Only 5 Weeks Left in CHINA!

(Below are a few email excerpts and Facebook comments from Desiree since she can't post anything here from China. I am her mom  and I am doing this for her. Also, I am putting in some random photographs as well. I am just following her directions. It certainly isn't as good as Desiree would do it so sorry about that.)

"I feel like my painting skills have improved a bit since my first painting."

"Tonight me, Maranda and Madison gave an English name to this adorable little boy. He wanted a cool name like Justin Bieber. So we named him JB :) And now for the rest of the life, he will forever be JB."

"Today I was at the beach on one side of the pacific ocean, and my mom & sister were at the beach on the other side. That's just crazy :)"

"Teaching all morning, lunch, 3 hours of ghostbusters/thriller dance rehearsal, go to Bond to figure what we need to plan for the haunted house, come home and start preparing for tomorrows Halloween themed lesson. I think I'm doing more Halloween stuff in China than I'd be doing in America :)"

"Tonight I was at the fruit market and after looking around I decided I wanted to buy just one orange. I looked at the lady and said, "how much?" She looked at me, then looked at another coworker, then back at me, and handed it to me for free :) ♥ China ♥"

"My life is just perfect :) Preston being gone makes my life perfect. Being in China teaching kids makes my life perfect. Having an amazing family makes my life perfect. But also, not having any money makes my life perfect. And most girls wouldn't like having their boyfriends be 5,600 miles away, but I wouldn't have it any other way :) I'm so proud of him every single day. A lot of times it's the hard things in life that make everything worth it :) we wouldn't learn or grow if everything was always "perfect" With all the trials, and successes, my life is (through my eyes) perfect :)"

"Our first cooking class! We made TONS of dumplings from scratch :)" (There will be more to come later. Hope you enjoy.)

More exciting news after one month in CHINA!

I'm sorry that I am not updating this blog as regular and as frequently as I should but I have had a lot of technical difficulties with it since I arrived in China more than a month ago. So, I am having my mom update it this time for me. So, if it looks a little different, that is why. She is doing it using an email I sent her and by using pictures I post to Facebook. Well, here goes....

Here is a picture of the school where I teach. The Kindergarten is the red brick building on the right. This was taken from our apartment.

It was just a crazy busy week. You'd think that being a teacher for 3 hours a day wouldn't be very time consuming. But I assure you, It actually is. Here is a breakdown of my average day :)  6:15 - Wake up 7:10 - Breakfast in cafeteria 8:00 - Go to supply room and work on finishing touches for my lesson plan 8:40 - Start teaching :)  11:30 - End teaching, go to lunch 12:30 Meeting with Head Teacher every monday and thursday 1:45 - Evaluations with Head Teacher 3:00 - Head back over to school and teach ELE class 3:30 - Go back to the apartment 4:00 - Start planning what I am going to do for tomorrows lesson (go buy stuff if I have to) 5:00 - Dinner 6:00 - Meeting with native coordinators about how we're doing and what we need, etc.. 7:00 - Chinese language class (during the week we have chinese twice, kung fu once, and painting once) 8:30 - Class ends and me and kaydee walk back to the apartment 8:40 - Stop at a store right next to our apartment and buy chocolate ice cream for 4 yuen (a little bit less than 50 cents in America)  9:00 - Shower/upload pictures and videos to facebook/email Preston/watch Grey's Anatomy/skype/etc.... 10:45 - Go to sleep :)  Here is a picture of me in my first Chinese painting class: I know it doesn't that busy, but It feels that way sometimes. Anyway, I am in love with everything (except maybe the food...) It's little things during the day that make me stop and think to myself, "am i really here? Is this really my life? How did I get so lucky?" I'll give you an example.  Today I went and taught my ELE class. ELE is just something where we go in classes and just talk to the little kids for 30 minutes. They know very very little English and all we do is stand up there and talk about things that they can kind of relate to. We use pictures and props, but we still don't get them to speak very much. While I was on my way out of my ELE class, I passed MY class :) the one I teach every morning. As I walked by, I saw Paco inside, so I waved :) before I know it, they are all screaming "TEACHA!!!!!!" And then the Chinese teacher runs out and says, "Oh hi teacher! Come in!!!!" Today was Apple's birthday (yes, that's her name) she turned 6. They were having a birthday party for her. And when I walked in, it hit me. That feeling. The, "i love my life so much" feeling. There's something about seeing all the kids run up and hug you because they weren't expecting to see you :) there's something about all of them saying my name and wanting me to sit by them so they can share their cake with me. There's something about seeing MY kids compared to my ELE kids. There's something about seeing how the kids talk English outside of class with us because they want to make us happy. There's something about seeing the hard work pay off :) There's something about the way the Chinese teachers just welcomed me into the class even when I wasn't really supposed to be there. There's something about the way one Chinese teacher saw my locket and asked what was inside, and then asked me if I had a boyfriend, and how he's so handsome and asked me if I was going to marry him. There's just something about China :) Something special. You couldn't even imagine what it's like here until you get here. It's 100% not what I expected. I never knew It could really feel like home. I never knew I could love my kids this much already. You think you love them the first day you meet them, but it's nothing compared with my relationship with them now. I can't imagine how much i'll them by the time I have to leave. Leaving them is going to be one of the hardest things. I don't even want to think about it.  Ok I'll actually tell you about my week now :) Well technically I'll tell you about both of my weeks. Last week wasn't very special. Just a normal week :) Chinese class was really hard last week. I want to just give up. But I won't let myself. As long as I know i'm trying my hardest, then I have no reason to be upset with myself about not understanding it very well. So mom, trust me when I say that I am trying. It just really is like learning 3 languages in one. One for the characters/symbols, one for the words, and one for the tone. there are 5 tones and they are ALL very important. One word can mean something totally different depending on the tone.  One thing that is pretty cool is that I got my chinese name this week! :) My name is Miao Qing. It means smart and happy/sunny. She also said it had a meaning that meant I am inventive and a fast thinker. I was flattered :) If you don't know how to pronounce it, just say, "meow ching" and that how it sounds lol. No words in China ever look like they sound. Check out my video about this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEokgKnIaEo&feature=related Ok next topic. Chinese karaoke is amazing. I'm tellin' ya, if someone opened some awesome karaoke clubs in America, they'd make so much money. You wouldn't think they are that fun until you go. Me and Kaydee sung Baby and Never Say Never by JB :) if you still haven't watched the video, you can go here:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=p8jJ28yssq0 In other news, I am still somewhat sick. My throat hurts in the morning and sometimes during the day and my nose is runny a lot. But I'm ok :) and I take my vitamin C almost everyday. I just think that I'm not super healthy because I don't get enough of what my body needs. It's just usually rice and some veggies and that's it. But I finally found some dark chocolate soybean milk that is to die for. It's only 2 yuen so I buy it almost everyday. one thing I really miss in juice. I can't remember the last time I had juice. BUT, this week me and Kaydee found an amazing place that is within walking distance that has amazing dumplings (or as we call them in the states, pot stickers) It's only 4 yuen for 10 of them. And they give you a melted peanut butter sauce to dip them in. It's like heaven in my mouth. But ok, I'll stop talking about food or else I could go on forever.  One last thing before I end. I want you let you all know that I kick butt at kung fu :) but my body sure is paying for it. Right now I'm soooooooo sore. My whole body. I'll be sure to get a video of me practicin' my moves sometime soon.  Wow, this is so long. Why do I always talk so much?  Ok I'll wrap this up :) I'll end by saying that I think it took me exactly a month to really love everything here, and to really feel like I live here. Like, now I worry about going home and missing my bed here. I love my rock hard bed :) I think about how much I'm going to miss some of the food that I'll be able to find again. And when I look at our apartment, I really feel like I'm looking at home. So, I officially feel like I'm  livin' in China :) and no, I'm not home sick at all. I hope that's not a bad thing. And mom, I can't wait to get my packages :) and Preston, I can't wait to get another letter :)  I won't be writing a weekly email next week cuz we leave for vacation in 2 days and it's our longest vacation. It's 9 days. I'm SO excited! We're going to Guilin and Yongshuo. If you don't know what those places are, google them. And you'll be jealous.  In the mean time, hope you enjoy this short video of some of my students (I call them my kids) as they dance to a hugely popular Asian song called "Sorry, Sorry" by the group Super Junior. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GylR74rgfk&feature=related Ok, I love you family & Preston! And, thank you again to so many friends who have supported me in taking on this adventure. I appreciate ALL of you.  Love, Desiree

First 2 1/2 Weeks in China

Hello from the mainland in CHINA!! 

I've been here for 19 days. Sorry that this is my first blog post. But I have some good excuses. 

#1 We didn't have internet for almost the whole first week

#2 we went on our first vacation to Beijing. 

Basically, I've been pretty busy. 

I've started writing a huge email home every week to my parents and Preston. I decided that since there's so much I need to catch up on, I'm just going to post that email in here. I added some pictures, but they probably didn't show up. Sorry :/ I'm still trying to figure out how to make that work. 

So lets get this thing started:

Week #1

Ok, so this week was sooo busy. Teaching is still way hard, but it's getting easier. It's just so hard with the little kids because they just don't want to pay attention to anything. I'm in charge of games. I have to teach english by playing games with them. You'd think that'd be easy right? Yeah, it's not. If I play twister with them, all they do is roll around on the mat. If I play a bean bag toss game, all they wanna do is throw the bean bags at each other. If I want to play a matching card game, all they want to do is steal cards from each other. It's just hard. But I'm learning what works and what doesn't work :)

In other news, I tried chicken feet this week.

 You'll eventually see the video of it. I gagged. It was really really gross. The skin is just disgusting. I'm stil having some issues with the food, but it's getting a lot better. Breakfast is the best meal now.

Something that I love about China is that everyone is so nice to Americans. Everyone ALWAYS waves and says hi to us in English. The other day, we were at this place called Walking Street. It's like a really pretty outdoor mall that is supposed to look like it's in Italy. So we were there and one of the ILP girls was getting her picture drawn by a good artist here. So we were watching him draw her, and suddenly people started to come up and watch. By the end, there were 49 people watching (yes, we counted) and this one girl asked to get a picture with me because she said I was beautiful. She spoke English and she was adorable :) and I saw people taking pictures of me on their phones. It was funny. And today I was walking to the cafeteria and these little boys pointed at me and yelled, "Lady Gaga!! Lady Gaga!!!!!" It was kinda funny. Some of my kids also call me "Teacher Grandma" because of my hair. Yeah, that's not so funny. But one of my kids told me I have beautiful hair so it's all good :) But people aren't asking to touch my hair like I expected. Actually, no one has touched it yet. Except for a couple kids. But that's it.

New topic: Chinese ice cream is the best ice cream in the entire world.

 It's the best thing I've had since I've been here. Me and Kaydee always go to this one ice cream place whenever we're in that part of town. They only have 2 flavors and they change them everyday. They make the waffel cone right in front of you and it costs about .30 cents in America. It's soooo good. I'm going to miss it soooo much when I leave.

Also, we started our first Chinese language class last week and we're about to have class again right now. We are learning some awesome stuff :) I know how to say hello , how are you, my name is Desiree, I am a teacher, I am not a student, I am American, very good, not good, cute, the food was good, and more. Now I'll say something in Chinese :)

Ni hao, wo jiao Desiree. Wo shi mei guo ren. Wo bu shi xue sheng. Wo shi lao shi.

I'm sure you can tell that "Wo" means me or I. "Bu" means not. and "Ni" means you.

Basically. I'm learning a lot :) 

WEEK #2/Beijing Vacation

Hello!

There's so much to talk about. I don't even know where to begin. Sorry - this is gonna be novel. But I'll start with Beijing :) We left on a Thursday afternoon right after we finished teaching. Get this. We took a bus, which dropped us off where we had to catch a different bus. Which took us to a bullet train. Which took us to our actual train. I've been in sooooo many airports, train stations, and bus stations in the past 3 weeks. It's crazy. But anyway. We had to run to catch our train. Yes, it looked like something out of a movie. When we finally got on the train, tons of people were all sitting in our seats. we felt bad kicking them out, but there was no way we were going to stand for 21 hours. The ride to Beijing is like driving from New Mexico to Canada. Actually.. it's probably longer than that. But anyway, we finally got our seats. This was the first time that I really experienced culture shock. There were people who bought tickets to STAND the whole way there. 21 hours. I couldn't really believe it. By the time it was midnight, they'd lay out newspaper and sit in the isles. Some of these people had babies. It was very different from anything you'd ever see in America. But even though the train ride was very interesting.. I liked it :) it was a good experience. We made some awesome asian friends and taught lots of them how to play Uno. By the end of the ride, this one Asian was hitting on me a lot. He was on his way to college. It was kinda funny cuz he couldn't speak much English at all so all he'd do it pat me on the head and play with my hair. 

So after we got to Beijing, we took a taxi to our AMAZING hotel :) my head teacher had hook-up's because her dad works for Marriott hotels. So we got to stay on the "executive floor" can I just say... It was freakin' nice :) And k, let me tell you about Beijing. It's like California. Seriously. I could live there and be totally fine. 

On our first whole day there, we did so much. We got on the subway and went to Tiananmen Square and The Forbidden City (they are right across from each other)

The Forbidden City was the best. It really was a huge city, but it's all fenced in. You know in Mulan at the end when she saves everyone? Yeah, that's the Forbidden City :) it takes you right back to 100's of years ago. I was in love with it :) And lots of people asked me to take pictures with them. I lost track of how many after it hit 6. So then we went to The Summer Palace. You'll see the pictures on facebook (Preston, you'll see them some other way... eventually) But this was my favorite place in all of Beijing (besides the Great Wall) it was just gorgeous. Words can't even describe. It's like a whole mountain with temples all over it. There's this one place where people have written stuff all over it. I decided to write "Desiree <3's Preston" so it was officially written in China that Desiree loves Preston :) 

So the whole time in Beijing, we mainly ate American food. Because we miss it SO much. McDonalds was mainly all we ate :) we loved it so much. 

The next day was the Great Wall!!!!!! I was so excited. More excited than I've been about anything for a while :) We took a bus to get there. Once I saw it from a distance, I started freaking out. Wouldn't you be freaking out if you were about to walk on the Great Wall of CHINA?? :) So we got there and started our hike :) if you didn't know... The Great Wall is alllll stairs. We hiked to the highest point of the entire wall :) it took 1,618 stairs to get to the highest point :)

And everyone kept stopping me to get pictures with their babies or kids... It was kinda weird. But ever since this kid at our school said I was Lady Gaga, my head teacher ALWAYS calls me that. So on the great wall, she points at me and shouts, "IT'S LADY GAGA!!!!!!!!!" And i knew what would happen... so I was just like "noo!!!!" and then I tried to get away but people were like "Oh my gosh!!!!! picture! picture!!!!!!!" and they wouldn't let me go! I will put the link to the video right here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihUurQJMWvY&NR=1
It doesn't show most of it, it only shows the end of the madness. But you can kinda imagine :) but anyway. The Great Wall was better than I thought it would be. It was something I'll never ever forget. And hopefully I'll get to see it again when I (hopefully) come back to head teach :) with (hopefully) my future husband (hopefully) Preston :) 

After the great wall we just went to a Tea place where they taught us how to make Chinese tea :) we also taste tested it. Most of it was just herbal tea.. But I think one of them had some black tea in it. But I figured that it was part of the culture... so I tried it. Hopefully God will forgive me. We then drove past the Birds Nest and Water Cube. They were so awesome :) 

That night, me and one other girl decided we wanted to go back to the birds nest to get some pictures. So we get on the subway (we are never supposed to travel in groups of less than 3... so we were kinda breaking a rule. But no one else would go with us.. so we had to) but when we got to our transfer place, a woman told us the subways stop running at 10:00. So were stuck in a random subway station... It was kinda scary. Not gonna lie. We ran outside and decided we needed to get a taxi to take us back to our hotel. It was kinda excited cuz we'd never flagged down a taxi before. We tried for 15 minutes. No luck. It was dark and there were all these guys walking around. It was just kinda sketchy. But this is China and everyone is nice so we weren't too scared. I finally flagged one down :) we tried to tell him where to go but it just so happens that he didn't speak ANY english at all. So we pulled out the hotel card that was in Chinese and pointed at it. He finally figured it out :)  we decided to trust him because he had Mickey Mouse on his steering wheel. We finally got back safely :) lesson learned.

 #1 never ride the subway late at night.

 #2 don't travel in groups of only 2 people.

Beijing was just awesome cuz we got to wear jackets :) it was like fall weather! It made me and Kaydee really miss Utah. In Zhongshan it's still 95 degrees with 90% humidity. But anyway, the next day we woke up early and went to the Pearl Market where they had amazing prices on everything! I got a lot of Christmas Presents :) I got something for Paris, Halle, Mom, Dad and Preston. Sorry Cherie.. I'll find you something eventually :) But yeah, it was just awesome. The dvd's were all about 3 american dollars. I got Toms for 11 american dollars (they cost 50 in america), an awesome silk robe for 15 american dollars, and then christmas presents :) 

After that, we got on the train to come home :( another 21 hours... But the seats were bigger :) and we knew what to expect. What we didn't expect was to see little kids just peeing and pooping on the floor next to us... once again, culture shock. I also didn't expect to go to the bathroom and see pee and poop on the floor and on the wall. I'm not even exaggerating. But hey, it's China. 

So we're finally home now :) Zhongshan really does feel like home now. I love it :) I'll be sure to do an apartment tour soon so you can see everything :) like our awesome Justin Bieber wall :) 

Ok, sorry this is so long. Normally they won't be this long. But I just had to include the whole vacation. I just want to quickly let you know that candy does not really exist here in China.. So I'm kinda going through withdraws. But I found this awesome chewy starburst like candy that I am going to bring home to everyone :) (I'm gonna send some to you Preston) :) and mainly all I eat is rice and some weird grass like stuff... along with corn once in a while. But I eat it. So you all should be proud of me :) Another thing. Our hot water doesn't work... so we've been taking cold showers. But it totally works cuz we're always covered in sweat (literally) so we actually love it :) but I've been washing my face with ice cold water. I'm gonna come back to America and I'll be used to all this cold water. It'll be great :) I've also gotten in the habit of taking a water bottle with me whenever I brush my teeth because the water in the sink will make us sick if it gets in our mouths. 

But I'm finally used to everything :) And I love it. We go on vacation again on October 1st! Ah it's so soon! And it's a 9 day vacation :) woohoo!!! 

I'll be sure to post again soon :) 

p.s. I love CHINA!!

Hong Kong!!!

Hello everyone! Yes, I am writing this from CHINA! I made it here alive. I can't believe this is my first blog post from over here. But I'll go ahead and get started :)

After landing in Hong Kong, we took a bus to our hotel and had the rest of the day to do whatever we wanted. The first thing we did was get some food. The food in Hong Kong is really amazing. I loved it. After that, we wandered around and went to some shops. But really, the shops in Hong Kong aren't that cheap. So if you ever go there, don't do too much shopping there. Then after that, we randomly found this beautiful park right in the middle of the city. It was the most beautiful park I've ever seen. 

We got rained on, but it was amazing. Fyi, the rain in Hong Kong is warm and amazing. 

Then the next day was Sunday and we spent the whole morning and afternoon on a tour. We went to Victoria's Peak. Let me tell you, it was the most breathtaking place ever.

 We then went to a fishing village. Apparently Jackie Chan makes a lot of movies there.

We also went to an amazing market and bought "I <3 HK" shirts. It's so cliche but I love it. And then me and Kaydee got pictures of our names translated into Chinese for way cheap. I loved it. I just love the city. I also got a tie for my missionary :) it's blue with chinese writing all over it. It was only 2 American dollars. Did I mention I love Hong Kong? :) 

We ended the day with the temple :) It was closed because it was Sunday. But I still can't believe I can say I've been to the Hong Kong temple. It really was beautiful. 

This was the whole group that went to China. My actual group only has 13 people including the head teacher. 

So we took the subway, as they call it, the MTR, to the temple and then me, Kaydee and our buddy Adam took it back all by ourselves. We felt pretty grown up :) Basically, I love Hong Kong and I think it's one of the most amazing cities ever. 

P.s. This is the best pastry ever. It's a coconut bun. It was our favorite thing to eat for breakfast everyday. We had this little bakery that we went to every morning :) we walked around the city like it was our city. Basically, we had the best time in Hong Kong :)

Korea!!!

I'm in Korea right now. WHAAAT???? Yeah, I know. It's pretty awesome :) I'm literally halfway around the world and it feels AWESOME!
Here's how it all went down.
We went from SLC to LAX which was about a 2 hour plane ride.
Then we went from LAX to Seoul Korea which was a 12 hour plane ride. And lemme tell ya, Korean Air is the best way to fly. Ever. Hands down.

Here's what we ate on Delta

And here's what we are on Korean Air:

The food totally exceeded my expectations. It was basically amazing.

We also got this stuff :)

Me and Kaydee actually slept most of the time. I took nyquil and it knocked me out for about 3 1/2 hours. The rest of the time I slept in spurts of 30 - 40 minutes, and then randomly waking up to the high pitched Korean voices coming over the intercom. 

Now we are just sitting in the airport for 3 hours until we leave AGAIN for Hong Kong :) which will be another 2 hours on a plane. 

I also find it pretty awesome that we completely skipped August 26th 2011. Yep, you heard me. It's August 27th. And we left on the 25th. Technically we experienced only 2 hours of the 26th. I'm officially a time traveler :)

Fundraising/ILP Training

Ok everyone, I've got a lot to catch up on. First things first. I am still trying very hard to fundraise for my service trip to China. As of right now, I still need $1,470. The difficult thing is that I need to have all of my fee paid by Friday, July 29th. Which is what brings me to my next subject. There is a yellow "donate" button right over there ----------------------------------------->>>>>>>
If you could donate anything, it would be greatly appreciated. You can donate using PayPall, your credit or debit card, or you could send a check made out to ILP or to me. I've done a lot of fundraising so far. We had a booth at Lehi Round Up Days and also did a fundraiser at Shakey's Pizza. And if you came to either of those, thank you so much :)
In other news, I just completed my two day training with ILP last week. It was actually a really amazing experience. I met some people who will be in my group :) (in the picture below)

If you don't know me, I'm the one on the left :) Anyway, we learned all about how to teach the kids. We even got to practice on each other. I never knew there was so much that went into the teaching method that ILP uses. But I have to say, it seems like an amazing method. I just can't wait to start teaching. Being around the little kids everyday is going to be amazing :) If I forgot to mention, we'll most likely be teaching kindergartners/1st graders :) It's also going to be amazing living in Zhongshan. It's supposed to be the "Garden city" of China :) it's also close to the coast, so it's humid too. But me and Kaydee (middle of the picture) can't wait to get there. She's going to be my roommate. We aren't sure who else in our group yet. We know of a few people, but that's it.
Not only did we learn about the teaching method and how to be around the kids everyday, we learned about the Chinese culture. There were some really weird things that we learned.  Here are the top 10 things that stood out to me:

1) You don't sit on the ground. That's dirty. You squat over it.
2) Lines are for children and soldiers, no one else.
3) The best way to dry our clothes is to wear them.
4) Being Canadian/American makes you a celebrity.
5) You do not tip at a restaurant. The waiter will come chasing after you to let you know that you accidentally left money.
6) Meat is REALLY fresh. Like, "five minutes ago this was walking" fresh.
7) Don't stick your chopsticks straight up in a bowl of rice, because it resembles incense at funerals and is symbolic of death. Instead, lay them across your bowl when you aren't using them.
8) It is OK to spit out bones, bean pods, etc. on the table at a meal.
9) It's offensive to sit on tables or put your feet on chairs.
10) Flip-flops are not appropriate to wear in public - they are considered house slippers.

I'm so excited to get there and experience everything that I've been learning about. I just have to make it through the next few stressful weeks. I've been working a lot and also I'm finishing up 2 BYU-Hawaii online classes. This week is finals week so I've been even busier. I'm hoping that when I get back from China, I'll be accepted to BYU-Hawii to go as a full-time student. I'm planning to major in International Cultural Studies with an emphasis in communication. I also want to take Chinese along with that. Hopefully I'll get some experience in China with the language while I'm over there.

I know that I already did a post about the reasons I am going to China. But I figured I'd post them again because they are important :) I'm going because I've always wanted to be a volunteer for something like this. I want to help change the world; even if it's just one child at a time. Being able to know English will help these kids so much in this world. It's great to know that I'll be a part of something that is going to help give them such a great and useful gift. Also, I love little kids! It's going to be a great learning experience. It will also help me prepare to be a better mother one day. Another reason why I'm going is because I want to experience a different culture. I'm obsessed with different places in the world and learning all about them. I'm also excited to travel in China.

One thing I'm planning to do is to bring random gifts for the Chinese people. We learned in training that they traditionally give gifts to people whenever they enter their homes. We found out that we'll be visiting the children's homes a lot to report on how their child is doing. This means, we'll usually need to bring a gift with us. But I'm not going to take just any gift. They will be gifts from America. I've heard that Chinese people are crazy about the Utah Jazz. I definitely hope to take a lot of that stuff with me. Even though most of the stuff I'll take is made in China, the people there still highly desire it - anything typically American.

Before I wrap it up here, I just want to send out a huge "THANK YOU" to the following businesses and individuals who have already helped me greatly with fundraising: Doug Smith Autoplex, Macey's of Lehi, the Steve and Shauna Arnesen family, Shakey's Pizza in American Fork, Matrix Signs of Lehi, The Chris Jones Group, Lehi Roundup Boutique, Angie Lethbridge, Mr. and Mrs. Thundore Lee, Mr. and Mrs. Taggart, the Arnold Family, Barbara Diamond and many others. I really appreciate all the help.

All this talk about China is making me crazy. I just can't wait to get there :) 37 more days! I'll be sure to keep you updated on everything :)

P.s. Feel free to donate... :)

"You've Been Accepted" CHINA!!! :D

I could not be more excited :) I got accepted to the ILP program to go as a volunteer and teach english to little kids in China this fall!! Aug - Dec :) I'm freaking OUT!!! :D

I got the acceptance email last week. But I got assigned a city today :) I kinda felt like I was waiting for my mission call! :p

It's crazy because Zhongshan is the city that I felt like I would enjoy the most, and it's the one I got assigned to! :) I got the email while I was waiting for the bus at UVU and I started freaking out. Pretty sure the people around me thought I was crazy. I'm just so happy! I thought things couldn't get any better, but looks like they have :)

WHY:

Why am I doing this you might ask? I am going with ILP to teach English for multiple reasons :) 

1) I want to travel! Preston gets to live in Europe for 2 years. I have to live somewhere other than Utah while he's gone :) 

2) Just because :) You didn't think I would just sit around and do nothing while he's gone did you? 

3) I want to experience a completely different culture. I'm obsessed with different places in the world and learning all about them.

4) I'm hoping to minor/get a certificate in TESOL (teaching English to speakers of other languages) which I will use when Me and Preston are married and move to Hungary :) And this is something that will teach me a lot about that, and also look good on my resume 

5) I love little kids! It's also a good learning experience. I know it'll help me learn some things that will help me when I'm a mother. 

6) I've always wanted to be a volunteer for something like this. If anything, I want to help change the world. Even if it's just one child at a time. 

INFO: 

If you aren't interested in knowing about the program, you can skip down :) ILP is a non profit organization based out of Orem and they send volunteers to Russia, China, Ukraine, Mexico and Thailand. All of them only go in the spring, and in the fall. The only summer one is in Mexico. So, they are all 4 - 5 months. Honestly, I was tempted to pick Ukraine because it boarders Hungary and I'd get to visit Hungary while being there. I could have been in the same place at Preston. But I prayed about it and China just felt like it's where I'm supposed to go :) Anyway, It costs $2,520. But get this, it covers your food, airfare and housing. That's cheaper than a semester of college. They provide 3 meals a day except for during travels. That's the other great thing, we get to travel everywhere! Ok not everywhere but we get to travel a lot. I'm probably most excited for the Great Wall of China :) We have a lot of free time. We only teach for a few hours everyday and the rest of the time is for us to do whatever with. We can also take Chinese, cooking and Kung Fu classes. Kung Fu!!!! I'm sooooo excited. 

Now it's picture time :) 

My city :) 

It's super green :) I love it

:)

One of the buildings at the school

Where some of the teachers stay :) 

Who wouldn't wanna be around this all day long? :)

:)

<3

In other words. I just can't wait. I feel like I'm already in love with the kids. 3 1/2 months and that's where I'll be :) China here I come!!!! :D

(This is a video made by a former ILP group)