JUST GO pics and vids

                Us in front of the national symbol for festival day. Don't ask, its weird!

           

After our sad atempt at wipe out!

Emilys epic follow up!

Shame shame you NOW know my name...

Us "back stage"

Somewhere in the first week of my arrival, our Chinese coordinator Mary asked us if we would like to be on this Chinese game show called Just Go. Just go is sort of like American wipe out if that will help you understand. We all, of course, said we would love to but thought no more about the subject. Well we were wrong about thinking she wouldn’t pull through. Monday we get a knock on the door and there is Andrea with a big smile on her face. She says "sooooo Mary got us on Just Go…" We all freaked out and started preparing for the coming Friday. Preparing as in, saying we are getting prepared, but still doing the same stuff as normal. Maybe squeezing our gluts coming up the stairs.

Well the big day comes and were up at 5:00 in the morning making our 2 hour drive to He Fei, the capital of Anhui province. We ended up getting lost and arriving an hour and a half late. It was no big deal though, they hadn’t even started he games. So we get situated “back stage” and sit and watch a TV that shows what’s going on live. So we watch as the first group of girls goes. In my mind, and I’m positive in the minds of my fellow teammates, we have got this one in the bag. I was fairly confident that I was going to breeze by this course and win Mary an AC unit. You see the prize you win at the end if you complete the course, you win a whirlpool air-conditioning unit. Now I will quickly run through the women’s course and the men’s.

The women’s course consists of a tramp, 4 turn tables, 3 sweeper arms going around in a circle while you jump from 1 platform to the other, a long treadmill, then the  sinister stairs, then to a swinging platform you must land on by swinging from a rope, then you must cross 3 moving tables that pivot with your weight, then you must climb up a 30 foot slide with water coming down it by pulling yourself up with a rope, then you hit the big red button and you win.

The men’s course, you start out by running across 8 unstable treasure chest looking things, then you must run across 6 rolling logs, then pull volt across a 20 foot gap, after that you run up the treadmill and to the row of sinister stairs, then you come to two moving tables that you must jump from one to the other through a moving windmill, then climb the 30 foot slide to victory!

So the first group of girls go, then the first group of guys. Then they are calling our names and were lining up on stage, my heart is going crazy and I feel like I might pass out haha! Andrea goes first, she makes it to the sweeper arms but takes one right in the butt and falls head first into the water. Then its Alexis, she makes it all the way to the sinister stairs but falls in at the top. Then it’s me, the buzzer sounds and I start running, I jump off the tramp and come to the first turn table, I hop on and start to situate myself for the next jump, but then the table angles down and I slip right off. I try and jump to the next table but it was too late and I fell into the water. I was SO MAD, I could not believe I didn’t even make it past the first table, I knew that I shamed myself and America ;) then Emily is up, she gets to the first turn table and… yes indeed, falls in. Next is Garnet, she makes it to the first turn table and as you guessed, falls in, following me and Emily’s lead. Last but not least is Sarah. She comes to the first turn table and makes it, then the second, then the third, and yes to the fourth, all she has to do now is get to the platform… but she falls haha. We come back to the back stage and get to watch Bobby and Jeff go. Bobby goes and makes it all the way, he not only just makes it but he does it in record breaking time, 1 minute 30 seconds. Jeff goes and falls off at the logs.

Over all I had a blast, even though I shamed America on national TV, I still had a great time. Sorry to my fellow Americans for not even making it past the first turn table ;)

The KIDS

This is the middle group, the "favored" ones :)

Playing "red light, green light"

Me and some kids playing "duck duck goose"

Emily, Me, Mee Mee, and Sarah

Of late, not much has been going on here. Were in the last week of summer camp, the humidity is unreal. Even when your just sitting down with the kids, you can feel the drips of sweat running down your back and face. Haha gross image right? But its how it is, no avoiding the truth! The one and only thing that keeps me sain in this kind of heat is the kids. They are so fun and such a joy to be around. They can always put a smile on my face and get me laughing in no time. Depending on the day, I either have the babies (1-3 graders), the middle group (4-6 graders), or on the worst days, the middle schoolers. (7-9 graders). Why i say worst day is because the middle school kids don’t have a care in the world for us or what we are trying to teach them. We all say that they are "to cool for school". There are a couple students from that group who do care and take the time to talk to us and try to better their English. The middle groups, the 4th through 6th grade kids are my favorite, they are at that age where they can be taught easily and love the games we teach them. The babies are fun but very hard to control, but they are the cutest things ever. They grab your hand like you are their best friend and lead you on some sort of an adventure. There is this little girl, not in any of the groups we teach, but her mom is a Chinese teacher at the school so she comes and hangs around with us. She is the cutest thing and loves us all a lot. She grabs are hands and chatters in Chinese as she leads us around the school. We named her Mee Mee and she loves it! All of the parents with little kids always wants their kids to touch us, so they will walk up to us and make their little kids give us high fives, its way funny and it happens at least once a day. We took our kids to this "park", which was quite beautiful. As you keep walking through the middle of the forest on this path, it leads to this amusement park, if you are from Utah, it is like a mini, creepy version of Lagoon. except you don’t pay at the front, you pay for each individual ride you want to go on. I went on the bumper cars because one of my students refused to go without me. Then we did the screamer, the one like at Lagoon where you start going around and around and the machine starts going straight up so you are doing back flips kinda. Anyways i got dragged on that one also but loved it so much i did it again. haha. The kids really do care for you and try and teach you all they know in Chinese, like how to count to ten, or simple words like T-shirt, or water. I can’t wait for the real semester to begin and have my own class to teach and also learn so much from.

Bengbu, China

This is the MayFlora Campus from the inside.

Bengbu, City

Sweetest old lady

apartment buildings

The family at the key maker shop

First school lunch meal (very good)

When I first landed in China, the first thing to hit me was not the beauty, but the humidity!!! It is hotter than the middle of summer back home, and not to mention it was 8:00, very dark and still blasted hot. We met up with the rest of our group and our Chinese coordinator Mary. Our bus driver took us to a hotel to stay in because we did not want to drive to the school in the dark. That was my first real experience with the Chinese culture. Me, Emily and Alexis shared one room, Sarah, Garnet and Andrea in another, Mary and Jackie in one, and Bobby and our driver in the other. Me and Emily shared a bed, not to mention it was a twin and hard as a rock. with the crazy time change from Utah me and Emily fell asleep super fast but i woke up at 3 am. We went to breakfast that the hotel provided and it was my first taste of Chinese food. It was ok. Very Very different. After that we packed up and head for Bengbu. Our van was made to fit 8 people and we managed to fit 10 along with 15, 50 pound bags! It was a sight to see. We made 3 stops, and the farther we got for Shanghai, the more the people stared at us. Mary said that not many white people visit these areas. After an exhausting 8 hour ride, we finally took the exit for Bengbu. My first thoughts were how green and open it was. Lots of endless fields. We then pulled up to the school. It was HUGE. So different from what i imagined. Some men helped us carry all of our luggage up the 6 flights of stairs. Mary showed us our rooms and we started to unpack. Our rooms were also nicer then i expected. We both have full beds (rock hard :)) and an actual toilet, no squatter business. Bobby then told us to come up one more flight of stairs that led to the roof. We walked out and the view was breath taking. all you could see were fields of green surrounding the school. The campus was also very beautiful, with a lake and a very Chinese looking bridge the crossed the middle of it. After that Mary took us to show us around campus and then took us out to this little restaurant in our building. I ordered egg fried noodles and LOVED them. Very good. For dinner we went to the cafeteria or dining room as they call it and i had my first taste of "school lunch" haha. I was actually pretty surprised, it wasn’t as bad as i was expecting. The next day Mary took us into Bengbu city to shop and look around. I was shocked at how much poverty i saw. Lots of run down Apartments that people still lived in. It is a bigger city then i thought it would be with lots of people. We had a great time shopping and i bought a sweet pair of neon green Vans and a supper cute bag. Everything is so cheap its hard not to buy everything! We then went home and had a good nights rest... I have truly loved my experience so far. There is not a place in the world i would rather be. The people are so kind and willing to help. And i love the beauty of China and the culture.

Family Shout Outs!!!

To start off my first blog post, I would just like to say a little about my back ground. My family is my life, they mean the world to me and as I am on this journey I have all the love and support i could ask for. So here is a shout out to all of them. Mom, dad, honestly I could not ask for better parents, you have been so loving and supportive of all the things I choose to do and never once have I felt that I didn’t have your trust with what I choose to do. Britt, my big sis. What would my life be like without you? I can’t even imagine. You have been such a good sister to me, you taught me all my 'need to know' facts in life! I feel like we have only grown closer over time and know that will never change. Landon, oh Land I love you so much, I could not have asked for a better brother in law, you are such a stud and I appreciate how much you love my sister. Sailor Powell, my gosh how could I ever put into words the love I have for you my little bug. NEVER grow up, stay my sweet little girl! Jord, gosh bro I feel that we have only become closer these last months and I miss you so much. I miss you contagious laugh and your quick smile. You are so sweet and kind to me and I treasure every moment with you. Trevor, Trev I am so proud of you and your willingness to serve the Lord. I can feel your testimony every time I read your e-mails. You are such a loving and protective brother. My favorite thing about you is your protectiveness over me, I know I laugh when you say you will cut their tongues off haha but I know that you truly mean that you won’t let anything bad ever happened to me. That’s the end of my shout outs and i love and miss you all!

Love your daughter and sister, Steph!