First week in China - August 15, 2011

First week in china.
Left on Monday at 3:00pm, arrived 7:00pm the next day at Pu Dong international airport in Shanghai, China. Everything went very smoothly, the ride was long but fairly comfortable. I sat by myself right next to the window. I ate alot of food which was awesome. We flew right over Japan, that was the only other country I saw while flying. Everyone else seemed to fall asleep on the plane, but I couldn't. Everyone who fell asleep also had their mouths wide open.
  When I landed I had to get questioned about why I was in China, where I was going, who I was staying with. I didn't have Julie's address or number, which was not good, but she still let me through to go get my stuff. There was a very nice Chinese lady who helped me put my luggage on the cart. After i got my luggage I exchanged my American dollars for Chinese Yuan, or Rmb. One American Dollar is about 6.43 Chinese Yuan. After I got my money exchanged there was a Chinese driver waiting for me with a sign with my name on it. It was just like the movies. He took my luggage and we drove about 2 1/2 hours from Shanghai to Suzhou. He played some pretty good music in the car.
  The next day, which was a Wednesday, we went to the market and got some good fruits and veggies. Afterwards I met some LDS kids, I was surprised how good their Chinese was. They could give their drivers full instructions in Chinese which was really cool. I went to mutual with the girls and we made pizza. I was super tired, then they drove me home and I had to figure out how to get in the resort (my new home called Horizon Resort), the doors wouldn't open at first but eventually I got them open.
   On one night my sleeping schedule was all jacked up. I fell asleep at 6, woke up at 1, fell asleep again at 3, then woke up at 7. Terrible. I got the hang of the time about the 4th day in China.
   On about the 3rd day I walked around with Julie and her kids around the city. I took a Chinese taxi for the first time. Driving in Suzhou is pretty scary. Walking is probably more scary though, well just crossing the streets. The drivers would rather have you die then let you cross the street before they made their way. I got used to it though. We went to a bakery and I noticed that the bread is alot sweeter than the bread in the States. I like it though. After lunch we went to Cold Stone and had some ice cream. It was just like the ice cream back home. Afterwards while Julie got her haircut at the salon I took the kids out walking. It seems like the Chinese girls in Suzhou really like to dress up. There's girls walking around the city in heels. I can barely do it in flip flops. So , me and the kids walked to the park and played. Everyone loves the little white kids :) .
  The next day I decided that I had to get a bank account. I walked by myself for the first time down the street and around the corner. The Chinese spoke very good English, and the first bank asked for ¥100,000 Rmb. I said no to the first bank. I then walked down a little more to the 2nd bank. They asked for ¥15 Rmb. It was funny though because the lady I was talking too didn't know any English and she kept asking for help. I don't know why I just didn't talk too someone else. All my paper work is in Chinese and I have no idea what's on it. I got a Chinese debit card which I still need to learn how to use.
   That night we went to the pool with some of Julies friends. The pool is very close by but we had to cross the scariest intersection. We made it safely across and went to the pool. There was some Chinese but mostly people from alot of other countries. I met very nice ladies from Romania, Mexico and Singapore. A family from New Zealand joined us for dinner that we brought to the pool. The family made homemade bread for all of us and brought fruit salad. It was all very delicious. There are alot of other Americans in Suzhou that Julie is friends with and that idea makes me feel safer.
    We had a very nice dinner (Hawaiian haystacks)  with a family from Taiwan and a family from California. The family from Taiwan spoke little English but we got along fine. Their son gave us a show with his puppets. The puppets did Kung Fu and fought each other. Then he did some Kung fu. After his performance the daughters did a dance that was about 6 minutes long. I thought it would never end but it was really cute. When we were done with our dinner we sat for tea. The kids are crazy and they mostly drank the tea and the adults sat and talked. It was a very nice time.
   On Sunday Julie's husband Cannon drives the van to church. We went to church in someone's house. It was very nice, it looks like a church does but just smaller. I am the oldest in the youth. I heard a couple of prayers said in Chinese. I thought that was really special, I don't know why but to me it just sounds more thoughtful. Cannon taught my class and it was pretty fun. There's kids from all over the States. It is really cool being apart of this group, they are all unique just like me. :)