"Living so fast and so hard... chasing hearts" -B.C.

Currently listening to: Chasing Hearts by Breathe Carolina

So guys, I am going to be honest. Without going into details, the last few days have been hard. Days that I really didnt want to be here in China. But I am feeling much better now, and it is Monday tomorrow; time for a fresh start.
I have been thinking about the people here in my life in China, and I want to always remember the good they have done for me. This is really for me, but ya'll can enjoy if you so wish. 

In no particular order:
 Kaylee is my partner in crime. She is always down for having an adventure with me. She is the person that will do stupid stuff with me instead of trying to talk me out of it (like climbing the Golden Lady...). She is loving, and would do anything for me, all I have to do is ask. Best of all she makes me laugh all the time... though that's not hard to do ;) 

Outside a temple in Zhenjiang

 Momi is a happy and loving person, who makes sure that everyone is okay. She knows everyone's birthday and goes out of her way to make it special!

My delicious birthday cake which had fruit on top, and whipped cream inside.

Sierra never gets lost, and calmly helps me figure out where I am at when I get disoriented, which unfortunately happens all the time... And she also helps me think through hard decisions, laying out my choices logically. 

 Ashley is one of the most loving people I have ever met. She does so much for me! She let me shamelessly use her internet so I could FaceTime my family, she makes me western food when I just cannot eat another dish with chopsticks. She takes me out on adventures and helps me see the good in China. I love the nights when I stay with her in her dorm room and we watch girl movies and talk about everything. The future, wonders and horrors of China, books, music, and boys (duh)...

"Hour of Stretching"

My fits of giggling all night. And possibly a few snorts

East Nanjing Road in Shanghai, right outside F21

Ben and Garrin are kind of a package deal in my world, which is awesome. Together they include me in their plans, helping me not feel lost in a city of 4 million people who speak a different language then me. They know more about me then most boys, (possibly the only exceptions being my brothers and Jared). And the crazy thing is they still talk to me! I am always in a good mood after hanging out with them. Both are so nice about sharing their treats with me, then I decide if I want to commit to a whole package of my own. Jazz drinks, Chinese Hamburgers, Scrubs and catching the train for church together. I love these boys!

That one time Garrin talked me into climbing a giant ancient tortoise and Ben documented.

That other one time we ate chocolate that we found on the metro... Not even ashamed, it was delicious!

                                 

Garrin does goofy things in the stores and I catch him because its funny.

Jinelle is a great listener who is very open, so I feel like I could talk to her about anything.  

 Bre has an energy about her, I can always count on having a good time with her! She makes me smile a lot. And she is just so so prettttty ;) (Just kidding, I love you Bre, and you ARE smart!)

First meal in China

Ming Tombs in Beijing

Temple of Heaven, first day together!

Just a small portion of my wonderful Chinese family, hanging in Suzhou for the weekend.

HAPPY THINGS:]
- my bike is fixed!
- 3 of my students come up to me, dragging the fourth yelling about he has a crush on me. It was so adorable :)
- Listening to the Women's session of General Conference today at church. 
- Simply making it to church today, had some issues getting to the train. BUT I MADE IT
- new Breathe Carolina album  that I have been playing nonstop. They look weird, but dang i love their voices
- a properly cleaned retainer in my mouth each night
-i had a mcdonald's chickenwich this week! i know, american cliche, but i just had to.
- watching scrubs with ben and garrin

Chances are... all they hope to be

Currently listening to: Chances by Five for Fighting

Tonight was definitely memorable.

I am getting off the bus, about to ride my bike home when I get a call from Sierra. She invited me to a fire, and I got so excited! One thing I miss, camp fires! In America I just had one whenever I felt like it, not so much here for obvious reasons. 

Sierra told me to take K219, and ride it for 7 stops. The bus was fairly empty, and I was ready to start counting so I knew when to get off and then the driver started rolling past bus stops. I mean, dont get me wrong. I wouldnt want to stop and waste time opening the doors when no one is getting on or off, and its your last round for the night. But this guy was really messing up my plans. I didnt know which bus stop was passed was K219 or not. I look around the bus and noticed this friendly-looking younger girl, and figured she went to the university that I was currently in search of. (I lucked out- her English name is Ashley and she is studying Law ) Anyways, she told me when to get off. But even if she hadnt, Hunter was waiting at the bus stop for me with his scooter. A tall white guy with a faux hawk kind of stands out around here, so he was easy to spot.

We had smoothies, and sat around the fire as Hunter played the guitar and I laughed way too hard. Then we went down to the lake and threw rocks at it and played Truth or Dare (mostly truth... dares are difficult to think of a good one). 

On the way home, my ebike died so I had to pedal/walk it. Definitely made the trip home longer. But thats not even the best part. I accidentally set off the alarm, and that carried on for about 3 minutes... at 11:30 pm... And then a dog came out of the guard shack I was passing, and it barked and followed me for a bit. Did I mention that I was very alone in the dark and a wee bit scared this thing was going to bite me? It felt like he followed me forever, but really it wasnt that long.

And now I am home in my warm bed, feeling clean after my shower and very satisfied with life. (Other than mosquito bites...)
Cheers for a memorable night in China :]

THINGS THAT MAKE MOLLY HAPPY :]

- Some random Chinese man paid for my dinner one night, it was so nice! It sort of made up for the fact that I straight up lost some money out of my pocket earlier that day

- The Vampire Diaries playlist I found on Spotify, 'tis excellent

- I signed up for Student Teaching interviews! They are on April 29th, then I will see what school wants me. Updates to follow!

-My ebike. Man I have taken Steve for granted... No more!

-Skyping my family! Feeling loved :) (Especially when the connection cuts out many times and they still call back)

- Snickers

-Fried Rice from the cute girl my age who practices her English on me.

- The smell of fire on my clothese

- Smiling at someone on the street who is staring, and they smile back :)

"I've got skeletons" Eli Young Band

Currently listening to: Skeletons by Eli Young Band

Some random pictures I meant to post forever ago.

 This store makes me giggle everytime I pass, even though its only a clothing store. Its how I know that its my bus stop at Dashikou.

There is fruit everywhere here! Its great, I love to buy from the streets. #thepineappleincident #howimetyourmother

I found my name in China!! I was so excited, I skipped across the street and Garrin took my picture.

Not a great angle, but I talked one of my students into doing the moonwalk like Michael Jackson! I consider today a succesful day of teaching.

I love my students! Some of them are a bit cheeky, but I love 'em anyways. I told one student I liked his origami, and he made me one! Then the rest came flooding in, and now they decorate my wall!



                                      

                                     


                                                

My excellent exploring buddy! (even if i feel like a giant next to her)

This Buddha statue about to be placed in the temple we found still under construction. We probably weren't supposed to be there, but that's the beauty of being a foreigner. "Oh we weren't supposed to be here? Sorry we cant read the signs..."

In case you werent aware, elephants are my favorite animal. 

The pagoda we spotted which led us to the sweet park.

- Some random Chinese man paid for my dinner one night, it was so nice! It sort of made up for the fact that I straight up lost some money out of my pocket.

-Skyping my family! Feeling loved :) (Especially when the connection cuts out many times and they still call back)

oh china.

     In no particular order, some random stories of stuff that has happened in Zhenjiang over the last few days.


So this one time I was sitting on a bench in Dashikou (downtown Zhenjiang) just minding my own business, enjoying the nice day. In comes this old man. And I mean GreyBaldingMissMostOfHisTeeth old. Grandpa Status for sure. Well, he has a huge grin on his face and so I smile back, I was just happy someone was being friendly. He starts talking to me in Chinese. I politely tell him I don't speak Chinese. Well he keeps talking to me, as if magically I will understand him. When he finally realizes that is a no-go, he then rips the paper out of my hand and starts writing on it, in traditional Chinese characters. I have no idea in what situation that would be an improvement... But anyways.. He kept writing, then ran out of room on my paper. So then he rips out a carton of cigarettes. I tense up. I don't care who you are, I will not let you sit on my
bench (I was there first!) and smoke right next to me. Well, I got all worked up for nothing. He proceeded to continue writing his novel on the inside of the carton. After a lot of shrugging and awkward shaking of heads, He finally gave up and held my hand with both of his. I was like "eh, whatever" about the hand holding. People like to hold your hand here, its sort of that unspoken communication. They put all this emotion into it. Well then it started to get weird... He started grabbing my little love handles. Then he smiled and laughed, and kept doing it! I mean I know I am bigger then the peeps over here, but I am not fat! And then his hand migrated farther down, to my hip/cheek area. One grab down there and I was up and waving goodbye to him. So yeah... that one time I was felt up by an old man in China.


New story:
I was heading home from Dashikou, and looking for the bus stop. It was a new one for me, but I knew it had my bus number. The stop looked rather quiet, as in there was no one else there. But hey, that does occasionally happen. I wait for maybe 15 minutes, and then I see the glorious D2 bus heading my way. I step off the curb to signal the driver that I want to get on and... he nods down the street. I look down the street and realize that the real bus stop is down the street a bit. Can I make it in time? Well I swallow my pride and sprint down the street, praying the driver will wait for me. Lucky for me, the driver had a soul. The foreigner running along the bus as it pulls away? You gotta admit people would have thought it was funny. Anyways, long story short- I learned the hard way where the D2 bus stop is in Dashikou.


Later that night I was wandering after I finished my dinner and heard some loud music. I hunted it down and came across a large crowd of people. This is very common in China, groups of people who just dance to music from a portable speaker. It was so cute, there were old men dressed up in their good shoes, and a vest over their button up. There are way more women then men, so girls dance with girls, just having fun. Many of them are dressed up fancy, with heels and decked out with big poufy hair and makeup. A few smiled and waved and tried to talk to me, but the conversation sort of died when I couldn't respond. The dance looked slightly complicated, and I was weighed down by groceries so I just creepishly watched for a bit then rode on home. But it was a beautiful sight, and I hope America picks up this tradition.


My students are so wonderful! I received some bad news about 10 minutes before I was supposed to teach. It was previously planned for them to watch Monsters Inc, which I was happy about as I was still processing the news. During the movie, one of the boys noticed that I was upset and asked what was wrong. I told him, and then he gave me a hug and the look on his face was precious. He felt so bad for me, and he doesn't even know me that well! Another student asked me when my birthday was, and then told me she wanted to buy me something for my birthday! She picked out a little hair clippy thing, its pretty awesome.


Last week I stepped in poo. No, not cat poo like happens occasionally in America. Human poo. That is definitely a first that I was not expecting over here in good ol' China. I was running to my ebike, in a semi-hurry. I thought it was a leaf on the sidewalk, so I didn't think it would be a big to slightly graze my foot on it as I kept running. Nope, it ended up being squishy human poo that I slid on and literally almost did the splits (so not exaggerating here people). There was a little ledge that I caught my balance on. Then I found some real life actual leaves to wipe the nastiness off my Toms (luckily I didn't get any on the canvas, that would have been a night mare to clean.) I go past this area everyday to get to my bus stop, and reminded of my little moment of grossness.


MOMENTS OF AWESOMENESS:
- Walking out of my apt and smelling smoke. Not that nasty cigarette smoke, but the glorious smell of wood burning. Reminded me of home!
-Pulling my hair into a ponytail!!
- Random fireworks EVERYWHERE. Seriously, I hear or see some almost everyday. Its pretty rad
-Flowers are in bloom, and it is beautiful! Feels like spring. I have no idea how they survive in all this smog, but they sure try hard.
- Extra large ice cream cone. You can buy happiness.
- milk and cheerios with cut up bananas. living the dream

Suzhou and Shanghai

My birthday weekend was fantastic.


First thing, I Skyped the familia, which is always fun.


This morning I went to the massage/spa place that I discovered yesterday while biking around. It was heaven. First off, she totally remembered me from the day before, and remembered what I wanted. She led me upstairs (away from awkward eye contact from passerby's) and filled a bucket of super hot water. I put my feet in and gave them a good soak, and she put different herbs and stuff in the water. That alone was wonderful. At first she sat on the seat next to me, but then got up and gave me an amazing back rub. She hit all my muscles, muscles I didnt even know hurt until she rubbed. When she found a knot, she got rid of it. Then she washed my feet and wrapped them up in a towel. After that she motioned for me to lay back on the pillow, with a lightweight comforter on me. Then I just sat there and basked in the comfort as she worked her magic on my toesies.
So she finishes with my feet, and I think awesome! this was a great adventure. well then she keeps massaging. At first I panic, I didnt want a full body massage. She massages up and down my legs and flings them high in the air a few times. Then just as I start to panic that she is going to get reallllll personal with me, she is finished.
All in all it was a fantastic experience, and I plan to go again next time I hit up Suzhou. (which will be soon, after the flowers are in full bloom).
I rode my bike around a bit more, just enjoying the beautiful day and trying to get to know the city a bit more. For lunch I had a carrot and orange juice and one of the twisty potato things that have good spices on them. (Dad, you and I are totally juicing when I come home for the summer, remember this is a good combination to try.)
Upon arriving at the train station, a lady was trying to sell something. I said no, and instead of harassing me like I was expecting her to, she left me alone. But then she got on the escalator right next to me and I thougtht "well this is uncomfortable..." During the ride up she saw my train ticket and pointed me in the right direction, which I thought was very nice even though I didnt need the help.
While on the train I met a Chinese college student who sat by me half way through. His English was so good! It was very nice to actually talk to someone instead of having them stare. He is changing his major to English, but doesnt have the chance to practice with a Native speaker often (rather common problem over here) so he was chatting up a storm. I found out he is studying in Nanjing, so we are all going to hang out sometime. Yay for making Chinese friends! I told him I was turning 22 today, and laughed really hard when he said he thought I was 28. I have no make up on my face, and it shows on my face how hot and uncomfortable it is outside. But most Chinese people look way younger then they are, they all have baby faces. Then he told me when it was my stop, which was very helpful. You have approximately 2 minutes to get off the train when it stops or you are SOL (soooo out of luck)
Bre called me and instead of saying hello started singing happy birthday to me, while she was in a park with other people watching. I am very loved :)


This last weekend we went to Shanghai for district conference.
Shanghai is a beautiful city, its so busy and feels so alive. We walked East Nanjing road, which is this really famous/busy road. It ended at The Bund, which was beautiful at night and during the day. I found a pair of jeans at F21, which I was stoked about because I needed another pair badly. Then we went into Burger King (with a certain amount of shame, but hey I was on a budget) where we met some funny French people who entertained us by making a car out of the left over cardboard from our meals. Then they proceeded to make engine noises, effectively scaring away the Chinese couple down the table. It was hilarious.
For the conference, we were able to stay at a very generous member's home and got a Western breakfast! Oh, it was fantastic. Scrambled eggs, bacon and pancakes and real apple juice. And they just had the cutest little boys, crazy full of energy and waking up at the crack of dawn. I felt like I was at Abby's house again ;)
On Saturday we met up with all the YSA of China (the ones who came anyway...) and we went on tours for China. I went to the Yuyuan gardens. It was beautiful, the flowers were starting to bloom and the air actually smelled fresh. I also took a ferry ride with some newly acquainted friends, it was fun to be on the water, and it was a crazy mad dash to get on the boat before everyone else so you can have a good view.
Sunday afternoon there was a German who spoke to the YSA at a special devotional. It was really cool to listen to someone growing up in a communist country, who then ended up working and living in another communist country. He grew up with some major setbacks in life, and then got his education in a very unorthodox way, and he really made something of himself. It was cool, it gave me motivation. I am so close to getting my Bachelor's, which is a little scary (TheWholeBecomingAnAdultThing) but then I remembered that I have so much potential in this world, I can do whatever I want with my life. I am getting excited!
grateful


THINGS THAT MAKE ME HAPPY:]
-watching my students rocking out to Imagine Dragons in class
-Playing basketball with my students
-my delicious birthday cake, with whipped cream!
- meeting foreigners from all over the world
-skyping roommates
-  strawberries, milk and laundry detergent from my school!!! (I may have started to cry just a tiny little bit, that stuff is expensive over here)
- wonderful sunshine for the last few days

My sweet hostel in Suzhou. I rented one of those bikes and rode around on my birthday.

This is actually a more manly murse then commonly seen. Its totally acceptable over here for men to carry purses.

Kelso loves me!

                                           

My delicious birthday cake.

The crew that celebrated with me.

Apparently my name is Morry now. Its kind of adorable that they mis-say my name.

HAHA. Tori sent this to me on my birthday. So true.

I made this new friend on the train coming back from Suzhou. His English is very good, but sometimes he phrases things weird . However, this is yet another example ( I have a million of 'em) of people being so nice to me!

I may have already talked about her, but I love this girl! Her English is very good, and she is one of my favorite students. She asked me to be Taylor Swift so she could interview me for her drama class. And then I sang...

Ashley!!!!

East Nanjing Road. Kind of like China's version of Time Square

One of our entertaining French friends we met. Yes, we just had to hit up BK while we were in "the big city"

His genius contraption. Which he started to drive around the table and make shifting noises to the Chinese people down the table... they left shortly after.

The Bund at night!

Yuyuan Garden in the old city Shanghai.

My Carlee! Best hug I have had in awhile.

The Bund again

New friends! 

Took a ferry, felt like cattle running from the person about the brand them