Hong Kong!

Frontal view of our Hotel. We even have a pool!

Wow. I can't believe it. Everything seems so new to me and yet so familiar at the same time. We got out of the airport and had one of the prettiest bus rides I have ever taken in my life. The clouds were low and drifted over the water but you could still see the small islands on both sides. I LOVE BEING BY THE WATER! It is absolutely gorgeous here in Hong Kong! I don't know what exactly I expected... but i am definitely living in luxury. We are staying at the Metropark-Kowloon Hotel and it is by far the nicest place I have ever stayed at in China. As I write this.... a Chinese Catholic Priest is sitting across from me speaking very loudly with his comrade. It is sooooooo cool to see the old english influence here and how much it is different from mainland China. They even drive on the wrong side of the road!

The disease prevention staff!!! Woohoo!

But our travels here were not without a few difficulties. We made all of our flights. One girl missed her Korean flight but caught a later one and we will pick her up from the airport later this evening. Everything seemed to be going well. I was just thinking..."Hey this whole... "being the head teacher" thing doesn't seem so hard after all!" But in traditional chinese fashion... things didn't go exactly as planned. (Which is why we love the chinese so much; nothing ever goes as planned!) I was constantly doing a head count of all my girls (mom mode) as we made our way through the airport when one of my teachers is stopped by the "health and disease prevention" staff. They asked for her passport and took  her temperature only to find out she had a fever! Poor thing. They have these cool thermal cameras they use to spot you if your sick. So they made her put on this super legit chinese medical mask and (with very little english) said that she must go to the sick bay before she was allowed to leave. I told the other teachers to head through customs without us and that we would meet up with them in a bit. I went with her so she wouldn't be scared and oh my lady gaga.... it was hilarious. We went all the way to the other side of the airport, down an elevator shaft to this cute little sick bay. They asked her some questions... she didn't really understand her very well so they had to call in someone who speaks English better. We waited for her... then she finished the paperwork and told us that we have to go to the hospital. Haha. I've only been in China 5 seconds and its already time to seek medical assistance! Woohooo! I love it. She only has a sniffly nose and says she doesn't feel very bad at all but if we don't get it approved by a doctor (and then he sends the report to the airport) then her visa could possibly be revoked. Isn't that awesome!!?!?! I love that the SECOND we walk off the plane something crazy already goes down. Poor girl. She's never been out of the country before and they are making her walk around with a mask. It was hilarious though. It was a perfect welcome to China for me. Its good to be back!


The rest of the day has been awesome. We just settled into our rooms and then went and got some delicious street food. Tomorrow we will go on a guided tour of Hong Kong. It will be nice to have a guide for a change. I have just been aimlessly traveling to random places around China of my own accord. Might be nice to get a little extra information this time. There is so much to learn about Hong Kong and I want to soak it all up! AHHHHHHHHH! You guys have NO idea how good it feels to be back. I'm not even mainland yet and I feel... Alive!!!!

Layover In Korea.

Well I'm almost in China! I am currently sitting in the beautiful Korean airport and I couldn't be happier! Its such a relief to finally meet the teachers I will be spending all of my time with. Even after our 17 hour flight they are still hilariously awesome. We will be spending the next 3 days vacationing in Hong Kong and then we head to Zhongshan to meet our students! I am going to go explore the airport now but I will write more the next chance I get!

So Anxious!

I fly out of Phoenix on the 9th. Thats THIS WEDNESDAY! I can't wait another moment! I am ready to be on that plane back to China! I am not entirely prepared... I'm sure I am missing a few supplies that I will be kicking myself for later. I will be in a new area so its hard to know what I will need or what I will have access to. But thats all just part of the adventure I guess. These past few days have been torture. I hate waiting. I am so impatient at times. (Which is something I should really work on changing.) I really am just so ready to get back over there and start teaching again! Hooray!

Round Two!

I just got back home this past Saturday! Everything went without a hitch. (This time) I made some good friends on the flight and got to sleep a LOT! It was an all around excellent trip.  I have to say though... its weird being home. Before I left for China... everyone told me that I would experience "culture shock" upon my arrival. I think it must have taken a raincheck because it wasn't until stepping off that plane onto American soil that I started feeling the culture shock. It really is nice being home. I missed my families ridiculous jokes. I cried tears of joy the first time I was able to put my clothes in a real washing machine. And the toilets are pretty nice... but I miss my China. I miss the life I have there and the way the people live. So... I'M GOING BACK! I was offered a position as a "Head Teacher" for this next semester. I will be gone for another five months! (Get back June 25th) I couldn't be more excited! This time around I am in charge of a group of volunteer teachers and track their progress as well as the children's. I will be going to a new city called Zhongshan. (Southern China; Near Hong Kong) I am excited for a new adventure filled with new challenges. My friends joke that I might never come home and there are times where I think they are right. I just feel so... ALIVE in China. At least for now... I know its the place I need to be. The day I got home I unpacked my suitcase only to start repacking it again. I look at it in the corner of my room and its so comforting to know that soon I will be back in China! But for now... I am enjoying seeing my friends and family and eating all the fresh vegetables I can get my hands on!

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!