Staci and Martin

It all began at 3:00am when my alarm went off and I quickly got ready for the day and finished my packing. I needed to be at the airport by 4:00am and made it in plenty of time, thanks to the fact that we now live a quick 10 minute drive away. That whole rest of the day is kind of a blur. I met up with the rest of our group at the airport where we exchanged names and immediately began talking and checking in- the security line at the Spokane Airport was seriously insane. Usually you go right through, but of COURSE it was crowded on the one day we needed to get to our flight. Our group consisted of the following people: Dr. John Matthews, Professor of Social Work at EWU (though he ... read more

Our last day here was perfect, in a completely chaotic and weird way. We closed our bank accounts, we ate lunch with Harry and Shaka at the cafeteria, we packed and packed and took a Chinese-style afternoon rest, we went to dinner at our favorite Muslim noodle place, we talked and laughed with students. In the morning, we gave a box of butter cookies to the man who delivers water jugs to our school and has carried countless jugs up the six flights of stairs to our room over this past year. He always greets us with a smile and a 'hello', and is quite possibly the friendliest person I've ever met. Shaka was with us, and he told Shaka in Chinese that he was so moved that he had no words to express how much ... read more

Singapore is HOT. Too hot. Painfully hot. I know I’ve said this about a lot of places, but seriously. It’s the kind of hot where you look around a park and realize that nobody is out…they’re all inside, enjoying the air conditioning. We learned our lesson quickly yesterday. Starting the day out around 10, we headed out to see the Singapore Flyer, a newly built ‘viewing ferris wheel’ that is supposed to be the world’s largest and offer great views of the city. It didn’t disappoint. Definitely recommend it. The ride takes about thirty minutes, and you are in an enclosed glass ‘capsule’ the whole time and free to walk around and snap pictures. Afterwards, we simply walked around the city, trying to find our way to a botanical garden. We stopped in the mall attached ... read more

I'm in love with Malaysia. KL was clean, efficient, diverse and very tourist friendly. Melaka is just plain gorgeous. It took us two hours to get here from KL, on the most comfortable bus I think SE Asia must have to offer. It was luxury! The cost? 5USD. We arrived to Melaka Sentral around 2pm, the bus station just outside of town, and immediately purchased bus tickets for tomorrow to Singapore so that we wouldn't have to deal with it later. Then, a nice taxi driver who spoke English drove us to our hostel, the Kancil Guesthouse. Our hostel is very unique- it's a family's home and sort of in an open courtyard format. Our room has no AC, and just a shared bathroom. But hey, for a little over 10USD a night, I can't complain. ... read more

Since returning from Shanghai on the 8th, things have been sort of a blur. We came back to a school that was slightly frightening- everything was roped off with what looked like (but wasn’t) crime tape and there were extra police everywhere, even at the beginning of our road to only allow certain cars and people through (no public buses). The reason for all this? The Gao Kao, China’s national Senior 3 college entrance exam. It lasts for three days, and each school looks sort of like ours did during this time. Parents swarm the school, only allowed in certain areas, anxiously waiting for their beloved child to come out and get a snack from them or just a quick pat on the head. We made sure to tip-toe around the school grounds as much as ... read more