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Staci and Martin - Staci and Martin

After graduating from college in 2007 and spending a few years in the working world, we quit our full-time well-paying jobs (well, Staci did...Martin was part of the lovely American economic depression) to move across the world and teach English in China. Hmm...foolish, or awesome? It's going to be the year of a lifetime, with adventures we'll never forget. Join us as we cry, laugh, experience life as we never have before, and make new friends while trying to stay in touch with the old ones. We'll be returning to the USA during the summer of 2010, where we'll hopefully move to a new city and begin life yet again anew.

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Joined on: June 5th 2009
Last Login: November 25th 2009

Blog Entries: 78
Photos: 57
Recommended by 1

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Status: BLOGGER

Blogs & Travel Journals

by Staci and Martin, order by Date newest first.

By Staci and Martin
November 22nd 2009

Weekend in Longgang Asia » China » Guangdong » Shenzhen

Longgang Friends
Martin, along with our friends who live in Longgang district. Yummy Breakfast!

This past week being back in Shenzhen has been good- filled with lots of the things that have now become part of our normal China life routine-- cooking dinner, watching movies, chatting with students in the evenings who come to our office for help, eating lunch in the cafeteria with our contact teachers. One difference has been the COLD, cold weather! I know, I know, we're from the Pacific Northwest, we should be used to the 40-50 degree weather. Maybe it's a sign we've adjusted to warmer weather, maybe our weight loss also caused any insulation we had to disappear, or [View Full Entry]

By Staci and Martin
November 14th 2009

Day of Hot Springs Asia » China » Hainan » Sanya

Hot Springs
The Nantian Hot Springs are quite relaxing.

We slept in a bit and decided for breakfast we'd get something quick at the bakery down the street from our hostel. The bakeries here are strange. Most of the baked goods come wrapped in plastic and taste a bit different. You can still find something good though. The plan for today was to meet up with two others and go to Nantian Hot Springs, arranged by our hostel. Originally, it was just going to be the two of us, but the more people that went, the cheaper the overall price would be for the taxi ride there and admission. It [View Full Entry]

By Staci and Martin
November 13th 2009

Bye-bye Haikou, Hello Sanya Asia » China » Hainan » Sanya

Nasty Nachos
These nachos were NOT nasty, but they were called Nasty Nachos. Find them at Rainbow, a good restaurant in Sanya

Knowing we wanted as much time in Sanya as possible, we got up early to shower, pack and head out of our hostel by 8:30am. We headed out to the main street, flagged down a taxi easily and 15 kuai later we arrived at the South Bus Station. There were tons of people outside yelling "Sanya? We take to Sanya!" but we decided it'd probably be safest if we took a real bus rather than hopped in someone's gypsy cab for the 3.5 drive down to Sanya. 78 kuai per person gets you a rather cushy seat on a comfortable air [View Full Entry]

By Staci and Martin
November 12th 2009

Pizza, Puppies and Poker Asia » China » Hainan » Haikou

As I write this, Martin is downstairs possibly losing our money in a poker game with random guys we met at the hostel. Luckily 100 kuai is only around 15 USD, so he can't lose that much. :) Haikou is an interesting place. There really isn't much to do, and we weren't expecting there to be. It was a VERY cheap flight, and a cheap place to stay for a couple of nights...but not necessarily a 'must-see' on your tour of SE Asia. We had talked to enough people about it to be prepared though, so that's good. We probably could [View Full Entry]

By Staci and Martin
November 11th 2009

Arrived Safely Asia » China » Hainan » Haikou

Well, we made it. Barely. Our flight was scheduled to leave at 7:40am, and we live a quick 5 minute bus ride away, so we woke up at 5:20am and aimed to catch a bus no later than 6:40, which we thought would be the first available bus. We to our bus stop at 6:30 and waited and waited and waited.....We were getting nervous, but didn't want to take a taxi yet. We should have. By 7:00 no bus and no taxis were around, so we ran to the main road where finally a taxi cut off three lanes of fast [View Full Entry]

By Staci and Martin
November 9th 2009

Guangzhou Trip Asia » China » Guangdong » Guangzhou

Ernie
Martin all ready to leave for Guangzhou wearing his Ernie shirt. Staci LOVES his Ernie shirt.

Guangzhou is the capital city of the province we live in. The city itself has over 1,000 years of rich history, and many of the locals there scoff at the people from Shenzhen, our city that has a history of 30 years, give or take. After Chinese class on Friday, we met Mary, the sister of of good friend Jimmy. She is visiting for three weeks before venturing off to Eastern Europe for the Peace Corps. We all had dinner at the vegetarian restaurant we like downtown, and slowly made our way back to Jimmy and Cali's apartment to enjoy the [View Full Entry]

By Staci and Martin
November 5th 2009

Chinese Vacation Pictures Asia » China

Below is the link for our pictures from our first Chinese style vacation we took with the senior 3 teachers from our school. Since Staci and I teach Senior 1 and 2, this was a way to meet other teachers and experience a new part of China. Enjoy! http://www.flickr.com/photos/24507962@N07/sets/72157622729115942/ (beware, the set has almost 100 pictures, so manage your time wisely, as they are all beautiful. especially the ones with my little wifey-poo Staci in them) [View Full Entry]

By Staci and Martin
November 4th 2009

New Pictures! Asia » China » Guangdong » Shenzhen

Finally, we have some new pictures for you to look at. Our quick trip to Hong Kong the other week is now available at our Flickr page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/24507962@N07/sets/72157622598696837/ Click the link above and it will take you there. If you check back on some of the other blogs we have written, I have put some pictures in them as well. Check out the blog entitled Another Dose of Hong Kong to see a few of the pictures from Hong Kong, otherwise go to the Flickr link above to see them al [View Full Entry]

By Staci and Martin
November 3rd 2009

A few things. Asia » China » Guangdong » Shenzhen

Wow, it's November 3rd already? Time is flying. We've been in China for three months now. That's probably the longest either of us have gone without seeing familiar faces. I think there might have been one time in college where I didn't see my parents for close to six months, but I still saw friends on a daily basis. Luckily, my parents are coming in just a month...we are so ready to see some familiarity and show people around town, especially now that our mandarin is improving and we know our way around a bit! I'm sick. My first cold since [View Full Entry]

By Staci and Martin
November 1st 2009

Last Day Asia » China » Zhejiang » Shaoxing

By now, you know the routine. Woke up at 7, went downstairs for a buffet breakfast. This one was exceptionally exciting as they had CEREAL! We both opted for Coco Krispies, not a cereal we'd ever really eat in the states, but this was a special occasion...we haven't had any cereal since leaving the states! As we headed out to get on the bus, we noticed it was drizzling and looked pretty chilly. YES! We'd been just waiting for some cooler weather and a chance to wear our new coats. Walking outside we were greeted with temperatures in the low 60s [View Full Entry]

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