So, obvi-duh, you need a visa to come to China. When I accepted the job here, they told me to just get a tourist visa, and we would get the work visa when I got here.. Translation: Sarah gets a mostly free trip to Hong Kong!
The main reason for this trip was to get my Z Visa*, which took about 3 hours total out of the two days we were there. When I say we, I mean myself and one of the other teachers, Michiel from Holland. Here is a run down of my fabulous trip:

Tuesday: Left Hohhot at 10 pm (had to take the late flight because of classes during the day). Arrived in Beijing about an hour later. Now, when you land in Beijing, they land the plane wayyyy out on the terminal and you have to take a bus to the main airport area (which means you shouldn’t book a flight to quickly after your flight is supposed o land, you won’t make it!). We finally got all our bags and things, and got onto a bus around midnight. Our flight to Hong Kong wasn’t till the next morning, so we decided a little middle of the night tourist time was in order. The bus dropped us off in central Beijing, and we wandered and then found some food (yay for 24-7 KFC!). We then headed to check out the Forbidden City (http://www.travelchinaguide.com/cityguides/beijing/forbidden.htm). It is huge, with guard standing outside the main entrances at all hours. We managed to get a few pictures outside the gates, then gave up on the idea of getting closer due to the glaring of the guards and the communication issues that would ensue. Then, we crosses the street (well, under the street, actually.. the Chinese are all about underground walkways) and attempted to check out Tiananmen Square. This was also difficult, as the minute we walked up to the gate to get a few pictures, a guard shooed us away. There were a group of people in the Square (it was then 230am), so it seems that some special permission must be had to check it out afterhours. We then headed back to the airport to grab a couple hours of sleep before our flight. All in all, the romp through Beijing was short and didn’t really allow us to see much, but still interesting.

Wednesday: Left Beijing about 8am, arrived in Hong Kong at 12. After traveling through customs and such, we hopped on the train to take us to the city. See, the airport is on one island, part of Hong Kong is on the mainland, and part is on another island. Traveling betwixt the mainland and island is quite cheap, and something we did several times. Our first stop when we got into Hong Kong was the visa office (which is on the island). We had to wait in line outside for about an hour before we could go wait in line inside (another hour). We had to get pictures taken and papers needed to be filled out, but when our numbers where finally called, we spent less than five minutes each with the visa agents and then were sent on our ways. After that we headed to Kowloon, which is a part of the city on the mainland. We decided to stay at the Chunking Mansions, which are a couple huge buildings full of different hostels. They were decently cheap and clean, and we had no problems finding a room even though we didn’t book one. You can book rooms on the internet these days, but if you wait until you get there you can barter for a better price. Everything in Hong Kong is about haggling! After we showered and changed and everything (very important after a night in an airport) we headed out into the city. We checked out the Night Market first, which sells anything and everything, and is only open from 4-midnight every day. It was a decent walk away, but the night was nice and gave us a chance to check out to happenings of the city. Of course, I can’t go into a market without buying something, so I walked out with two paintings for my apartment, and a marvelous new (fake) Dolce & Gabbana bag. After that we headed out to Victoria Harbor to check out the light show. It is done every night at 8pm, and different buildings along both side of the harbor participate. The best place to watch it is from the Avenue of Stars, Hong Kong’s version of the Hollywood Star Walk. It only lasts about 15 minutes, and while it isn’t the most amazing thing you have seen, it is worth taking a few minutes out of your night to see it. I managed to convince Michiel that for dinner we needed to check out the Outback Steakhouse, and am so glad we did! It was great to find that slice of home over here, especially since it is my favorite restaurant and I didn’t get a chance to go before I left home. It was a great end to the day, only made better when I found Gatorade (Go Gators!) at the shop by our hotel. Yup, Hong Kong’s got it all.

Thursday: I decided to take full advantage of my one full day in Hong Kong, and am glad I did. I woke up and was out of the hostel by nine. My first stop was Kowloon Park, which is an amazing little sanctuary within the bustling, noisy city. The park has an aviary, Chinese Gardens, Sculpture Garden, even a maze (which I never did manage to find, though I think the joke might have been on me because the whole park was pretty maze like). On the outskirts of the park there is also a soccer field, sports complex, and crystal clear swimming pool- it took everything I had to not jump in it fully clothed (partly because the rabid heat, partly because I miss pools)! I then wandered up to the Jade Market, which is a really neat place to visit. Everything you could want made out of Jade, in all different shades, can be bartered for and purchased there- I took advantage of this and bought loads of Christmas presents! I then headed out to find my western stores I had been waiting for. The main stores I was interested in finding were H&M, which I found with no problems, and Sephora, which I wandered around the city for an hour looking for. I even found the building it was supposed to be in (which is actually harder than it sounds), but no Sephora. Only later did I find out that it had been closed a few months before- broke my heart! I did manage to pick up a couple girly things from the major beauty supply shops in Hong Kong, Sassa and Bonjour. They are no Sephora, but they were better than nothing. After this I headed back across town and onto the island to meet up with Michiel and get our visas. This endeavor took a quarter of the amount of time of the day before, and after picking them up and paying, we were on our way. We then headed to the US Consulate, where I wanted to get some papers notarized.. turns out you need an appointment, and that can only be booked online- important thing to know for anyone who needs to go! Even though that ended up being a fail, we were right by the tram peak so we decided to try it out. It’s been turned into a tourist trap now, with a Madame Tussauds at the top of the peak and everything, but it was still a really cool experience. Going to the peak gives you a great view of the city and surrounding areas. Not to mention there is a Burger King up there, which was a nice little plus! We then decided to head out to one of the local beaches, and got a taxi out there. The town we went to was called Stanly, and it was awesome. It is a small place that is touristy in an off-the-beaten-path sort of way. The views were incredible, and nothing makes me happier than digging my toes in the sand, which that town allowed me to do.We relaxed on the beach for a little while, watching the sun city over the sea, drinking a cold Corona- bliss! Then we headed back to the city, and to an Irish pub for dinner. It was pretty funny having Chinese servers, in a pretty authentic Irish pub, in the middle of Hong Kong! After that we headed out for a little late night shopping (more souvenirs and trinkets), and then back to bed.

Friday: We planned lots of things for Friday, but didn’t end up doing anything, sadly. I wanted to go back to the Consulate, but they didn’t have any appointments early enough. Michiel wanted to buy some electronics, but none of the shops he was planning on going to that early in the morning were open. We headed out sort-of early, planning on going to Big Buddha on the island that the airport is on, but that again, didn’t work out. Instead, we relaxed in the airport, awaiting our trip back home. We finally got back to Hohhot about 11 pm that night, and I got back to my apartment at midnight. Overall the trip was a lot of fun, but I could definitely go back to do tons of things I didn’t get a chance to do the first time!

1) It can be spelled lots of different ways.

Hohhot. Huhhot. Haohuhate ( or something). These are all spellings you can expect to see for my city. All are correct. All are used. Weird, huh?

2) Not everyone in China is against the whole facebook-blocking thing,

I actually talked to one student who made a good argument for it! He told me that in China, a lot of people are not very well educated. This means that they will believe whatever people tell them. So, some people use sites like Facebook to push their ideals that are against the government, and they will probably be able to garner some backing because of the uneducated. How sad L

3) Pencils in china don’t have erasers.

Like, none of the pencils. You never really appreciate the ease of having your eraser attached to your writing instrument until it is not anymore. Maybe they realize they can make more money by selling the erasers separately, and making them look like Disney characters? Who knows? I do know, however, that not having an eraser on the pencil leads to the kids sharpening both ends of the pencil and little broken bits or eraser all over my classroom floor.

1) Do drink a lot of water!

It is verrrry dry here, something a girl from the good ‘ole humid Florida knows little about. Within a couple days I had lost my voice. Most people here buy humidifiers they turn on while they sleep. I have actually yet to get one, and am ok thus far (other than that first couple days). But with or without the humidifier, water is a necessity here.

2) Do check out one of the roadside Barbecues.

When the weather is decent, many of the restaurants take over the cities sidewalks with plastic chairs and open grills. I have yet to go to one of these without someone who speaks Chinese and English, so I do not know how difficult it might be without one. I do know, however, that the food is pretty good, and the experience is awesome. Food is brought out in the order it is cooked, so you could get thing brought out at random times (this happens a lot in China). If you indicate that you want mushrooms, for example, (at the barbecue we went to it was a form you filled in, like a sushi menu), they will come out, roasted, on a skewer. Best thing we had there? The bread, which had been slathered in honey then roasted over an open flame. Yum.

3) Do take time to check out all the little shops on the streets.

Unless you can read Chinese, the little street shops can be very daunting. From afar, they all look the same, and the people sometimes standing outside them don't make the places look to welcoming. But if you have the time (and possibly another foreigner, you will be bothered less if there are more of you) you can find plenty of diamonds in the rough! Most are little restaurants or mini stores selling Bijo (chinese alcohol of choice) and soda. We have found some awesome toy stores, dvd stores, and florists though, too! As long as you are aware that someone might follow you around the store, and speak to you as if you understand them, you can have quite an enjoyable shopping adventure-there's nothing like finding a shop that sells shirts for 30 yuan- about $4!

1) Don’t drink the water.
Even the locals do not drink it without boiling it. As someone who loves tap water back home, this is rather irksome to me. But upon some evaluation, I can see why it does not bother the Chinese to have to boil their water. Tea. They love tea, and drink it all the time. Not iced tea, boiling hot tea. So, they would be boiling the water for the tea anyway, so no time wasted for them! To make it easier for us crazy cold-water drinkers, though, most places have water coolers. “But you have to pay for that water! Water should be free!” you might say. Yes, I agree, but when one 18.9 Liter container of water costs the equivalent of $1.50, it is not too bad…

So today, after a quite vehement argument with one of the other teachers on the causes of 9/11 (don’t ask), some calming yoga, and a large glass of wine, I have come to a realization. Even though I am loving living over on the other side of the world, and am eager to travel everywhere I can, I want to spend the majority of my life in the good ‘ol US of A. I’d always thought about the possibility of roaming the world as a nomad, moving from country to country, staying no more than a couple years in each place (and then maybe coming back to Florida in my old age). I’ve realized now, though, that while I do want to travel as many places as possible, rather than visiting for years I want to do it for days or weeks or (maybe) months. I want to live and work in the US for the majority of my life. This new perception of my plans came through the awareness of how much my country, as well as my state, city, and school, means to me. There are wonderful things all around this world, including a good many in America. I began to get a real appreciation for this when my friend Megan and I went on our road trip across country. In just one week, I saw so many different cultures and beautiful things in my own home country. I want to be able to say I spent my life taking pleasure in all this world has to offer. I also want to have lived the most enjoyable and gratifying life I could. Looking back all the amazing times I have had this far in my life, I see that it is not only the place that makes your life thus, but also the people you surround yourself with. I have been blessed with the most loving and supporting family and friends anyone could ever have. For me to have the best life I can, I want them always to be in my life (and not just through the internet!). So, while for a couple years I might travel and teach around the world, within a few years, I will be back in Florida.

So what am I going to do after this year in China? No idea. But rest assured, my readers, I will come back to you one day soon.