It's been awhile hasn't it? So much has happened and I've learned so much!
Gosh, I don't know where to start.
Hmmm.....
The best part so far has been in
Juizhaigou and Chengdu. With an awesome woman named Susan as our guide. She is such a friendly person who can speak excellent
english. She normally doesn't do tours but she and Sue(the lady who organized the whole trip) are great friends. Kelly and I
immediately became friends with her. She was very organized and
flexable. By far the best guide we've had. She works for herself as a travel agent, arranging hotels and things for tourists. Because of that she had a lot of connections and everyone new her so we were able to get away with things other groups wouldn't. She's also really funny. Goofy. I like goofy. I also miss goofy a little. There's no Alexa here in China to laugh at my morning hair and point out how my nose sticks out.
Haha! That's the kinda thing I miss away from home. I'm glad my cousin Kelly was able to come along....she laughs at my
gooniness.
While on the road Susan would tell us
alot about Chinese history and traditions and so forth. Some of the beliefs the Chinese have, to me, are absolutely
absurd. The
chinese are very superstitious. 8 is a good luck number. Crows are bad luck. Lots of of superstition. They're also very proud of hosting the 2008 Olympics. It's
everywhere on signs and
souvenirs.
She taught me and Kelly some Chinese and I have them all written down.
Neehaw means Hi.
Zow means Good morning. May
nwie means pretty girl.
Shuai ga means handsome boy. After learning those we were able to understand what a lot of
chinese were saying as they stood looking at us. Kelly's
blond hair sticks out here because nearly everyone here has black hair. At a silk factory we visited, a chinese girl, who worked there, told me in english that her friend wanted her to tell me that she thought I was "very cool". I said thank you(which is Shayshay in chinese) and grinned. I was wearing my leather jacket. Go figure. :)
People would randomly come up to Kelly and I and want to have their picture taken with us. One lady came up to grandma and asked her how old she was. That made grandma laugh. Grandma told the lady her age and the lady said she was very young and beautiful. Beautiful in Chinese is
peeow liang.
I think Susan is a christian. And she has some christian friends that get together. I gave her my bible because the one she had was hard to read in english......probably a king james. It was wonderful to find out that she was a Christian, especially after hearing all the strange beliefs Chinese have. For awhile I thought she actually believed the strange things she was telling us about. Haha!
I showed her a picture of my family and she thought Caleb was so cute. And that Alexa was very pretty. She also laughed when she saw Boone. He's soo fat. Whenever I see one of those fat laughing Buddha statues here, I think of my nephew Boone. I wonder if Boone has gotten any bigger since I left America.
Every once in a while I think about home. You can't really call it homesickness, it's more like people sickness. I miss seeing everyone. Heck, I could take one of Tait's Pillsbury Doughboys just to be with people I know.
I could also use one of those Carl's Jr spicy burgers... oh yeah! Haha!
Guess what, when Chinese serve fish they serve the whole thing. Eyes, head, fins, tail, everything. Same with shrimp. And clam. At least they cook it. :) I've had enough chinese food to last me through purgatory. Haha! It's not all that bad, though. They serve beef and rice and food that fills.
Here in China we get to bargain. Mwahaha! It's really fun! Just today I bought 2 hats that were priced 40 yuan. I bargained with the seller and paid 30. :)
There are a lot of street sellers here that come up to us and try and get us to buy things. It gets tiring after awhile. Especially when they don't take no for an answer......but that's how they make their living.
A lot of the street sellers have bad teeth. We americans are blessed with dentists and so forth. Almost all the chinese smoke. And their allowed to do it almost anywhere. Their cigarettes have a different smell then American's. It's a blacker, deeper, stronger smell that makes me cough. Some of them also chew a reddish tobacco or something that stains their teeth and gums a little red. Yuck. :)
I brought 4 or 5 (can't remember) bibles and only have one left. I've been leaving them in hotels and gave Susan one. I'm glad I was able to bring them. I also brought a Rascal Flatts cd that I gave to Susan. She likes american music. She bought me a really nice coat. You should see it sometime.
Susan said that she's goin to look at my blog sometime and post a comment. About how clumsy I was. Haha!!
Well, that is just a sliver of what's happening here. See ya later!
Creighton rockin' out on the church drums.
The ride home was pretty wild, as you can see.
We stopped for pizza on the way home. It was really good! We also went for a walk there in Jefferson city.
My polite brother. Rather discreet I might add. :)
Dylan the Dude!
The Nerd of the Debaters
Tait. I love his hat!!! I am going to get a fancy hat like his to wear everywhere. Yup!
Tessa the terrific timer.
Taking a break, on the way up.
Jammin'.
Debater Jachin.
