I Love China!

Well, the last 48 hours have been quite eventful. Once me and the 3 other girls made it to Hong Kong we had to wait 4 hours for the other group, coming from SLC, to get there. We were supposed to make the 8:10 ferry over to the mainland, but their flight was delayed and so we had to wait until the 9:30 ferry. The ferry took about and hour and then once we got there it was just a free-for-all to get your luggage. One thing about the Chinese is that they don't believe in lines. If they see you waiting in line they just jump in whenever, so it took a while to get my luggage! The coordinator from my school in Zhongshan was the one to pick up the big group of 16 volunteers. Because she was the coordinator from my school, my school was the last one for the bus to stop at. There were about 4 other schools before mine. So what should have been about a 2 hour drive turned into a 4 hour drive for me. I got to my apartment at about 2:30 in the morning, after traveling for 41 hours! If anybody talks to me about getting on an airplane I'm going to throw up! I'm so grateful to be alive after the crazy bus that took me here! There was Chinese pop love ballads constantly playing and I thought I was going to die multiple times on the ride. The concept of the horn is completely different here. Instead of using it to tell people to get out of the way, they just constantly use the horn to say, "Hey! Here I am!" They will get really, really close to the cars and scooters in front and around them and either push on the brakes really fast or swerve out of the way.

China is very pretty, but it's also dirty. You'll pass a building that's pristine and kept very nice and the building right next to it will be trash, with windows broken out and ruble everywhere. There are trees and bushes anywhere they can possibly fit one. As I was walking to my apartment from the bus a rat ran right in front of me from the bush on one side of the road to the other. There's also a smaller rat/mouse that lives in my apartment. Disgusting! The beds here are hard, but it feels so good to finally lay down flat after a constant 41 hours of traveling. It's already warm and very, very humid. Today it's over cast outside and windy, so hopefully it will be a little cooler. I have a western style toilet in my apartment which makes me very happy! The toilets in China are very weird. You have to throw away the toilet paper because if you put it in the toilet it will get clogged. Plumbing is not China's strong suit.

Yesterday, I went out with the girls that are volunteering here at Jucheng. We meet our head coordinator, Amber, and she took us to lunch at a restaurant called Tiramisu. We got really yummy rice bowls with stir-fry. Amber then took us around the city and we went to a beautiful park. We really stand out here, so as we are walking around everyone looks at us and laughs. They try to speak to us too, but most of them can only say, "Hello!" And then we look at them and say hello back and then they giggle and walk away! China is amazing and I can't believe I'm here!

 Bathrooms in the Finland airport!

 Yummy! 

 Super creepy white rabbit in Finland!

 I made it to Hong Kong!

 View from the Hong Kong airport.

 Hong Kong!!!

 First meal in China!

 Amber is on the left. Shes the head coordinator at my school. Caley is next to her. She is the head teacher. And Liz in the other girl next to me, one of the other volunteers.

 Beautiful Lake Park in Zhongshan

 The Chinese love the peace sign!

Dinner last night at a really yummy restaurant. The food was served family style on a big rotating platter in the middle, so when the dish came by that you liked you would just get some on your chopsticks and wait for it to come around again! (I was also exhausted at this point, so ignore my tired face).

Around the World in One Day

So, I'm here sitting in the Helsinki, Finland Airport. How cool is that? The only time I've ever been out the United States was when I was really little to go to Mexico. And now, in the space of about 37 hours, I get to go to three different countries.  When my parents and I first got to the Phoenix airport, Tuesday night, there was a little bit of confusion. Apparently the tickets for me and the three other girls traveling with me had never been purchased. ILP had gone through most of the process, but didn't submit the order at the very end. Luckily, one of the dads was there early and had it pretty much figured out by the time I got there with my parents. 

The first leg of the journey was from Phoenix to London. That flight was horrible. Mostly because it's impossible to sleep on a plane. The London airport is super confusing, but luckily I do have three other girls with me, so with our four brains combined we were able to figure it out. The London airport is huge! We had to switch terminals when we got there and we had to take a bus, because it was in an entirely different building all the way on the other end of the airport property. We had a 2 1/2 hour layover there, but because our flight in was a little late and because of how confusing it was to find our terminal we actually got to our gate right as they were boarding. The flight attendants actually took away all of our small carry-on suitcases because the flight to Helsinki was packed. So now all of us only have our backpacks and we have to pick up all of our bags in China before we board the ferry to the main land. The Finland airport looks like a glorified Ikea, and we got in pretty late so no food places were open. We're all sitting here eating our Goldfish crackers and chocolate we brought from home. After three meals on an airplane we were ready for some american delicacies. I can't imagine how I'm going to last 4 months! 

Next stop: China!

Pictures coming soon!

*Book of Mormon buddies you should be on Day 3 for Wednesday, February 25!

I Am So Blessed

Current state of mind:

I am so overwhelmed by the amount of love I have been shown through the donations of supplies and money I have been given. Everyone has made it possible for me to get the supplies I need and I know those little kiddos in China will be very blessed by your willingness to help.

This week has been really weird for me. I have never experienced anything like this before, thus my brain has no idea what emotion to feel. It feels very surreal and I still don't feel like anything is happening, and I'm leaving in about 14 hours! Say what?!? I am very excited, nervous, and scared, but I am excited to start this adventure. 

...but first I need to finish packing...

I'll talk to you soon...once I'm in China! Ahhhh!

Book of Mormon Challenge

So, I'm going to be in China for 4 months! 4 months where I won't be able to attend the Temple, and my intake of the spirit will be limited to watching my Sunday church meetings over Skype. I have a desire to stay close to the spirit and to Heavenly Father while I am in China! I have decided to do a 120 day Book of Mormon challenge to help me stay on track with my scripture study. My challenge for all of you is to join me in this. I hope you will and I hope that you will share your impressions and comments with me about what you're reading each day!

Each line in a day, and tomorrow will be the first day. Monday, February 23, 2015 starting with 1 Nephi 1-3.