March 12, 2018

Ash: Sunday we woke up and got right into a bus to head to church.  We were the first stop out of 4 total stops.  4 girls from my group that were coming made the bus wait for 20 minutes so that put us behind schedule and then construction all through the city trying to get to the other stops to pick up other groups.  So, on top of a 3.5 hr bus ride to church we were an hour late.  They did sacrament for us in the kitchen and then of course Sunday school and Relief Society.
The lessons we're talking mainly about how to live with Christ again.  After church we went and got a quick ie to eat...we got a burger and fries and then headed back home with another 3.5 hour bus ride.
Monday, we started our 2nd week of teaching and we rotated the kids with the other 3/4 year old teachers so we have a completely new group of kids that we rotate within our 3 teachers.  It was a little chaotic but the kids are very smart.  I've had a few kids I've wanted to strangle, but I learned that a few of them don't have both parents.  They have either a mom or a dad so their home situations are not always the best.  After teaching I studied for my certification for about 3 hours and aced 2 quizzes.  I'm pretty excited about how well I'm doing with it. We had eggs and rice for dinner which was delish and then we went out in small groups and went to this little street market they had set up earlier that day.  Tons of clothes, shoes, jewelry, fruits/veggies, a little food and TONS AND TONS of people doing nails.  I bought 2 shirts for $3 each and we all got a manicure for $4.70!! They're all very willing to negotiate so of course we jew them down a smidge.
Oh! The Saturday before all of this the school took us hiking! All the teachers that came showed up in skirts and nice shoes and suits and dress shoes and we showed up in shorts/yoga pants and T-shirts.  Anyways, at the top of this mountain was a 10 story high temple.  It was super pretty and super cool.  Unfortunately they had the stairs blocked off so we couldn't go up to it.  After hiking the school took us to dinner and on the menu was snake, rabbit, rat, possum, goat, cat and fish.  We aren't exactly sure what we ate that night but it was some of those with a lot of rice and some veggies.  The rice and veggies were good but the eat was a bit sketchy looking and gross.
When we got to the top of the mountain, EVERYONE wanted pictures of us.  The picture with the red banner is of us with a random group of Chinese.  The picture of us and the guy in his suit is the owners of the school.  The lady is also the principal.
Mum: Ash that's all way fun news!!  Keep it all coming.  It sounds like things are getting a bit better.  It all looks fun.  Thank you for keeping us all up to date.
Ash: Things are good! I'm loving China more and more and becoming less and less homesick.
Mum: I'm so glad and sorta figured it would just take a little time.  You've always enjoyed other cultures and discovering new places.  I'm a bit jealous.  Until you told me what was for dinner.
Ash: It's been tons of fun.  Today marks two weeks which is CRAZY!! Kind of glad time is going fast.
Mum: There's a super cute guy here who really hopes time will fly.
Ash:
Mum: Yep, that's the guy!
Aunt Jodi: Does he miss my Bina too?
Mum: I asked him if he missed the heck out of Ash like I do and he said...yeah, I don't have anything to look forward to.
Aunt Jodi: Hopefully he's looking forward to Bina coming home.
Mum: Then I said maybe it's good to not have your girlfriend around so you can focus on school.  He said no, he would much rather have Ash home.  He's a cute kid.
Ash: Aw what a cute dud!