You had me at hello

Today = kung fu, kung fu, kung fu. We got up, kung fu'ed, ate, kung fu'ed, ate, kung fu'ed, ate and kung fu'ed our little butts off. Boo yah! Certificates baby!!!
The best part about today though was getting the monks to smile :) they opened ip so much! Us american girls and our 'directness' has no equal. Not even kung fu masters stotic faces, or monks quietness. We know how to work past the language barrier and work our magic :) don't mess. Haha Smiley-our main kung fu master who was with us from day one really warmed up to us and by the end of the night his grumpy face had completely vanished and he was making heart shaped signs with his hands. <3
The monks really seemed to like us though. They spoke pretty good english-something us girls didn't figure out till after we embarassed ourselves by saying they were cute, to their faces- and had the guys in stitches by the end of the night. One even had a facebook! - we named him Andy :)
Oh and half of us are in love or getting married to one of these guys. Haha 'you had me at hello' :) -we kinda scared them away I think. Oh well, win some, lose some. Hahahaha
Overall I think we kicked butt.

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Tuesday

Kung fu = hard, painful, intense, and extremely fun. We definately caused a few laughs to go around the kung fu school and caused even more shakes of the head from our martial arts teacher. The upside- we finally got him to smile and stretch that grin of his as well as loosen him up when we did something wrong. Instead of just shakes of the head and strong hand corrections, we made him smile, laugh, and even play around with us-scaring Emilie for starters.
After the intial hour and a quick break, we started up the next session with shakey quads and damp t-shirts. Corey, our camera guy, was going nuts with all the fun shots he was getting , and Jimbo our video jockey was having an equally good time. All of us were making what I can only guess were contorted faces, but I can't really complain because it was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. We can totally kick butt now :) watch out Jackie Chan.
Overall the kung fu school was the most amazing part of my day. The shaolin grand music ceremony was definately a close second though. Pretty lights :) it was like a play but sooooo much better. I would not mind seeing one of those every now and then from now on. Lovely and breath taking all in one.

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Lunch

This was our yummy meal yesterday. With the stuff that looked like brains :)

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Monday

Today was amazing :) singing journey in the bus " Don't Stop Believing! " We could be professionals I swear. The main journey today was to the Shaolin temple and I have no clue what happend. One second we walked in- I felt fine right-suddenly the master monk starts talking in this melow, calm, soothing voice that suddenly made my eye lids lead. -no joke. It was like a spell. It was making me feel really worried. I started suddenly falling forward and I was FIGHTING to keep my eyes open. I knew they were glazed over and I was trying to keep them from rolling up into my head. I was drugged I swear! Monk voodoo!! Haha just kidding. But all of a sudden my head drooped and I was out for a second before I snapped my head up and was WIDE awake. Spookey. Haha it was so much fun though. So deep. Half the stuff he said made you want to go huge everyone around you and say I Love You! :) it was fun. Me likey. The girls were great and we all goofed off today as usual. Girls night again and of course were gonna bond over today. Sean is a ninja under cover agent we decided-one of our guides. And riley our main guide is a panda :) we love our staff and are gonna kick sdome butt at the kung fu school manana. Wacha!!! Watch out warriors, here we come!

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Pictures!

We haven't had much chance to connect to the internet but we finally got it working tonight. Here are a couple pics.

1. We challenged a Tai Chi master to see if we could push him around.

2. Me, Tiffany and the New Jersey girls at the market.

3. Cooking class at a Du Wong restaurant. This top chef in Beijing took us to the market to see where chefs shop. Then we went to his restaurant and back into the kitchen where we learned to cook.

Dance the night away

Okkay so ill start off with the normal stuff first. We started off the day with the imperial palace, it was beautiful of course, and the hike up the mini great wall was not so mini but still great. What we didn't expect was dinner.
Dinner at a five star resturaunt. A beautiful resturaunt with great food and with cake :)
What we didn't expect was the live entertainment...or the congo line that we would start. We were dancing up on the stage even though there was no dance floor and I'm sure we were the first guests to actually do that. We also threw roses to the singers, yelled I love you, and basically become groopies. It was amazing!!!!! Night of our lives seriously. We are all bonding in ways I can even describe. I mean, who dances with people you've known for only a week, congo line it through the resturaunt, and basically have a dance party in a five star hotel? We all act like we've known each other for years, do crazy stuff we don't even do at home, and just go all out with everything we do. Its incredible, I love it, can't get enough of it, and can't even comprehend half the stuff we have done, did tonight, and are definately gonna be doing. I love this country!! Hahahahahaha

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Camping and the great wall

Our night started off with camping right under the great wall. One word. Bugs. But us girls toughed it out! The morning came sooner than we thought and faster than you could say fried rice we were hiking the great wall.
It was AMAZING. We put in our hours worth in of sweat and muscle, all the while trying not to fall flat on our butts staring at all the scenery. It really was a caught in the moment type of experience and I loved every second of it. Of course the shower afterword at the hotel was a close second. Haha. Overall this day seemed to be more like a couple days worth of experiences, and the fact that its finally ending is relieving but also shocking. Seems like we've been here months when its really only been a few days. That's what's great about this trip. We already have a close knit family of staff and friends, from our video guy Jimbo to Ansen. And all the kids here are just meshing together so well its scary. It feels like we've been friends forever, and the hike on one of the wonders of the world just made us that much closer. I can't wait for what's in store next ;)

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