Last Leg

Blog from June 8th:

We made it to Beijing, the last leg of our trip! We finished classes last Thursday so now we just get to be tourists for a week and sight see and spend money, well more of it, and take more pictures. Today was the first time we got to go to sacrament meeting. The branch was awesome and I actually ran into a family from my home ward and a guy from my singles ward in Provo! It's a small world in the church. It was really strange for us to walk into the building and see a bunch of white Mormons all of a sudden, a little overwhelming. It was weird to see people I knew, it made me really excited to see people when I get home.

Guiyang was an amazing city, dirtier and more crowded than Chengdu, just as crazy of drivers if not crazier, but the mountains were incredible and the people were so fun. We made a lot of friends the last week we were there at "English Corner", a spot on campus where Chinese students meet to practice English together. We ended up meeting that Saturday, about 30 of us, for a trip to the monkey park nearby. We all took a crowded bus through the city for 1 yuan (13 centsish) and walked through this park with monkeys all around, by the trail, in the trees, jumping on you if you were holding any food item. It was crazy and so beautiful. That night our friends invited us to make jia zi, potstickers, with them in celebration of Dragon Boat Festival. We made them in the lobby of our hotel and then walked to a little street shop nearby and had them fry them for us. We had a little jia zi eating party and exchanged gifts. Some of the Chinese girls were crying as we said goodbye, just like they did in Chengdu. It's amazing what kind of experiences come from such simple things!!