taught early. We did an Easter egg scavenger hunt. It was way fun!
We went to a shopping area that's super cheap by Tianyi. Afterwards we went to our favorite cheap noodle place that's like 5 minutes from the school. Its so so so very good! Tuesday we got up and left at 9 to go to the train station. We took the train to Hangzhou. Hangzhou is so beautiful! Its the home of the west lake. Its breath taking. Its both industrial and it has beautiful nature. We went to Indian food for dinner. It was good. The hostel was way nice! Wednesday we went to this gorgeous park. It had grass and tulips and bridges and rivers and ponds. So gorgeous! We went to a outdoor shopping center and because ours a huge holiday there were more stands with things to buy. It was so crowded and so fun! We had to be back at the hostel at 3:30 to check out and go to the bus station. The bus took us to Huangshan. We got there late and took some taxis to the hostel. It was not as nice as the one in Hangzhou. Its a cheap hostel. Thursday morning we got up and pushed out way onto a taxi bus to go to the actual yellow mountain. We had to take another bus to the entrance. We decided to take a carriage lift up to almost the top because of time. It was so awesome being in the clouds and fog. We hike around got a couple of hours, going to different peaks. They don't have ramps, holds, or trails; its all stairs. Don't worry I took tons of pictures on my camera. We hiked down instead of taking the lift and wow is that a workout! I really don't like stairs now. But we did get to see some monkeys and like always everyone wants our picture and to be in pictures with us. I'm actually starting to like it. Ha ha We got home from the mountain and had dinner. My feet killed! We all took turns taking a shower and went to bed. Friday we slept in and got fruit for breakfast. The of the girls decided to go back to Ningbo instead of going to Hangzhou. We went to a place called ancient street. Its a super old street that's been there since the qing dynasty (960ad). Tons of food and shopping. 6 of us met up with 5 guys that Erica met the day before and we went to dinner and to ktv (private room karaoke). Ktv is awesome, I had done it earlier with or group and it was way fun! We went back to our hostel. Sorry I forgot to take pictures. We got up in the morning and went to the bus station to go to Hangzhou. When we got to Hangzhou it was windy. We took taxis across town to the railway station and got tickets to go home to Ningbo. They only had tickets for 8 and so we split into groups. Some went to the lake, we went to the huge street market, and some went to the museum. I had McDonalds again. The meat and fries are not as greasy as back home. The fries don't have salt either. We met back at the train station at 7. We got onto the train and headed home.

P.S. The Church is True! -Shanghai Adventure

Sunday we went to dinner and afterwards when we were outside it was so warm and humid and it was sprinkling.  It felt so good!  It felt like night time in Florida.  I loved it so much!  Monday we have our Chinese class at 8:50am.  Sarah and I did not want to get up.  Class was good.  We learned how to say directions and how to ask for directions.  It was a helpful class for us.  We had a mini meeting about our upcoming trip to Shanghai.  It is to a district conference and some tours of different parts of the city.  I am so excited!  We are split between members houses for the weekend up there so we had to coordinate and stuff.  I have class at 1-3 with my basic reading class.  We have set up a routine for the week and it was the first day we were trying it.  It went pretty well for the first day.  Right after we have a kindergarden class for an hour.  They are still crazy but they are starting to understand out routine and more of them are speaking more English and less Chinese.  Monday night Sarah, Jessica, and I went to Wanda.  Wanda is a nice mall.  Underneath is a supermarket and there is an imax and ktv.  The top floor is all restaurants.  We went to a stationary and journal store.  Sarah had seen these super cute ear buds there and had to buy them.  Then we went down to Tesco, the supermarket, and bought some stuff we needed for the apartment.

Tuesday we didn't have anything till our meeting at noon but for some reason we got up at 7:30am.  The classes are the same as on Monday.  In the middle of our classes a thunderstorm started.  The thunder scared some of the students.  This was not normal thunder, it was awesome!  It shook our rooms and lasted forever.  So cool!  It started pouring just before went to dinner after class.  It didn't last very long.  Around 7pm a couple of us went on a walk/talk around the track at the school.  It was so nice.  I miss the walks I go on with people.  At 12:37am (according to Sarah) the loudest crack sound of thunder sounded.  It woke everyone up. That is when we noticed it was pouring.  The lightning was incredible.  It was like day time, that is how much lightning there was.  We had several strike around us. So super close.  You know when people describe thunder as rolling?  Ya I totally know what that means and sounds like now.  One thunder clap would go like 5 minutes.  So crazy fun to watch. I was talking to Sarah about the thunder. I don't remember anything about that. Apparently if you want me to talk in my sleep talk about thunder.  

Wednesday we have early classes.  The basic reading class is at 8am and kindergarden at 10.  It felt like the longest 3 hours ever.  It was windy and cloudy and rainy all day.  It doesn't get lighter, it looks dark all the time when we have this kind of weather.  It sucks.  

Thursday was kinda stressfull.  We were getting everything clean and ready for Casey.  Friday morning we got up and had our classes.  Casey watched and it went really well.  We had another nice lunch at the school which was delicious! Although you would have to like fish.  We had our interviews after and that was nice and short.  Casey is really easy to talk to. A couple of us went to the store and the bank to get last minute things for Shanghai.  When we got back we went to show Casey the area.  We got some more dvds.  I got Oz and Cirque du Solai.  We went to Lai Wei Tan to the Turkish restaurant and it was still so delicious.  When we got back we had a group meeting kind of thing with Casey and he gave us Reeses!  We packed and planned and mapped out Shanghai so that we would be ready.  

I went to sleep at 1am and got up at 4:30am.  Ya a nice 3 and a half hour nap.  The school had a van to take us to the bus station.    We waited for like 20 minutes for the bus.  It was assigned seating.  I sat next to this nice Chinese girl.  We didn't really talk, mostly just tried to sleep.  When we got to Shanghai we took Metro line 3. (Metro=Subway) to meet with line 2 so we could go to the members apartment that we were staying with.  It was pretty easy to find and the Griffiths have a nice big apartment.  We had our own room with nice beds and a bathroom with a shower that has hot water all the time!  Hot water is a blessing, especially when you get it all the time!  We went to Peoples Square, to peoples park.  It was so pretty and nice.  We met up with Brother and Sister Lindsey and they took us to East Nanging Road which is a major famous road in downtown Shanghai.  It was amazing.  Huge shopping centers and tall buildings.  So awesome!  They took us on the metro to the Science and Technology stop with has this huge underground cheap shopping area.  You haggle prices.  They always started with the most ridiculous prices.  This one lady wanted 188 yuan for a pair of fake Toms and they were so cheaply made. I told her no in Chinese and walked away and she tried to grab me and she said she would do 100 yuan.  At this point Brother Lindsey told her that it wasn't worth more than 20-25 yuan and she yelled at him and threw him out of her shop.  It was so funny.  But I did get some good deals on a scarf and a Buddha necklace.  Talked them down and it was great!  

We went to the Young Da tower for the adult session of District Conference.  It was such a great session!  I felt the spirit so much!  The district members here are incredible.  It is amazing to be in a country where we can't share anything and stay so strong.  If anything it makes it want to be stronger in the gospel.  Everyone is very close knit and wants to help everyone out as much as they can.  Lots of members told us we could stay with them anytime we want to come to Shanghai.  After the adult session all the YSA members went on a tour of the Bund which was awesome! I met so many fantastic people my age. They are here for all sorts of reasons; school, teaching, internships, work.  It is incredible.  It was rainy but it was still nice.  We went on a ferry and saw parks and shops and it was so beautiful.  Shanghai is one of the most beautiful cities I have seen, not really clean but still. We took the metro back to the Griffiths around 9.  We got up on Sunday for the general session and the ysa session.  Sister Griffith drove us which took us about 30 minutes instead of the hour metro.  I sat next to this mom and her three young kids during the general session.  I helped her keep the kids entertained and quiet for the two hour session.  Her husband couldn't come.  After the session the sisters had prepared all this food for the YSA members.  The YSA members were the largest group there.  The food was so good!!!  We had the YSA session after.  We had one speaker.  He used to be the District president for the Jerusalem District.  His talk was mostly on living the gospel in countries were you can't share anything with non members or members who are native to the country.  It was powerful.  He talked about being examples and being kind.  I loved all the sessions so much.  This gospel is so amazing!  I am so glad that I am a member and that I have my own testimony of its truth.  I can't imagine not having it in my life.  I am not just a member of a church, this church, this gospel is my life, is me.  Without this gospel I wouldn't be me.  

Afterwards we went to the underground shopping area for an hour and took the metro back to the train/bus station and came back to Ningbo.  It was too short of trip.  We have a week of teaching and then on Tuesday we have a 6 day vacation.  We are going to a bunch of close places.  At the end of April we are going to Beijing, Xi'an, and another day in Shanghai.  It's a 9 day trip.  

I am getting used to being here.  Things that were strange are becoming normal.  I love the people and the culture. I am definitely glad I decided to come here.  It has been a blessing and a test.  I love it!  Plus I'm picking up a lot of Mandarin!  

I love you and miss you so much!

Crazy Week!

This week was another busy week.  Monday we had classes and went out to dinner.  Tuesday we just had a long class day.  The kids are crazy.  Wednesday we have class really early so we have a nice long day to do things.  Sasha and I went down to Tianyi and looked around and got lunch and stuff.  That was a lot of fun.  Later we went back with everyone and found a dvd shop and bought some dvds. I got The Hobbit, the new Spiderman, Wreck it Ralph, and the second Sherlock homes. I am going back and getting Les Miserables.  I'm so excited! Thursday we had a very long teaching day.  Friday we have class early again.  We hung out our apartment.  Later we took Isha (the Chinese girl we met) to a Turkish restaurant in Lai Wei Tan.  It's so delicious!  I love it so much.  She liked it too.  We hung around Tianyi after and went into some stores.  We got home at like 10 and stayed up talking for a bit and then crashed.  Saturday was my lazy day.  I did go to an out door market in the middle of the day and bought some fruit and some street food.  I literally stayed in the rest of the night.  I really needed a me night.  Today is Sunday and right now I am writing you.  I skyped with mom, dad, grandma, grandpa, and Neals family all at once.  That was exciting and fun! We have church at one and later Erica and I are going to go out to dinner.  They kinda serve us meals on weekends at the school, but they are mostly gross.  This week Casey (an ILP head guy) is coming to watch us and interview us, kinda nervous.  But on Saturday we are heading to Shanghai for a District Conference.  I am excited for that!  We get to have tour groups and I'm excited to be with a ton of members and stuff!

Have I Really Only Been Here For Two Weeks?

Okay so I think I'm just going to just send you my blog entries for you guys to put up.

This week was a really long.  It was the first full week of teaching.  We have a strange schedule.  Monday and Tuesday we teach from 1:15pm-4:25pm.  Wednesday we teach from 8:00am-10:55am.  Thursday is a very long day.  We have a at 10:30am-11:00am, 4:00pm-4:40pm, and 5:50pm-7:40pm.  Friday we teach 8:50am-11:10am.  We also have a Chinese class for us at 8:50am-9:30am on Mondays.

Monday night we had a special dinner.  It was so super nice.  I put up pictures up on Instagram and I hope my mom is sharing those to Facebook.    

Wednesday we went out to a Mexican restaurant in Lai Wei Tan, which is close to Tianyi Square.  It was good.  We took a taxi back which took like half the time of the bus.  It was nice. 

Thursday was so super busy.  Friday we have school early and the rest of the day we spent time in the sun.  We went to book city and by Tianyi.  It was a decent walk.  This city is so huge!  We have only seen such a small part of it.  We went to a Turkish restaurant which was so delicious!  Afterwards we got on a bus to go back.  They had taken it the night before and we quickly found out that it was a different route this time and we went way off course.  So we had to walk down a long street and take a bus towards a more busy street and flag down a taxi to get us back to the school.  It was an adventure and we were so tired.  

Yesterday a bunch of people went on a hike.  I didn't.  A couple of we went out and went shopping.  We went to eat again in Tianyi.  

Life is weird here but I love it.

Americans need WiFi

Today is Tuesday. Yesterday we didn’t really do anything. I watched tv on my laptop and Sarah and I watched youtube and youku videos. Youku is the asian version of youtube and we get American stuff too. It’s nice. We also went to the market. Boring day.

Today we woke up at 7 and it was pouring. Between breakfast and lunch we hung out in the apartment. After lunch Sarah and I cleaned and reorganized our room and then all of us went down to our office. We planned the first lesson and pulled out all of our supplies. We stopped for dinner and then went back to the office. We organized and cleaned the office. We have so many supplies. But now its way more organized and it feels way better then it did today.

We found out that some maintainance men messed up one of our hallways plugs. So we didn’t have filtered water, lights in the shower room and WIFI. We fixed everything but the WIFI so when you read this it’s because we have WIFI again. So Sarah and finished our cleaning and now we are hanging out till shower time. We only have hot water between 5-6pm, 8-8:30pm, and 8:50-9:20pm. So ya.

The kids are here now and it’s fun to see them. They all yell TEACHER! TEACHER! all the time. They older ones sometimes will come up and say hi and we will ask them their names and stuff. They are so cute! I can’t wait to teach them. I’m also nervous cause we are just starting.

I really want to explain as much as I can for future students here. Because we got a lot of misinformation before we came.

Well I can’t think anything else to tell everyone.
Love ya’ll

Okay so now its Wednesday. We still don’t have WIFI in the apartment. Apparently someone came in and messed up our connection like the actual cords. No one knows who did it. So they said it will be fixed as soon as possible which means it could be today or next week. At least we get WIFI in the office. Its so cold in there though.

We met our kids today and they are so cute. I am teaching basic reading with 8-9 year olds, regular ilp class with kindergarden age kids, and an ele class and I don’t know there ages yet. Pretty much its like 4 hours a day. They kids are so funny and cute! I can tell who will be troublesome and who is more shy. Planning the lessons is kinda hard, especially with basic reading because we don’t have any books or lesson examples or anything, plus we don’t know how much they know. It will be trial and error the first week. I think the kids will have fun though no matter what.

The kids get so excited to see us. They will yell Teacher! Teacher! and will crowd around us and hugs us and high five us and one came me candy. They love us and they haven’t really met us. It’s really cool. But its also because they miss their families and from experiences from past teachers they know that we will love them and love being around them so they are not as sad. The older kids, like the high schoool age kids, are interesting. I feel like they look eay older then they are. The little ones look super young and the high school age looks way older. Its so strange. They just stare at us.

Today is now Friday. The WIFI is still broken in our apartment. We can use the WIFI in the office but its pouring and freezing outside. We like staying in our rooms.

Yesterday was the first day we actually taught. I am in the basic reading group and so we didn’t teach until 4pm. We spent most of the day preparing and making things that we would need. It was so nice and sunny yesterday. It was the first time we saw blue sky. It was realivitly warm and it felt so good. Too bad we had to spend most of the preparing. We had an ELE class first. Which is where we go to a classroom with older kids, around 12 years old, and talk to them and help them with their English. When I got to the classroom the teacher that was there waved at me and left. I know scary right. I stood in front of the kids and had them each stand up and tell me their name. They asked me some questions and then we played some word games and at the end we played Down by the banks. If you guys don’t know or remember that game, its the one were you sit or stand in a circle and have your hands palm up on the other kids hands and you go and slap the hands in a circle while sing a little song and the one who gets is slapped last is out.

Next we had our basic reading class. It is about two hours and we are teaching 8-9 year olds. They are quite a handful. We start out all together and talk about the weather and the dates and sing songs and then we move into groups and go to individual classrooms. We then play word games and make crafts and stuff. I have never felt so exhausted in my life.

Today we woke up and had another ELE class at 8:50. This one was a group of younger kids, the same age as my basic reading. Sasha and I took one classroom together and it had 35 kids. It was chaotic, but kind of fun. They almost behaved as well as they do when there is a Chinese teacher in the room, but I don’t think they will ever give us that respect while we are here. (It’s not really respect as much as it is fear ha ha) We had our basic reading group again right after ELE and it was only and hour and a half this time which I think is better because they have such short attention spans.

We are just chilling in our rooms now. It’s almost 2pm. Sarah is taking a nap right now. We just feel tired all the time. I also have gained a cough. I hate coughing. Hopefully it will go away soon and hopefully the rain will too.