Home Sweet Home

I wouldn't trade my time overseas for anything, but it's so glorious to be home! It's great to be in the cooler temperatures, my own bed, and eating western food. Traffic, for instance, is a huge benefit to being in the states. I can't justify a complaint about traffic here anymore. In every country traffic was bumper-to-bumper, the lines on the road were a waste of paint, and U-turns were rampant. I guess it's easier to make a U-turn and take a right than it is to take a left, which is understandable with the traffic. It's even crazier because they pack so many people in the car! Here's a few pictures to demonstrate my relief!

I'm currently working on a website to post all the pictures with captions from the trip...I'll pass on the address when it's done! Thanks again for all the support everyone!

A Cold Shower Never Felt So Good!

By popular demand, from one by the name of Caleb Roth, I am posting about Manila. Haven't really done much as far as sight seeing or tourist kinds of things. Just meeting Ashley's friends and enjoying a TON of downtime. On the contrary, I've been doing a lot of one thing...sweating! It is so hot here and the humidity is just killer. I don't think a entirely cold-water shower has ever felt so glorious as it does every morning. We're starting to transition into rainy season though, so it's been raining almost every afternoon/evening to provide some relief. Not a rain like we would expect in the states though, still very warm with warm acidy water!

Nothing against my company here but I'm starting to countdown days to coming home! It's going to be a long flight and interesting time transition but I'm ready for it. I want to be around family again, it's too long to be so far away. :( The time will come soon though! Can't wait!

Pictures are refusing to work on blogger's side of the deal...just so you know! Maybe later!

Giant Pandas, The Ocean, and The Great Wall

We've officially seen all the important things of China. We arrived on Monday and went to Chengdu first. We only played at one international school (english speaking!!!) and spent the rest of the time being tourists. Didn't get to do much of that in South Korea since we were playing three or four concerts a day. China is seeming like a debriefing compared to Korea! Aside from the school, we had our first bartering experience, which proved to be successful for most of us, and got to visit the giant pandas.

Our next stop was the beautiful city of Qingdao. While we didn't get to interact and hang out with the students as much there, the teachers were awesome. They brought us around to be tourists again all day with only four performances total in two days. Again, that was a relief!

Finally we are here, in Bejing! It's been a whirlwind but it's nearly finished and I'll be headed to the Philippines for some R&R in no time. We stepped off the airplane from Qingdao and immediately drove to the Great Wall. We tried to be adventurous and climbed up to it, no riding for us! It took quite some time but we made it to the top and it was worth it. Riding down we rode a scooter type thing on a very windy slide. The nicest part about that, aside from not having to climb back down, was being in control of you brake. You can definitely pick up speed on that bugger!

Smart Toilet!

Our host family has a SUPER smart toilet, well, if you're into all that! When you first sit down it adjusts to your size and grabs you, not to mention the already heated seat when you do get there. Then there are all kinds of buttons to make your visit more pleasing. Things such as, a spray to clean you up when you are finished, and then air blowing to dry you off. Let's not forget the music that you can play as you sit! Man, what will they think of next.

Just wanted to share that with you all. Figured it fits well into the bathroom humor of thanksgiving!

Hope to post some more later but it's already pretty late here and we have five shows tomorrow so I need my rest! Keep our lips in your prayers please...it's getting rough!

여보세요

Annyongaseyo! That means "hello" in Korean and I can't believe how many times I've said it already! It's been so great being here and experiencing the culture. They are VERY fast paced, and we all think Americans are bad! They are always running to their destination and quick to come and go.

We've played about three concerts a day thus far and have five to do on Sunday before we fly out for China on Monday. It has been quite the adventure with little down time. Today was the longest time we've had thus far and it's still not much. Just crazyness.

Tomorrow we are visiting the DMZ. The assistant director of the music dept. at Grace has a son that is an officer there so he is personally caring for us while we visit. I'm not quite sure what to expect just yet but I know there are tons of rules! You cannot wear jeans, cannot wear shorts, and no sandals either. So, we'll see how that goes having to dress up again! Definitely getting sick of the khaki pants and blue shirts, I'll be glad when I get to the Philippines and can where my own clothes.

We've only had one mishap so far with leaving one of our members behind. We are traveling in two vehicles and it was assumed that he was in the oppposite one for each. Needless to say, five minutes later at a red light, we were making faces at each other (mature I know!) and realized he was missing. Back to the school we went to get him. Luckily, the place we left him was an international school which means they speak only English so he was alright. Now we are very sure to keep everyone together. In fact, we've resorted to elementary school with a count out, except we do it in Korean. I am "sa" which is 4!

That's all from here for now, not sure when I will have internet again but I will keep you updates if I do. Next post will be all pictures!