Been to Wuhan, Leaving Hangzhou, Bound for Shanghai...

December 23rd Matt, Shea, Gabe, Sarah, and I headed out of Peter Hall with nothing but a few train tickets and a backpack. Knowing that I would not see Xinzheng for 2 months was odd. This town has been my home for 4 months and here we are taking off for half of that time. Our first stop was Wuhan which we immediately nicknamed "BUhan" (bu in Chinese means "not") Needless to say the town wasn't very exciting. We spent Christmas there and thankfully the hostel we stayed at was awesome. They people were really friendly and the place was warm and eclectic. We had a mixed dorm (aka 3 sets of bunk beds in a room... there are 5 of us... so then we get one extra roommate) for this hostel our extra roommate was one of the Chinese guys that worked there named David. He was awesome and spoke very good English. On Christmas Eve he played "Silent Night" for us on his guitar and we all sang along before we fell asleep in our beds. Christmas came and went... but it never really felt like Christmas. On the night of the 26th we boarded an over night train to Hangzhou (where we currently are). This town has mountains and lots of trees. This town is definitely not like the China that I have known for the past 4 months. This evening we head on a train to Shanghai. We are having lots of fun so far and I am really enjoying seeing other parts of China. This country is awesome!

Beijing, Birthday, and Beyond...

Beijing was amazing. We (Gabe, Sarah, Shea, Matt & I) took an overnight train to get there on Wednesday and arrived promptly just before sunrise in Beijing on thanksgiving day. We took a sleeper train where there are 2 sets of bunk beds stacked 3 high in a tiny little room. Even though we purchased our tickets together we still managed to end up in different rooms. All of us on the 3rd top bunk of course. I think it's the ideal way to travel personally. Fall asleep and then next thing you know you're there. We spent the next 3 days in Beijing with the main focus of eating "western style food" (aka Mexican, Starbucks, TGI Fridays, Coldstone, Starbucks, & Pizza). On Thanksgiving day we found the camera I wanted. If you only knew what kind of miracle that was to find something specific like that in China than you would be inspired. On Friday we went to see the Great Wall. Not without an adventure of course. We decided to do it the "cheap" way and not take a tour group. Thus we attempted to find the 919 bus to get there. But alas we were too late to take the bus that day and ended up paying this guy to drive us there in his car. But we made it... to the glorious great wall. It was so much more impressive in person, it really is quite incredible.

Last Saturday was my 24th birthday. My friends blindfolded me and took me to a "fast food" restaurant downtown on Friday night to celebrate my birthday. We split a chicken sandwich 5 ways and then they took me to the REAL place they had intended to take me to eat. Shea (the baker of Peter Hall) made me a chocolate cake with bright yellow frosting :) The next day on my actual birthday we took the bus to the closest big town. We hung out in the city all day and went dancing that night.

Finals are FINALLY over. My grades are also turned in. I am officially done with my first semester of teaching. For my twice a week classes Gabe and I combined (because she teaches the other half of that major) on the last day of class and had a party. It was fun to watch all of our students intermingle and play games. I gave all 150 of my students a card with a picture of our class on it and a personalized message on the back for each one. It took me many hours to write each one of them a personal encouragement, but I think it was totally worth it and emant a lot to them. I hope to get the same classes of students next semester, but some tachers will end up with a new group of students after break.

Monday we (once again... Matt, Shea, Gabe, & the other Sarah) are leaving on winter break. We will be gone for 2 months. All we are taking with us is a backpack. We are going to travel around China for 17 days and then meet up with some of Shea's friends from the States in Shanghai for the New Year. January 10th we will make our way to Macao and then fly to Thailand where we will stay for the next 3 weeks or so. This is the tentative schedule as of right now. But it seems like we are always changing our minds about things. I am excited to get away from the "usual" and explore some more of this amazing world we live in. I will try to update you as often as I can. I apologize for not updating in awhile. I hope everyone has a great Christmas and a wonderful new year!