Past events.

Just realizing how much I have skipped from back in Beijing so here is fast mode -

1) Seamus and I went back to the Wild Wall because we just can't seem to get enough of it. When we got to it we could either follow a trail that took us up to a ladder or we could be rebellious and climb up the side of a dangerous mountain and then somehow climb up onto the wall. Of course I chose option B and Seamus was pissed.....  hahah we ended up being okay, just a couple bruises and bloody hands. Not really a big deal. But the moral of this story is I peed off the side of the wall so now I can die happy.

2) Seamus had his first quesadilla burger and loved it just as much as I do. You will not understand until you go to China and have it for yourself....

3) Patricia has left back to Spain and a little piece of my heart went with her :( Good thing I will see her in August! 

4) We went ice skating, ate hamburgers and now I'm on TV. 

5) We got out hair done for New Years and the guy treated mine like it was gold. Literally took him one hour to brush it out.

6) My life consists of Linda, food and doing whatever it takes to get a good picture.

7) After a very good night we got screwed over big time by a taxi driver, got locked out of my apartment and slept on the floor in the lobby.

So there you go! My life on a screen right in front of your eyes. Looooove you allllllll!

xoxo

Quanzhou, China

Well hi! Currently I am in the Southeast of China being mom. For the Spring Festival (which you know as the Chinese New Year) everyone goes back to their hometowns to visit family and play and stuff. So Quanzhou is where I have ended up! The mom is joining us later in the week because she has to work so I get to be mom for a while. Let me tell you, it's rough. Jerry has it in his head that since his mom isn't here he is in charge and won't listen to anything I tell him. He throws the most obnoxious fits I've ever seen (apparently all Chinese children are very good at this). I will admit it, I have sunk down to the level of bribing him..... It is the only thing that works these days though. I have to hand it to him that he is adorable. Why did no one ever tell me how cute babies were when you bathed them?

The family is really nice. I get along with one of the aunts really well and we just make fun of each other in Chinglish (Chinese & English mixed together). The grandma is driving me insane but you gotta love her. She is trying to feed me at every moment of the day and when I say no she will literally try and shove it in my mouth or just drop it in my bowl. So of course, me being me I have started dropping things in her bowl that she doesn't want. K, it sounds a little immature when I say it out loud but we will get over it. And the grandpa is just adorable like them all. I just love old people.

We have visited 3 different Buddhist temples which are so interesting! I have so much respect for how much they worship their Buddha. One of them we took like 4783 pounds of food up a mountain and then it ended up all being a donation. Then I watched the grandma, aunt and uncle worship for two hours. Some of it is so bazaar though! We went into this tiny little room where you could only walk while smashed against the wall and there is this bed just sitting there all decorated in colorful ribbons and streamers. Then the next thing I know the grandma throws me down on the bed and everyone starts shouting and chanting. I was laughing so hard! So I guess I have been blessed. Haha a couple of other times we would walk around some circle on the ground and when I got around it everyone would start cheering. So I have no idea what we were doing but it was making them so happy!

We also climbed a mountain that in exact translation is called The Garden of Eden. It was so beautiful! I ended up carrying Jerry half way up, but I have to stay in shape somehow right? I ended up making a Chinese friend that speaks English! She came up to me so excited and said the famous English line that Chinese people learn in school, "Hi my name is Melissa, I am 19 years old, I am good and you?" haha It was darling. So she ended up hiking up with me and told me about 78 times how brave of a girl I am for coming to China by myself. After she kept telling me how happy she was that I had entered her life and she wanted to be friends everyday. Kept a smile on my face for a while.

So ya! Now Here we are all caught up on my life. 

xoxox 

The Wild Wall

Let me tell ya, this was exciting. Been a dream of mine to go to the Wild Wall since day one and here I am concurring it :) For those of you that don't know, The Wild Wall is part of the Great Wall that isn't redone. It's just how its always been. The further you travel, the crazier it will get. AND people die every year, so I was pumped. haha my cute British friend decided to take this journey with me (I was just using him for his sense of direction) but we actually ended up being a really good team when it came to getting lost! Caught the 916 bus from Dongzhimen that took us to Nanhuayuansanqu, walked about 100 meters, sat at the Huarou Dishui bus stop for an hour trying to figure out what bus we were supposed to take (only written in Chinese characters) and then finally caught the bus that threw us out of our seats the whole time and stranded us in the mountains. We were literally dropped off in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by tiny, torn up homes and dirt. No signs, no people, no toilets.... Walked up some road thinking it looked like it might take us to where we needed to be and dun dun daa daaaaaaa we saw a fraction of The Wall. And then a sign that read, "Please help us protect The Great Wall. This section of The Great Wall is not open to the public." Oh terrific. We found our way through a three hour journey and then asked to leave... HA ya right. We decided that if someone caught us we would pretend we didn't speak English. Haha so we trek up some mountain hoping that it will lead us somewhere (also realizing quickly how out of shape we are) and here it comes - the exciting part!

WE MADE IT!

Next there were a series of different events including literally crawling because we didn't want anyone to see us, running into a group of four Chinese men flying a helicopter that filmed us for about 10 minutes and doing handstands where after I almost fell off, we decided probably wasn't the best idea. 

Give me a break for being risky. Any blood born gymnast has to take the chance.

 

The men and their helicopter. Very smart though - they fly the copter around the Wall, get to see everything, but don't have to climb.

Doing a very good job and not being seen.

And the next thing you know we have this entire Wall to ourselves. It was seriously the coolest thing ever. Contrasting it to the Great Wall is crazy because there were so many people there constantly wanting to touch me and take pictures of me. Yes, that was entertaining, but just imagine having one of The Seven Wonders of the World ALL TO YOURSELF! It was one of the coolest experiences of this adventure for sure.

 Too beautiful right?

 

 "Seamus, don't give me that look."

Cheesy tourist picture is obviously a must.

Linda's text to Seamus, "Be careful because Lucy is going to want to climb everything."

 How cute.

Do I look cold? Because you can bet your bottom dollar that I was!

xo