Moon Party

The first week in October is a national holiday in China for Moon Festival. Before all the kids went home to their families, the school put on a little party for the kindergarteners and invited us to it! They gave everyone fruit, snacks, and the traditional moon cake. We put on a small skit/song for the kids and a few of them got up and sang to us. Then we ate and played!

These two are twins. They’re adorable.

Even after class, the kids are obsessed with their sticker chart.

This guy below in the checkered shirt is one of my favorites (I know I probably shouldn’t have favorites…but oh well). His name is Gabe and he’s in my home group. Not only is he one of the sweetest boys ever, but he’s also very good and smart. He gives the best hugs and always wants to hold my hand or sit by me. He makes my day all the time!

Shanghai Wild Animal Park

We heard a lot of rumors about Shanghai’s Wild Animal Park, such as you can ride elephants and giraffes, hold baby tigers, take a caged bus through lions, etc. We had no idea what to believe, but we wanted to check it out!

Unfortunately we went on a very rainy day. Within half an hour we were all soaked and desperately needed ponchos. Luckily it cleared up a bit in the afternoon.

We found a camel and Leah jumped at the opportunity to ride it. My main goal was to ride an elephant so I decided to wait before I spent money on a camel.

Seriously the most beautiful zoo I’ve ever been to!

One thing I found very surprising was how dirty and unkempt the zoo was. There was garbage all over the ground and children were allowed to pee wherever. Also, people would throw food at the animals! This little guy below got yogurt thrown at him! It kind of made us kind of upset how some people were treating the animals—I’m sure that would not be allowed in the US.

I got to hold a baby tiger! The little guy was wouldn’t hold still and I was scared he was going to bite me.

And finally…we found the place where you can ride elephants! YES, I RODE AN ELEPHANT!!!

The park was split into two sections: one where you walk around and see the animals, and two where you take a bus through different sections. We had the option of a window or caged bus—we chose caged. It drove us through cheetahs, tigers, lions, and bears and at times we were seriously inches away from the animals. The bus even had chickens they fed to the tigers right off the bus. It was awesome.

This place was very Jurassic Park-esque!

Whitney as an old pidgin lady.