Ni Hao!

That's "Hello" for you non-native Chinese speakers :)

Our time here continues to be very busy! When we got back from the factory, we almost immediately had our team Christmas celebration with Secret Santas, gifts from home, and sweet treats from our leaders. It was such a nice evening and a great time with our family away from family. The next day, some of us were able to call home (from Starbucks! YUM!) and then do a little shopping. That evening, we went to an orchestra concert that a couple of girls we'd previously met were a part of. After the concert, they treated us to an AMAZING dinner...at about 11pm! It was a late, but fun night.

The next day (yesterday) we went to the home of some people who are doing work here in China, but were away. It was a BEAUTIFUL apartment on the 38th floor! After spending the day there doing different preparatory work, we headed out to two different English corners. Nobody showed up for the one I went to, so our group walked through the University to the Riverfront. It was such fun experience!!! There were all kinds of dance groups (couples, aerobics, tai chi...) and the Chinese version of hackey sack (some kind of contraption with feathers). A friend and I did the "aerobics" for a bit and then our group moved on to the feather hackey sack thing. I am horrible at it! I pretty much stood there and hoped that it wouldn't come near me; for the most part, my hopes were fulfilled!

Today has been a very quiet day, which I'm so thankful for! I've gotten some rest, reading, shopping, and updating done!

In a couple of days (on Tuesday), we will be leaving Guangzhou and heading to Zhengzhou. Apparently, it's VERY cold up there and has even been snowing! It will be a big change not only from Hawaii, but the fairly temperate climate we've been experiencing in Guangzhou. It will DEFINITELY feel more like the holiday season there :)

I hope all of you are having a FANTASTIC, blessed holiday season and that you are able to enjoy lots and lots of quality time with family and friends!

Quick Christmas Update!

Merry Christmas!

I just wanted to let everyone know that I've been in China for about one week now and have been VERY busy! For the first few days we were getting acquainted with the city that we will be spending a majority of our time in.

Four of us have been doing English Corners at a factory. It has been SO rewarding and we've already established many relationships! On Christmas Eve Eve (not a typo!) we had a power outage, but we were able to share the Christmas story by candlelight...just like a Christmas Eve service at home!

Our team of four will be heading back to our main city this evening, in about an hour. It will be bittersweet, but we're hoping to come back to the factory a couple more times while we're in China.

I'll try to keep everyone updated, but for now, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!! :)

WELCOME!

I've created a new blog for my time in Asia! Keep up to date with my travels for the next few months!

I'm currently in Thailand for about a week. We arrived at our base around 2:30am on Friday, December 12. Falling asleep after crazy sleep schedules on the planes was no easy task! We were up by 7:30am for breakfast at 8:30am. After breakfast, we had an orientation period followed by lunch and a scavenger hunt. I'm currently on a little break right now and then we'll be off to dinner. Still not sure what we're doing the rest of the evening, but tomorrow will be temple tours (so I've heard)!

That's all the updates I have for now. Thanks for checking in!