3/20/2016

To Kelly Wadsworth Message body I spent the weekend of my birthday in Shanghai for district conference. It was an adventure in every sense of the word. Just getting there was pretty interesting. I left my apartment at 6:50ish to take the 40 minute train ride, got confused in the train station, had several meltdowns, and got to the house of my host family after 11:30. Yeah. . . it was a very educational experience. They had a couple of tour options for the young single adults. I went on the city tour of the Bund. I was a little torn, because the tour of the water town called Qibao also sounded awesome. But, I definitely had fun. They had sent out emails saying it would be cold and rainy. On Friday night I felt way too hot, so I left my coat at the house where I was staying and just took my umbrella, which I totally didn't need, so I was lugging it around all flipping day for nothing, but later, someone said I looked cool doing it. Oh, well. We started out by meeting up at a subway stop at People's Square. The tour guide pointed out different famous buildings, most of which I don't remember much about, but it was cool. We went to a little park where the Meet Market is. It's the place where parents go to display information of their offspring in the hopes of finding someone to marry them off to. (Yeah, I'm really serious.) Taking a bunch of YSA's there seemed like some kind of sick joke. (A pretty hilarious one, though.) One woman there saw us all walking through and asked the tour guide if we were there to find someone ourselves. (Was she serious? I think she was.) We walked along a street that looked a lot like being on Times Square with a lot of Western-style clothing stores and stuff. We didn't stop to shop, but it was fun to see it all as we walked by. We rode the subway to get to a big market that literally looked like it could have come right out of a cartoon like Avatar or Kung Fu Panda. It was big and bustling, and all the buildings were red with the pretty curved roofs with upturned eaves. Super touristy, but pretty awesome. The tour guide took us through Yu Garden. (I think that's what it's called.) It's not a big garden, comparatively speaking, but it feels big because the path has nine zigzags. (Nine is a symbolic number in China.) It was built in the 1500's by a wealthy guy for his parents to enjoy when they were retired. There were a lot of people there, but it was so pretty. After we got through in Yu Garden, we came back out into the market and had an hour of free time to eat and shop. I am not a haggler, but, luckily one of the chaperones, whose name is Christine, was very experienced in the art of haggling. She and I had fun. I saw some gorgeous silk dresses, but even at a fifth of the price, I couldn't justify buying one. Christine got three silk fans for thirty kuai just because she could, and she gifted one to me. Those vendors are very desperate to sell! We went on a ferry across the river to walk along the New Bund, on a walkway called the Promenade. We saw the Oriental Pearl Tower, which is a very interesting structure, but I didn't get a picture, because by that time, my phone battery had died. We took the subway to the big building where church services were held and changed into our church clothes, and we were only a little fashionably late for the adult session. Then we had dinner and went to the YSA dance at 7. The next day (today) was kind of weird, because it was my birthday, but it didn't really reel like it. Not many people even knew. I was feeling a little down, because the lady we were staying with was really nice but high strung (who can blame her?), and it kind of got to me a little. But, church was good, even if we got there a bit late. They talked a lot about the Sabbath day, which was interesting given that so many were traveling that day. After that, they had a dinner for us, and then a YSA devotional. I attached myself to some other girls from Suzhou, so that I wouldn't have to travel home by myself. No way was I going through that again, not on my birthday! We had to wait till 7 before our train left, so we had a lovely afternoon together just hanging out. I am happy to report that we made it back with no incident. I (finally!) made it back to my apartment, hoping to enjoy the cake that my school got for me with Amelia, but she's out with friends again. She left me a cupcake and a sweet note on my bed, though, and even did the dishes while I was gone! (Oh, bless her!) It's been a rather exhausting weekend, and here I am still up so I can tell you about it before I forget what I did. I hope you are all doing well. I loved the picture of Natty with the Wild Kratts cutout. Please send news from home. I still haven't gotten anything about Grandpa. How is Miss Swallows' class? Tell them hi for me! I love you! Love, Chelsey*:x lovestruck