So, this summer I went to China! Instead of trying to give you a rundown of every single thing I did while I was there in one posting, I am going to tell you a couple of stories in each post. And these stories will include photos :)
On May 30, 2011, I, who have not really been outside of the Western United States, left (late) for China. A car took me to a shuttle which took me to the airport. After a long wait (security went WAY faster than we'd anticipated at the Vegas Airport), we got on our first flight to LA. I was really scared, as I had only flown once before, and my parents were in charge of my tickets and luggage then. I was more nervous to find that I didn't sit by any people from my group. Somehow, I successfully found my seat, where an Asian couple helped me stow my violin in the overhead bin. The flight was mercifully short, and after a last minute terminal change, we boarded our international flight in LA. The flight was delayed because they had to change our flight path because of a volcano en route (they didn't specify where) so they also had to get rid of some cargo so they could fit more fuel. Anyway, the flight ended up being somewhere around 15 hours. Yes, it was about as horrible as it sounds. I did get a window seat, however, and was sitting by one of the senior members from our group. (Boys, don't read the following- 15 hour flights and periods DO NOT get along well. At all. That's all.) They had a good selection of movies and games and TV and the food was decent, and the Asian flight attendants were ridiculously attractive and helpful. After a not long enough sleep, I looked out the window to see this.
This made me feel so much better about flying. So beautiful! AFter one more layover in Hong Kong, we flew into Wuhan, China. That airport was not terribly pleasant. It was so hot outside, and it smelled like toilets. Like Chinese toilets, I mean (which actually smell a lot like American public toilets, unsurprisingly. We were so happy to see Professor Sun, a familiar face, here to take care of us far away from home. The first thing I noticed about China was the traffic. You haven't seen crazy traffic until you go to Wuhan (though I hear other developing countries are pretty frightening too.). There were buses everywhere, and lots of taxis (that weren't yellow) and cars. And they drove side by side, no matter where the lane markers were. People don't check their blind spots before moving over, and they don't use their blinkers. They would honk and go where they wanted to go. Absolutely nuts! We earned stares from all the buses passing by. Let's face it, we stood out. Soon we were at our hotel, which I thought I could live in for two weeks with little trouble (even if the bathroom doors were frosted glass).
That night, we went to a concert of the Hubei Symphony Orchestra, and it was phenomenal, but we could not stay awake. Nobody from our group made it through the whole program awake. It was a little embarrassing, as we were distinguished guests and all. But what could they really expect? One little boy there was apparently pointing and laughing at us. I can't blame him. Here's the concert hall where the program was, and where we would later join the orchestra for a performance.
The first e-mail I sent home went like this:
"My first impression of China is thus:
It stinks.
It's loud.
People's driving is terrifying, especially for pedestrians.
There's lots and lots of construction (buildings are being torn down and replaced everywhere to accomplish plans for a new Wuhan).
It doesn't feel awfully foreign (yet).
The women dress much better than American women, in modesty, style, and overall put-togetherness.
The flight attendants are all female, extremely thin, and wear polished hairstyles and ridiculous amounts of makeup.
The buildings all look shabby and dirty.
This is for Michelle: Facebook is blocked.
The streets look shabby and dirty.
The people do not look shabby and dirty.
The food is very very good at the opera/dance/symphony company headquarters where we eat, and they serve more food than we can all consume.
The Chinese people are curious, friendly, and eager to please.
That's all I can think of at the moment.
Our hotel is quite nice, but it still smells like China (or at least like Wuhan)."
Here's a pollution encrusted plant we found at the bank.
This was a common sight- most people don't own dryers, so they hang their clothes out to dry. By the way, this apartment building was considered to be pretty nice housing. (P.S., to see my nice artistic China pictures, visit my Flickr photostream, accessible on my sidebar.)
Well, that's enough of China for today. Onto the rest of my life!
I moved out to an apartment really close to campus. For now I have my own bedroom (with a loft and a back entrance with a little balcony/deck thing) and bathroom, but once my Chinese friend Clara gets here, she'll be sharing with me. I have 4 other housemates, 2 of which I have only seen a couple times since living here. The other two are college freshmen, and they're cute, and friendly for the most part. I do a lot of cleaning up after the girls (not positive which ones leave the messes) but it has been better lately.
I got a job teaching 5th grade orchestra at Three Peaks, Iron Springs, Enoch, and Fiddlers' Elementaries. I am having a blast! The kids are so much fun, and it's been a positive challenge in my life. One of my classes is really quirky. One day I was trying to get them to call me Miss Grafelman instead of Mrs., and one boy said "you're not married? That's too bad," and then started talking with his neighbor about single cousins I could go out with. Pretty funny. Another day, the same boy said, "you know, it's kind of weird that you're 23 and not married. You should go on a date or something." They figured out how old I was because I told them I started playing the violin in 5th grade, and then a couple classes later they asked how many years I had been playing. Some of my students are quirky in a much more frustrating way, and I have excused one kid from class on two separate occasions, but I haven't totally lost it yet, so I think I'm doing alright.
My little sister Emilie got married! It's kind of strange still to me, but not as strange as some people think I should think it is. I took her bridals beforehand, and here are some of my favorites:
We had fun. The day of the wedding was also really fun. I was a bridesmaid, so I got to be all dressed up, which is always fun. A lot of my family was there and it was good to see them and chat a little. In case you're wondering how much fun it was, this picture should give you a good idea.
I am sure my mom remembers what we were discussing. whatever it was, it had us all laughing pretty hard.
Over general conference weekend, my friend Sam and I went up into Cedar Canyon for a little autumn photoshoot. We found some pretty amazing scenes! Just look to my Flickr sidebar for those photos. We saw this crazy caterpillar up high in a tree, and we really wanted to take its picture. So, we (meaning Sam) got in the tree to try and pull the branch off that it was on. Instead, the caterpillar fell to the ground, which actually made things easier for us. But the dry dead ground didn't make a very good background for our cute fuzzy friend, so we (meaning Sam) coaxed the thumb-sized creature onto a pretty maple leaf. And there we got its picture. And then we (meaning Sam) decided take it home in a lunchbox. This is where we discovered that that tiny little creature can really book it! Watch this person's video and you'll see what I mean.
In other news, I got a new car! Well, it's a 2008, so not really new, but still new to me. It's a cherry red Chevy Cobalt. I am loving it! I haven't taken pictures except on my phone, so you'll have to wait on that one.
And in other other news, here's an update on things with the cute and handsome boy. Well, he isn't talking to me. At all. All my letters, e-mails, and even chats have gone unanswered for the last month or so. It really feels like I'm talking to a wall. I don't really know exactly why, but I have a few guesses, and I'm sure it's due to a number of things. However, I still feel good about the situation, which makes no sense. I was feeling really frustrated and hurt and other lovely things like that not too long ago, and I prayed about what I should do. My answer was that I needed to have faith that my Heavenly Father was aware of the situation and would take care of it. Since then, not only have I felt the burden of trying to make it work taken from me, but I have felt positive feelings and good memories when I think about the boy, whereas before I could not see past the difficulties. So, the situation is on hold, and I don't have to make myself crazy doing everything I can think of to try and get the boy to talk to me. My Father knows what to do, and I don't, and He will take care of us both. And the troops are leaving Iraq by December 31 as originally promised after all (yay!), so I can at least hope they will all to to place that isn't quite as reminiscent of hell as the one they're at. I keep praying, and I hope you do too.
Stay tuned for more updates, stories about 10-year-olds, and China!
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