St. Patrick's Day!

Bacon, eggs, and a burrito. Those three are the biggest cravings I have had lately! I do miss American food!! Did you know that they don’t eat bacon here? I asked a friend of mine and he said he has never seen bacon before, what a sad life! I love bacon, eggs, and pancakes for breakfast! Oh, I have also been craving Mexican food for some reason too! Thought you should all know that when you’re abroad you miss the weirdest things, it’s kinda like being pregnant! Haha Anyway…

 

In order to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day while here in China I painted all 47 of our kid’s faces. I was able to teach them about how the clover symbolizes luck! I had such a great time painting their faces!!! They all looked so cute! We wore funny hats, a great pair of eye glasses, and some clover bling.   A lot of the kids decided that painted mustaches looked really cool, so quite a few of them chose that!  I even painted a mustache on my face to make them all laugh as we took pictures. I had so much fun playing with them that day. It was such a wonderful day outside! I like that I can simply be their friend outside of the classroom rather than worry about being their teacher.  After I painted their faces and we took lots of pictures, we went to dinner and left the face paint on our faces! That was probably the only time I have ever seen those lunch ladies smile, and that in and of itself made it an amazing day!

 

 

Teaching is slowly getting better.  I love the kids, I really do! I can’t explain to you in words how amazing it feels to look down and see their smiling faces. I love the way they hug me, or kiss me on the cheek. I love seeing their smiling faces from afar as they get excited to see me. I love hearing them shout my name from afar. I enjoy getting to know them; I can describe each one in detail! They are all so different! I love being here in China, I can’t imagine how much I will miss it when I leave! There are things I certainly miss about America, but I have learned you don’t need all that luxury that we have in the United States. I am grateful for the opportunity to be here. I wouldn’t trade this experience for anything!  I’ll keep you guys posted on everything that’s happening! Love you all!

-Amber Toy

Big dog for food-small dog for friends….

We had a four day vacation just last week and we decided to go to Yangshuo and Guilin to see the beautiful mountains and scenery.  It took us 18 hours to get to Guilin on a sleeper bus. The trip there and back was not very fun but the day in a half we had to spend in Yangshuo and Guilin was worth all of it!

  

The title is NOT coincidental! I was talking with a lady who accompanied us to Yangshuo  and she asked if I liked “duck.” I told her yes of course, she looked really shocked that I said yes and I couldn’t understand why! She said most foreigners think its weird that the Chinese like it. I kept thinking in my head this makes no sense and right then one of my friends said to me, “Amber…she said dog…not duck.” What!?!!? Wait wait, people actually DO eat dog in China? I always thought that was a running joke! Then she says to me, “We raise dog until it gets big, then we eat it.” When she saw that I look disgusted she follows up by saying, “Don’t worry, small dog for friends.” So from then on out every time I saw a small dog I thought what a lucky dog he is!!!  That was my favorite quote from the whole vacation! :)

We first went to see the Dr. Seuss Mountains as they are named. We rode on bamboo boats on the famous Li River in China. The sights were breathtaking. I cannot describe in words how beautiful the scenery was. The best word I can think of to describe it is untouched. It was as if it was drawn straight from Gods hands and kept there. I loved being able to close my eyes and feel the wind against my face on the rafts. :) We were on the bamboo rafts for about two hours getting from Guilin to Yangshuo. Once we got there we took a bus into a very small village to get to the city of Yangshuo and explore more there.

 

What a sad sad sight it was to see within that village. The people were very poor. It was probably the poorest city I have ever been to since traveling here. The people lived in shacks, shacks with their roofs caving in. There were people who were probably 80 years old there who were working in the field. It was sad to see them so bent over from so many years of work, one gal was barely above my knee from so many years of being bent over from carrying all the weight on her shoulders.  I have always known that we were lucky in the states to have as much as we do, but how humbling it was to actually see with my own eyes people who work so hard and barely get anything.  It just made me realize why  it is everyone’s dream to come to America. We truly are a beacon of hope to those from other countries. I have so much to say on that subject but for now I will leave it at that.

After seeing the mountains and the village we took a bike through the city to get to the Dragon Cave. I’m going to confirm a fact for all of you, Chinese people really do drive crazy! So add a foreigner and a bike in that equation and it gets interesting! We had a lot of fun biking through the village though. The sights were remarkable. Once we made it to the dragon cave we went on a tour of the cave in a boat! The cave was pretty amazing, a lot of the caves structures resembled dragons and phoenixes, which was pretty perfect seeing as how were in China!! :D After seeing the cave we went back to Guilin and toured around there. We had an amazing meal which I wish I had taken a picture of but it was so yummy! Much better than our cafeteria food that’s for sure! I'll have another update soon on how St. Pattys day went! :) Thank you everyone for your love and support! See ya next time!! 

PS. To see the rest of my pictures from the trip, click here.

FIRE IN THE HOLE!!!

Even though I have only been here for about a month, it feels like it’s been so much longer! I have a lot of new things to tell you about! The title is what a bunch of 12-year olds shouted to us on our way to dinner. Haha it’s the only English that they know! We all looked back and could do nothing more than smile and laugh. :) There are a few people who speak English here, and when they do, its usually very broken English. But they are all so eager and interested in what we have to say. 

The journey here

 It took us twelve hours to get to our school! We were on a train for two hours, landed, then caught a taxi to take us to what’s called a sleeper bus. A sleeper bus is a bus that has very small beds in a very small amount of space. Actually it’s kinda like the buses in Harry Potter! We were on the bus for ten hours before we finally reached the school. The school campus is gorgeous and I absolutely love it! There are several new pictures of the school here on photobucket, feel free to take a look! 

Food

The Chinese certainly love chicken feet! I’m getting used to the food more and more each day. I took a picture of a good lunch that we had, just to give you an idea! ;) A few interesting things that I have eaten or seen while here: chicken feet, the skin of an eel (that was gross),  chicken head, and turkey neck. That’s to name a few but for lunch and dinner we usually have lots of rice, vegetables, and a little chicken leg or something of a very questionable nature, Haha. We have lunch at 11 and dinner at 5, and I teach from 2-5 every day. I also teach the older kids from 6:30-7:10 each day. 

Culture

I have learned so much about the Chinese culture! We went to Karaoke with a bunch of friends and it was so much fun!! You’re in a private room and you just sing along with your friends. I loved it! I have never seen so many strong women in my life. I admire their strength, so many of them have the crummiest of jobs. They work so hard in order to provide their child with an education.  They don’t have public schools like we do in the States, one year of school usually cost about 10,000 yuan. 

 Education is vital here.  I have taught 16-year old kids in a fifth grade class. Why? Because their parents work so hard to give them an education, but sometimes simply can’t afford it so they have to drop it and then pick it back up again. All of the kids here live at their school, having class all day ever day! The only day off that they have is Sunday, and even then they have classes at night. I have grown such an appreciation for all the limitless possibilities that we have in the states. I am amazed at how little they have here, but how happy and content they are with what they have.

Teaching

The teaching is the hardest part about being here, but its also the most rewarding! Their teaching methods are very old school, they don’t use any technology to teach. They have chalk, chalkboard, paper and pencil.  Words cannot describe the happiness I feel when they crowd around me to give me a hug, or tell me they love me.  I’m learning to love each and every one of the kids. I will get pictures of each one soon and describe my homeroom to all of you. :) I teach about 70-100 kids every day! I am so worn out by the end of each day that I usually watch TV or Skype with family. Sorry I have not been keeping up as well as I should! I will get better I promise!! :) I love all of you and I miss you all!

-Amber Toy