update on the china homefront

Well, there was supposedly a typhoon the other night and I thought I was about to die. So I said my goodbyes to my family and got in the shower and bawled my eyes out. No, just kidding. Nothing even happened. It just rained a TON and a couple of the bedrooms were flooded, so Madi and I had to immediately move our entire bedroom out into the common area. That was our room for the night and the next day we thought we were room-less since our room was a swamp. After waking up, I really was craving some privacy, so I tried to figure out how to get into this room in the apartment that had always been locked. After an hour of looking out the window and plotting it out, I got Jennie and she climbed out one window and in through the locked bedroom's window. TA-DA. And that's how we got our new room, which we love so much more. It's smaller, but cuter. AND there's a deck. So it's all good. Blessings in disguise. Thank you, Typhoon Terry.

We have had a lot of down time lately, which has been much needed and I am so grateful for that. This past weekend we spent in hangout central (the room Madi and I share) watching movies, cuddling, eating treats, laughing our butts off, and you know, just being lazier than ever. But it was the best. The two weekends before that were filled with traveling and don't get me wrong, I loved every second of it. But sometimes you just need some good old lazy weekends. We got to tuck the kids in last week and that was such a cool experience. I was in with some of my girls and they were just hugging me and so full of love. I dread leaving these kids. Teaching has been good... and bad this week. I have one class that is very difficult. There are just some rude kids in there and I have left almost in tears every time. But I know that things will get better. I just need to do things differently with them and be positive! I do have another class - my 501 class. I adore them so much. They all hug me when I come in and they are always so excited and that makes me feel really good. Abby and Henry are my favorite. I have a real big crush on Henry.

So that's what's happening here. We went to this noodle place tonight. There were adorable kids running around there and the noodles were so good! Madi and I shared a plate, so that was fun because I felt like I was on Lady and The Tramp. Good times here in China! I'm so blessed to be here.

The kids all wanted to try on my glasses

My crush, Henry

Tucking my girlies in 

Weekend sleepover!

xo Kenzie

Shawng-HI

So we went to Shanghai this past weekend and it was such a fun trip. It started out with the most hilarious thing (well, to me) this trip. It won't even sound funny when I talk about it probably. Madi and I set an alarm, but did not wake up at the horrendous time that we needed to. Kaylie comes flying in our room yelling that it was time to get up, but uh she waited until 4:30 am to do so, which was the time that we were supposed to be leaving to get taxis. I flew out of bed, screaming at Madi to get up, screaming at Kaylie. Kaylie screamed back, "Stop screaming at me, you bum hole!" I was not even all the way packed, so I started running around like a chicken with my head cut off. It's also important to know that I had taken night time that night because I have been sick. And it lasts for six hours. And it had only been four. So I was drowsy and laughing. I got ready so fast and packed so fast, I somehow made it. Or maybe we just didn't leave at the time we said we would. One of the two. When we got out to flag taxis at 5 am, we realized that it may be kind of difficult. There was no. one. No taxis were driving by. When they finally started to drive by, they would just pass us even though they could clearly see us since we were in the middle of the road. We realized that the taxis were not open yet, after trying to flag down several of these taxis. We split up and half of us ran to the other side of the road. Somehow, we got one taxi and then needed two more. About 20 minutes later, we got another, and then 10 minutes after that, got the third. By this time, we had walked so far, all the way down to the plaza. We were going to miss the bus. We had ten minutes and it was like a 30 minute drive by taxi. Courtney called the girls who were already at the bus station (I was in the last taxi with her) and she had them switch our tickets to a later time. Our tickets were for 6 am and we switched them to 6:50. But it is quite dumb, because guess what. We actually made it, by some odd miracle. Only after we had already paid to switch our tickets to a later time. DUMB. Off to a great start, I know.

I slept throughout the three hour bus ride to Shanghai and when we got there, we went to the Shanghai Wild Animal Zoo. It ended up being very rainy that day, so we were all in our ponchos and rain jackets and we were all pretty wet. It was still so fun! We even got to ride an elephant. It was such a neat experience. Some people held a baby lion, but I felt too bad after seeing how they were treating him. Those zoos make me sad, and I actually did start feeling guilty about the elephant, too. Kaylie, McKenna and I really wanted to ride a four-person bike, but they were all rented out. While we were walking, we actually ran across a stray one and thought maybe someone had left it. After watching it for five minutes and seeing that no one had come to claim it, we hopped on and started pedaling. Wondering why it would not budge, we looked down to realize that it had a chain on the wheel. Someone had just parked it. Dumb on us. There was a lot of paparazzi at the zoo. Jennie, Kaylie, Madi and I stood for five minutes just taking pictures with all these people. I seriously felt famous. That night, we went to the Shanghai Stake dance. It ended up being pretty lame, but there were American snacks, so it was good. And we did get some good dance moves in. We got some street noodles and fruit for dinner and stayed at a really nice hostel.

The next day we went to the district conference. Brother Toronto (in the quorum of 70) came to speak to us and it was really awesome. They even fed us a nice homemade meal and we about died because let's just admit it, we have been eating too much rice and mystery meat. After lunch, there was a single adult session with Brother Toronto and one of the wards sang the EFY medley and I loved it. It really took me back to EFY days. It was a really great day and I think we all needed some spiritual uplifting. After that, it was back to the bus we went and back to Ningbo. I sat with Courtney on the bus and we just talked about life and everything for the three hours. It made it go by so fast. I love her. What an amazing trip! We can't wait to go back to Shawng-HI.

To watch the video Jennie made of us at the zoo, click here.



Oh and by the way, Madi and I rearranged our room and we love it. It feels much bigger! This picture doesn't really do it justice.

Beijing, you stole my heart and almost made me poop my pants

There's something you should know about travel. It's not all that it looks. All that we see is the beautiful pictures of things like the rice fields, holding animals, riding elephants, standing on The Great Wall, etc. But to be honest, traveling is pretty exhausting. What is not shown is millions of hours of travel time on trains, buses, taxis, and subways, walking through giant crowds of people who do not know how to wait in line, gross smells, pretty bad food, stomachaches, butt rashes, staying in hostels with people you do not know, walking down sketchy streets, ACHEY FEET, I think you get the point. Sometimes you're just ready to get home, home as in Ningbo. I love traveling, but I am a home body. I like routine, I like my things, you know.

Beijing was very bitter-sweet. We rode the bullet train to and from Beijing. I knocked myself out with some Dramamine so that I could sleep for part of the 8 hour train ride. When we arrived, we took a subway and I actually got stuck in the subway door and my bag and Madi's bag were stuck out the door as we pried the doors open. Talk about hilarious, for us and the Chinese. After the subway, we walked for what seemed like ten miles to get to our hostel, only to find out that we had been split up once we got there. Our group of ten was split into four rooms, meaning that we would be sleeping with strangers. Grandma, ignore that. It did not end up being too bad. It is like a dorm and it is actually very clean and nice. It is just for people who are looking for a place to crash, which was us exactly. The next day, after wandering around forever trying to figure out how to get to the Great Wall, we realized we had missed the bus, so we decided to make that the Forbidden City day instead. It ended up being really amazing to see, but Madi had the dreaded stomachache and wanted to poop her pants all day. She couldn't even frolic through the trees in fear that she may shart herself. She also tripped when leaving a museum and we thought she had died with the tumble she had. That was when the waterworks started. She just had a really bad day... and I think she gave it to me, because as soon as we left the Forbidden City and began walking to Tiananmen's Square, I felt it hit me. I was about to shart my pants, too. We were walking on a very poverish street, lots of homeless people, very small sidewalk, and nasty smells left and right. There was no bathroom in sight. And when you have to go, you know. After about ten minutes of walking we thought we had made it to the square, only to realize that there was a million mile long line  (what am I saying, the Chinese do not line up) traffic jam to get into the square. Several times I found myself looking at Madi saying "help me." I guess I was somehow wishing that she could help since she had been feeling the same way all day. Several times, I thought I was a goner. I pictured myself pulling my pants down and throwing myself over the fence that was trapping us in this purely awful jam. You'll be glad to hear that I made it. I had never felt more grateful in my life. So here I am to tell the story of how I almost sharted my pants in Beijing, even though I will admit that it probably would have been a much better ending if I had actually sharted my pants. Anywho, we finally got through and Madi and I wanted to sit down while everyone else walked through Tiananmen's Square. Everyone seemed annoyed of us, so Madi made the comment that, "Everyone doesn't need to be mad when I feel like a piece of sh**." Yeah, it was hilarious. That night we went to the silk markets and that was actually very exciting. We bartered our hearts out with the Chinese and actually got some pretty good deals. I got some chucks for $16, some Nikes for $25, and a nice down coat for $40. Jennie and Madi were quite mad because I got a better deal than them on the coats. They ended up paying about $65. They should have waited for the bartering pro.

The Great Wall of China was the next day and what a much better day that was. We paid for a tour, which included a nice breakfast, a bus WITH a comedian, and a nice lunch in which we met two nice girls, one who could speak three languages. It was pretty cool. At The Great Wall, we took a chair lift up and the view was to die for. Then we walked around and took too many pictures and videos on the wall. It was amazing. Everything about it. A life-changing, memory that will stick with me forever. Then we tobogganed down the wall, which was a blast! The whole day was so fun. And guess where we went after the wall...? Yep, back to the silk markets. I ended up getting Toms for like $8. I also helped Kaylie barter for some shoes and about got myself killed because apparently I was asking for an unreasonable price. The lady told me to get out and held a stick up saying, "I'm going to kill you!" I mean, I think she was kidding, but still. We went to the night markets later and some of the girls ate scorpions -- SO NASTY. Apparently they kind of tasted like potato chips, though. So, okay, still not enough for me to try them. The train ride home was uhhh... like a freaking sauna. I took Dramamine again and it was so hot and I was drowsy and my hands and feet kept swelling up. We were all going crazy. We made it home, safe and sound, only after we were driven home by a very crazy taxi driver. Don't worry, I'm still alive, obviously.

Beijing, you were awesome, but you did almost make me poop my pants.

To watch the videos that Jennie made, click here for The Great Wall and here for The Forbidden City.