Greetings from Shanghai!

I’m in….. VIETNAM SUCKAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 I’m superrrrr stoked to be hereee =)))) but I wanna blog about a few crazzzyy adventures during our 1.5 day stay in Nanning, China! FYI, the reason for this rando trip to Vietnam is cuz Vince and I have a visa that only allows us to stay in China for a certain amount of time. Good excuse to go to Vietnam yeah?? Hahah So to save some $$$, we flew into Nanning and took a 7-8 hr bus ride to Vietnam. Here are a few things share-worthy:

 - We were on the bus praying for opportunities to love and that this trip would not just be a vacation but a chance to be used for God. Right after we got off, we encountered a girl who needed some loving!  

- Went on a 1 hour hike through the Yilang Caves!!!! DAHHH SOOO COOL!!!!! PRETTYY COLORSS!!

- We decided to go to a nearby town called Wuming. We were just eating dinner when Vince and I got to talking to a couple sitting right next to us. We told them we were from US and that this was our first time in Wuming and they seemed super nice!! They started telling us about the things to do in Wuming and  even said that they’d take us to a place where locals always go swimming at night!!  Mom or Bobs…if you’re reading this don’t worry or get mad!! But….yes we got in the car with these strangers loll! We were freaking out the whole time hoping that they’re not taking us to an alley to cut us up and steal our kidney or something!! Haha we even had codenames for them! “Watch out for Mickey!!” hahaha but it turned out to be okay! They actually took us to a place to swim at night!! We just had to pay them a few bucks to get us there but it was worth it! It was probably not the safest decision on our part but hey! I still have my kidneys!! =)

- Okay so we took a bus back from Wuming to Nanning that night and when we arrived, a guy came up to us and started talking to us. When he found out we were from US, he got superrr excited and wanted to be our friends! He was also with another guy who really wanted to meet us too. When we told them that we wanted to go to the night market, they offered to take us…. on their scooters/motor bikes!!! Mom and bobs…DON’T  GET MAD!! LOLLLL but yess we hopped on their bikes!! Hahah  Again… it turned out to be okay!! They’re really really good guys!! They took us on a 30 min scooter ride across the city as we talked and enjoyed the night of Nanning! When we got to the night market, the four of us journeyed through and even tried alligator meat!! We ate dinner together and then after they took us back to our hostel.

- We had to wake up at 5:30 am to catch the bus from Nanning to Hanoi, Vietnam and since the ride is 8 hours long, we decided to just pull an all nighter and just sleep on the bus. We went to a few bars and clubs that were not poppin. Then we snuck into an empty KTV room and karaoked the night away!!!!

 Nanning has been good to us… time for Vietnam!!!

A Chinese friend of mine invited us to go watch a Beijing Opera! It was definitely an interesting experience for sure. Everything that is spoken is sung in high pitched songs that is accompanied by the Chinese instrument, er du. Most of the time, what they are saying is not comprehensible, even to the Chinese people, so they have subtitles on both ends of the stage. Either way, I wouldn’t have been able to understand whatever the heck they were saying. Luckily I sat next to my friend who was translating it to me so I kinda knew what was going on. If I didn’t have her, I might have fallen asleep like Austen! 

Second part of the holiday! So we got back from the youth retreat on Monday night. Right when we got back, we packed up our things again and hopped on a 12 hour long, overnight train that would take us from Shanghai to… Huangshan! Or Yellow Mountain! Lemme say… it… was…. MAJESTIC!!! This is supposedly the place that inspired Pandora from the movie, Avatar (not the last airbender haha). After seeing it for myself, I can totally see why!

Highlights!

- Took a cable car up to the top! I wanted to save my energy…and I’m lazy haha

- The best time to hike and see things is in the morning because really heavy fog rolls in, in the afternoon and you won’t be able to see anything after that. We got up to the top too late the first day but we still hiked around pretending like we were amazed at the scenery…which was actually just whiteness!  

- Everything is carried up to the top by manual labor! We once saw a guy carrying 4 BIGG bags of rice up to the top. Cuz of this, food, drinks, EVERYTHING is double or even triple the normal price =( I really appreciated each grain of rice.

- Slept in a warm and comfortable room at the Shilin Hotel the first night! (don’t ask me how much)

- First Baijiu experience! (Chinese white liquor)

- Woke up at 4am to see the sunrise from Brightness Peak!!

- Made a new friend! His name is Vista (Chinese name: Ren Bing) and we met him while we were watching the sunrise. He’s a superrr chill guy from Shanghai who goes to university in Nanjing. He ended up following us and hiking the peaks for most of the day! And when he came back to our room with us, he saw Brad’s Bible. Turns out he loves Jesus too!!

- Grand Canyon of the West Sea….SOOO FRIGGIN BEAUTIFUL! I don’t think I’ve said “oh my gosh” or “wow!” so much in my life! We hiked all the way down to the bottom and all the way back up. SOO many stairs!

- Saw the famous Fairyland Bridge! It was even MORE perfect because we happened to get there right when the sun was setting. Real talk… it was the most beauuutifulll sunset I’ve EVER seen! The sun seeped through a crack in the sky and the sunlight flooded the sea of clouds until everything was pink and orangey.

- Spent another night in a little tent with two other men on this mountain. It was uncomfortable. It was freezing cold. It was an experience but hopefully never again.

- Climbed to the top of Lotus Peak—the highest point in all of Huangshan!

- Spent the next day and a half in a nearby village called Tunxi. It was located on a really cool street that is famous for having antiques and ancient architecture etc.

- First foot massage in China!! After all that hiking, I think I deserve it =)

- We ate…guinea pig! It’s quite sad really. We were walking by all these restaurants that had all these animals in cages right outside their door. We were wondering why and it turns out that they kill the animals right in front of you and cook it. It can’t be any fresher than this!

Sorry this is a really long post but it was just an AMAZING week. I seriously couldn’t have been more happy with how the whole week played out. From being a counselor at the youth retreat to all the crazy adventures and experiences in Huangshan, this week was sooo good!!

This past week and a half has been SICK!!! We didn’t’ have school this whole past week because it was a national holiday in China so we definitely had to take advantage of it! I ended up doing two different things for this week long holiday. I’ll split it into two different posts so I can post more pictures. 

So for the first 4 days of the holiday, I had the AMAZING opportunity to be a counselor at a Christian youth retreat through the church that I’ve been going to!! DAH!!! Who would have thought that I’d be able to be a counselor for seven crazy 6^th and 7^th graders at a Christian youth retreat… in CHINA!!! The retreat is called “Encounter” and the theme this year was Devotion.

The retreat consisted of messages about devotion from Turner Miles, Faith-based workshops, leading small group discussions, 7am leaders meeting, talent show, staying up watching the Amazing Race with my kids, a robot/animal/appliance themed dinner, a SUPER intense worship sesh!!! And even a Baptism!

Too much happened for me to go into detail about everything. Instead, I’ll just put down a few thoughts I had about this retreat!

1. I couldn’t help but to think back to when I went to these kinds of youth retreats. It doesn’t seem that long ago when I was in their shoes! I was really reminded of all my memories from CBM and Camp LIFTL. I was reminded of the time when I first started finding about who this Jesus guy is. I was reminded of my baby steps to faith.

2. At first, I was pretty scared to be a counselor for this Christian retreat. Up until now, people have been constantly ministering to me and teaching me and pouring into me! I’ve continually been the receiving end. This was the first time that I had to do the ministering. I had to do the teaching and I did the pouring. It also helped a lot that I had a co who helped me the whole way! Honestly, I felt inadequate, unprepared, and unequipped to be a counselor for these kids. It freaked me out that they’d be looking up to me and asking me questions and I didn’t want to mess up! But that’s just it! I can’t keep babying myself. I’m not a new Christian anymore. It’s time to step up and lead.

3. Seeing the fire for Jesus that these kids have has re-ignited the passion for me! It is sad to say that it’s been a little hard for me to be excited for Jesus lately. I just haven’t been stoked to do His work! I mean I am when I get around to doing it but my focus has also been on immersing in the culture, improving my Mandarin, traveling, eating, hanging out, etc. I hope that this new fire isn’t just a spiritual high from camp but that it sustains and continues to burn!  

I got my first haircut in China today! Lemme just say, it was THE best haircut I’ve ever gotten. Well, the haircut itself wasn’t anything amazing. It was more of the process of the haircut that was so great. To start it off, they sat me in a chair and shampooed the heck out of my hair! For a good 10 minutes, they straight up just scrubbed and scratched and massaged my head! It was SOOOOO yummy!! I seriously almost fell asleep on the lady because it felt so good! And then they took me to ANOTHER chair to rinse out the soap with warm water. Even during that they were massaging my temples and earlobes. Then they proceeded to cutting my hair and making me pretty. After that was all done, they went and washed my head once again! You don’t get this treatment in American barbershops unless you pay extra. I felt like a King! And guess what? All that was just 30 rmb—or should I say $5! And China doesn’t tip! Booya.