Begger woman with a child. None of us could say no to her.

Creepy funny almost cute asian that we would wake up to him staring at us! He also had a tattoo of the Beijing Olympics.

This is how comfy it is. I was actually sitting right next to Brad but moved because some seats became open after about 7 in the morning. Mind you, we had left around 6 in the evening the day prior.

Two of the Chinese guys that let me play their the guitars the night before under a bridge.

Beautiful Sun sighting behind chinese architecture. Ilove this picture!

This is the face I made because the guitar sounded out of tune.

So I traded guitars!! Ha ha. I apologized to the guy who had given me his guitar and told that it was very pretty. He just looked at me like I was speaking english to a chinese man! I wonder why?

Just chillin' on the South Great Wall. The view from up there was amazing!

We found a store dedicated to ice cream on a stick! This is my guilty look, this was my second one... :D

Beautiful landscape from up on the Great wall. I counted the steps coming down on just one section, I got to about 635 steps.

After we headed up to get into the actual wall, we looked down and three little boys has decided it would be a grand ol' time to take a nakey time bath in the little creek next to a busy road. We were just looking at the beautiful landscape and out of the corner of my eye I see little nakey bums running around!

This is the entrance to get up to the great wall and the checkerboard. It was quite a journey just to get up there.

Adorable little small village boys we saw after our beautiful hike.

We went on a beautiful hike. Many different waterfalls, pools, and a bridge hooked to the side of a mountain over a huge water fall.

The children from this little village were so cute. This little man on the right, he had two other little friends and they were all smoking!

This girl was making head wreaths to sell by a big yellow meadow. She was a very sweet quiet little girl.









Breakfast Dumplings!! We called them "dumps" and

"Noodies!" (noodles)

This is a boy, by the way, and please take notice of the slit down the back. It also ran up through the front as well. China's children potty train a lot sooner than american children.































I fell in love with the amount of abstract art I could find there.

These are all at our cute little guesthouse we stayed at for $4.00 a night each person. Sweetest place ever. I was called he Bingo Cafe. It was all hippie style and way chill. I loved it!

View outside our window.

Beautiful 2000 year old phoenix city! Our guesthouse is just in the far left corner just outside the picure.

I think the biggest thing about this trip was how long we had to travel. We went on a two hour bus ride, hopped on a train for 16 hours, got in a taxi, got on another bus for another 2 hours, and then quite a bit of walking involved. It was pretty cool. I also did not shower the entire time. It was freezing at night and hot during the day.

The Random "Adventures"

I sat with these boys at lunch. They are pretty cool kids. I learned that Sagwa means idiot in Chinese! They were all very sweet to me. They got me soup, which I didnt want, but sweet nonetheless.

I've theorized that Chinese children have a condition that affects the parts in their body that moves their elbow, or elbows, up in the air. Their index and middle fingers move in the upright position while the other philanges stay at a fist position. All this happens in reaction to the observation of any and all types of photographic devices.

These are my beloved 2nd graders in my MWF school! The little guy in the right corner is named Blake, he is a very quick and clever little boy!

This was actually taken today! I was surprised how well the camera captured the redness of the sun! Instead of sunsets, which I absolutely love, I guess I can settle for these.

This is the rockin new PJ's one of my schools gave me for a gift for the international holiday called Women's Day! Yes it does say "Lingerie Professional" at the bottom. And yes! That IS my dirty room! Im just soaking in the chinese ways of organized chaos!! sweet slipper eh?!

Bundling Up "Adventures"

So when we arrived to our bustling city of Xioulan it was hot hot and humid humid! Kinda nice to get away from the snow and wind. well the past week and half has been the exact opposite. Let me expand on what has been another "adventure" in China. First off, it is very cold here now! Wet and cold! It rained from Sunday to Sunday. Our apartment, being constructed im pretty sure the exact same way as a prison cell, is like a refrigerator! It is always colder in our apartment than outside. So sleeping is like a trick. Not only does my bed have random springs that protrude higher than other springs and is hard as a board, but it also takes a while to realize there is body heat trying to heat up that area of space! We all only have one blanket so we sleep as though we are camping in the winter. We all have our own meathods of trying to stay warm. Some use the cacoon technique, others the taco. There is also wake up every half hour, try to rewrap the stupid blanket around yourself only to wake up another half hour later to do it again and rewarm up the area with what little body heat you have left. That one would be my meathod. We also wear layers as if we were in the arctic. We are all quite a sight to see when bedtime rolls around, or even when lounging around the apartment lately. Last night I only had one clean and dry sock left. Since we cant hang our clothes outside to dry we keep them inside. That takes twice as long to dry and even then they are still damp and ridiculously cold! Anyway the one sock deal, I put it on my left foot before bed. I woke up with it on my other foot the next morning. I think the right one got jealous and let the left one fend for itself. I think I might sew my comforter into a taco like sleepingbag this week...