The End?

Happy 4th of July! After that freaky story it took me another hour to 

fall asleep so totally I about 4and a half hours of sleep. We leave the

 hotel and 5:30, our flight is at 9am and we arrive at 6pm. So really 

our first flight is at 6pm Tuesday night and we arrive exactly 24 hours

 later. Holy crap. I'm drugging myself for the flight to Minneapolis 

from Tokyo.

In the Shanghai airport it occurred to me that I had forgotten to get a

gift for my friends Peter and Diane. The problem was that they have lit-

erally traveled all over the world so I didn't know what to get for them.

Finally I settled on another set of miniature guardian lions. I hope they

like them! The ride to Japan was VERY bumpy the whole way and it was longer

than I was expecting. It will probably go down in my history as my least

favorite plane ride ever. I was watching Cars 2 when I got extremely motion

sick. I felt like I was going to throw up the whole rest of the way. 

In the Japanese airport a few of us had mcDonalds. Again...it rocked! The

long flight wasn't as hard this time and I think it was a little shorter.

I slept, then I watched Forrest Gump. then I slept. Then I watch Marry Poppins,

 and then I slept. Then I watched 2 big bang theories, then we were the USA!!

I ate DQ. I talked to my parents for the first time in 9 days and it was good

to hear their voices. after talking to them I laid down on three chairs and

slept. It was SOOO comfy. Apparently at one point everyone in our group was 

asleep either laying on the chairs or on the floor. We probably were a sight

for the people coming to our gate. 

The flight to Spokane took way too long. I slept for an hour then couldn't 

sleep anymore. But finally I was home. HOME. I love it! well, kind of. We still

had to drive an hour home. We stopped at Quizznos for dinner. When we got home

the Heidemans came over and I presented everyone with their gifts. Lots of 

smiles!! During the fireworks (ya I forgot it was the 4th too) I showed Leah 

all of my pictures. My trip seems a lot shorter when flipping through the photos.

They didn't capture it all. By midnight I was exhausted and I finally ended the 

last (39 hour long) day of my trip.

All in all, would I do it again? Absolutely. But next time with family of a few

close friends. I know have 4 tacks in my world map showing international trips!

What's next? who can say. But it looks like Italy in college. Till then, I'm happy 

to be right hear.


GOAL: visit all seven continents and at least 35 countries

SO FAR: two continents and 4 countries down 

Day 7

July 3rd-tuesday
   I didn't really feel like waking up this morning. 

I was having one of those dreams where you wake up 

right before the end and you fit waking up because

 you want to know what happens. But after a few 

minutes I gave in. Breakfast this morning was 

probably the best we've had so far. It was very 

American. I had and egg, banana, rice, bread, 

dumplings....I don't know button was GOOD. After 

breakfast Tessa and I ran to the bank so she could

 get money and then we were off. Our first stop 

of the morning was to shanghi's famous Buddha 

temple. It was some Buddhist holiday so there were

 a ton of people burning incense. It was very smelly.

 The Buddha was pretty cool...but I just kept 

thinking about the passage in Ezekiel where god 

says his people took the precious stones he gave 

them and turned them into idols and worshiped them.

 I admire those people's search but I wish they 

might see there is more than what they have found. 
After the Buddhist temple we went to a silk factory.

 Watching the people make silk was very interesting.

 At first we thought the store was just bedding, 

but then we got out into the main part and there 

was a ton more. Scarves, cloths, fans...everything.

 I found a present for my grandpa!l and one for my 

other grandparents.
We went to have lunch after the silk factory but 

I wasn't hungers so a few of us went to Starbucks

 just for a drink. Yoko came with us. I ended up 

spending over and hour talking with her about china,

 the language, the customs, the government and 

politics....everything! It spur praised me how open

 she was with me...even when it came to discussing

 communism. It wasnt that she came outright and 

said she disliked or liked it, but the way she 

talked about it made sense. Not that I agree with 

communism now, but I understand much better how 

china works. "[the one child policy] is not just 

for our own good, but for the good of the whole 

world." -yoko I loved it.
Next we went to the Yu Yan gardens. I realized 

as we were walking in that I hadnt taken really 

as many pictures this trip as I meant to so I 

started taking a bunch of everything. The gardens

 really were beautiful. I kept imagining myself 

     living there. To be able to study in loves 

gardens and contemplate life and the 

world....a dream!!Our tour ended too quickly. 

After we exited we were in a bazaar where 

I spent my very last money.My timing was 

excellent if I do say so myself. I got

 everything I wanted and I got gifts for all

 of my peeps. Then Emily and I chilled at

 Starbucks.We ended up walking around 

for a while longer andthen finally my last

 bargaining china shopping 

experience was over. After, we went to the bund 

which is like the water front and walked around.it

 was very cool. Next was dinner.
When we arrived back at the hotel a few us us had

 decided to take the extra boat ride so we rested 

for an hour (I showered and changed) and then headed

 back down to the Bund to see Shanghi at night.Halfway

through the tour it started raining and thundering and 

there was lightning. It was really intense! 

There was a Korean boy (30) on the boat that Mitch 

and I started to talk to. Then all of a sudden there

 were like 20 Korean people surrounding him wanting

 his picture (all girls). After a minute they noticed

 me too and so they all started grabbing me and 

pulling me into pictures. I got pictures with the

     boys, girls, kids, and older people on the boat 

haha. At one point they were having Mitch Kidd the

 girls for the pictures and I was teasing him about

 it but one of the girls must have tight that I was

 his girlfriend because she came over and bowed to

 me and (I assume) apologized. After the pictures

 died down a little we began talking to the one 

Korean boy again. Another guy came Ito listen. He 

was wearing this light-up-bow head band like most 

of them were and I told him I liked it. He told m 

he liked me too.vi told him thanks but I meant I 

liked his BOW * louder and he said..."oh! Here you take, you take. It rocked.

 Mitch and I also got into an argument in front of all of the boys about

 his age and I think it entertained them a ton. At the end of the night 

the more modest boy who only asked for my picture once was my favorite. 

He was GORGEOUS. Oh ya.....the tour was cool too. :)When we got back to the 

hotel everyone was freaking out because these Beats they got were illegally

 made and parts were fake. I didn't care; I was still thinking about the 

boat tour. But then we all went to my room and Mitch told us a ghost story. 

That ended our friendship right then and there. I HATE being scared and that 

story freaked me out.

Day 6

July 2-Monday
 

We woke up this morning at 5:00. At first I 

was barely awake but then I saw sun coming in 

through the window and I hopped up and ran to

 the window. There were blue skies and a GORGEOUS

 sunrise that I got to watch. 
Afterwards I brushed my teeth,backed up the

 rest of my stuff and headed down to the bus.

 It was boxed Breakfast which I decided against.

 Probably a bad idea since I was pretty hungry.

 We then drive to the airport. Man it was soooo 

busy! I had to check my black bag because the 

purple bag that I put my backpack in was too full of s

ouvenirs to fit my backpack in. Security took forever 

to get through and almost everyone had a pat down.

 Most of the kids we're giggling about it. It didn't 

bug me, I mean...they we're just doing theyre jobs! 

We finally boarded at 8 and the plane took off at 9. 

The plan ride was really bumpy almost the whole time. 

Landing was pretty scary too, when

we touched ground the plain rocked from side 

to side as we raced forward. 
After we got out of the airport we drove to the

 tallest building in Shanghi which is located 

next to the soon to be tallest building in the 

world. We took an elevator to the 100th floor 

where we walked through the observatory. There 

was glass all around us and even some on the 

floor.Though I couldn't feel the. Building shake, 

I always felt like I was swaying and my 

equilibrium felt off for a while afterwards. 

On the 94th floor we stop to use the restroom, 

they and the most high-tech toilets I've ever seen.

 There buttons on the side and if you pressed them

 water would squirt up and "rinse" you I guess...
When we got done we went to lunch downstairs. I 

had subway! It was phenomenal. Better I think than 

the McDonald's or the pizza hut. 
We went to the hotel after lunch and yoko gave 

us the rest of the afternoon free. I didn't like 

that because I didn't fell just like wandering and 

sitting Kn the hotel was boring. But I just ended 

up reading for a couple hours. After that I went to

 the bank with Emily so she could get money it but

 we couldn't figure out how to use the ATM so we 

went back to the hotel. I sat around with some boys

 from another group on our tour till dinner. At 

dinner Luke said, "I wonder how fast you have to 

spin the lazy Suzan for stuff to fly off....." ya 

it takes two times. He broke a glass and spilled 

ketchup all over the table. Really dumb. 
After dinner Jill, taryn, meiya and I were in Jill

 and taryns room talking. Then meiya and I left the

 room and started talking about religion. It wad a

 really good conversation. She had great questions.

Day 5

July 1-Sunday
  I was not hungry at all this morning 

when I went down to breakfast, but I 

ate anyway which was dumb because afterwards

 I did not feel good. Our first stop 

today was the Beijing zoo. We saw Lions 

and tigers and bears oh my! No really....

we also saw giraffes, elephants, zebras,

 monkeys, pheasants, rhinos, birds, pandas,

 and probably more. It was extremely hot.

 Some girls wanted pictures with me and 

then a family asked for pictures with me

 too. After walking around for an hour 

we got ice cream and sat on some benches

 to cool off. On the way back to the bus

 Dominic was leading. We kept coming to 

signs that pointed to the gate and he would

 go the opposite direction, sure that he

 was right. I finally got so pissed off 

that Henry and I turned around. Lo and 

behold... We HAD been going the wrong 

direction and the path henry and I chose

 led us straight to the bus. I am never 

listening to Dom again when trying to find

 the meeting place.
After the zoo we ate a meal in the style

 that Mao ze dung liked. It was probably 

my favorite meal so far. The food was spicy

 which I have missed a lot and it tasted 

more like the Chinese food you find at 

home. Then after lunch we had free time. 

4 hours of free time! I thought it was hot

 yesterday but oh no....today was brutal.

 I could only be outside ten or fifteen 

minutes before walking into a mall or store

 with air conditioning. We started in the 

bargaining market. It was pretty scary! 

Some of the ladies would grab you and pull

 you over to the stall and not let you go.

 I ended up getting quite I bit. I think 

I'm getting better at bargaining but I still

 hate it. A lady sold me a wooden sword...

it started out at like 90 and I got it for

 55 but I realized it was still like of a 

rip off because I could have found it in 

America for like 2 bucks. Most of the stuff

 was pretty cool. One of the girls from the

 other group and I lost the rest of the 

people we were wandering with and we walked

 together for about an hour. We were in 

this huge mall and accidentally exited on 

the wrong side and got pretty lost for a 

while. Afterwards we met up with Jill and 

taryn and the 4 of us wandered. By the end 

I was soooo done with walking. My shoulders

 feel like they have knives in them from 

holding my backpack so long. 
I couldn't remember if we were supposed to eat dinner or not while shopping 

so I only had a blizzard but when we got back to the hotel a bunch of 

people we t to pizza hut and so I sent some money with Emily so she would 

get me food. Packing was interesting...I have an entire bag of souvenirs.

All of my purchasing is done except I need to find something for my grandpa 

since im giving pearls to my grandma. And I'm supposed to find a post card

for mrs.Mckeller but I can only buy packages which I don't want to do.

Day 4

June 30-Saturday 
    I woke up this morning about a half hour 

before our wake up call and read by the window

 while I waited for the shower. When I peaked 

at the sky I beheld a beautiful sight....above 

looked not just gray, but blueish gray!No more 

rain today. And that means I broke out a dress.

 Hopefully I won't die of heat. We had breakfast 

as usual;nothing very exciting though i am 

getting better with my chopsticks.
First for the day we went to a Chinese tea ceremony. 

                          I was very excited and my enthusiasm was not waisted. 

It was really awesome. We tried 5 different teas: jin xin,

 jasmine, black tea, pure tea, and fruit tea. Fruit tea 

was the best. And I finally found stuff for my brother! 

Then we went to the birds nest and the water cube. The 

birds nest was better than I thought it would be. Emily 

and I just sat in the seats and watched an Olympics video.

 Once two boys came up and wanted pictures with me and 

Emily. They didn't speak any English and it was very cute.

 Then a few minutes later another Chinese boy came up 

to me and asked in English if he could take a picture 

with me, of course I said yes!! The water cube sucked. 

It was busy and confusing and you couldn't really see 

where they swam for the Olympics. When we got done Yoko

 told us there was a McDonald's just outside. I got 

separated from the group because I was talking to Jill 

so when I went outside I walked really far in the wrong

 direction. I started freaking out because I realized 

it was back near the water cube and I didn't think 

they would let me back in. But after a long detour 

with some other kids in the group, I finally made it.

 The McDonald's was really strange; there were only a

 few items on the menu so I ended up spending more 

money than I wanted to. So far today I have spent way

 too much money. I'm going to try really hard tomorrow

 to not spend money. 
We went to the art zone after lunch

 and yoko gave us like 2 and a half 

hours there. It was WAY too hot and

 i felt like I was going to get heat

 stroke. I also didn't have cold 

water, and I needed a bathroom which

 there wasn't one. We walk forever 

and went into a bunch of shops. Surprise surprise I bought 

something.Sunglasses because I forgot mine and it's supposed 

to be really hot and sunny these 

next few days. No spending tomorrow!!! 
Dinner was cool, ever person got a little

 pot of hot water and then 

there were raw veggies, 

noodles and meat that you 

through in the water to cook 

them. Then there was a spicy 

sauce and a seasameed 

sauce that you dipped the food

 in. Pretty good!

day 3

June 29-Friday
   This morning we started off the 

day at tiannamin square.

 For a while it was raining but the 

sky cleared up a little 

bit. It felt like we were in Seattle.

 Our guide yoko was 

giving us a bunch of history of the 

square and the buildings

 but, as we all suspected, she said 

nothing about the famous

 protest that happened there.  After

 the square a few of us

 headed to a public restroom. Thank

 goodness mrs. Ressa had

 toilet paper! They weren't as bad 

as I thought they'd be though.
 Alright, there were not words to 

describe the beauty of the

 forbidden city! Walking through the

 city filled me with awe.

 The only down side was the sheer amount of people. When I

went up to see the emperors throne I had to hold Emily's arm

 not to lose and had to literally shove my way to the front....

and the room was dark. :( the garden was the most beautiful 

part. Apparently this is where the concubines would hang out.

 I kept imagining the ancient people living their daily lives.

 I wish I could have.
After the forbidden city I was starving. Too bad I decided 

in the morning to not get lunch. So seven of 

us left the restaurant and walked down the

street. Our goal: McDonald's or Starbucks. 

We made it to a little hole-in-the-wall shop 

where I found lays. I grabbed at the blue 

bag thinking the were salt and vinegar....

they ended up being Italian red meat

 flavor. At least they were lays. On the 

way back we stopped at another shop and 

found mountain dew and ice cream! I was 

so happy. We were sad to find though that 

the place where 

everyone ate was the best place so far.

After lunch we went to the lama 

Buddhists temple. I was really 

surprised to see so many Chinese 

actually follow Buddhist ways.

 There was a ton of incense. We 

couldn't talk pictures inside 

the rooms unfortunately. But it 

was very pretty. 
The roads around the buddhist temple were filled with little

 shops. I found the scarves that my teacher has! SOO happy. 

And they were cheap. I also found mini guardian lions, and a fan. 
When we finished shopping we headed to take a rickshaw tour

 through the hutong to visit the families there. Unfortunately 

the rickshaws didn't go very quickly and we were bombarded by 

street venders. A lady kept shoving fans in my face and Emily's 

face. Finally I bought one fan just to get her away. The

 tourtook us right through the heart of the Chinese 

"ghetto." Not really but the people were definitely 

poorer than the people in the city. We had dinner at a 

hutong family's home. I was alittle nervous at first but

 the food we had was better thanalmost everything we've 

had so far. The man and woman who cooked for us were both

 chefs. One of the dishes was this veggitarian sort of
 meatball that the man's grandfather invented.Apparently,

 the grandfather cooked it for the last emperor! Very cool.
We went for our nightly,walk tonight and found a night market.

 Some kids ate scorpion. It was disgusting. Afterwards

 Jill, taryn, tessa and I had some good ol 

fashion girl talk. Felt good.

June 28 (Thursday)
  It's great wall day!! I woke up at 6:45 this morning feeling well rested and 

ready to go. There were no hiccups with the shower or anything so I got ready 

to go and went down to breakfast. Had some good chicken and rice with eggs in it. 

 Then had to wait about 45 mins before leaving.
Our first stop to was a Chinese summer school where kids go to learn English. 

I had expected teenagers in uniforms sitting at desks. Instead I was pleasantly

 surprised to find kids between the ages of 4-6 in street cloths and kungfu outfits

 singing songs and telling us there names. A few of us went up and sang head 

shoulders knees and toes with them and then they taught us a Chinese love song. 

They were adorable!!
After this we drove for about an hour outside the city to a hotel near the great 

wall for lunch. Nothing was weird so to speak but it wasn't very good either. It 

had the feel of being Chinese-American food. Very interesting. Right bellow us was 

a souvenir shop. I was really excited at first but the people were SO annoying. 

They wouldn't leave us alone and everything was pretty expensive. One lady followed

 me all the way around the store trying to get me to buy a jade pig. She yelled 

at me when she saw I had set it down. Then we went to the great wall. And oh my 

goodness. It was AMAZING. unfortunately it rained and there was a ton of fog so 

we couldnt see far away. But the wall was breathtaking. We got soaked and took a

 bunch of pictures. Instead of going to the highest point a bunch of us opted for 

the much harder side. There was one point when the stairs were almost vertical

 before us. Overall this has been the best part so far. When we left the wall we

 had to wait for a half hour at the gift shop. There was a man in the back corner

 painting glass jars. I had watched him a bit earlier. The cool thing wasn't just

 that he was hand painting them, what blew my mind was that at the top was a little

 hole. He put his brush in the hole and was painting backwards. I'll say that again...the paintings are INSIDE the jar. We were suppose to bargain with the people which I had been doing, but the man was so nice and I greatly admired his worked. I got the cheapest one. A ball with a dragon on it which is my parent's zodiac. He wrote their names in it. I am very happy with it. 
We drove two hours back downtown to the Red Theatre to watch the Legend of Kungfu

. Call me a theater nerd but that will probably prove to be one of my FAVORITE 

parts of the tour. The stage, the lights, the set, (the men, without their shirts

 on)...everything was so cool! Not to mention the actual moves they were doing. 

My jaw was dropping every few seconds. Not even my hunger or wet feet could bring

 me down during that show. After the show we went to get dinner. Across the street

 from our restaurant we saw Mr. Brown's famous donkey meat restaurant! Very funny 

to see. The food was ok tonight...the best part was when the waitress came with a

 plate of chicken, tripped, was holding the plate of food over markie's head, and

 I caught the plate before she dropped it. 
We went wandering again tonight. Made it all the way to a huge intersection. 

In china...the cross walks are a joke. You j-walk and don't wait for cars. So

 we followed the locals to see when to go. My running background came in handy. 

A couple of guys past us in the street and were very excited to practice some 

 English on us. They said hello and giggled when we said hello back.

day 1

hello everyone!! sorry my blog didn't work out. I'm going to go back and post what i wrote everyday so here it goes!

June 27 1:45am (Wednesday)
Today we arrived in Beijing, well that is TONIGHT we arrived in Beijing. 

Our final flight got in at about 10:30. I was so excited to get out and see the city 

as we drove to the hotel, but Yoke, the lady who is directing our tour informed us we

 had to wait for another group flying in. That group did not arrive until 12:30! 

However, finally we were off. Yoko started us off with some general info, most of 

which I knew until she informed us that there is no WiFy in the hotel. She also 

mentioned how Facebook is blocked which i knew, but what I did n't know is that 

google is blocked which means no blog :(. To all of you who tried to read it and 

found nothing. I'm so sorry!
When we got into our room Emily, Katie and I found a computer. Too bad we couldn't 

turn on the screen!!! I'm hoping tomorrow someone can help us so I can at least email

 some pics home. I'll also try and find a McDonald's or something that has WiFy but 

who knows! So far....this trip is not going super well. However, I am hopeful that 

things will improve. Well I'm off to catch a couple hours of sleep before wake up 

call at 7:30! 
 
 
June 27 8:15am (Wednesday)
  Finally ready to start the day! This morning I woke up and looked outside. Our 

view is pretty cool; the room overlooks a building cite (maybe an arena) and a 

bunch of buildings. The architecture is different and very interesting.
Emily had a heck of a time with the shower this morning. Apparently the drain is 

very slow. 
Went down to breakfast this morning. I was very 

worried at first because I didn't 

see anyone I knew and the food was...different. 

But I was quickly reassured when I

 found Jill, taryn, and Henry. The food also 

turned out good (mostly).  I had some

 excellent stir fry and some amazing Mushu 

pork with zucchini and egg. 
Our first stop of the day was to the summer palace. 

I didn't catch all the details

 but our guide talked a lot about the dragon lady.

 The best part was the taichi 

lesson. The guy who led us was a Kung fu master. He hold do part and then come and 

correct out form. I LOVED it. I would seriously do taichi if there was a class in 

Colville. We took a dragon boat ride too. Then it was lunch time. 
Yoko took us to a REAL Chinese restaurant today for lunch. The first few dishes 

were questionable, ie seaweed, tofu, and pork fat bits. But from there it got 

better. There was a good egg dish and also a yummy pork and onions dish.
After lunch we went to a souvenir shop that is famous for fresh water pearls. The

 people were very pushy and I kind of spent more money than I meant to. I'll have

 to watch myself at the next few places. But I have souvenirs for 3 people. They 

don't exactly scream "china" but they are pretty!! Next we were off to the temple

 of heaven. The temple is actually a park with 3 buildings where the emperors would

 go to worship. My feet are starting to hurt. At the park we saw some "locals" 

dancing and a few of us joined in. The women loved it. The buildings are beautiful.

 The stairs leading up are made of sand stone and have carvings of dragons. The

 buildings have no nails and are supported by 28 pillars to represent the 28 

galaxies. By the end of the temple of heaven tour I was done; my feet hurt, I was

 hot and tired. The few moments I was coherent enough to realize where I was though

,I was awh struck by the fact that I was walking where ancient emperors walked. 

The buildings were absolutely beautiful!!
For dinner we went to a restaurant established in the 1400s. Ok I'll admit it: 

it's only day one and I long for American food. We had Peking duck as one of the

 main dishes and It was...good. The duck basically tasted like chicken or turkey.

 The rest was so so. today the meals went downhill. Breakfast was the best, lunch 

second, dinner the worst. But I'm still hopeful! 
To end the day, about 8 of us ventured out of the hotel to take a walk through 

Beijing. After about 10 blocks I convinced 4 people to turn back with me. I don't

  think we were really in danger; everyone was nice and there were a ton of people.
 And pretty much all they did was stare at us. When we got back to the hotel Emily 
and i found out a fuse had blown in our room and we had to go down to the front 
next to get someone to fix it. This proved difficult since the ladies had very broken 
English and only new how to say a few things. Pictures come in handy. "it doesn't work"
 *show picture "no power." we are back on the grid now. It's 8:42pm. I'm reading for 
a bit, and then going to sleep!