Sanya Beach Bay

Happy Halloween! We had our Halloween bash before we all left for our different vacations so in our English classes we all were given a game to play with the kids for fun. Nat had musical chairs, Brit had bobbing for apples and Lex had face painting. We didn't have much sources for our costumes so we ended up being CATS! After class we all gathered in the dance studio for games and celebrating. We played Mafia! Ya know the one with Angels and Murderers. It was a fun night to kick off the time off. Our last vacation was a decision settled on Sanya Bay, some decision we know! It was just four of us instead of all 11 though, Brit, Nat, Lex and Chels. We arrived in Haiku Island by plane and then had a three hour taxi ride to our hostel, it was a nice taxi too, an actual car in which the driver blasted techno music the whole time haha our hostel ended up being about 30 yards away from the beach but we werent at the touristy part of the bay so we were entangled up in China's coulture. We had two rooms with two twins so we had to split up, Nat and Chels in one and Brit and Lex in the other and guess what in Brits/lexxy's room they were welcomed with a surprise of hundreds of little bugs crawling underneth the sheets! So they switched to another room where they had to share a queen sized bed. Once settled in we called the hotel manager, Perry, to bring us some more toilet paper and instead he brought us white computer paper haha what a guy. The next morning Nat and Lex went on a morning beach walk and found a dock so we sat down to watch the old people fish and work thier butts off, all of a sudden we were being summoned by a couple from thier boat/home. We told them we didnt have any money so we couldnt pay them to take us anywhere but they just beckoned us to get on the 5 by 10 boat and so we got on and they started to feed us breakfast. It was so cool! These people had nothing and yet they were willing to share thier breakfast with us! The breakfast was watered down rice in what looked like squid goop but we were grateful, they laughed when we laughed and smiled when we talked and just sat there in silence for quite some time because we dont know each others language. While we were out and about Brit and Chels stayed behind to watch the stuff and get a tan. While they were laying there a guy started to talk to Brit about who knows what in Chinese but what she didnt know is that he was just distracting her so that his friend could steal her purse! Luckily Chels' arm was on the purse so when she felt it gone she yelled to Brit her purse had been stolen Brit automatically took action and demanded her purse back. I dont know how she does it, making people submit to her and all, this guy just handed back her purse and ran off! The nerve right!

The beach we were next to didnt have much foreign people so we were pretty obvious people sitting there on the beach that we had so many observers that would come to talk to us and some just even sat down next to us and didnt say a word or they would watch us from a distance which can be creepy. One guy with out fail would be at our beach spot and would wait for us and then climb a tree for us to get us coconuts and then fall asleep next to us. Some protector. Half way through the vacation we finally found the tourist beach with all the water sports and naked Russians. It was so beautiful and so much fun! Nat and Brit found themselves playing water basketball with the Chinese men, boy were they immature! They would cover themselves with sand and then thier friends (keep in mind they are like late 20's) would put both parts of a human on them and laugh and laugh! We also ate the freshest pineapple on the beach! On the way home from the tourist beach Natty had a run in with her bladder and just couldn't hold it, fortunatly we were sitting in the very back of a half filled bus and there just happened to be a half filled medium Pepsi cup so what did she do? yes of course she did, She filled it the rest of the way. Ask anyone, thats pure talent! Didn't even spill on the ground of the moving bus! Speaking of which, Since we peed on the Great Wall we thought we might as well leave our scar in Sanya so one night after the sun went down at about seven or eight we walked to the beach by our hostel and took a dip :) In order to be covered waist up you have to go atleast 20 feet in the water and the busy road was about 3o feet the other way so this was a tricky thing to do and who better to test the water then Lexxy right? Before any of us saw it comin all you could see was what looked like a girl in a white swimsuit running towards the water. That was it and we all ran in to have a skinny dip session in the China bay water. For Halloween we all decided upon going out for dinner instead of the usuall corn and mango off the streets, so we ate dumplings and friend rice and then bought sweets for us all to share :) Nat and Lex found themselves deeply enjoying the coconut candy Sanya had to offer so they decided to share the joy of Halloween and the candy by going around on the streets and offering candy to the little Chinese boys and girls, they followed us around for a while after, They were so cute! It felt good to give. It was definantly a fun and memorable trip :) If anyone wants to see paradise then we suggest Sanya Island, China!

Beijing pt 2 Great Wall and Bird Nest

To start off the week we had a good Church meeting at the Beijing International Branch, It was really weird because it was in an office building with Dairy Queen attached to it and people were still working haha. It was really cool to see lots of people that werent of Chinese descent coming together for this one day. After church we were invited to the Relief Society Presidents home for dinner! Told there was going to be home made American food! We had been fasting all day so we were famished. When we arrived we found out that we werent the only ones going to be attending the dinner party and had time to get to know one another. We had a 2nd counsler and his wife, a couple and two funny british guys going to college in China. The dinner bell rang and we grabbed our plates for a dinner set up like a buffet. She had prepared bbq pork, home made rolls, fruit jello, chips, salad and so on, haha we had never eaten so much! Then they brought our dessert which we couldnt eat for like an hour while we digested, we were planning on staying there all day, she had carpet.. We had a little devontional from the 2nd counsler and were scooted on our way. We had to get a good nights rest anyway for tomorrow which was a big day. The Great Wall of China!! We woke up around six so we could walk to where our tour was going to take off of. Other then our group we were also with about seven others, some from Jeruselum, some from England and one really small Chinese guy. We were dropped off in the middle of no where and were waiting for our tour guide, our tour was the secret Great Wall so it wasnt the fancy version and we had no idea where to go. Then from behind the crowd of us we heard the little Chinese man beckon us to follow him... Lexxy started to call him Hank and it caught on pretty quickly, turns out that Hank was 72 years old... im sorry let me retype that.. Hank was 72 years old about to take us on a two hour hike up hill. Holy Calolo!! He was a champ. When we got up to the wall it was incredible! You could see all around you and the wall was growing plants and crumbling and went on forever!! We walked the wall for a while and found a guard tower, I think you could imagine what popped into our heads at this point. Since we couldn't sleep on the wall we were going to leave our mark another way. So we waited until everyone had moved on the the next scene and ever so slyly Natty exclaimed, "Ladies, this is our duty. It much be fulfilled and if not by us then who?" Thats all the pep talk we needed, Brittany handed out the white squares and had to snap a quick pose of victory. WC!!! WC aka: ladies summer room. After each taking a guard look out we couldn't help but throw high fives and race to where our group was. Hank had them resting in a larger guard tower for some drinks and pictures. Omri, the jewish guy, had us all flustered with his accent but thought us a crazy group because we had a dance party on the Wall of greatness. The wall took up most of our day and didn't have much time for anything else so we just explored and found a park with karaoke and ribbon dancing and occupied ourselves for the night. Our last day in Beijing was pretty busy with sight seeing, first thing in the morning we went to the Temple of Heaven, its where they did sacrafices and stuff. We walked the grounds and saw huge gates and the most amazing art work you have ever seen! The last thing we were suppose to see in Beijing was the Bird nest from the Olympics. We took a million buses a few bridges and lots of walking to get there and guess what.. it was closed!!! It was the saddest thing! But you could get a little closer then the very outside gate so some went and some didn't. Nat and Brit wanted to go back to the silk market and Lexxy was determined to sneak in it thats what it took. Nat and Brit finally got everything they need from the silk shop done, dancing and the whole shabang really sped things up. Two girls and Lex walked the closest to the Nest to savor the moment, but there were like five other gates closing it off, Lex says she wanted nothing more then to run that glorious track. So disapointing! Sarah, Abby and Lex started walking home and the fastest way was to cross the freeway.. Don't worry they didnt do it but did climb the bridge above the freeway and Jason Bourned it across holding for dear life and shuffling on their tip toes, I guess a twenty foot drop to speeding cars really does put your life into perspective. Once all home safe and sound we had our last night of packing to get ready to leave in the morning on our flight back. When we got back home we had all day to unpack and relax before getting back to teaching. Good to be home! We missed our Kids!!