babies and puppies :)

My favorite thing about China?

The babies and puppies!

Cutest babies EVER!!!

At home, It would be weird seeing a really cute baby and going to pick it up and hold it and play with it. (Not that it ever stopped me.) In China, to have a American give your kid attention is a huge deal! So we can play with all the cute babies we want :)And I feel like China is a puppy heaven. Well.. not really because they are all stray and probably starving... But they're so many puppies running around everywhere! It is the best. I can tell that people are getting annoyed that I have to stop and pet every puppy I see, but I really can't help it!

He was making the funniest grunting noises. 

What got me through a 32 hour train ride :)

 Letting a stray puppy bite my hand? Probably not the smartest idea. He just wanted to play though!

 It's the year of the rabbit, and boy am I happy about it! These little guys are everywhere!

 I am allergic to cats :( So Emily had to hold it for me.

A pink puppy? I felt like that kid on the youtube video David after the dentist... "Is this real life?!"

So much love in this picture :)

Nanjing

One of my favorite places in China is Nanjing. It is actually the old capitol of China! Nan means old and jing means capitol! (Bei means new if you were wondering) Here are some of my favorite pictures from that trip! I hope you enjoy them :)

 Home sweet home? Our hostel in Nanjing... "Wait, we only have four people booked to sleep in here... Why are there six beds?"

 So I got to sleep by a Belgium man... Complete stranger. Turns out he sleeps naked and meditates for an hour in the morning. Naked.

 Trying to figure out where we are, and where we are going. Looks hard huh? Well trust me when I saw that it's harder than it looks.

 My favorite treat! They are strawberries that are dipped in a sugar glaze. The glaze hardens and boy... I can't even tell you how good they are!

 Stephanie and I infront of the Confucius Temple.

 It is the year of the rabbit, and I love it! These little guys are everywhere :)

 I love the cool buildings here.

 We went to a bell/drum tower. Us stupid Americans starting to take turns doing this ^ and we quickly got a crowd of asians taking pictures and videos of us. haha

Random catholic church we stumbled upon. It was cool! I don't understand how it was legal though.

 Steph and I. I love her :)

 Nanjing at night time! This cool river was right outside of our hostel! The weird sleeping situation was worth the great location.

 There are lanterns EVERYWHERE in Nanjing

 They had this really pretty tree, and you could buy ribbons with a little weight on them. There were lots of different ribbons for lots of different types of wishes. Wealth, Health, Love, Happiness etc. I picked love :) So then you make a wish and throw it into the tree. It will either stay up in the tree or fall out. You have three chances to get the ribbon to stay or your wish will not come true! Mine stayed after my first try. 

I could eat those all day... And I did.

My new China home :)

Oh how I love my new home....

Well honestly, it's a love hate relationship.

This is one of the nicest schools in all of China! I can't believe how lucky I am to teach at a school as nice as this. A lot of the ILP schools around China are in really poor shape. I'm really glad I took my dad's advice about coming to Changzhou. Things here in China are good. Like always, it's a up and down roller coaster. Sometimes I want to just give up and come home. Other times I really feel like this is my home. Sometimes I think that these kids are SO spoiled and selfish. I put so much work into my lessons and then talk and goof off my whole lesson? Not cool. But then there are other times when my kids are so sweet to me. So kind and loving that it shocks me and brings me to tears. For a week I was really sick and had to miss teaching. The others teachers said that one of my girls Cici was crying and crying because she missed me. I felt so bad about it that I tried to teach even when I knew that I shouldn't. When she saw me she ran and jumped in my arms and started to sob.. It even made me cry!(Well I guess I cry really easily anyways haha.) I asked one of the Chinese english teachers to tell her in Chinese that I am back and that I am not going anywhere, and not to be sad anymore. The Chinese teacher told me that she was just crying because she was sad that I was sick, and not feeling well. I was so touched by this.... I just rocked her and she was stroking my face and hair and for the rest of the day she held my hand through the lesson and was always asking me if I was okay. She would get onto the naughty kids for me saying, "Teacher Kylee is sick! You are not being good! BE GOOD!" Haha. It was so sweet. So like always, I have so many downs, but so many ups. I can be furious with my kids because someone tried to steal from my classroom, but then they will turn around and give me the most tender hug and tell me that they love me. ITS EXHAUSTING!!! Hahaha. 

 The view from my classroom.

 Shangri-la dinning hall... haha

 Dorm building. There are fountains on the other side :)

 Dorm buildings again! You can kinda see the pools, but the fountains aren't on.

Know that I am happy here! I love my kids and my life. More to come soon! I love and miss you all!!!

-ky