Last Monday morning we left the volunteer house around 7AM and drove about 4 or 5 hours to a rural village school near the small town of Ankang. IVHQ donated new desks for all of the students and teachers and some mattresses for those who stay the night at the school. Me, Adam, Dani and Robin were welcomed by the whole school and they gave us certificates and then the kids performed for us and everything! We taught a quick English lesson and took pictures with the kids and enjoyed getting away from the city for awhile. It was overall a really cool experience. One of my strangest moments in China happened here though when they suddenly told us to sing a song in front of the whole school and all of the cameras like five minutes before we were supposed to do it!! Did I mention I have stage fright and a horrible singing voice...??? Lol. So me and Dani hurridely decided on singing the national anthem and then Adam and Robin sang "God save our queen". Definitely an interesting day. We had dinner at the school and then stayed the night with some of the locals.
Tuesday morning we got up and went to this lake and got on a boat that took us to this really beautiful Taoist island. Did I mention how great it was to get away from the city? I mean this place was beautiful! It had a bunch of cherry blossom trees and a pagoda and it was just really nice and peaceful.
On Saturday me and Constance went to the Huashan Mountains! These mountains are one of the five sacred Taoist mountains and known to be a dangerous hike due to all of the steep and narrow paths. We only had enough time to visit the North and West peaks and the hike was rough but WOW it was breathtaking! Once we finally got to the top of the West Peak it felt so good to just sit down and take in the beauty and feel the endorphins hit. It is customary to buy a golden lock and have your family name etched into it and lock it on one of the chains on the mountains and so I bought a lock, had "Bingham" etched on it and then locked it on top of the West Peak.
On Sunday we were taken out to Hotpot by the headmaster of the school and a bunch of other people and celebrated together. Afterwards, we went out to karaoke! There are "KTV" Karaoke spots EVERYWHERE here, it's really popular! And no it's not in front of a bunch of random ppl you don't know, you go in a group and get your own room and pick the songs you wanna sing and just sing your heart out! It was so fun!
Today (Monday) is my birthday and I can't believe I'm 22! WTF?! Haha. I wish I could spend it with my family but I guess I can't complain. The guys of the house actually wished me a happy birthday first thing this morning and that's good enough for me. Speaking of the guys of the house...can I just say that living with a bunch of guys definitely wasn't what I expected? It was kinda stressful at first and I guess it still is at times but I've gotten used to their jokes and conversations and weird man habits lol I'm gonna miss them a lot. I'm gonna miss China, too. But I've had some really amazing experiences here and will be happy to go home and see my family and friends and get back to reality and work and school and start saving up for the next fun adventure!!
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