Beauty and the Beast

Tale as old as time...song as old as rhyme...Beauty and the Beast...

is over.  

For those who may not have been aware, my new teaching job at West Point Jr. involves doing the school musical.  Lori Hayward, the choir director, chose Beauty and the Beast to be her last show, and I got to be her assistant.  Next year, she'll just be doing the music and I'll take over as director.

It's been a fun ride:  we had a fantastic cast, an amazing set, awesome costumes and props, and a great parent support group.  Lori did all of the big costumes including Belle's gold gown, Mrs. Potts, Cogsworth, and Madame (the Wardrobe).  I blocked all of the scenes involving fight choreography, the "Beauty and the Beast" dance, Gaston's song "Me," and various other scenes. I was also in charge of props and the Beast's costume. Here are some pics: 

This is one of the props I built that I'm the happiest with.  It's Maurice's invention...and it makes bubbles.  I built it out of a bunch of junk I bought at the DI for about $14...and then another $21 for the bubble machine. It worked every night.

This is our Beast.  I made the wig out of two separate 1980's rocker wigs.  I trimmed the top one and put it on top of the other and sewed them together.  I then added in pieces of other colors of hair.  I made the horns out of molding clay, wire, and paint.  They're stuck to the wig using the wire and hot glue.  The mask is made out of different pieces of a latex werewolf mask glued to a masquerade mask.  I added eyebrows and paint around the eyes.  He's also wearing a beard that I sewed some fangs to.  The hands were some monster hands that I painted and sewed fur to.  It looked pretty awesome on the stage.

This is our Belle looking at the Wardrobe.  All of the costumes Lori did were superb.
 

Now that it's all over, I have to get ready for the next one that we'll be putting on at the end of February:  Dr. Omar Hansen's The Horrible Monster of Danky Swamp. 

Story Time

At my teacher training this past week, they told me I needed to write and publish more.  This is a story I wrote a few years back and thought I would share.  No one can say I don't pay attention at my trainings. 

Muffet

            Muffet was unlike any other girl in school:  She was six feet tall and weighed 186 lbs, her ears were covered with piercings—more metal than flesh in that region. She wore thick, black eyeliner, dark red lipstick, and her wardrobe consisted of black tops, black pants, and black boots.  As she stalked down the hallways, little seventh graders would scurry out of the way, praying they wouldn’t be the next unfortunate kid to get their head stuck in a toilet.  No ninth grader in the history of Tuffet Jr. High School had ever been so merciless.  If anyone stood in her way, they found themselves injured or unconscious.  Of all the unwritten laws of the teen world, #1 on the list was: Do not ever mess with Missy Muffet. 

            On the opposite end of the jr. high spectrum, Spencer Spedenhofer or “Spider” for short, was on the student counsel, a member of the soccer team, and on the same level of attractiveness as Brad Pitt. Although he was not a homosexual, he had an impeccable sense of style: designer jeans, form fitting leather jackets, the works. He’d stride down the hallways with his head up, a smile on his face. He’d pat his friends on the back as he passed, still laughing at that last joke they’d told. He frequently stooped down to pick up a stray gum wrapper or a crumpled up math assignment and put it in the trash.  No one was beyond his notice.  Just because that shy girl in the corner had a crater face didn’t mean he couldn’t say “hi” to her. He did everything he could to make others feel worthwhile… but something was wrong with Spider.  Occasionally he’d get a far off look in his eye, as if he were somewhere else.  Spider was putting on a show.  Not a happy, Broadway musical with tap dancing and flashy costumes, but a tragedy where the stage is littered with dead bodies by the end.  Spider was in anguish, his soul torn to pieces.   Spider was in love with Missy Muffet.

            The obsession had started in the fourth grade.  It was a passion he’d dealt with in secrecy, suffering in silence.  What was it that drew him to her? Her unique walk, her distinct features, her matchless beauty?  Yes, but she also had a certain air about her that attracted him. An “I don’t care what anybody thinks about me” attitude.  He always tried to find ways to get close to her: on gym class sports teams, in the lunch line, as a math tutor, but somehow she always managed to elude him.

            It was on May 21^st that he finally broke.  No more subtleties, he told himself.  My love is nothing to be ashamed of.  He knew what he had to do.  At lunchtime, he sought her out. 

            Muffet wasn’t hard to find.  She sat alone in the corner under the “Go Titans” sign everyday.  Another kid had tried to sit there once, but he had disappeared shortly thereafter. Some said that Muffet had forced him down the garbage disposal with her left over fish sticks.  Others argued that she pummeled him so hard that his facial features shifted to the point where he looked like someone else entirely.  Spider wasn’t afraid.  He straightened his back, clenched his jaw, and started towards her.  Kids looked up from their trays as he passed, smiling at him.  Some even said “Hi, Spider!” but he didn’t respond.  He didn’t hear them. He was like a General off to fight a war, or a Knight to slay a dragon and rescue a Princess.  Of course, in his case, the dragon and the Princess were the same person.

The closer Spider got to Muffet’s table, the more anxious the lunchroom became. Spider reached his destination and brought himself to a halt. Every pair of eyes stared at him.  Blue eyes, brown eyes, hazel eyes; all on him.  Muffet looked up from her lunch and removed one of her earphones.  Spider opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out.  It was as if he were being choked to death by a burly man with gigantic hands.  For almost an entire minute, no one spoke, no one whispered, no one even breathed.

            “What?” Muffet finally blurted.

            Spider swallowed. Muffet blinked. “How’s your lunch?” he asked.

            “Uh, fine.”   Muffet raised her eyebrows as if to say, “Why are you talking to me, punk?”

Spider looked at the lumpy, white substance. “What is it?”

            “Cottage cheese, why?”

            “Just curious, that’s all.” 

            Spider wasn’t sure where to start, he wasn’t a poet after all.  He wiped off a drop of sweat from his forehead with a shaking hand. It was hard to be confident with everyone watching him.

  Muffet finally spoke, “So are you gonna tell me why you really came over here or am I gonna have to beat it out of you?”

“Oh,” Spider started, “Well, Muffet—er—Missy…can I call you Missy? Not the point.  Uh, I’m not really sure how to put this.”  He started, “I don’t usually get nervous but...” 

“Spill it, Spedenhofer.”

Spider nodded. “The thing is, Missy, I…uh…I like you.  I like like you.”  There was a giant gasp. He had to get through this quickly.  “Anyway, I was just wondering if, maybe, you might like to go out with me some time? You know, like a date.”  Excited whispers erupted in the lunch room. Some people even laughed, each snicker hitting Spider like rounds from a sniper rifle. He broke out into a cold sweat.  Muffet looked mortified.

            She continued to sit in silence, while he continued to stand there feeling like a complete idiot.  He knew he had to do something, and quick.  Gathering up that last of his courage, he took a deep breath, and slid into the seat next to her.  Muffet jumped out of her seat as if Spider had been an infectious disease.  She looked down at him with startled eyes.  Spider’s face fell.  He stared at her.  Each breath she took was shallow and raspy.  Her eyes were wide and her mouth hung open.  The lunchroom went silent once again. Spider desperately wanted to say something, but held his tongue, waiting.  Everyone was waiting. Muffet shook her head, not quickly, but in slow motion, and after a moment or two, stalked out of the lunch room, shoving kids out of her way.

            Spider’s heart was broken.  No, more than broken, it was smashed, shattered, crushed! He had scared her away.  She was the only girl he’d ever loved and he had scared her away. The rest of the day he sulked through the halls, ignoring the mocking whispers that followed him everywhere.

It’s amazing how fast news travels in the teen world. All of Tuffet Jr. High was laughing at him.  “He asked Muffet out?” They whispered, “I can’t believe we thought he was cool.”  No one looked at him the same. No more smiles, no more greetings.  Popularity, his friend for so long, had finally deserted him.  He was now a social outcast.

            “I’m so stupid,” he told himself, “What was I thinking?  Muffet and I are obviously never meant to be together. I’ll just have to get over her, I guess.” He chuckled to himself.  “Yeah, right.”

            At last the final bell rang.  Waiting until everyone else was out of the classroom; he grabbed his bag and started down the long hallway. Garbage cluttered the floor around him, but he didn’t care, he passed right on by. He was moping on a bench in front of the school when suddenly he heard a voice behind him.  “Did you mean what you said in the lunch room, or were you on some kind of dare?” 

Startled, Spider spun around to face Muffet.  He gazed at her, mouth wide open. “Well?” she demanded.

“I meant every word.”  He finally squeaked out.  Muffet nodded her head but said nothing.  “I’ve liked you since I first saw you in the fourth grade.”  He continued, “You had your hair up in a pony tail, and you were wearing a “Transformers” t-shirt.  I remember thinking that only the coolest girl in the world could wear a shirt like that.”

Muffet sat down next to him.  “I loved that shirt.” She fidgeted for a moment and then turned to face him. “Look, this is stupid!  Why do you like me?  No one likes me! You’ll be better off if you just forget the whole thing.”

“I know, but I can’t help it!” 

Silence.

Muffet bit her lip.  “I like you too, you know.”

Spider looked into her eyes.  “You do?”

She nodded.  “You can hold my hand if you want to.”

He paused “Really?”

“Yeah.” She held out her hand as an invitation. “And I won’t run away this time.”

“I won’t run away either.” Spider whispered.

No turning back now. He held his breath and reached out to take it. After gently sliding his hand into hers, they entwined their fingers. Spider let out a sigh of relief and beamed at her.  She blushed, gave him a sheepish smile in return, and giggled. Who knew Missy Muffet could giggle?  Tuffet Jr. High faded into the distance and all went quiet.  At that moment, they were the only two people alive.

Updates

Wow...it's been a long time since I've posted.  Whoops.  I guess I got a little busy there for a while.  Well, what's happened since the last post.  Nothing much.... no.... not really.... except...

I GOT A TEACHING JOB!
SOREN BECAME A MASTER WAND MAKER!
WE MOVED INTO A NEW APARTMENT IN SOUTH SALT LAKE!
SOREN WENT RIVER RAFTING FOR THE FIRST TIME!
I FAILED EPICALLY AT WAKE BOARDING!
SOREN BECAME A MASTER WAKE BOARDER!
I MADE AN AMAZING JEWELRY TREE TO HOLD MY NECKLACES!
WE HAD A 22 HOUR HARRY POTTER MOVIE MARATHON!

So yeah...not much. :)

Pictures to follow.

My jewelry tree... I know...it's awesome

The wands made by Soren.  They are amazing.

My cake for Harry Potter's Birthday movie marathon

Also, for the first day of school today, I dressed up as Professor Trewlawney from Harry Potter.  I spoke in a dazed British accent for about the first ten minutes of each class. As students piled in, I tried to memorize faces and names through the dollar store coke bottle glasses that impeded my vision.  My first two classes of 7th graders were too terrified to even talk to one another and breathed a hugh sigh of relief when I came out of the charade and started to speak like a real person.  It was a daring shenanigan, but I suppose it worked since I heard one of my first period students remark "She's my favorite teacher" as she walked out the door.  My Drama 2 students quickly caught on to the spirit of things and many of them spoke in British accents with me.  About ten minutes after I'd stopped acting like Trewlawney, one of them asked me to please start talking in my accent again.  It was an entertaining day.

And so the school year begins!

The Chronicles of Yangshuo: The Last Two Days

Our third day in Yangshuo was beautiful.  We rented bikes for the day and set off for the Golden Water Caves near Moon Hill.  It was a lovely ride, although our backsides were still a little sore from the first day.  There were about a billion bikes out on the road though.  Seriously...bikes everywhere.  Normal bikes, tandem bikes, little two-seater surreys, mopeds, motorcycles, and then there were also cars, buses, trucks, and so on.  It was CHAOS.  Seriously, we all broke so many traffic laws.  But to get anywhere in a timely fashion you had not choice but to weave, cross, dodge, and take matters into your own hands.

OH!  That reminds me.  I forgot to tell this story in the first Chronicles of Yangshuo.  When we were riding back from Moon Hill, Soren, Jenna, and I were playing a game to see how many people we could get to say "Hi" to us after we said "Hi" to them.  It was super fun to ride up alongside people and say, "Ni Hao!" They would respond with a surprised "Hullo!" and then they'd smile.  It was a happy game.  As I was riding up alongside two Chinese guys in a surrey, I hollered "NI HAO!"  and quickly passed.  They responded with a quick "Ni Hao," but then noticed that I was white...and blonde.  I then heard a frenzied "Hullo.  Hullo!  You are beautiful!"  It was pretty funny.  A few minutes later, I pulled over to the side of the road to join Jenna and Soren who were waiting there.  The rest of our group had gotten behind, so we decided to wait for them.  While we were stopped there, my two friends in the surrey drove up.  The one leaped out of his seat and I knew it was picture time.  I'm 99.9% sure that he is trying to kiss my cheek in that picture. He was hilarious. I'm just mad I didn't get a picture with him on my camera.

Anyway...anyway...we rode to the Caves.  We changed into our swimsuits in a super sketchy bathroom, waited for our guide, and then went into the caves.  As far as caves go...I mean...it was a cave.  It had cool formations and everything, but what made it fun was the lights.  They lit the caves up with all kinds of colors and it was awesome.  We were joined on our cave tour by a man and his daughter who turned out to be Utah Mormons.  Small World!  But Soren and I couldn't stop with the Goonies references.  After all, it was our time...it was our time down there.

The lights in the cave

ooohhh...pretty

Sitting on the throne

 After walking through the caves, we came upon the mud pits.  Awwwww yeeaaaaahhhh...mud.  We slid into the cool mud that went up to our thighs.  It was pretty thin mud with grainy bits of this and that in it, but it was oddly refreshing.  Our guide kept motioning that I needed to sit down and float.  I didn't really see how that was going to happen, but I put all fear aside and sat in the mud.  I'm not sure what it is about that stuff, but you just float.  I didn't even have to try.  But once you were on your back it was hard to roll over or get back up.  It was super fun.  They even had a little slide for us to go down. But we did not find One Eyed Willie's treasure...that was kind of a bummer.

Standing in the mud

floating in the mud

Embracing the mud

Praising the mud

We had mud everywhere.  Even after showing and rinsing, sitting in a hot spring for 30 minutes, and rinsing again, we could not get rid of it.

That afternoon, we had some amazing Indian food...like...really amazing Indian food.  Award winning, I believe.  It was tasty.

Filling our stomachs with yumminess

That night we wandered around Yangshuo, taking in the atmosphere, buying lots of stuff, and eating more food.  Soren and I went and danced in the park with a bunch of locals.  Some of them were doing dance aerobics and others were doing ballroom-type dancing.  One of the mountains towered right above us.  Beautiful place to dance.

The next day was possibly my favorite.  We got to take our Li River cruise on a bamboo raft...well, blue pvc pipe raft...but it was still cool.  The docks were only a 30ish minute bike ride from our hostel.  We went to the wrong docks at first, but soon everything was straightened out and we were on our way down the river.  Our bikes were strapped to the front so we didn't even have to worry about parking them.

At the docks

Jenna, Morgan, and Heather on their raft

The view

Me and Soren

We stopped off at a cute little village and looked around.  The whole area was just charming.

 I was a little worried about the ride back.  I was told it would take two hours by bike.  But after unloading at another little village, we met two girls on a moped who were going to Yangshuo.  They showed us a shortcut, so we got back in plenty of time, and saw some beautiful scenery as we rode. (Also some really bumpy road).

That night we had our cooking class.  Our teacher, Mona, took us to the market where everyone buys their food.  She introduced us to various vegetables that we'd be using in the class.  After that, we rode out to the adorable Yangshuo cooking school.  The class consisted of the seven of us and a couple from Belgium.  We made a eggplant, ginger dish; steamed pork stuffed mushrooms, pumpkin flower, and tofu; cashew chicken; a garlic green vegetable; and the Yangshuo delicacy Beer Fish.  It was all SUPER good.  And now we know how to cook awesome Chinese food.  I honestly can't say enough about the cooking class, so I'm not going to try.

In the Market

Our dinner table

The ingredients

Soren preparing his dishes

The finished product

That night was caught a bus back to Guilin and the next morning we flew back to Nanjing.  I felt my heart break as I left.  It was so beautiful and so fun.  A great way to finish up our time in China.

The Chronicles of Yangshuo: The Voyage to the Rice Terraces

The morning of our rice terrace tour started early.  The bus came to pick us up, bright eyed and bushy tailed, at 7:10 am.  Whew!  Since it was a 3 hour ride there, we had to start super early.

Most of the bus ride was uneventful. We started out in a van where Soren was too tall to see out the windows, but fortunately we were transferred to a GIANT bus for the duration of our trip.  About 2 hours later, we got off our bus and onto a "public" bus to take us up the mountain.

Now, let me just say something here.  If you're going to have a safety railing installed to save vehicles from plummeting off the road and down a cliff, you should probably make that railing tall enough to save every variety of vehicle that uses the road.  As we wound up and around the mountains to the top,  I got the impression that, had we started to tip off the road, those small safety railings would have done nothing to prevent our bus from tumbling to the bottom.  And that would have been quite the fall.

It was a terrifying drive, especially for Soren who is afraid of heights.  I'm not particularly scared of heights, but the thought of falling 1000 feet to my death doesn't exactly make me giddy.  Also, the windiness of the road was starting to make me a tad carsick (and by a tad, I mean "Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, get me off this bus.") 

We got to the top in one peace, and we all managed to maintain our composure.  After getting off the bus, we followed our tour guide through a charming village to our lunch destination.  For lunch, I ordered "Bamboo rice." I wasn't sure what to expect, but I figured you can't go too wrong with rice.  As it turns out, "Bamboo rice" is rice that's cooked inside bamboo!  It had a very fun taste and texture.  Soren ordered Kung Pow Chicken, but had to change to Kung Pow Pork because they said they were out of chicken.  Kind of hard to believe when we saw chickens walking all over that villiage....ah well.

My Bamboo Rice

The amazing thing about this village was that it was built on a hill.  It doesn't matter where you're going, or who you're visiting, you will be climbing stairs.  The people who live there are super strong.  I couldn't help but applaud the 70 year old women carrying a giant basket full of stuff up one of the stone staircases.  She smiled at me and probably thought to herself, "Look at that poor, sweaty white girl, huffing and puffing like she's going to die.  Don't feel bad about yourself, this is only easy for me because I do it twelve times a day."

To that I say, "Nice try Chinese lady.  I'm sure you do this thirteen times a day."

One staircase that was particularly fun had a little stream running under it.  We took about a billion pictures, but none of them really do it justice.

Soren and our favorite staircase

Once we got out of the village, we were able to see the rice terraces.  OH MY WORD!  SO BEAUTIFUL.  I'm going to be honest here...I wasn't really sure about the whole "rice terraces" thing.  I mean,  rice terraces? Really?  How could it be that cool? 

For realz peeps...it was that cool.

Wow...I promise never to use the word "realz" or "peeps" again. Let's just pretend that never happened.

I'm so embarrassed. Oh look!  Rice terraces...

This picture is worth clicking on so you can see it bigger.  Do it...

What are those two people doing in my picture?  They sure are attractive, though.

After the rice terraces, we hiked back down, and got back on the public bus.  I think the drive down the mountain was less scary than up it...but that may only be because it felt shorter.  I don't know...still pretty terrifying. 

Our next destination was the Long Hair village.  Women in this village have...you guessed it...very long hair.  But that wasn't the cool part, the cool part, was how they do their hair.  How you do your hair shows your situation in life.  Unmarried girls cover their hair.  Married women with no children do their hair one way, and married women with kids do their hair with a big o' knot on their forehead.  We got to see a 45 minutes show in that village, but we were warned that if we drank the tea there, we had to stir it with one chopstick.  If you stirred the tea with two chopsticks you would have to stay the night in the village.

The women doing their hair

Another tradition in that village is that they pinch your bum as you leave.  That was fun.  Very friendly.

The ride back was a little uncomfortable because we were in a tiny van.  Poor Soren didn't really have a backrest, and Krista's seat was soaking wet.  But taking the van was going to be faster than the bus, so it ended up being worth it.

That evening we walked around Yangshuo, bought a few things, and ate.  Nothing too noteworthy.  Oh, and we went to the kissing fish spa. 

The KISSING FISH SPA!  What am I talking about?  That's super noteworthy.  So you sit with your feet in a tank of fish, and they eat all the dead skin off you feet.  Tickles like crazy.
Krista, Jenna, and Soren were the first brave ones to try it.

Although I said I was too ticklish, I did end up doing it. It was so fun but it tickled so much!  Imagine dozens of tiny little mouths sucking on your feet: in-between your toes, around your cuticles, and everywhere else.  Our feet were super smooth afterwards!

The fish attaching my ankles

My "I'm being tickled" face.

  The only thing we didn't like about the kissing fish spa was having to put back on our gross shoes and socks afterward.

The Chronicles of Yangshuo: The bike and her rider

Yangshuo doesn't have an airport or train station, so we flew in to the Guilin airport and stayed our first night at the Guilin Wada Hostel.  As we rode the bus from the airport into town, we were amazed by the mountains surrounding us.  It was dark outside, but we could still see the outlines of the Limestone figures.  My heart could barely contain itself in my chest. 

The next morning we walked through pouring rain to the bus station where we were ushered onto the next bus to Yangshuo.  It wasn't a bad bus ride since it was only about 2 hours through beautiful scenery.  My only complaints were that the windows kept fogging up and they were playing "Snakes on a Plane" for the entertainment.  "Snakes on a Plane?" Really?  A scary, rated R movie on a public bus?  Unedited?  I was pretty unhappy about it.  Movies like that give me a bad feeling in my stomach that lingers for a few days.  But I put my head phones in and tried to drown out the F-bombs and screams coming from the speakers.

We finally made it to Yangshuo and jumped off the bus.  Amazement took hold of us.  Although I'd done a ton of research on the place, none of it could have prepared me for how beautiful it was.  The city was nestled right in the middle of the mountains.  They just popped up everywhere like giant stalagmites.  The city itself was adorable: just a perfect little tourist town.

The mountains around Yangshuo

Yangshuo's West Street

We had a driver from the hostel come pick us up at the bus station.  We were booked to stay at the Trippers Carpe Diem hostel and we knew we wouldn't be able to find it without help.  To get to our hostel from Yangshuo is about a 20 minute walk, or a 10 minute bike ride.  It was in the country, surrounded by mountains, and we loved it.  The staff was friendly and helpful, the food was delicious, and the tours they helped us book were fantastic.

The view from the deck of the Trippers Carpe Diem hostel.

After settling into our rooms (Soren and I had our own), we rented some bikes and set off for Moon Hill.  I was given a map with directions from one of the ladies at the hostel.  There were two routes to get to Moon Hill: a scenic (1 1/2 hours) or a short route (30 minutes).   The vote for the scenic route was unanimous, so we picked out our bikes, and set off for an adventure. We hadn't gotten very far before it started to pour rain. Luckily, we had to walk our bikes through a covered shopping area and the downpour was practically over by the time we'd made it through.  Maddie, Krista, and I deemed it necessary to buy ponchos at this point.

It wasn't long before we were into some of the most beautiful scenery I have ever seen.  Gorgeous mountains all around us.  The word "Wow" probably escaped my lips 12-15 times on this bike ride alone. 

The route was a little complicated. I had to keep checking my map to make sure we were going in the right direction, but we only managed to get off course twice (neither of them completely my fault...but mostly...).

I took a couple videos as we rode, trying to capture the amazingness of what was going on.  For future reference: biking and videoing at the same time is not always a good idea.

The bike, her rider, and her rider's husband.

 I did not kill the chicken.

The chicken did not kill me.

I didn't even really fall off my bike, but I gave that chicken a good glare anyway. 

The ride was beautiful and relaxing for most of us, but for Jenna and Krista, it was a little exhausting.  Both of them got flat tires half way through the ride.  A traveling bike repairman fixed their bikes (patched the tube and everything), but Krista's didn't hold the air for long. Also, a kind Chinese gentleman (whose name escapes me) stopped to help us negotiate with the bicycle repair man and he ended up joining us on our venture to Moon Hill so he could practice his English.

Moon Hill was awesome.  The climb was really hard.  There were a lot of steps, the steps were wet, and I hadn't had much to eat all day.  Soren, like the superhero he is, stayed behind to help me get to the top.  We all looked like a mess, but the view was so worth it.

Moon Hill from below

The view from the top

The group (Photography by the Chinese Gentleman)

Doing Kung Fu by the Moon

We had also planned to go the the Gold Water Caves that night, but were too exhausted.  We bid farewell to our Chinese friend and decided to take the short bike ride back. Our bottoms were not happy to get back on the bikes, but we gritted our teeth and pushed on.  The ride back was also beautiful even though it was on a busier street.  It started pouring on us hard core, so we stopped at a little restaurant for some dinner. 

Once our bellies were full and the rain had eased up a bit, we rode the rest of the way back to the hostel.  That night we rested, booked a tour to the rice terraces, and Soren and I got some dessert at the cafe. 

Day one: Huge success

The Chronicles of Yangshuo: The Plane, The Customer Service Rep, and The Credit Card

Before even getting to China, I knew I was going to Yangshuo...whatever the cost. 

When our vacation time for Yangshuo was shortened, I knew I was going to fight for as much time as possible...whatever the cost. 

When taking the 25 hour train ride to Yangshuo was deemed "not worth it," I knew I would find another way...whatever the cost.

I found a way.

Well, we all found a way. 

After much debate and consideration, we decided to take a 2 hour plane instead of the 25 hour train.  Although the plane tickets ended up costing almost 3 times as much as the train tickets would have, I think many of you would agree that, in this case, the time was worth much more than the money.

One of our ILP directors recommended ctrip.com to book our flights.  Despite the following story, it was a big help, it got us great prices on our tickets, and I'd recommend it if you plan on traveling within China anytime soon. We were advised to buy all the tickets with one card, that way we'd be sure to get all the tickets for the same price.  Jenna was the only one who had enough money on her card to pay for all the flights.  So we booked the flights and planned to pay Jenna back the next day.

Feeling rather good about ourselves, we decided to get on with our regular evening-time activities.  Most of us decided to go to Xuezelu for dinner, but Jenna stayed home.  In the metro station, I received a phone call from ctrip.  Since I was about to get on a train, and I couldn't hear the phone very well, I told them to send me a text message instead.  Before we got to the next metro stop, I received a distressing text message informing me that our payment had failed.

Boo.

Soren and I hopped off the metro and rushed back to our apartments.  Jenna had no idea why the payment had failed and everything seemed to be in order with her card, so I called ctrip back.  As it turns out, you cannot use a Debit card over the internet in China.  It just doesn't work.  It must be a CREDIT card.  Dumbest thing you've ever heard?  Yeah, us too.  Only a few of us had credit cards and none of us had a big enough credit limit to pay for all the plane tickets.  I asked the customer service representative what we should do.

Customer service isn't China's strong point.

She told us we could go to the ctrip office in downtown Nanjing and pay with a Debit card there.  She gave us an address in a neighborhood we somewhat knew.  Since it was an hour metro ride away and we only had two hours before the office closed, Soren, Jenna, and I rushed off to save the day.  Why didn't we just wait until the next day, you ask?  I'll tell you.  Ctrip can get you great deals on flights, but the prices are constantly changing.  In the process of trying to buy tickets earlier that night, one of the prices jumped up over 100 yuan.  We didn't want the prices to go up anymore, and as long as we paid for our flight before the night was over, we were guaranteed that the prices wouldn't change.

Just before getting on the metro, I got another phone call.  Once again, I couldn't hear the person on the other end of the phone so I had them text me again.  The text had a different address on it then the one we were going to.  So I called them back to ask which address we were supposed to go to.  The lady on the phone confirmed that we could go to the address we'd originally planned on, so we shrugged our shoulders and soldiered on.

We got off in downtown Nanjing, and snagged a taxi to take us to the ctrip office.  The taxi driver took us to an area that we actually knew quite well and pointed to a building.  We looked around and couldn't really see anything that looked like the right place.  I showed the address to a guy in a painting shop, and he indicated that the place we were looking for was upstairs.  He sent us around to the back of the building to an alleyway. 

The entrance to the stairway was sketchy, at best.  There were no lights in the stairwell.  Since we were sure the office would be on the 7th floor, we voted against the stairs.  Seven flights of pure darkness would be scary enough, but we also weren't 100% sure there would be something for us when we reached the top.  So we decided to take the elevator.  One of them had broken buttons, and the other one had mostly broken buttons.  We took the one with mostly broken buttons.  The seventh floor button was broken, but we figured we could go to the 6th floor and brave the stairway from there.

This is the part where you scream out, "You IDIOTS!  Don't you know you're in a horror movie?  Something terrible is about to happen to you!  RUN RUN RUN!"  To which I would reply, "You watch too many movies."  Seriously though, it was super sketch.

Soren had hit every working button in the elevator, so we got to see what each floor had to offer.  There wasn't much.  Most floors were dark.  Some had eerie lights.  One had the elevator gated off.  When we reached floor 6, we had to turn on some lights.  Light didn't do us any good, though, because there were no stairs.  It was impossible to get to floor seven through any other way than an elevator...and the 7th floor elevator buttons weren't working. 

Now we were officially frustrated.  We went back to the street and started looking for another building.  I called ctrip again, but it took me about 5 times to get a hold of them.  As it turned out, we were at the old location of the ctrip office.  The NEW location was at the address they texted me.  Okay...so why did TWO DIFFERENT PEOPLE tell me that both were fine?  I got so frustrated, I had to hand the phone to Soren to sort it all out.

In the end, we went back to the apartments.  Got everybody together and booked the flights on three separate credit cards. Was it a hastle?  Yes.  Was it worth it?  Absolutely. 

This past Saturday, as we sat in our comfy seats on the plane, being served our tasty airplane food, we took great pride in that decision.  No 25 hour train ride for us!

If you're disappointed you didn't actually get to hear about our trip yet, fear not!  More is to come.