The Happiest Place(s) On Earth!

So for Chinese New Year break, back in February, we went to the two happiest places on earth: Disneyland, and the Temple (LDS [Mormon] Temple that is!).  This has been one of the best vacations ever, although there are quite a few right up there with this... Vacations in general are usually just great!

Disneyland

Of course Disneyland was beyond fantastic!  I think it is worth noting, we went to Disneyland Hong Kong, not California.  I didn't even think about it, because living in China, the Hong Kong one seems like the most logical one to go to, but a few of my Utah friends were upset that we didn't visit them when we went to America.  But of course we didn't go to America.  HK Disney is quite a bit smaller than that of it's Cali counterpart.  It has less attractions, and characters, and even has some different rides (like Grizzly Gulch, and Mystic Manor, which is kind of HK's version of Haunted Mansion).  

I think Tiana and I enjoyed it more than anyone else.  Typically you think of little kids getting all excited about Disney, and though my brothers were extremely excited to go, they just don't know Disney like Tiana and I do.  They haven't seen a lot of the classic Disney movies, so it just wasn't as meaningful to them; However, Disneyland is the embodiment of Tiana's and my childhood.  I think we both about peed our pants we were so excited when we first walked in.  There's just this magic in the air.  I'm most definitely working there when I'm older.   

For us, the characters were of top priority.   We each bought a Disney book, and fountain pen in our lovely Nanjing in which to gather our signatures.  We were a little disappointed because when we looked on the website, there weren't many characters that were supposed to be at HK Disney, but we figured something was better than nothing.  Obviously for Tiana and me, the princesses were our main focus.  On the website, it only had Belle, Cinderella, Aurora, and Snow White listed.  Though we were confounded that HK didn't have Mulan, I was ok with the small assortment of princesses because Belle is my favorite.  Crazy thing is, the only princesses we saw (other than seeing the four previously listed in a parade) were Rapunzel and Aurora!  Though I didn't get to see Belle, I was beyond extatic to see any Princesses, and Rapunzel is Tiana's favorite, and near the top for me; and Aurora is my mom's favorite, so it all worked out well!  

The rides of course were fantastic! The first day as we went through everything, we had a lot of time wasted just standing around planning what to do next, so when we went back for the second day, we had a clear (but flexible) plan outlined with everything we wanted to do!  Trevon and I were ride buddies, and we tried to get a selfie on every ride.  There is never a dull moment with this kid, so I was glad to be his ride buddy.  

Another very important thing, for me at least, are the SHOWS!!   We saw a Lion King Show, Golden Mickeys, and the Philharmickey (or something like that)!  We saw all the shows on the second day, and they probably took up the most amount of time! Not because they were that long, none was over an hour, but because we had to wait for ever in a line! Chinese people are known for queueing... Well in Mainland it's usually more of a clump, but I think in HK they understand the idea of a line a bit better.  In China you see people lining up extremely early for no specific reason (imagine black friday every single day). One of the best examples of this is the train station.  People will be lining up for the train waay before it's time to board, and everyone already has a ticket, so there's no reason to even be lining up!  For all the shows (except Philharmickey because it's not actually live, so it's playing all day) we lined up at least an hour early.  When arriving at the Lion King show about an hour early to assess the situation, the lady told us we only need to line up right now if we wanted a front row seat, but that we could come 15 minutes before it started if we wanted to sit in the back.  There's no way I'm sitting in the back if I've got the option to sit front row to see such amazing talent, so we did what China taught us, and queued.  I think that the waits were definitely worth it!  The performances were fantastic!  If you've seen, or at least seen pictures of the Broadway show of The Lion King, that was kind of how the Disneyland show was. The costumes weren't as intense, and it was a more of a kid version, but I was blown away.  And the Golden Mickeys was an "award show" highlighting some famous songs from different disney movies.  It was so surreal watching all these people I've adored since the age of three performing... even if they aren't real.  And the Philharmickey was a 4-D movie where Donald was supposed to be setting up an orchestra enchanted by the hat from the Sorcerers apprentice bit from Fantasia 20000 for Mickey's performance, and he starts messing around, and travels from musical number to musical number in different Disney movies trying to get the hat back.  We wouldn't have gone if Tiana and Marissa hadn't pushed for it, so I'm very glad that they did!  

I just cannot get over how fantastic it was!!

The Temple

We also spent two days at the other most magical place on the face of the earth, the Temple.  I love going to the temple so much! I forget how uplifting it can be when I only have the opportunity about every 6 months.  It also makes the temple so much more meaningful.  Not going to lie, I, like most Utah Mormons, used to take the temple for granted.  It was just down the street, and we had leaders who would offer to drive us on a regular basis when I was in Beehives and Mia Maids.  When they were doing construction on the road in front of my high school, we'd drive past the temple on our way home from school because it was quicker.  But living in China, and having the temple taken away from me, has shown me how important it is that I go whenever I have the opportunity.  It also made my decision to go to SUU that much sweeter when last general conference [in October, not the one we just had] the Cedar City temple was announced!  The HK temple is a lot smaller than any of the temples I've been to before, which caused the layout for the baptismal font area to be a little different than I'm used to, but I didn't mind it much because I was actually at the temple!  It was neat because there were a lot of Mainland China members there!  While in Mainland China, we aren't allowed to talk to any native Chinese people about the church.  We even have to meet separately from them.  In some cities, like Beijing, they all meet in the same building, just at different times, but here in Nanjing, us foreign members have no idea where our Chinese brothers and sisters meet.  We do know there are members in Nanjing, just not how many.  But being able to see them in the temple melted my heart.  There were some girls from Beijing doing baptisms at the same time as us, I wish we had gotten to talk to them, but they left before we got the opportunity.  My dad was able to confirm and baptize me in chinese which was one of the neatest experiences!  There's just something wonderful about doing the work for chinese people, in china, in chinese :)  And when my mom and dad did their sessions, my dad was able to do that in Chinese too.  I just can't wait to go to the Taiwan temple! I'm sure that will be an even more amazing experience because my dad served his mission in Taiwan.  Also, if everything goes as planned at the moment, when I go the the Taiwan temple, I'll also be going to receive my endowments for my mission!  I'm just so excited for all of this!

Being in the temple, and feeling the spirit of it all, really helped me to know that this is the truth.  Though other churches have bits of the truth, this is the only church that has all the truth.  All because of a 14 year-old boy who had a question, and the desire to know the truth.  It's kind of long, but I feel like Joseph Smith's words accounting his first vision are just so strong, and no matter how many times I've read, or heard this, I feel the spirit so strong.  I am just so thankful to this wonderful man, and all he has done for the world.  I wouldn't have a temple like this to go to if it weren't for him.  I wouldn't even be living in China.  Joseph Smith is a great example because he showed us how to know the truth.  He showed us the best way to find answers.  I've followed after his example of earnest prayer more times than I can count, and even though I've never had God or Christ appear before me, let alone an angel, I've always received an answer.  and I invite you, whether you're Mormon or not, to do the same.  If your heart and mind are in the right place, you might be amazed at the results.   

 10 In the midst of this war of words and tumult of opinions, I often said to myself: What is to be done? Who of all these parties are right; or, are they all wrong together? If any one of them be^aright, which is it, and how shall I know it?

 11 While I was laboring under the extreme difficulties caused by the contests of these parties of religionists, I was one day reading the ^aEpistle of James, first chapter and fifth verse, which reads: If any of you lack ^bwisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.

 12 Never did any passage of ^ascripture come with more power to the heart of man than this did at this time to mine. It seemed to enter with great force into every feeling of my heart. I reflected on it again and again, knowing that if any person needed ^bwisdomfrom God, I did; for how to act I did not know, and unless I could get more wisdom than I then had, I would never know; for the teachers of religion of the different sects ^cunderstood the same passages of scripture so differently as to destroy all confidence in settling the question by an appeal to the Bible.

 13 At length I came to the conclusion that I must either remain in ^adarkness and confusion, or else I must do as James directs, that is, ask of God. I at length came to the determination to “ask of God,” concluding that if he gave wisdom to them that lacked wisdom, and would ^bgive liberally, and not upbraid, I might venture.

 14 So, in accordance with this, my determination to ask of God, I retired to the ^awoods to make the attempt. It was on the morning of a ^bbeautiful, clear day, early in the spring of eighteen hundred and twenty. It was the first time in my life that I had made such an attempt, for amidst all my anxieties I had never as yet made the attempt to ^cpray ^dvocally.

 15 After I had retired to the place where I had previously designed to go, having looked around me, and finding myself alone, I kneeled down and began to offer up the desires of my heart to God. I had scarcely done so, when immediately I was^aseized upon by some power which entirely overcame me, and had such an astonishing influence over me as to bind my tongue so that I could not speak. Thick ^bdarkness gathered around me, and it seemed to me for a time as if I were doomed to sudden destruction.

 16 But, exerting all my powers to ^acall upon God to deliver me out of the power of this enemy which had seized upon me, and at the very moment when I was ready to sink into ^bdespair and abandon myself to destruction—not to an imaginary ruin, but to the power of some actual being from the unseen world, who had such marvelous power as I had never before felt in any being—just at this moment of great alarm, I saw a pillar of ^clight exactly over my head, above the brightness of the ^dsun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me.

 17 It no sooner appeared than I found myself ^adelivered from the enemy which held me bound. When the light rested upon me I^bsaw two ^cPersonages, whose brightness and ^dglory defy all description, ^estanding above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other—This is My ^fBeloved ^gSon. Hear Him!

 18 My object in going to ^ainquire of the Lord was to know which of all the sects was right, that I might know which to join. No sooner, therefore, did I get possession of myself, so as to be able to speak, than I asked the Personages who stood above me in the light, which of all the sects was right (for at this time it had never entered into my heart that all were wrong)—and which I should join.

 19 I was answered that I must join none of them, for they were all ^awrong; and the Personage who addressed me said that all their creeds were an abomination in his sight; that those^bprofessors were all ^ccorrupt; that: “they ^ddraw near to me with their lips, but their ^ehearts are far from me, they teach for doctrines the ^fcommandments of men, having a form of godliness, but they deny the ^gpower thereof.”

I wanted to finish the blog post with an excerpt from Elder Holland's talk from the conference we just had.  This quote is about a million times more powerful when he's actually saying the words.  I just loved the power and conviction with which he delivered this.  I was a little surprised, though I shouldn't have been, with how adamant he was.  He's more certain of these things, than he was that he was standing before a conference house full of people... That's the kind of testimony I want to have.  I feel like I've got a fairly strong testimony, though I've had my moments of weakness, but I don't know if I'm to the point were I can say  "I am more certain that those key have been restored and that those ordinances are once again available through The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints than I am certain that I am typing this blog post right now"  One day I want to have that conviction.  I know it won't be easy, but it will be worth it.  And here is me setting my goal to reach that level of faith.  

Friends, especially my young friends, take heart. Pure Christlike love flowing from true righteousness can change the world. I testify that the true and living gospel of Jesus Christ is on the earth and you are members of His true and living Church, trying to share it. I bear witness of that gospel and that Church, with a particular witness of restored priesthood keys which unlock the power and efficacy of saving ordinances. I am more certain that those keys have been restored and that those ordinances are once again available through The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints than I am certain I stand before you at this pulpit and you sit before me in this conference.

If you ever have questions about the church, don't be afraid to ask me, or even better a missionary from our church.  If you want to know more, visit lds.org or mormon.org.  I have found more joy through this church than any other source, and the only reason I share anything about this church is because I want you to feel the same joy.

P.s.  I'll try to update this post with pictures later :)

The Past Year and a Half!

Sorry for the silence I've had for nearly a year and a half!  Well on this blog anyway... To those of you who see me regularly, sorry for the lack of silence.  There has been so many crazy things that have happened this past year, and I hope to be able to highlight some of those really big ones.

Grade 11

Our school (like most international schools in China) has a "Discover China" week where every grade goes on a trip to somewhere in China to, well, "Discover China".  In 11th grade we went to Guizhou, the poorest province in China, and it was one of the most AMAZING experiences of my life.  We spent the majority of the week digging a rice patty.  Literally building it with our own hands and old tools that had to be constantly repaired by some of the village members.  It was hard work, and compared to the grade 12 trip to Hainan (the beach) it may seem like a horrible experience, But it wasn't.  It was one of the best experiences of my life.  The people of the village lived such a simple and meager life. But they were so happy!  Their community leader had even died right before we got there, and the funeral procession was while we were there, but they didn't let that get to them!  They were such a fantastic example that you don't need money to be happy.  Do what you love, and surround you with people you love, and you will live a happy life. And I just loved being out there working.  I'm obviously not a very active person, but I don't mind getting dirty, and I love to feel like I'm helping out.  I like to make people happy, and I felt like this was a good opportunity for that.  What we did during that week would have taken a group a farmers the better part of a month to build.

Theatre:

I ended up with a lead in the school's production of Kiss me Kate!  It was funny because Tiana was Kate, and I was Bianca.  Meaning that she played my older sister.  I realized this was the first ever school musical I've been in.  For a series of reasons (some my fault, while others out of my control) It's just never worked out for me to be in a school musical before! I've been in quite a few musicals at community theatres, but never at school!  So that was a really exciting experience for me!  It was an amazingly fun experience, and I think that I grew a lot. It definitely pushed me, especially vocally!

I participated in ISTA (International School Theatre Association), and also the first international trip for the school! We went to Jeju Island Korea.  It was such a beautiful place, and the perfect setting for the theme, which was "The Tempest" by William Shakespeare.  It was a little crazy because there was even a shipwreck right before we got there, and for those of you who don't know "The Tempest", basically none of it would have happened if it weren't for a shipwreck at the beginning.  We portrayed the major themes of the play through a more interpretive style of theatre.  It was an interesting experience for me because I've never done much like it (like much of the theatre I've done since moving here).  We all had different workshop groups, and learned about different types of theatre.  I can't even remember what mine was, but it was an asian movement kind of workshop.  So basically we portrayed the conflict of the people of the island with those shipwrecked on it through movement, but it wasn't a dance.  It's hard to explain but it was really exciting.

I attended an arts festival, and of course I took all of the drama workshops, and surprisingly enough a dubstep dance workshop because I had a free slot.  I think that aside from Shakespeare festival in Utah, this is the best school trip I've been on for drama.  Even though He'll never read this, I just have to thank the director Mr. Smith for it all!  If I end up directing (which I plan on doing at some point), he is one of the directors I've had which I aspire to be like.  He pushed us, and expected so much out of us.  he had so much energy and passion.  That festival was so inspirational to me, I definitely confirmed that going into theatre is the right thing for me.  We just acted all day for 4 days, and I was so happy.

I competed with the wonderful Erika in the duet acting devision of Speech and Debate.  We had a wonderful experience rehearsing and competing made all the sweeter by winning first place.

I directed my first show, and dang was it a lot of work!  Compared to Lone Peak, the drama department here is severely lacking because the program is a lot newer, the student body is smaller, so it's hard to get people who are interested, and other things like that.  But it has grown a ton just since I've been here!  I wanted to help build it up by directing my own show, but I didn't realize how much work it would be!  I am definitely so glad that I did it though, it made me realize that not only do I want to direct, but I could actually do it.  I think it was a good experience to have before college.  But really I couldn't have done it without my fantastic cast.

Trips:

For Christmas we went back to Utah, which was fantastic!  It was so great to be able to see my beloved state, friends, and family.  I was reminded how much I missed and loved the place.  I think leaving after Christmas break was harder than moving to China in many ways, but easier in ways like I knew people in China, it wasn't a new scary thing like moving there was.

We went to England for Chinese New Years.  I've ALWAYS wanted to go to England so you can guess that I was more than thrilled.  I was on cloud nine the whole week, and I'm going to live there one day.  Not for a long time, but it will happen.  We saw the Globe theatre, Shakespeare's house and grave, Phantom of the Opera, a Police Box (sadly I never ran into the Doctor), and obviously things like buckingham palace, Big Ben, the London Bridge, The London Eye, etc.  We went on both a Harry Potter, and Jack the Ripper tour. Both of which were extremely interesting.  I just love the atmosphere of London.  parts of it feel like you've traveled back in time.  There are sections with new high-tech buildings, but large portions of it is just old buildings.  It's beautiful.

Summer

Well Liam was born right towards the end of the school year!  He's the cutest chub ever!  It was soo weird having a new baby in the family at first, but now I couldn't imagine it any other way.  But the timing of him being born meant that we only got to go to Utah for two weeks because of visa stuff.  

In a way it was good we had to stay in China, even though the summers are unbearably hot and humid (like 100+ practically every day), because we were able to meet the new Mormon family that moved here over the summer.  Yes you read right! A new Mormon family! With kids our age and everything (17 year old boy, 15 year old girl, and 14 year old boy).  We were instant friends and do practically everything together now.

When we did go back to Utah it was fantastic!  I loved being able to see all my friends! Especially Cheyenne who wasn't able to come to Utah over winter break.  I spent the first week going on college trips with Cheyenne, and spending time with friends and family.  The second week I went to girls camp, and I'm so glad I was able to go.  It was both my first and last time being a YCL because of moving to China the summer before.  I think it was easily my favorite girls camp.  It was crazy though, even though Utah is one of my favorite places in the world, I was completely ok going back to China.  None of the overly emotional desire to stay in Utah.  But of course I'm still so happy to go back when I graduate!

Grade 12 (up to now)

Grade 12 has been soo busy!  Unlike in the states where 12th grade is usually the easiest year, here it's the hardest. By far.  But it will be so rewarding when it's all over.

For Discover China week we went to Hainan, and I was able to check surfing and hiking through a rainforest off my bucket list!  It was so nice to be able to just relax and play on the beach, and just have a break from our studies.

I competed in Speech and Debate again this year, but not only in Duet Acting, but also in Debate, and Oral interpretation.  Ben and I competed together with a scene from Richard III in duet acting, and I feel we did fantastic, but sadly we didn't place.  All those who did were from my school though, so that's ok!  Debate we didn't even make it past the first round, but I wasn't expecting much from that.  and Oral interp, I ended the first round in first pace, but ended up getting third overall.  I was happy with my performance in all the categories but I really wish I could have placed better in at least duet acting and oral interp.  I think it was a huge eye opener that I can't get complacent.  I tend to get prideful when I'm doing really good in life (like I was in drama last year), and I think God needs to remind me I'm not all that and a bag of chips sometimes.  This being one of those times.

I was in the School production of "The Willow Pattern" Which is supposed to be a Chinese proverb, but it's written by some British lady.  It's basically like a Chinese version of Romeo and Juliet.  The script wasn't that great, but the makeup costumes, scenery/lighting, and of course the actors made up for it, and I think we had a pretty great play! It was fun to do something different!  

For Christmas break we went to Australia for a week, then spent the other two weeks here in China.  It was really great but really different at the same time!  Before we went to Australia I didn't really have that strong of a desire to go, other than to add a continent to my list, but I after going, I absolutely love it! It was one of the oddest experiences having it be Summer and Christmas at the same time!! I don't think that is something I could ever get used to!  I also turn 18 in Australia!  How many people (aside from Aussies of course) can say they turned 18 in Australia!?  I've now had my birthday on a different continent every year for the past three years.  It was so nice to be able to just lounge on the beach!  We tried our hands at surfing, and even though I didn't do great in Hainan, I did way better there.  But Trevon was pro! He got up practically every time!  Though most of Australia was fantastic, it wasn't all fun and games.  For instance, I got a tick while I was there, and my dad, mom, and I got so dehydrated when we went to the zoo that we threw up... those were both experiences for sure.  I had a major panic attack when I got the tick.  I got it the day after I turned 18, and for those of you who don't know, I have a bit of Peter Pan syndrome.  So I was (and still am) pretty bummed about being 18, and then on top of that I got a tick, which my dad flushed down the toilet.  For those of you who don't know, if you get bit by a tick which has lyme disease, and you keep the tick they can actually treat you, and you don't get lyme disease.  So I basically spent the day wallowing in self pity because I had no idea how I'd survive in the real world... If I didn't die from Lyme disease yet.  But don't worry, it's over a month later, and I'm fit as a fiddle!  I'll spare you most the details about throwing up, but basically we went to the zoo the hottest day we were there, and forgot water, we bought some halfway through the day, but it was already too late. Then on the bus ride home, I threw up... lets just say there was a hole in the bag, and it was NOT pretty!

Actual Christmas and New Years was so much fun, but so different than it usually is! We spent Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and New Years Eve with the Ferneys, and we definitely made the most of it.  I just love those people soo much, when you get us together, we can make anything fun.   I do miss all of the old traditions, but we were able to carry a lot of those on, or at least variations of them, and we made some new traditions.  It's just crazy how much life can change in one year.  Yes, we were living in China last year, but we went back home for the break, so other than the fact that everyone just wanted to hear about China, and we were obsessing over all the American stuff, it wasn't that different than a normal Christmas.  but this year was really a time for me to just see how much things have changed.  There are some aspects of my life that are completely different than what they were last year, even somethings that meant the world to me, and I never thought they'd change, but they have, and I'm completely ok with that.  I've realized that's what life is.  I think this change is fantastic.  I've changed and grown so much as a person, and I absolutely love it.  I would not change a single experience I've had in my life, both the good and the bad.  Because like it talks about in 2 Nephi chapter 2, you've got to have opposition in everything.  You can't know the good without the bad.  I can honestly say that everything that has happened since I moved to China, has proven that to be true.  That has been one of my favorite chapters of scripture since I moved to China.  It really is just great to read when you are struggling with any sort of challenge :)  

All in all, I've just had an amazing experience! In addition to all of the cool places I've traveled to, I've also gone to see a lot of cool things in china, just around Nanjing, and also other places in China, like when we went to see the terra-cotta warriors!  I just wish I would have blogged more over the past year an a half, not only so you all could know what's going on, but just so I could have a more accurate record of everything that has happened.  I sure hope that I'll blog more, but I'm making no promises!  I hope you have had as good year and a half as I have!  

Blue skies in Beijing

BLUE SKY!

We went to Beijing for 5 days, and it was pretty great! We got to the train station, and realized that the person who bought our tickets goofed, and so I got to sit by myself a few cars down from my family. It actually was pretty nice! I was able to read without little children bothering me every two minutes. Then we got out of the subway station to find that BEIJING HAS BLUE SKIES!!! It was amazing! I have not seen a completely blue sky since we have moved to China, both Nanjing and Shanghai have very smoggy/sometimes cloudy skies, and the most blue you ever see is just little splotches. But the skies were completely blue, and when there were clouds you could tell it was real clouds, not smog :) I could have cried with joy, I really miss the blue skies of day, and the starry skies of night. The night skies aren't that great, but the blue was amazing :)

Walking to the hotel was interesting... It is about twenty minutes to walk there from the subway station. You do a lot of walking in China, like you would any city, but you usually don't have 8 suitcases. My dad had asked my mom if she wanted a car before hand, but 20 minutes did not seem that long until we had to actually walk it. We decided right there and then that we were getting a car to drive us to the train station when we went home.

Crowd at the lowering of the flag

We then went to Tiananmen Square to see them lowering the flag, but the crowd of chinese people was so thick, you really couldn't see anything.   My dad kept saying things like "Mikayla do you have your freedom speech already?  I think you should do the 'I'll lop off my arm' one" referring to a Shakespeare monologue I competed with at the Cedar City Shakespeare Festival a few years ago. And he would randomly shout out "freedom."  We were all hoping no one spoke english, we kind of didn't want to get in trouble about it.

Birds Nest

ducks, ducks, and more ducks

Beijing is really famous for its duck. You cannot go to Beijing without getting duck, so we went to Peking Duck.  I'm not a huge fan of duck, occasionally I like it, but I have had some not so great duck in the past so I have a hard time eating it.  We did get these really yummy bird nest looking things that had some duck meat in them.  a really famous dish is duck tacos, I have had some pretty good ones, and some really awful ones, luckily these ones weren't too horrid.  I was lucky enough to get good meat in mine. In the past I have gotten some really fatty pieces and it really ruins your taco.  It really is different in the way they prepare and present the food here, the kitchen is has a window in it, so you can look in and see them cooking the chicken, and they just have a rack with ducks hanging from it ready to cook, and then they bring you out a duck (yes your very own duck) and cut it for you right infront of your table, you even get an identification card for your duck, so you can always remember him.

Preparing our duck

We then went to a street market by our hotel, and when you first walk in there is this shop selling scorpions, starfish, and seahorses in a stick. . . yum. . . My dad obviously had to try one, and Brannon being a little "mini me" tried one too, and as a big surprise to everyone else Marissa tried one too! She is probably the most paranoid person in the world, she is afraid of everything, and makes sure everyone knows.  For years she wouldn't ride on elevators or escalators without completely losing it, and if we were driving past a semi on the freeway Marissa would be having a panic attack in backseat, just to name a few of her fears.  Here in china she has been pretty fearless.  It has been a real shock to everyone.  Everyone else was too afraid to try scorpions then.  We did all get candied fruit on a stick though,  that is one of my favorite street foods, my favorite is strawberry, but I don't think it is in season right now, so you can't find that.   They had a bunch of other stuff there too, so my dad bartered so we could get the best prices for everything.  It is great having a dad that speaks chinese and knows how to barter because they often rip off foreigners.  Then as we were walking home, we saw these guys doing some street dancing, and it was pretty entertaining!

Great Wall

The Next day we were off the great wall! We rode there in my dream car, a 14-seater van (no joke, I love big ghetto vans for some reason).  As you walk up to the tram you walk through this street market, and it is kind of intimidating because it is quite steep, and you are thinking "if this is how steep the pre-trail is, I can only imagine how steep the actual thing is.   Then you go in the tram, and it is crazy to see how high you are climbing, I am just glad we go to ride the tram instead of walking.  My dad kept telling us "Mulan had to walk this whole way."  He never realized, no matter how much we told him, that Mulan never travels to the great wall in the movie.
When you get up there, you can see the wall climbing the mountain, on both sides, off into the distance.  It was an amazing sight.  I can see why it is one of the 7 wonders of the world.  I am sure my dad loved it, how many people get to say they have climbed the great wall for their birthday?  We tried to sing my dad "happy birthday" in chinese, but instead we wished him a hot birth. . . not quite the same thing, I think we might need to practice our pronunciation and tones just a bit more!

Alpine Slide

My dad wanted to hike up the left side, and then back down and then go on the right side, which is where we had to go to get back down, but we ended up not doing that, and we are all glad of that, even before we got to the alpine slide to go down we were all way past the point of just glistening.  Beijing is not nearly has hot and humid as Nanjing, but it is still way more humid than us Utahns are used to.  I was glad to be able to get back to the hotel that night and take a shower.  I am glad though that it wasn't as bad as Nanjing is, we would have been dead before we even started.  To get down we got to go on an alpine slide, which was tons of fun!  except Tiana was wearing the big backpack thing we had to carry Declan in, and she had her arms awkwardly underneath her legs, so she couldn't go very fast, and we were all bright enough to put Tiana in the very front, obviously.  So we were all going as slow as snails, and yelling at Tiana to go faster so we wouldn't run into the person infront of us. Then when we got down

Chinese picture people

there are these guys in costumes so you can get your picture with them, but then you have to pay for the pictures.  They don't tell you about the fee before hand, and they ambush you as soon as you get down the hill, but hey at least we got some good pictures!   Then we obviously had to do some more shopping!  I love going to all the street markets with my dad bartering because we can get great deals, even if I could speak the language I don't thing I would be very good at it.

We had lunch at Subway, which was amazing!!  the sandwiches aren't nearly as good here as they are back home, but this was the first time I have seen a Subway since I have moved here, and it was amazing!

Afterwards we went to the Temple of Heaven, but we got there pretty late, so everything was closed, but it was still cool to be able to walk around the trails, it was really pretty.  There were a lot of people there just socializing, some people were selling stuff, and others were exercising.  It was kind of funny, as you were walking on the paths, we would see people running by, but they would be wearing normal everyday clothes, not any sort of exercising clothing.  There was one girl wearing a nice shirt and jean shorts.  It made you wonder if they were exercising, or just needed to get somewhere really fast.

We went to a hot pot for dinner that night. A hot pot is basically this pot of boiling broth in the center of your table, and you stick your meat and other stuff in there to cook it.  You also have to make your own sauce. . . That was pretty interesting.   We had no idea what we were doing, so we just mixed a whole bunch of random stuff together. Luckily, mine didn't turn out too bad.  Hot pot wasn't the most amazing thing I have ever had, but it turned out a lot better than I thought it would, and it was a pretty cool experience!  There is this guy that does a "noodle dance", that was probably the best part of the meal!  It was really amazing.

The next day we went The Forbidden City which was the emperors main palace.  As we were walking in there are tons of guides that just walk up to you, and ask if you want a tour of The Forbidden City.  We ended up getting a guide, and his name was Jimmy.  It actually was good that we had a guide because everything basically looks exactly the same, and even though it is all very beautiful, we would have had no idea what we were looking at without the guide, and he kept us going at a good pace, we would have gone much slower without him, and would not have been able to see everything we wanted to.  He told us what all the different buildings were used for, and explained the feng shui of the palace.  Jimmy took us to this hidden art gallery that only the tour guides know about, and we were lucky enough to be there the day that the last emperor's nephew was there.  He rarely comes, so you are lucky to see him.  He doesn't have any sort of title anymore, the government took that away, but he is really famous for calligraphy, so we had him draw the calligraphy for our last name.  Pretty sure calligraphy will never be something that I master.  My dad can't even read very well, and he has been speaking the language for about 20 years.

Emperor's Boat

7 lion statue

After The Forbidden City we had Jimmy take us to the Summer Palace, which was the palace for the emperor in the summer.  We saw the boat for the emperor, and it was this big stone boat, I don't even know how it would float, but it was!  Then we took the boat out to an island, and then walked around part of that, and walked over a really cool bridge that had lion statues on it. Each statue was actually comprised of 7 lions, and each one was different. We then took the dragon boat back to the mainland.  We didn't see much else in the Summer Palace because by the time we had gotten there it was about dinner time, and we were all exhausted.  We aren't used to the amount of walking you have to do in the city, that and hiking the great wall.

Us with Jimmy our guide

After that we went to a Hutong, which is basically a really old chinese neighborhood.  Some of the buildings were over 700 years old.  It was probably my favorite part of the day.  It was amazing, there was just so much history there. Everything had so much character, and a story just waiting to be known.  I would have loved to go there and just take pictures, it was all so beautiful in its own way.  It was a neat experience to see the way everyone lived there too.  They really didn't have much, they didn't even have their own bathrooms they just had a lot of public bathrooms  (with squatters), but everyone was so happy and friendly.

chinese pancake shop

Our tour guide Jimmy lives in a nearby Hutong so he showed it to us, and showed us this really great dumpling place.  That is one thing that I like about China, going to little dumpling shops like that and eating dumplings.  On the way to the dumpling place we found this chinese pancake shop, and they tasted so good!  It didn't taste anything like a pancake, it was more like a tortilla, but still it was amazing.

Drinking yogurt

After we ate the dumplings we went to this little shop where they sold soda, yogurt, ice cream, and such.  The yogurt they had there are in these little glass jars, and like all the yogurt in China, you drink it instead of eat it. Since this certain kind of yogurt is EVERYWHERE we had to get it.  This place even refrigerated it, which was good.  A lot of the places didn't look like they refrigerated it, and it looked slightly sketch.  There was this exercise park in the middle of the Hutong that we went to.  They have them everywhere in China. They have exercise equipment for adults to work off their dinner, but it is really fun to play on too.  While we were there my dad bought us some hand-cut noodles that were amazing!  Not many people get an experience like that, even if they have been to China.  It was all just so great.

The Bus

Jimmy told us that the bus home would be faster than the subway, so we took his advice and took the bus.  Yes it was faster, but also about 10X as crowded.  The bus we needed to take just happened to be the one that everyone else needed to take, we didn't know if we would make it on, but then we followed the example of everyone else in China, and shoved our way in.  at one stop the bus was almost completely full, but quite a few people still needed to get on, and there was one girl that grabbed a hold to the yellow bars on the door almost like if she had a hold of those bars then she could make it onto the bus.  They had to push the button to close the doors multiple times before it finally shut on her and all the other people that had crammed in.  They didn't even pick anyone else up at the next stop because it was so full.

That day everyone that had not had a scorpion the day before decided that we had to have one, how many people can say they have eaten a scorpion?  So of course we went back to the street market, and all ate a scorpion, it really didn't taste too bad, but the legs and stuff kind of get stuck in your throat and mouth.  It took a while to get it completely down because of that.  My dad kept quoting a saying "You are not a man until you have climbed The Great Wall of China." We also added, and have eaten a scorpion, so we are all men know.  Trust me, it works.  Trevon told me right after eating scorpions, "I want to eat another scorpion! It makes me feel like a real man, like Fa Mulan!"  so if Mulan is a real man to my 6 year-old brother, then I can be a real man too.

The Beijing Branch was a very interesting experience, we left kind of late for church, plus we didn't take into account the time it would take to run from subway to subway (we only had 6 subway stops, but we had two subway changes, so we had to ride a total of 3 Subways to church) so we got there about 30 minutes late, and sat in the Foyer.  But it was the weirdest thing! the building (well floor of the building) was completely permanent! There was a bulletin board with all the happenings in the ward, and placards for the different class rooms just like in a normal building!!! and there were 200 something members!! It was amazing!! our branch in Nanjing only has about 20 members, and nothing is permanent at all, we have 3 rooms total to meet in, and one storage closet to put everything in. Our rooms are used for different things all week long, so every Sunday we have take everything out of the closet and then put it back it.  Our branch also only meets for 2 hours right now because there isn't enough members in the summer to have the full 3 hours.  And the branch in Beijing has YOUNG MEN!!! our branch has one young man, but he only speaks chinese, and rarely comes.  the young women's here only has 5 girls, and my two sisters and I make up 3 of the 5.   It was sooo weird to go to church there because it was so normal! other than the fact that there wasn't a young women's leader there that week, so one of the girls kind of did like a 15 minute lesson, and then we talked the whole time.  I also got to meet my seminary teacher!  because there are so few members, and we all live so far away, seminary is done over phone (or you can do independent study) every morning before school.  The class only has about 10 kids, and other than the one girl in my ward who is old enough for seminary, I might never meet any of the kids in my class.  It definitely will be different! I am so thankful that I will have a seminary class though! I know we would try with independent study, but without someone pushing me, I know I could easily fall behind.

Trevon eating a 1 RMB popsicle 

They sell these popsicles all over Beijing that are just 1 RMB, so of course we bought them all the time.  However, it was illegal for them to be selling them, so if a cop came they scattered.   They tasted really good, and for 1 RMB why wouldn't you buy it!  my dad asked one of them what would happen if they got caught and they said they could be fined 50-100 RMB which is really all they would make in a day.

Beijing really was a great trip!  We saw some amazing stuff, and I really had a great time.  The only thing that could make it better would be if this was actually just a short trip, and I would be back for school in the fall.  Oh well a girl can dream!

4th of July and Shanghai

So I figured after being here for a month (almost down to the day)  I should blog!  well china is extremely different.  You realize what your history teachers meant when they say that America is a melting pot.  I am beginning to adjust, but there are definitely things that I will never get completely used to. One thing that makes it hard is that most the foreigners go home for the summer, and no one else speaks english.  I met one girl named Emily right when school was ending here.  We were taking a tour of the school, and her mom was there, and heard us speaking english, so she asked if we were new, and where we lived, and it turns out they live in our compound just down the street from us, so she brought her kids over to meet us, and she has a girl (Emily) that is my age.  So Emily showed me some places by our house, and then I got to go to the last day of school with her, and out to lunch with a lot of the other kids so that I could meet some other people.  It was really great to meet people, but it also was a huge reality check for me.  Saying Utah is a bubble is an understatement.  They are all very nice, but their standards are all a lot lower than what I am used to.  There is no age limit for drinking here, so every weekend all the kids go out drinking.  Looks like I am going to have lots of weekends spent at home!  As long as they respect me and my standards and keep that kind of stuff away from me I should be fine.  But everyone has left for the summer, so it doesn't even make a huge difference that I met people.  for once I cannot wait until school starts!  Oh and I love going to church!  Our young womens leader got us these notebooks, and all our handouts and notes for the lesson go in the notebook, it is super cute! I love it!

So we actually celebrated the 4th of July!  until the day of we didn't quite know what we were going to do, or if we were going to do anything for it.  My dad got a new grill just a few days before, and if you know anything about my dad, you know he was so excited to use it :)  my dad is like a kid in a candy store when he talks about grilling or smoking meat.  The burgers were a huge deal because you have to go all over to get all the supplies for a burger that you would take you 15 minutes to get in walmart.  You have to go to about 3 stores, one of which is about 40 minutes away.  The guest list was unlike one you typically have in Utah, we had a handful of Americans, a Brit, a Canadian, a Japanese, and a Malaysian.  We had an amazing fireworks!  They were the kind you only see in a firework show!  We had HUGE aerials :)  our driver, and Bran were so excited about the fireworks :)  it was pretty funny to see Bran, he would set one off and just go running. we also had a roll of 8000 fireworks that took about 1 minute 30 seconds to go off completely, it was amazing!  We even played 'Stadium of Fire' to complete the experience.  It was super depressing not being able to go to Stadium of Fire, especially with Scotty McCreery, but I surprisingly was not disappointed!  You really appreciate the freedoms you have in America when you have a lot of them taken away.  I couldn't even be posting this in China without a VPN.

Shaved ice with mango

On Saturday we went to Shanghai for the day.  It was a lot of fun! We rode the "fast train" there, which goes almost 200 mph.  It take an hour to two hours (depending on the amount of stops) to get there by train, and 4 hours to get there by car.  We ate at a dumpling place for lunch it was pretty good, I have definitely been having a hard time with the food though. We did get a really good shaved ice thing with mango on it!

Pear TV Tower

See that building back there
with the hole in the top? That is
 the tallest building in China

We saw the tallest building in china, it is huge! and towers over all the other buildings, but there is another building right next to it that almost looks taller depending on your perspective. Then we went to the Pearl TV Tower, and that was really cool!  The line was forever long though.  We had to wait in line to buy the tickets, then wait in line to go through security, then wait in line to go on an elevator then wait another line for another elevator, it felt like ages!  But when we got up there it was totally worth it!  we were 350 meters up in the air at the highest point.

Tiana and I on the observation deck

I've got to say the last floor we went to was my favorite! they had a glass floor that you could walk out on and stand above the city.  It was amazing!!  I didn't think it was scary at all, but both my mom and my dad were freaking out.  It was really funny.  My mom was holding on to Tiana and I's hands so she could make it on to the glass, and she is taking baby steps and at one point yells "Let go of my hand! let go of my hand!"  I wasn't even holding on to hers, she had a death grip around mine though.  My dad was trying to take baby steps out to the railing, and then this little chinese boy reaches out his hand to my dad to help him out, so my dad grabbed it. It was hilarious! Even Marissa who has the most unreasonable fears about everything was completely fine with it.  It was actually pretty funny, some of the Chinese do really funny poses in their pictures, so Marissa would watch them, and then run to me and say "Mikayla! take a picture of me!"  and then do one of the poses she saw the natives doing.  It was amazing up there!!

A lady trying to get her little boy to take
a picture with Declan.  You can't tell here,
but he is wearing split pants.

Everyone loved Declan.  It was super funny!  We all get a ton of people coming up to us to take pictures, but people ask to get their picture with Declan more than anyone else. It takes about twice as long to get anywhere because of everyone wanting pictures.  I am pretty sure that more pictures were taken of us than thing else in Shanghai the whole day.  We have people walking up to us asking to have our picture every 20 minutes, and virtually the whole time we have people snapping pictures from a far. . . or not so far away in some cases.  Occasionally you would see people get right up in Declan's face and snap a picture. Everyone always wants their kids to get pictures with Declan.  There was one group of about 3 people that came up, counted us, looked at our parents in shock, and said "leo ga hai za?!" while giving us the 'hang loose' sign, which means "6 kids?!" and the 'hang loose' sign is 6 when you are counting on your fingers.  Then they started looking at Declan, who was asleep in his stroller, and start waving and saying "hello" (one of the only words most Chinese know) and she started pinching his cheek trying to wake him up!  my dad told her that he wanted his baby to sleep, so then she left him alone.  surprisingly enough that isn't the first time that has happened. I am pretty sure "Leo ga hai za" was one of the first things I learned how to say since moving here.  It does get really old after a while though. I don't like going out much unless we are sight seeing because of it.

We were going to go to the aquarium there too, but because it took so long to go through the tv tower we didn't make it.  Instead we walked through this mall that is all like top of the line stores, everything way out of our budget, and everyone is just staring at us it is so funny!

Then we had reservations at the Shangru la buffet, which is like the buffet of all buffets.   They have food from all over the world.  You eat like a king there.  I've gotta say the desert was my favorite :)  it was heavenly.  I have also realized after this and when I came to China for spring break that I really like Indian food, except for the spiciness.  I love nan with curry, but I have to mix A TON of yogurt in with the curry so it isn't too spicy, but after that, it is amazing!  They had so much desert it was unreal, there was fondue, crepes, sorbet, little servings of different deserts like pies and cakes and creme brulee and things like that.  It was all amazing!!  then you got a box of candies to take home with you.

All in all it was a really good day!  and I am looking forward to Thursday because we are heading to Beijing.   Probably the only thing my dad has ever wanted more than moving to China is going to the great wall.  He has been trying to get to the great wall the past 6 years that he has worked here, but every time he has planned to stay extra long in China so he could make it to Beijing the ended up needing him for one thing or another, so finally he is making it there, and he is super excited because we are going for his birthday.  My dad has gotten the ultimate present, first we move china, and now we are going to the great wall (hey dad my birthday is only 5 months and 8 days away. . . approximately).

Oh so today we had our Chinese tutor over and we were learning beverages today, and so we were telling him different drinks that we wanted to know, and we were asking about root beer, but they don't have root beer here (which is basically the saddest thing ever)  so we were trying to explain it to him, but there really isn't any soda that they would know that tastes anything like it.  He was also confused about the beer part in root beer because it doesn't contain any alcohol.  It was kind of funny!  I really do miss root beer though.  occasionally you can find it at grocery stores, but my mom has never thought to buy it when she has seen it.

I am still struggling majorly in China, and there are not words to describe how much I want to go home, but maybe it isn't so bad? I think that if I keep saying that China might get a little more bearable.  I definitely have my days, some are better than others.  I think days where it is more of a touristy day, and we have our dad to translate are a lot better.  The days that are like "hey you live here whether you like it or not, so have fun struggling!" are hard.  Really hard.