We Feel Very Blessed

We feel very blessed. Blessed that we have 5 other people who have been here before that know where the store is, where to eat, what bus to take to church, etc. We also feel blessed that we have a fully stocked apartment. We have a rice cooker, slow cooker, waffle iron, microwave, toaster oven and two grill stove. True there is no hot water but we just wait and wash dishes when it is hot. It takes one trip across our hall to the bathroom with the dish sink to get the hot water so it is no big deal. Our furniture is nice and the bed is more like a box spring than a mattress but is made of two twins so is plenty wide. We have two desks and several bookcases, mostly full with materials and references for teaching.

We have enjoyed all of the Chinese food that we have eaten and even ordered a fair pizza with Rog and Jane the other night.

Our Branch was very interesting yesterday. We meet in the home of a Korean family in apartment about 30 minutes away. Everything was either translated into Korean or English depending on the origin. I would guess there were about 30 there with the children. There was a warm, loving spirit and it was a neat experience. We enjoyed our evening on May 4 Square. The temperature was perfect and the breeze beautiful. Just like the Native Americans, Mexicans and other places we visited there were many with their thing to buy out on little mats. They would come up and pester you to buy but it was easy to say "no" because we didn't take money with us. Dad does want to pick up some fun kites before we leave.

Apartment

These are our building and entryway. We are on the next to the topfloor with a balcony.

Off We Go!

Well, off we go is right. When we got to LA we had no idea that we would have to leave the airport, take a certain bus to the China Air terminal and then check in there. Everything went quite smoothly except for the lack of knowledge so having to ask and ask again about things. We got there about 15 minutes before the Halladays although they left SLC an hour after us.

As we were standing, waiting for the bus I spoke to a young man next to me and asked if he was waiting for the same bus. He was. He is going to another city in China to do an internship with a program he is a part of at the Univ. of Hawaii. Somehow I mentioned that we were from BYU and he said that he had graduated from the Y. He has a wife and 3 children that he was leaving home because his 5-year-old has asthma and the pollution in Qhangzhou is so bad he didn't think it would be good for her. I pulled out my China Teacher's book and gave him the names of 4 couples who would be teaching there. His response was, "Isn't it amazing how you can feel so lonely and then you feel like you have family. One more time I was so grateful for my membership in the Church.

We were very blessed on our China Air flight. We had a whole row of 5 seats between the 2 of us. I slept on 4 of them and Mike leaned back on the other. It was a pretty good night. The food was Chinese--fried rice for one meal and a noodle dish for the other. As we got to Beijing we had quite a scare. The wheels came down, he hit the runway and bounced and jerked and then took off again. Mike said, "I think he is doing a touch and go." Sure enough he was. The attendant came on and said that because of the weather conditions we were told to circle until notified. It was just a few minutes until we came in again and this time the landing was smooth. Because we were late, had to go through medical and the other loops we were pushing it for time to catch our plane here. We got into the customs line and they announced that the scales were broken so we would need to go up to the 4th floor. We got up there and a guy helped us to get out of there on time. He pushed his way into the line and sent our bags on without going though customs at all. He wanted more money from each of us than we gave him but he did well for the few minutes he helped us and we certainly wouldn't have made it without him.

We were met at the Qingdao airport by our Waiban, Shirley and a bus and driver. They were so very warm and welcoming.

I'll write tomorrow and send pictures of our apartment, etc.

Love to all, Mom

We are Here!

I'll write about the trip more later, but wanted to tell you that we are here and feel so VERY blessed.

We have the nicest, cleanest (probably not for long- Jane LOVES to clean), and most supplied apartment of the group. The BYU people who were here last must have had some $$ and Jane suggested that they leave phones, bus cards, etc. that they couldn't use afterwards anyway. Boy, did they ever. There is a camera, binoculars, two phones, everything needed to set up housekeeping and even some extras like slow cookers, etc. books, pictures, and everything else. There is even some food (they have only been gone since early July so Jane told them to leave things that we could use like oil, spices, etc.

Our apartment is very roomy. I guess you need to live in a 5th wheel first because these rooms seem big to me. They had left enough little baskets, etc. that I've got everything put away. (There are no drawers). I keep thinking that when I leave I want to do the same for the next people. It has made it SO easy. It was basically just unpacking like after a trip and now we will go grocery shopping and will be set.

We still don't know what we will be teaching but it is only Friday and classes don't start until Monday so who cares? This is China!

My dizziness came back with a furry last night and is letting up a little. I got a blessing last night and would appreciate your prayers.

We Have Started Our Adventure

The people that you see walking on this section of the BYU Campus are other China Teachers heading for the Kennedy Center to begin our first day of training.


The concerned look on Mike's face really should be on mine. After a week of one hour per day I can't remember one word of the Chinese that we have studied. I certainly hope that I am able to take the little picture book with Chinese and English titles with me where ever we go or that something magical happens to my learning curve because I'm hopeless without.

We have had very long, very full and very interesting days studying about Chinese history, Chinese politics, Chinese religions, the Church in China, how to teach writing, how to teach listening, how to teach speaking, etc. All have been taught by wonderful professionals and have been sooooo full of information. Yesterday my brain actually felt jammed by 5:00 and I didn't feel like it could hold another thing. After dinner, however, we had an evening at the computer lab learning to do power points and I quite enjoyed it. Onward and upward!!! Love to all!