Qingdao and Update

Hello world!

I've finally found a minute where I can update my status and let all of the lovely people in my life know how I'm doing in a little place called China.

First: Let's talk about Qingdao (Ching- Dow)

Susan (my beautiful, talented, and fantastic co-head teacher) and her sister went with me down to Qingdao which is about 4 hours south of Weihai for our 4 day weekend trip last week. We originally didn't plan on going on vacation because we hadn't planned anything, however, we decided that it would be good for us to get out and get some sunshine and enjoy the fact that we're in a completely different culture with lots of beautiful things around us.

So, Thursday morning we boarded a bus to Qingdao, which wasn't really exciting. We got lost for a bit because our bus station was on the other side of town. However, with the help of a lady with a little boy, we found the right bus and headed into town- and this is what we saw:

Beautiful huh? Ocean meets metropolis meets ancient architecture. For those of you who don't know much about Qingdao (I know that I didn't before I went), it was a port that was taken over for about 40 years (1890-1930) by the Germans. During that time, they built lots of mansions and other European architectural buildings that we were lucky enough to see.

Beautiful building on the Qingdao pier. Apparently, it's the same building that's on Tingsao beer which is one of the most well known beers in China. However, I just think that it looks awesome :)

Did I mention beautiful European architecture? Here's the Protestant Church. We couldn't really get up very close to it because it costs more money. It was just as amazing at a distance.

This is another well known Catholic Cathedral- and it is actually still holding mass meetings! How cool is that? I'm in China in front of one of the only cathedrals in China.

We were taking pictures when we were walking to the bus stop so we could remember where our hotel was, and these were some buildings right next to the bus stop. I thought the fog made them look majestic.

A very cool statue in downtown Qingdao.

So, the next day we took a million buses to get to Mt. Laoshan which is originally an hour away from downtown Qingdao, however by bus (and a million wrong directions) it took us almost 3 hours. However, we were in good spirits when we saw this beautiful scene:

Beautiful huh? We saw that. We hiked that mountain as well.

This is me in the parking lot :) Pretty glamorous huh?  I'm pretty sure this jacket is every single picture of me in China- I hope it will warm up soon.

At the top :) It had rained as we were walking up, so if I look like death please send forgiving thoughts my way. We also met this family who was from Mexico on the hike up. They warmed my heart and it was good to hear a familiar language.

The next day, we went to Zhongshan Park and the Zhongshan Temple. What better way to get to the temple from the park but by cable car?

I was alone in the cable car, but Susan and Cindy were having a good ol' social time haha :)

One part of the Zhongshan Temple. What was so unusual was that it's still a fully functioning temple so there were lots of people burning incenses and monks walking all around. It felt slightly awkward taking this picture...

More cable car pictures of Qingdao

Another portion of Zhongshan temple grounds. Very cool! 

So, that was my vacation. It was great getting to see all of those amazing things, and I had so many fun experiences I'd go back in a heartbeat. 

Since we've been back, it's been one of the most stressful weeks of my life. I've been pushed to my limits and though it's been incredibly difficult, I am very blessed to see the Lord's hand in my life and the hands of His servants. I've gotten the chance to watch a couple of conference talks which have been incredibly helpful. I've also made prayer a large part of my life. Lastly, I have some pretty amazing people in my life right now that I'm so grateful for. They are positive and loving and help me whenever I am struggling. I am definitely in no shortage of friends here. I could not be any more thankful for them in my life. 

I hope that everything is going well back at home- I'll update again when I can :)