Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Shenzhen, you make my heart sing.


Ok. Quick synopsis of what's going on. We haven't had reliable internet access since February 20th, so this is a little dated. And I'll probably be repeating myself so much as I post a million different things at once, so bare with me. Hopefully it's exciting enough that you won't care. Back to Shenzhen...

Anyway, we were so busy these days with exploring and training that I didn't 
really have time to write. I got some basic Chinese language training (I can 
count and have a basic introduction conversation) but as bad Jack continues to 
tell me, my Chinese is horrible. I've had a difficult time getting the four 
tones down and distinguishing between the them when listening. I'll keep trying 
though! 

Nothing about Shenzhen really stood out to me as being amazing. I didn't really 
take many pictures because it all just kinda seemed blah. That is until the last 
night when I think my life changed forever. 

Two huge things happened. One involving the infamous Jacks, the other involving 
KTV. 

The jacks left early that day to return to Nanjing and though I wasnt expecting 
it, I missed them (and Ben) like crazy. 

But as soon as they left, jack started qq messaging us like crazy. He told us 
step by step what they were doing, from getting a taxi, to arriving to the 
airport, to boarding the plane, and finally arriving home safely. He may act 
like a pain most of the time, but underneath the crazy antics of a 14 year old 
boy he is so incredibly sweet. 
Later that night we also video chatted on QQ with jack and both his parents came 
on to meet us. They were both so sweet and invited us to stay with them if we 
ever visit Nanjing! I can't wait to get up there and explore more of china with 
some amazing people. 

Finally though to my favorite part of this entire trip....KTV!! For those of you 
not in the know KTV=karaoke. Yes. Karaoke. When we finished chatting with Jack, 
brad and Tony took a small group to KTV. I was instantly interested but amber 
took a little convincing. It. Was. Awesome. 

We sang everything from classic Elton John to backstreet boys to Justin beiber, 
Taylor swift, even Adele. Brad and Tony even serenaded us with some Chinese 
songs. I may not have understood the meaning but you can tell how beautiful the 
songs were by just listening and feeling the music. It's crazy how you can take 
a group of 10 Americans (and 1 Chinese guy) throw them in a room, and have 
everyone connect into one entity. It didn't matter where we were from, what we 
believed, or that we were all in China, a place nearly all of us hadn't been to 
before. That night, we became friends. It takes guts to move yourself to a 
foreign country where you don't know a soul, can't speak the language, and live 
a completely different culture. To let go of all your inhibitions and 
embarrassment while singing "truly madly deeply" makes the experience that much 
better. 

Shenzhen, it has truly been a pleasure.

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