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!