Welcome to Sanya!!

Sanya is commonly called the Hawaii of China. How were we to know it's more like Russian influenced LA? But it was a beach and there was sun and I was more than happy. We got to our hostel late in the afternoon and went straight to the beach. This is were we first experienced that China has a beach curfew and lifeguards come to kick you out of the ocean at sundown. It's probably necessary because I could stay in that ocean forever. Its the warmest ocean I have ever had the privilege of swimming in. So instead of swimming, Rachel and I walked the length of the shoreline. The next day we headed to the beach early to try and catch the sunrise. You couldn't really see the sunrise, but we had the beach all to ourselves. And it stayed that way for most of the day. Where are all the people?! Well, Chinese people usually avoid the sun and except for the surfers the beach was practically empty until 5:00 at night. We stayed at the beach basically the whole next two days leaving only for food. I was on a diet of mangos, bananas, coconuts, and ice cream cones. Not mad about it either. 

 We would lay out to tan, swim for a bit, eat some fruit, reapply sun screen, repeat. On Brin's birthday we celebrated by making her a mermaid and going to Pizza Hut. You may laugh, but Pizza Hut is a classy establishment in China. Like we dressed up and everything! It was the most delicious pizza I have ever had. (That may be due to the previous fruit diet but anyhow...) We went to the beach that night and one lifeguard helped us take a group picture.  Soon we were chatting with several life guards. On our China bucket list is listed "kiss a foreigner." So what happens next was done in the name of YOCHO. One of the lifeguards wanted a picture and of course my "friends" chanted "Kiss, Kiss, Kiss, Kiss!" He didn't know much English but of course he knew THAT word. So we kissed for the camera. Harmless fun, right? I thought so.

NOT AZN LOVER

BDAY GURL

The next day we all woke up terribly sunburnt. We didn't even want to leave our room. We all just laid on our beds mostly naked, turning up the AC, and laughing in our misery. It was so fun. Because Aloe Vera is like a kajillion yuan in China we opted for DIY sunburn relief. We crushed up advil mixed it with water and lathered the paste on our skin. It worked wonders. We decided to hit the beach around 4:00 when the sun would be a little kinder to our skin. As I was laying in the sun, almost asleep, I hear, "I LOVE MEGAN! C'MON BABY, LET'S GO!" It was my 5 ft, 28 yr old, Asian, stalker. Maybe I was overreacting. He's a lifeguard afterall and he has to be at the beach. But he was right in front of me with three floaties and a friend. So Mckae, Shae, and I went out to the ocean with our boyfriends. This is where we named him Michael Jackson. I was really leaning toward Jonny Tsunami, but he loves MJ so we went with that. As we floated out to sea MJ and I drifted farther and farther away from the group. He wanted a romantic get away, I wanted a taser. But he was harmless enough. It was more awkward than life threatening because we couldn't say anything to each other. He only knows how to say, "I LOVE MEGAN! C'MON BABY, LET'S GO!" And that got old after a few times. There we a few moments he tried to get handsy but boundaries were established quickly. Eventually we were back with with Shae, Mckae, and his friend and all was well. It makes for a good story anyway.

It was our last night on the beach and Nichole, Kels, and I swam in the waves for hours. We were surrounded by hundreds of asians and just laughing when each wave would smack us around into the throng. We swam until the lifeguards whistled curfew. We couldn't escape another encounter with Michael Jackson but there was no teary goodbye. It was just more shouting, "I AM MICHAEL JACKSON. I LOVE MEGAN! C'MON BABY, LET'S GO!" Whew. Rachel, Nichole, Kelsey, and I went to get mango ice which is so delicious. As we were waiting, Kels got heat stroke and almost passed out! Luckily we were all very calm and quickly got her cooled down. Then Rachel and I ate dumplings and the nastiest jack fruit. It's like plastic cheese bubblegum. And then it was goodbye, Sanya.

We arrived back at the school the next day and right when I walked in the gate, Dave was leaving school. It was heart wrenching to see one of my babies. Then I saw Sandra and Beyonce and Jessie! So sad/happy/emotional about all of that. I don't know what would've happened if I saw all my kids. Tears, definitely tears. I love my kids, I love Ningbo, I love China. I learned so much about myself, others, and life in general. There's nothing else to say.

Last Dinner at Cafeteria

Queen Shabib ready for America.