Let's Get Down to Business, to Defeat the Huns

What a glorious week it has been my dear friends and family!

Well, actually, the week started off terrible. Dreadfully terrible. I don't think a worse thing could have happen to our dear sweet Wong family. Beloved Julia, out of the goodness of her heart, stayed after class last Wednesday to organize our cupboards. No one knew where she was until she came home in the middle of our meeting sobbing. She said she thought she had broken her arm. Two hospital visits later, it was determined it was indeed broken, she needed surgery, and would prompty be heading home.

So what to do in China when your best friend is leaving within 48 hours? Party it up. We made a ridiculous list of all the things we loved to do, and things Julia had wanted to do but we had never gotten around to doing, and set aside all of Thursday to accomplish our list! Luckily we were on holiday, National Holiday actually, and didn't have class. We ate at our favorite places, visited the bank, the post office, the school, did random bizarre things that we love to do in China. Julia and I love to gamble with out Kuai. We would place bets on everything, to which way we would turn to how many boba Amanda would by (which the answer is ALWAYS 3 and I ALWAYS win). But this day, we decided to spice it up and dare each other to do ridiculous things. Julia walked into some mans house/shed, popped a squat next to him and watched tv. He was so confused. I took a crazy mask off of a mannequin and danced around the street. Everything crazy and bizarre, we did it. All for the sake of a kuai, 14 American cents. But then Julia pulled out the big guns! 100 kuai if I kissed a Chinese man. I couldn't pass this opportunity up! I finally was going to get my chance to spend a 100 kuai just on juice. So we set out to find an attractive and willing Chinese man. I came close 3 times. But I'd get so nervous and start laughing, and there I would be, cupping some China mans face while he looked at me like a deer in the headlights. I did not kiss a China man. I let Julia down. But perhaps the opportunity will arise again. I mean, I do know how to say "I want to kiss you" in Chinese.

Tearfully, Julia left the next day. 4:30 in the morning we all woke up to say our goodbyes. Much crying was done! I've never hugged anyone so long in all my life! Julia is an amazing person and she has inspired me to do so many things. I'm so grateful I was given the opportunity to meet her. I know she and I will be friends for a very long time. Right now is just hard. I miss her terribly. She is my family. Our family is no longer complete without her. I'm so glad I have Amanda though. She is such a blessing to my life. I already told her that if she ends up going home, I'm packing my bags as well. She said the same went for me. Since Julia left, Janae has really opened up to me and Amanda, which is an amazing thing. Janae is a great girl and I'm glad she's finally starting to feel comfortable with us and is opening up.

The same day Julia left, we also left for vacation! Kinda bumming to go on a trip when you're depressed about your friend going back to America, but such is life. It was nice though to give Julia's train ticket away, the people we gave it to were ecstatic to have it. Anyway. This train ride was 12 hours, piece of cake compared to the 19 hour train ride, right? Wrong. I don't know why we always take those stupid hard seats! When will we ever learn?! This train ride, I got little to no sleep. Amanda, Janae, and Shalise slept like babies. Me on the other hand, not peaceful at all. My benadryll worked like a charm and made me exhausted, but I couldn't find a position to sleep in. So I'm drugged and ready to pass out, without any means of doing so. Very tiring. On the few occassions I was able to sleep for a bit, I kept waking up to a baby sitting on my head, and a man under the table sitting on my feet. China. So crazy. Why there was a baby on my head and a man on my feet, I'll never know. Also, babies in China don't wear pants, or diapers. So this was a barenaked baby butt on my head. I'm really perplexed as to what she was doing there. Crazy babies.

We finally made it to our destination! The glorious land of Yang Shuo! Never have I seen such beauty! The mountains were the oddest shape, like little gumdrops sprinkled everywhere. It's right on the Li River and we spent many a day on bamboo rafts floating the river. Heavenly. One day when we were getting off our bamboo raft, there was a man with monkeys! I got to play with his monkeys! It was truly amazing. One of the monkeys was even sporting some shades. While I don't condone this man making this monkeys dress up and charging 25 kuai to take a picture with them, I did play with them and Amanda snuck a few pictures of me and the monkey! I'm so stoked I played with a monkey.

Yang Shuo is truly amazing. We made dear friends there. Mickey, our little helper at thye hostel was truly amazing. He arranged everything for us! I asked him to marry me, he said yes, but then he also said he didn't understand. So much for that relationship. We also met our dear friend Jing Jing, our Austrailian buddy who I think had never met mormons before. He kept telling us that his facebook status was going to be about he had spent the night with 6 American Mormon girls. Silly Jing Jing. He was so astonished that we loved hot chocolate and milkshakes. He thought we were foolish for ordering them while he was ordering a beer. Silly Jing Jing. We spent a good deal of time with these fellow. Some drama did occur with him, but only slightly, and it didn't concern me, so I really didn't care.

Yang Shuo really is like heaven. We had soft beds, which the first night I slept in it was miserable. I had forgotten how to sleep in a soft bed. I woke up achy and missing my wooden mattress. But by the end of our trip, I had become well aquainted with the soft bed once again. We also ate Western food like you wouldn't believe! That messed with my system big time. My body didn't do so well with foods other than rice and noodles, but I couldn't help myself. I discovered passion fruit and have decided that is my most favorite fruit in the whole word. I could really go for one right about now. I also discovered pizza! Holy cow. That was the most delicious thing I'd ever partaken of. I think I ate pizza every day, I was so in love. We'll see if that love carries over in America, but in China, I'm sold on pizza! Along with amazing food and beds, our hostel had a bathtub. I think I took a bath every day. It was truly amazing. This was an amazing vacation. But by the end, I was ready to go home to Guzhen, I missed my bed. It's so strange to me to think that I missed my bed. My rickety, cockroach infested, bamboo mat, ridiculous ladder to climb, who knows when the sheets and blankets were last washed bed. My bed.

Coming home was another adventure! Oh boy... This time around, we took a sleeper bus. Which is like a regular bus, but with bunk beds instead of seats. There are 3 sets of bunkbeds, and two walkways inbetween. Janae, Amanda and I were on the bottom, I was in the middle. Lo and behold, two China men ended up sleeping in the walkway between us. Now this bus is not very big, so I was sandwiched between these two men. We talked with them for a bit before going to sleep, neither of them had English names so we decided on Kevin and Darryl. They seemed friendly enough. But then things got crazy during the night! I hadn't realized how little of space there really was between us! Darryl had his feet all up on me. Which ever way I turned, there was one of them, inches from my face. I woke up a few times practically kissing Darryl. Shoot I should have just done it and gotten my 100 kuai. I'd roll over to escape Darryl, and there would be Kevin, equally as close! So what could I do, but embrace it and cuddle up with two random Chinese men?! Oh China. How I love it.

I think that is all my adventures for now. I am exhausted. Traveling is draining. Especially in China when the bus just drops you off in some random place and you have no idea how to get home. Gotta love it. I love you all and hope things are going well back home. I love to hear back from you guys so keep the emails coming!

Cam