Shakin' up the family part 2

So much has happened since our move! I don’t even know where to start and what cool parts to share. I guess I’ll briefly explain the move. It was very nice that my close friend hy traveled all the way to chengdu with us. We were sad together getting on the first plane because we were leaving, but we were happy on the second flight into our new home. :)As soon as we arrived, we dropped all of our luggage off at the apartment. It seemed nice. After sitting our luggage we went down to the TEX-MEX RESTAURANT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YUMMMY!!! I was very confusing after being in the restaurant for a little while. I didn’t know if we were in China, Mexico, or Texas. It was such yummy food!!! :) We live in a pretty nice community. A big store like wal-mart is just a block down, and the Tex-Mex is just a few blocks down. There are many other conveniences as well. It’s perfect!

We stayed in a hotel for the first couple nights because our house didn’t have enough furniture in it yet. Honestly, it was pretty frustrating the first few days. Our apartment was so dirty!! We felt pretty overwhelmed with the huge cleaning job on our hands, but mom worked hard and we got it done. It’s kind of interesting because we have several cracks in our apartment walls from the earthquake. The picture is of some of the patched-up cracks. There are some bare ones though. Oh, and the apartment is LIME GREEN!! :) It keeps us awake. Dad was saying the other night that it makes him want ice cream. Haha The picture is of Kb and my room. Kb and I share that bed right now. It’s not bad! As far as the city goes, it’s pretty good. I’m still getting used to hot weather. It’s a little humid but not bad. Getting used to city life has been interesting, but we’re all coming around. :)

Like I said earlier, we spent the first few days cleaning. Then, Marshall and I and a friend got to go spend a day hangin out. We ate at subways and watched Prince Caspian at the theaters. Well, we watched it in Chinese. I understood most of it and that movie is fairly easy to follow. It was quite enjoyable. :)

The next day, I got to begin work! My dad and Marshall and I got to go out to a hit area for the whole day. If I were to describe the whole day, you’d be reading for forever. So, I’ll save you from that and just say a little bit and let the pictures do more explaining. We didn’t go to the most damaged place but it was still pretty messed up. Even though some buildings were still standing, there were all mostly condemned. You could usually find the places that gave evidence for it being condemned. There were many tents for stores that just had to set up their store on the streets, and also many tents for all the refugees. I met many sweet people, and played with tons of cute kids. It was really a great experience. All the people we ran into were very hospitable. Everyone in that area were just so impressive to me. People had houses and everything they had taken away by a disaster, and no one knows when things will be normal again. Even with all that hopelessness, everyone seemed completely happy. They just conformed to life. They ddin’t have a choice so they are just making the best of the situation they’re in. American’s wouldn’t be able to do that! I love these people!! The whole trip just really made me think a lot. It was great and it will continue to be great as we go on more trips! Enjoy the pictures! I'll try to explain a few. The pictures are in no real order.

This is a picture of a very sweet girl. She came up to my dad and asked how many of us there were and then asked if she could get us some water. My dad said no because we were about to leave. She just said ok and then turned and walked away. I did notice that once she had her back turned she started digging in her purse. Then, she walked up to me and gave me a little mirror with pretty colors on it. It was used but she just wanted to give one thing that she had. It meant so much to me and made me cry once and almost made me cry a few other times. It was just so meaningful to me in many different ways.

These are just some soldiers that ran by. I'm not sure if there were on a mission or if they were just hurrying.

This is my dad and some other people we were with unloading a machine from the jeep.

This is just a really cute little girl. :)

This little boy was a hoot. He liked to follow us around and he was always funny. :) The second pic is him with his sis.

My dad wondered why I was uploading pictures of water bottles and I'm sure you are too. These are pictures of water bottles that people just walked up and gave us. Just an example of their hospitality...

Ok, so, my feet got really dirty and disgusting while we were there. You can't really tell in this pic. :)

This is my name tag. It says volunteer and somethin else. I'm not sure what the somethin else is. ha ha

isn't he cute?!

Working on installing the system...

The people in this picture are just a few of the people that came to watch/help with installment.

They are a cute family. :)

I really like these next two pictures. This is when the water was ready to drink. One picture is of my dad drinking it and smiling and the other one is of everyone piling in to fill their containers up! :)

This is just one of the many refugee camps. This one had fewer people in it too.

Our jeep...

These girls were the first people I talked to on the trip. They were precious!! :)

This lady came up to me and talked to me. She was real kind! Then, she put her arm around me. It was really sweet.:)

The next several pictures are of the damage.

I was really encouraged by these people, and I hope you were as well. I'll be going to this same place tomorrow! :) yay..

Love you all!

Holli :)