(100) Days of China

Today is my one hundredth day in China! In honor of this wonderful day, I have decided to list 100 things that I love about China, have learned to love while here, or have become more grateful for BECAUSE I'm in China. Enjoy!
1. The beautiful children that I get to teach
2. Realizing (even more) just how awesome my Mom is
3. Pamelo
4. Asian pears
5. Simple questions at the super market turning into a show. Every time.
6. Asian babies
7. Riding around in charter buses
8. Tina (Chinese coordinator)
9. Cherry (Chinese coordinator)
10. Candy (Chinese coordinator)
11. Madeli bakeries
12. Skype
13. Getting mail
14. Prayer
15. Chopsticks
16. Western toilets!
17. The landscapers and all of their hard work
18. Rice
19. All of the girls in my group (Jaimie, Brianna, Sarah, Jillian, Abby, & Mikelle)
20. Kung Fu
21. Watermelon
22. SUNDAYS!
23. Walking Street
24. Frogs at night
25. Being hugged around my knees by the kids, even after putting them in the Chinese Chair
26. Rainy days (except when I have to do a lot of walking)
27. Xi'an
28. Yangshuo
29. Beijing
30. The Great Wall
31. The 2008 Olympic stadium
32. Being greeted by 45+ smiling faces every morning
33. Chinese music sites
34. Cooking class
35. Chinese class
36. Buying movies for about $1 or 1.25 each
37. The "ice cream and dessert" shop on Walking Street
38. Sparky (the school bus driver/handy man)
39. One dollar = 6.8 Yuan
40. Water filters
41. The "exercises" that we do with the kids. AKA dancing like theme park workers
42. Chinese New Year
43. Red envelopes
44. A new appreciation for crisp vegetables
45. Jao zi (dumplings)
46. Bao zi (steamed bread with meat and vegetables in the middle)
47. Mantu (sweet steamed bread)
48. Fried wan tons
49. The experience of 12+ hour journeys on sleeper buses and dirty trains
50. Bartering
51. MTR drink express (especially the peach juice!)
52. Walking back to my apartment at night and looking up and being able to see a couple stars mixed in with the purple sky (pollution/fog + millions of city lights = purple sky)
53. My kung fu instructor..
54. The fact that I hear "hello" about 25 times every day.. Depending on which part of the city I go to.
55. Dragon fruit
56. Popcorn parties
57. Women's Day
58. Chinese birthday cakes
59. Vanilla coke
60. Black rice
61. Teaching arts & crafts
62. My immunity to mosquito bites (I've gotten a couple, but not as bad as the other girls)
63. The cashier at the Kaiyin market
64. The Sun Yat Sen Memorial Park
65. "Cultural experience" excursions..
66. Getting email
67. The immense growth in my appreciation to have been born into a country with religious freedom
68. Cucumber flavored Pringles
69. Coconut bread
70. Banana chips (it's getting close to dinner time.. Can't you tell?)
71. The giant 5x8 calendar in our apartment
72. Michael, Daniel, & Jenny - the cooks at the school
73. Misspelled English words everywhere
74. Muslim noodles!
75. Street vendors
76. Clapping salesmen
77. The "bird man"
78. Ice cream that costs about 10 cents
79. A hundred minute massage for about $7
80. Hair wash/massage for about $2
81. Getting packages with precious American treats inside
82. The water caves
83. Floral sidewalks
84. Dehumidifiers (so that your shoes and clothes don't grow mold)
85. Watching the kids' excitement when they're playing outside
86. The experience of being exploited because I'm American (Jaimie and I were bribed the other day to help a woman get into the complex across the street. She didn't know the code, but knew that we could get in because we're American. If the guards said anything to us, we wouldn't be able to respond in Chinese, and the same in reverse)
87. Jaimie feeding me at the bus stop
88. Jade
89. The experience of living near one of the most humid places in the world…
90. "Teacha! Teacha! I'm bean goo!"
91. An even greater love for bubble baths (bath tubs don't really exist in China)
92. Hand sanitizer
93. Time to read and write
94. Ice trays! (ice is also an uncommon thing in China)
95. Complimenting each other before our Community Standards meetings on Mondays
96. The guards at the entrance to our complex
97. Bike rides to the pier with Sarah (even though we've only done it once so far)
98. Chinese yogurt, yoghurt, and youhurt
99. Taro pies from McDonald's
100. BECOMING CHINESE!