MY PLACE

We are leaving Ningbo on Friday and I can't keep back the tears! This place feels more like home than I could've imagined. And while living at the school has been interesting to say the least, I wouldn't change a thing. We have had more than our share of adventures in our Ningbo Neighborhood including the following:

Harry Potter Marathon: Watched all 8 of the movies back to back (except for that 3 hour block where we had to teach English...) We LIVED at Hogwarts that day.

Eating literal frozen yogurt in our makeshift theatre.

Zumba: Taught by Bad-A Russian teacher Natasha on Thursday nights. We try to keep up with her.

Disco Skating: Found a rink close to our apartment and fell on our butts too many times.

Clubbing: Step 1: Strut into the club like you own it, cause you do. Step 2: Head straight for the stage and dance until you die of second hand smoke Step 3: Never have to pay a dime for a great night on the town.

Bus-sian Roulette: Rules of the game: get on a random bus and explore the city and buy fruit. Then find your way home without hiccups. Check and check.

Croc-pot Fondue: Everyone buy a chocolate bar. Melt it in tiny crocpot we found. Dip bananas and angel food cake in chocolate. Die of American-ness.

Aussie Pie: Went to this place for Rachel's birthday and floated home with dreams of apple pie and rum raisin ice cream.

Hotpot with Nichole's Parents: Ate too much food and then went to McDonalds for ice cream.

Lord of the Rings Marathon: Started with the 3 Hobbits and ended with tears cause Sam is the real hero of LOTR.

Tesco Runs: Similar to Walmart runs in America where you go in rain boots, sweatpants and greasy top knots.

Night Markets: Shop 'til you drop. Or until you find contacts that make you resemble Twilight vampires.

Mission to find DVD store: Turned mission to escape first asian lesbian.

Frog Prison: Catch as many frogs as possible, lock them in one room, and name them after Presidents of the United States.

Tuck In: Painting nails, singing songs, cats cradle, coloring, gossiping, and braiding hair. AKA QUALITY GIRL TIME.

Ice Cream Runs: Put this right before working out because that's usually when it occurred.

Working Out: Started strong with 200 squats a day and finished with gazing at Sydney while she does thousands of situps.

BBall games: Keep the ball away from Teacher Megan.

Most days and nights were ordinary. But that's why it was so amazing. Ningbo has become a HOME. A place where I did laundry, grocery shopping, and chores. A place where I have experienced the unbearable cold and the muggy heat. A place where my hair has grown 2 inches and a place where I have a family. A place I have been so long that our favorite noodle place is now moved to a different location!! We get sick of the wifi and decorate the walls and rearrange our beds just like we would in any American apartment. Which makes it all the harder to leave. We are leaving behind friends and frenemies (sorry lunch lady) and so so so many memories.

Ningbo will forever have a soft spot in my heart and I apologize in advance for when I come home and only talk about about China like an annoying return missionary. But it's MY PLACE!

Ningbo Neighbors

You may know by now that I love Ningbo, China, and all that comes with it. But I mostly love it because of the people. I have met so many amazing souls here and I can't imagine my China experience without them.

First off, my babies! How am I so lucky to teach the cutest humans alive? Everyday something adorable happens and I think, "How can I sneak 68 kindergarten students into America and make them my permanent children?"

Second off, Meili. She has been a godsend. We met Meili whilst buying armfuls of ice cream at the school store. She was just the friendliest cashier and thankfully didn't judge our overwhelming lust for sugar. Instead she became our friend and we have abused her hospitality more than a few times now. Since her husband is in England, Meili has converted her small apartment into our American sanctuary where she provides American food, American TV, and lessons on making dumplings!

The Church group. Church on Sunday has become one of the greatest blessings. Craig, Frances, Peter, Christina, Rebecca, and their wonderful children are the absolute best people to spend the Sabbath with. But it's more than church! They have opened their homes, fed us (spiritually and physically) and they have become our dear friends. Some of the best memories here have been at "ward parties" hehe. McKae and Peter's birthday at Indian food and KTV was all I've ever wanted. Let's just say Hungarians know how to party! And our Cinco de Junio party was so off the chain that I threw up from so much delicious food!

Which brings me to the Indians. This may be taking things too far, but the people that own the Ganesha Indian Food place are hands down the coolest people. During our first experience we were surprised with complementary dessert and so overcome by the deliciousness of the food that we vowed to return. The second experience far outweighed the first because we were treated to a private room were we all sat on the ground around one of those cool low table things. Complementary ice cream was of course given again but this time accompanied with two huge bouquets of flowers and presents for the birthday-ers! SHENME?! They actually went to the store while we were eating and bought shirts for Peter and McKae. And we are talking pricey stuff. THEN because the wait was a little long for food they gave us free transportation to KTV. Coolest people, right.

Michael, Magic Molecule CEO. It was by happenstance that we met Michael.  We were on our way to buy train tickets when a lady on the street told us she wanted to take pictures of us eating free ice cream. Of course you say bing chi ling and we are there, no questions asked. So we followed her to a big office building and were ushered upstairs to what looked like Google headquarters but was just the headquarters of Magic Molecule (AKA the best ice cream place). This is where Michael entered and offered us some of his ice cream. We posed for pictures and then a camera crew came to video us eating ice cream. Michael not only offered us 3 scoops of the most delicious cranberry gelato but then he offered to drive us to the ticket station in his new BMW. But most importantly, he has started our modeling careers as we are now featured in the 50 Magic Molecule stores all over China.

With the Big Man himself.

Getting ready to ride in a CAR! It's been too long.

I LOVE MY NINGBO NEIGHBORS!!

China's Got Talent

The School puts on a talent show every year and the ILP teachers are expected to participate. We were not expecting this to be a full out EVENT. But it was much much more. Chinese go all out for these things and the children were dressed to the nines. There was a bubble machine, smoke machine and lighting for every routine. The day before we had a dress rehearsal and realized just how completely unprepared we were for this EVENT. Luckily, they love everything we do because we are American. Our portion included singing Sweater Weather, synchronized swimming, and Micheal Jackson tribute dance. The dress rehearsal was a disaster, but we pulled it all together pretty nicely the day of.

Before the show we helped the kids with makeup and hair. The Chinese teachers kept saying, "Whiter! Whiter!" It was so awful plastering their beautiful skin with white makeup. I will never understand why asians die to be white and Americans fake bake to be tan. It's just a thing. Regardless of their cake faces, the kids did so well and I couldn't stop recording every routine! I don't even teach these kids everyday and I love them!

My babies being FIERCE

Hangzhou

Hangzhou is coined as the most beautiful city in China and I couldn't agree more. Everything is so GREEN and West Lake is absolutely breathtaking. Hangzhou neighbors Ningbo and it took us 4 hrs on a slow train and $4.75 to get there. Can you say BARGAIN?! We got in Friday night to the cutest hostel. After China I don't think I will ever stay in a hotel again. Hostels are just so much more fun! This hostel was especially fun because they had guitars to jam with and dogs to play with! The two dogs would pick leaves from the bushes and play fetch with the leaves! I just couldn't get over it! China dogs are so creative.

 Anyway, Rachel, Kate, and I decided to go explore even though it was dark outside. We ended up walking like 6 miles around the lake because it was so beautiful even at night! (And we might've got a little lost...) But we stumbled upon some workers coming in from the lake on boats. We persuaded them to take us out on the lake (AKA forked over some yuan) and we got the most peaceful ride! the water was so still it looked like glass.

The next morning we rented bikes and rode to the Lingyin Temple. Mckae's bike tire popped on the way but luckily the hostel brought us a shiny new one! In the temple there are ancient carvings and grottos that were so amazing. We walked through caves and caves off these things. We even took a little hike and made some bug friends.

Then we rode our bikes to China's National Tea Museum. The tea fields and gardens surrounding the museum were beautiful and we sat for a few hours just relaxing. We returned our bikes at the hostel and then went to a literal hole in the wall place for dinner. The ceiling was barely 6ft high. But they had the most delicious dumplings, noodles, and wontons so we were quite satisfied.

Day two we spent at West Lake. The lake is huge and we stopped at several places to along the way. At our first stop we found the best steamed buns, danced MJ for a huge crowd, and chatted with the cutest college students Vicki, John, and Jimmy. They were very anxious to practice their English with us and it was adorable. Jimmy wanted recommendations of American movies, John talked sports, and Vicki wanted to talk BOYS.

Stop two Rachel, Kate, and I went to another section of the lake before our train ride home. This is where we met David. Stopping to look at a map, David asked us if we needed any help. He immediately took us to a spot were we could sit and get a good view of the lake.  David has been to America over 40 times and his son is graduating from MIT. As we talked with him, it was clear he is one of the kindest and wisest people. He is just one of those people that would do anything to help anyone. He even invited us to his 29th anniversary dinner but we told him we had to go home in just a few hours. He brought his wife for us to meet, took pictures for us, and then paid for our bus back to our hostel. He made us promise that we would all meet again in three yrs because it was destiny that we had met that day. It was adorable. I can't even describe the cuteness of this man. But now I can tell people, "A wise man in China told me, 'The world is like a small village." And ain't it the truth. It's such a small small world.

Rachel was hungry on the way home... #frorealz