A long adventurous weekend.

I have returned from Yuxi and it really was a great weekend!! There were 9 middle school girls and 5 adults. I must say it was rather strange to be on the "chaperone" side of things. I'm so used to being on the kids side but it was rather fun being one of the adults :) And it was very different than chasing 5 year olds around the classroom!

The reason why we went is because there is a teacher who used to work at KIA who started an English school in the village of Er Shan and she wanted to us to come and host an Easter Party for her students. SO that is what we did on Saturday. Friday, we left right after school at 4 on a charter bus. We got stuck in a traffic jam for about an hour and a half so our journey was prolonged and we didn't get to eat dinner until I think 8 or 9 o'clock. Food all weekend was SO good. All typical/traditional Chinese dishes but I loved them all. Friday night we ate at a restaurant and they served us family style. All the food goes on a big lazy Susan so you just spin it until you get what you want. I have a confession to make up.. I ate chicken feet this night. I was so curious and everyone thought it was so funny because I had never seen cooked chicken feet before. I took one bite and that was plenty for me! We got to the hotel and let's just say that American standards are quite different than Chinese standards. There was a cockroach in our bathroom, no shower curtain on the shower and the bed was like a cement block.

Saturday morning we woke up and ate breakfast (meals were in the hotel from this point on- they cooked for us). Rice noodles are what Chinese typically eat for breakfast so that is what we had along with warm sweet soy milk and hard boiled eggs. The milk was my FAVORITE. It was so yummy. We then hiked up a path on the mountain so I got to see a beautiful view of the village and all the farmlands. I also got to know Vivian (an assistant in my classroom) better during this time because she shared her story with me :) She is a beautiful person and I'm so glad we got to talk. After this we walked through town a little bit and as you can guess, all the villagers stared at us because they don't ever see foreigners. Lunch was so good. I'm serious, I could live on Chinese food forever. After lunch we had to get ready for the party- there were 5 stations that kids rotated to- making gods eyes, Easter egg hunt, piñata hitting, water game and an English game. They put me helping with the craft and if you know anything about me, you know how perfect that is. It was really difficult for me to communicate with the students because all of them speak Chinese and barely English. So it was quite interesting to see us try and give directions...

The rest of the day, the girls were allowed to have fun. We went swimming in a hot springs pool and then went to a karaoke room and had a dance party. I didn't have a bathing suit but I wore shorts and a tshirt. It was totally worth it. I CRASHED that night because it was such a long day! We woke up Sunday morning, packed up, ate breakfast and went into the center of the town where the Girl Scout leader gave the girls a photo And shopping scavenger hunt. They had a lot of fun :) and then we ate lunch and left for our journey home.

It truly was a great weekend and its crazy that I gotta get up and go to school tomorrow morning! Another week is about to begin and I think I am ready for it... hehe. Thank you all for your continued prayers :) Can't wait to see all the people I love in just 20 days!

Things I've learned:
17. Little boys swim butt naked in pools in China.
18. All parts of an animal are edible.
19. Cooked plain pumpkin is DELICIOUS.