China, part 2

So, we might get kicked out of the country. Not sure exactly what's going on yet, but we should know tomorrow. Apparently we were supposed to register within 24 hours of arriving in this city, but we didn't. The police stopped the Chinese girl who organized the English camp today and they've been questioning here for over 4 hours now. They took all of our passports, copies of our teaching licenses, etc. They tried to confiscate our passports, but our group leader demanded they give them back. They also called all of the dignitaries in the city who have been working with us and the director of the school we are working at. Hopefully things will work out and we'll be able to stay. If not, we may be able to stay, but not be able to teach English any more. Basically, we'd just become tourists for a few weeks before going home. Honestly, that doesn't sound so bad. We've only taught for 2 days and I'm already exhausted. So, as we've been sitting around waiting to find out what will happen to us, we've been telling crazy stories about weird things that have happened in foreign countries. A guy we're with told us¡¡about his experience in Mexico. He was just walking down the street and a kid came up to him and said, "Mister, want to meet my sister?" The guy said no and kept walking. The kid approached him again.
"Mister, want to meet my sister? She is very beautiful." Again, he replied no. A third time he was approached. "Mister, want to meet my sister?" Again, he said no. The kid refused to give up and finally asked: "Mister, want to meet my brother?" TRUE STORY.
One of the ladies in our group told a story about a missionary in Guatemala who ran over and killed someone (accidentally, of course.) Someone from the U.S. embassy and an area authority helped him leave the country in the middle of the night, without any of his luggage, in plain clothes, etc. Crazy stuff. I'm sure we'll be fine. Hopefully everything will be figured out in the morning. I'll let you know...
Later. Peace out, homey. (we're working on slang with the kiddie kids...)

China

Dear people who may be interested in hearing about my experience in China,
I am finally here! I'm not sure quite what to say about it yet, but China is... UNIQUE! It actually reminds me of Ukraine quite a bit, maybe just because it's a big, poor city and people speak a different language. Some of the sights look really similar.
It took FOREVER to get here! An hour from Vegas to Los Angeles, 11 hours to Tokyo (we stayed in a hotel there overnight and even went to a Japanese festival downtown), 3 hours to Beijing, then an 16 hour train ride to the city we are working in. They say it's a "small" city, 500,000 people.
We didn't arrive until yesterday and there's a 15 or 16 hour time difference, so I'm still adjusting. We are being given the royal treatment. We are staying in the nicest hotel in town and fortunately it is very nice. Every time we leave our room, the maids come in and clean and make our beds, empty the trash, fold our clothes, sanitize the toilet... It's actually TOO CLEAN if anything.
When we arrived, there was a huge banner at our hotel and in front of our school that said: "Welcome American Specialists in Education to our City!" Can you imagine? We all just looked at each other and started laughing. Specialists in EDUCATION??? What in the world? There have only been foreigners in this city twice before. Some Canadians about 10 years ago, and a French man 3 years ago, but no one saw him. The people are all really interested in looking at us and touching us. It's kind of creepy and weird, but cool, I guess... Not sure what to say about that. A few people have asked me if I am from India, because my skin is so dark, and one person asked if I was a California girl. (Tan, tan, tan!) We've had huge, unique, UNIQUE, interesting meals... Not quite sure what to say about them. Lots of strange things, some of which I'd never seen before, but tried... just for the experience. Eel, sashimi, shrimp that still have heads on them and haven't been cooked, duck, and tons of other random stuff.
Anyway, that's it. I'm here safe and sound. I should have access to e-mail pretty often, so write when you can. Later. Xie xie. (Shye-shye = thanks in Chinese... I'm practically fluent.)
Jeanne

4th of July

Notice the tan? Walking around Mexico and Belize for a month will do that for you. Definitely.

Mexico.

I really think you had to be there to understand how AMAZING our trip to Mexico was.

33 young, single Mormon kids in two adjoining beach houses in Cozumel. Plus, the pre-trip to CHETUMAL and Belize and the post-trip to Cancun.

Incredible. I mean,there was this...

and this...

and even a little bit of this.