Back in the Swing!

So we have been back in classes now for about 4 weeks. It is hard to believe it has already been 4 weeks!!Then again it could be due to how chaotic my life has felt for the past few weeks. I am teaching my same students, only now it is 2 oral English classes and 6 speech and debate classes. Classes have been going very well and running smoothly.
I have been having some issues though. Towards the end of my travelling I messed up my knee somehow. It was swollen and hurt to walk, much less climb stairs. After going to the "health center" on campus and staying off it for a few days, it seems to have worked itself out. I should be ok for my climb up Wudang Mountain (again) next week!!
Then almost three weeks ago one of my teeth in the back broke. How? I have no clue. I brushed my teeth, went to bed, and when I got up in the morning 1/4 was missing! The dentists here in China are also located at the hospital. It is much different even in the hospital. My apartment is cleaner than the hospital! I went the first time thinking he would fix it, but no he didn't. He gave me two shots, my mouth was a little numb for about5 minutes and he drilled. Whatever the shot was that he gave me did not work for drilling. I DON'T DO TOOTH PAIN!! It really hurt when he would hit the nerve. I cried. It was pretty bad. I would take my American dentist any day over that! Then he put "medicine" on/in it and some sort of plaster on top. Two days later I returned thinking he would fix it this time for sure. Nope! He pulled off the plaster stuff, took the medicine out, cleaned the tooth, put more medicine in, and plaster on top again. This time I was to wait for 10 days. I finally went back last Sunday to get it fixed. I had a fellow teacher translate for me that if he did not fix it that day I was going to go somewhere else the next weekend. Needless to say, he fixed it!
In Chinese hospitals (at least the ones I have been in) there is no such thing as privacy (except for nudity - we loved those physicals upon arrival and we were only with other girls because we were foreign). While I was in the chair being worked on there was at one time 7 other people in the room watching, besides the Dr. and me. It was crazy. There was even a little girl that kept peering under his arm at me. This was definitely an experience I do not wish to have again. The Dr. continued to repeat that I was weak and could not handle pain, my mother spoiled me with candy as a child, and the Drs. in America are lazy and do not do things correctly. NONE of which is TRUE!!! This experience has made me grateful for the health care in the US. Do not think me negative there is a good thing about this here. What would have cost me in the states about$150+ was only $35!! For that I am also grateful!!
As if life wasn't messy from that, there is a "bug" going around here, runny noses, sore throats, and exhaustion.
Other than these little "hiccups" life is swell!! Things are back on track here. Friday night game nights, Tuesday night get-togethers, Sunday meetings, and other times we hang out. I can barely believe I have exactly 15 weeks from today before I leave. Not only that but Beth and Debbie (2 of my 4 siblings) are coming to visit. They arrive on MONDAY!!!!!!! They stay for one week which will be wonderful and awesome to see family!! YAY!!!

Well I best be going to bed. It is midnight (oops!) and I have classes from 7:50-11:30 tomorrow! So goodnight and be blessed!!

PICTURES!! - Part 3

LAOS

Palace in Vientiane the Capital of Laos.
Waterfall at 4,000 Islands, Laos
4,000 Islands, Laos
4,000 Islands, Laos
Buddha Park, Laos

Me at Buddha Park!
Ashley (a girl from Maryland I met on the city bus to the Park) and me

BANGKOK, THAILAND
Famous Palace in Bangkok, Thailand
Me at Wat Pho
Cheryl, John, and me near Wat Pho. I met Cheryl and John in Laos, heading from the 4,000 Islands to Vientiane. They are from New Jersey!
Students inside the gates of Wat Pho.
Khao San Road. Big tourist street in Bangkok.
Khao San Road. Notice the McDonalds, Starbucks, and 7-11!!

HANGZHOU, CHINA with the NEELYS!!

West Lake, Hangzhou

West lake

My last meal in Hangzhou!! I love Papa Johns!!
Dinner with Adrin and Janet!

The market where Janet and I went shopping during the day a few times!!

I had an awesome time travelling these many places, tasting new cuisines, meeting wonderful people, and seeing friends!!

PICTURES!! - Part 2

The rest of Cambodia:

Toul Sleng S21 - Prison and Torture Center for the Khmer Rouge:

A cell where prisoners were kept.

Writing on the wall.

The Prison (old school) with barb wire so prisoners could not jump over the edge. The camera crew was there because one of the seven prisoners that survived was speaking of his time at TS.

What each floor looked like.

Small cells, each for one prisoner at a time. But each saw many.

At the Killing Fields:

Gathered clothes.
Discovered skulls.
Shelves of skulls.

Pieces of bones that remained.

Memorial stupa.
The fields where remains still lay uncovered. It is about the same size as the area where remains have been unearthed.
Many of the mass graves.
Clothes still have their color and are scattered all around the camp as well as pieces of bone.
Each ditch is a mass grave that has been unearthed.

Senmonorom, Mondol Kiri, Cambodia: Us, Cambodian red dirt clay and all, after riding on the back of the truck behind us for four hours!
Jessica B. and me on the back of our elephant!
Our elephant!
Jessica M. and Graham's elephant!

The view from our elephant, looking back to the jungle we just went through!

Tons of fun but our bottoms hurt so bad and we were cramped from sitting in the tiny basket!

It was a great experience!!