New York, New York!

Hello, friend!

I just got back yesterday from the most wonderful trip to New York. Almost everyone we met was so kind, it was so strange(New Yorkers are known for having quite the attitudes)! In December, I had the  idea one night to go to New York to watch Anastasia on Broadway with my mom and it turned into a three night trip. Luckily, we found extremely cheap plane tickets on United Airlines, and I'm 100% sure that it was God that kept us safe and made this trip flow smoothly. I'm also grateful to God and my family for the opportunity that I had to even go, I know that for some it can be a luxury to travel at all.

"Welcome to New York"

I planned our itinerary before we left and made a long list of everything that we wanted to watch and eat, and we got right into our schedule when we landed. The first night we had dinner at Ellen's Stardust Diner. This diner is unlike any other because the wait staff are all Broadway star wannabes (some have even come back from Broadway and are serving), and they sing while they serve and in between! 

We walked around Times Square and took pictures, and also visited the Line Friends Store, which was super cute. I purchased a little roll of tape that had bunnies printed on it for my bullet journal. 

At the Line Friends Store!

We decided to head back to the hotel early because we were tired from traveling all day and wanted to get a bright and early start the next morning.

the view from our hotel! yay!

After quickly getting ready, we went to lower Manhattan and tried matcha tea at this cute pink-themed store called Cha Cha Matcha. If you like matcha, you'll love it! It tasted kind of like fruity pebbles.

Literally after getting drinks, we walked to a cute place called The Butcher's Daughter and had an açaí bowl as a little before-lunch snack. This place is decorated very well, and the bowl was so yummy! 

After shopping in SoHo, we walked to the Museum of Chinese in America. This museum was amazing. I didn't know that much about the history of Chinese people in America since it's not taught as well in schools, but I learned a lot. We learned about the struggles that Chinese people went through, and about the major breakthroughs that they had as significant events occurred in America.

Did you know that originally Chinatowns were made to keep Chinese people in there, and away from other people? I thought that that was so interesting.

A chair that a Chinese immigrant would sit on to answer questions about America or else they were deported.

There was a special exhibit about the Golden Venture, which was a cargo ship that smuggled illegal Chinese people into New York. Some of the illegal immigrants who went to jail made paper folded crafts, otherwise known as zhézhī  (摺紙) as thank you gifts for the people who were trying to help them attain freedom. 

We then hopped on the subway to go back up to Times Square. We ate pizza and then went to see Anastasia! It just so happened that we were seeing the show on my Spirthday(spiritual birthday), which was so cool. I felt like it was quite the gift from God! After the show, we waited outside the stage doors and got a picture with Christie Altomare, the girl who starred as Anastasia.

By then it was late, so we walked to Shake Shack across the street and got shakes and fries for a snack. 

The next day, we went to the New York Public Library. We had been to New York before, but we had never gone inside the library, gone to the Museum of Modern Art, or seen the Flat Iron Building, so those places were the goal for this day. 

My mom and I first went to Good Morning America at 7 am and were on tv!! Woo hoo!! 

When we got back, I saw myself on TV!

It's so flat!

We also went to the Museum of Modern Art. The Museum is free on Friday nights, which was a bonus! My feet were hurting from walking like 11 miles, so we didn't spend too much time there, but saw the things we really wanted to see: Monet and Van Gogh. 

We took the Ferry to Staten Island that night and visited our friends, the Schefflers, in Staten Island. We got lunch with them and then headed back to the Midwest!

This trip to New York was jam-packed, and so much fun. We had pretty decent weather, too. It warmed up on Friday and Saturday for us, and anything above zero is warm! I start classes in two days, and am feeling refreshed and motivated to take on second semester. 

Shoutout to my mom for coming on this trip with me and for making it so much fun. <3 

I hope that  you all have a fantastic week!

Joy :) 

Hi, Me Again!

Hello, friend!

Whoops. It has been actually MORE than a month since my last blog post(there goes my goal of trying to post once every week)! I think that I have been lost on what to write about and that's why I haven't been writing anything at all. I've just been trying to live in the moment with everything that I've been doing this summer, whether its camp counseling, hanging out with my friends and family, or driving 13+ hours to Asheville, North Carolina for a campus conference(ICMC) with 1500 other campus disciples.

Here is a lil' recap of everything that I've been up to:

1. I saw the most beautiful sunrise through the trees while in Asheville, North Carolina. 

A pretty random group of us college students woke up at 5:50 in the morning to go hiking and see the sunrise over this lookout which was okaaaay, but not the WOW thing we were looking for. About 10 minutes after the sun had risen, we were walking back down the trail and saw the sun shining like the color of fire through the trees. It was breathtaking, and well worth the early wakeup!

Some of the group that went hiking. 

2. I discovered one of my favorite songs while at ICMC.

At one of the main sessions at the conference, there was a worship song called, "Hills and Valleys." It's about how God is with us through the highs and lows of life(our mountains and valleys), and how no matter what we look to God when we're in either situation. It has a great message and Tauren Wells is so passionate in this song that you'll want to jam out to it. You can listen to it here-

3. I've fallen more in love with Wisconsin!

My mom and I just visited the sunflowers in Verona(a little bit next to Madison) and it was BEAUTIFUL-I LOVE SUNFLOWERS. They're so bright and colorful and you just can't be sad around them.

We both look kind of blind because of the sun. Welp.

Then on Monday, my family and I went to Devil's Lake which is like a 45 minute drive from Madison, and it was also really pretty there. It was at first a little chilly, but after hiking for an hour or so we warmed up and the sun came out which was a total blessing! It was so great being surrounded by nature. Ah, summer. We brought Po with us too, and he had a good time. He napped for a very long time after our hike.

Po, or Simba.

I feel like this summer has been a summer with fantastic weather, lots of time getting to know Madison better and the people in it, and some great memories. School starts September 6th for me, and I'm looking forward to it but also getting a little nervous about being at such a big campus and the transition from high school to college! I'll keep the blog more updated now(hopefully) as the summer wraps up.

Thanks for reading!!

Joy :)

A Weekend in Chicago

Hello, friend!

I just got back from spending a wonderful weekend in Chicago with my friend Gwen, and we suuure did a LOT in a very short amount of time! When I arrived Thursday, Gwen picked me up from the Megabus at Union Station downtown and we just caught up. The next day we woke up and made our way down to Six Flags Great America(which is a rollercoaster theme park)! Gwen unfortunately got her wallet stollen(we think out of her car), which was really sad. We all had a great time at Six Flags though, and I admired Gwen's ability to have fun even though she had quite a big deal of $$ stollen, and right before she leaves for Haiti on a mission trip(Gwen is such a trooper <3!).  I didn't end up taking any photos at Six Flags, which is kind of strange for me, but it was fun just enjoying our time there. Our group initially went to ride the Viper, but I felt really nauseuous inside the place where you stand in line right before you get on(I think that I still haven't gotten back to equilibrium since the plane ride home from China), and decided not to go on it. Gwen decided to come with me too, so we walked over to one of the western-themed restaurants I bought a chicken sandwich and fries. When the other part of the group came back, we decided to go to Hurricane Harbor. Hurricane Harbor is the water park that is apart of Six Flags Great America, and we spent a good couple of hours there and then we decided to ride the American Eagle and go home.

Gwen and I then drove to my super long-time friend Lexi's house and we spent the night there. She was having some girls over from the Metro region of the Chicago church, and it was really fun talking with them! We played Guesstures and then talked until 1:30 am and then I had to call it a night because I was so tired from earlier!

Lexi's lil' treehouse

Gwen's mom had planned a mother-daughter prayer walk at the beach Saturday morning, so we woke up at 8-ish and we drove to Lake Shore Drive and prayed along the beach! It was perfect weather out.

After hanging out there for a little bit, Gwen and I decided to go home and get dressed up in cuter clothes because we wanted to visit this cafe called the 3 Arts Club Cafe downtown. We took the train and then walked a couple blocks to it and it was GORGEOUS. It's inside of a place called Restoration Hardware(RH), and there are so many beautiful expensive pieces of furniture inside! It has like 5 or 6 levels, and is like IKEA on steroids(as Gwen put it perfectly).

"did somebody say bougie"

Let's just say that I had the best $16 truffle grilled cheese sandwich and fries in my entire life there. This is such a must-see in Chicago! You can make it into a pretty cool event, you can get dressed up and just go and have a fun day out with friends! :) Gwen and I also got the chai latte's and they were DELISH + reasonably priced($4).

After visiting that beautiful place, we spent the rest of the evening walking around downtown and shopping. Sunday morning was church, and it was so encouraging and refreshing seeing a lot of old friends from Chicago and chit-chatting with them. I left pretty much right after church and took the megabus back home. I'm so grateful to Gwen for such an amazing weeekend! :D <3 Thanks for reading.

I hope that you have a fantastic week!
Joy :)

China Trip 2017!

Hello, friend!

I just got back from China, and am writing this at 7:33 am because of some SERIOUS jet lag(Beijing is 13 hours ahead of Madison, WI). My whole family and I just got back from our trip to China, and we visited Beijing, Chengdu, and Guangzhou in approximately 11 days if you include the two delays we had due to two of our planes being cancelled. We didn't mind, however, because we got to stay in one of the nicest hotels ever!

Our trip began in Beijing, where I was born and adopted from. We had hired tour guides for when our family was in both Beijing and Chengdu, and they told us all about China and the sights we were seeing. On our first full day we visited the Great Wall and the Ming Tombs, which is where a bunch of emperors from the Ming Dynasty are buried. The Great Wall was FANTASTIC to see in real life. I had seen many pictures of it before this trip, but seeing it up close and personal was a whole different experience. The temperature in Beijing was crazy hot. It was like 99 degrees Fahrenheit every day, and the humidity was also really high. Being hot and sweaty is just a way of living in Beijing. My mom and I had our umbrellas out, and I was so glad that I brought mine because I used it all day when we were visiting the Forbidden City/Tiananmen Square.

The Great Wall goes on for so long!

I was so surprised to see cats all the way up the wall!

The Ming Tombs

A Ming Dynasty Emperor with cash on the floor.

The next day, we visited the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, and the Temple of Heaven. It was another blazing hot sunny day, so as you will see in the following pictures, there are so many umbrellas out! The Forbidden City is so large,  and beautifully decorated. I literally could not imagine building it or the Great Wall without the modern technologies we have now. We ate at this poppin' restaurant for lunch, and got some fantastic noodles and taro balls for desert. I was glad that we got to eat one of the best meals on Father's Day! We also went to a tea house and I got a cool mug that changes from saying China Panda into a picture of a two pandas! We bought some tea as well and my mom bought a tea set.

In the Forbidden City, there are "Foo dogs," to protect from evil spirits.

Mao outside of the Forbidden City.

Inside the Forbidden City!

Inside the gardens in the Forbidden City. Finally, some shade! :)

I found this in the Temple of Heaven park.

The Temple of Heaven!

After we went to the tea house, we visited the Temple of Heaven. Our tour guide told us that the emperor would go inside the Temple of Heaven and pray for good harvests that year and worship heaven. I also found out that yellow is a royal color in China, and if you wore yellow in the Forbidden City and were not royal, you would be put to death! Pretty strict penalty for a certain color.

That night, we met with some disciples from the Beijing Church, and had communion together. I got to meet Jacob, a son of one of the disciples, and he was a 10 year old lil' kid who spoke English! He was adorable and asked me what my favorite color was. There were little Chinese babies EVERYWHERE, and my mom and I enjoyed pointing them out when we passed them. A lot of people and kids also would come up to us and look at my mom. They would stare as she walked by, and it was funny because she would say, "Ni hao," (hello) to them, and the they would say, "Hallo!" in English back to her!

On our last day in Beijing, we visited the place that I was abandoned and then found, my orphanage, and the Summer Palace. My parents had kept the information that the orphanage received from the Police about where I was found, and so we visited the little community where I was found and I got to take some pictures of the area.

It was outside of this building where I was found, and God changed my whole life!

 We had a little hiccup with the orphanage visit, and therefore we couldn't see any of the kids or see too much, but we did get to go inside briefly and see how the buildings looked from the inside. It looked like a nice place, and it was crazy to imagine that I spent a small piece of my life here.

"Providing children with a sound environment for their development, encouraging them to be open-minded and clever."

 I'm definitely adopting a child when I'm older. My reasoning is this- why have your own child when there are so many other children who already exist, and don't have good homes or a family?

After the orphanage, we visited the Summer Palace, which was a great place to end the Beijing part of our trip. The Summer Palace was gorgeous, and I certainly wasn't expecting Beijing to be so lush and green(even though there is so much pollution). Apparently, the emperor would spend his "get-away," at the Summer Palace, which made sense considering how beautiful it was.

A group of boys came running up to my mom at the Summer Palace, and asked if they could take a picture with her because they were making an "America's Got Talent," show(?). They got their selfie and quickly ran away! My brother and I were laughing so hard. I guess my mom's a celebrity in China!

Mom and her fans.

Still inside the Summer Palace!

A cement boat! Wowza!

Many people would also come up to me and speak Chinese to me, and I would just stand there and feel quite stupid, even though I've been taking Chinese for three years in high school and know how to say, "I'm from America," or, "I don't know." It felt so weird being in a place where everyone expected me to know how to speak Chinese since I looked the part, but I couldn't. I definitely want to continue to learn Chinese in college though, and then go back to China again. :)

Our next stop in China was visiting Chengdu, which is where the pandas are!! The panda breeding center was so large, and I was glad to know that the pandas there have a lot of room to live and have fun and aren't showing weird psychotic behavior like most polar bears do at zoos. 

Taking a bath!

Found a panda holding ice cream!

Eating.

This panda was playing with a toy!

There are two pandas here, trying to fight for a spot in the tree!

A baby panda born in April!

A whole gathering of pandas doing what they do best- eating bamboo!

They are seriously the cutest animals on Earth. 

We also met with some disciples in the Chengdu church, which was really cool. The day that we arrived in Chengdu we met Rita, Sophie,  and Cindy and her husband who lead the church in Chengdu and ate some dinner with them. Then the next day after visiting the pandas we ate at a hot pot restaurant with another disciple named Lily. Hot pot is where you have a pot of boiling broth veggies and you throw anything you want into it, let it cook, and then you eat it! Definitely one of my favorite meals. 

It was really cool having all these connections to disciples in the China churches. We stayed in Chengdu only for one whole day to see the pandas, and then flew to Guangzhou. Guangzhou was sososo beautiful, and we met so many more disciples and spent lots of time with them. We didn't have an official tour guide in Guangzhou, but we had a friend named Jason from church who my mom actually met at a campus conference two years ago. He kindly gave up his time to tour us around and introduce us to many other disciples there! He took us on the metro, which was a fun experience, and taught us how to navigate on the metro(it wasn't that bad!). When we weren't taking the metro, we would wander around our hotel. It was on Shamian island, a beautiful, expensive place, where many people came to take pictures. Guangzhou felt like a tropical almost jungle? It rained at least once every day, or at night, and it was really humid but so green everywhere!

A bougie Starbucks, with an upstairs!

Down a cute alleyway with some lanterns. 

A park close to our hotel. Everyone's out and enjoying their Saturday!

View from the park!

People are taking pictures, and kids are painting.

So many children rode on the bikes with their parents like this! 

One of the entrances to our island!

After Guangzhou, we stayed near the airport for a couple of days waiting for a new plane to get home on since the first one was cancelled, and we eventually made it home safe and sound. This trip was a trip that I will never forget! It was so packed with Chinese culture, and I'm so grateful that I was able to go to China.

Thanks for reading and I hope you have a great day!

Joy :)