when life gives you lemons, hop a train to guilin

our foreign coordinators sprung a vacation on us this week. they sprung it on us only a week in advance and they took days off our vacation. and there's nothing we can do about it. originally, we were going to take a train down to xi'an, where the terra cotta warriors are, on our way to guilin, which is supposedly "the prettiest city on earth". so we had to choose between guilin and xi'an. BUT we found out train tickets to guilin were sold out. xi'an it is. i was trying to perk myself up about it, but since i've spent the last three months reading about, planning for, and looking at pictures of guilin, i was pretty heartbroken. i guess my idea of a vacation is not really tourist destinations. sure it's fun to see them, but i would so much rather go to an obscure, local town and see the scenery. hike mountains. do the things the locals do. i don't get hyped about tourist spots. don't get me wrong: it's fun to say i've been to those places, but they are not where the charm of a country lies. i think i should quit school and be a backpacking bum. give me a map, a kayak (if forrest gump can run across the entire country, i can kayak across the entire ocean, dang it.) and some lembus bread to sustain me. anyway, kindra, the girl i've grown the closest to here, has the exact same mindset as me. everything she says, i think "yes! exactly!" we have the same travel plans. we've already planned to travel the world together. i'm pretty sure we're kindred spirits! well, after the x-word was dropped, i shuffled into her room and we sat on her bed for a few minutes, slumped over, just the most pathetic sight you've ever seen. and then, the words she said were the sweetest ones i've ever heard:

"wanna backpack around china when school gets out?"

"yep."

so i skyped my parents to see if they were on board (they didn't even hesitate before saying yes; they're the best :) ), sent in my flight change request, and we mapped out our three week course after everyone goes home: take a train to guilin, rent bikes to get around, explore the number one ranked underground cave, swim in the li river, take a bamboo boat to yangshuo- asia's number one rock climbing town, rent bikes again, rock climb, brown up a bit, hike the renowned mud caves, take a train to huangshan and hike the yellow mountains- that's where they filmed "crouching tiger, hidden dragon", take a train to beijing, do some last minute pirated-movie shopping, fly home well seasoned travelers (just kidding).

so i say....when life gives you lemons, hop a train to guilin! (and buy a standing ticket at that- we can't afford sleepers, so we're going to sit on the floor for 25+ hours. yes. i'm all for the experience.)

i will sing bohemian rhapsody's praises till the day i die.

whether or not it's a product of acids and shrooms (and it probably is), bohemian rhapsody is a freaking good song. is it ever associated with a dull memory? never. when do you hear that song and NOT have a great time, air guitar and all? this weekend, we found this way cool little lake in the middle of a park. so we rented a paddle boat an puttered around while rocking the boat violently and singing bohemian rhapsody just to see how many asians we could get to stare at us.

let me tell you how many: very VERY many. good songs=good memories.

but i'll tell you what's not a good memory, and that has been the past two nights. i have had the hardest time sleeping, and i think that is part because i'm so nervous for tomorrow, which is a teaching evaluation from one of the directors who has flown to china to do just that. i've done fine so far, but i just get so tongue tied and nervous when i'm being evaluated. ("kids, this is a....uh,a...umm, this is a clipepeamer, i mean a pipecleaner!") so two nights ago, i decided i wanted to go to bed early and turned out the lights at 9. i laid in bed. i kept laying there. i thought. then when i was finished thinking, i thought some more. 10:00 came. then 11. then 12. and then...i looked at the clock and saw that it was 4:00. and even though i was so tired, i couldn't fall asleep. and then when i did, i weaved in and out of consciousness and bizarre dreams about dinosaurs and joe jonas. (maybe my sub-conscience is telling me.....nope, i can't even try to interpret that one.) and then last night, i was determined to get a good night's rest, so i went to bed at ten and i took a little bit of trazodone (yep, the stuff they give you to knock you out after you get your wisdom teeth taken out.) you would think that this combined with the fact that i got an hour and a half of sleep the night before would conk me right out, but i still only got a few hours of sleep. i'm pretty sure i think too much at night. maybe that's it.

well...here's to hoping for a good night's rest, no thinking, and jonas-less dreams.

salinas valley, sexy suitors and sue sylvester

i finished "east of eden" a couple weeks ago and in a steinbeck frenzy, my roommate and i summoned the movie from her mom. it arrived yesterday and we watched it last night. thoughts?

1) if only i had the ability to run my hand through james dean's hair.

2) the movie sucked.

3) the book rocked. REALLY rocked. i've read some really good books this year, but "east of eden" topped them all. it's so full of rich characters that i was really sad to put it down. sometimes i don't like books because they have a) the good characters and b) the bad characters. while "east of eden" definitely had characters on both extreme ends of the spectrum, others have so many layers that you can't cast them as either good or bad, but a little bit of both. it's just so...real. the characters grow so dear to you (maybe because you relate to them) that you can't help but love them for all the qualities they possess. steinbeck is SO good at deep characterization.

4) if only i had the ability to run my hand through james dean's hair.

while we're on the subject.....(ok, we're not really on the subject at all, but i just want to bring it up)....i'd like to take credit for the "glee sensation" sweeping the fourth floor of my apartment. i bought the first season in beijing for $3 and convinced the girls to watch the pilot with me (i've been a die hard from the start). the next day and 13 episodes later....well you get the gist. we camped out at my computer last night, and the second the new episode came out on iTunes, we pounced on it. thanks to the internet connection here, only 82 more hours until it fully loads. i guess our favorite sue sylvester scenes will have to suffice till then. don't you just love to hate her?

the life of a city slicker

that's what they call me on the streets of beijing, at least. what with my money pouch, my sneakers, my "great wall" ball cap, my backpack, snapping pictures left and right...

ok, so i'm not a real cool traveller, but i did have a great time in beijing! (and i didn't get pickpocketed once thanks to the money pouch- although i did have my watch sliced clean off my wrist with a knife. those people have skill if i've ever seen it.) the shopping, the sites, the great wall! it was incredible. we went to the simatai part of the wall, which is the oldest, least restored, and least tourist-y section. PLUS it had a zip line off one of the watch towers that had me shouting in pure ecstasy while i watched my reflection in the river below. that's my kinda wall! these mongolians took us on an obscure shortcut to the zipline. it was...absolutely picturesque. goat herders, corn fields, and sweeping mountains. the epitome of the asian countryside. i LOVE LOVE LOVE the asian countryside more than any other kind of landscape i've ever visited.

all great wall fun aside, the most memorable part of the trip was easter sunday. in china, since there are so few members, there's one ward in beijing that we, along with other members, skype on sundays. people pray, give talks, and make comments over skype. it's been a really unifying experience to bring all the members together and feel the spirit over skype just as strong as i do in my home ward. i will never forget my sacrament meetings here. since we were in beijing and general conference footage is not released in asia until this week, we were able to have a regular fast and testimony meeting with the ward. the "chapel" is a small room on the top floor of a hotel. there's only a few regular members, most of whom are couples serving humanitarian missions, although they can only refer to themselves as volunteers in china. the hospitality they extended to us meant more than they know. the sisters made me feel like i was home with my mom and the bishop's friendly handshake and charismatic laugh made me never want to leave this little safe haven. after tuning into skype and making a connection with the other computers of members scattered throughout china, the bishop asked a couple other girls and me to bear our testimonies. it was such a humbling experience, bearing my testimony into a little mic in this little room in china. listening to others tune in and bear their testimonies was such a testament that the gospel is alive and well in all corners of the world. the spirit in the room hit all of us like a ton of bricks, it was so strong. it made me realize that the gospel is the same, no matter where you are or who you are with or whether or not you can even see them. after church, the whole ward (all 17 of us) went to the bishop's house and ate the best (AMERICAN!) meal i've ever tasted! after seconds and thirds and an easter devotional, we were laughing hysterically, sleepy from so much food and happier than i've felt since i've been here. we all had the hardest time leaving because it felt like home and we were all so smiley the rest of the day.

my only concluding comment is- just like my favorite brand tells it- LIFE IS GOOD.