Peanuts

Peanuts- a school assignment but great memory 

Peanuts. Salty, crunchy, Chinese peanuts. To any human being this seems like an ordinary protein packed snack, BUT you would you be wrong. A single ordinary pack of peanuts was about to trigger an extraordinary event.

It started off like any other day, except I was in China and about to embark on a once in a lifetime adventure through the Avatar mountains. Yes, yes they do exist. Although, I am not too sure about those blue people with the tails, I never made contact with them.

There we were all 1.832 million of us covered in bright plastic ponchos of varying color in a failed attempt to keep dry amidst the furious unleash of rain. Thousands of us in this particular area climbing the mountain and 5,301 excruciating stairs. Winding in a path like little dots of bright hope that would eventually reach the lookout point, we drudged on. Through the pounding rain, paper thin ponchos, and attempts to dodge every wayward umbrella, we pulled over for a nourishment break. Trust me, when hiking 5,301 stairs you need energy now and then.

Speaking of food. Cierra. Cierra always had food. She was one you needed to be friends with if you were to survive these kinds of adventures in ZhanJiaJie. Today her snack of choice was peanuts. Wide eyed I inched towards her with hands outstretched. With a flick of the hand the top of the peanut wrapper came off with ease but as she reached into the awaiting container, it happened.

That simple smell of salty goodness had alerted them and one ear piercing shriek had alerted us. In a simultaneous turn we saw him, king of the jungle, barrel chested and with hungry eyes he starred us down. Teeth blared and eager clawed fingers ready and waiting. Waiting for the snack we were just about to enjoy. Like a fury from hell he came for us and in the blink of an eye the peanuts were gone. Stolen. Thrown to the demon like a sacrifice in hopes that he would not want us instead.

In the tree above us sat the king and our, no his, nuts. Proudly triumphant on his throne he stared down mockingly at us as he oh so carefully took the peanuts out one by one and savored each morsel. At the last nut he dropped the bag in laughter and it floated lifelessly to our feet. Little did we know this was his signal, his war cry.

From the depth of the jungle came his army. An army of every stature and size crawling out of the darkness, antsy, and wanting more. But, we had no more peanuts. We stood shell shocked, shaking bodies began to give way to curiosity as they approached. How close could we get? Would they eat bananas? Who had a banana? Could I take a selfie with them? You know what they say, if it isn’t on instagram did it ever really happen? I needed that selfie. And so the round of human vs ape began. We may have lost the battle but we determined to defeat the army and win the war.

After a prolonged encounter, with stomachs growling in protest,  we reluctantly moved on, we still had 5,299 stairs to climb afterall. Unfortunately, our salty, crunch, ordinary chinese peanuts had been devoured but we were left with an extraordinary memory that will we cherish for eternity. Well that and one epic selfie.  

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Road to Zion

It was time for a getaway. Seeing as how I had Monday off for the Jewish holiday it was a perfect weekend to hit the road. Abby and I jumped in the car right after school and headed on the journey to Mesquite where we would stay the night. 

We hit major traffic on the 210 and it added 2 hours into our journey. We fixed the situation by getting DQ in the 100 plus degree weather. By the time we got to our hotel it was nearly 11:30 and we were tired! That's the stinky thing about hotels. I always want to enjoy them and hang out but I usually get there super late and leave super early. :/

 The next morning we drove through Arizona and I to utah!

We immediately headed to Cierra's house in St. George. Cierra is my friend from China and it was so great to spend the weekend with her. We got in the car and rushed to Zion National Park. We were trying to see our friend Taylor from China who had run a race the night before. Luckily our cars passed and we were able to get out and hug. 

Then it was time for a hiking day in Zion. Despite the 100 degree weather it was a beautiful park.

We did three of the easy hikes. One day I need to go back and do the narrows!

It was hotter than hot but the water felt amazing.

The next day we headed to the lake, Sand Hollow, for some cliff jumping. 

The lake was practically deserted because it was Sunday and everyone was probably at church. Anyway that made it hard for us to know where to cliff jump and if it was safe. But we found two guys who had just done it. They came with us to show us the spot and to even jump with us as well. 

Jumping was really scary. I jumped off the four foot one first.

I did not like how it freaked my heart out. Then Abby and I tried for the higher ones. Abby and Cierra did the higher one a few times. 

Not my favorite thing but the water was warm and so clear. The signs about active parasites and swimmers itch had me totally freaked out but we survived! 

 That night Abby and I went for a drive around St. George and we were going to meet up with these guys at the park but a huge storm came rolling in. Thunder, sand, lightening, wind... Luckily it died down and we were still able to have our meet and greet. 

The next morning Cierra had to go to school and Abby and I started the drive back.

We stopped in Vegas and went to serendipitys. The nice part of the drive home was Mike Brown. Mike brown is Abby's friend who kept us company through video messages back and forh. He is hilarious by the way. 

So that wAs the weekend. 

On T I had my first shift at the California Wikdlife Center. I got to feed baby squirrels and opossums! Love it!

On W Abby and I volunteered at the ️LA Lupus celebrity poker night.

Our friend Megan is the head coordinator of the event.

I got to do rebuys for poker. At my table I recognized the evil dad from one tree hill and the sidekick of iron man. 

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Utah

Well, I'm at the airport again, imagine that. This is the last time though for awhile because school starts on the 17th. I'm still having a hard time transitioning back and wish I was getting on a plane and leaving again for a long time. I may have a slight travel addiction.

So anyway I'm headed to Utah to see my best friend Michelle who had a baby girl while I was in China. Gretchen is now 6 months old so I need to hurry and get there to meet this cute child! 

This baby is so cute! She is adorable and so beautiful! She's happy and laughs all the time. Being able to meet her and spend time with her was great!

Seeing Michelle was great too beacuse it has been a year! While there we got to see the hot air balloons launch in Sandy Ut. We tried to see them Friday, woke up at 6 and then couldn't go because the weather was so bad they weren't launching. But we ended up being able to go on Saturday morning. It was so neat to watch them take off at sunrise.

I got some great photos on my phone.

That night we tried to go back to the baloon glow. They were supposed to be set up all over the lawn with food and entertainment. Well there were 3 food trucks and only 1 balloon, again beacuse of the weather.

We got to have an outdoor movie and fire which was so fun! The first night we tried to have it a massive storm blew in almost instantaneously so it was canceled but lucky for us we were able to do it Monday night. 

I also got to take their pictures on Monday and Gretchen's six month photos but we had Horrible lighting so it was a struggle and took so long. I'm hoping we got some cute ones! I'm excited to get home and load them to my computer. 

We also had a picnic. This is Andrea, Michelle's sister who also went to ecuador with us and Marion who is from France and was one of the kids Andrea nannied when she lived there. 

I live Andrea. She went to ecuador, then lived in France for a year as a nanny and then did a semester at sea. She travels and she gets it. She gets that life isn't the same after travel. That there is always a constant desire to keep going, a weight on your shoulders thaT where you are isn't enough and that there is something bigger you should be doing. It's something I have been struggling with since coming home. 

On Sunday I got to see Paige and Mikele from Lithuania! It was so nice to see them and catch up with them. We walked around Capitol Hill and explored the area while talking about life and sharing memories. 

Now it's time to hurry home because school starts Monday and I've only been in my classroom for a few hours. That's a problem when you got moved classrooms and have been gone for a year. 😱

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Chicago

Last week I spent relaxing in Chicago with one of my BFF's; Sarah Wolf. Really it's Sarah Carlson now but she will always be Sarah Wolf too. 

Our first day we went and did a little baby shopping. Did I forget to mention she is 8 months pregnant? So happy! So happy! 

She lives in Minooka and these towers always make me laugh, at least you are never confused about what city you are in. Illinois is so incredibly flat but it is also so simply beautiful. Bright blue skies, green, green, green, and white puffy clouds. I could not get over how gorgeous it was. 

I also had a huge obsession with their weeds and wild flowers that abundantly grew everywhere. At one point I had Sarah pull over just so I could run through all the Queen Anne's lace 

We also had to go to Culvers multiple times because what is better than a dairy overload. I mean fried cheese curds and custard. 

The next day we went swimming and had a relaxing walk around a quaint old downtown village.

Also saw a beautiful bridge which we needed to stop and walk around. 

On Sunday we went kayaking in JT's parents backyard. They have a river literally in their backyard! His parents are the nicest people ever! They have a garden and his mom makes everything fresh from the garden. When we got there she immediately started to bring out the most delicious homemmade foods! Then his dad went out, in the rain, to grill us veggie burgers. They were polite and pleasant and so fun to be around.

They loaded the kayaks for us and killed the spiders. While we were on the river his mom even had homemmade chocolate mint bark as a snack. It was a true family day of fun. 

Monday we went into Chicago to go to the beach. I couldn't wait to see this beach that had the skyline as its view and boy did it not disappoint. 

The water was super clear and the sand so soft!

Oh I totally forgot to talk about her baby shower! Which is why I went in the first place. 

Her baby shower was saturday which was so fun! Before hand we went to the maternity photos at starved rock but the lighting was terrible so we found a cute field instead. 

The pictures came out so beautiful. She looks gorgeous!

I can't wait for this little one to be born! Oh and on Tuesday we went to the most adorable tea house and had a tea party lunch. 

Everything was acclectic and vintage. They had the most incredible scone I have ever eaten.

I loved being able to spend an entire week with my best friend and to visit Illinois for the first time when it wasn't in the negatives!

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The Last Days

I have three days left. 3 days of a 13 month journey around the world. 3 days left as a volunteer. 3 days left in China. 3 days until it's back to America.

I am so stinking excited.

We just finished a goodbye with the third graders. Being a head teacher isn't really so great in that you don't teach. Not teaching is fun but you lose the connections you would have made with the kids. Luckily I sat in on classes every day and hung out in my friends rooms quite often which allowed me to get to know the children, who I will miss. 

I will miss them always being so happy and cheerful and full of excitement whenever I came in. I will miss yheir cute hugs and energetic "teacher Jessica!" Greetings. The kids are so loving and giving. It's adorable. 

Yesterday they had their performace and thus is so well! They did a travel theme and it was adorable!

Now I'm waiting for second and first to come for their goodbye parties. Hoping they don't wail for 20 minutes like the third graders did. That was just sad but I'm sure it will be equally bad. Is fitting that is pouring outside and has been all week. We arrived in the early morning yo pouring rain and blackness and we will leave in the early morning to pouring rain and blackness. Poetic, eh?

Look how cute this is. The second and first graders did a summer themed performace and had this cute raft. The kids looked adorable me in their costumes. 

This group did a Peter Pan theme and their costumes were on point. 

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Turning 29, China Style

When I came out of the shower to my besties singing and saw this I knew it was going to be a great day. 

Those are HPC donuts. China doesn't do cake. China doesn't do frosting. But China does to bakeries. 

My friends know that bakeries and me go together like salt and pepper. This was perfect. 

After devouring this cake it was time for a mega bed movie. 

Then we headed to lunch in the cafeteria. But let's have a back story. For three weeks I have been checking every day for them to have these dumpling things filled with scrambled egg and onion. Disappointment every day until today. On my birthday, they had them! 

Back to the dorm to finish our movie. 

Then it was time to get ready and head into school. Took some photos with the kids then had to teach a class for a girl who was sick. 

Then to mikelles class:

Then we headed to MEET for Indian food. It rained on the way.

Had to take a birthday selfie with the wonderful Mikelle since we take selfies everywhere.

Got amazing Indian food and turns out there is an international group that plays trivia here every week on Wednesday. So we then played trivia! My group one the first round on baby animals. 

There we are team MJ2. Then we lost the next rounds but we stayed for hours and it was so much fun. Then even sang to me. In English, then chinese, German, french, Japanese, Italian and Spanish. 

After we wanted manual tart but it was closed. So we went to our .30 ice cream place but it had the dirt down. I stuck my head in there and started calling for Sean the owner. He came! Opened shop and turned the ice cream on! What a day! So much fun! I love my girls here for making it the best! 

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