Monday, July 28, 2014

School, a day trip, and food

Ni-hao, everyone! This week we've been busy teaching, exploring, and diving into this Asian lifestyle. Here are some pics!
 
Our School


Our first day - on the way to school
Clara, me, and Kelita

Ally (my roommate) and I

Our Kindergarten

A playground at the school

Lunch! (We always eat with chopsticks)

Soy sauce! (just for you, Brian)
 
Inside the school



The Guangzhou Zoo
 
On Saturday all 11 of us girls (the Shiqi & Changsha group) took a trip to our neighboring city, Guangzhou, to go to the zoo. It took two buses, a 30-minute train, and metro ride to get there! But we found our way.
 
Right after we entered the zoo, loud thunder cracked through the sky--making all of us jump a foot into the air! It was the loudest thunder I've ever heard! Then, in just a few seconds, it started down-pouring. Most of us had umbrellas, but we ran to cover under a tunnel. Lots of other Chinese people were taking cover there to. And during the two minutes we were standing there, 3 different Chinese kids squatted down and went pee. Right there on the sidewalk in front of everyone. That was a moment when I thought, "Yup! I'm really in China."
 
The zoo was beautiful

Lots of people!

 

 The pictures below are hilarious to me. It is a section of the zoo called "Goldfish Garden." It's pools of goldfish that you can either fish or literally jump in the ponds and try to catch. There were half-naked Chinese kids swimming and running around these goldfish-infested ponds, trying to catch their own pet to bring home. There was also dead fish all over the sidewalks. Mmm, so sanitary!
 
Let's strip and do this thang!

 Fishing for goldfish
 
Ally decided to try it!
 
My first squatter

My first camel ride 
 
Food!
After the zoo, we walked the streets of Guangzhou for a bit, then decided to eat dinner at a place called "Hong Kong Cuisine." My meal was 40 Yuan, or $7.

 

We think this was brain?
Another girl and I were courageous enough to eat it.
It was chewy and tasted like mushroom.

My dinner: Pasta with seafood

My first time eating Octopus
 
 
All in all, it was a good day--but it was exhausting! We left at 7am and got back after 11pm. It was nice for us to get out not only to become more oriented with the buses & trains, but also to have a break!
 
Today (Monday) we jumped right back into teaching, and I evaluated all of the girls. We also had our first Chinese language class after school. In class we went over different tones in the Chinese language. It's crazy!
 
As far as church goes, we've just been having our own meetings in our apartment. The commute to the ward here is a little out of the way, and we are still trying to figure out Church Skype. Hopefully things will be up and running with that soon!
 
That's all for now! Hope everyone is doing well.
 
Sending love from China,
Maegan
 

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