Livin' it up Beijing-style!

So just in case you were wondering.... China is freaking AWESOME!!!  Today marks 1 week in Beijing (less than it should be, due to traveling ridiculousness).  I've honestly loved every minute of it!  I only have a quick minute to write, so here's a short recap since August 1st:

8/1-8/4: 1st flight at BWI cancelled/moved to IAD airport; shuttled to IAD; 2nd flight at IAD delayed 3 hours; a friend missed the LAX flight so I stayed behind with him so he wouldn't have to navigate to China by himself; spent 10 hours on a bench at LAX; 3rd flight to Tokyo re-scheduled 24 hours later; arrived 24 hours late to orientation in Beijing. BUT due to all of those delays and changes and missed flights, I met some super awesome people and made several new pen-pals! I even met a fellowship leader in Tokyo and we were able to study the Word together- it was so amazing!

8/5: training, ate legit Chinese food (I'll need to work on actually liking the food here), spent time with all my awesome teammates getting to know each other :-) Here's a picture of me and my teammates:

                                (from left to right: Abby, Sam, Lauren, me, Erin, Jamie, and Susie)

8/6: more training, went to our Beijing headquarters, and went to downtown Beijing to do some sight-seeing and shopping.

8/7: Chinese fellowship! It was pretty similar to American fellowships and we all felt right at home- it was so great to see how much He's working in China! We also went to Pagoda Park and it was so beautiful! Here's a picture of the Pagoda:

8/8-8/9: first couple days of classes to learn how to be a teacher and how to survive in China! It's so weird being a student again after having graduated from college 2 years ago!

8/10: THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA!!!! We all hiked the Great Wall and it was so incredible! We were even able to toboggan down the mountain, which was so fun! At the market place I learned how horrible I am at haggling, but by the end of the market lane (and quite a few purchases later) I'd finally picked it up! Here's a picture of the Great Wall:

I absolutely love Beijing and am enjoying every bit of it! Now that I'm in training I don't have much time for posting blogs so these will be pretty short, but I'll still post updates as often as I can! Thank you all for your support and encouragement- this is really going to be an incredible year!