Week-end to Week-end is the Name of the Game!

It would seem that as we approach the end of the year we have begun enjoying our weekends that much more (if it’s possible to love a week-end more). The weeks have been very busy, making us that much more thankful for 3:00 on Fridays. Due to the business of the weekdays and my desperate attempt to balance the amount that we drink with working out, I have admittedly become somewhat of a nana. Although this is my new Monday-Friday face, last weekend briefly pulled me out of my newly found nana-lifestyle (up early, workout, work, workout, dinner, bed by 9) and I loved it. We had a wonderful time having drinks and singing on 5^th in the Acoustic Corner, having drinks on the roof, eating out, working-out and doing some tutoring on the side. 

Of course Monday came all too quickly and it was back to the grind bright and early on Monday morning. I had a good week, perhaps a little trying, but all in all it went well. It included a field trip to the Safari Park on Wednesday, which was a brilliant way to break-up the workweek. It’s now Friday and I won’t lie, I’m a little thrilled! The weekend is shaping up to be a great one – no nana aloud (we’ll see how it goes).

Heritage Fair Fun - Not Sad it's Done

Well, it's all over but the crying (tears of happiness)!! Heritage Fair is something that has been happening here at ISNS for years and although it's truly wonderful it certainly adds to the workload.

Quick review: the concept of Heritage Fair
The premise of Heritage Fair is to celebrate the many different cultures/nationalities of the students that attend ISNS. Each class must pick a country, they learn about that country, create projects and then put them on display so that they can educate visitors on what they have learned. It's a wonderful opportunity for students to not only learn about one particular country but the students are then introduced to many others when the Heritage Fair takes place (students teaching students). It's important for students, especially being in such an international setting, to learn the importance of acceptance. It is a week or two in a school year that we spend celebrating the many different cultures of students that our kids see passing through the hall ways each day.

Anyway! It was a huge success and the students Loved learning about Egypt! They also really enjoyed showing off their projects and knowledge of ancient Egypt with the students and parents coming through during the Fair :) It was a lot of work but well worth it - until next year!! haha

Guilin/Yangshuo 4 day-vacay

You can count on us here in China to take any opportunity to hop on a plane and visit a new place as often as possible; this past 4 day weekend was no exception. About a month ago Patrick bit the bullet and bought his, Patricia and my flights to go to Guilin and Yang Shuo with Michael and Emma (don’t worry, we paid him back haha). Having gone over a month without a break after Chinese New Year I’m sure you can imagine that we were all very ready for a wee break (I know…we’re spoiled). 

We flew out on Wednesday evening from the Shenzhen airport (how convenient) after a few beers and landed around midnight in Guilin. We had a wonderful sleep and woke up to have a yummy breakfast at our very cozy hostel. Michael and Emma’s flight had been delayed and they hadn’t arrived until the wee hours of the morning but they were up and ready for begin our adventure. The night before Patrick, Patricia and I had booked a bamboo raft for the 5 of us so after breakfast we hopped on our bus and headed out. After a put stop to pick up rum and cokes, a few bus changes and Patrick nearly wetting himself we made it to the boats.

Although we had to struggle with the men running the service we were able to get a 6man boat and set off on our Li River adventure. This is highly recommended – it was spectacular!! The sights were breathtaking and the idea of floating down this famous river on a bamboo raft made it all that much more marvelous (that, and the beers we took along with us). We took pictures, played waving games and laughed a lot (not sure how much the woman steering the raft loved us but she survived).

From the Li River tour we hopped back on the bus and headed to Yang Shuo. By the time we arrived in Yangshuo the three of us girls were near tears (just as Patrick had been on the way to the bamboo rafting) and thinking about resorting to trying to pee in water bottles (yes, we were that desperate). Luckily, we made it and we all returned to our normal selves.

We found our hostel that fortunately ended up being in a brilliant location, got some Italian pizza and thus began our Yangshuo adventure!

Friday, April 6th: Bike Tour to Dragon Cave

Saturday was spent on bicycles touring around the Yangshuo countryside, which was breathtakingly beautiful. The natural views were so refreshing and our lungs greatly appreciated the break from the pollution and the extra trees. We biked about 8km until we arrived at Dragon Cave. We changed into our matching silk boxers (Jill, Patricia and I) and began our tour through the ‘natural’ cave (we laughed a lot as the guide explained the deep meaning of what seemed like every other rock in the ‘natural’ cave). After going deep into the earth and walking through the neatly lit cave we arrived to what we were most excited for – the Mud. We stripped down and hopped into the huge, natural mud pool! 

After getting accustomed to the weird feeling of being surrounded in mud that we could not sink/stand well in (we all decided we had never floated or struggling so much trying to stand, ever) the fun began. We had mud fights, climbed rocks and slid down into the pool and then had a man take a ton of pictures of us at our finest. When it was time to leave the muddy mess we took forever in the showers trying to get ourselves ‘clean’… there was mud Everywhere!! From there we took our things further through the inside of the mountain and enjoyed the natural hot springs!! 

After the muddy fun, the showers and the chilly walk soaking wet the hot springs were just what the doctor ordered!! Needless to say, it took us a while to get ourselves out, changed and ready to get back on our bikes. The evening was spent playing games and having some drinks in Patrick and Patricia’s room before heading out on the town (where we were a little surprised/not thrilled to find that the dance floor, in every bar, was a stage where everyone would sit and watch you).

Saturday, April 7^th: Creating our own tour for the day…

On Saturday we were positive what we wanted to do. Michael and Emma had headed off on bikes for the day but the four of us (Jill, Patrick, Patricia and I) knew that we wanted to have some drinks and see more of the countryside). After some deliberating we decided that we would simply pool our resources and hire someone to take us on our own tour. We found a woman, who happened to be a woman I had said no to the day previous, who helped us find a tuktuk that would be willing to put himself up for hire. She wanted 200rmb for ½ an hour, we made it clear that this was too expensive and that we wanted him for 4 hours. She then said 4 hours would be no problem but that it would cost us 250rmb, in total for all 4 of us…how could we refuse?! We bought the necessities (five 6packs, 4 water bottles) and met our tuktuk driver, who turned out to be a wonderful sport!! 

We had a spectacular day touring around the countryside with our trusty tuktuk driver and my word did we laugh! We ended up playing Dare. This resulted in some funny photos of each of us doing silly things and yes, this meant asking the tuktuk man to stop on countless occasions. We arrived back in town after about 5 hours of shenanigans around the countryside (including a lunch at Moon Hill), met Michael and Emma, showered and enjoyed a second night on the town (much better than the first) in matching hats.

Sunday, April 8^th: Back to Reality

None of us were feeling like a million bucks on Sunday morning but we dragged ourselves out of bed, threw on some clothes and headed the Minority Café, where we had become short-term regulars. From there  we had to quickly pack up our things and head to the Guilin airport where we were unpleasantly surprised with a very long delay on account of our flights tires bursting when it had landed to pick us up. Patrick, Patricia and I didn’t get home until 5am and had to work the next morning (far from ideal). LIFE, I suppose. It was all worth the exhaustion that we felt on Monday and I would go back to Yangshuo in a heart beat.