Monday was our 2 monthiversary so we decided to get some "ice cream" and "cookies" for dessert after Family night. The ice cream here is just strange and there's really no way to properly describe it. It's not very creamy and it sort of tastes like it was flavored with melted candy instead of whatever normal ice cream is flavored with. It isn't terrible and it sort of curbs our constant cravings so it works. We also got a box of cookies that were supposed to be soft chocolate chip cookies, but turned out to be more like really thick, dry cookie crisp. We ended up mashing them up and putting them in the ice cream which improved both of them a little bit.
After classes on Wednesday, we decided to go on a little adventure. Jason's hair is getting pretty long so we've been on the hunt for some clippers with the right size comb so that I can give him a haircut (yikes!). We got on the bus to find a market we have seen before and got hopelessly lost in the process. Lucky for us, being lost was probably way more fun than finding the market. We found some neat alley ways full of street vendors, saw parts of the city we didn't know existed, ate some really good fresh rolls, and eventually stumbled upon a Buddhist temple! At first, we saw the park next to the temple. It was really nice compared to its surroundings and full of families flying kites, sitting, or teaching their kids to walk or ride a bike. The park was outside of several walled-off Chinesey looking buildings so we got curious and looked around some more. Walking around the corner, we found that we were on Buddhist temple grounds.
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| Temple gates made of stone with carvings of warriors or Gods that are thought to ward off evil spirits. |
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| Not sure what it is, but there were several in a row |
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| Main temple entrance |
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| Sorry about the glare - they were in a glass case |
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| Jason was proud of this one- he took it through a crack in the door! That's actually a pretty big Buddha in there. |
It looked like the inside was under renovation so we weren't able to go inside any of the buildings, but we still were able to see some cool things. There was definitely a reverence about this place, but it was entirely different from the reverence we feel in LDS church buildings or temples. The culture and history behind Buddhism is really neat and I enjoy learning about it, especially because it reminds me of what I have from being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Although statues of fierce Buddhist Gods, gold-plaited Buddha idols, and the detail in the architecture of their temples are amazing I still have yet to see anything that brings me as much peace or is as beautiful as any one of our temples. It's sad that none of these people can even know what they are missing out on because of the government's religious regulations. I always knew that growing up in an LDS home surrounded by so many church buildings and temples was a blessing, but I never fully understood how much it was until I came here and was completely severed from all of it. We get to take the Sacrament and have conference call church meetings every week, but we miss being able to attend in a building with other members present, going to the temple whenever we want or just knowing there is someone nearby who shares our same beliefs. We are so grateful we have each other, though, and have this experience to remind us what we're blessed with.
After the temple experience we found a pretty westernized buffet place for dinner that turned out to be such a refreshing change from our mushy vegetables and steamed buns. They still had Chinese food, but it tasted more Americanized and they had other foods like pizza and french fries. Some of the pizza had strawberries and mozzarella cheese on it, though, which was surprisingly not too bad. I also got some fruit that was white and hard in a bowl of bright green juice. I put it in my mouth and realized it was a familiar flavor and texture but couldn't quite place it so made Jason eat some. Immediately he said, "apple?" and I just busted up - my mouth is so used to strange food that I couldn't even recognize an apple! They also had soft serve ice cream machines which we were, of course, excited about, but turns out it's worse than the grocery store. It was purple, really icy, and tasted like an old ice cream cone. I knew it was bad when Jason wouldn't even eat it.
We also found out this week that there is a good chance we'll be seeing my parents next week!! They are adopting a little boy with a heart condition and have to go to Guangzhou (southern China) for medical and paperwork after they pick him up. Just so happens that they will be there during our five day holiday next week. We told our school we wanted to visit them and asked if they could help us figure out the traveling. They agreed, but told us while we were gone they wanted us to renew our Visas in Hong Kong since it's so close. Well, long story short it turns out it's in their contract they are supposed to be paying for our visa trip which means if we're taking time out of our vacation they need to be paying for us to go. The program we came here with, China Horizons, has been awesome in helping us work with the school to help them understand they need to hold up their end of the contract, but the school has been putting up quite the fight. All week it's been "yes, we'll help if you pay half" or "yes, we'll pay the whole way if you take a 24 hour train ride there and back." Fay finally told us flat out that the principal is being so stubborn about using our budgeted money because he wants to keep it for the school. URGH!!! In a moment of exasperation (whoa, big word) Jason said, "It makes me want to push a baby stroller over...but without a baby" Yeah, it's that frustrating! We'll get it worked out, though, and we're just glad that Fay and China Horizons have been doing all they can to get us to Guanzhou. We'll keep you updated as to whether or not we actually get to go.
I planned on writing about Saturday and Sunday in this post too, but I'm tired of writing so either I'll make Jason do it or I'll post it later :)
P.S. Does it take a really long time for the blog title font and pictures to load? Every time I try to look at my blog it takes twice as long to load than anyone elses....not that I'm a blog stalker...K, maybe I am....Don't judge, sometimes I get really bored!
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