Goodbyes.

Thursday night was the best and worst night of my life. For those of you that know me well... I rarely get emotional. But as time was drawing nearer for me to leave China I felt like everything was at the surface. I love these people so much. These kids... they are MY kids. They are my babies and I know and love each and every single one of them. Its hard to imagine a time where I don't get to see them every day and talk with them and laugh with them. I also have made many friends here in China that I am finding all to hard to leave. Not only because they are my friends but also because they have taught me so much. The people here are such a great example to me of the person I want to be. They are friendly and giving and thoughtful. They always always always help you to the fullest of their abilities and even beyond! I feel like I am constantly learning from them. I am afraid that if I leave this place... that learning will stop. And I never want that to happen. 

But whether I liked it or not Thursday finally snuck up on us. We scheduled times to see some of our close friend and have a final goodbye. Although I am not a fan of goodbye's... I felt at peace. I love these people and get such a warm feeling around them and I know, with a perfect knowledge, that I will never forget them. As long as I can still recall their face in my mind, I know that everything will be alright. One of my favorite goodbyes was saying goodbye to our good friend Jude. We had given him his English name and he has been so kind to us. He gives us chinese music lessons and has just been sooo sooooo soooo great to us. Anyways... Natalie figured out how to play, "Hey Jude," on the piano and we performed it for him. I can't sing to save my life but it was the thought that counts right? It was so funny as soon as we started singing he pulled out his video camera and every time we sang the part "Hey Jude" he would get close to the camera and say..."Thats for me! Thats for me!" Oh I love that man. I will never forget the many beautiful, life-changing people I have met during my time here. They have made me feel things more than I have ever felt in my whole entire life. I wish them the best of luck in the many wonderful things that are to come for them.

Suzhou!

The school gave us a day off this past weekend and we decided to make it into a nice long 4-day vacation. There are 20 teachers in our group and most of them decided to go to the Yellow Mountains and Hangzhou. (Its about a 17 hour train ride) While they were doing this, myself and two other awesome girls (Montana & Natalie) decided to go to Suzhou. It is an ancient water town about two hours south of Changzhou. It has also been called the "Venice" of China. It only cost us 15RMB to get there! Normally our train rides cost around 90-100RMB so it was a steal.
When we arrived at our hostel there was a sign on the gate that said,
"Beware of Tiger!" Now... this could just be the blonde hair talking,
but I will be honest to admit I thought they might have a real pet tiger!
Surprisingly, I was right! There to greet us around the corner was good old "Tiger" the golden retriever. Haha. Oh how I love that dog.
He truly made the place feel like home.

We made soooo many friends at the hostel. Two of our buddies were from Canada. They had just gotten done working at the world expo in Shanghai and were now just using up their visas traveling around China. They had been in Suzhou for a while and showed us a few cool places to go. We rented bikes the first day and just rode around the city exploring and taking pictures.
      One of the coolest things about Suzhou is the cities that are surrounding it. It is surrounded by about 8 ancient water towns. We would wake up in the morning... pay 3 yuan for a 1 hour bus ride and end up in Mudu, Tongli, Luzhi or Zhouzhuang. All of these cities were so pretty. We went hiking, we rode gondolas down the river and we ate TONS of street food!




Amongst all the vacations we have taken,  this one was my favorite. And you want to know why?

The company. These two girls I was traveling with are soooo amazing! They have this zest for life that is so invigorating and contagious. No matter what it was we were doing. If we were lost, if we were hit by a scooter (yes this happened haha), if we just crossed our fingers and hopped on a bus hoping it would take us home... we still had fun! We would stay up late at night and talk with the chinese girls that worked at the hostel. We would spend hours just walking down the streets and meeting new chinese
friends.  There were never any plans to break or rules to follow. We just were.  I love that!  I love not worrying about if we will have time to go  shopping here,
or see this thing there. These girls were sooo good at appreciating the little moments with me. We would stop and play with chinese kids on the street or listen to street performers. It has been hard being here with 20 teachers who all have different interests and a different purpose for being here in China. It made me realize the importance of good friendships. We meet so many people in this life. We need to be searching for those friends that will build you up. Those friends that realize what is truly important in life! This weekend was so amazing. Every single moment.
Coming back to Changzhou always feels like home. I miss my kids when I am away and I am so proud of how much they are learning. Today in class we were talking about "likes" and "dislikes." The kids were all telling me how much they like ice cream, fish, turtle (I know weird right? Oh China...), purple, ninjas. They were naming off all this random stuff that they know in English. Then this one shy little boy raises his hand. His name is Louis. Louis says, "Teacha, I like you Teacher Ashley!" Oh my goodness guys. He just melted my heart. I love my Louis boy. I wanted to just stop class and take Louis home with me. These kids are soooo cute. They can be soo wild and crazy sometimes but I live for those little moments that you get to look into their sweet little eyes. Oh I love my kids!

We had one of the leaders of our program come to observe our teaching a while back. He told me about a position called a, "Head Teaching" position. This   would mean I would stay in China for another six months. It is very tempting.  
              Especially when I have days like these with the kids.
I love them to death. I love China. I love my friends. I love everything!!!!

P.S. Mom, it wasn't me that got hit by a scooter. It was Natalie. And she is fine. Don't worry okay? Haha. China traffic is soooo safe!

Beijing!

Wow. Getting to Beijing was quite the adventure. We were planning to be there for a week, booked our hostel, then went to book our train. Little did we know that it was the Chinese National Holiday and EVERYTHING was already booked. There were no sleeper trains, buses or light rails. NOTHING was available. We thought we were going to have to cancel our trip until miraculously one of the Chinese teachers found us a "sleeper bus" that was leaving from some obscure town about three hours away. So after a light rail trip to get to this town we get to the bus station... and then we see it. The bus. Lets just say... there is a REASON that there were 20 available tickets on this bus. It was most definitely not the "Taj Mahal" of sleeper buses. For example: One of the windows next to the bottom bunks was filled half way up with moldy water. As the bus would come to a stop it would slosh around. It was actually kind of calming after you got used to the smell. We sang a couple verses of, "We all live in a yellow submarine," and then let it lull us to sleep. Haha. Oh you gotta love China!

Twenty eight hours and many bug bites later we arrived in Beijing! There was so much to see and only very little time to see it in. Among the many places we visited were Tienaman Square, The Great Wall, The Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven, The Olympic Stadium, Jade Palace, 798 Art District, the Antique Statue Market and Hao Hai Lake. The 798 art district was SO awesome! The whole neighborhood was just dedicated to art. They had both modern and traditional chinese art featured. A man asked if he could do a sketch of me on the street. It was one of the COOLEST memories of Beijing. I had never done anything like it before. I was sitting there. Staring at this old chinese man as he hurriedly sketches me. My favorite was his smile. I kept not knowing what to do with my face so I swear I moved a hundred times. He kept motioning for me to look him in the eyes. Normally looking straight into a strangers eyes would be slightly uncomfortable. But this man, he just had such warmth and sincerity in his eyes. He was the sweetest man ever! I love him! We listened to some good street music that night too. There is just always SO much going on in Beijing! If any of you ever visit in the future. You need to at least set aside a month. No less!

I could go on for hours about any ONE of the places we visited. They were all amazing experiences with great historical significance. I feel like I learned so much on this trip. But instead... I will just talk about my favorite place. It is called Jiangshan Park and it is right across the street from the Forbidden city. We showed up early in the morning and when we walked in we were surrounded by lush green trees and large pots filled with water lilies.  As we walked throughout the park we found groups of old men and women doing Tai Chi or Chinese traditional dancing. We spent our time enjoying the scenery and walking throughout the park listening to people play the duxianqin. In the center of the park there was a beautiful temple that looked out over the city. We climbed up the steps to get to the top and spent our time up there taking pictures and whatnot. It was GORGEOUS! Those are my favorite moments. The simple ones. The moments where you look out, up, or around and realize... I have never seen anything like this in my life before. Wow. I hope I never forget the things I have seen here. 

To sum it all up... I had a fabulous time in Beijing. But I am happy to be back home in Changzhou. I am glad I had the opportunity to go see all these amazing things. But the longer I stay here, the more I realize the things that I love about China. I don't need to be at some tourist site to see the things I love about China. I love that they do Tai Chi in the streets and that the kids run around with slits in their pants. I love that chinese men are humming everywhere they go. I love the way they drive. I love the way they talk. I love their rotten teeth. I know I sound like a broken record but... I love everything about China! I just do. Its as simple as that. I am continually grateful for this opportunity. It is so humbling and exhilarating all at the same time. So I am happy to be back in Changzhou. Vacation is exhausting and it is nice to be back with my people. Back with my kids that I teach and the friends that I have made here. 

I apologize for not writing so much lately. Things have been crazy busy. But know that I love you all and you are in my thoughts and prayers!

Chinese Disco!

A few nights ago we discovered the most DELICIOUS noodle shop near where we live. Its this little hole in the wall place and they make their own noodles from scratch! The restaurant owner had a little boy who was running around in circles but when we walked in, (four white people), he stopped dead in his tracks. The whole meal he just stood at the edge of our table staring at us. I don't think the kid blinked once! Haha. I feel like a celebrity here. Its hilarious. Anyways afterwards we went looking around town. As we turned the corner we saw big flashing red letters that read, "Disco." So of COARSE we had to go in! It was one of the greatest nights of my life. There was a huge light up dance floor with springs! The place was packed and there was crazy strobe lights and whatnot. All of the American teachers were in the middle of the dance floor. I met lots of new dance buddies and basically just had the time of my life! I love China and the crazy-spontaneous-life-changing things that can happen every moment! 

Kung Fu- 功夫

This morning we had our first Kung fu class. For those of you that said I would fall in love with a Chinese man while I was here... you were right! His American name is John and he is our instructor. I think he is the first tall Chinese man I have seen since our arrival. He only knows how to say a few words in English. After we had begun learning the steps he motioned for us to stop. He said..."No, No," and he pointed to his chest. "You must have quiet heart." I just about died. I am so in love with this man. Haha. But it is so true, sitting in that class watching a bunch of Americans trying to do Kung fu was eye opening. We stomp and we stumble and we have no balance. John got a few laughs out of us but as class went on I really started to get it. I enjoy those moments when you have to focus on your "inner self." (However corny that might sound)  To us, martial arts is just Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan movies. But to them it is the way they live. With a quiet heart. Calm and quiet. I love these people more and more every day guys! I might never come home!  

Street Food

Last night we walked the street market in Changzhou. Its amazing how this place lights up at night. They have isles and isles of people with make-shift grills and thousands of different kinds of meat. Most of the chinese food I have eaten so far has been really bland. Just vegetables, meat and rice. But as I was walking down the isle and smelling all the different smells wafting from the woks. Mmmmm. It smelled so spicy and delicious. Just flip them one yuan and you will have the greatest meal of your entire life! I loved talking with the people and playing the little carnival games they had setup. I won a ceramic cup! Its my favorite and now I eat my secret stash of street fruit from it in the morning. 

It was fun walking amongst the people but my favorite part of the night was at the very end. As we were all getting ready to leave, I had fallen a bit behind. An older man and a woman had a tiny little box setup with only three bushels of grapes on it. The woman plucked one of the grapes off and handed it out towards us. The other two girls I was with were hesitant to try it because the other teachers warned us that we shouldn't drink the water or eat the fruit without washing it with our own water.  Not that its bad. It would just make us sick because we haven't been drinking it our whole lives. I couldn't help myself though, they were so cute, so I ate the grape and it was SO delicious. I used one of the only mandarin words I know and just smiled and kept saying "Hao da, Hao da," which just means, "Good, Good!" They laughed and were soooo happy. Then another lady came running over and she said in broken English, "These are my friends, they say you should come back often. Come to visit. Welcome to changzhou." I asked the lady how much the grapes were in mandarin and she was trying to give them to me for FREE! I still paid her and then she squeezed my hand before I left. As I was walking back to the group I couldn't help but think how happy I was in this exact moment. These people. Oh they just have such big hearts. How they survive with so little and give so much... I do not know. But I am thankful.

Ni Hao!

You know the expression, "It Was A Dream Come True?" Well imagine something, that one thing that you have always hoped for, always dreamed of. Then picture that moment when it came true! Well my friends. My dream has just come true. After far too many hours on a plane and a 9 hour layover in Korea, I am finally in Changzhou, China! We flew into Changzhou and three Chinese teachers picked us up from the airport. Only one spoke any English and his name is "King." He is my new best friend! After loading all our things we took a bus through the outskirts of Shanghai. This is such a beautiful country with so many happy smiling people! When we finally got to the school, we all piled out of the bus. Chinese construction workers started gathering around us staring and smiling at us. Almost like they had never seen a 5 foot 9 blonde girl before! It felt like we stood there for an hour. They all just had to come gather around and see what all the fuss was about. I just kept saying "Ni Hao, Ni Hao" and "Shi Shi" every time they helped me with my bags and then they would lauuuuuuuuuuughhh so hard. Oh it was a crack up. I must not be pronouncing it right...? Haha. Well, I got settled in. I made friends with a few of the old lady construction workers here on campus. The other day they saw my camera and they asked to take a picture with me. (Pointing to the camera and making a clicking noise) As soon as I said yes, the ladies took off their rice hats and started straightening up their hair. They were so cute! They were primping for the picture and oh. I just LOVE THESE PEOPLE! They have such a sense of respect and honor and they are so dedicated to their work and to eachother. I am so grateful for this experience and the things I have been learning. It has only been a few days in the city but I can already feel this place seaping into my heart! I just love Changzhou!

I will post pictures as soon as possible. I have little to no access to the internet. I have to go to a small shady computer lab down the street and the internet cuts out frequently. But know that I am safe and loving the people, the food, the humidity and the mosquitos!

Anticipation!

I have almost everything packed and ready to go. I still can't wrap my head around the idea that in two weeks time I will be walking around on the OTHER SIDE OF THE WORLD! Amazing! Everyone keeps asking me if I'm nervous or scared. And the honest truth is... no. Im excited! I can't wait to meet the people and experience the culture. Im sure there will be trials, and who knows, I might get lost, but that will be half the fun!