These are some of the emails that I sent from China... ^_^ In the words of Yeon, "HAVE ENJOY!!" Also please take the time to enjoy my subject lines because I worked really hard on those! :)

From: Me
To: Mom
Subject: Stuffs
Date: Tue, 14 Feb 2012 19:45:01 -0700

So... Sorry I'm not emailing you enough, but I have to walk pretty far in the freezing cold rain... Although some of the other volunteers say that if we get an ethernet cord we can have internet in our room. I hope it works because by the time I finish teaching I'm exhausted, and walking is super duper hard. There are a million stairs here. It takes me 2 minutes to walk up the stairs to my apartment, which is on the fifth floor.  We went to the branch in Suzhou last weekend, and it was amazing. We got lost a lot and we only made it to church for Relief Society, but either way it was amazing. They fed us spaghetti, and taught us some Chinese, and they had toilets... I never thought I could miss sitting down to pee so much. It is a luxury.
Teaching is so freaky and weird. I'm hoping it's going to get better as I get better at preparing lessons. Luckily Jackie and I teach the same grades so we can plan together. It all goes better in theory though because I'm not really sure how to discipline the kids. We teach third grade and fourth/fifth. It is insane! Jackie keeps thinking that she doesn't know what she has gotten into. I know it will get better though. One girl has already gone home. She was having a hard time in the airport on the way here, and she even has an uncle living in Suzhou. I keep looking to tomorrow. Sometimes during the day, I just say to myself, "I'll just go home tomorrow." Usually by the end of the day something great happens though. Like yesterday we went to the night market. Apparently the translation from English to Chinese back to English of "Home Alone" is "Funny Home". Alex almost bought it because it was like 12 movies for $1.60. I've really only bought useful things, like a scarf, gloves, spoon and fork, and some slippers. Although, my chopstick technique is getting pretty good. I really miss cereal and butter, which are like unheard of.
Okay well, Jackie is glaring at me because I'm not preparing my lesson that starts in an hour and fifteen because we also need to eat lunch some time in there...
Well, I love all you alls and I'm only sending this to you Mom, but it's also for Dad.
Just living life... in China...

From: Me
To: Mom
Subject: Craziness
Date: Fri, 17 Feb 2012 04:01:25 -0700

So funny story, the Chinese people here don't really believe in schedules... They told us we have class Monday-Friday 12-12:50 with the 4th/5th graders, but while we were teaching them they let us know that class is supposed to go to 1:15... So not prepared for that. Today we learned that there is no class on Friday, which is super nice. Jackie and I already planned next week. Wish me luck. I have some pictures of the kids, but I'm not 100% sure where my camera is. I have brilliant news! Class ends on June 20, but we don't leave til June 26, so you should totally try to come then so we can goof off! :) It would be rollicking good times. (Can't wait to here some of my students using that phrase.) Jackie and I are cleaning our room up, but we are also realizing we have no cleaning supplies for the shower room. Night Market here we come! They have amazing fruit stuff there. Jackie also got some pretty good potstickers, but I've only shared with her. She really wants to try a kabob, but that sounds sketchy. They do have some really crazy stuffs in the market. We saw a man lighting these wallets on fire. Alex got one that says "Handsome Guy" in Chinese. Hilarious times. I also got a whole bunch of different kinds of Fanta. They have peach, lemon and apple flavors here. They are all so delicious. We are about to leave for the night market. I kind of don't want to go because of how cold it is, but Jackie and I have quite the shopping list for some random house commodities (Also she really wants some more pineapple on a stick). This message has pretty much been written in random spurts throughout the day. ^_^

So... Most the kids call me "Teacher Chinese" because they can't read my name... I'm really thinking about changing it, but then there are these sweet few children who know who I am, and I don't know what I am supposed to do. I got some great things to put in my journal. I'm super duper excited about that. Although I have not really written much since we got here because of the time constraints. I guess I will have to play catchup. Next weekend is our first four-day weekend, and Jackie and I are looking into visiting some place warm then. It will be our first trip away from our city. It's really difficult to go places around Changzhou when it's like an ice box outside. It's funny because they don't use heaters here anywhere. Inside. Outside. Doesn't really matter because you can see your breath everywhere. It's kind of hard when I am teaching because I have to constantly be warming up my hands. The kids love to make fun of this fact. 

The food here is not so bad. They don't believe in cutting the fat of their meat, and sometimes that is really disgusting. I've eaten a lot, as long as I have a huge bowl of rice with it. In the morning They don't have sticky rice; they have soggy rice, and we put brown sugar in it. It's not really my favorite, but it's food. The weekend meals are the best because the school only cooks for us, and so they make popcorn chicken, french fries and sticky rice with scrambled eggs and ham mixed in. It is delicious and has been my favorite served by the school. Although they do have this weird cauliflower, egg, miscellaneous meat concoction that I rather adore (minus the miscellaneous meat.) It's funny because Jackie is always saying things like, "My mom makes this for breakfast all the time." or "I remember these yummy crackers from my childhood." She eats some pretty crazy things, but most of the time it's not disgusting. When we are in the market, everyone stares at me because I'm white and Jackie takes a backseat. Although last night when we got into the rickshaw on the way home, the driver thought we both were Chinese until we started speaking English without accents. Jackie explained to him that we are both American. I have perfected the phrases "Sorry" "I'm American" and the numbers 1-5. Once you know how to count to ten you can count to 100. Ok well, we really leave soon to go to the market.

Yours 'til the bus stops.

From: Me
To: Mom
Subject: This Weekend
Date: Wed, 22 Feb 2012 04:02:39 -0700

My computer has stopped working which is super annoying, mostly because I have no idea why. I'll need to talk to someone about that I guess. Unlucky is how I'm feeling. I ran some diagnostics and they say that I need a new hard drive... I don't know what to do because it won't even boot up. I can't get passed the windows logo. :'( So depressed... So depressed...
Teaching is getting easier. Sometimes I feel like I know what I am doing, but then the children go crazy and I am back to square one. At least the kids are kind of getting used to me. One of them even said hi to me when I was on the bus going down town. Most of the time though, I feel like I'm not teaching the kids anything, but then there are the few shining moments when they learn something. :)
A group of five of us found a faster way to get down town, and I also found some branches of the bank where I don't get fees for withdrawing money. YAY!! We also discovered this amazing bakery that has some great eats, and when I say that I mean I would probably never eat anything like it if I was home, but since I'm in China, it's nice to have something that almost tastes familiar. We also walked through the underground Walmart, which is super weird.
Today it rained super duper hard. Luckily we have an umbrella, which none of the kids knew how to say that in English. Kind of odd considering that it rains quite a bit here. We were planning on going to Beijing this weekend, but the cost was too high for Jackie. She told me I could go without her, but that seemed weird to me because I came here with her. Instead, we are going to go to Shanghai probably, and Suzhou. She hates the rain, but I think it would be really fun to walk through the gardens with an umbrella. Also I just like the rain.
Ok so Jackie and I need to plan our weekend. Don't worry, Alex is coming with us.... He's the boy who speaks Chinese.
Yours 'til the rain drops.

From: Me
To: Mom
Subject: Beijing!
Date: Sat, 25 Feb 2012 05:38:34 -0700

So... I went to Beijing... Jackie and I couldn't resist the urge to walk the Great Wall. I called it the meadiocre wall of china. Mostly just because I've always pictured it as this four foot tall wall. :-) It was Amazing! It's way harder to send you pictures when i don't have a computer.
Unrelated story... They don't have gummie bears here, and that somewhat depresses me. I was commenting to Jackie about it once in passing, but it was fine. Then today when we were on the Great Wall, a family had a bag of gummie bears, and I stopped in my tracks and stared at them for quite some time. Then I told Jackie about it. I almost asked that family for some... Later when we got back to the hostel and we were talking, I brought it up, and literally cried my eyes out. Like four times... So, I SERIOUSLY NEED some gummie bears. I guess I will survive without. Going on vacation has made me extra homesick I guess. I never felt this way in Changzhou. It probably doesn't help that my computer is dead...
Yours 'til the gummie bears.

From: Me
To: Mom
Subject: The Branch in Beijing
Date: Sun, 26 Feb 2012 07:33:03 -0700

We went to one of the branches here in Beijing and we got to here China's law about religion, which is kind of funny because it says something to the effect of we believe in freedom of religion as long as it is practiced to our specifications. Jackie and I were the only ones who stayed for the full block and in relief society we met Amy. She and her husband have been here for 3 years and they have a 5 month old baby boy who is beyond adorable. They invited us over for dinner. So Jackie and i went to Tianmen Square and then the Forbidden city was closed. It closes at 3:30, kind of ridiculous. We went to one of the Forbidden City gardens and saw the tree where David O. McKay dedicated China for proselyting before they closed it. There was a placque by the tree, but we had no idea what it said cause it was in Chinese.
Then we went over to amy and eric's and had some amazing lasagna and fresh veggies and chocolate chip cookies. There was also some good conversation. They are such a fun couple.
I can't believe it's only our third Sunday gone... I really miss home, and I kind of want Mel to get some movies on the cloud for me to watch on my tablet.
Well Jackie's waiting for me to finish this up so we can go to sleep.
Yours 'til the sweet dreams.

From: Me
To: Mom
Subject: I've got everything that I need!
Date: Fri, 2 Mar 2012 20:57:17 -0700

Ok... So maybe the subject line isn't entirely true, but I do have enough. :) This week we are holding Fast and Testimony meeting here at the school, and we have approval from the district authorities to do sacrament with our two priesthood holders. Next week we are going to Suzhou, the next week the branch president is coming down for our meeting here, and then the 25th is district conference in Shanghai. So exciting! Jackie and I have been having a blast. Last night we went out with the Chinese Teachers and had some amazing Chinese food, and then we went to the Jackie Chan International Cinema and watched War Horse... I didn't even want to see that movie for free in America when I could the first time. Any way.... I'm really bored, and I'm avoiding going back to the apartment because Jackie wants to clean the bathroom.... and I'm sick of cleaning because I just did TONS of laundry, and laundry here takes a million years... Not an exaggeration. I wish I could just go down to the Home Depot and get some tube to fix up the washers because it is very inefficient and would be so easy to fix. IF ONLY I COULD SPEAK AND READ CHINESE!!!! I keep looking over at Jackie and saying, "Hey, remember that time I went to China with you.... Yeah I remember that." and Jackie always says, "Really?! We are still in China. You need to let that go." At least she can understand almost everything and speak a little. I can almost say, "Can you speak English?" I guess I just need more practice.
Yours 'til the Tomb Stones.

From: Me
To: Mom
Subject: It's my birthday present to me! I'm so happy...
Date: Thu, 29 Mar 2012 19:31:08 -0600

It was my birthday yesterday... or today. However you want to slice it. My children brought me gifts. Martin gave me some seaweed potato crackers, cheese crackers and some sort of Italian candy. Alliean brought me 3 stuffed animals, carnations and a cake. LingLing gave me a carnation and a cake. Annie gave me this little doll thing that you put on the end of a pencil. I also got a card with some Awesome things written on it. My cake with actual candles in it from the gang was one gummy with a birthday candle sticking out of it. The group gave me some gummy candies and cake oreos. It was a great celebration. Well, I just realized I did not give myself enough time to write this since my train leaves for Guilin in an hour... This is awkward... I guess I'll have to tell you more later.

Yours 'til the rain drops.

Date: Fri, 13 Apr 2012 12:07:29 +0800
Subject: I'd rather be known as deadly for my killer showtune medley!
From: Me
To: Mom

Hello friends!
China... It is quite the adventure. We just went on our long vacation on March 30th. We went to Guilin, Yangshuo and Yichang. It was crazy good times. Arranging all our transportation was a delicate process, but we had all the train tickets, and Jackie, Tara and I would be the first to embark. We got to the train station on time for our 3 hour ride to ShanghaiNan station. The weather was miserable, and I'm sure many of you know his I feel about that :-) ... In any case the departure time for our train disappeared off the reader board. This caused us much grief because we did not know what would occur if we were unable to make our connection to our 19 hour train to Guilin. We had an hour and a half cushion between arrival and departure from ShanghaiNan, so we waited an hour to see if perhaps our train would allow us enough time, but a new departure time never appeared. Over the speaker Jackie heard them say that they had no idea when the train would arrive at the station. All seemed lost, and Jackie became quite fretful. It was then I had a brilliant recollection of the expensive fast train that takes less than an hour to get to the Shanghai main. Jackie was still upset because our train left from a different station, but I reminded her of our wonderful trip on the subway and that the other station was on the same line. We then proceeded to run from the platform for the slow trains to the ticket office, which is across the square, down the stairs and around the walking tunnel, up the stairs and down a ways. We were quickly calculating the latest time we could leave and still make it. Needless to say, it was quickly approaching. We were waiting in a long line, and Jackie could here the ticket agents telling people that the trains to Shanghai were sold out on account of the long holiday. I told Jackie to wait, and that we could probably still make it. When we got to the front, Jackie became frantic and just told the agent that we needed tickets for the next train. Jackie was no longer translating, she just heard one o'clock and we purchased some rather expensive train tickets. We were off like bullets to the new platform, and we realized that our train was leaving in 3 minutes. We could not get to the platform quick enough! As the train pulled in we boarded and pulled away, sure in the knowledge that we would make our long train to Guilin. That is all I can write for the moment for there is an urgent laundry matter that must be attended to, but I shall continue the story of our adventures in Southern China later in the evening.
 Yours 'til the train tracks.

Date: Fri, 13 Apr 2012 18:27:28 +0800
Subject: "John Wayne"? That's a terrible cowboy name!
From: Me
To: Mom


I'm back! We made it to put train, and the next part was going to prove difficult because our hostel was supposedly across the street from the train station on the second floor of some other hotel... I wanted to write in there guest book, "Hard to get to... That's a fact..." It was down a strange alleyway and we turned plenty of corners before we reached the steps up to our hostel. It was actually rather quaint. The first day there, we just wandered around the streets, buying random souvenirs and walking into some cool pagodas. It was exciting. In Guilin, they have this extensive underground market where I bought some super cute socks, tights and shoes. The second day we went to the Seven Star Park, where we saw PANDAS and red pandas. They were freaking adorable. They also have a pen of bunnies in the zoo, that you can pay to play with them. :-) There are some amazingly beautiful views from the city. When we spoke with the people at the front desk about taking a bus to Yangshuo, the told us that buses left every twenty minutes from the train station and that no ticket was required. When we arrived at the train station the next morning, there was a massive unorganized crowd. Upon questioning them, we learned that these were the people waiting to board buses to Yangshuo, and that the system was an insane free for all. When the first bus pulled in, it was chaos! The giant crowd would all push and shove, following the door of the bus since it first enters the lot. Soon the buses were playing games with the crowd. This bus hop would have been much easier if we had not been carrying all our luggage with us. Jackie was the first to make it on the 2 hour bus to Yangshuo, and then soon after Alisha, Ryleigh and Michaela all made it on the bus. By now we had been at the station for two hours and the crowd had more than doubled in size. There were many times when were actually holding on to the bus doors before they opened, but would be violently wrenched away by the surrounding people. I wanted to give up and just go to the normal bus station to purchase a ticket, even if it meant not leaving Guilin for a few hours. In the end, Tara, Claire and I made the walk to the bus station and purchased tickets on the 3 o'clock bus to Yangshuo... we still had 4 hours until our departure so we went to a nearby KFC. I proceeded to get a shot of mashed potatoes, corn on the cob and a sundae. Then two Chinese university students started chatting it up with us. Their names were Danny and Jay. They we also going to Yangshuo on a later bus. We hung out with them for quite sometime, until our bus left,which they so graciously helped us board.
 Upon arriving in Yangshuo, Jackie was just coming out of a state of distress. The reservation I had made for our hostel had not been honored and she was frantically walking around the city and into every hotel and hostel asking if there were any rooms available. We ended up in a few different inns and hotels. Jackie and I stayed in a 3 person room with 4 people at the Bamboo House Inn. In Yangshuo, we took some amazing bike rides through the country side, explored the mud caves and hot spring, rode rafts down the river, and explored the small town. During a walk through the town, I beheld a dress in the window that called my name. I knew it was not going to be cheap, but I knew that it would be a great souvenir. I got it for half of the asking price, and I am so in love with this dress! Yangshuo was a beautiful place.
 We rode the bus back to Guilin to catch our train to Luizhou, to connect with our train to Yichang and again, the train was delayed a substantial amount of time to where we would only have minutes to board our next train. Our preparation was great and we shot off the train and ran like crazy to the next platform where we arrived just in time to board. The Lord was with us for the. Yichang train had also been delayed in arriving.
 Once again I am called away from the Internet room to another task. I bid thee farewell.
Yours 'til the river rafts,
 cHeRiSsE gLaUs
 P.S. I am singing in a performance here and I am wondering if any of you have ideas as to what I should perform. Sky's the limit on this one. Last semester they performed Justin Bebeir's Baby. Please respond! :-)

Well, that's all I guess...
Yours 'til the electronic mails,
~cHeRiSsE gLaUs~