So, our 2nd real city (which was really our 4th, I guess) that we went to was my favorite. On our bus ride there, I met a 17 year old Chinese girl who automatically took interest to us (I mean, how often to Northern Chinese get to see a group of Americans). We began having a conversation through the one Mandarin dictionary book that our group had…it was probably one of the most challenging and patience-building thing I’ve ever had to do (at least in China). I learned quickly that she was Muslim and in school in the city we were going to. When we arrived to the city, she did not hesitate to help us get a cab and go to a luxury hotel (because we are Americans, everybody thinks that we have lots of money and want to stay in the most expensive place in the city)…funny thing is, is that the luxury hotel was not really that expensive…cheaper than a Motel 6 in the U.S. She got us to the hotel in one piece and then helped to translate in getting our room. As soon as we put our stuff in the room…we were off to a restaurant to eat lunch. She had called one of her friends to come and join us…we all ate a big bowl of Ramen noodles. This is where we met Peter (but that is another story)…we then were rushed outside to take a picture with the owner of the restaurant…and then rushed off to do some sight seeing. We went to a 1,000 year old Muslim Temple and walked around with our new friends (the girl from the bus, her friend that joined us at dinner, Peter, and 3 of the girl from the bus’s guy friends)…it was incredibly insane…but we couldn’t do anything but laugh. When we finally left the temple…we thought we would be able to go home (the luxury hotel) and rest…but we were wrong…we were then rushed to a Photography studio where we were shuffled upstairs interrupting a photo shoot. The photographer (who was the girl being photographed) wore a wedding dress and a blonde wig…we just loved it. Then she began to place us in order so we could get our photos taken with our new group of friends…and the last one was with her. Don’t worry…I have proof of this photo shoot. Afterwards…we were finally allowed to go home..after we got a big bag of flavored popcorn and more ramen noodles.
Later that night, I was up all night throwing up every noodle I ate and much more. I’ve never felt so horrible! I didn’t get to go with the rest of the group to visit the girl from the bus’s school…but Braedon stayed back to keep me company at the luxury hotel. Later that night when everyone got back, we were told that we would be eating dinner with Peter and Laura (Peter’s wife). I was very excited about that b/c I had literally only been eating oranges (I know that’s an interesting thing to be eating when I have been throwing up, but that seemed to be the only thing that I wanted and could keep down). We went out and ate dinner with them and then went back…luckily my appetite kind of came back. Afterwards, we went to Laura’s school to watch a movie with her students (all 500 of them). The place was packed out! The next day, we went out on the town some more and met another teacher who wanted us to come to her classroom. We went the next day and it was great! We had so much fun. All in all, we were guests in a lot of classrooms. We left that city feeling completely welcomed…the first real place in China.
