fun in the sun

Shanghai > Seoul > LA > Salt Lake City > Atlanta > Cayman. 

I landed in slc at around 10 pm, put my China bags in the car, and then checked into Delta to head to Cayman! 

I traveled for a solid 38+ hours before finally making it to Grand Cayman (don't worry, I showered at the airport in Atlanta). 

I was dreading it, but it really wasn't so bad. There's something about planes that just puts me to sleep instantly. But if that doesn't happen, I just read a good book or watch a movie. 

We arrived to cayman mid-day, so we spent most of the day on the beach.

December 19, 2014 

We went to the turtle farm and played with some turtles for a bit, then went to a local food joint which was super good! 

December 21, 2014

We booked a tour through the hotel and spent the day out on the water on a private boat! We went to stingray city, which was kind of nerve-racking, but super cool! We got to swim with them and feed them! Then after that, we did some snorkeling and found some starfish!

That night we did a bioluminescent kayaking tour at Rum Point. It was by far my favorite part of the trip. It was a new moon, which made it even better than normal (the guy said). If you put your hand in the water and moved it around, it would glow. It was pretty cool, but we couldn't take cameras - not that they would've even been able to do it justice - so the picture is from Google :) 

December 22, 2014

We hung out at the beach for most of the day, then drove back up to Rum Point and went to starfish beach! It was a super fun trip, but I was ready to come back home after having been gone for so long!

the final chapter

The last week wasn't as hard as I was expecting it to be. We stayed pretty busy practicing the songs & dances our kids performed at the end of the year for the school and their parents. As well as practicing the song and dance WE had to perform. Yikes.

The older kids sang Let It Go and danced to Santa Clause Is Coming To Town. And the younger ones sang Jingle Bells and danced to Justin Bieber's All I Want For Christmas. It was pretty freaking adorable. Our last day of teaching was Wednesday :( I didn't think I would ever miss preparing lesson plans, or trying to teach little Asian kids what glue is used for. But I do. I miss it so much.

On Thursday, we had a party with the kids. But it still didn't feel like we were saying goodbye.

We went to tuck in the kids that night, which was hard.

Then the next day was the final performance. We got up early so we could help the kids get ready.. i.e. do their make up (even the boys). It was super fun! We headed to the auditorium and I met some of the kids' parents. I hate performing in front of people, buuut I did it. Then our kids were up and they did SO good! It was weird seeing them go home with their parents after it was over. It wasn't goodbye yet, but it was pretty darn close. 

When the kids came back the next Monday - the last Monday - we went and hung out in their classrooms since we didn't have ILP anymore. The teachers were super nice about it, too. So that was good. We laughed, we cried, we took pictures and videos. I spent the majority of the time with Klan. He had been especially clingy the last couple of weeks, which only made it harder.

We got permission from Marine to tuck the kids in one last time that night to say goodbye.. since we would be leaving the next morning. :( It was rough. I was crying, the kids were crying.. it was super emotional to say the least.

I went to say bye to Klan first, because I knew it would be the longest and the hardest. Not to mention the lady in that apartment always kicked us out super early. I translated a note into Chinese so he could understand how much I loved him and would miss him, and of course I gave him some candy too, as well as a friendship bracelet I had made. He hugged me tighter than ever before and would not let go. It was heartbreaking. More painful than any heartbreak any boy had ever caused me. It was just too hard, so I promised him I would come find him in class the next morning before we left. 

The goodbyes didn't get any easier. Alan sat in my lap and just cried. The younger ones didn't seem to understand that we were leaving, and that we weren't coming back.
Then we went up to the girls. They handled it rather well. Instead of crying, they laughed with us and gave us gifts. Wendy gave me a pomegranate so that was neat. It made it a little easier knowing I would see most of them the next day.

...Until the next day. Me and kenna went down to the classrooms 15 or 20 minutes before we were supposed to leave. Part of me wishes we would've gone sooner, but at the same time it just would've made things even more difficult. As soon as the teachers saw us, they stopped mid-lesson, and invited us in. The kids swarmed us in one great big group hug. It was the best group hug I'd ever had.
There were three different classrooms, and Klan and Mike (our favorites) happened to be in the last one. There were lots of tears and lots of hugs. Just before we were about to leave, Klan stuck a piece of paper in my pocket and told me not to look at it yet, gave me one last hug, and told me he loved me. Then we left. I opened the paper to find that he had written me something back in Chinese. I had Marine translate it.. 

"Teacher Kaylie, I love you so much. I know you need to go back to America. I miss you so much. Could you stay here? Please remember me."

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I went to China to teach these kids, but I learned more from them than they did from me. They taught me to love deeper, laugh longer, and live better. I will be forever grateful for each and every one of them. 

two weeks

In two weeks I'll be on a plane headed back to America. In two weeks, I won't be living with my best friends anymore. Or sleeping on a really thin mattress in a room that's painted a bad shade of pink. I won't wake up every morning excited to go see my students, because I won't have any students. In two weeks.. I will be leaving my home for the very last time. And I don't know if I'm ready for that. But then again, are we ever truly ready for anything? 

I remember my first day in China like it was yesterday. The first thing I saw after getting off that wretched plane was a fight between two chinese guys near the baggage claim. I remember the first time I walked into the strange little apartment I now call home. And my first day of teaching. I remember the first time I tried the nasty cafeteria food. And the first time I smelled stinky tofu. I remember the first time one of my students, Alan, gave me a hug and told me he loved me. I remember the first time all ten of us american girls rode the city bus. And the time we walked around for 45 minutes at 4 am trying to find a taxi. The list goes on and on.

This past Sunday, we said our first goodbyes to the wonderful Nagy family. They're from Hungary, and have welcomed us into their home from day one. From feeding us spiritually to physically, they were so good to us. I truly believe that God puts certain people in our lives for a reason. 

All of the memories I've made, the experiences I've had, and all of the wonderful people I've met since I've been here, have changed me in one way or any other and I will be forever grateful for that. I love you China, and I'm going to miss you so much!

the parents come visit

November 07, 2014

My cousin Kenna and I went to meet my dad in Shanghai for the weekend. He had a conference in Hong Kong, and planned to stop to see us in Shanghai, which is about 2-3 hours away from where we are, in Ningbo. 

It was a bit nerve-racking traveling across China as two american teenage girls who didn't know a lick of Chinese, and one of which (me) being horrible with directions.

Needless to say, we made it to the JW Marriott in Shanghai with plenty of time to spare. The check in desk was on the 38th floor, where there was a live piano playing, and a beautiful view of Shanghai from the window. It was the nicest hotel I've ever stayed in. Especially compared to our cute little apartment in Ningbo.  

After waiting for a few hours, someone tapped me on the shoulder from behind. It was my wonderful mother! What a great surprise that was! She came all the way to China for just the weekend. What a sweetie!

That night we had Pizza Hut for dinner. We left with a piece of pizza I planned to warm up and eat later. But... as we walked outside of the restaurant there was a homeless lady begging for money. Before I even realized what was happening, my mom took the pizza out of my bag and gave it to the lady, because that's just the type of person my mom is. 

The rest of the weekend was spent with yummy food, adorable puppies, lots of sight seeing, and lots of catching up. I loved being able to show them what life is like in China. I'm so blessed to have them. They really are the greatest parents.

Only 2 more weeks until I get to see them again and I can't wait! 

this is HALLOWEEN

I'm Life has been incredibly busy lately. We had to make decorations and such for Halloween, then deep clean and do student profiles for one of the ILP guys to come. But it's over with now. Phew!

Halloween was a huge success. The kids seemed to have a lot of fun and it was fun to interact with them outside of teaching. They're so adorable!

yangshuo part t w o

October 02, 2014 - lazy dayz

our lazy day. I don't think I even left the hostel until just before dinner time. It was was nice to just relax, and not have anywhere to be. We all went out with the goal of getting some souvenir shopping done.

I was carrying my little satchel looking purse, because it was small and convenient. I bought something for my dad, and then forgot to zip it back up after putting my wallet back inside. smooth move kale. Since I didn't have anything to hold my stuff, kenz let me put it in her backpack, so I did. Then I walked literally like 15-20 feet to buy my little sisters some tea sets. I bargained a bit and when I reached in to get my wallet to pay, it was gone. You know that giant knot you get in your stomach when something bad happens? Imagine that times a hundred and that's what I was feeling. 

I said a few swear words and then retraced my steps in my head. I thought back to putting some of my things in kenz's bag. I asked everyone I could see where she was and spotted her in the same place I had left her. Without even telling her what was going on, I frantically unzipped her bag and searched through it. No wallet. Courtney tried to keep me calm and said maybe I had dropped it or set it down somewhere. I walked up and down the street, crying, praying its bright colors would stand out, but they didn't. I accepted the fact that it was gone. My cute wallet from target, $160, my bank card, my debut card, and our room key that was $9 to replace. But not my passport, or my drivers license. 

Now, you may be thinking to yourself  why I was dumb enough to carry all of my money together in one place, am I correct? Well.. I felt it was safer to have it with me, knowing where it was, rather than leaving it in the hostel where someone could check into our room, (there was an empty bed) and have it stolen that way. Turns out that was the wrong decision. But, oh well. I'd like to think that whoever took it, needed that $160 a lot more than I did. 

That night, we went to dinner with courtney's "friend" she had met the day before. Although it felt like the rest of us were third-wheeling it while she was on a date. lolz. It was entertaining, but the food was awful, and expensive.

October 03, 2014 - snoring men & fields of rice

To top off my bad day, at 4 am I was woken up by our new roommate making his way into the bed above mine as loud as he possibly could. It was apparent he was about as drunk as it gets, and within two minutes of entering the room, he was instantly asleep, and instantly snoring. 

If you think your husband/boyfriend/whoever snores loud, you have NO idea. It was the most awful noise I have ever heard. It was like a mix of a dying cow and a drowning elephant. And it was so loud that even after getting headphones and turning up my music as loud as it would go, I could still hear the dude. It woke up courtney and brooke, too. And none of us ever made it back to sleep because we had to be up at 6 to go to the rice fields. Note to self: take ear plugs next time.

The bus ride to the rice fields was about 5 hours. There was no leg room and I got a freaking migraine due to my lack of sleep. By the time we got to the rice fields we only had 2 and a half hours. But we were starving so we stopped and ate some fried rice. It tasted good. But it did not sit well with my stomach. Especially after walking up hundreds of stairs to get to the top of the rice fields.

They were pretty, but I'm still not convinced it was worth the time and money spent. The bus ride home was pretty awful too. The traffic was so bad that instead of it taking 5 hours, it took 7.

October 04, 2014 - stranded 

Some of us wanted to go river rafting but there were two to a raft, and we had an odd number, so we decided to just rent the mopeds again instead, since we had had so much fun on them the first time.

We drove all around yangshuo, through the city, through the mountains, and we even went off-roading for a minute, which was terrifying. 

Courtney and brooke left early to go do cooking class so the rest of us kept riding and then ended up going swimming in the Li River, which was a m a z i n g. But there was a sign that said "for the safety of your life, do not swim here." buuut there were other people swimming so we decided it was okay. 

Afterwards, we decided to go ride the mopeds until our time was all the way up. We stopped in this random corn field to take pictures and Dak wanted me to get her dress. I put the key in the seat to open it but then it wouldn't come out. We were stranded. But then a cute little family of four came riding past us on their moped and they stopped to help us, bless their hearts. A few other people stopped too, but it was no use. We called the hostel and they sent a mechanic to fix the issue. It took forever, and in the process, kenz pooped her pants - well, her swimsuit. Her one piece swimsuit. Oh kenz. 

The moped I was driving didn't have a headlight either, so that was fun trying to make it back without driving off a cliff or into a river. But we did make it back alive.

October 05, 2014 - shop til you drop

We spent literally the entire day getting souvenirs and walking down the streets. For some reason we all thought we weren't leaving until the 7th. But then someone brought it up and we realized we had to head home the next day. Sigh. Yangshuo was a dream come true and we were all sad to be leaving.. Especially knowing that on this 24-hour train ride, we would have no beds, because they were sold out.

October 06, 2014 - H e l l

We woke up at 3 am so we could head back to Guilin and make our 6 am train. We somehow fit all of us, AND all of our luggage in this tiny ghetto van. Our driver took some sketchy shortcut and for a minute or two I thought he was kidnapping us. But we made it to the train station.

When we got on the train, there were people sitting in our seats. In China, it's normal for people to buy STANDING in how's that there will be an open seat  because it's cheaper that way. But with the holidays, most of those people ended up standing the majority of the time. Sucks to suck. But seriously they would hover over you. The last 6 hours, this homeless looking - and smelling - lady was practically sitting on me. It was awful. The seats were back to back so you couldn't recline them, and it was just super uncomfortable. NEVER again. 

I miss yangshuo, but I don't miss that awful, smelly, train.

aaand now back to teaching my cute little demons. 

xoxo kale salad