The Great Chengdu Adventure

I woke up at 4:30 to the beeping of my alarm. My stomach turned in knots from the excitement of what the day held for me. I knew that I had approximately an hour to get ready and make my way to the street to find a taxi. As I began the morning routine I made a rather disturbing discovery; I had armpit rash. Not only was it armpit rash, but it was painful. Looking back on it, my only conclusion is that it was caused from dust or chemicals that had made their way on to my razor the previous week when workers had installed our bathtub. In spite of the awful ailment, I proceeded to prepare myself for the day ahead. And thus it began; a wonderful 5 days filled with laughter, food, and tears.

I arrived in Chengdu about 11:15, grabbed my bag, and got in a taxi headed towards Peter's TexMex. Zack came and met me at about 3 and it was incredibly exciting. It was a strange feeling seeing Zack when really I have been "seeing" him everyday via the internet, but to physically be with him was so much better. So our week began with an evening of hotpot and meeting some of Zack's friends.

Over the next few days I was able to make and IKEA trip, eat at Papa Johns, and a few nice restaurants. Those were some good things about the trip, but my favorite part was spending time with my man. On Saturday he took me to see the Pandas, which is something Chengdu, or that area, is well known for. Those bears are some of the laziest animals I've seen. While they are beautiful and rather human like, they sat around and ate bamboo the whole time we watched them. The panda nursery was just precious with these little 4 or 5 month old pandas just laying in one huge crib with each other. They looked so tiny and fragile.

After our panda adventure, there was some fine dining and some scootering around. I think one of my favorite things about Chengdu is the fact people scooter around. It's different from Qingdao, my city, in quite a few ways, but this is probably one of the most noticeable differences. I believe it is also the independence that comes along with owning your own means of transportation. Zack, being the amazing boyfriend he is, allowed me to have a try at driving the scooter. And as most of you know, I am a spectacular driver. It did take me a while to figure out how to balance myself, but once I got it I didn't do to bad. Zack even trusted me enough to let me drive with him on the back. He loves me.

Monday definitely came too quickly and it was time for me to return to my home. For those softies out there, I cried my eyes out when I left. We'll get to see each other again in November, around Thanksgiving. Jess, I admire your strength and now can understand what it was like those many years ago when you and Nick were dating states apart.

After my Chengdu adventure I had to return to the work world and teach the next day. It actually was a lot better than I thought it would be. Things are going well in the classroom. My kids continue to be a trip and bring laughter to my days. We've had some pretty good times lately writing about dogs falling in love, making commercials, and finding out what foods contain sugar and what foods don't. Volleyball is almost over which makes me a little sad. It was a crazy season, but I really enjoy coaching. Middle school youth group starts tomorrow, so we are having a cookout at my house and then playing some games up at the 'park'. I put that in quotations because I don't know that you would call it a traditional park, but it works.

I hope you all are doing well. Thanks for reading and I'll try to update more this week. It seems I say that every time.

Love,

Kira