What were you grateful for this week?This week I was grateful to make a new American friend! 

What was the most challenging part of this week?The most challenging part of this week was the language barrier! Surprise surprise! 😉 

Tell us about a “wow” moment you had this week. This week my wow moment was with [my host family’s son]! I took him to his math class on Friday night and then afterwards I decided to surprise him with a trip to CoCo (yummy tea shop) to get a drink! 

Afterwards we went back to the apartment and did some homework! I noticed that he listened a lot better to me, and we had a lot more fun together, even doing homework! I think getting him a treat helped him see that I love him and want to be his friend, not just his tutor. 

Tell us about your week! This past week was pretty epic! On Tuesday, some friends and I from church when to the Shanghai Disneyland! We actually got in for free because one of our friends works for Disney and can bring up to three people for free! We went on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride first. I was really excited to do it because some people back home had told me Shanghai’s Pirates of the Caribbean was absolutely incredible! It definitely lived up to the hype! After Pirates, we went on a ride called Tron, which was a full-on roller coaster! I screamed my head off! The Disneyland here in Shanghai was a lot less crowded than the one in California, which was so nice! The lines went so quick! We had to get back to work, so we only had time to go on two rides, but we plan to go soon and send more time in the park! 

On Thursday I am as able to visit the Shanghai Tower, which was probably one of my favorite activities so far! The Shanghai tower is the second tallest building on Earth, standing 2,073 feet high. As we were going up the elevator, my ears popped at least two-three times. The view from the observatory floor was absolutely incredible. You could walk in a complete circle and see the view from all angles. They had the option to do virtual reality as well. I decided to do it! It was absolutely terrifying. One of them was as if you were walking out on a metal rod on top of the Shanghai Tower. The other was a roller coaster ride all over the top of the tower! It definitely scared the heck out of me. They also had a cafe you could eat at window side. They also had a very nice gift shop! I would this week was full of thrillers! Definitely one for the books!