Sky Farm Field trip!!!

At our school we are starting a rooftop garden.  So my friend Jenny and I went to a composting workshop at Anken Green.  Anken Green is part of an urban farming project.  Anken Green is an old factory that was renovated into a mixed use sustainable warehouse.  GoodtoChina is a project that is trying to reduce pollution in China.  GoodtoChina helped Anken Green develop there sky farm.  They put in plants that help to clean the air.  They also plant vegetables and herbs for the downstairs cafe.  Then the cafe provides materials for the composting.  We learned how to do many composting, and then they helped us make a decision about what compost is best for our school!

Kids on the rooftop!  The rooftop also has a green house that  puts on boot camp classes, cocktail parties, and plays!  I took the boot camp class and couldn't walk for a few days!!!

In the garden they planted, mint, basil, and beets!

The kids are planting lettuce seeds!

The kids had a great time at the field trip and learned a lot about plants!  They also learned a lot about how to make a difference in our environment.  Each child got to dig for worms and plant lettuce seeds!  The also got to take home a completely recycled bag called black gold.  The bag had soil, and seeds for the kids to take home, and plant.  The seeds were lettuce, and garlic!  It was such a great day!

Desert of Inner Mongolia

Line to ride ski lift!

This was my last section of my trip to Inner Mongolia!  The desert was a unique experience. Since it was Autumn break there were a lot of people.  Once we got there we got out tickets to ride the ski lift to the desert. After we crossed you made your way to a death trap desert ship!! 

Once we made it to the other side we went zip lining!  I also was a little afraid but it ended up being a lot of fun!  We even got our tour guide Annie to go with us!!! The line was long and several people got turned aways because they weighed to much but to be honest they didn't look very large.  I was a little nervous but we made the cut off!  

Next was riding the camels.  It was my first time on a camel, and it was fun!  The camels get up really fast and go down even faster, but our tour guide said no screaming or they would run off! I also learned that if the camels humps were slumped over it was because they were well feed. Random camel facts

1.  Camel's have three eyelids. Two have eyelashes, and the third is thin.

2. Pack camels can carry loads of 400 pounds 25 miles in a day

3.  Adult camel's weight between 700-1,500 lbs, and can be up to seven feet tall!!

After the camel ride we watched a play of a typical mongolian wedding, and saw giant sand castles!  Then we got to ride a train back to the beginning.  To end the day we slid down a giant sand dune on a homemade sled.  It was terrifying but fun!  

 

 On the very last day we went to the Mausoleum of Genghis Khan.  The Mausoleum is a cenotaph, which means the coffin contains nobody just head dresses.  The body of Genghis Khan was never found.  It was cold and rainy and we were all ready to get back to shanghai as soon as possible!

Can you tell which one is not the statue!  

The chinese translations can be very interesting!!! This was telling people not to throw their  cigaret butts on the grass! 

Brady, Sally, and Brian

Happy Halloween!  Sorry I have been so busy in Shanghai I was in serious need of updating my blog.  I will start with Halloween!  Halloween was so fun at school!  On Tuesday at school we took the afternoon, and kids rotated rooms going to different fun activities.  In my room kids played with pumpkin guts, counted seeds, and listened to spooky music.  The other rooms had kids bobbing for apples, pin the nose on the witch and face painting!  On Wednesday (Halloween) we carved pumpkins in the morning!

Mark, Kuya, and my favorite Rio!

Then in the afternoon all the kids brought there costumes and we went to Hong Mei walking street for trick or treating.  Hong Mei is a street in China filled with different kinds of restaurants and a walking path where no cars or bikes are allowed. Great place to go for dinner or fun!   There aren't school buses in China so you have to get charter buses if you want to go on a field trip!

Spiderman and Superman are ready to take on the world!

Richard and Rio were prince and princess, so cute.

As soon as we all arrived we went to each restaurant to get candy and then at our final stop we went to a mexican restaurant called Mexico Lindo, where the children got to hit a piñata!

Nicole as a duck on the bus!!!

My whole class and I stopping for a photo! I was a lady bug!

The piñata got crazy!  Small children hopped up on sugar and blinded folded equals  crazy fun!

Shanghai fun

Ashley and Kate

Sushi platter

Butterfly Roll

Last night we got to go out for sushi for my friend Sierra's 30th birthday!  We went to a Haiku for sushi and drinks with about 15 of our friends!  The sushi was amazing and her husband paid a small fortune for an American chocolate cake!  I had the butterfly roll and it was amazing!  We also got chicken Teriyaki and edamame!  We also were drinking Blushing Geisha!  They were so amazing! Then we went for drinks at O'Malleys and then dancing and "The Apartment".

Beef 'n' Roll

Our fantastic cake!

Massive bill almost 4,000 RMB

Then we went dancing at "The Apartment"

Grasslands of Mongolia

In the morning before we left Hohhot!  Thought is was a Muslim temple but just a Jewelry store temple was next door.

We looked so silly taking all these pictures.  We were not allowed to walk around the temple because our tour guide said we were showing too much skin!

you can see hanging meat almost anywhere in China, even in the grocery store!  It is a little weird that it is not refrigerated.  They also eat every part of the body and usually serve the whole animal skin and all!

Then we took the bus out to the grasslands!  We stayed at a small village with several yurts! The land had horses, chickens, and pigs, so kinda of like an American farm.  Our yurts were solar powered and had no heat/air.  So it was so cold while we were sleeping.  The beds felt like hard boards with thin cotton mattress.  Needless to say we were glad we only stayed for one night.  When first got there they welcomed us with a shot.  You had to hole the shot in your left hand and dip you right ring finger in the shot and throw a drop to the ground, to the sky, and across your forehead. Then we ate lunch in a circular yurt, while the staff serenade!  The room was small and the volume on the singing was so loud we couldn't hear each other at all!

Me standing by a yurt!

Dinner!

My roommate Ashley inside our the yurt!  

Then they took us and some Japanese tourist went and watched Mongolian wrestling!  Which was two men rolling in the dirt with funny jackets on!  It was over in about a minute!

We then went horse back riding with was terrifying and exciting all at the same time!  Halfway through the ride we stopped for tea!  There were small white objects on the table in different sizes, Ashley said they were for tea so we all put them in our tea.  Later we found out that it was a type of Mongolian cheese.  Gross!!

Kristina and I horse back riding!

prayer flags in the middle of the grasslands!  

After are long ride we napped and read in the sunset!  We went back to the big yurt for dinner and ended up getting a whole leg of lamb! After dinner the staff made a huge bonfire and put up a strobe light for us to have a dance party! We were the only guest because it was late in the season and no one but the crazy Americans would stay the night in yurt when it was so cold!

They gave us each a blue scarf as a gift!

View of our yurt

Ashley, Me, Kristina, and Jenny!  Girls night in the grasslands!

The next we went for a scenic run and a lovely breakfast!  Then we head out to the desert, that will be next update!