Day 16/17

Today is just a travel day! I didn't get any sleep and slept through the alarms on my phone, the wake up call, phone calls and the Knocks on the door and door bell rings done by allysha and tori! We had 20 minutes to get ready , change, and pack for our flight I gave duan an Arizona shirt and he gave me a big hug!! Today we have to say goodbye to Duan which I was really upset about!! On the bus ride to the airport he have this speech that I cried at. But he says that if we are ever in china again we don't heed to get a hotel room, we can stay with Duan and his wife at their house. He also said that If we come we get our own floor bathroom and western toilet!!! And when we get into china he'll be the first Chinese face we see! Before i got my boarding pass i write a little note to duan in the back of my business card! While waiting for everyone to get their boarding passes Dutra comes up to me and says "you better keep in touch with Duan because he said your a really special person many different times and you remind him of his niece and thinks if you like a daughter!" I'm teared up by this point and then see gives me a hug and I start crying!! Duan said several times that he's going to adopt me.. Joking of course but I really enjoyed being his favorite, and he was obviously my favorite! He's uber funny and I wish he could come to America with me in my suitcase :(

He always said the funniest things
What ever = what evvvaaaaa
Jackie Duan
He called me "captain" because of my captain crossfit jacket!
Adopting me And being his daughter


Fact: I cried while writing this post


The flight is super long... And we still have a 5hr layover in San Fran

Movies :
The vow
One for the money
This means war

Tv shows :
Big bang
Raising hope
The couple show with will arnnet and christina Applegate

I also finished mockingjay and cried 2 times In the last 30 pages!

Day 14

Today we went to a cloisonné factory!! It's painted pottery type things but they use pieces of copper wire to make the designs and then use an enamel paint and put it in a kiln! Gavin comes up to me in the shop there and asked if I was going to get anything and I said nahh everything's really expensive! Two seconds after that I buy something... Smh. Lol

After that we went on our way to the great wall of china!!!! It was rainy and foggy but I'm glad it wasn't hot and sunny.. Because I was still sweating in the cool weather! The inclines were incredibly steep and the steps were pretty steep and oddly proportioned! Even in the fog I got a few good pictures! After finishing the first section which was two miles ish.. We are walking back to where we started and we met up with Michael Angelo, tori, meg, Lindsay, and a few more people and we see thane gavin and demetri pass us going the other way because they went the harder way on the wall while allysha and I and a bunch of other people picked the easier side. We take pictures of these sweaty men who are basically stumbling.. And then let them keep truckin. we are still on or way back when we hear someone fall and we look back.... And Gavin accidentally ran into a little boy while he was coming down the hill! That kid hit the ground hard.. He didn't get hurt but I think he was more stunned than anything. Then the other boys come down following him.. And pass us, the careful people trying to not lose the little traction we are getting from our shoes while going down the hill on wet stone. After however long time we had to spend in the wall a few of us went to the store we were meeting at. We met up with Duan and we bought some hot chocolate that was way to hot. Also the people who made it put it into a glass cup?! We had lunch there and then had more shipping time after before we left to go to the Kung fu school where they filmed the newest KARATE KID with Jackie chan ( Jackie Duan... Inside joke) and jaden smith!! The karate students/ people gave us a little performance! It was pretty interesting! I got pictures with most of them and before we were taught some karate I did a round off back hand spring on the hard floor!! It was great.. My wrists took a beating but I'm glad I did it because I hadn't tumbled in a month!
We went outside where I remember seeing the movie scenes! The performance people taught us some moves and a combination. I never really got it in the first place and still wouldn't be able to tell you what moves we did or what order it was in! But apparently two if the performers were with Jackie chan this morning doing something for chinas MTV in Tian’anmen square where we were YESTERDAY morning :(
After that we went to the Olympic village from the 2008 Olympics!! We got to see the famous birds nest and the cube! Duan was actually working in the communications/ board casting building during the entire Olympics!!! Über cool right!? I asked him, if he gets to work the Olympics and do stuff for celebrities when they come to china why does he does do people to people... He said just for fun not to get paid! <3 awwww I love you Duan! We saw the neighborhood where he grew up and went to dinner. I fidnt have any of the Peking duck because I refuse to eat duck.. Always and forever! But I did have or try most of the food they served us. We finished eating and went back to our hotel where we had a few hours before bed checks! Allysha and i ordered room service! We got an ice cream and a cheesecake! The ice cream was soo gross because It had pieces of dragon fruit and watermelon in the Ice cream!!! We didn't even finish half of the ice cream..... But the cheese cake and was fantastic!!! We had another one of our great talks with Gavin and Thane! :) they are sooo funny.. And they think their room Is haunted!

Day 15

Today we woke up ate breakfast and went straight to the Beijing zoo to see the giant pandas!! It was really cool!! The pandas sat in rocking chairs and on a different type of rocking seat that you see at kids playgrounds! Ingot some great photos and videos. They are actually really smart animals. To get a carrot they have to put their arm in the fence and grab this handle and turn it. While still holding on to it they eat the treats.. It's soo cute! We aren't allowed to touch them... Which really stunk but at least we got a better view than the other people who were at the zoo did. After seeing the two youngins we could go in groups and see the bigger pandas.. But they weren't as interesting as the babies were! After the zoo we went to the pearl farm where they showed us how they how many pearls one fresh water oyster can make. The one she showed us was 7 years old and had 20 pearls inside!! After people bought stuff we went to the emperors summer palace where the largest man made lake is located! We took a dragon boat ride on the lake and saw done white people...... Woahhhh. Jk
The summer palace was pretty interesting and really large! After the summer palace we went on a Rickshaw ride in the old city hutongs where tori was my buddy and we rode on the residential streets. We passed by a school and like all the kids our age and younger were smoking ... It was pretty shocking and sad. We stopped at a locals house and she welcomed us into her house with tea. She talked about her talent of painting inside little bottles. It's actually pretty interesting and looks hard and you need skill to do it. After we left we had got back on the Rickshaw and headed to the drum tower. We walked up these super steep steps. When we got to the top my legs were starting to feel sore. Me tori and Gavin took a picture together.... The three musketeers. We were gonna be the four musketeers but thane didn't want to join our super chill group! Going down the steps were kinda difficult because it was so steep. After that we went to dinner where we had buffet style foods. Tori and I made a new type of dessert called Fiesta Grande: smushed cheesecake custard, chocolate cake, breaded fish and broccoli. Plus a special treat... Half chewed dark cherry..... Yummmyyyy! We gave it to demetri and Gavin but they wouldn't eat it.
After dinner we went to the hotel where we got a few hours before our last bed checks.. Allysha and I got a room service burger to share while we watched BRIDESMAIDS!!! Tori and I played hide and seek in the bathroom.. It was a pretty short game .. It was a pretty chill night though