We're finished with school for the summer, but just before our exams we went on a surprise field trip. And this is why I say "surprise": I got a text message from my teacher just before heading to school one morning that said, "Bring your camera today." I really didn't have any idea why I needed to bring it, but I did. During the break after my first class, my classmates asked me if I was going to go with them to drink tea. Drink tea? I was really confused. But after class they told me to follow them and they would take us to meet our teacher. So I followed them to the bus stop to meet up with my teacher, still really unsure of what was going down. When I got there my teacher made sure I brought my camera and then told us that we needed to wait 30 minutes for the bus to come. During the 30 minutes we tried to understand as much about where we were going and what we were going to do as we could, in the local language. And we found out we were going to "watch a performance on drinking tea" (not really knowing what that meant) near Wal-Mart. 
So next thing we know, the Wal-Mart bus pulls up and our teacher tells us to get on. Ok-so in the world of public transportation, the Wal-Mart bus is this bus that takes you to Wal-Mart for free! You can get back on the bus to ride it back to several locations around town for free again, if you have a reciept showing that you bought something there! The bus comes down our street and we always make jokes about it. So we laughed really hard when we finally got to hop on for a ride! (And the scoop on the Asian Wal-Mart: it's got the layout of Wal-Mart as you know it, but the goods that are sold are completely different, they're acquired to Asian taste, dress, and customs...but they do sell Snapples)
When we got to the tea house, we went in and watched this woman pour tea. She had some skills!!!
Then we sat down at tables, and this woman made tea for us. She showed us how to make it, held it up like below to "bless" it, then served us.
She taught us how many sips to take, and then how to hold it. Look at those pinkies!
After a tour of the tea house we posed for a group shot!
We thought we we're about to leave, when our teacher asked if all the girls could dress up! So we got dressed up in the server outfits and had a photo shoot.
We got a little creative with this pose.
Ya'll come on in!
So it turned out to be a really neat trip!
So next thing we know, the Wal-Mart bus pulls up and our teacher tells us to get on. Ok-so in the world of public transportation, the Wal-Mart bus is this bus that takes you to Wal-Mart for free! You can get back on the bus to ride it back to several locations around town for free again, if you have a reciept showing that you bought something there! The bus comes down our street and we always make jokes about it. So we laughed really hard when we finally got to hop on for a ride! (And the scoop on the Asian Wal-Mart: it's got the layout of Wal-Mart as you know it, but the goods that are sold are completely different, they're acquired to Asian taste, dress, and customs...but they do sell Snapples)
When we got to the tea house, we went in and watched this woman pour tea. She had some skills!!!
Then we sat down at tables, and this woman made tea for us. She showed us how to make it, held it up like below to "bless" it, then served us.
She taught us how many sips to take, and then how to hold it. Look at those pinkies!
After a tour of the tea house we posed for a group shot!
We thought we we're about to leave, when our teacher asked if all the girls could dress up! So we got dressed up in the server outfits and had a photo shoot.
We got a little creative with this pose.
Ya'll come on in!
So it turned out to be a really neat trip!
Go TEAM!
