Easter Celebrations!

Lily and I before the Easter Celebration. 

(Its getting SOO hot outside in Guzhen)

We had a rockin' Easter celebration this past Friday. The kitchen staff here at Happy ABC's was nice enough to boil us 60 eggs! We colored them with the kids and then Alice and I ran downstairs to hide them while the kids were still in class. I set up stations all around campus. Amongst the activities were a parachute egg toss, spoon races, easter egg hunt, sack races, and even a dancing station where the kids learned the "Bunny Hop." It was awesome! If you thought you were good at the bunny hop... try watching a group of 500 adorable chinese four year olds hopping around and you will find you were sourly mistaken. They rocked it!

For those of you who don't know. Our school is a kindergarten. We have kids from ages 2-6 years old. Our program, the International Language Program (ILP), teaches every morning 5 days a week. Later on in the day we go into other classrooms and guest teach. We call this "ELE."

Me, Mickey, Fanny, and some of my ELE kids

    Basically we just give the chinese teachers a little break from teaching and give the other students some time with a native speaker. I am the "Head Teacher" here so technically I am not supposed to teach. I am to assist the other teachers with their teaching, oversee the program, and coordinate with chinese staff.  I LOVE my job here.  It means I get to see the students performance in each class and really get to know them better. (And I get to goof off a bit) One of my teachers was assigned to teach an ELE class 5 days a week. (The other American teachers only teach 4) So I volunteered to teach her class for the whole term so that she could have a day off. It is a class of about 40 students from ages 3-4 and I teach it every Wednesday. I can't even describe to you how much I am in LOVE with these kids! Their Chinese teachers name is "Li Pei En." Her english name is "Mickey" and she is the raddest person on earth. We were MEANT to be best friends. She lives just down the hall from me and happens to be an excellent violin player. She always has the coolest clothes and I would love to just BE her. Anyways... I could go on and on about my class and how amazing they are but I promise there was a point to this story.

   See, the Head Master had noticed how much time I had been spending with my ELE class. (I always go eat my rice porridge with them in the morning) I always make sure to stop by and say hello at least a few times a day. She knows how much I love them so she personally invited them to our little easter celebration. I was SO happy! So the ILP kids and my ELE class all went around from station to station playing games and having an excellent time. It was supposed to be just a small celebration but the Head Master loved it so much that she had the WHOLE school come down and play with us. It was SO much fun! 

The BEST bananas on EARTH! 

(Seriously... they aren't even bananas, 

they are like liquid gold. Mmmm)

This is Ting Xu the Banana Man 

(He is normally MUCH happier than he is in this picture)

      Spring time is one of my favorite seasons. I love the smell, the sunlight, and all the delicious chinese fruit! But because Easter is a holiday we normally celebrate at home with our families... some of the girls have been a little home sick. But when I was looking around Friday at these beautiful little kids... I realized there wasn't anything in the world I wanted more than to be with these sweet little spirits. I dare you. Come to China... look into these little guys faces and try NOT to smile. Its impossible. They are the best Easter present in the world!

Sanya Island!

I just got home from what has been, by far, the best vacation ever! We took a sleeper train on friday afternoon and got to Sanya early Saturday morning. The train had three levels of beds. The topmost bunk was the cheapest one so that, of course, was mine. Across from me was the sweetest chinese girl ever. She is 23 and doesn't speak any English at all. It gave me a great chance to practice some Chinese!!! We became good friends. We ate dinner together and she laughed with me every time I would clumsily climb 15  feet to get to my bed. It was a very clean train and it seemed we arrived in no time. (14 Hours) I woke up to find the sweetest note which read something along the lines of, "Hello Rose, This stop is mine and I am afraid to wake you. I want you to know I am happy to make friends with you. You I will never forget." I almost choked up when I found it. I wished that she wasn't gone so I could have given her a big hug. I loved that she said, "Hey Rose." My chinese name,  translates to rose. But when I read it in English I thought of my dad. Thats what he calls me. "Rose." 

First day at Dadonghai beach!

     

Sailboat on Yalong Bay

Anyways after some bartering with the taxi's we made our way to the Lama Temple Hostel. This place was SO perfect. It was only 3 dollars a night and a  ten minute walk from the beach. We dropped off our backpacks at the hostel but it was too early to check in. Rather than waste any time we just went straight to the beach! I was expecting it to be a little rocky and dirty, especially since our hostel was so cheap. But this beach, Dadonghai, was the most BEAUTIFUL thing on earth. The sand was so soft and the scenery was gorgeous! There is nothing I love more than a beach!

     I had no idea I would have this opportunity in China. When I think China I think street food, rice fields, and chinese pagodas. But this was like the Hawaii of China. The rest of the four days were filled with coconuts on the beach, clear waters, parasailing, diving for shells, eating LOTS of fresh fruit and smiling. Lots and LOTS of smiling! 

Found a rad fruit market with the BEST bananas!

   When we arrived we tried to book our train home and found there wasn't any until the day AFTER we needed to leave. Seeing as we are English teachers, this was not an option. So we decide to book a flight instead since it would get us home in only an hour and a half. Sleeper trains cost around 350RMB and our one-way flight was 550RMB. Its a bit more expensive but not nearly as bad as in the states. This way we would have more time to relax and enjoy Sanya! 
We didn't think about it again until we got up at 4:30am to take a taxi to the airport. We get there to check in to find there is no record of our flight. After much struggling and using my phrase book as a crutch... I found out that Shannon had booked our flight from Guangzhou to Sanya. (Instead of Sanya to Guangzhou {Home}) Haha. Oh boy that was not good news to hear an hour and a half before your "flight." Shannon felt SO bad but we told her it could have happened to any of us. So I will spare you the details but there was a lot of run around. A lot of checking other airports, prices, times, finding out if we could get refunds. All of which are things far beyond my maturity level. No, but in all reality. No matter what goes wrong... there is ALWAYS a way out. So I found this shady little bus station where, after some prayer, we found a sleeper bus that would get us home ONE hour before we taught the next day. MIRACLE! We were out 500RMB and then on top of that had to pay another 300 for the bus. (Plus Taxi Fares) So we all ended up being out of a lot of cash by the time we were done. But it had been a learning experience. I will from now on check, double check, and triple check all the bookings my teachers make. 

Holding a Crocodile!!!

The mangos are HUGE in Hainan. 

That was all I ate the whole trip!

     Its funny how things work out though. We got to the bus station and still had a little bit of time to wait. A man had stepped on my hulusi. (A chinese instrument I bought on the beach) It broke the gourd and he offered to pay for it but I told him it wasn't a problem. He persisted until he walked away abruptly. Thirty minutes later the same man comes back with a brand new Hulusi! He had ridden on his motorcycle to go buy me a new one. People in this country never cease to amaze me with their hospitality! I also sat next to a mom with her baby strapped to her back and her little five year old squatting on the ground next to her. I held a conversation with the mom for quite sometime. I really feel like my chinese comprehension level is really improving! I could understand everything she said! Her kids were munching down on mangos. Their faces and hands were all slimy and dripping with juice. At one point she was trying to wipe their hands off with a dirty rag. She couldn't reach the baby on her back. I had some tissues in my bag and got up to wipe the baby off. That baby. Oh that sweet sweet baby. She was grinning from EAR-TO-EAR! It was the greatest thing ever! I was wiping her off and playing with her chubby little hands. It was just proof to me that wherever you go, there you are. Doesn't matter if you book the wrong flight and can't find a train... your still somewhere. Somewhere where something amazing could happen. 

Met some girls from THAILAND! 

(They were very impressed I knew how to say a 

bunch of food items in Thai. Thanks mom!)

                  Usually sleeper buses are... not so glamorous. We got our bus and there was techno music bumping. The floor was shellacked, the beds were SO clean and all the comforters were cheetah print! It was like a party bus! So the lesson we have learned this trip is that good things happen. Even when things go wrong, you can find the good in anything!