I never knew that ninth graders could be so scary until now. Emily's host sibling has the highest pitched screech ever and just wouldn't stop shrieking!! It was a good gathering, and it was fun, besides at the end when Rita (Emily's host sister) decided that she didn't want her 50 yuan back in change just because she was given fifteen 1 yuans along with bigger bills. She actually just threw the worst fit I have ever seen, because she just left all of the money on her chair and stormed out, screaming. But besides that scary incident, I met Annie (Celina's), Rita (Emily's), and Luke (Mike's). After lunch, at one of the malls on Wangfujin, Mike and Luke went home together, Ricky and Tony left to get Tony new glasses, and Annie, Rita, and Rose ... read more

The Newton Group today consisted of: Ms. Sargent (who planned it), Emily, Maia, Celina, Tony, Antoine, Ricky (I don't know why...) and Me. We met at dengshikou- the subway stop by the jingshan school which would end up being our meeting area for everything. We ended up going to Wangfujin- which is the shopping area by our school, which has at least 5 malls. I don't remember any of this being that exciting... the only thing that was fun was seeing the girls wince it had been 3 days- which felt like years since I had seen them last. So we had to talk about what we did for Chinese New year etc. We just walked around, and then planned to meet again on Saturday to also meet everyone's host sibling. xo- Michelle... read more

My oldest uncle took me and Rose to the Temple of Earth today for the temple fair. It was a lot of fun!! And guess who we just happened to bump into at the front gate?!?! Ricky, Miles, Victor, Antoine, and Tony!! So we ended up going with them around the place, I was the only one who played a few of the arcade games even though we all knew that they were rigged, uncle wanted me to try. :) I wish that I could upload my videos!!! but for some reason it's being blocked as of now, but I tried stinky tofu- and chicken lung and liver... and all this other random food. ughhh- it still gives me chills just thinking about it. After walking around the stands of everything ever imaginable, we all went ... read more

So after I got off of the train, I was whisked away to my host grandmother's apartment. I didn't even get a chance to drop off my bags, they were just thrown into the trunk. We did the usual, ate a dinner with too many dishes, said greetings for the new year, the "children" including myself received red envelopes, and we watched the CCTV presentation of singers, dancers, and skits (which of course I barely understood). We played with fireworks, and watched them from the safety of the apartment. All in all, it was fun, although tiring because I didn't get back to my room until 1-2am the following day. It was filled with love, laughter, and life; everything that should be seen within a family gathering. miss you all- Michelle... read more

All we did today included driving back to Guilin and on the way stopping by the Elephant mountain?? After we got back to the hotel, we ended walking around and finding an underground market/ shopping mall where Celina, Emily, Maia, and I got lost in. We went to McDonalds, KFC, Night Street (where they had stands set up to sell things, similar to West street), and my first Super Market (which was also underground) It was a fun and relaxing day, the only downfall was that it was practically below freezing and very windy. Who would have known that the whether can change from the perfect summer day to the worst day of winter. Love and miss you all- Michelle p.s. sooo we also went to reed-flute cave... and maybe we were already in Guilin.. I ... read more