Almost Vacation Time!!

This will likely be my last entry before I write from my 20 day
vacation! I will try to blog and post pictures as I go along the best
that I can. Here is my itinerary:
Feb 2nd- Leave Guiyang for one night in Hong Kong
Feb 3rd- Fly to Singapore
Feb 6th- Fly to Kuala Lumpur
Feb 10th- Fly to Phillipines! Boracay
Feb 21st- Head home (3 flights later...)

In the meantime, testing went pretty smoothly last week. This week is
a bit stressful because it's open classes, where the parents watch. It
can be good because the kids will at least behave (usually), but I am
so excited for Sunday night, when I will finish the semester.

We've had a couple of sunny days lately and I've been doing a bit of
exploring of around where I live. I realized I just always go to the
same places and don't do enough exploring. For example, there is a
mall nearby where I live. I found that it has lots of great places in
it, but I always just passed it assuming it was just a boring mall.
Also, I'm learning that there are many places that people speak a bit
of English or I can get by with a tiny bit of my Chinese. I discovered
a ripoff of the mango dessert and drink place (Hui Lau Shan), that I
love so much in Hong Kong. My mango drink was pretty good- not as
fresh mangoes but definitely delicious.

I don't really know why I didn't go into coffee shops much before, but
I discovered that Createa is the Starbucks of Guiyang (there's no
Starbucks in Guiyang, fun fact!). It has lots of tea and coffee
drinks. Also, mocha in Chinese is mo ka. And coffee is ka fei. So that
make things pretty easy. In the same mall there is a chain cafe/coffee
place called Rbt with a rabbit logo. I randomly ordered something
called "French toast" off the English menu, guessing it would be
something weird. But it was a big piece of real French toast! So
delicious when you haven't had Western breakfast food in months.

I've decided when I get back I will try to go to some new places and
find some new hangouts for when I'm by myself and looking for food or
drinks. But until then, I'll write again from somewhere tropical and
warm!