China was absolutely fantastics! As was Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia and Hong Kong. Yes. I did indeed go to all those places in a short 14 day; actually I went to all of them in the period of a week, but none the less, it was marvelous!
Christmas was great! I got a bunch of new church clothes, which was very much needed. It has been cold here in Provo. A big change from China and all the rest of the places!
So a little about our cruise! We left the Saturday after Christmas for Singapore, and boarded our cruise ship that night. Our first stop was Malaysia on Sunday. The kids didn't want to leave the ship, so my parents and I left them on the ship and we took a taxi into KL (Kuala Lampur) and the taxi guy drove us around to different places. We went to the Kings Palace, National Mosque, 2nd tallest towers in the world, a Chinese temple (which I saw 3 of in a period of 3 days...in three different countries. I promise they all look exactly the same!), and I think that was all. Our next stop was Phuket, Thailand. This time the kids came with and we went and rode elephants, went to a cashew factory, a handicraft market (that was rediculously expensive) and, of course, a chinese temple. After the tour, it began to pour while we were driving back. I wanted to get some Thai food, but the kids all wanted to go back, so my dad and I walked around, found him an ox, me some thai food (which turned out to be not good) and then went back. I loved walkin around Phuket. I wish we could have stayed a little longer. The next day was an at sea day, so I just hung out in the sun, getting a tan, and reading! I was able to finish two books while on the ship! It was so awesome!! We got into Singapore early Wednesday morning, which was New Years Eve Day. We took a tour to see some of the sights and that was a lot of fun! We had been trying to figure out where to watch fireworks since it was New Years Eve that night. Turns out we didn't need to go anywhere! Our original rooms at the hotel were not ready, so we got rooms on the 24th floor, which was the top floor. The views faced inland, so we were still needing to find a place to watch fireworks. But then they couldn't fit the rollaways into the rooms, so we were moved down to the 20th floor, on the other side of the hotel, which was marvelous! The view there faced the bay, which was where the fireworks were going to be! And since we were so high up, we could see over al the other buildings! We could even see the Singapore Flyer (the largest ferris wheel in the world, even larger then the London Eye, but it was broken when we went!). So we just chilled in our rooms that evening, then watched the fireworks at midnight. So its pretty sweet because I have spent the last 4 new years in 4 different countries! 2005 was in the US, 2006 was in China, 2007 was in New Zealand, and now 2008 was in Singapore. So all in all, it was way fun, all of it! But we didn't get stamps in our passport for malaysia! I was way sad!!!
While I was actually in China, I didn't do too much, just lots of running around, seeing a few people (most were gone), and just hanging out with the fam.
And now I'm back in Provo, studying a lot so that I can get into the nursing program. I am taking 14 credits: English, Human Development, Book of Mormon, Health (HEPE), Intro to Nursing and Chemistry. I found out I cannot apply for the nursing program in May, so I'm waiting till September, and if I don't get in then, then I'll apply again next May. By then I'll pretty much be done with my GE's so hopefully I'll get in. If not, I'll go to another school. So the earliest I'll be able to start a nursing program will be in a year. Longest will be 18 months. So we'll see!! I'm still at my job, but I have an interview for another job this week, but we'll see what happens. There were a lot of people applying for the job. With my current job, I just don't have enough hours to make the money that I need to go to school. I'm also going to be going to school in the spring to finish up my nursing pre-requisites, and I'll work part time, then work full time over the summer. Hopefully as a nanny! But who knows. And then back to school again in the fall doing GE's. So there you have it!!!
Now I'm sure most of you would appreciate some pictures! So I'll post some of my favorites from the break!
Well those are going to have to wait...since I had them all picked out, and then my computer decided to hate me, and I lost everything on my computer (it was all backed up!) So I am now going to have to find them all again, but I have midterms this week, so after I finish them up, I will post a ton of pictures!!!
Keep looking for them, and for a post with an essay that I wrote for English about dating =]]]
Love!
Andrea
