Hangzhou and Shanghai vacation!

Last week we had the opportunity to go on a short vacation! We first spent two days in Shanghai. We stayed at a cute little hostel that was so perfect. The 6 0f us we in a room all together with bunk beds. We loved it. Besides it being rainy the whole time we were there, it was a blast. We had a good time going to church on sunday and spending some time with the young single adults. It took us an hour of being lost walking in the rain to find where the branch meets. We were determined though and were extremely glad to finally find it when we did. 

This lady at the train station loved us. She was teaching me Chinese while we were waiting for our train station. 
Some cute girls we met came to our hostel Sunday night to play cards! They are so fun. 

Here are some of the members that we met in Shanghai. 

On our way to Church..... we were lost... and it was raining. 

Outside our Hostel in Shanghai. 

 

    This is an obstacle course that we did at an Amusement park in Hangzhou. It was so much fun! We were harnessed and attached to a cable so it was not dangerous. Some of it was a little tricky, but mostly it was just fun. 

The second half of our trip we were in Hangzhou. Hangzhou is famous for the great West Lake. It is a huge lake surrounded by temples, bridges, and pagodas. It was very beautiful. Hangzhou was a very fun city. There was lots of shopping and cool sights to see. They are also famous for their silk markets. You can get all the silk you want for very cheap. None of us wanted silk so we did not spend too much time there. The Hostel we stayed at was great! The Chinese people running it are very helpful in helping us find all the things that we want to do. We loved our vacation! When the trip was over it was very nice to get back to our home here at the school in Changzhou. We love it here and really do feel at home here.

BEST Thanksgiving ever!!

         Thanksgiving in China was the best! I had such an incredible day. I am so full of happiness and love right now for my many blessings. We just got back from our 5 day vacation to Shanghai and Hangzhou yesterday so we were so excited to see our kids during teaching today. They all ran and hugged us so tight when we saw them. They were trying to ask us where we had been and they told us that they missed us so much. One of the teachers today told her kids that we only have 11 days left to teach them and then we fly back to America. A few of her kids started bawling and then they told the other kids that we are leaving them soon. It was so sad. I just realized how precious that rest of my time here really is. 

          We finished teaching around 5 and then we rushed back to our rooms to get our American meal ready!! We had.... lots of different kinds of pasta, mashed potatoes and gravy, fruit salad, bread and muffins, hamburger rice, Chicken legs (no turkey :(), taco saladish stuff, a delicious veggie plate, and of course lots of Jello and cake. It was so fun to prepare whatever food we could come up with and just put together random stuff! We took all the food to the cafeteria and ate it with some of the Chinese teachers at the school. Our 2 Canadian friends who also live and teach at the school joined us as well.  During our meal we went around and everyone said what they were grateful for. Our Chinese friends just thanked us so much for being here with them told us how much they will miss us when they leave. We have become so close with them and will miss them a lot when we leave. It was SO FUN to give them some American food. They didn't really like the mashed potatoes haha but they LOVED the Jello! Also the cake that we made.. (in our microwave) was way to sweet for them. We still loved it though. 

            So today I am grateful for my China experience. It is almost over and I have grown more than I ever could have imagined in these few short months here. I love this opportunity to be able to teach and learn more about the Chinese people and their culture. I LOVE the kids I teach as if they were my own children, I have become so close with them.

Happy Thanksgiving to all those back in America!! I hope you eats lots and lots of turkey for me :) 

LOVE- Carly Jo

Tsing Ying International Language School

Here is a link to the school's website where I am teaching. It is really cool! You kind of have to just click around because it is in Chinese, but they have a lot of pictures of our teaching and stuff! We are famous!! www.qywgy.com/home when you get to the home page click on welcome, and then on the links next to the pictures. Enjoy!

Lately in China

Here are a few fun pictures from teaching and hanging out at the school. I am continuing to love my semester here in China. It has been so worth it. I have been a little bit homesick for home and for Boston, but I am so glad that I have had another incredible opportunity to spend time here. We only have a few weeks left of teaching and then we are doing a final performance for the kids' parents. We are teaching each class a Christmas song/ dance, and also having a few kids recite some poems. It should turn out to be really cute!! 

Day trip to Nanjing

We had another opportunity to go to church on Sunday to the Branch in Nanjing. It was another very long day trip, but totally worth the sacrifice of traveling. After church we went to Ben and Brad's apartment and they made us some incredible home-made donuts which I think we ate a little too much of :) We played some games and then went and got some food before heading back to the train station to catch our train back to Changzhou. We were running a little late and ended up running from the Subway to the train after eating a ton of food. We were all feeling so sick after running. Luckily, we made our train just in time! We were quite a sight to see.