it's certainly difficult going back to work after 3 weeks off. it was an exhausting week. but the kids were great, and I'm glad to see them again. it's just all the administrative details that make the job too stressful at times.
but we managed to book a trip to Vietnam and acquire a dog this week! yikes! we're going with a couple of friends, flying into Hanoi. we're really looking forward to it! the weather is getting colder here. down to -10, which is the coldest it's been so far here. I guess it's harder to handle here because of the wind, and because we walk around quite a bit more than we would in Canada. thankfully the bus is so cheap! it's about the equivalent of 2 cents! we love it!
the dog we've adopted is from our neighbours who are moving to New Zealand for awhile. she's really cute. not sure what kind yet. but she has golden/brown curly hair like a poodle, but she has a shorter nose. she's slowly getting used to us. she barked a little when she heard my mom talking to us on Skype. she just barks for a moment at strangers, but then is very friendly.
we continue to be blessed by our church. we really sense G-- preparing us and molding us for things in the future. whatever it might be, we are surrendering our lives to him and allowing him to use us wherever and however. and for now in our lives, that's right here. the people at our church are all incredible people. one natural characteristic of all people living here is that we're all risk-takers. we've stepped out in faith because He has called us. and this somehow creates and unique bond between us all. we know most of these people are in our lives for a short period of time. many are in fact leaving within this year. but that doesn't stop us from having fun and encouraging one another.
I'll keep this one short because I know the other recent ones were quite long.
zaitian!
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Sunday, January 6, 2008
back in BJ
I must say it's been bitter sweet to be back home in Beijing. It's great sleeping in our own bed again and having the comforts here. But it's cold. Our skin quickly reacted and dried right up. we try to slather up with the lotion to prevent our tans from peeling away. I miss all the warm sunshine....and tomorrow we go back to teaching. Friday we had meetings in the morning then in the afternoon we got ready for Monday. it was strange being back after 3 weeks. I felt myself get stressed again. but remembering our trip to Boracay will help me right now :)
we flew from Manila to Kalibo on the 26th. from Kalibo we were taken on a 1.5hr bus ride with a terribly violent movie playing, and the road was winding through the hills, by steep cliffs...which made me feel a little car sick. once that terrible ride was over we took a 10 min. boat ride to Boracay island, where we were met by hotel staff. all this transportation was arranged for us. then we took a 10 min. ride by mini-jeep and arrived at the hotel. it was a modest place, kinda motel style, but looked like townhouses. it had all the basics and served us well. we spent most of the time on the beach anyways.
that first afternoon we just walked up and down the beach, browsed in the shops and enjoyed our first swim in the salty water. that was hard to get used to. but everything was just beautiful. white sand, clear water, gorgeous skies. picking a restaurant for lunch and dinner was always fun. there were so many good choices. and by 5pm, they can set up tables on the beach. so we ate our dinners reclining or sitting on the beach under the stars, with the sound of the ocean, and live music.
there are so many vendors on the island. everyone is trying to make a living there. but they all have to have a licence. so the guy selling the pearls is wearing an official "pearl vendor" shirt, as is the sunglasses guy, etc. they were relentless in trying to sell us stuff. it didn't matter that I was wearing sunglasses, they asked me if I wanted to buy a pair anyways. after awhile Scott's brilliant idea was to ask them if they wanted to buy our stuff. one day a watch vendor came by and Scott said "wanna buy this watch?" and he held up my Colombia sports watch to him. the guy kinda smirked and said he'd give us about $1 for it! ha! and I paid at least $50 for it. but I guess they don't sell sporty watches.
the hotel provided our breakfast each morning. on our first full day we went snorkelling. that was one of the highlights of the trip for me. it was my first time snorkelling. we were taken by boat (just the two of us) just off shore from the beach. Scott says it's not as colorful as other reefs he's been to, but it was still pretty cool to me. we had crackers, and lots of fish came to eat from us. he took us to one other location, though they were supposed to take us to another island too, but he said the water was too rough that day. we had a great morning though. it was quite exhausting though. we had a long nap in the afternoon because we were so pooped. Scott got a good sunburn from lying on top of the water like that for almost 3 hrs.
that night there was a huge thunderstorm. really loud thunder and huge downpours. in the morning it was still pouring. we made our way to a cafe where we got a coffee and read for awhile. we met a couple beside us who were German, but they lived and worked in Beijing! crazy! by noon things had cleared up. but a few of the stores and restaurants were flooded. we took a long walk that afternoon around the rocky coast to another beach. it was more secluded and had more private homes. the long "white beach" as the call it, was also starting to fill up with more people. it seemed more and more were arriving to celebrate New Years on the island.
on our third full day we ventured out and rented bikes. the bikes sucked, and the ride was rough because there's only one main road on the island with plenty of traffic and many steep hills. thankfully, the further we went from the beach, the less traffic there was. we biked by a golf course, and many poor homes. we made our way to Puka Shell beach, on the north shore of the island. there weren't many people there at all. understandable though, the sand was not very fine and the beach was rocky and dropped off quite quickly. riding out of there we met up with some guys who were offering tours to the bat caves! Scott was all for that. they even offered to let us drive their motorbike, and their friends would ride our bikes for us. so off we went. the road was pretty rough. then we had a short walk through the jungle and arrived at the caves. it was a steep climb down. very wet and muddy. but they took very good care of us, guiding step by step. once at the bottom we looked up to see thousands of bats! the cave has an opening to the ocean. they told us we could go swimming, but we didn't feel comfortable with that, especially since there were sea snakes nesting in the cave!! yikes! I was pretty scared when we saw those. we didn't stay much longer after that :)
they rode our bikes back to the main road for us, then we went back to our beach, but agreed to have them tour us around later. after lunch they met us at our hotel and we took off on their motorbikes again. we went to Mt. Luho, which is really just a hill, and the highest point on the island. it had a nice lookout though. they also took us to a butterfly farm where there were giant fruit bats! they were so big!! Scott got to hold one, though he was pretty scared :)
and that was it! we ended our time in Boracay by eating at the Mongolian Grill restaurant on the beach. we befriended some local kids who were selling stuff to tourists. so they came to talk to us whenever they saw us. actually it was Vince, the mascot alligator (from Beacon) that really won their hearts :) most of them are muslim. one of them has 11 siblings! we sat with him one day, got him a Coke, and we were looking at a map of the island. he told us he goes to school and is in grade 3, but he barely knows how to read. I think with a family his size, they might not afford school all the time. sometimes kids are in and out of school there.
the contrast between rich and poor in the Philippines is vast. we read in the newspaper that there are 90 million filipinos! and that's just the ones living there - not counting all the ones who are living and working away from home. the money isn't making it's way to the people who need it most. thankfully many people there know the Lord. and there are many people working to help the poor and forgotten.
we've been infected with the "travel to warm places" bug :) we're considering a trip to Vietnam with friends during our week off in february (chinese new year). according to the other teachers, this second semester seems to fly by even faster because of all the events. chinese new year, then easter, enrichment week, may holiday, spelling bee, brain bowl, spring concert, and who knows what else they have up their sleeves?! should be a breeze!
we flew from Manila to Kalibo on the 26th. from Kalibo we were taken on a 1.5hr bus ride with a terribly violent movie playing, and the road was winding through the hills, by steep cliffs...which made me feel a little car sick. once that terrible ride was over we took a 10 min. boat ride to Boracay island, where we were met by hotel staff. all this transportation was arranged for us. then we took a 10 min. ride by mini-jeep and arrived at the hotel. it was a modest place, kinda motel style, but looked like townhouses. it had all the basics and served us well. we spent most of the time on the beach anyways.
that first afternoon we just walked up and down the beach, browsed in the shops and enjoyed our first swim in the salty water. that was hard to get used to. but everything was just beautiful. white sand, clear water, gorgeous skies. picking a restaurant for lunch and dinner was always fun. there were so many good choices. and by 5pm, they can set up tables on the beach. so we ate our dinners reclining or sitting on the beach under the stars, with the sound of the ocean, and live music.
there are so many vendors on the island. everyone is trying to make a living there. but they all have to have a licence. so the guy selling the pearls is wearing an official "pearl vendor" shirt, as is the sunglasses guy, etc. they were relentless in trying to sell us stuff. it didn't matter that I was wearing sunglasses, they asked me if I wanted to buy a pair anyways. after awhile Scott's brilliant idea was to ask them if they wanted to buy our stuff. one day a watch vendor came by and Scott said "wanna buy this watch?" and he held up my Colombia sports watch to him. the guy kinda smirked and said he'd give us about $1 for it! ha! and I paid at least $50 for it. but I guess they don't sell sporty watches.
the hotel provided our breakfast each morning. on our first full day we went snorkelling. that was one of the highlights of the trip for me. it was my first time snorkelling. we were taken by boat (just the two of us) just off shore from the beach. Scott says it's not as colorful as other reefs he's been to, but it was still pretty cool to me. we had crackers, and lots of fish came to eat from us. he took us to one other location, though they were supposed to take us to another island too, but he said the water was too rough that day. we had a great morning though. it was quite exhausting though. we had a long nap in the afternoon because we were so pooped. Scott got a good sunburn from lying on top of the water like that for almost 3 hrs.
that night there was a huge thunderstorm. really loud thunder and huge downpours. in the morning it was still pouring. we made our way to a cafe where we got a coffee and read for awhile. we met a couple beside us who were German, but they lived and worked in Beijing! crazy! by noon things had cleared up. but a few of the stores and restaurants were flooded. we took a long walk that afternoon around the rocky coast to another beach. it was more secluded and had more private homes. the long "white beach" as the call it, was also starting to fill up with more people. it seemed more and more were arriving to celebrate New Years on the island.
on our third full day we ventured out and rented bikes. the bikes sucked, and the ride was rough because there's only one main road on the island with plenty of traffic and many steep hills. thankfully, the further we went from the beach, the less traffic there was. we biked by a golf course, and many poor homes. we made our way to Puka Shell beach, on the north shore of the island. there weren't many people there at all. understandable though, the sand was not very fine and the beach was rocky and dropped off quite quickly. riding out of there we met up with some guys who were offering tours to the bat caves! Scott was all for that. they even offered to let us drive their motorbike, and their friends would ride our bikes for us. so off we went. the road was pretty rough. then we had a short walk through the jungle and arrived at the caves. it was a steep climb down. very wet and muddy. but they took very good care of us, guiding step by step. once at the bottom we looked up to see thousands of bats! the cave has an opening to the ocean. they told us we could go swimming, but we didn't feel comfortable with that, especially since there were sea snakes nesting in the cave!! yikes! I was pretty scared when we saw those. we didn't stay much longer after that :)
they rode our bikes back to the main road for us, then we went back to our beach, but agreed to have them tour us around later. after lunch they met us at our hotel and we took off on their motorbikes again. we went to Mt. Luho, which is really just a hill, and the highest point on the island. it had a nice lookout though. they also took us to a butterfly farm where there were giant fruit bats! they were so big!! Scott got to hold one, though he was pretty scared :)
and that was it! we ended our time in Boracay by eating at the Mongolian Grill restaurant on the beach. we befriended some local kids who were selling stuff to tourists. so they came to talk to us whenever they saw us. actually it was Vince, the mascot alligator (from Beacon) that really won their hearts :) most of them are muslim. one of them has 11 siblings! we sat with him one day, got him a Coke, and we were looking at a map of the island. he told us he goes to school and is in grade 3, but he barely knows how to read. I think with a family his size, they might not afford school all the time. sometimes kids are in and out of school there.
the contrast between rich and poor in the Philippines is vast. we read in the newspaper that there are 90 million filipinos! and that's just the ones living there - not counting all the ones who are living and working away from home. the money isn't making it's way to the people who need it most. thankfully many people there know the Lord. and there are many people working to help the poor and forgotten.
we've been infected with the "travel to warm places" bug :) we're considering a trip to Vietnam with friends during our week off in february (chinese new year). according to the other teachers, this second semester seems to fly by even faster because of all the events. chinese new year, then easter, enrichment week, may holiday, spelling bee, brain bowl, spring concert, and who knows what else they have up their sleeves?! should be a breeze!
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
...hot Christmas....
we are nearing the end of our Christmas holidays. and we are slowly moving towards colder air. we're currently in Shenzhen, just north of Hong Kong in mainland China. we have a long wait here for our flight this evening. thankfully we met up with one of my colleagues and her husband, who are taking the same flight, and are just as early. we spent last night in Macau at a Best Western. they upgraded our room for free and threw in buffet breakfast too! it was nice....though the room still smelled like smoke.
it has felt like such a long vacation, though we've only been gone for just over 2 weeks. we've been so busy relaxing....I should have written throughout the vacation, I've probably forgotten some of the fun details by now.
we started out by flying here to Shenzhen then travelling by bus to Hong Kong with my colleague Joy, and her husband Rob. we all stayed at their friend's place, which is the apartment at the top of the YMCA hotel right downtown. a beautiful view of the city. Hong Kong is a nice place. clean and well-organized. the buildings are so tall, just to fit all the people in the small area they have. we wandered the streets and took a short trip up to Victoria Peak at night-time. we only stayed one night, then took a ferry to Macau, where we caught our flight to Manila. apparently that night in Macau, was the grand opening of the MGM.
we arrived in Manila just after midnight. but by the time we got picked up, drove home and had a snack, we were in bed by about 3:30am. thankfully we had no jet lag to recover from, so the next day we were ready to enjoy the hot weather and pool in the backyard. we spent a few days just relaxing and shopping (and eating lots of fresh mango) before all the Christmas parties started. then the meals got bigger and bigger! those filipinos love to eat. and they are so hospitable. I have 3 Aunts plus some cousins living there. another cousin from the U.S. also went home for Christmas. it was great to reaquaint with all of them. we rarely see each other. we took a day trip to Tagaytay, a mountinous area. unfortunately because we were with lots of people, we weren't able to do the adventurous boat ride, horse ride and hike up to the volcano.
every Christmas Eve they go to Kawit, to the home where my mom's family lived for many years. one of their cousins still lives there, along with other relatives in the neighbourhood. that city has a parade every year, with floats depicting various stories from the Bible, and some good marching bands in between. this year they made the parade earlier, because of high tide. some streets get flooded now when the tide comes in, because the sewage system is all plugged up with garbage. the river there is a sad sight. so dirty with drifting garbage everywhere. my second cousin, Rizza, was on one of the floats this year, as the angel announcing the coming of Christ. she looked beautiful!
Christmas Day is different than in North America. presents aren't a priority. the biggest priority is spending time with family. so when we went to my Aunt Fely's house for lunch, presents are given inconspicuously and without much fanfare. we had a lovely dinner. the very next day we flew to Boracay island. but that's another big story and I'll save that for another day.
Friday, December 14, 2007
here's a picture (if it works) of our church family. we were saying goodbye to someone (which is very common in this kind of community) and they wanted a group picture.
by God's grace we made it through this week. lots of fun and lots of busyness. every day was just packed full of things. I tried to fit in some teaching in between all the other music and Christmas activities going on. I look forward to things settling down in the New Year. though apparently it's quite busy with Chinese New Year, Enrichment Week, Spelling Bee, Brain Bowl. the fun just never stops!
our Christmas performance was on Thursday night. the kids did such an incredible job! they are all such enthusiastic singers and musicians. it was a long day and a lot of work, but we had a good time. and it was all worth it to show off to the parents :) I felt a lot of relief once that was finished, but even more after today was done. today the students were dismissed at 1:30. We had a spelling test in the morning, finished up some crafts, then had a tournament of Contig with the other class. then parents showed up with lots of food, we had a feast and then they went home! I got some cool presents too! my favourite being a quilted sign that says Merry Christmas in mandarin. pretty cool.
once the kids were gone I cleaned out the room of all Christmas things in preparation for the new year. I finished some last bit of marking and exported my grades then celebrated by going for a Starbucks run one last time with Hannah, who is leaving tomorrow. tonight we just relaxed! it feels so good to be on vacation. we're really looking forward to this trip. it's nice to have the weekend to get ready to head out. we leave early Monday morning!
Merry Christmas everyone!
Monday, December 10, 2007
it's snowing!
yes, it finally feels like Christmas here in China. This morning when I stepped outside I was welcomed by a light blanket of snow. It's still snowing lightly and the trees outside my classroom window are white now. For some reason we'll be having indoor recess today. Maybe because the snow is really wet.
What a good weekend we had! Yesterday was probably the best day of all. First of all, Scott shared his story (testimony) at church, then we went out for some dumplings with a fun group of friends. After a few episodes of LOST in the afternoon we went to Hannah and Becky's for a Christmas movie night. We enjoyed some Christmas treats, and hot chocolate as we watched Charlie Brown's Christmas and then Elf. Everyone was in such good spirits. We even played chubby bunny! This is Hannah's last week with us. She's a student teacher from Minnesota and flies home on Saturday. She even gave us all mugs filled with goodies. We'll miss her greatly.
On Saturday we had the special treat of going to see Handel's Messiah! A friend from church is in the International Festival Chorus, and they perform it each year. Best of all, it was in the Forbidden City concert hall. A modern concert hall in the middle of the ancient city. pretty cool. It didn't feel like we were in China, because the place was filled with foreigners.
Friday night was the Christmas performance of our school's middle and high school students. The newly renovated auditorium was an excellent venue. Apparently they used to have it in a room at the hotel, but it was too small and chaotic. This week we'll be going there with our students on Tuesday and Thursday mornings to practice. (The auditorium is at the other campus). Our performance is Thursday night. They definitely make everyone feel the Christmas spirit, because they are so enthusiastic about singing! Our report cards are also due at the end of this week! Yikes!
We were offered a dog this week! :) Our chinese neighbours are planning to move to New Zealand in February and have 2 dogs to get rid of. They know we like the little puppy...but we don't really think we'd want that responsibility, especially if we'll be travelling around in the summer. We went out for dinner with them on Thursday to a nice korean BBQ place.
there are so many funny stories I wish I could remember to write here. silly things that happen to us, or things we see. I can't even think of any right now....but we haven't forgotten that we're in CHINA, where you pay 70 cents if you want to use shrink-wrapped dishes (which is supposed to guarantee their cleanliness)...where my new gloves bleed colour dark blue into my hands....and where they kick the poor people out of the city so foreigners don't know about the poverty here. Annie, our neighbour says chinese kids mature faster because life is much harder. so many people means lots of competition if you want to achieve anything.
we are grateful for everything we have...and are glad to share it with others. it's great to have a community of people that is generous beyond words. we love our family here!
we love you and miss you all! Christmas will be very different without seeing all of you! this time next week we'll be in Hong Kong and then on to warmer places! yay!
What a good weekend we had! Yesterday was probably the best day of all. First of all, Scott shared his story (testimony) at church, then we went out for some dumplings with a fun group of friends. After a few episodes of LOST in the afternoon we went to Hannah and Becky's for a Christmas movie night. We enjoyed some Christmas treats, and hot chocolate as we watched Charlie Brown's Christmas and then Elf. Everyone was in such good spirits. We even played chubby bunny! This is Hannah's last week with us. She's a student teacher from Minnesota and flies home on Saturday. She even gave us all mugs filled with goodies. We'll miss her greatly.
On Saturday we had the special treat of going to see Handel's Messiah! A friend from church is in the International Festival Chorus, and they perform it each year. Best of all, it was in the Forbidden City concert hall. A modern concert hall in the middle of the ancient city. pretty cool. It didn't feel like we were in China, because the place was filled with foreigners.
Friday night was the Christmas performance of our school's middle and high school students. The newly renovated auditorium was an excellent venue. Apparently they used to have it in a room at the hotel, but it was too small and chaotic. This week we'll be going there with our students on Tuesday and Thursday mornings to practice. (The auditorium is at the other campus). Our performance is Thursday night. They definitely make everyone feel the Christmas spirit, because they are so enthusiastic about singing! Our report cards are also due at the end of this week! Yikes!
We were offered a dog this week! :) Our chinese neighbours are planning to move to New Zealand in February and have 2 dogs to get rid of. They know we like the little puppy...but we don't really think we'd want that responsibility, especially if we'll be travelling around in the summer. We went out for dinner with them on Thursday to a nice korean BBQ place.
there are so many funny stories I wish I could remember to write here. silly things that happen to us, or things we see. I can't even think of any right now....but we haven't forgotten that we're in CHINA, where you pay 70 cents if you want to use shrink-wrapped dishes (which is supposed to guarantee their cleanliness)...where my new gloves bleed colour dark blue into my hands....and where they kick the poor people out of the city so foreigners don't know about the poverty here. Annie, our neighbour says chinese kids mature faster because life is much harder. so many people means lots of competition if you want to achieve anything.
we are grateful for everything we have...and are glad to share it with others. it's great to have a community of people that is generous beyond words. we love our family here!
we love you and miss you all! Christmas will be very different without seeing all of you! this time next week we'll be in Hong Kong and then on to warmer places! yay!
Saturday, December 1, 2007
a week since Xi'an
Well this week has just flown by. I intended to write earlier about our trip to Xi'an but I don't know where the time went. It seems we're getting busier. We only have 2 more weeks of school and the kids are a little hyper already. They're also preparing for the Christmas program so there is lots of excitement. But we're still having fun. The last week is basically a write-off, because we will be spending most of Tues. and Thurs. practicing on stage in the auditorium (at the other school). And the last day will be our Christmas parties.
So last weekend we took an adventure to Xi'an to see the Terracotta Warriors. We were excited because it was our first trip out of the city on our own! Some of the office staff at the school helped me book train tickets. We left Thursday night. There are 2 train stations in Beijing and we had to go to the furthest one, which took almost 45mins to get to. that was an expensive taxi ride! 60 RMB, which is......$8! well that's expensive for us! we were booked for the "soft sleeper" train. it's basically first class. each cabin has 4 beds (bunk). each bed had headphones and little TV's. and there's a little door to the cabin room. it was quite comfortable. the train left at 9:20pm. We read for a bit then went to sleep. when we woke up at 8am, we were there! We immediately went to buy our tickets home (couldn't do before) then worked on finding a driver to take us around for the day. We found an English-speaking tour guide with a car but his first price was too high so we walked away. We found him again later (because the other chinese drivers avoided eye contact)....and he was speaking with another foreigner. so the 3 of us decided to go together for the day for 100 RMB per person, which is $15! and that was for the whole day!
The first place he took us was the Banpo Neolithic Village. They have found remains of a supposedly Neolithic village. Pretty cool. I'm not sure it was worth the entrance price though. Then he took us to a factory where they make traditional clay crafts, including all sizes of terracotta warriors. I had a feeling he got some kind of commission if we bought anything, but we didn't!
Next stop was the Terracotta Warrior museum, which is 45mins out of town. This site was found in 1974 by farmers who were digging a well. We actually met one of the farmers. He hangs out in one of the entrance buildings to shake hands with people. He's famous now! There are 3 different "pits" they have found that contain the warriors. one is closed for construction, but they put some of the artifacts in an exhibition hall. the biggest one is Pit 1 where there are thousands of warriors lined up. It seems they've done a lot of work restoring them. They were originally all painted, and each one is designed differently. they were found partially destroyed already by a fire long ago. Scott has some picture up on facebook. I keep trying to upload pictures here but it hasn't been successful lately. anyways, it was pretty cool. our last stop was the tomb of the Emperor that had the warriors built. it's basically a big hill you can climb to the top of. the soil around his tomb supposedly has high levels of mercury, so it hasn't been dug-up.
He drove us to our hotel in the centre of the city. We spend the evening strolling around the Muslim district. Xi'an is kinda in the centre of China and is where the Silk Road actually starts, so there is quite of bit of influence from just west of there, hence the Muslim population. they had lots of interesting street food. most interesting was something we thought was fried potatoes. it was in this massive pan, with some spices. we bought a bowl and when he handed it to me I noticed it kinda jiggled a bit. I shook it some more, and sure enough it was all square pieces of something with spices! it looked like fat! gross! I took a tiny bite and only tasted the hot spices, and then we put the bowl in the garbage! gross! why would they eat fat like that?! yuck! we found a delicious treat though of meat (who knows what) on those vertical rotisseries....like at a Greek pita place. and they put it inside a bun with some lettuce and spices. yum!
our hotel was decent enough for $35 US. though the bed seemed harder than our own! my neck hurt in the morning. The city of Xi'an still has it's ancient city walls. they've been mostly restored, and you can rent bikes and go all the way around. so we got a tandem bike and rode the 14 Km all the way around. it was cold and foggy.....but we made the most of it. it took 1.5hrs to do. after checking out of our hotel we took a little break in Starbucks. it was one of the nicest ones I've been in! the comfy chairs were soooo comfy that we both fell asleep! :) in the afternoon was walked around the city, to the arts and crafts district and then basically made our way back to the train station. we were tired of paying entrance fees to places so we didn't go into any more museums or historical sites :)
for the train ride back we opted to try the "hard sleeper" - so we can say we experienced both. hard sleeper was definitely not as pleasant as soft sleeper. each cabin had 6 beds. the beds were very hard and narrow, and it seemed like people had been using them already! there was no little door to close the cabin room so I had a light in my face all night from the hallway. people were generally respectful and quiet, but it was definitely more crowded. and I refused to use the bathroom :) I waited 'til we got all the way home to our apartment!
we were excited to be home. we got back around 9am, cleaned up then went to church. Scott will be sharing his story/testimony at church this week, and then me maybe next week.
and right now, while Scott is at a volleyball tournament, I'm going to go shopping! I really need to find another pair of jeans. I hope the prices aren't too steep at the Levi's store. and boots.....hopefully Aldo has something decent in my size!
bye for now folks!
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