The Smell of Cut Grass

This post is dedicated to more of the little things that go on in China that people forget to post about. They aren’t significant, but the little things are what make China just so great.

First, my guy friends use to make fun of me because I ate so little. Well here in China that certainly isn’t the case! Because the food isn’t processed, you can stuff yourself, and then be hungry again in 2 hours. I feel like I eat a ton here and am still hungry for more at the next meal even though after every meal I feel completely full! The portion sizes they serve you in the cafeteria are huge; like 2-3 scoops of everything. Then I feel obligated to eat everything on my tray, so I do! Sometimes I finish eating and look down and think, “Holy cow, that was a lot of food, where did it all go?!?” Eating this much doesn’t affect me in China, but I’m going to have to retrain myself when I get back to the states because American food is a lot more heavy and unhealthy so I would die if I ate the same portion sizes in America.

 

After playing the game of "what's for lunch today" we concluded that this limb including fingers is a limb of a frog. Yum!

            We found this hidden shopping center that’s super cheap and awesome behind this pond near a mall only one stop away… anyway, while we were there we witnessed something that crosses the line of social acceptablility. I have seen toddlers squatting near trees to go potty, but I have never before in my life seen a parent bend their 6-year-old child in two over a garbage can so they can go pottiy in the middle of a populated area! Crossing the line, China, crossing the line! I stood there with my mouth open just in shock. Hawking a loogie is gross, hawking a loogie then spitting it out is even grosser, hawking a loogie and chewing it instead of spitting it out is nasty, but putting on that inappropriate of a display is down right intolerable! Dwoss.

 

This huge wrap I found at the hidden shopping center with strips of fried chicken, lettuce, egg, cucumber, and yummy sauce for only one American dollar! 

            On a more positive note, we have a Birthday Party each month for all the people in our group that had a birthday, half birthday, or ¼ birthday. For this party, 2 of our girls baked an incredibly delicious chocolate cake with frosting, chocolate sauce words, and Oreo crumbles. Oh my gosh it was so moist and delicious!

            Oh! There are already frog sounds! My favorite sound is in the summer time when the frogs are croaking in the pastures around our house and they actually do that here too around the school! Mmmh, I love comforting/reminding of home things like that. I wish China would let the frogs croak outside though instead of letting them “croak” in their soup pots… yes, we found frog limbs with little finger and toes in one of our dishes at the cafeteria. That was not a happy moment for any of us, including the frog.

            There is this family in the Branch called the Ferney who are the greatest! They live only 2 metro stops away from us and are so friendly and awesome. The mom is hilarious and loves us girls, the dad is the Branch President, and her 3 older kids still living at home are just a joy to be around. Alane Ferney, the mom, lets us bake things in her oven and invites us to play games with her and her family. I love staying at her house because they spirit is always there and it’s just a happy family atmosphere. Well Alyssa, my roommate, and I got a box of cookies from a secret sister so we wanted to do the same for someone. We made a spur of the moment decision to make some cookies out of a cake mix that had been left over from last semester’s girl and use oreos instead of chocolate chips. We separated the chocolate middle filling from the cookie part of the oreo and melted that in the microwave to drissle over the cake cookies rolled in oreo crumbles. Oh my goodness, can I just say that those cookies didn’t make it back to our apartment. The Ferney’s appreciated them way more than our girls would have and we exchanged our cookies for a rousing game of Nertz. Worth it! Also, we had dinner at the Ferney's, but they called it "trough dinner." I just assumed left over but when she pulled out a legit trough with everything in it I was shocked! So awesome.

My Oreo cookie cake-mix concoction. 

The Trough for trough dinner!

            The next day was Saturday and the Ferneys hosted the Spring Social for Relief Society. All of us ILP girls went to the Suguo (like the Supermarket) and got fruits and veggies to add to the delicious coconut rice, fresh salads, normal rolls, and INCREDIBLE shredded, crockpot meats. Dad, next time you make some shredded pork throw some cloves in there. To die for. It was nice to eat and socialize with all the Relief Society ladies. Then we played some games, practiced our Easter song, and went our separate ways. It was nice to have a relaxing weekend here in Nanjing instead of traveling. Don’t get me wrong, I want to travel as much as possible, but one weekend at home every once in a while is nice.

            The fashion here is nothing like I can explain… basically everyone can get away with wearing anything and everything. Platform shoes, scrunchies, loose baggy sweaters, g-ma’s outfits, spikes, way tall high heals, 50s style shirts with lace and buttons, mini skirts with tights and boots, overalls, super fancy, sweats, and so many layers! The Chinese wear full on winter coats when it’s 75 degrees outside… they are always asking us girls if we are too cold when we wear our shorts and sandals. Haha no way!

The very last thing for this post is the smell of cut grass. The workers around the school have started weed-whacking (I don't know if they have mowers here....) and outside smells incredible like happiness, swimming pools, picnics, and BBQs :D Thumbs up China!

Back to Shanghai!

This past weekend from the 21^st-23^rd we had District Conference in Shanghai! All previous trips I have just been a follower, but this trip I was basically put in charge of planning. Holy cow, that’s stressful. I had to know where to go, how to get there, and what we were doing, how long everything would take, and how to say/write it in Chinese so that 8 of us girls could get around in the middle of Shanghai all on our own. I spent days planning and communicating with other planners in the ward. We got sleeping arrangements all figured out in members’ homes around Shanghai and I had cute little itineraries written up for all the girls of how to get places from their member’s home and where to meet and such when last minute the ILP director from Utah emailed me and said, surprise, it has been a long standing policy that ILP volunteers can’t stay in member’s homes. What?! I had even checked for that rule in our handbooks! So then I had to undo all that I had done and email all of the coordinators and the members to cancel our plans. Another bummer about that was that the previous weekend us girls had gone shopping in Shanghai and thus were hoping to spend as little money as possible the weekend of District Conference in Shanghai. But now we had to do some last minute booking of hostels and extra expenses of travel to the hostels and food.

We took the cheapest train we could so it took us 4 hours to get to Shanghai. My seat was separate from everyone else’s and it was right next to the bathroom and smoking place on the train. Great. It wasn’t any better that the old guy, who’s seat faced mine, stared at me the whole time until I finally put my head down and slept. Oh, so I had to go the bathroom but I knew it wasn’t going to be very sanitary so I just put on my big girl panies and went into the bathroom. The second I looked in I just chucked to myself, “Oh boy, here we go… peeing into a hole in the nasty tiny room on a movie train. Yay for adventures!” Basically now I just laught when going into somewhere or doing something gross. After returning to my seat and giving myself a bath with sanitizer and we wipes, I attempted to go back to sleep to avoid the man’s stare. Luckily, a seat opened up next to the rest of the group where I could sit and be with them. They had made friends with 4 Chinese girls that were around our age. Those girls were so much fun! We had a ball talking with them, taking pictures with them, exchanging stories, exchanging contact info, etc. One of the girls loved us so much that she asked to get pictures of kissing us on the cheeks. It was so fun, I love making friends with the Asians!

One of the train stops took and extra long time and none of us knew really what was going on. It wasn’t a big deal though until we got to the Shanghai Railway Station and found out that the delay and delivered us just late enough that the Metro Station had closed. What? So it was 11:30 and we needed to get to our Hostel. By the time we realized what to do and started looking for a taxi it was 11:45pm, which wouldn’t give us enough time to even get to our hostel before it closed at midnight. Great. So now 8 tired girls didn’t have a place to stay, at midnight, in the middle of a huge city in China. I had days worth of planning but I was not prepared for this! We wandered the streets for a bit while frustrated and a little panicked until I remembered why we were even on this trip! We huddle together and said a group prayer for comfort, protection, and guidance. After that we felt a lot more confident and knew things would work out. We looked around for something familiar and found the big H for Holiday Inn. Ok, long story short (of wandering some more, getting split up, and debating calling the members at 1am) Holiday Inn was WAY above our budget so we had to take a taxi (my very first taxi ride!) to the Holiday Express where they referred to get a MUCH cheaper price. That night we squeezed 5 girls on 2 pushed together twin beds, 3 girls in another room, and got 5 hours of sleep until we woke up at 6:30 the next morning for the YSA tour. That in itself was an adventure but again, long story short, we met up with lots of other YSA at the Qibao, Ancient Water Town and had a fantastic time. There were museums, gondola rides down the canal, tons of street food, so much shopping, fun, and new friends. Then we all headed to the adult session of the District Conference, which was fantastic as well. It was REALLY nice to see so many people I recognized from the branch, other programs, and other people from our program from other China cities. I knew so many names and we all had so much to talk about! That night there was a YSA in the same building with dancing, games, and snacks.

5 girls on two twin beds pushed together. Best slumber party ever!

The gondola ride at Qibao.

Oh boy, this was an adventure-ful weekend. The fun doesn’t stop there. When we left the dance, us girls decided to get a full body massage because 1. Asians would be PRO at massages 2. It would be so much cheaper than the states 3. It would be a once-in-a-life-time type experience 4. We were physically exhausted and in need. It was super awesome, but not going to lie I’ve had better ones from my brother and guy friends (just on my back and shoulders though, mom!). I can’t be the best judge though because I totally zonked out in the middle and come to find out I totally snored through half of it. Whoops!

When we checked into our hostel we found that our reservation for the second night had been canceled because we hadn’t shown up for the first night. So 6 of us shared 3 beds in a 6 person room because the other 3 beds were taken up by strangers and 2 girls shared 1 bed in the 8 person room…. Except that 3 of our girls actually got in late and none of us heard them knocking so they slept outside on the porch. Yea. But now they have a good story! The main session of the conference was absolutely wonderful the next morning. Then they fed the YSA homemade lunch that many of the ladies had put together which was like Thanksgiving/Heaven. After that the YSA had a Devotional put on by a guy from Germany about how to stay positive and continue to be an example of the Savior through trial and tribulation.

All in all it was such and incredible weekend and every little bump along the way was worth it! I love this gospel!

The "chapel/meeting room/dance party room" for the District Conference. There was a stage in front of tons of chairs and hidden rooms all around the main room.

Shanghai Trip!

This past weekend we got to spend time in Shanghai! Shanghai is so close and so big that we will visit there several times, so this trip was dedicated to shopping at the huge underground shopping mall where you can barter like crazy!

We got our train tickets for 7:30 so we could have enough time after our classes to get to the station. Unfortunately we forgot that China runs in military time so our tickets were for 7:30 am instead of pm. Even though we had to pay more for a bullet train last minute, I did get to go on a bullet train where as I wouldn't ever have paid the money for it by choice. Oh, the train got us there in 1.5 hours instead of 4 and it was moving at 282 km/hr.

We finally found our little hostel at like 11 pm and they had this cute little weather chart. That night,  my roommate and I had reserved a room with 8 other people... yes, 8 beds of strangers in one room. When we opened the door to go to bed, a cat ran into the room to be amongst all the sleeping people. Lucky for us another pair in our group had gotten a 3 bed-room so my roommate and I shared the 3rd bed in with them.

Saturday morning we went to President Mao's childhood home (which has been converted into a mini museum in his honor.) He is like the George Washington of China. He is the one that basically made communism happen... He improved the lives of the people by doing a lot of bad things. Very fascinating.

After President Mao's, we went shopping for the rest of the day. We only came up from the underground mall twice and the weather was absolutely gorgeous! Our whole group is in this picture except our head teachers, the married couple, me the photographer, and 2 girls (Canadians.)

That night we walked from our hostel to the Pearl Tower! Holy cow Shanghai is gorgeous at night. All the buildings were lit up with gorgeous lights and even the trees were lit up in green! At 10pm, though, all the lights shut off. For the city that never sleeps they sure do go to bed early!

I always have to add food pictures! This was a dang good curry dish near the Pearl Tower. It's rice with a potato and carrot curry sauce with a chunk of baked chicken on top. A little tidbit of info: Plastic chopsticks are useless! No wonder Americans think chopstick are dumb; we only have plastic ones! Wood is the only way to go because then you can actually get a grip on things.

I found a 7 Eleven in China. Enough said. Also, some other tidbits of information is that surprisingly, there are bakeries EVERYWHERE in China. There are bakeries at almost every subway station, ever street corner, etc. If you're hungry you can count on a bakery being nearby. Lastly, I've noticed that wherever we go, we make people happy... because of our entertaining looks and 'loads' of money. You're welcome China :D

This is a picture of The Bund at night. Excuse my language here, mom, but our new favorite phrase quoted from a guide book is, "This is a butt clenching view."

The next morning we took a ferry across the bund! We were debating between this or taking a taxi in the tunnel under the bund but then we found out that the ferry is only 2 yen!

And this is the other side of the bund in the day light. The buildings in China aren't just buildings; tons of them have fancy architect that make them look so cool! The tallest building in the picture is almost in a pyramid shape all the way up and the tip of the triangle rotates just slightly. The line down it isn't just a reflection, the building actually twists like that. Then the one next to it looks like there is a handle at the very top. Others have big platforms or crowns at the top of them. So impressive!

On the other side of the Bund we went to the Yu Yuan (Yu Garden). This is one of the oldest kept-up gardens in China and many emperors have walked through them. They were absolutely gorgeous!

This darling little boy tripped, then as he was about to get up he spotted us Americans and just laid there staring 'til his dad pull him up. 

Nothing says China quite like a suuuuper old person in front of a rice terrace building.

Baby Asian :D

These key chains were for sale everywhere and they are just plastic moldings of all the different kinds of food here in China. So awesome, I was temped to buy tons just because they were funny but no worries, I just snuck a picture instead.

This guy was putting on a play or something that he was narrating in Chinese, I don't know what it was but it was very entertaining to watch. They had these look holes so that you had to pay to actually watch the performance.

Last but not least: food! This dinner consists of spinach in eggs (they put eggs in TONS of their dishes), rice (always), a half eaten meatball of... I'm not sure what meat, and a mixture of potato and bamboo. Pretty delicious dinner I would say. It's funny how many things I would never eat in the states like green beans, lima beans and eggs, mystery meat, soggy veggies, tofu, etc. that I just down at mealtime here.

Lots 'o' Little Stories

I collect stories, big or small, throughout the week for my blog. So this post will be about all of the little stories that went on this week.

1. First, Brielle, you would be in heaven here; the apples are so dang good! China has the best apples that I have ever tasted. There are super crisp all the time and have the best taste. They are for sale at fruit stand everywhere and the lunchroom sells them too. All teachers get a pre-paid meal card every month that has a certain amount on it so we can buy whatever we want offered in the cafeteria. I splurge on apples!
2. The supermarket here is called Suguo and it is in almost every city, like Walmart. The Suguo has two floors and really is just like the China version of a Walmart supermarket. The weird thing is, though, that you have to pay 2 yen extra ($.36) for a bag when checking out your items. We have learned to stock up and bring your own bags so you don’t have to pay for that extra convenience.
3. Also, hairspray is super hard to find here, so when you do STOCK UP! Unfortunately, the hairspray I did manage to find is called Black Forest aka man college scent. After using it, girls will come in to my room and question every time!
4. Come to find out, Asian genes produce less body/facial hair and less body odor, so deodorant, especially female deodorant, is less common in the stores, and few guys have facial hair. Fun fact.
5. Not to brag or anything… but I’m kinda pro at chopsticks now, no big deal. Haha but really, I’ve been using chopsticks for every meal everyday and I almost have them mastered. I even bought myself my own pair to use at home. For the first time the other day, I found something that was easier to eat with chopsticks than it was with a fork!
6. On that same note, forget the chopsticks because I’m going to be a badminton pro! On this school campus there are Ping-Pong tables and badminton courts everywhere. Some older Chinese guys were playing badminton one night and I asked them where they got their rackets and they invited me to play with them, so my roommate and I did and it was so much fun! Then they said they wanted to play a real game instead of just hitting it around, so we did. Little did we know the game was to the death! I didn’t know it was even possible to hit the birdie that hard. My roommate and I just stood there and laughed as the two guys went at it. Long story short, the next day I happened to be coming back from exercising and they saw me and invited me to play again and we played for a while ‘til I had to go. It is so much fun! And playing with those guys forces you to learn quickly. They have been teaching me tricks (through charades because they only speak Chinese) and love to laugh when I completely mess up. They are training me to be professional I’m sure.
7. Oh, I almost forget KTV! For our month anniversary, all of us ILP teachers went out and did Karaoke. Karaoke is a big deal with Asians; they are crazy about it. After going I can see why though, it was so much fun! The KTV place was super fancy and there were people standing in the hallway just to bow as you walk past and all the rooms were super fancy and decorated as well. They pulled out a lot of American songs for us and all of us girls just had a ball with that!
8. Two metro stops from the school is the Suguo. Right next to the Suguo is this street full of different street food, but if you go upstairs right above that street, there is this awesome place full of more delicious street food! Up there, you can get tons of noodles or pot stickers or these wraps or anthing you want; it’s so great. Also you can get ¼ of a whole pineapple on a stick for only 2 yen. It’s so glorious; I eat a lot of pineapple. :D
9. I said I would keep you updated about the pregnant ladies: I saw my first one on Friday! She stood up to get off the metro and it was an obvious baby bump. Score!
10. Casey, one of the directors, came this week. It was funny to watch the school prepare for him because they hung up lots of cute little ILP signs and set out plants and little things to make it all look that much better. Many of the girls dressed up better too and we all chose out best lesson

Whew, it’s been a long time since I’ve updated; sorry for all of the words and less pictures this time!

My dinner of street "pizza" and the most delicious milkshake from this little place called PuPu super close to our school.

Our girls are so creative! They made a massive calendar in the hallway to keep track of all events.

For our one month anniversary dinner some of us went to a Japanese food place and I got this chicken chop over rice with a side of cheesy broccoli.... so dang good!

The hall at the super fancy Karaoke place.