From Krystal - June 21

This week was a challenge.
The birthday party this week was for Marcus and it turned out very great. The challenge was the planning of the party with Marcus always being around the corner or lurking trying to see what was going on. We had a great time at the party and I was excited that everyone was involved and that everyone enjoyed themselves.
Today was the last day of the culture experience with the painting and stroking of the brush. The teacher also gave us an individual pictures that we enjoyed the most drawing ourselves. We have had a good week and the weeks will continue to improve as we continue our journey. Thank God that Chen Laoshi (Mrs. Piletz) has been here for the tough times and when she is not here we have been handling things on our own. We are very appreciative of the supporters and the individuals that have been looking and reading our blog, and for all the responses and the comments we've received. We will continue to update you on our journeys and adventures. We are soon going to tour South China and that is very exciting for us. I didn't go with my host family last weekend but I intend to go this weekend. Being involved with this immersion makes me use the Chinese that I have learned, Learning new words is also even more exciting learning them from my "Mei-Mei". Other than that is has been good and continue that prayers that are going out for this group. We will be home soon to tell you all of the things we have been involved in and experienced. So get ready for an ear full of amazing stories.

From Antonay - June 22

This weekend I did not go with my host family, but instead I decided to stay the weekend with my French friend Ness since she will be leaving soon.
We did a little bit of shopping, eating and searched for snacks in the grocery store for an hour Lol...

We didn't do much, but it was still fun because we got to pig out on junk food that was similar to home, watch movies and have girl talk Lol....It was nice having her to talk to this weekend since I haven't really had a chance to talk thoroughly to my close friends from home....That's basically how my weekend went, but I enjoyed it and I will miss her when she leaves in two weeks, but I can now say that not only do I have Chinese friends, but I have a great French friend also.

From Antonay - June 21

Everyone have known that Marcus's birthday is Friday June 20 since we got here.....So naturally he has been thinking that we have been planning something to do for him on Friday. It's funny because we actually just started figuring out exactly what it is that we want to do since he is so Weird .........Lol...

When I came back from with my host family last week, I was telling everyone about the Karaoke place that I went to and since then, Marcus has been talking about how he want to go there before we leave. So we decided that that's where we want to have his party. We did our research and found out his favorite foods and flavors and we along with our Chinese friends started planning.

However, because Marcus is so clever, we decided to plan his party on Thursday, the day before his birthday, so that he would be clueless. Chen Laoshi (Ms. Piletz), Marcus and Terrence planned a day out to shop for art, while us girls went "shopping." Well we pretended to shop :)

When we arrived at the Karaoke place, Abbey, our Chines friend, had it decorated so beautifully. So we set out some chicken, his favorite pies, candies and a lemon flavored Birthday Cake and waited for them to arrive....And when they did it was so funny because Marcus didn't have a clue. He was so shocked to the point that it looked as if he wanted to cry.
It was a success. It was Chen Laoshi, Terrance, Shekerra, Ness, Abbey, Felix, Wen Zi, Krystal, Me and Marcus of course and we all sang for hours.....It was one of the better days that I've had here because we enjoyed ourselves together and had plenty of fun. -- Antonay

From Terrance - June 18

Today has been great! Shakerra and I woke early to join the Chinese students in their morning excercise. It's amazing to see everyone being so excited about "Beijing 2008". At least a few thousand students run, play ball, and practice martial arts every morning. Even in class, our teacher told us about the Olympics characters that means "Welcome to Beijing". They really welcome us into their culture. This week we're learning Chinese painting and calligraphy. This experience is really awesome! I encourage every one with the opportunity to go abroad to do so.

From Shekerra - June 18

Today, I was tired so it was a rough day as far as that goes. Class was ok... I'm glad that Chen laoshi (Ms. Piletz) is back with us for two weeks.

Antonay, Terrance, and I went into the city to get a cake for Marcus' birthday which is on Friday. He likes lemon cake and I do too, so that's what we got. Other than that nothing that interesting happened.