A Night of Karaoke and Riding Home in Boxes

Fact of the Day

Eating large amounts of white rice causes the human body to produce excess amounts of saliva.

Ever since arriving here I have been asking myself, "What's up with the Chinese and spitting?" They seriously spit everywhere - on the sidewalk, on the bus, on the floor in the mall...it's not normal and it's completely disgusting. I have had a hard time coming to accept this part of Chinese culture, but the discovery of this scientific fact has helped my level of acceptance to progress to at least a moderately tolerant level.

At School

We heart attacked our Chef, Michael because he makes such awesome meals for us.

Learning to make jiaozi (dumplings)

Dance Partay!!!

This is what we do on weekends in our apartment when we are bored.

Nicole trying to break dance and Anna peeing herself in the background.

Soulja boy!

We always like the finish off the night by eating rice straight out of our oversized pot.

Just a regular old day in China

This is a serious problem for the Chinese.

Anna has gone pro at making mass amounts of popcorn.

Mom, look! They wear detachable sleeves here! If you moved here you could wear yours without anyone making fun of you...and you would be the tallest person in the whole city. This place was made for you!

We made this tower of deliciousness in the microwave. Who knew?

Mama Taggart putting the finishing touches on our masterpiece.

Trav and me just practicing our kung fu... in the Forbidden City...no biggie.

Yes, Abbey Road does exist in Beijing.

The Terra Cotta warriors!!! Insanely, awesomely, crazily incredible.

Is it weird that doing this felt slightly sacrilegious to me?

Our early morning bike ride through Xi'an.

I didn't really get a good picture of me on the Great Wall, but this one of Haiyou is fabulous!

The crew on the Great Wall

At Olympic Park in front of the Aquatic Center. It was THE coolest building I have ever seen.

The Birds Nest

Shanghai, Beijing and Xi'an

The Shanghai skyline was incredible!!!

Shanghai at night

At Yuyuan gardens in Shanghai

A bus that doubles as a toilet. Only in China.

Tiananmen Square

We have actually been home from vacation for a couple weeks, but I have just been lazy about updating...nothing new there. The whole time I have been here I haven't been planning on going to Beijing because I didn't want to spend the money on it, but at the last minute I decided to go for some reason. Traveling to three major cities within a week combined with the minor detail of it being the Chinese national holiday and the 60th anniversary of the PRC made for an insane trip. We ended up spending a lot more time and money on travel than we had planned on, but the trip was totally worth it in the end. There is just so much to tell about it that I don't even know where to start....so I'm not going to. Pictures will have to do. I love you all!