tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28313222991765052842024-03-12T18:28:32.699-06:00Just Sayin': A Literary MasterpieceAmmanda Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17820368957308693267noreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2831322299176505284.post-70760608618448122792010-06-16T17:37:00.004-06:002010-06-16T17:43:07.432-06:00The Not-So-Raging-River of DeathThe Not-So-Ragging River of Death<br /><br />I got a job as an employee for We Serve in Las Vegas, courtesy my cousin Adam, so I didn’t go home for Memorial Day weekend (even though we had that Monday off). I was going to work 2 concerts at Mandalay Bay Beach. Everyone else went home except for Quinci and Chris. The 3 of us are all actually from West Valley, and Quinci actually went to Kennedy Jr. High with me (she was a grade before me, though). At the Olive Garden for lunch on Saturday, Chris is all, “H<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEih6569auEXN6Eia13vSOfZx61uZOrTOjh_Q3mWPemji1L-R50_082F-McJPtvbDUWoeUOOLiXfgSn7hvYnpUvJIjXEjZ_9whn72kv63nPUTtIQ3yfLB6VT175-Po7EvpJk1I9B1fOoWZ0/s1600/30285_127179463973164_100000433345798_255350_6258985_n.jpg"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEih6569auEXN6Eia13vSOfZx61uZOrTOjh_Q3mWPemji1L-R50_082F-McJPtvbDUWoeUOOLiXfgSn7hvYnpUvJIjXEjZ_9whn72kv63nPUTtIQ3yfLB6VT175-Po7EvpJk1I9B1fOoWZ0/s320/30285_127179463973164_100000433345798_255350_6258985_n.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5483520518179522098" border="0" /></a>ey, would you guys like to go cliff jumping or tubing down a river?” Now, I wasn’t feeling good this weekend; I had had a sinus drainage, so I didn’t say anything. But if Quinci wanted to go, I’d go. So Quinci said, “Sure, that sounds like fun.” That was the last we brought it up.<br /><br />I worked the Barenaked Ladies concert that night and it was by far the best concert I had yet worked. The nicest thing was that, unlike Cyprus Hill, they didn’t keep talking about all the “mofos” and saying what a “mofo” wonderful night it was and how they had an awesome “mofo” song coming up. The band (Barenaked Ladies) was excellent live and it was windy, so it wasn’t super hot. Probably in the 80s. Anyway, I go to church the next day and come back and Quinci and I are Facebooking. She tells me that we are meeting Chris at Kmart at 6:00 a.m. This startled, but Chris confirmed, so being a somewhat good sport, I woke-up super early (even though I was still feeling sick).<br /><br />When we get to Kmart, Chris showed us the map on what we were supposed to do: we had a “small” 3-mile hike “downhill” to the river, and then we would just float down for 15 miles. So, I didn’t think that it would be too difficult a hike, so I just brought my flip-flops. I helped Quinci carry the red basket-cooler-thingy on what felt like pretty flat ground (except for a few places that I knew we were going downhill, where there were rocks and I almost fell on Quinci since she was mercilessly yanking that red basket-cooler-thingy ;P). The ground was nothing but medium sized pebbles that kept killing my feet. Quinci finally just had me take her board and she took the cooler. I fell behind then because I was light-headed. I finally had to stop because I felt like I was going to faint. Quinci came back and brought me some water, but I fell behind again and had to stop once again because I thought I was going to faint again. And I’ve never fainted in my entire life, so I was nervous.<br /><br />I finally made it down to the river, and Chris took the 2 white boards from me, strapped them to the extra tube, then we all got in the river and started “floating down the bayou” (courtesy Ray from The Princess and the Frog). About 30 minutes later, we were passed up by some kayakers and I could hear them talking with Chris, who informed them that people normally didn’t do what we were doing, so I felt more apprehensive.<br /><br />Eventually, Quinci passed me and she stopped off to the side and we got out of the river and had lunch. We sat next to some ducks and duck poop. It was lovely. We started goofing off and singing Disney songs. I’m not sure if Chris enjoyed it as much as we were, but there was only 1 boy and 2 girls, so he was outnumbered (the extra tube didn’t count as a person). We got back on the river and Quinci and I caught the current and kept up with each other. After what felt like 6 hours, some more kayakers passed us and told us it was 3:00. We had gotten on the river at 9:30.<br /><br />Eventually, we found where the kayakers were getting out, so Quinci and I pulled off to the side to wait for Chris to find out if that was where we were supposed to get out. Chris finally passed us and told us we still had 3 miles to go. Both me and Quinci were freezing and tired; my legs were dead from all the kicking down the river (we couldn’t float anymore because the wind blowing against us was stronger than the weak current). We passed Chris, a<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM7hBKTi6SJZFnBtXX2vIL7yE1dQ4x5PE5e-RUCrn1GHHOfxechGWDht921KBpA7MPLlfxU0Vo9o3JXrpF5XYgV9XPaF8pZlhbByZ3H2P1giIbN1ErGBRBI4j96Qb4dcPlTNRzcIPD-g0/s1600/30285_127179560639821_100000433345798_255368_7523975_n.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM7hBKTi6SJZFnBtXX2vIL7yE1dQ4x5PE5e-RUCrn1GHHOfxechGWDht921KBpA7MPLlfxU0Vo9o3JXrpF5XYgV9XPaF8pZlhbByZ3H2P1giIbN1ErGBRBI4j96Qb4dcPlTNRzcIPD-g0/s320/30285_127179560639821_100000433345798_255368_7523975_n.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5483521077487563906" border="0" /></a>nd then after a while, he disappeared. We didn’t know what happened to him. We kept going down the river since there was no way we could/would go back up. By this time, I was really tired and pessimistic. I just knew that something had happened to Chris and that Quinci and I were going to face the same fate. I could see the story on the news: “Young Adults Go For Slow Ride Down Colorado To Death”. It was one of those stories where I’m at home and my mom and I are watching it and saying how stupid those poor souls were. I had been thinking about my family a lot, especially my mother, and how she hadn’t heard from me all day and how she knew I told her I was going and that it should only take a few hours. I hoped she had enough sense to panic and call Homeland Security or SWAT or something so that they would come and find our bodies. I felt like one of those idiots on the news and I sure as heck wasn’t going to die as one.<br /><br />By this time, we were almost to where we parked at the end, but it was a huge bay in the river and Quinci and I were exhausted. We got out before the bend to the bay by a fish hatchery that said “No Foot Traffic Allowed”. I don’t know about Quinci, but I’d rather be shot then stay in the river. We were wondering what happened to Chris. He wasn’t coming down that we could see and my feet were sore and dead. My flip-flops where with Quinci’s stuff which was on the spare tube that Chris was carrying with him; Quinci was set to walk to the road and find out the way to the parking lot, but I couldn’t walk. Finally, about 20 minutes later, Chris came into view and told us that he had stopped for a while because he needed to get out of the water. We got our stuff from him and climbed up the hill.<br /><br />There were about 10 houses along a small paved road right next to the fish hatchery, but they all seemed deserted. Quinci wanted to walk up to find the highway, but Chris said that the road wound down passed the hatchery to the parking lot. I decided to walk up to the houses and see if anyone could tell us which way to go to the parking lot. I knocked on about 3 doors, but I was feeling leery about it. This looked like the kind of town that had aliens living in it who would shoot us. Chris found a man in his truck driving away and he told us to just follow the road to get to the parking lot. We walked down the road for about 20 minutes, then came to Quinci’s ride.<br /><br />The last obstacle on our Odyssey was crossing Hoover Dam and entering Nevada on Memorial Day. After about 50 minutes, we drove the 5 miles to cross the Dam, then we were home free.Ammanda Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17820368957308693267noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2831322299176505284.post-75618500711661677042010-06-16T17:34:00.001-06:002010-06-16T17:36:56.069-06:00After China, Before VegasAfter my exciting life in China, I came home to Amreeca (courtesy Mr. Kholi from Bride and Prejudice the Bollywood musical). After Christmas, my rentals (Mom and Dad) helped me pack up and drive back down to my second home, Cedar City, Utah. When I was in China, one of my friends, Amy (not from the ILP group), told me that a lot of people go into shock when they go to grocery stores in America. I had been to a Wal-Mart (a.k.a. Hell) when I got back with my sisters, so I was all “I guess that won’t happen to me”. I was wrong. Dead wrong. After my rentals helped me move in, they took me to lunch, and then they made their merry way back to West Jordan and civilization while I made my not-so-merry way to Hell (a.k.a. Wal-Mart) to go grocery shopping. I do suffer from anxiety from time to time, and when I got to the store, I had an anxiety attack. I felt so alone, lost, and confused as I was trying to find the perishable groceries I needed, that I panicked, bought a few things, and rushed out of the store. Now, I know you’re probably wondering, “Well, what kind of parents leave their poor daughter alone to go to Wal-Mart?” It wasn’t their fault they weren’t there. They offered to stay and help me shop, but I was all, “No thanks, I can buy cereal”, which, unfortunately, I didn’t grab in my mad dash outta there. When I got back to my dorm, my other new roommate had left with her family for dinner, so it was just me. I c<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVWjUzOAjBuc9d_BRGNK6Jn3cHMWMrOGJ72PRQylyFvsh0S-L4hkPZt6tz4QtfG9qP6MFChmZFWdVqfErcEjUIUpxzKdiSnL2G2jn2ZFPAXPW9cRmPIAoVNK4iwdJvRES5OjAITouU0ik/s1600/cooliojulio.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 239px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVWjUzOAjBuc9d_BRGNK6Jn3cHMWMrOGJ72PRQylyFvsh0S-L4hkPZt6tz4QtfG9qP6MFChmZFWdVqfErcEjUIUpxzKdiSnL2G2jn2ZFPAXPW9cRmPIAoVNK4iwdJvRES5OjAITouU0ik/s320/cooliojulio.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5483519401335179602" border="0" /></a>alled my mom and told her about my shopping mishap and she calmed me down. She called me a few more times that evening to make sure that I was alright.<br /><br />As the days became weeks, weeks became months, and months became one semester, I had made a lot of new friends, aced the Block, and graduated Summa Cum Laude from Southern Utah University. The best part was when my friends and I managed to sit in the front row before the stage. Grandma and Grandpa Mariani came down for the graduation, and we all ate at IHOP because I wanted breakfast for lunch. Then my parents helped me move down to Henderson, Nevada where I was to complete my schooling as a student teacher at Fay Galloway Elementary School.<br /><br />Student teaching from SUU requires us to do 60 days total: 30 days in a lower grade and 30 days in an upper grade. My schedule is all whacked-up, but I’m cool with it. I’m with my first placement for about 9ish weeks and my second one for 2 weeks and 2 days. I was supposed to switch this week, but my second placement class is going on track break next week, so I’m staying here. My first placement is with Mr. Bennion’s 3rd grade class. There is a lot of diversity in the class and it makes me happy. However, there are some students who do tend to cause drama; it’s not a surprise, though. He has 19 students: 4 boys and 15 girls. So where do you think the drama is coming from? My second placement teacher, Mrs. Buchanan, teaches 5th grade. Her class talks a lot. Track 5 (my third grade class) had to do math testing yesterday and today (Tuesday and Wednesday), so I spent the mornings observing the 5th graders. They talked so much today that they have to spend recess doing laps around the playground. The weird thing I’m finding here is that they only get 20 minutes of recess and that’s right before lunch; I have to watch them for the first 10 minutes. When we have inclimate weather (days where it is over 100F), the students don’t get any outside time. We had that happen 3 days last week. In about a week or so, we won’t be able to have outside P.E. or recess. The students spend ½ an hour before lunch with us in the classroom. I love my class though.Ammanda Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17820368957308693267noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2831322299176505284.post-63760792231513321182010-06-16T17:20:00.008-06:002010-06-16T17:34:05.589-06:00Home VisitsILP has home visits as part of their mantra, but not many schools included in the program use it. However, Bond Institute loved this idea, so we needed to do it. I really enjoyed it, so here are stories about the kids I visited.<br /><br />Younger Kids:<br /><br />Sophia ~<br />Sophia was actually Korean and she didn’t know Chinese. Her and her friends Scott and Alice were learning English as well as<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiecIzPPzYVlx-bQNct2QUemCOPblVm6FSSVKiaIMCB0xaX5bmd0n6CZlcM3PmxQPdYjv5megbiZCvgpFanPuGmcMNDL1NEZuK6QC_koGtMb8YFPqxZFqBD9YTllyyud1K7rdGupeivNow/s1600/10.19+113.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiecIzPPzYVlx-bQNct2QUemCOPblVm6FSSVKiaIMCB0xaX5bmd0n6CZlcM3PmxQPdYjv5megbiZCvgpFanPuGmcMNDL1NEZuK6QC_koGtMb8YFPqxZFqBD9YTllyyud1K7rdGupeivNow/s320/10.19+113.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5483516061936265986" border="0" /></a> Chinese. Sophia had an infectious, effervescent personality and played with a lot of the children. When we went to her family’s apartment, she was very eager to show us her little sister who was about a year old. She put her on her toy teeter totter and dragged her around the room. Her parents were friendly and gave us a lot of tea and fruit. Everyone was talking in Chinese, but the parents knew some English. I’m supposed to tell them about Sophia in class, and she was a good student. They were friendly when we left.<br /><br />Jackson~<br />Visiting Jackson was the strangest thing I had ever seen in China, much less America. His family was loaded. His parents lived and worked in America to send money home to him. He lived with his grandparents and great-grandparents, which was saying something. Chinese people usually don’t start dating until 19, so to have his great-grandparents alive was interesting. They had people who worked for them. Everything in their apartment was made of glass. Jackson was about 3 years old and high-wired. H<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSjIz0F4cLS_dr6sWx_gGrEW1IPiANh-ofGDC2HaKp37iM2HwTXjPHy2nXQRFOeJAm-aVt2YTuYLjLhIyNLt3CRyssyIERoW4eFsYBADulKUmAAdd6PBYWncHUDGlC-Dq5H6Lb3tUI5aw/s1600/10-14+015.jpg"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 213px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSjIz0F4cLS_dr6sWx_gGrEW1IPiANh-ofGDC2HaKp37iM2HwTXjPHy2nXQRFOeJAm-aVt2YTuYLjLhIyNLt3CRyssyIERoW4eFsYBADulKUmAAdd6PBYWncHUDGlC-Dq5H6Lb3tUI5aw/s320/10-14+015.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5483516361427442642" border="0" /></a>e would never sit still in class. I was amazed (after the people working for his family immediately gave us brand-new slippers to wear in their apartment) that they had very fancy china to serve us coffee in. That wasn’t even the amazing part. They gave Jackson coffee in his sippy-cup! Trust me, he was the last kid who should be drinking it. His grandparents offered me coffee, but because it would rip up the delicate lining in my esophagus and tummy, I declined it. So then they gave me at least three “juice” boxes of herbal tea! I had already eaten and drank a lot at Sophia’s. Then they gave me a ton of fruit. When everyone started yapping away in Chinese, I decided to watch Jackson. Now, none of us were sure on what his English name was (out of the ILP group). We couldn’t tell if it was Jason or Jackson. We had done a test to see what he answered to, so we thought it was Jason. After visiting him, I knew why it was Jackson: he’s a HUGE MJ fan. They popped in a DVD of MJ in concert and Jackson was brought a red, sparkly top hat that he promptly put on and then began doing the same dance moves (including the infamous crotch-grabbing [for lack of a better euphemism]). He kept spinning around and finally fell, breaking one of his two jade bracelets. The people who work for them went running and brought out another jade bracelet and forced it on his wrist. I asked one of the Chinese teachers about it and she said that he breaks his jade bracelets all the time and they were worried about it, but that his family had a lot of them. The grandparents told me that he went through 7 bracelets like everyone can just buy real jade bracelets all the time. As we left, they gave me two giant melons to take hom<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2TTLMfchq_7WyEJr-dHq304WyaQzVFSmdUOspFkokprVi9G0N2p4Ii-M34QnnxCWiRdoW9PfRk-SbA4r_MFa_weKCmrNTHQ0jPKeLHBZgZX3ViFPfaLPd4URZgwM4v_58g7iJj89weL8/s1600/10-29+067.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 213px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2TTLMfchq_7WyEJr-dHq304WyaQzVFSmdUOspFkokprVi9G0N2p4Ii-M34QnnxCWiRdoW9PfRk-SbA4r_MFa_weKCmrNTHQ0jPKeLHBZgZX3ViFPfaLPd4URZgwM4v_58g7iJj89weL8/s320/10-29+067.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5483517504694661586" border="0" /></a>e.<br /><br />Phillip~<br />Phillip was a quiet kid and he tended to cry a lot. He was the last student we visited this night. The Chinese teachers told me that his parents were divorced, so I shouldn’t bring it up. Like I would. He loves to help people out, so he helped his mom bring in the fruit for us to eat and helped pour the water. While the Chinese teachers were talking to his mother, I sat with him on the floor and played with him with his trucks. He really likes trucks. His mom liked seeing me and him playing together. I told her that Philip was a good student and that he was learning English. The Chinese teachers told her about how he tends to get emotional during lessons. It was a nice visit.<br /><br />Even though Sophia, Jackson, and Philip all lived in the same apartment complex next to the school, they all lived vastly different lives. Jackson’s apartment was definitely high-style, while Sophia and Jackson lived in apartments that, from what I figured, most people lived in China.<br /><br />Older Kids:<br /><br />Angel (or Angle, as the Chinese teachers spelled it)~<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie4fr5V9n1xeAA6swGjAmPhC2ETl0HznC68wUcEmvGWBsbBvVjSVFyEz0NrsJj89GJC5Omdy24bLO2sjfRgqXR_VjJOXAvpyblcBwKZBKqRpoLo-EjhuQUb7nO0dPSyTtr-vkOnAdVtYU/s1600/Angle.jpg"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie4fr5V9n1xeAA6swGjAmPhC2ETl0HznC68wUcEmvGWBsbBvVjSVFyEz0NrsJj89GJC5Omdy24bLO2sjfRgqXR_VjJOXAvpyblcBwKZBKqRpoLo-EjhuQUb7nO0dPSyTtr-vkOnAdVtYU/s320/Angle.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5483517794948276914" border="0" /></a><br />Angel’s mom met with us after school and we went to a fancy Japanese restaurant for dinner. Her mom told the Chinese teachers to tell me that I could order anything I wanted, but I made sure that I chose things that were reasonably priced. For example, some fish and sushi. The Chinese teachers were excited when I got the fish because 1) they told me that fish is brain-food, so it would make me very smart, and 2) because it was served with parsley, which they didn’t know about. They asked me about it and I finally got to explain something to the Chinese teachers. I told them that in America we put it with food to look nice, but it is also edible. They all nodded and said, “Ohhh” when I explained it.<br /><br />Morris (Or “The Morris” according to Aden) ~<br />Morris was an interesting kid. He never sat down in his seat; instead, he would crouch on top of his seat. Try as w<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZNVEjNINLBNJvpz02OPiXpNTjwglauYXFvESazajhROWdn2b5snwTyrXaa_Js0t3O0Lylmn-C_Q4kx-pbzQyu8kcv5wP8dQ79j6AknDgHmUib_PzTmXVa9tYfn4DRin4sRRSeaol8zdk/s1600/12.11%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+107.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 178px; height: 268px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZNVEjNINLBNJvpz02OPiXpNTjwglauYXFvESazajhROWdn2b5snwTyrXaa_Js0t3O0Lylmn-C_Q4kx-pbzQyu8kcv5wP8dQ79j6AknDgHmUib_PzTmXVa9tYfn4DRin4sRRSeaol8zdk/s320/12.11%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+107.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5483518095006154530" border="0" /></a>e might, he never would sit on his pockets. So we gave up by the middle of November. Morris also liked to lay on everyone. Aden often complained about him, saying “The . . . They Morris is . . . is . . . touching me!” because he often rested his head on Aden’s shoulder. He lived in a modest apartment and was really excited to have us visit him. He came out to take us into his apartment and up to his family’s apartment room. When the Chinese teachers began talking to his parents about his progress, he kept bringing out toys to show us. Since I was the only one who didn’t know what was going on (even though I pretended I did and smiled and nodded a lot when they looked at me), he would bring them to me. I started to play with him with his toys and everyone thought that was wonderful. Even though he, too, was into the trucks and cars. Morris was a funny kid. I often had to repeat things to him twice, but he understood what I wanted. Even if he pretended like he didn’t. I knew he knew, and he knew I knew he knew.<br /><br />William ~<br />As a teacher, you’re not supposed to have a favorite, but William was mine. The oth<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrFbQmoYkwkAcsjZgE3WMYQ3XdTYnPEMXEzrTznxo58OQzTcYLtiEWtV_Dc-Tw__M7fpf2yBNITOkWfKhyE-JNcW687-OVmLYRKFeZVPYjKfQSCwBFPgU1yM8YSd6qu9oaw6UNFRcNFF8/s1600/12.14%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+281.jpg"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 173px; height: 260px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrFbQmoYkwkAcsjZgE3WMYQ3XdTYnPEMXEzrTznxo58OQzTcYLtiEWtV_Dc-Tw__M7fpf2yBNITOkWfKhyE-JNcW687-OVmLYRKFeZVPYjKfQSCwBFPgU1yM8YSd6qu9oaw6UNFRcNFF8/s320/12.14%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87+281.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5483518634857138370" border="0" /></a>er girls had a hard time with him because he required so much attention, but he made me laugh all the time. He also knew I liked him, so when he had troubles, he came to me. None of the kids could pronounce my name, so they all called me “Teacher Minda”. I would always ask William what my name was because he would always shout it to me like a soldier. He lives with his father and grandmother. There were pictures in his house of his mother, but she wasn’t there. I did ask about it later, but no one gave me an answer on where she was. William’s grandmother was a funny old Chinese lady and she kept making us eat snacks, especially me. She kept giving me apple slices, orange slices, and other Chinese snacks. William also kept coming over to me to show me things, like how he could climb up the back of the comfy chairs. I miss William the most.Ammanda Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17820368957308693267noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2831322299176505284.post-45772854460993618752010-06-16T17:10:00.003-06:002010-06-16T17:20:30.149-06:00December 17, 2009<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGHdinXRAvdmLMYyJGh1k7vXbvRBmQANiF_BtP7m94G1IBAcrO-cRvlwmElhIWwrzSdVzbHDKVmD02KwHuX8DvRJsZ_80ZqED72z5qbtvx-Vh6_h8fJjn9JevPZGJR3SoR_JltInMmhxo/s1600/100_1085.jpg"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 239px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGHdinXRAvdmLMYyJGh1k7vXbvRBmQANiF_BtP7m94G1IBAcrO-cRvlwmElhIWwrzSdVzbHDKVmD02KwHuX8DvRJsZ_80ZqED72z5qbtvx-Vh6_h8fJjn9JevPZGJR3SoR_JltInMmhxo/s320/100_1085.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5483514963286604962" border="0" /></a><br />December 17, 2009. The longest day of my life. Literally. I left China that day, did a 1 hr 30 min ish flight to Taipei, a 14 hr flight to L.A., sat in LAX for 5 hours, then another 1 hr 45 min flight to Salt Lake.<br /><br />This was the day I was most anxious for and it was a bitter-sweet day. I loved China. I knew enough of the language to tell Chinese people their prices were “ti guile” and “xie xie” when I went for my daily dumpling run. I knew the money really well and I loved the kids. However, I missed my birthday and was eager to see my fam again. We left before dawn’s early light from the apartments and got a ride with Banker to the bus station that would take us to Hong Kong. “How are you going to drive to Hong Kong when Hong Kong is an island?” may be the question you are pondering. Well, ponder no more. Hong Kong is actually 5 islands and they are connected by roads and bridges. It took us 2 hours to get to the airport, where we camped out for several more. I’ve always wanted to be in an airport around Christmas time, thanks to movies like Home Alone because I feel that airports are the most festive places to be on holidays. And I was not disappointed. Mainland China doesn’t celebrate Western Holidays, but Hong Kong does, since it was previously owned by the British (until about 20 or so years ago). There were giant Christmas trees everywhere and Christmas music was playing. Mistey and I swung by the Starbucks to get some hot chocolate (me) and coffee (her) before the flight.<br /><br />We finally were able to board the plane and had to suffer during the safety video. Since we were in a country where English is not the primary language, the video went first in Mandarin, then in English. I zoned out as soon as it began, but it’s not like I missed anything. I know the whole “When the plane crashes, put your oxygen mask on first, then help your kids,” and “The seat you are currently resting your butt on doubles as a flotation device!” info, so I wasn’t too concerned. We were served a meal of rice and veggies, then flew to Taipei. When we got to Taipei, we had about 2 hrs time to kill, so we just hung out at the terminal. I went to the Subway and got myself some dinner. It was a bit pricey, but Subway tastes better in Asian countries. I don’t know why. We caught the plane and spent the night flying over the Pacific Ocean. There were some cases of turbulence, and for once they kinda freaked me out. I was afraid that I was going to crash in the middle of the Pacific and that Hayward (my computer, for those of you who don’t know) would be ruined and I would die a cold, wet death in the middle of nowhere when I was so close to home.<br /><br />We arrived at LAX around noon-ish. It felt great to be back in a country where everyone speaks the same language, but I was self-conscious. I just got off a really long flight from a country where no one bathes regularly, so I was a bit worried about my stank. However, all that was overshadowed by Sydn<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJ_73w8MIGV-d2YtKpoiJitZ4fsO8ETqQEgmGvmNAFSrwcRZt_pDWkgVQAL1RBfJBfovApSYMRtU08mm-1t-r84s5OznNUwHGM60Twrnq9igysSUogdytlI6cE8QdWs9FuXxthyfMagSk/s1600/100_1088.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJ_73w8MIGV-d2YtKpoiJitZ4fsO8ETqQEgmGvmNAFSrwcRZt_pDWkgVQAL1RBfJBfovApSYMRtU08mm-1t-r84s5OznNUwHGM60Twrnq9igysSUogdytlI6cE8QdWs9FuXxthyfMagSk/s320/100_1088.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5483515136148954658" border="0" /></a>ey who said really loudly on our way to pick up our luggage “I really need to tinkle!” I started laughing because a lot of people turned around and looked at her. She was embarrassed and said “Oh man, I forgot everyone here can understand me!” My very first American meal consisted of a cinnamon bun from Cinnabon and a bottle of water. I wasn’t too concerned about getting a real meal because my fam was taking me to the new In-N-Out Burger by our house when I got to Utah. The roll was too sweet for me since I had adjusted to the natural sugar in China (when people get dessert there, it’s just fruit), but I ate it all. Sydney got too much sweet stuff added to hers and she couldn’t finish it. When our plane finally came in, we had to wait 20 minutes before departing because a whole bunch of missionaries had to get on the flight and they weren’t all there.<br /><br />Finally, we got back to Utah. We stopped in the bathroom before we went to meet our families, and I was anxious to see mine. I was amazed, but not surprised, when I saw as we were coming down to meet our families that there was a giant crowd of people there. It made sense that they were all there for me ;). After all, I’ve been gone for 5 months. I felt like crying when I saw my sisters waiting for me. I was finally home and we (the fam) were all excited.<br /><br />And then we went to In-N-Out for din din (that’s how I say “dinner”. It’s not Chinese, but it makes me giggle) and I didn’t go to bed until Midnight since it was roughly 7 p.m. China time.Ammanda Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17820368957308693267noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2831322299176505284.post-54026541742046229022010-06-16T17:03:00.009-06:002010-06-16T23:54:18.033-06:00Beijing BThe last trip we went on was the one we all were waiting for: Beijing. We only had 4 days for this vacation, so we really filled our time. We left right after teaching that Friday so that we could take a bus to a city where we could catch a plane. The plane ride was about 3 hours and we were served a “meal”. When we arrived in Beijing, it was only about 8 or 9, but we were tired and it was freezing. We were used to the warmer, Southern China weather; we didn’t have time to adjust to the freezing winter weather. The bus from the airport only took us so far, so we were responsible for finding<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiIFMkyUmefG0VBY0HpnZPCvBt9l3vFpPYlgNUeEeVjnYe3dT35g4rZVNfz_SNzBRl8K1BACGiRBhLcD63Vv4Ot9s_cnAcNxU1R3DIYyhRp-ss2ky3jiLlkCpaqWpOO1l3f2SKUAPrBfg/s1600/100_0790.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiIFMkyUmefG0VBY0HpnZPCvBt9l3vFpPYlgNUeEeVjnYe3dT35g4rZVNfz_SNzBRl8K1BACGiRBhLcD63Vv4Ot9s_cnAcNxU1R3DIYyhRp-ss2ky3jiLlkCpaqWpOO1l3f2SKUAPrBfg/s320/100_0790.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5483616235406275922" border="0" /></a> our own cabs. Because there are so many people visiting Beijing, there are a lot of fake taxis. The real taxis start with "Beijing B" on their license plates. We finally found one and we got to our hostel. Hostels are fun, especially when they’re open air hostels, but November is a chilly time in Northern China, and our hostel was freezing. Mistey and I shared a room with Caleb and Chyenne.<br /><br /><br />I didn’t think to bring a coat to China because I was going to Southern China, so I only had a jacket in Beijing. The first thing we did Saturday was go to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. I about froze my @$$ off because I only had a jacket. Sydney let me borrow one of her scarves and I layered all the shirts and socks I brought. I also bought a pair of cheap mittens, but they didn’t really help; the cap I bought did, though. So we stood at Tiananmen Square for a little while, then we went across the street to the Forbidden City. We paid to get in and walked around. After a while, everything kinda started looking the same and I was wishing we had come earlier in the year (like July or August). When we got through the city, we stopped for lunch, then walked around the outside to get back to our hostel (we would have had to pay to walk back through the City). We went shopping and I bought myself a coat. Suddenly, the trip seemed so much better!<br /><br /><br />Sunday was the big day: we went to the Great Wall of China. Chyenne found a somewhat skeevy person to get us to go to the part of the Wall that isn’t really open to the public. W<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi2xxjY0EwKRfFmLYmTb616HiBU-a-yBj0KqvcUwWZrT_W579xQv2h-yahPpfOwylSVktkW3LcgFg5u4aSDhxrFZVbKFWtvPO-Z-8mwvSN_3_UP-7tZK7RJcnXmGgscQbm0fiSHf1Ye9c/s1600/100_0851.jpg"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 239px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi2xxjY0EwKRfFmLYmTb616HiBU-a-yBj0KqvcUwWZrT_W579xQv2h-yahPpfOwylSVktkW3LcgFg5u4aSDhxrFZVbKFWtvPO-Z-8mwvSN_3_UP-7tZK7RJcnXmGgscQbm0fiSHf1Ye9c/s320/100_0851.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5483616657742977778" border="0" /></a>e hiked about 1.5 miles to the wall, then we climbed up a broken part of the wall and walked along the wall for about 2.5 hours. It was really cool, except that the wall was covered in ice and snow and was broken in parts, so one wrong move would send us off the wall and plummeting to certain doom. We went shopping again in the evening. I don’t know if I’ve ever mentioned this before (since it’s been so long since I updated or even looked at my blog), but I hate shopping in China. You have to bargain, and I suck at bargaining. I know that they start really high (especially if you’re American) and that they are trying to take advantage of us, but I am a sucker for the guilt trips. Anyway, we spent Monday also shopping and then caught the train to the airport that evening for our flight back to Southern China. By the time we got home (we had to catch a 2 hour bus ride after the flight), it was about 2:30 a.m. I hadn’t showered the whole time we were gone because I was afraid I would be exposed to the elements and die; I stayed up and showered so I wouldn’t gross the kids out the next day (not like they’d even notice. Everyone smells bad in China). It was a fun trip, I just wish it was warmer. And I did buy some awesome things.Ammanda Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17820368957308693267noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2831322299176505284.post-23014751068312951212010-01-16T13:43:00.001-07:002010-01-16T14:02:46.646-07:00National Day, Mid-Autumn Festival, and Xi'an (Oh My!)<span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-family: lucida grande;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-family: courier new;"><span style="font-family: lucida grande;">I am super sorry I haven't been updating this thing! I've been home for a month and I still haven't blogged about October. My bad. <br /><br />China celebrates National Day on October 1st. It's like our Independence Day, only we celebrate freedom and democracy and they celebrate communism. China also goes by a lunar calendar, so this October was extra special because 1) Mid-Autumn Festival fell 2 days after National Day, and 2) this was the 60th year of Communism and 60 is a lucky number in China. So naturally, traveling was hell. There is only one parade in China to celebrate National Day and it takes place in Beijing. Everyone gets a week vacation for National Day and Mid-Autumn festival, so a lot of people go to Beijing. Or they just travel to their home provinces. Anyway, that is a ton of people to all be traveling. So on National Day, we just hung out in Kaiyin and went to the park for a picnic dinner of fruit. The next day, we caught a bus to Shenzhen, where we caught the train to Xi'an. Xi'an is located roughly in Central China. The train ride to Xi'an lasted 25 hours. The train also had a squatter. It was disgusting. That's all I'm going to say on that. So we arrived in relatively good spirits to Xi'an. We stayed at a youth hostel (that I picked out) located next to the ancient city wall. That night, us girls went by the wall and ate moon cakes to celebrate Mid-Autumn Festival. I don't know how many of you have had moon cakes, but they are super rich. 2 bites about does me in. The next day, the girls wanted to go to church and then to an orphanage, so I went along with them and kinda hung out. After church, we went to a western cafe that actually had some decent western food. Our next stop was the orphanage, which was one of the most heart-breaking places I've ever been to. A lot of the babies there had cleft lips or palates and I think that's why they were left at the orphanage. We stayed there for about 3 hours holding the babies and playing with them. The next day was the best day . . . we went on a 2 hour bus ride to see the Terracotta Warriors! There were 3 different buildings that covered the digging sights and a museum and another building. We went through each of the buildings to see the Warriors. It was really interesting and slightly creepy. The Warriors looked like real people that were lying dead on the ground after some ancient battle. It was really cool, though. When we finished, we sat outside the first building for a half hour. Some Chinese people kept dragging their children over to us to get pictures taken with us. We told Tina about it later and she said that Chinese people consider it a good vacation if they have pictures of/with Americans (or other foreigners). The train ride back was worse than the ride to. We were on the bloody train for 27 and 1/2 hours! And the night was way worse with a lot of sketchy people. But all-in-all, it was a good vacation.<br /></span></span></span></span></span></span>Ammanda Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17820368957308693267noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2831322299176505284.post-47307329339922693842009-09-20T10:00:00.000-06:002009-09-20T10:00:03.163-06:00September Vacation: Part the SecondSo, I believe that it was Monday when we decided to go to Dafoyen (I don't know if that is spelled right), the five-story mall to hunt for DVDs. Megan didn't go with us because she was meeting with some religious folk and was going to find out how to set up sacrament meeting and stuff. So the rest of us got onto bus 38 to ride to the mall. As we rode, we realized that we had been on the bus too long. Zhongshan is made up of about thirty-six cities or districts, and we had left ours. The bus ride would have been more pleasant, but Kristi had to, I don't know how to say this politically correct, pee. So we agreed that we would get off on the next stop. But the stops we were coming to were not the kind with bathrooms, squatters or otherwise. Finally we found a KFC and we got off on that stop. While Kristi and one of the other girls (I can't remember who) used the necessary, I bought some food. Everyone else bought something to eat, so we had a late lunch, then jumped back on bus 38 and rode it back to the fruit stand. When we arrived home, the girls went to dinner and I bought me some dumplings. Megan came home and asked how the mall was, and I told her what happened. She said that we were silly, because she told Kristi, Steph, and Mistey that we were supposed to take bus 13, not 38.<br /><br />On Tuesday, we decided to tackle our China Bucket List, with Item # 2: Eat a whole watermelon. We bought our watermelons (which are smaller here) and were all laughing and saying how easy it would be. Ah, how foolish we were. When every single one of us hit halfway, we would finally feel the weight of the watermelon, and would have a harder time finishing. We watched Ocean's Eleven while we ate, and now I don't know how I feel about that movie . . .Ammanda Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17820368957308693267noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2831322299176505284.post-49508985445177959822009-09-20T09:53:00.000-06:002009-09-20T09:53:00.229-06:00September Vacation: Part the FirstILP requires that we receive two days off a month, except for one week-long vacation that we are getting in October. We are saving our money for Bejing, so we didn't go anywhere for the vacation (which was September 12-15). On Saturday, my flat (Megan, Kristi, Mistey, and I) went on a day trip to Shenzhen, which is a pretty big city two hours away. So we hopped on a bus and met up with Tom and Michelle, Mistey's family's friends. Michelle is Chinese, so she helped us bargain. More on that later. Tom and Michelle took us to a fancy restaraunt (that is like a hotel on the inside). We had to take a lift to our floor, then we walked down a hallway that looked like a hotel hallway. We had our own private room complete with a sofa, coffee table, eating table, and bathroom. In fact, Tom and Michelle paid for our lunch. It was very delicious. After we ate, we went to a clothes place where you go into a tarp thing into a building and there are about a hundred little shops where you can buy knock-off designer jeans and the like. I had no need for designer jeans, seeing as I don't really care about them and stuff, not to mention I've lost weight here, sweating like a freak, so I turned my attention to the one task that wo de mama gave me: buy a belt. I am sorry to say, that I didn't take Michelle with me across the way to the belt place, so I overpaid for my belt. I feel horrible about it, but I did get another awesome deal that almost makes up for it. Some of you may know that I wanted a Chinese dress. I can't remember what they are called. But one of the little shops was selling them. I found one that was pretty in pink, so I tried it on. It fit me perfectly and the lightness of the pink goes well with my skin. So, Michelle helped me bargain. The dress was 169 yuan and she asked how much I was willing to pay for it. I told her to try to get it for 90. So then the bargaining began. The sales lady tried to sell it to me for 135, then 120, saying that she's never shown that price and that she would never show it again to me if I didn't accept it. However, while I was thinking I was willing to pay it, I noticed some threads had come loose around the seam, so I pointed it out to Michelle. The dress lady was most displeased when she had to trim it off and give it to me for 100. I can't wait to wear it! We did some more walking around(which could have been better, if it wasn't for Tom smoking all the time. When you walk behind someone who smokes, you get a lot of second-hand), and when we decided that we needed to get going, we went back to the metro station to see the DVD store. Because Tom is such an avid customer, we got great deals on the CDs and DVDs we purchased. I bought an Elton John CD pack with 2 CDs and all five seasons of The Office for 138 yuan. So, that is roughly $20 American. What a deal! On the bus ride back to Zhongshan, I sat with Kristi and we bonded over music. She told me that I had to see a Coldplay concert and that they were expensive, but it's worth the money. So whenever the next Coldplay concert is, I'll be looking for someone to go with. In Zhongshan, we were dropped off at our least favorite place on the planet: the bus depot. We don't have any pleasant memories there from when we came back from Yong Shuo. I was starving and hadn't gone to Micki D's like I so desperately wanted to. Luckily, there is one across the street from the depot. We ate there, then we took a taxi home, seeing as good ol' bus 66 wasn't running at 9:30 post meridian.<br /><br />The rest of our adventures are covered in the next blog post September Vacation: Part the Second.Ammanda Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17820368957308693267noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2831322299176505284.post-73715877989494087912009-09-08T22:34:00.000-06:002009-09-08T22:34:00.607-06:00China Girl: Not Just A Song By David BowieThere is much that I must catch my readers up with. I know that ended in a preposition, a practice I am very much against, but I am tired and I couldn't think of another way to phrase the sentence. Anyway, Facebook and other social networking sites are indeed blocked in mainland China. My head teacher, Megan, has found a free proxy site that we can use, so here I am. For those of you who have Facebook, you are aware that I can access it now. Mi padre did suggest to update my blog for me, but that is unnecessary, seeing as I have the power now. Here's how it's going down: I last left you at the ferry station-port-thing. I had a vanilla cream frappicino at the Starbucks there and it was pretty good (Seinfield reference). Then we boarded the ferry and it was the only time I have ever been seasick. The reason being (I don't know how to say this politically correct and all) I was currently being visited by a monthly friend and I was nauseous. When we arrived in Zhongshan, we were taken to our complex. Literally, that is what it is: a bunch of apartments all gated in with guards at the gates. We live in a suburby kinda area call "Kaiyin". This is where the plot thickens; our apartments are not in the same building. Sarah, Sydney, and Stephanie are all in D5. Megan, Mistey, Kristi, and I are in F10. This is good, because we paid for the internet only for F10. We were taken to dinner that night where we ate many things including duck chin. Throughout the past month and a half, I have eaten many things I never imagined. Most notably, baby pigeon. If only PETA or Shaleia could have seen how it's served. Basically, it looks the same as when it's alive, but there are no feathers and it's cooked. It was surprisingly tasty. After teaching the summer classes, we started our new ones. The real semester. We not only teach ILP, but Cambridge, which is completely different. But whatev. We went to Yong Shou (where the Dr. Seuss mountains are) two weekends ago, before starting the new semester. It was the ghetto; the real China, if you will. There were lots of people with hunched backs and chickens everywhere. I've never seen so many chickens in one place in all my life, including the scene of the castle past the goblin city in the middle of the Labyrinth. We went to the mud caves, and hiked up to Moon Hill with old Chinese women following us. They fanned us and tried to get us to buy water. I caved in because I was dehydrated. I paid too much, but I did negotiate the price down from the original asking price. We rode on bamboo rafts down a river. We also saw the rice terraces. All-in-all, a good vacation. However, on the night bus (HP reference) there was a gentleman in that back with us smoking. He barely cracked the window open, so we were getting an unhealthy dose of second-hand smoke. However, every time he hocked a loogey, he would open the window all the way. Very classy.Ammanda Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17820368957308693267noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2831322299176505284.post-68968226574723163912009-09-08T07:49:00.000-06:002009-09-08T07:50:46.511-06:00Nighttime ShennanigansTeaching children has it's ups and downs. They are cute. An up. They cry a lot. A down. They alternate between "Teacher Teacher!" and "Laoshi Laoshi!". An up. Some cry when you look at them. A down. For instance, there is one little girl who's English name is Julia. She is a doll. When she's happy. Today (Today is Tuesday, September 8th) Mistey and I were sent out to greet the children and their parents as they got to school. When Julia and her mama came, I said (with a smile and in a little kid voice) "Hey Julia!" Julia responded by bursting into tears and saying something in Chinese to afformentioned mama that I can only assume means "Please stop beating me!" (a line borrowed from Kristi). I can only hope that there is nothing personal in that, seeing as I am a kind-hearted individual, but it is a bit of a downer when you smile at children and they break down into hysterics. I also have a new best friend (sorry guys). His English name is Joe. He stuck right by my side through the whole time I tought with him (I am teaching Cambridge this week). He kept grabbing my hands and when we went on our walk around the school, he kept pointing out various objects and asking me what they were called. He is a little cutie.<br /> <br />Mistey went running this evening. Megan, Stephanie, Kristi, and I were all sitting in our living room chillaxin'. Kristi finally notices Mistey's gone and comes up with a brilliant plan: we turn off all the lights and hide. When Mistey comes in and turns on the lights, we jump out and yell "Bah!" Somehow, the plan evolved to us lying on the floor as though we are dead. Then Steph has the brilliant idea that someone should lay across the table to make it more realistic. I volunteered for the position. After we all got settled into our various poses (a sort of lame Top Model assignment), Steph askes "So are we still yelling 'bah!' when she comes in?" The answer to that, my dear readers, was no. Dead people don't yell "bah!". Anyway, so we are all feeling pretty good with our brilliance when we hear a door close in the hall. Thinking it's Mistey, we all get really quite. It was Sarah. Sarah walks in the door and, when we realize it's her, we all yell "Get on the floor and act dead!" After a few more minutes, we decide it looks really lame with all of us on the floor. Seeing as Steph was the most legit looking, and I was in the funniest position (lying across the glass coffee table), Megan, Sarah, and Kristi run into the kitchen. After a few more minutes of excruciating pain to my hip bones, Mistey comes in. She apparently sees Megan running to the side of the kitchen, then turns on the light and asks "What's going on?". The girls in the kitchen jump out and yell "bah!". And so ends the story of tonights adventures.Ammanda Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17820368957308693267noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2831322299176505284.post-90390325334636445872009-07-31T22:37:00.000-06:002009-07-31T22:38:29.401-06:00Shortest Blog Ever<span style="color:#333333;">Waiting to go to Zhongshan. Pray that facebook isn't blocked on the mainland!!!</span>Ammanda Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17820368957308693267noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2831322299176505284.post-36895158342924285842009-07-31T07:49:00.000-06:002009-07-31T08:26:49.603-06:00Big Buddha<div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#333333;">Yesterday was an exciting day. After we landed in Hong Kong, we met Mathew and got on our "Top Model" bus. After we reached our hotel, he asked us if we would like to do our tour that day instead of the next (today) and we agreed. We spent about 5 hours, starting at 2, touring Hong Kong. It reminds me a lot of Times Square here. Also, it is humid. I'm not sure on the percentage, but it's a lot. When I got of the plane I thought I would die from lack of oxygen. But I'm adjusting to it. We went to a mall at the top of a mountain (only 1,300 ft.) and got to see the whole city. Then the batteries in my camera, Lady Stardust, died. My mother was right: the batteries that come with the camera don't last long. Then we went to a place where they showed us how they make jade. After the 5 minute tour, we went into the gallery and got to look at the finished products. They had a ton of pearls and I wanted to buy some for the low price of $3,500. That is Hong Kong dollars, and the ratio to America is about $7:$1, but that is still a lot. But one of the ladies explained to me how they find the diamonds and showed me different jewlery pieces. After that, we went to a market and were given 40 minutes to "buy and bartar" according to Mathew. I did bartar successfully and I was slightly surprised. I'm not going to say what I got, since they were for my sisters, but each one cost hk$30 and I only had hk$50. So I told the man (that was following me around trying to get me to buy something) that I really wanted them because I promised my sisters I'd bring them some back. But unfortunately, I had 2 sisters and only hk$50. I asked if there was anyway I could get the two of them for that (plus 2 postcards for afformentioned sissy-poos) for the $50 and he said "Oh . . . okay!" and I delightedly made my purchase. AT 8 pm we went and saw a "light show" by one of the malls, but it was kinda lame. The lights were supposed to be on buildings going in time with the music, and they weren't really matching up. It was still cool though. We were all really tired, though.</span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#333333;"></span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#333333;">Today we had an excellent adventure. After having the breakfast of champions of items purchased at a bakery (I had a crossiant and a blueberry cheese tart which tasted like cheesecake), we went to see the Buddha. Since we no longer had the Top Model bus, we walked several blocks to the metro. We had to use 2 different lines to get to the island by the airport, but it was fun. On the way we passed Disneyland Hong Kong. Once we got to the city we needed, we went to the cable car place and purchased our "enlightenment tour package" which allowed us to get the ride up, walk to the buddha, and ride back. We spent most of the morning and begining of the afternoon up at the buddha. It was pretty big and we were lucky to see it; Mathew told us that sometimes the clouds are low and you can only see half of him. We also went to the monistary there and there were giant pots of incense where people were praying. Needless to say, it was really neat. When it came time for lunch, we found a restaurant named "Europe go go" and ate there. It was awesome: It had food we were used to. I shared a margharita pizza with Sydney. When we were finished, we came back to the hotel and crashed for a little bit. I took a nap and it was relaxing. This was also when I found out that the adapter that Sydney let me borrow didn't charge Hayward. Luckily, Megan had an extra one and is letting me use that. Hayward is now at 99% charged and it makes me happy :D </span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#333333;"></span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#333333;">We went to the Mormon Temple in the evening. It is beautiful. While we were there, we went behind it and sat for a while. There was a huge, ugly slug on the stairs and I almost stepped on it. Ew. Once again it rained, but like all the other storms, this one lasted for roughly 5 minutes. A couple of the girls wanted to come back in the morning and do baptisms, but they weren't sure if they could. They tried to ask the nice man in the building, but he only spoke Cantonese. We did pass by a side door and an older gentleman saw us and invited us in. After being assured that I could go in that far, we went in and talked with him for a little bit. He was some sort of missionary helper personel thing and was very friendly. His family was originally from Hawaii, but he lives in Mapleleaf, Utah. After we chated with him, we caught the bus back to the hotel and ate at the restaurant we did yesterday for lunch.</span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;color:#333333;"></span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;color:#333333;">Today was a good day. I must now upload pictures to facebook and then go to bed.</span></div><div><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;color:#333333;"></span> </div><div><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;color:#333333;">Okay, so the pictures are taking forever to upload here, so just check facebook.</span></div>Ammanda Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17820368957308693267noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2831322299176505284.post-17645653229683101572009-07-29T16:09:00.001-06:002009-07-29T16:17:01.672-06:00Greetings from TaipeiHey y'all. After 12 and 1/2 hours flying over the Pacific Ocean without seeing the sun for at least 17 hours, I am safely in Taiwan. It is 6:10 am Thursday, July 30. I only spent 2 hours in Wednesday and it wasn't the greatest day. I am typing super fast because I don't want to risk plugging Hayward into the outlets here to charge (they look like ours, but I'm not sure of the voltage) and have him blow-up. The journey has taken me 3 days. Even though by your time it's only been 2. My knees hurt because of all the sitting I've done. Taipei doesn't seem to be so humid, since my hair is somewhat decent. Not yet poofy. Anyway, had beef, potatoes, and cheesecake (at least, I think it was) for dinner on the airplane this morning at 2:30ish am San Francisco time. Had a Chinese breakfast of rice soup, a roll, and fruit sometime between 2:45 ish and 3:30 ish this morning Taiwan/Hong Kong/Zhongshan time. The rice soup wasn't actually so bad. I ate most of it. <br /><br />Right now I'm just sitting in the terminal A8 waiting until 6:55 when we can start boarding the plane. I've been trying since San Francisco to get a decent wifi interent connection and thank God for A8!<br /><br />Hahaha, I might seem a little disjointed in my writing, but that's because I'm operating on what I estimate to be something between 2-4 hours of sleep. But I'm not tired, so my dad was right about arriving here being better than coming home and adjusting. Not that I know the difference officially, but I'm guessing.<br /><br />Anyway, thanks for the warm wishes and keeping me in your prayers!Ammanda Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17820368957308693267noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2831322299176505284.post-71004751288816709762009-07-28T12:05:00.000-06:002009-07-28T12:57:17.699-06:00I'm On My Way<div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#333333;">Here is my itinerary for tonight: 7:33 pm leave Salt Lake via Delta Airlines and arrive in San Francisco 8:41 pm. At 1:35 am (Cali time) we leave San Fran and arrive in Taipei at 5:30 (the the 29th). Then we are going to tour Hong Kong for a few days.</span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;color:#333333;"></span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;color:#333333;">However, the past 24 hours have been pretty exciting. Not necessarily in a fun way, but still. So yesterday I was cruising down the Bangerter to go to SOS for my last paycheck and this is where the drama unfolds. While waiting at the light on Bangerter and 4700 S., there was a truck used for moving produce (or candy or something) in the right turning lane broken down. There was a yahoo in a truck that whipped infront of me from 2 lanes over to turn right. His truck was blocking my lane (which was supposed to continue through the light). It was a red light, so I wasn't completely peeved. After all, I was in the Corolla and had the air conditioner on. I was watching said yahoo. He was a classy fellow: sleeve-less dirty shirt on, sticking his cigarrette out the window and pounding it on his left side-view mirror, and talking on his cell phone. </span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;color:#333333;"></span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;color:#333333;">And the plot thickens.</span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;color:#333333;">The light turns green. Yahoo, still partially blocking my lane, sits behind the broken down truck for at least 30 se<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxs9Z5pz0vSWkqg4F67lAtL33CC_9b1oA4cqPKPROEKfb43a75PxAxUGS0hvS6MjLR-DJmVDFuztJ3XmFFK4ELMwzJb2sa5l7MXWbZwu6FyJ-ejQ9hLPQnpi5gL15G7I3h1hooZj4Liw8/s1600-h/100_0011.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5363586913523056546" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxs9Z5pz0vSWkqg4F67lAtL33CC_9b1oA4cqPKPROEKfb43a75PxAxUGS0hvS6MjLR-DJmVDFuztJ3XmFFK4ELMwzJb2sa5l7MXWbZwu6FyJ-ejQ9hLPQnpi5gL15G7I3h1hooZj4Liw8/s320/100_0011.jpg" border="0" /></a>conds. Then he realizes what I have, that the truck is not moving. So he whips around that truck and continues to go straight instead of turning to prove what a humungo yahoo he was. Miffed, I start going straight, but before I could even reach 5 mph, a lady from the middle straight lane cuts in front of me to do an illegal right-hand turn. However, this causes a problem: I'm going straight and thwarping Ms. Illegal Right-Hand Turn's plan. She crashes into the front left of the corrolla. I was just entering the intersection. There was a Sherriff who saw the whole thing. I pulled off to the side of the road and so did the girl that hit me. However, she was further down the road than I was and had to back-up to where we were. I have a feeling that if the Sherriff hadn't been there, she would have kept going. So I called my mom and she came down to meet me. We gave the Taylorsville officer the information he needed and he talked to the other girl. After about 25 minutes we were free to go. It was the other girl's fault. Much to my chagrin, my mother had me take her hybrid and continue to pick up my check.</span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;color:#333333;"></span></div><br /><div></div>Ammanda Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17820368957308693267noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2831322299176505284.post-45543949788109568652009-07-26T14:04:00.000-06:002009-07-26T14:12:35.799-06:00And So It Begins . . .Here it is: my first blog entry. How exciting.<br /><br />I started this blog (though I have been previously against such things in the past) as a way to keep my family and friends updated while I'm in China. You see, I am going to China to teach English to little children. I am not being paid money, but I am really excited for the experience.<br /><br />For me, the worst part of starting a blog (or any other sort of profile) is coming up with a display name and title. The display name was simple for me. But not the title. I wanted it to be something awesome. Something that when people looked at it, they thought "Wow, that is awesome. Just like Ammanda!" ;) Luckily for me, I had mi padre helping me out. Unluckily for me, he crushed all my joke titles, like "Bowie Lover" or "*insert title with lots of swears here*". But I want you all to know: They were joke titles. Emphasis on "joke". I wanted a title with lots of pizzazz. I happen to like titles that are really long, too. But my father reminded me that my blog title is part of the address. He then suggested (after turning down the highly popular "Ammanda's Blog Rule" idea) "Just Sayin" which is actually something I say a lot.<br /><br />What a wonderful story ;)Ammanda Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17820368957308693267noreply@blogger.com4