Shiqi, Zhongshan Group

I would like to introduce you to the girls that I spend 70%-100% of my days in China with. There is a range in that percentage because I am with my roommate, Wendy, all the time and with the others not quite as much. I feel like a missionary sometimes because I am never alone and I walk around in a skirt with a backpack all the time. It is quite amazing how well the seven of us girls get along for being put together randomly. We are all within a few months of each other in age. We live in two apartments. Heidi, Alyssa, Wendy and I live in one of the apartments and Jess, Alex, and Gabby live in the other. The apartment I live in is by far the sketchier of the two. Our apartment has mold, cockroaches, lights that explode off their sockets, a random bed in the corner that has piles and piles of blankets stacked on top that I know has cockroaches living underneath, nasty smells and air conditioning that leaks buckets worth of water. I do love our apartment despite all its flaws though. I am glad that we get to live in it. It is a palace compared to the places the people here live in.

*Heidi is our head teacher and is the youngest out of all of us. She went to Russia with ILP a year ago. She is awesome and we are all glad that she is our head teacher. We have the same taste in movies and she can quote Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy almost as well as I can. We get along well. 

*Alyssa is from Washington, goes to BYU, and is a Arabic major. She is a little energizer bunny and is so motivated that it exhausts me just thinking about doing all the things she does. She actually goes running in this heat and humidity. Amazing. 

*Alex is from Utah Valley, goes to Utah State, and is a special education major. She is a twin and her twin brother is in Ukraine. 

*Wendy is a friend of mine from EAC that I came to China with. I am so glad that we came together. It is so nice to have someone I know here. We understand what each other is talking about when we talk about our families and friends. We have a lot of fun together. We are both really into crafting so our room floor is usually covered in craft supplies. 

*Jess is also from Utah and wants to be a dental hygienist. Jess is one of those people that laughs at everything you say and makes you feel great about yourself. We all love jess. She is up for anything and very positive except when we have been waiting at a bus stop for more than 20 minutes. 

*Gabby is from California and is fun as well. She is trying to figure out what she wants to do with her life. 

 

Fanny, the other girl in the picture, is one of the Chinese teachers at the school we teach at. We asked for one of the teachers to take a picture of us and they just kept jumping in the picture with us. I love the Chinese teachers. They are so nice to us and love to help us out. I have absolutely no idea how old they are because I am not a good judge of age here. I never know. Everyone looks very young to me.