GGOOOAAAALLLL!!!!!

Saturday, August 16th:

What a relax day! Nothing major in the first part of the day, so I just lounged around the apartment. Jennifer, one of my apartment-mates wanted to go to the "Antique Market" where they sell all different types of replicas, paintings, pottery, jewelery etc. I'm glad that she did, because I was being a lazy pile of nothing...not like that's a bad thing every once and a while.

It was fun seeing all different types of Chinese art that people display. It's close to a swap-meet that we have back in Utah. People pack and unpack there stuff there daily and especially on the weekends it is full of sellers.

After we returned a few people wanted to go to Annie's, an Italian restaurant before we headed to the soccer game. It was really good...Italian in China??? Afterwards I attended my FIRST soccer game! I was so excited. We watched Italy vs Belgium. It was so much fun and we had such good seats. Some of the CCI group painted their faces and bodies for Italy. Sadly the Italians couldn't finish strong and lost 3-2. I loved every moment and could only imagine what a game at the World Cup would be like. South Africa 2010??? We'll see...

After the game a bunch of the crew went out on the town. I decided to head home and ventured on a journey. A couple wrong turns here in China can result in a ton of confusion. No worries! I prevailed and found the subway along with a bunch of other cool shops that I want to revisit sometime before I leave. It was a fun evening! I love watching soccer!!!!

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Sunday, August 17th:


My favorite places to visit till today were: #1 - Forbidden City. The city is so majestic and huge. It's awesome to see what Beijing was built around. #2 - Lama Temple. I love to learn about other's beliefs and the ways they view life, death, spirituality etc. Today I think I have a new #1 - the Summer Palace. Wow. This place is soo beautiful and enormous. The amount of land that this place takes up...70,000 (acres? or the equivalent) regardless, a lot of space. There is a huge lake in the middle where Jordan and I took a paddle boat out for a stroll to get some pictures on the lake. The paddle boat was interesting. I was convinced we were jipped on the boat because of how slow it went. I watched as kids peddled right past me. Every six times I peddled was one of there's...it was ridiculous. I had fun though. It was worth it. There is so much to see that you can't make it in one sitting, but we did the best we could and had a blast cruising around.




Afterwards, I took Jordan to get some steamed dumplings from a local restaurant. It was way better than the ones we get around the area we are staying. It was really good, of course! From there we went back home. I have been getting really tired from all the site seeing and walking around we have been doing. I came home and took a very needed nap.

That evening is an evening that will truly go down as a night to remember. I'll have to write an individual post about this story, because it's so ridiculous that you wouldn't believe me...but it did. So after Hot Pot dinner, which is basically a boiling broth, either spicy or regular (chicken broth). They bring the pot to a boil and bring out all your food raw and you put what you want in this pot and cook as you go. It's a lot of fun and really good.

Okay, so after dinner Jennifer and I head back to the apartment and she gets a call from her cousin that asks her to come out clubbing with her and there was a place that she could get her and some people on the VIP list. Well, Jennifer asks me at the apartment if I would like to come and that she would ask her cousin if I could come. I'm not sure? I haven't gone out at all up to this point, just hang out at the apartment mostly is what I do. Last minute I decide to finally go after tossing around the idea. We meet up with her cousin and boyfriend. We go on this long hunt for this place where the club is at. Jennifer has no idea what to expect and neither do I, so we continue on following them. Finally we find the place and it's in the bottom of some mall. Strange...I walk in and this place just seems really too high class for me, so I'm feeling out of place for a long time. We end up sitting with the China CEO of Crocs and he is really nice. We are hanging out having a good time and then some of the people we are hanging out with come and tell us the "Carlton" from the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air is here! I look at the stairs and there he is, so I make my way over to find out for myself and get a picture with him. SIDENOTE: This is also the night I don't bring my camera with me! Proof will be coming soon! So that was pretty cool, a little later Joe from Crocs comes and tells us we have to move to make room because Evander Holyfield and Chris Tucker are coming up to where we are sitting! WHAT!? I'm so confused that a part of me thinks this is ridiculous. It is...because a few minutes after standing I turn and watch as Evander Holyfield walks right past me and sits down. At this point I'm a little kid screaming inside!!! "THE" Evander is right in front of me. So of course, it takes me forever to make the motion to introduce myself to him. Later that evening he moves to a table by the dance floor (probably because I was staring at him so much) and we go down to dance and Evander is dancing...so here is my moment! I make my way over to him and take some pictures for the girls, then I ask him for a picture...YES! Proof coming soon!!! So I can say I danced by Evander Holyfield at a club in Beijing! So here is a list of others that were supposedly going to make an appearance: Chris Tucker, Rafael Nadal, Jackie Chan (I would have died!) and Cameron Diaz. So pretty ridiculous, but when you meet 2 in one night...you never really know?

It was such a fun night and afterwards came home and got some McDonalds...in China, weird. Tastes the same, but China puts cucumbers like tomatoes and some real spicy sauce. It wasn't too bad. Perfect for a 4:30-5:00am meal...wild!

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Monday, August 18th:

Three hours later from the end of last evening...I'm up and ready to go for part two of the Forbidden City. It was just as awesome as the first time! It's such a cool place. I'm glad that I came out and didn't sleep through it.

Afterwards, a bunch of us went to Annie's for lunch. I'm starting to get addicted to this place. I had hand made pizza...fresh! Amazing and it's so cheap too. There is a place called Ya Shows that is a pretty popular spot here, so we went on a search to find it and after some walking was very successful. Went home and once again...nap. I have been extremely exhausted lately.



Tonight the CY CAN students held a going away party for the 14 day volunteers at a local club, V.V.'s. A bunch of us headed out for the evening and met the rest of the CCI group members there later. I wasn't planning on staying out too long this night, but we ended up having so much fun dancing and all that we ended up once again staying out pretty late...4am. It was a blast hanging out with everyone one last time...one last hoorah! Came back home and hung out with Jordan and Raquel before they had to leave at 5am. It was sad knowing that everyone was going to be gone in the next two days and we would have a significant drop in people. For a few moments throughout the day...I really wanted to come back home.

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Tuesday, August 19th:

PHEW! I don't know if I'm going to make it? Soo tired lately...mostly the reason I have been slacking on my blog. So after seeing Jennifer, Jordan and Raquel leave, sad. I go back and get a few hours of sleep before I wake up again...I can't sleep anymore, it sucked. I hang out with the Stevens Point girls before they all have to leave too! Everyone that I have been around mainly is now taking off. These girls have been a real treat to be around. Some of the most chill girls I know and I had a great time getting to know them. So here is a shout out to my Wisconsin chicas! Alex, Allison, Alicia x2 and Carrie...you girls are awesome! Jing and I hung out for a bit this afternoon. We went to lunch, Korean Barbecue. It was cool, you get your own personal BBQ at your table and you cook all your food there, very interesting.

Came back and headed to Athletics aka Track and Field at the Birds Nest with Nathalie and Allie! My first trip to the Olympic Village! Wow, the Water Cube and the Birds Nest are amazing structures and at night when they are lit up...beautiful. We had some really good tickets for the events this evening. We sat in the First Tier and had a really good view. We got to watch the awards ceremony for the Mens 400m Hurdles where U.S. swept all medals! It was sweet, we sang the national anthem...definitely made our country proud! We placed in a lot of the events throughout the evening also. Took tons of pictures afterwards! Had a blast and then came back and hung out with Robbie before he took off in the morning and that is the end of my long, long, packed, fun filled days! I need to sleep...

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Wednesday, August 20th:

Now that most of the people that I know are gone...it's time to make more friends! Today was a very productive day. I SLEPT and did NOTHING...and LOVED it!!! Seriously, I woke up and sat around for a while. Washed the dishes in the apartment. Straightened up the place since we will have new people moving in tomorrow. I made some lunch, took a shower and relaxed! It was very productive. I feel so much better now, recharged and ready to go again!

I'm caught up once again on my blog! I hope that you enjoyed my last few days of entries. I have a place where you can check out my videos and look at the rest of my pictures! Here is the link...photobucket.com/djmounga...make sure that you click on the albums to see everything. It still needs work done, but there are some videos up right now that you can enjoy. I don't know how people do this daily. This is tough work to post your blog, upload your pictures/videos etc., etc., etc. I think I'm doing a pretty good job! But I hope that you enjoy this. Please feel free to make comments. I love reading them...they make me feel good =) Also, if you will note the title of this blog...I've been working on this one for a while.

The countdown has officially began...8 days left! Talk to you all soon!