Chapter 10 - Home Sweet Home

Well alot of people have been wanting to know where i have been living the past couple of weeks. So this letter is describing my housing and the wonderful features it has to offer. Well i start of with my bed. Its a queen i think, lee thinks its a king but i dont think so. Well there were 2 beds in our apartment. We made a deal, the person that got a smaller bed got the spot closer to our heater named Henry. Henry the heater is small but has a huge heart and helps so much to keep us warm! Thanks Henry!!!
Next is our massive living room which is currently occupied by 2 or 3 massive moths! Like huge! About the size of a tennis ball! hahaha yes there is a tv but no, it doesnt work. Welcome to China! We bought some badmitten supplies and plan to take our living room back from those giant creatures so we can play badmitten in our flat, aka apartment. But it's huge and everything is tile so that doesnt help with the whole being cold situation.

Next is our 5 star kitchen. We have a chinese dish set complete with chop sticks! Booya! Our stove is run on "propane" so they say...but trust me i know the smell of propane, it doesn't even smell like it! Well we use the stove to boil water to kill all the bacteria in it to put our "cup of noddles" chinese style! They are sort like the cup of noodles we used to have up at bogus basin. Yes they are getting old very quick but it's food, right.
Once i start feeling better we have been told of a good market to get fresh fruits and veggies, rice and so i was thinking on the weekends (when the cafeteria) is closed i could make so nice fried rice or something like that. Time to start improving my cooking skills! Thats how i see it anyways.
Hahaha

Yeah my favorite part!!! Our bathroom. Now that hole in the ground is our toilet. Its called a squatter. i think you can use your imagination of how its used! hahaha different but the position does help get everything out. No joke!
Also this is our shower. See the hose on the wall? It leads to a shower head. Yes, the shower head is too short. i think it comes up to my shoulders! hahaha. Well there is another "propane heater" outside the door. You turn on the propane to heat your water. The settings are burn your skin hot, just enough heat and freezing. There is also a settting for the pressure of the water. Those settings are trickle, a pre soak (like a car wash), and low pressure. So its easy to say you don't stay in the shower very long. There are a couple of reasons for that; the room has no vent so it gets really steamy, there is a big window so everyone can see, and oh yeah there is a huge hole in the floor. hahaha
Well this is a little about covers my home here in China. The walls are very plain white so i am trying to find things to decorate my flat. Oh, and if anyone wants to join, you are more than welcome to come on over because we have 3 rooms that aren't being used. So we have room for vistors! I think the whole flat is 1800 sq/ft. Huge and cold! Well i hope to hear from everyone! Questions are always awesome so don't be shy. Well i love you all and i will talk to everyone later!
Love
Jordan
this is my name in Chinese
名词

Chapter 9 - My Teaching Assignment!

Well today was a wonderful! I got the my teaching schedule! It was pretty funny how it happened. Well Lee and i had just gotten done with some lunch Which is always good. Today it was alot rice topped with steamed esophagus, sliced seasoned potatoes, these onions that had been marinated in some other spices, and this meat...pork, chicken and i think there was tofu as well. Oh there was also that spice the Matt tricks you with. Yeah like he said they use it in everything. Totally disgusting! For the most i part i can spot them and pick them out but every once in awhile one gets past and totally ruins that bite!
Anyways i get a call from the guy that has been "taking care of us". His name is Stone. Well i got a call form Stone and asked to meet because he has our teaching schedules! FINALLY!!!! Music to my ears! We meet up and hands us our schedules and is off to his home city. See why i put " " around taking care of us.


Well we have 7 classes a week...each class being 45 minutes. I keep scanning over the schedule and see that i teach today! Not 1 but classes but 2! And the first class was in a hour and a half! Good thing i had my first slide show prepared!

You would not believe how hard it is to read chinese characters. Because they use the characters for their numbers and it took us forever just to figure how the rooms were numbered. Seriously no joke! Down one hallway the numbers went like this : 9, 14,10,11,12, 13. Sad part it took Lee and i about 15 mins just to figure this out!
After knowing where i had to be in a hour i went back to my flat and got dressed for teaching and ran through my slide show one last time. yes i was nervous but packed up for class and headed out the door for my very first class.
When i first walked into my first class. There was cheering! No joke! Everyone was laughing, girls were blushing, and i was red in my face. i could feel it. But not shakey. I was calm and ready for action. Had no idea how to get my presentation on the projection screen. The class was trying to help me but so hard to understand 40 or so kids telling you what to do in broken english! But then one kid ran out of the rooom and returned with a remote and key. Thankfully he was able to get it all ready for me. His name is Carter. They assigned themselves english names which helps because their chinese name are so hard to pronounce and very long! It went smoothly but it takes alot of patience because not all the kids know what you are saying. The ones that know english better, translate it for their friends. its kind of cute it you really look at it.
I have the hardest time speaking slowly and pronouncing everything correctly. but i learned alot from the first class which i think made the second class a little bit more fun. They love pics! So if you want to be in my presentations and famous... please send pics!!! Overall it went very smoothly and i'm ready for the next few months! I just have to think of some great topics to share with them. Again if you have any ideas please let me know. i am open to anything and everything! If you have questions about the teaching or the classroom environment please ask because i now know!
Hahahaha pretty funny story, so i have a pic of Kellie and i while we were at McCall. well the chinese people are very weird when it comes to the opposite sex. Kids and adults but the kids are so funny to watch and listen. Well each time they see that pic they all scream nu pengyou which is girlfriend in chinese. They loved talking about her. Like how to spell here name,because a few of the girl adopted "Kelllie' to be their english name. I shouldn't have any problem forgetting that name ;-) I attached a pic of kellie's name on the board so they could spell it the right way. This totally made the class fun! Girls were blushing, boys laughing it was TONS of FUN!!!
After my second class some boys came up and asked if i wanted to play basketball with them. Keep in mind this is during their supper time, so these boys were willing to sacrifice their supper to play with me! I couldn't say no, so i played with them! Great fun it was! There is a pic of the boys! From left to right it goes, me, scotty, bill, and cory! WHAT A GREAT DAY!!!!! and the best part it has only just begun!
I love you all so much and hope to hear from people soon!!!
-Jordan

Chapter 8 - Trip into town

Part 1 - The Electronics Store
Well today Lee and i made a trip into town to go to the electronics store to get a better ethernet cable so we might have better internet connections which mean better skyping we hope! well while we were waiting to get the cord made, yeah they make it right in front of you its pretty cool. Well we were waiting and these 2 sales girls wanted pics with Lee and I.Totally random and again i will say we were in an electronics store! How many times do girls want pics of guys in an electronics store??? This would be a geeks dream come true. Well a chinese geek! hahaha!
But my day got so much better from there!

Part 2 - Street Vendor
Ate my first thing off the streets. No not off the cement, it was from a vendor.

This lady had a cart and was selling these tortillas with meat, seasoning, and other stuff on it. It was so good! I was proud of myself for trying something new and from a vendor! Best part was i didn't even get sick! Still haven't gotten sick sense i have come to China! Hopefully i can keep this record up!

But this still wasn't the highlight of the day! No, not even close!

Part 3 - Playin' with them boys!

Well we were on the walkway back to school and we were walking in front of this very run down apartment complex. There were these 2 little boys kicking a soccer ball around! I stopped in my tracks, turned around and walked up to the little boys. I said hello in chinese and gestured with my hands to pass the soccer ball to me. One of the kids got really nervous and scared so he sat down. The other just stood there by the ball doing nothing. Out of the apartments i hear a man's voice yell something in chinese, than the little boy kicks the soccer ball to me! Now that i have the ball i get a very good look at this ball. Sort of sad, but there are parts of the original grey color of the ball showing through the mud and dirt. The ball was deflated and even had a hole about the size of a golf ball in it.
I kicked it back to the boy making sure to not kick it too hard because it would cave in. Once he kicked it back the fear and nerves from him disappeared like that! We did a few passes then i noticed the second boy still off to the side sitting down. So my next pass was to him. Perfect pass...it stopped right by his feet. He looked up with a huge smile and kicked it with all his heart! we all started playing and having a blast! I even noticed some of the grown ups stopping and watching so i started passing it to them and getting them involved! I heard lots of laughter and when i looked up, there were people with their heads out their apartment windows watching and enjoying the excitement that the boy and i had started! A smaller boy even joined us and started chasing me & trying to get the ball. He was laughing like crazy. i think he was so happy to finally be playing with the big kids!

Our little play time was only like 15 mins or so, but inside my heart it will ALWAYS be there!

Crazy to think that a flat soccer ball could bring so much fun to these boys and i! Tis' sad to think that at home i have a sport box full of flat sports ball that never get used :-( I mean they could be here getting played with and creating a great time for some kids!

"Be thankful for what you have for somewhere in the world there is always someone who doesn't have it." by Jordan C. Barnes

I love everyone so much and i am thankful for this experience! Maybe i was sent to this particular town for that very reason! If so i am very glad that i came!
Love,
Jordan

Chapter 7 - Food in China

Here are some pics of some food i have been eating...
These little cup cake things have a filling in the middle, very good but they are so small and a chinese cup of noddles...there are many different flavors. This is a tortilla thing i bought from a lady off the street. i think it was the first thing i bought in my city that didn't have a factory packaging. It was so good!!!! Been eating them like crazy and still haven't gotten sick which is a great thing!!! Lee is starting to love them as well!




Its pretty funny...i have tried all new stuff and have come to find that it wasn't too bad! Then everyone else eats once they know its good! I hope to try many new things and cross my fingers that i dont come across too many disgusting things!
Well this has been an update on a little about what i have been eating for the first week in my city. I am really excited to see what our cafeteria has to offer.
i will let you know
Love, Jordan

Random Pictures

Chapter 6 - Shenzhen, China

Hello mom and friends
Okay well alot has changed in the past 2 days!First off I am doing great and doing swell :-) I am no longer in hong kong anymore. I am currently Shenzhen china! I am now on the mainland where once we crossed the line there was a total difference in the feeling and a change in the environment. Like now there is no English words under the Chinese characters. The roads are horrible and there are like close car wrecks all the time. Still waiting to see my first Chinese wreck! Fingers crossed! Hahaha also there are so many electric motorcycles! One guy almost wrecked because he saw me and kept on looking back at me (maybe because of my love potion) but he almost wrecked! Was pretty funny! Well it stinks horribly here and I sure hope my city doesn't smell like this. Smells like raw sewage, old fruit, the paper route and stinky dog! But it does smell alright in some places. Mainly around me! ;-)Well today we start orientation. We were in class for about 5 hours! And we have a 8 hour class tomorrow and than one more after that one!This class got me all sorts of pumped for the next 6 months! It's going to take alot of creativity and hard work from me but will be great! Which reminds me please send pics of everything! I Like pics of me as a kid, family pics, activities we do, sports, anything really! Also need ideas for games, activities, cheers anything to make my class super fun! So keep that in mind and me in your prayers! Next big email might be from my own city but we'll see! I love you all so very much and I hope everyone has a smile on their face!
Love, Jordan
Oh...it crazy how many people stare! Or try and get pics of me without me knowing! It's pretty fun if only I could talk with them!

Church via Skype

Howdy Mom and who ever reads these,
well alot has changed since i emailed you. Well i am no longer headed to Hengyang China anymore! I am now headed to Huayuan China. Its a much smaller city and is much more north in the Hunan providence. Lee and i will be the very first teachers at this school so we have to set a high bar so that when other teachers from future semestgers have something to work for. I see this as a blessing because maybe i wasnt suppose to go to the other school. Crazy how things work themselves out here in China!
Tomorrow is going to be our first church here in china! yeah i came to find out that we will have church! YEAH!!!! How you ask? Well our church will all be done by video conference or skype. We will have a opening prayer, the sacrament (which will be done by lee and i for ourselves because we will be miles apart from everyone) 3 talks, and closing hymn and can't forget the closing prayer! Should be very awesome and very very spiritual!!! i am totally stoked for it!!!! Anyone wanting to skype i should Sundays quiet a bit so please dont be afraid to skype or send a email!!! Please ask any questions you may have!!! That even includes the little ones, like trevor, jenessa, alyse, lexi, chase, trey, layton, max, addison etc etc anyone with any questions please don't be shy!!!
Tonight we met with my new "bishop" be he really is the president of our little online church! Him and his wife are very sweet and even took us out to dinner at a pretty nice place. When we walked in it went quiet!! NO JOKE!!!! I think the cooks even stopped cooking! I waved hoping for a response, nothing everyone wazs just in aw with howing white people were in their town! After dinner i went to find the bathrom and that was an adventure. Well i came to the main floor and again it went silent! I was lost and this little chinese worker showed me into the restroom. Now it was weird. The girl and boys bathroom share sinks! So when i was done with my business i washed my hands turned to see any paper towels. hahaha my luck there is nothign so there i was standing there hands soaking wet and chinese women surrounding me! Then this little girl maybe 7 or 8 grabs a pack of towels out of here pocket. I say thank you take one and give it back. she hesitates and i insist again and than she finally takes it and blushes and hold the package of towels tight and giggles. caught me off guard and started back to my table. But wait that wasnt the end of my journey, on my way back i was offered this huge bottle of wine from these business guys i say no and the insist i take it. I denied them again so the guy puts the top of the bottle in his mouth bites the cork right off. Was the coolest thing ever!!!! Then the poured me a glass and offered that to me! was awesome!!!
After dinner we started walking the streets and came across some line dancing! OF course i danced...you dont even have to ask!! after each song you know they were talking about us and making jokes but it was a riot!!!!
Got tired from all the dancing and was walking back and came across 4 girls. I said hello and they giggled! But i got a pic with the four of them. Took them a few trys to warm up to me but didnt take long. I just really need to work on my chinese!!!

Well i hope everyone loves my stories! Was an awesome day! Spent about 8 and a half hours in class studying teaching chinese klids! so i am tired so i am going to crash!
Good night all!
Love you lots!!!!
-Jordan

Just Pictures

Chapter 5 - Amazing Laser Light Show

Well our last night in hong kong we went to a laser show! It was the whole city that was the light show! We were on a boat between hong kong island and kowloon island so we got to see the whole show! It was incredible!

Chapter 4 - Budda in my Hands

Yeah everything is going great! Just got out of the temple and then we will be heading to this huge budda on top of hong kong! To be honest with you i didnt have any jet lag!!!! I slept like a baby on the plane which was perfect! So i am on their time with no problems and doing better than most people here. A girl in our group fell asleep on the subway and almost fell on her face. It was pretty funny.
Well i got to go. Time to see Hong Kong from the highest point!
Love
-Jordan

Chapter 3 - Hong Kong

Yes mom I got to go in the temple! With the place we are staying it's apartments for families that travel all across the country. Its here too. Give them a cheap place to live and it comes all ready with rooming, kitchen and bathrooms! I think the cost is pretty much free the only ting you have to do is attend the temple at least once a day.So we have been going to the temple each morming to start our day!It's really neat.Now today we went to a few museums or however you spell those places.But one was about china history and the other was like a discovery center. Yes it was like our but like putting it in the whole YMCA building! It was huge at least seven stories! Had everything to electricity to funny mirrors. Pretty sweet!Next we went to a place called Hong Kong peak tower. You have to take this trolley to the top of this moutain which over looks most of hong kong and the bay. Such a beautiful view! And than we went and eat some dumplings which were good and good thing I started with he chop sticks because that's all that was available. Hahaha. Some people were just eating them with their hands, others stabbing them, and so people werent even eating them!Pretty good day but need to rest because we are headed to another mountain that has a huge bubba on top of it! Should be tons of fun!But good night to you love you lots and I will talk to you later. Love, Jordan

Chapter 2 - Hong Kong

Well today I got A Full day in hong kong. you wouldn't believe how
compact and polluted everything is. Hard to get nice pics because the
smog is horrible. It was about 70 today such a nice day! The
apartment buildings are. The biggest buildings and theres hundreds of
them! Got to ride a double decker bus from the airport to our
apartment which almost got in three wrecks! But my apartment is
across the street from the temple which is so cool! Got to go through
he temple which was a riot! Very beautiful temple but very unique!
And I got to go to the mall and it's huge! I think it had 7 levels
Full of decoration it being a week after he Chinese new year and all!
But went to the Grocery store and bought my own food supplies. Seven
bananas was like 36 cents ! Been tons of fun And it's only been the
first day! So many moe adventures are just around the corner! Well
I love you mom and hope that was detailed enouh for you!
Love you lots!
-jordan

Chapter 1 - Korea

Hello Family and Friends!

Well right now i am sitting in Korea! The flight went very well! Excvept my dinner was horrible!!!! First off i didnt even know what i ordered! But it was this korean rice bowl which was okay but they gave me this bowl full of salt water with sea weed! i smelt that and about threw up!! And plus i think there was somethign swimming in the bowl with the sea weed! hahaha But all the people with the program are alright. Some seem very shy and but i am working on that! My flight from Utah to LA i talked the whole time jsut trying to get people to open up and its working out swell! Did seat next to jacob the guy who started the company, little bit of a nerd but my kind of guy, because im sort of a nerd myself! Oh and on the flight from utah to LA there was this stuartress or however you spell the word. Well the people on the plane that bring you stuff she saw me and said that she has never seen such a brighter and excited smile than mine! :-) i know what can i say! but i didnt get the wings :-( maybe on the flight home. Well i better get going so i can get something to eat before my next flight. I love you all very much and will email you again shortly!


tell next time
Love
-Jordan

All my bags are packed...

...and I am ready to go!

Jordan is SO excited!

Going to SLC to catch the flight...

Jordan wanted to stop and see Janae, Matt and meet his new nephew, Declan James.

What a sweet little addition to their family.

We stayed with Aunt Jan and Uncle Gordon and even taught them how to play our family game of "Contracts". It was fun!

Saying good-bye

For Jordan's last night at home he wanted to get together with friends and family to play games. So that is exactly what we did. We had a great time playing games and getting to know a few of Lee and Jordan's friends. It was a great night!
Get this...after everyone left, Jordan and Jaron went over to Jill's to say good-bye and they stayed there playing Wii until 5 am! Craziness! (too bad there isn't a picture of this all-night Wii party)

The Three Amigos

Jordan, Lee and Kyle spent the day together having fun. Good ol' kid type fun. These guys have been friends for many, many years. Jordan & Lee were friends before they even knew what friends were. They started camping together when they were less than 2 years old!

Kyle joined in when he was about 7. They have been good friends ever since!

This was there last full day in Boise before heading to SLC to catch a flight to China.

Teach English? Where? China!

Lee Lovell first found out about an interesting opportunity to go and teach English in China.
Lee approaches Jordan with the idea and BAM! They are making plans to travel abroad.

Passports - Check

Money Saved - Check

Registration in and Applications accepted - Check

Plans are set and they are headed off to China on February 6th, 2011!
Jordan is one excited young man!