5 Weeks In...

It's never a good thing when I go 2 weeks without blogging. I then feel overwhelmed with all that has gone on since then. So now it is time to play a bit of catch up.

The week after our Beijing trip, we had a very low key weekend that included hanging out in our room a lot, running, going downtown to walk around, and holding our church meeting at our school. Friday night, the school took us out for a Chinese dinner and to a movie. The food was scary and included many unknowns, even some big chicken feet and dried fish! As you may have imagined, we dodged the chicken feet and fish. Then they took us to a movie, War Horse! We were excited because we hadn't seen it yet. The thing is, going to movies in China are a bit annoying. Remember the whole "Silence is Golden" or "Mute your cell phones" rules in the U.S.? Well in China, they don't feel the need for such suggestions so they all talk throughout the movie, rather LOUD, and answer any and all phone calls that come their way. We were happy that we didn't have to fork out the dough to cover the cost of the movie because it wasn't an awesome experience. One thing that I was EXCITED about was that instead of nasty movie theater butter popcorn, they sell kettle corn!! I LOVE kettle corn, so Joe and I indulged. So did our friend Mckenna :)

Yes, that is a Sprite in my hand. Dang China. I would never buy a soda back home in the States but here it's just comforting to have something that tastes like home - - and they didn't sell water.

Just outside of the Jackie Chan movie theater!

Church was the highlight of that weekend because it was our first time holding the meeting with just our group, sacrament and all. It was fast-Sunday so we had a 90 minute testimony meeting and Sunday school. It was awesome to see a more spiritual side of all of the ILP volunteers here. Our low key weekends, and weekday nights for that matter, include jaunts to the local street market. Our favorite thing to get there are these sandwiches, that are really not like sandwiches at all. They are these paper thin tortillas thrown on a super hot metal stone thing, that they fill with tofu, bean sprouts, cilantro, green onion, glass noodles, and some other unknown veggies, then another super thin tortilla pressed on top, then it's all rolled up. They are dee-lish! They are at least a weekly occurrence.



The next weekend, we were all invited to spend Saturday with a Chinese student and their family. I was not thrilled about getting to do this simply because of the fear I had of the foods they would want us to eat. So Saturday morning we met Selena and her mother (couldn't pronounce her name for the life of me so I just started calling her MaMa). MaMa seemed thrilled to have us with her. They took us to this park first thing in the morning, called Homei Park. The park was beautiful. It houses the largest Pagoda in all of China. It has been destroyed and rebuilt like 5 times or something crazy like that. The park also has cherry blossom trees galore that are just waiting for the warm weather to arrive so they can bloom.

 First, we went goldfish fishing! We each had our own little pole with fishing line hanging from it. They gave us this nasty goop to put on our hooks too. Joe and I were not particularly gifted at it but Selena, the chinese student, most definitely was! She caught 4 of them. Each time she would catch one, MaMa would grab hold of the fish, shimmy the hook out of it's lip and put it in her bucket. I was really struggling! I couldn't handle watching the fish be pulled up out of the water with a hook in it's mouth. This marked the first uncomfortable moment of the day, little did I know many more uneasy moments would follow in the day. Selena kindly offered us her 4 fish, which was funny because just the night before our friend Emma said she wished she had a goldfish for one of her lessons. So she was thrilled when we brought her home 4 of them :)

Selena, the master of goldfish fishing

Selena and MaMa kept asking us, "what is your favorite food?" We would always say pizza and ice cream so by 10am MaMa found us some ice cream while at the park. She bought us both a cone, then just a few minutes later asked us how we liked them (mind you, she does NOT speak ANY English so when I say she "asked" she really asked in Chinese while pointing at our cones) we kept saying thank you and that they were very good. Then she bolts the opposite direction to go get us 2 MORE CONES! We started cracking up, we kept yelling "No! No! No! it's okay, come back!" Seeing that she didn't understand a word we said, she came back with more ice cream. So what did we do? Well, we both ate another ice cream cone. During the ice cream fiasco, Selena had ran away to buy us some bubble guns after we showed interest in some that other kids had. I'd say the froggy bubble guns were my favorite gift of the day! Then it was Pizza Hut time. Pizza Hut is a super nice restaurant here! Giant menu's with everything from pizza and pasta to steak and all sorts of rice dishes. Ordering was a challenge. They did not understand the concept of "no meat" after saying it multiple times, because they LOVE meat and don't particularly care for veggies. At lunch, they started asking us "What is your favorite present?" Out of concern that they wanted to buy us more things, I said something small - - earrings and Joey said a scarf.



We headed towards the Chinese version of the pearl market. A 4 story mall with little cubbies for shops. MaMa kept pointing at clothing asking if I liked them. I kept saying, No, No. Eventually we get to one that I did like a sweater. I pointed to it. This turned into something big! They pulled me into the cubby, put up a curtain over the front of it and started pointing at these black cargo pants for me to try on. I kept saying, No, No, NO! while Joey was just looking over the curtain laughing at me. It got to the point where they were taking off my belt! After fighting it for about 10 minutes or so, I finally stripped down and tried on the dang pants. I was SO uncomfortable with the situation. I just wanted it to be over! MaMa ended up buying me both the sweater and the cargo pants (that I did not even like!) and spending way too much on both. Then she was on the hunt for earrings. Knowing that she would not stop until she bought me some, I just picked out a pair. Then she was on to Joey! He quickly found a nice scarf which she graciously purchased. I was relieved that it was time to leave. But she marched right on over to a convenience store across the street and started filling a basket with all sorts of snacks and chocolates! All for Joe and I! We couldn't stop the lady! Then she went to a bakery and bought us 2 dozen cookies and cream puffs! We felt awful she was spending all of this money on us when we did not want her to at all!!! But such is the Chinese, they love to give gifts.

Post-Shopping

Next, we arrived at an amusement park.

On the opposite side he wrote "Teacher Joe Kelsey"

Went on a few rides, including a very slow moving one that elevated you really high into the sky. It offered us excellent views of Changzhou. 

So CUTE. She caught my eye and we just stared at each other. 

Prepping to be drenched on a rapids ride!

We definitely got soaked. 

For dinner, they took us to a "Hot Pot" restaurant where you boil all of your food right in front of you. The "no meat" battle begun once again. She ordered SO MUCH FOOD. It just kept coming and coming. Of course she ordered lamb, beef, some sort of gross ground up shrimp, quail eggs, and vegetables - - which we stuck too. But she would force the meat into each of our pots. By the time we left, both of our hot pots were filled with untouched meats. They finally took us back to the school by about 6 pm.

This is about a 1/4 of what they ordered. Check out how loaded my hot pot is (the bottom pot). 

It was an exhausting day. The amount of money she spent on us all day made us feel so uncomfortable. I didn't ever want to do it again. But, we are probably doing one more day like it in a month but calling it quits with the "Home Stays" after that. Other members of our group are doing them many more times though.

The next morning we all went to Suzhou for church. To sum up the craziness of the day it included, 1 mile walk, 50 minute bus ride, 1 hour train ride, 15 minute taxi ride. It was so stressful. We were rushing to make it on time since Joe and I and McKenna were speaking in Sacrament!

This weekend Joey and I headed back to Suzhou to stay with our "China Family". I hope they don't mind me calling them that. But they make us feel so at home. Knowing them is helping me through this experience. Even though I am liking being here and LOVING being with Joe all the time, it is so hard to be away and at times I find myself thinking about home and I just get discouraged. I feel like we will be here forever sometimes, when in all reality it is only 3 more months.

Anyways, we love being with the Lyman's. They are such an awesome family! They took us to some markets for us to stock up on some goods (like oats, peanut butter, nuts and raisins!)then we headed back to their house to whip up some granola. I originally brought a bag of homemade granola that my mom made us right before we left but after nearly 4 weeks we had ran out of it and I was bummed! So the Lyman's graciously helped us rebuild our supply! With one batch on Friday and another on Saturday, I think we will be stocked for at least the next month! :) Friday night we had Papa John's pizza. So good! It's just like in the U.S. The next morning, I set out on a 11 mile run around a lake and Joey rode brother Lyman's bike right next to me. It was awesome running through thick fog and some beautiful sceneries. Sister Lyman spoiled us with whole wheat waffles and berries when we returned. YUM! It was a fun day of luxuries that we don't get back at our school - - baking, eating ice cream, and watching movies. I can't thank the Lyman's enough for all they have done for us since we have been here. It just means so much to us. When we woke up this morning still at their home, Joe and I both said we weren't ready to come back to school, but sure enough here we are. We can't wait to go back to Suzhou.

Views from their back yard on a rainy Saturday.

This Thursday, we head to Shanghai for district conference (like stake conference), shopping, and good times! Then one more week of teaching before we get 10 days off that will include many awesome adventures far away from Changzhou, concluding with the arrival of my parents in Shanghai! We can't wait to see them!!!!!!!!

Here's to a good week of teaching and all you have going on in your own life!