I have set up a new photoblog as a subdomain of this website. You might remember my old photography website. I took it down a little over a year ago. Since then I haven't had a place to really post my "photography" which hasn't bothered me in the least since 9 out of 10 pictures are simple snapshots of my little family and our adventures; and I post those here. But now I have a site to show some of the other work I do. You can check it out by going to "Andrea" at the top of the home-page, and clicking on "Photoblog" on the drop-down menu. Or you can just click here. 

You can post comments to the images, and feedback is greatly appreciated. I've posted most of my old work, though I'm sure I'll find more that I'll want to put on as I go through my old files. But in the mean time, I've also just started showing some of my "new work," starting in September! :D 

This picture was taken on a shoot (not guns) with photography super-hero Rick last weekend in Manti.

Today we ventured to The Nationalities Village, which is located just outside Kunming about an hour and a half from our school. Within this "Village" there are little sections from all the different nationalities of China.  

The first thing we did when we got there was ride elephants. It was so fun.  Alot of people in our group dressed up in some Chinese costumes they had there, and took pictures on the elephants. I personally decided against the costume. But it was so cool to be on an elephant. By the way elephants have way bad breath! Once we were done with that we climbed on some rock elephants that where there. Taking photos on them was not allowed, and the Chinese did not appreciate us doing it, but Colin let us so oh well.

Next we hit the zip line. It was probably 200 feet long and over a really pretty lake. It was really exciting and a lot of fun. 

We hit a little restaurant for lunch and the food didn't really look that good but I was starving and needed something to eat. So I settled for some noodles with vegetables and Chile sauce. Besides the fact that it was cold it was actually pretty good. I think I might have finally learned how to use chopsticks too! At least with noodles. At the school we only have rice so I have just been shovelling it into my mouth - not really learning how to use them. 

After lunch we kinda just broke off into little groups. It was Sarah, Chelsey, Kayla, Colin, a few of his friends, and me. First thing we found where some swings. They where hard to pump on but Colin's friend pushed me (because I cant remember his name we will name him Mike because he reminds me of Mikey, or they way him and Colin interact reminds me of Danny and Mikey). Within that same little area there was a hut and inside there was an outfit made out of grass or something it looked really cool but really itchy. There was also a rice crusher and a bean masher. It was all really cool. On our way out of that section there was a cool little tree that we decided to take a picture in. Guess what happened, yep we got yelled at again for climbing on the stuff.  Next we headed over toward the Tibetan village. We never made it there though. Instead we found these goat like statues much like the elephant ones. This time we made sure there were no security guards around before climbing on them. 

Next we went to an elephant show. It was pretty cool. I fed the biggest elephant my corn on the cob. One of the girls from our group got a "massage" from the elephant it was really funny. You most definitely had to be there. That was pretty much all the exciting stuff about it. After the show my roommates and I just wandered around for a little. I did see some girls riding horses and I really wanted to but they wouldn't let me. So that's pretty much it. It was alot of fun and I would most definitely suggest you do it if you are ever out Kunming's way.

Oh yeah so there was this little goat tied up next to a statue of two big goats. There was a hole in between the two goats heads. The little goat went through the hole to get away from us so I went on the other side of the statue to scare it back to the other side. The other girls where nervous that the goat would ram them but it looked harmless enough. Picture this: I'm on the one side of  the statue and everyone else including the goat are the other side. We decide to leave. Kayla and Dan leave first a few strides ahead of Emily and Chelsey. I come around the statue and scare both the goat and I so it takes off towards Emily and it's afraid and has nowhere else to go so it rams Emily in the thigh! Chelsey and I can't help but laugh and Dan and Kayla missed the whole thing; it was so hilarious. Earlier Emily had commented on how you just need to be faster than the goat. She wasn't.

We went to Manti with the Smiths for Labor Day weekend. They have a home in Manti, and they graciously invited us to go hang out with them. We went down Friday night. On Saturday Mike, their oldest son, came down, and brought Carrie with him, who he's made friends with. We told the Smiths . . . you get us, you get ALL of us (meaning my sisters seem to go everywhere we do!)  

Anyhow, once they got there, we went to the mountains and shot guns. Rick has been trying to convince me that we should have guns. So far I'm not buying it (sorry Rick). But it was a lot of fun to go shooting. Especially the really big guns! There was one that kicked back so hard it almost knocked me off my feet the first time! And let's be honest, it makes for good photo ops. Later that evening we went to the really cute candy shop it town. It was so darling! And we went and got pizza at the local pizzeria, "Lotsa Motsa." 

The next day we went on a drive to the top of the mountains around Manti - "Skyline Drive" peaks at just under 11,000 Feet! We had tons of fun stopping to take pictures. The best were the group pictures. We probably spent 20 minutes just trying to get one good group shot. They're pretty funny!

That night we went to the Manti Temple to take night shots. It was amazing, you can walk right up to the temple there. Rick and Marsha were telling me that the temple in Manti is a little different than in Salt Lake: there's a real sense of community love and affection for the building. They truley look at it as "their temple." I thought it was neat that the community was considered so safe, and respectful, that they didn't have the need to gate it like they do in Salt Lake, and at other temples. We got some nice shots of the temple at night, but like most temple pictures, it's really hard to get an image that hasn't been done before.

On Monday we just hung out for the morning. Finally we got around to packing up. We got lunch at the "Malt Shop," which has been there since the 50's. It was cute. Then we headed home. On our way we stopped in Mt. Pleasant to see Danny and Eliza, who were there visiting Eliza's grandmother. 

It was a fun weekend. Thank you to the Smiths for inviting us. We had so much fun!

Those of you that have taught English know these words well. They are seriously my new favorite words. Today after dinner I walked outside and there where these two little girls playing. When they saw me they where like "Teacher, Teacher." The older one introduced herself as Angie; she was 8 years old, the other little girl was 6 I believe. The little six year old was riding a three wheeled scooter that had lost a wheel. After observing for a moment we decided to go play on the teeter totter and Angie starting singing "Row Row Row Your Boat," and then she sang "Jingle Bells." I think she mixed some chinese in the lyrics but it was so cute. Then we ventured over to the swings. again it was "teacher teacher push." So I pushed them on the swings for a little. I tried to get pictures with them but it was hard to get them to stand still. I did my best.

Today we also ventured into Kunming where we hit the local DVD Shop. The local dollar has stregthened while the US dollar has weakened so if you want DVDs they will be $1.25 per DVD and TV shows will be $5 a season or if you want nicer ones $20. Some movies we saw today where Ironman, Interperter, Enchanted, Bee Movie, Wall-E, Rattatoulie, Bewithed, Casino Royale, Remember the Titans, Mulan, Clone Wars, Nemo, Lion King, Hancock, Monsters Inc, PS I Love You, Roman Holiday, Cars, The Notebook, MIB, MIIB, I Am Legend, Bugs Life, Fantasia 2000, August Rush, Toy Story, and some TV shows are Lost, House, Prisonbreak, CSI, Heroes, Greys Anotomy and yeah so if you want movies just Email me bbluvsfame@gmail.com