Catching up on blogging

The past 3 days have been amazing and I definitely do not want to leave tomorrow. We have been practicing kung fu and we finally performed for the monks and kung fu masters last night and they performed for us , we had a party with music and everything it was so hard to say goodbye in the end.we even had dinner with our kung fu teacher who we love to call "smiley" for the main reason that he never smiles and 2 monks named andy and tommy. It was great to talk with the monks and see how they live and I was very surprised to hear andy has a facebook and basically speaks perfect english. I loved being able to hear about their culture and the rules to being a monk. The party was definitely a great way to end the night too. Today was just a travel day and it gave us a lot more time to bond and even make a rap to perform at the duck dinner. We returned back to beijing and got ready for the duck dinner and it was an amazing way to end the trip. We watched videos jimbo put together and saw the amazing pictures cory took. It was great to reminise about our trip. All of us ate a scorpion! I was so surprised by myself but it was fun to say I've done that before! When we all got back all the kids hung out. It made me realize how much I'm going to miss everyone and how happy I am that I've met them. Its a bond that will never ever be broken and I remember a staff member even said on the bus " all of us have such great chemistry" I feel so lucky to have met everyone and to be given such a great opportunity. Meeting ping,riley,sean,wend,michael and amanda was so great and I can't wait to go home and tell everyone about my trip. I am also so grateful that I was picked for this trip and provided with so much. We saw the most amazing things and ate at the nicest restaurants.. It was the most amazing trip I have ever experienced and I have overcome a lot of my fears and learned so much. I am so happy and I'm going to miss everyone so much!

August 11th

Today was so amazing and so much fun. We learned kung foo which was very interesting. Wendy said the instructor likes you if he corrects you, well he must have loved me because he corrected me a lot. The whole lesson we were trying to get him to crack a smile and we got a couple smiles :)! It was so interesting to learn all the moves and we have 2 2-hour sessions tomorrow! I am a little interested in learning kung foo when I get home cause it gets you in great shape! later in the night we went to a show and it was so cool. It was on the moutain side and it was beautiful. The lights were so cool to watch and the music was very nice and slow it was so interesting to watch. Tomorrow we go to breakfast with the monks! I can't wait to learn about their culture !

Over Night Train

Hey! I still can't believe this trip is almost over but I'm so happy to be experiencing everything and the over night train last night was a lot of fun and involved a lot of bonding between the girls and I'm so grateful to be on this trip and meet everyone. At first I was expecting the overnight train to be like the one I took in france but thank god it wasn't. The beds were comfortable and the room was pretty roomy. After we got off the train.we went to a hotel to clean up and get ready for the day! We visited the much awaited shaolin temple and performed our song! Earlier in the day we went to the longmen grattoes and while we were there we talked about chinese culture and how the amount of children you can have is limited because of over population. It was reallly eye opening to see the differences of culture between america and china and I feel like I've learned so much on this trip and come to appreciate all that I'm given and that there's more out there than just the little bubble I live in. I feel like I've gained so much life experience on this trip and I wouldn't trade it for the world. I can't wait to go to the kung foo school tomorrow and see the kids, its going to be great! :)

An Eventful Dinner

I do not think words can describe today or this evening. This morning we hiked the mini great wall which was not mini at all! It was still a great experience though and had amazing views! Then we had a nice picnic at the bottom with apples chicken and even french fries! After tge picnic we got to rest and get ready for dinner. Let's just say dinner was an experience and It was very full of culture with dancers on stage in different outfits and a wannabe chinese pop star!I'm still wondering how he's not famous yet. The food was very good and spicy as usual which entering this trip I was not aware that chinese food was spicy but it really is the best food and mostly good for you too! I loved every second of dinner we even formed a congo line and danced through the whole restaurant it was SO great and I'm also so happy I've learned some chinese phrases. This trip has been an amazing experience so far and we're off to the overnight train tomorrow night! :)

the great wall

No words could describe this past day and the experience I had! First off we spent a night camping which was my first time ever camping! Then we woke up around 5 to pack up our camp site and moved towards hiking the great wall! The hike was the most amazing experience I have ever had and I am sooo happy I didn't turn back! It was crazy to walk on these narrow paths with nothing on either side. I definately faced my fear of heights and I wouldn't trade the experience for the world! Everything was so beautiful and pictures don't even show how beautiful it actually is. it was a real eye opening experience and I am so proud of myself for doing it all and sticking in until the end after multiple trips, cuts, and bruises I am so happy I did it and the experience will never ever be topped it was amazing and I even got a I climbed the great wall t-shirt! :) I had an great day and am so grateful! Can't wait til tomorrow!!!

Cooking with the Chef

Hey! Today was so much fun! we went to the food market and I held live crab and was so scared it was going to bite me .. After we walked around the food market we arrived at a really nice restaurant and got to cook with a famous chef and were given chef outfits! I even cut the chicken when we were preparing the food! My mom would be so proud! Then we mixed all the ingredients and the chef cooked it in a way I have never seen and it was so exciting to watch there was a huge pot with fire , it was something I'd never see back home! Then we made dumplings in different shapes and even tried to make one in the shape of a heart! The experience was so much fun and I can't wait to show everyone my cooking skills when I get home! Right after cooking we visited the birds nest and the water cube and it was by far the best experiences ever. I will never forget it. It was so amazing to see the pool that michael phelps swam in and actually be on the fields of the birds nest! I am so happy that I am lucky enough to experience everything so far and I am so excited for the rest of the trip. I am super excited for the dragon boat racing tomorrow and to camp on the great wall:)!

A View of Beijing

Today was great and so interesting we went to the urban planning center. And I was so surprised and so amazed at the models of beijing and to see how much we had walked the day before by looking at the models of the forbidden city and the temple of heaven. The model of the birds nest was definately my favorite out of everything it was so cool how it went up and then seperated I can't wait to go there tomorrow ! Then we went to the promenade to go showing and I bought cute chopsticks :) we also shopped and at a local village in little storess! Everything was so beautiful, I just wanted to buy evetything. Lunch was definately the most interesting part of the day and definately will be something I will never forget! Cooking the food in the boiling water right in front of us was very interesting and def a new experienxce! And it was soooo yummy! After lunch we went to learn calligraphy! And I actually did pretty well! Then we visited a woman and saw her home and I learned so much there! We also met her son who works in canada. Everyone was so nice to us and I was so grateful to be there and experience it all! When we left we were taken back to the bus by bike it was Soooo much fun! For dinner we went to such a nice restaurant and ate noodles and got to see first hand how they made them! Oh and I forgot too mention before dinner we went to the silk museum! It was sooo cool to see how they make the silk and I even bought a pretty silk scarf. Today was amazing. So excited for tomorrow :)