I'm in Shanghai!

Our teaching group was offered a wonderful opportunity in Shanghai this weekend. An LDS couple offered for us to stay with them in their home and give us a tour of the city tomorrow! Let me just say, their apartment is absolutely breathtaking. I'm on the 23rd floor and the Pearl Tower is right outside my window. I feel so incredibly blessed to be given these opportunities. Not many people can say they've seen this, especially from such a spectacular view.

The day started off with another ELE class which went well, except the Chinese teacher was pure evil. She had a stick that she hit the kids with. Don't even get me started on how I feel about that. It was very difficult to stand there and not do anything. I read them the book "Guess How Much I Love You" and quizzed them over words from the story.

Then I had my regular ILP classes at 12 instead of 2 because it was Friday and their parents pick them up at 3. Things today went even better than yesterday. The kids were so engaged and cooperative, albeit with a little threatening and my mean voice. But hey, whatever it takes. I actually thought to myself which teaching today, "Man, this is a lot of fun!"

After teaching, Kate, Laurra, and I met some of the parents of our kids. It was so cute how the kids introduced us! Afterwards it was time to pack for Shanghai! We got here for a whopping 30 kuai, which is five dollars. The train ride was about 3 hours long and I wanted to slap the man who kept spitting on the floor. Seriously, of all the things I love about China, they could stand to learn some concepts of sanitation. China is so dirty. When we arrived, we were totally on our own when it came to getting to the Lindsay's apartment from the train station. We waved down a taxi and it was a pure miracle that the man spoke English because we only directions in English, not Chinese. The taxi ride started out at 18 kuai which is very expensive. In Changzhou they start at 9. Good thing the apartment was close by and it only cost us 27 kuai total. The meter also ran up depending on how much time we spent in the cab, not by how far we had driven. Rip off!

Anyways, now I'm sitting in my room and I can't sleep because I'm so fascinated with what's outside my window. Life is good, my friends! We're taking a tour of Shanghai tomorrow all day. I can't wait!