WEEK WITHOUT WALLS

QING YUAN

By Maddy Casey-Ashton

DISCOMBOBULAT

ERS

The Best Group!

DAY 1

The Bus Ride

The longest bus ride…. EVER

5 LONG HOURS LATER….

We made it to our hotel in Qing Yuan!

We visited the little town that was along the road from our hotel. There were some very old houses made out of mud bricks. The store that we visited sold essentials such as shoes and shampoo. I found the town very interesting and I could tell that there was a lot of history associated in that little town. The town was quite picturesque in its own way.

CATAPULT BUILDING

Catapult making and building was so much fun! I was in a group with Saige, Jong Woo and Andrew. At first as we were drawing out the plan we thought that we had got the design perfect but as we built I realized that it was not working as well as we had planned. We had to improvise. It was a blast though and it was a great way to make new friends. I learned how to do the clove hitch and how to tie together bamboo. After the catapults were made, we had a water balloon fight with the 3 other groups using the catapults to fire the water balloons.

DAY 2

ROCK CLIMBING

Rock Climbing was the biggest challenge for me on this trip. I am so afraid of heights. I was proud of myself though for trying and facing my fear. I a little bit up the wall and I had a panic attack because I realized how high I was. I slipped on the wall and I really wanted to come down. The instructors were great when it came to encouraging me and getting me to climb higher than I wanted to. I was proud of myself for trying even though I did not make it to the top.

BIKING

Going bike riding in Qing Yuan was amazing! It was definitely the hardest bike ride I have ever been on and the most beautiful ride I have ever been on. It was hard to ride on the rocky dirt paths and by the end of it my backside hurt so much that I was in pain for the next 3 days! I was proud that I managed to make it through the bike ride. There were a few time in the bike ride that I was very close to falling off the bike but I managed to stay up. The cave that we rode to was definitely worth the ride, it was spectacular. On the way back we got to go on a little adventure, we went a way that Will, the instructor, had never gone before. So I felt accomplished when we made it back to the hotel. It was a great experience.

DAY 3

SERVICE: TEACHING

Teaching was so hard! The children would not listen to me and it was hard to communicate. I was so thankful that Irene was in my group because she helped so much with the communication. It was hard for me to keep the kids under control and have them do the activities that we had planned for them to do. We had to modify our games lesson to accommodate the children. There was one time when we went outside to play our game and kids started running away. I felt like I was losing control of the class. I almost lost my voice trying to get them to listen to me and do the activities.

CAVING

Caving was one of my favorite parts the whole trip. I was scared as we were going into the cave because it was so muddy and the paths to get it were so narrow. I got to go in to the cave and explore! I was in a group with Madyson, Saige, Kaede, Jennifer and Christina. I was the navigator so I was in charge of keeping the map and making sure that we weren’t getting lost. I really liked that we were given the opportunity to explore the caves on our own and that we had to rely on each other to get through the cave.

CAMPING

Camping was crazy! We got to the venue at about 4 in the afternoon and we had to begin to build our own shelters. I was in a group with Saige, Jamison, Madyson and Lecy. As we started to plan and get our shelter up I was excited about the night ahead of me and about camping out. I helped cook dinner which let me eat dinner first which I was so happy about because I was hungry! As night approached I was happy that I was with my friends and I was just having fun. It was the first time that I had ever built my own shelter and the first time in a long time that I had camped out. I did not like the bugs at all! They were every where! I was very tentative about using the toilet that they had dug for us because it was just a hole in the ground. But eventually I was busting so I had to do it. I was so proud of myself when I went! We had a campfire and told scary stories. I loved the feeling of the heat on my skin but I didn’t really like the scary stories because they were creepy. The night was long! There were people talking and laughing and being loud. Jong Woo was so funny and so was Madyson. They made the night great! There were bugs in our tent even though we had a mosquito net up. The bugs managed to wriggle, or crawl actually, in to our tent. I was so tired in the morning! We woke up at 5 and had to pack up all our shelter and clean up camp and go. All in all it was a good night!