The smell of dead fish and fried dumplings engulfed my nostrils as I ventured off into a foreign territory. I was then immediately bombarded with musty, humid air and noticeably large advertisements hanging above my head, all written in Chinese. Then, as I was walking with my head towards the sky, taking in my surroundings, I was abruptly stopped by a man, whom was slender and of Asian descent. He shoved a catalogue, that had listings of different counterfeit purses, into my hands and motioned me over to a mysterious van. Before a potential heist scenario could occur I was luckily called over to rejoin the group that I had intentionally traveled here with.
I was here in New York City with roughly 100 other students on a mission trip with …show more content…
We were then guided up the stairs and ventured through a narrow hallway to be shown various, vacant classrooms, which I later learned is where we would be sleeping for the duration of our stay.
After our brief tour of the school, we were all gathered in the gym for dinner, naturally everyone sat with their designated cliques, which left me a state of unshakeable awkwardness due to the fact that I didn’t know anyone. While contemplating on whether or not to attempt to socialize, I quickly convinced myself that that was a horrible idea, so I grabbed an enormous slice of cheese pizza and sulked in the corner of the gym. Soon after everyone took part in worship, where we sang an array of songs and then went over the week’s itinerary.
The next day we were awoken at 8:00 A.M. and were invited downstairs to partake in a breakfast buffet. Upon arriving, I picked up a box of, “Marshmallow Magic” that was displayed with an array of other knock off cereals and took my seat in the corner. Once everyone finished eating, Tom, the head honcho of our trip, informed us of the day 's festivities. Tom decided to split everyone up into groups and have designated assignments for them to accomplish. …show more content…
An arch of colored balloons marked the entrance with various carnival type games, like ring toss and Skee ball, that was spread throughout the street. Across the road was a station filled with children with butterflies and tigers painted across their faces . The smells of sugar and butter lingered through the air, while roaring Top 40’s music blasted throughout the night. The night was seemly going well, but unfortunately was cut short due to a gang threat. To further explain, a local gang heard why we were here and what we were promoting and they were not too fond of it, so they threatened to shoot everyone. We quickly disassembled all of our supplies (a cotton candy and popcorn machine, several inflatable bounce houses etc.) and loaded the buses to head back to China
I was here in New York City with roughly 100 other students on a mission trip with …show more content…
We were then guided up the stairs and ventured through a narrow hallway to be shown various, vacant classrooms, which I later learned is where we would be sleeping for the duration of our stay.
After our brief tour of the school, we were all gathered in the gym for dinner, naturally everyone sat with their designated cliques, which left me a state of unshakeable awkwardness due to the fact that I didn’t know anyone. While contemplating on whether or not to attempt to socialize, I quickly convinced myself that that was a horrible idea, so I grabbed an enormous slice of cheese pizza and sulked in the corner of the gym. Soon after everyone took part in worship, where we sang an array of songs and then went over the week’s itinerary.
The next day we were awoken at 8:00 A.M. and were invited downstairs to partake in a breakfast buffet. Upon arriving, I picked up a box of, “Marshmallow Magic” that was displayed with an array of other knock off cereals and took my seat in the corner. Once everyone finished eating, Tom, the head honcho of our trip, informed us of the day 's festivities. Tom decided to split everyone up into groups and have designated assignments for them to accomplish. …show more content…
An arch of colored balloons marked the entrance with various carnival type games, like ring toss and Skee ball, that was spread throughout the street. Across the road was a station filled with children with butterflies and tigers painted across their faces . The smells of sugar and butter lingered through the air, while roaring Top 40’s music blasted throughout the night. The night was seemly going well, but unfortunately was cut short due to a gang threat. To further explain, a local gang heard why we were here and what we were promoting and they were not too fond of it, so they threatened to shoot everyone. We quickly disassembled all of our supplies (a cotton candy and popcorn machine, several inflatable bounce houses etc.) and loaded the buses to head back to China