Emily Bowley

Home on the Range

2009-07-26T10:14:00.011+08:00

Beautiful Washington beach sunset!
I got to go to a Mariner's game with the the whole Brown/Paskett family! Mariners vs. Indians--we lost really badly, but it was so much fun!

Grandpa was at the same game and got to meet the Browns!

Daft Punk laser show in Seattle!

Got to see JESSSSS!
Grandparents came for a visit!
Midnight Harry
La Palmara with amazing roomie (who is now hitched..)
Conference crew at Denny Creek!!
Game night at Carly's

Beijing in real time.

2009-05-10T14:18:00.119+08:00

Face mask (Swine Flu protection) goes sleep aid.
China hard seats are hell. I puked twice and two of the girls were so sleep deprived they curled up on the floor (where people spit) so they could sleep.
798 is famous art gallery for Beijing universities.
outside the gallery
never figured this out one,,
We don't question Whitney
I love the Chinese children.

The next few pictures were taken in a Beijing Hutong, which is known as "real China".
bricks hold the roof on

A Chinese construction site.
Hutong hoodlums

After walking through the Hutong, we finally reached our destination! The Underground City!! But this tiny little notice informed us the city had closed.

He was the nicest taxi driver.

Chinese women love light skin, so they use umbrellas on sunny days to protect.
Stretchy mirrors at the Natural History Museum
cute or cheesy..
Fake rhino, totally jumped in the exhibit, had to be ushered out...but I got my picture..

The Hall of Prayers at the Temple of Heaven, Becca was enjoying the lilac trellis.
The Temple of Heaven is to the left.
I love taking pictures of all the cute children in China...
Temple of Heaven
Our group before our hike.
The Great Wall of China!
Che Xui Li and Ai Mei Li :)
There were some intense stairs to climb.
Keirsten and I on a nicer part of the wall.
Rubble windows.
Little old ladies carry bags with cold drink, shirts and picture books up the wall. Each one finds a tourist to latch on to and "befriend" they'll help you climb the wall by holding your hand and telling you you are so beautiful the whole hike in hopes you'll buy things from them. This is Kiersten with her little buddy.
The Great Wall is huge. Inner Mongolia to the right and China to the left.

Rubble wall.
There was cool lighting inside the watch towers.
gorge-ma-porge (momma :))
10K Great Wall Hike.
It was so beautiful (I hiked that whoop whoop!)
The windows all over were pretty.
We hiked the section of the wall that is not restored and not very touristy (Simitai), definitely worth the extra long drive out.
A watch tower.
Ladies like this were all along the wall selling "cold wata, cold beer, cold coka, cold tea and ice cream"- tons of em'.
After the long hike we got to zip line down the Great Wall, it was really close to my favorite part.

After the Great Wall adventure, this lady and her husband took us out to a really nice dinner at a famous restaurant in the city, it was very fancy, please note her attire...
Peking duck was pretty good
there was some delicious cashew chicken that was my favorite part....wow we ate a lot on this vacation!!
everyone at dinner!
Okay...we found Subway.....
Tuna melt bliss right here.
America needs this kind of service. Seven workers=speed
Then we found Cold Stone, I think we were in Westernville....From the ghea to the stone! Till ice cream drips down my cone, till all these flavas known...till all these flavas known....fun job.
Green Tea Cold Stone? Bizaar.
Mudpie Mojo my only addiction-satisfied. Cold Stone is international.
Outside the Silk Market.
This kid was seriously peeing in a crack in a parking lot....
Two little bargain busters!
Watches up the ying yang.
I got my jeans altered at the Silk Market and it looked like a little sweat shop in the corner of the shopping center-but they did an excellent job.
One of the chaotic shopping aisles.
A purse stand-she models her pouch so well!
Giuli and I outside the Forbidden City which was-just for the record-a complete let down.
Monks visit the Forbidden City on holiday-JUST LIKE YOU!

One of the hundreds of temples inside the Forbidden City.
Random day, middle of the week and there are still floods of people visiting.
The Water CUBE!
FYI the Olympic mascots are creepy and they grab you hard and don't let go.
The diving podium inside the Cube.
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Then we headed to Wanfujing Street, AKA snack street, there were many strange things to behold. Like this slimy octopus...
a mountain of someone's intestines....gag....
silk worms... woof
Tree ear (jelly fungus) on a good day..
testies from some animal...
testies from some other animal-4 on one kabob! Can you believe it!
fruit kabobs-delicious..and normal!
kabobed snake
kabobed dog weenie
Sea urchin...how would you eat this.....??
Starfish...and this....
and shark?????
Black scorpians
smaller scorps
gross bug
okay and then I ate three scorpians.

Karaoke, strip poker and slaughtered rats. Oh what a day.

2009-04-20T22:27:00.024+08:00

Jilly took us to KTV for an hour of karaoke fun!
SPICE GIRLS!
Don't Go Chasing Waterfalls.... ha ha

We all had about 12 layers to start...
Fewer clothes...
What's isn't in this picture, that is in the one above?
Even less clothes...
The "winners".
The LOSERS!
The finished product.
Jace used our only knife to do the deed....
There was so much blood....

The children. I love.

2009-04-17T21:04:00.047+08:00

Sixth grade directions lesson
First graders
Besties

nose picker

First grade "food" lesson.

Sweet outfit
Sue
Bella
Lily

Chinese karaoke and sketchy graveyards

2009-04-13T21:12:00.026+08:00

Four humble graves.
Asians are short. The middle guy, Tony, is 20 years old.
Lots of the wall here have shards of glass that keep people out. I think it's resourceful. Go China.
I don't know if she's digging someone up...or putting some one in. Either one is creepy.
I love his child-like innocence.
The hills were covered in graves.
This old man was carrying fireworks to sell to family members that came to pay respects during the national holiday. Instead of bringing flowers, remembrance is show by lighting firecrackers on graves. It was loud.

A fresh tombstone being laid-Chinese style.
I love this picture for four reasons. 1- the bamboo walking stick, 2 the pink bug catcher, 3 the middle boy who is wearing one sock and one shoe and 4 the hug smile on his little face.
We rented a karaoke room and invited all the Chinese assistance and teachers we work with to come and celebrate Jace's 18th birthday. Mike sang the "Wu Ai Ni" (I Love You) song to everyone.
Chelsea, me and Joell.
Whitney and Jace bought sweet Chinese outfits for the occasion. Tights and shorts are what they are all about. She wears them well.
He is one of the new teachers at Bond. His name is McFly. Seriously.

Mandi, me and Joyce! These are the girls I get to teach with everyday. I feel really lucky to be Mandi's partner. She's taught me so much about being a good teacher.
This sweet girl was a daughter to one of the teachers. We played hand clapping games and she got way better than me in five minutes.
She rocked out to a fast Chinese song in front of everyone, go Sunny!

Beautiful Guilin and the adventures of Yangshou

2009-04-08T17:42:00.101+08:00

This was my little "pad" on the sleeper bus. NOTE: sleeper bus is by far the best way to travel long distance. I love. America should look into these thangs.
Some nice Chinese girls switch Whitney and I for our bottom bunks so we could be on the top away from the "aisle dwellers". See what the bus people do it they sell enough tickets so that every part of the bus is filled with people-meaning people sleep in the aisles....and those sleeping on bottom bunks sometimes end up closer to the aisle dwellers than they want. So top bunk is the way to ride.
My view of the aisle before the bus was full. p.s don't come to China if you are claustrophobic .
Welcome to Yangshou my friends.
This sweet little boy got ahold of someone's stickers....
Our first adventure was the "Li River Cruise". Unfortunately, it rained-but that was no problem because our raft was covered. :)
This nice Korean girl joined Whitney, Jace and I She didn't speak English but she was nice.
I got a little artsy-fartsy after I discovered "color accent" on my camera.

I like Chinese graffiti, it's a lot prettier here.
The famous Guilin/Yangshou mountains-stunning.

Random wall.
The famous West Street. I repeat do not come here if you are claustrophobic.
How precious is she?
Shameful chicken burger! Western food was everywhere and Lucy's Place was recommended by everyone. Tony knows how to cook a good burger and make some dang good banana juice.
I signed this on the wall at Lucy's.
This is a 4.5 year old who speaks FLUENT Chinese, English and French. Oh the people you'll meet.
Whit and I HAD to try on the Gucci's.
At some random CD store we found four Mormon Tabernacle CD's-all different volumes. Who ever said the foundation was being laid here.......was right!
For our second day we rented bikes for a "country side tour". Whit and I totally mastered the tandum bike-but it wasn't exactly a cake walk to make it look this easy.
Okay so we tried on the Gucci's and got sucked in to buying some. These puppies started at 220 yuan and we bought them for 30 yuan. We're proud cheap Americas.
Famous "Moon Hill". We hiked that.
Sign we saw right before we started our ascent.

Okay , the hike was harder than expected, so we stopped mid way and took some pictures.
The view from the "hole in the mountain". This picture does not say the thousand words it's worth. It was amazing.

.....I was pooped.
and then I peed.....
...well there wasn't a bathroom and while Whit and I were mooning on Moon Hill I decided to take care of business.
The pink thing is me!

After Moon Hill we headed for the water caves. There was a pretty orange orchard (?) right before we got there, I loved the vibrant oranges, but my cool "color accent" mode didn't grasp it here.
Alright, that little hole is the entrance to the cave....I'm a short person and I was practically laying in the boat so that I didn't hit my head.
Right before take off.
Inside the "water cave" there is actually a sweet mud pool! (I promise I was clothed) It was so much fun! The mud was amazing and the three of us had fun getting each other dirty.
The "slide" was no bueno on my bum bum.

There were natural hot springs to rinse off in after the mud war. The steam is deceiving because it wasn't really hot.
We lost track of time in the cave and when we got out it was pitch black dark. In order to get to the caves we took a ten minute van ride on a crickety dirt road but when we came out there was no van to be found. Our cave tour guide made a quick call and then left us all by our lonesome. This is me in my frustration. Disclaimer: the van came and we were safe.
No, we never showered clean after the mud caves, we just went out to eat-we were really very dirty. But this is Whit and I at Lucy's getting some grub again. (We ate a lot on this trip, Western food is just good stuff.)
The bus ride home was supposed to be on a sleeper, but a sitter is what we got. For the first hour I enjoyed my suns and ipod and then....

made the sitter, a sleeper.

Fenghuang

2009-03-17T15:59:00.053+08:00

Whit and I met this guy while we were waiting to board our first train. He spoke broken English and wanted us to give him and English name. We settled on Boston.
This was the seating arrangement on the 16 hour train ride. It's a good thing we all like each other because it was very cramped.

The way they carry things always amazes me.
This little baby broke my heart when he came and asked me for money.
Welcome to Fenghuang!

Fatty rat that was waiting to be eaten.
Pig face and bee hive to order! Yay!
Some kind of bird you could order..
Tree ear!! A.K.A jelly fungus....we get this for dinner all the time. I am NOT a fan.
bloody fish...out in the open...
This is expensive octopus on a stick..
Skewed baby crabs on a stick. You are supposed to eat the whole thing....
and I actually ate one!!
At night the food vendors come out and cook your food right before your eyes! The spicy fried rice/noodles were amazing and so were the "dumps" (dumplings).
This is the hostel we stayed at for $4 American dollars a night. It was way sweet.
Inside our hostel room
These are the houses along the river.
Beautiful Fenghuang. The houses along the river are partially held up by stilts in the water.

Opposites attract :)
Chinese vendor.
This is a little boy! (there was a slit in the front too.)
Little children make things to sell hikers along the trail.
The yellow flowers were so vibrant
These three little boys were smoking in the woods along the river..they couldn't be older than 5.
Doesn't this look like a Disney lagoon? We found a great hike way up in the mountains. There were multiple water falls and a really cool bridge that wrapped around the mountain so you could hike along side the waterfall

crickety bridge

Recently, a small section of the Southern Wall was discovered, in comparison to the Great Wall, it is very small.
The steps up the Southern Wall
View from the top

Whit and I peaked the wall and it was beautiful. These pictures don't really capture the full excitement of this trip. No one showered for 4 days and all together we spent about 40+ hours traveling to these beautiful places. It was worth it but everyone is sleeping peacefully right now :).

Bike ride through the country and more school!

2009-03-07T00:49:00.027+08:00

Everything looks better in black and white.
Please keep in mind that these are ELEMENTARY students. The do this everyday for morning announcements.

If you pull out your camera, this is what will happen.
Isn't she beautiful?

I was the first white person this baby ever saw.
In need of some natural sugars, we stopped at a dearly beloved fruit stand. As we stood around eating, all the people captured in this picture came to watch us eat. (stopped riding their bikes, crossed the street in groups to stand....a little uncomfortable)
Later, we went to a noodle shop and got bowls of homemade noodies! Each bowl was less than 80 cents. As we ate, the shop owners sneakily got a picture, or two of us.

A dirt road we took that had a beautiful view.
This was a little shack we saw on a farm.

1st Week of Teaching

2009-02-28T10:40:00.013+08:00

I love this picture :)
My very first day teaching.
Chinese children always have joyful looks on their face, I love them!!!!
Picture time after class!
These are the girls that come say hello between every class! They help me with Chinese, and I help them with English!
One of my favorite things is when Mandi and I walk through the school halls, swarms like this follow behind us :) ( I named the little girl in the bottom left Sue because she has curly hair.)
Mandi getting ready to eat lunch at Leixiyixioaqu (school name).
This is the kitchen where the teacher's eat. Please note the fire hole that heats the wok.
This is the view from one of my classrooms, beautiful, huh?
This is what Mandi and I saw as we left school on Thursday. They make us feel so good :)

Guangzhou trip!

2009-02-22T20:39:00.034+08:00

In China, PDA is nothing to be ashamed of. Girls hold hands, guys cuddle...it means nothing! This is a picture in the bus station of a prime example.
After museuming, Whit and I decided to mimick our bus station friends.
Our initial reason for going to Guangzhou was to see the International Circus. Rumor has it-that this is the most incredible circus in all of Asia and Europe and after seeing it, I concur. It was jaw-dropping and worth every cent! Can you see the elephants?
Whit, "circus-freak", and me right before the show.
Becca and I started doing the cha-cha together in the center of the park when an old lady bumped Becca outta the way and started groovin' with me! I couldn't stop laughing-it was so much fun!
Three cute, old, Chinese men at the park.
This is a 17 story pagoda! Unfortunately, it was closed and we couldn't climb it, bummer!
Becca, me and Chelsea.
A holy Buddhist temple.
This is the entrance to the Monk's dwelling.
I love Becca!!
Whit, Jace, Becca, Mandy, me and Brad. These are the lovelies I live with! (missing: Joell)
Another shameful, wonderful meal at McDonalds. (Julie and I)

This is the entrance to our hole-hell (hotel). For $5 a person we bunked here for a night. A friendly local led us to this apartment where beds can be rented out. Not a bad idea....except when I first went in I instantly gagged from the putrid smell. I can't think of anything to compare the smell to..all I know is I ran out of the room and continued to gag, over and over. Fortunately, the room where I slept was not overpowered as strongly as the front room and the night went fine. Sleeping here was very eye opening to me, and last night I realized how I have been unbelievably blessed my entire life.

Becca, Whitney and I shared this room.
Look close, the bed had mice poopies!
Crazy sink. Please note the red bucket. This is where the sink pipe drains. Once the bucket is filled, it's put in the bathroom where the water is scooped and splashed into the squatter (it becomes flush water).

This was the smelliest bathroom I have ever used. I still don't know where the wreak was coming from, but I used this squatter strictly for bragging rights.
Emily's Cake Shop!
Next time you hear the China population stats...think of this. Also, note the smog.
Line at KFC-they love that place here. (There wasn't a special sale...this is just how the line is...)
Ahhhh....we are finally sitting, and on our way home.

Pagoda Parks and Flat Tires.

2009-02-22T20:17:00.008+08:00

A few days ago, Mandy (the girl who teached at the same schools I do) and I decided to check out a popular park near our school headquarters and apartment. It was stunning and an adventure..

I was meditating at the top of the Pagoda, enjoying the Eden-like weather, when a young couple joined me at the top. The girl giggled and shyly asked to take a picture with me :) I felt like a movie star.

Pagoda steps.

I think this looks like a calendar page...it was breathtaking. After this wonderful experience Mandy and I went back to our bikes to find that someone had let the air out of all 4 of our bike tires. It had been a long day so it wasn't super funny then, but someone was just having fun and it was easy to have them refilled.

Country Life.

2009-02-22T19:34:00.011+08:00

Zhongshan country.
Local farmer.
Farmer's home.
Local farmer.
Southern Chinese food is known for it's spicy kick. This is where the kick comes from. (This is a near by outdoor market where fresh produce is sold right from the farm.) Very fresh.

2009-02-17T12:31:00.019+08:00

Hey mom! Look at what I'm bringing home!
A few of us girls had a severe chocolate craving so we whipped up a cake mix and ate it like that since we don't have an oven--only a wok....and that won't do.
Whit and I with a duck head.
This is me and the nasty egg. The egg "white" was a black, jelly thing and the yolk was green, grey.
We had a FHE family fear factor. Every one participated and it was so much fun. To keep things fair we pulled name out of a hat and then what you had to eat out of a hat. The options were: chicken feet, 1,000 year old egg, sweet and sour fish (guts included), duck tongue, octopus, pig intestine, skewed baby chick, and spicy tofu. I drew the egg and gagged my brains out. It was horrid. But I also tried the octopus. Not a big fan.
Represent.
Seahorse...in the supermarket!
We got bikes! This is how I will get to school every day. Bikes here have the same rights as cars. We can ride in any lane on any road, it rocks! (there are no traffic laws here what-so-ever)
This is my awesome roomie. She had a chocolate craving so she whipped out her chocolate spread and dug in with her fingers. I caught her in the act :)
Part of our training was sitting in on an English class. The teacher decided to give some of us on the spot training and so he made the kids pick some of us to teach a little. I got to go up, and I loved it, but this is a pic of Becca.
I think when the elderly reach a certain age they become city cleaners because those who sweep the streets and pick up trash are always old. These are typical brooms. I would love to try one out :)

2009-02-17T11:53:00.011+08:00

Jace, me, Becca, Chelsea, Keirsten, Julie, Mandi on top of the pagoda near our apartments. The top floor has a 360 view of Zhongshan-very pretty!
I think my bed has spiders. I've gotten bit a TON. This was the most gnarly.
I'm used to "mountain breeze, lavendar, or the origional" Tide, China offer's a "snap pea" scent.
This is the group of sinners who needed some pizza love.
Pizza Hut here is first class!
Diapers are too much of a hassle. Just cut a whole in the pants! When we see feces on the sidewalk in America, we know they are from an animal. The same is not true for China.
Does this look like Cali to anyone?
Tentatively, this is one of the schools where I will be teaching.
A rare find my friends.

February 12, 2009

2009-02-13T23:09:00.011+08:00

The mall.
This is what it's like to shop at the local shopping center. Insanity!
McDonald's apple pie and taro pie! I haven't been brave enough to try one yet.
Some little girls in my neighborhood tied a string to a dead rat's foot and chased some of my friends. This is the prized rat...
I saw a couple families with cute babies, so I asked them if I could hold their babies, and they were more than willing to hand their children over. This place is my paradise.
She was so excited to let me hold her baby! But I was just as excited to hold her baby, Jessica! She was such a good baby!
I love fruit stands!!!!!!!
On the way over to the Bond Institute, a few of us stopped at a juice stand and got the most delicious drinks. I got orange and it was so flavorful! Not only was it delicious but healthy-straight fruit and water. I love.
This little man is old, yet he is peddling a bike with hundreds of pounds of flowers on the back of his bike. He is my hero.

Hong Kong Temple (late)

2009-02-12T22:16:00.004+08:00

The architecture was unique-different than any other temple I've ever seen, yet the spirit inside was exactly the same. I have yet to be in a place as quiet and peaceful as the temple during this trip. Silence here is just not an option.
Someone in my group said the HK temple was the 2nd most expensive (after NY) and I easily believe that because the church bought property right in the heart of HK. The temple blends in, yet majestically stands out. It was stunning.
The work is progressing! This is the proposed construction site for a stake center across the street from the temple.
This probably says something like, "The Hong Kong, China Temple" but I'm not sure.

Grocery Store time :)

2009-02-12T12:18:00.011+08:00

These are here to he eaten!
This is how you buy your meat, it's just hanging in clumps....
This was right above the little bins where you serve yourself candy, kind of like in Top Foods. A lot of the candies here are little cups of jello, I tried a strawberry one and it was good, but not quite satisfying as a "treat". Apparently, the jello treats can be dangerous.
Ha ha ha weighting station!
Yummo! Eels for dinner.
Yummy, yummy KINDER!
May I remind you, this picture was not taken at a pet store, instead, at the grocery store in the produce section. Pick the best one and cook 'im for dinner!
Again, another dinner eentre.
Me and the fish butcher :)
Guts, blood, fins and heads-what more could you ask for?!
You think they'd have a native English speaker check their signs before printing....
Dried starfish!!
If you don't want fresh butchered fish, you can opt for the dried fish in a basket.
This is a basket of very expensive, dried baby shrimp.
Gum here gets soft and wet very quickly, so the Chinese bottle their gum in medicine-looking bottles to keep the moisture out, so the check out line actually looks like a mini pharmacy.
We see Chinese girls carry things like this all the time! It's also very common for girls who are JUST friends to walk down the street holding hands. This is Mandy and I carrying our new microwave back to apartment.

I'm not in America Anymore.

2009-02-11T20:50:00.009+08:00

This is one of the little oranges, my favorite!

Joelle and I on our comfy couch!! All wood baby! Our apartment doesn''t really have any place to lounge, our beds are pretty stiff and the couch is cusionless, but that's not really a problem because it much more fun to be out on the town!
Isn't this INSANE?!?!?!? How can they think this is okay??? We see little kids (and babies) cruising with their parents all over town on motor bikes, it's normal.
This was just cute, two matching Chinese twin boys :)
This is a common site here. Roads have lots of bikes.
Zhongshan is very tropical. There are palm trees and fruit stands everywhere. The banana's and oranges here are DELICIOUS. I love.
Every country is egocentric. On the Chinese map, China is the center of the world. Mike (head teacher) taught me that the Chinese characters for China mean "middle country" because the Chinese really did use to believe they were the center of the world.

1st day in China!

2009-02-11T19:45:00.003+08:00

These pictures are kind of out of order, but this is right before we went into eat our first meal in mainland China. Whit, Becca, me, Jace, Mike, Mandy
Classic China. Billions of people everywhere, lots of busses on the street and a constant haze in the air-which confuses me because more people here ride bikes than drive cars.
Joelle, Whit and I share a room, not bad! We got new mattresses, but we didn't get enough sheets, so our beds are a little interesting. Please note that the comforters do not completely cover the bed. I don't know if that's just the Chinese way....or what...
I used this right after the train ride into mainland China, it's called a squatter, lovely. Please note, there is no toilet paper-that for sure is the Chinese way.
The front door of our apartment!
Our neighbors balcony......yes that's fish.....
This was one of the entrees at my first real Chinese dinner. I ate some of this fish, not bad just very salty. A girl at my table ate the eye. Wow.

Hong Cong is Kool!

2009-02-06T17:34:00.006+08:00

Chelsea, me and Whit on our boat ride through the fish harbor in Hong Kong, it was very beautiful, the building behind us is the restaurant on water, but we didn't eat there.
Check me out! The peace signs and hats are SO Chinese!
I'm ashamed. It didn't take long for me to crave American food. A value meal is about $3 here!

This was the train ride we took from HK to mainland China. We saw many sad things.

Hong Kong all lit up!!! This is only a tiny sample of the millions of sky scrappers that make Hong Kong what it is.

This is Whit and I right off the plane in Hong Kong, note all the luggage!

Hong Kong is amazing. I love this place. the weather is incredible-warm and delicious. There are little markets everywhere and parents LOVE when we (Americans) talk to their little kids. The kids themselves are adorable. They always wave and smile at us.

Right after we got off the plane we met out tour guide who took us on a 45 minute bus ride to out 4 star hotel (WOW). After getting settled in our room, our group (which is 24 ILPers going to various schools in China) met up and headed to the Hong Kong temple to do baptisms for the dead. That was the only absolute MUST on my list, so I was thrilled. The temple is beautiful but surprisingly small. It was neat to do baptisms for Chinese names, I actually got baptized for 5 Lin Si's. One of the temple workers said that was due to polygomy amoungst the wealthy After that we walked back to our hotel (about a 25 min walk) and enjoyed noticing the small differences that you couldn't catch in a car. We saw two different weddings along our way! We also stopped at a fruit stand and bought a bag of tiny, tiny, tiny oranges that were delicious. The buildings here are pretty much all apartment complexes and they are VERY high. I don't think anyone has a dryer because even on the 100th floor you can see clothes being hung out to dry! In about 15 minutes we are going to the Hard Rock Cafe- Hong Kong and then to a laser show on the Hong Kong Harbor. It's said to be the largest laser show in the wrold! How exciting! I have alot of pictures but I don't know how long it will take to load them so I will try but they may come later. Thanks for reading!

Taipei!

2009-02-06T06:43:00.004+08:00

Emily, Whitney & Chelsea--exhausted!

Hello Taipei! I'm finally in China, even though the travel isn't over yet. The 14 hour flight was very smooth. I took two Tylenol PM's (thanks Brother Brown) and that helped me sleep most of the flight. A big huge group of fellow ILPers just showed up and we are getting ready for our HK flight. Everyone seems great and I can't wait to get to know them better in the next few months.

2009-02-05T01:43:00.002+08:00

CRAZY NEWS! ILP just called me and announced that a whole school in China cancelled on them and they had to relocate two schools of teachers. That means I am not going to Kunming anymore, but instead Zhongshan! I still need to let the news sink in because for 11 months I'd planned on Kunming, and here we are DEPARTURE day and things change. Ha ha ha I am very excited I can tell this is going to be the best adventure of my life!

Preparation.

2009-02-02T23:45:00.003+08:00

Here I am, sitting in my room with dirty clothes that need to be packed. It is approximately 2 days before departure and only one bag is ready to go-the supply bag. Preparing for this trip has taken a lot more planning than one might expect. I can't imagine how a MISSIONARY feels-having to pack for 2 years. 4.5 months is hard enough. Do they have bobby pins in China? What about Q-tips. What about contact solution? Should I bring a 5 month supply just to be safe? If so, that just means one less pair of shoes.

Testing, testing, 1....2....3

2009-01-26T14:11:00.000+08:00

Hey everyone! This is Em's cousin Courtney, we're trying to get this whole blog thing figured out before Emily leaves us for China! We sure will miss you Em, and we love you lots!