Panda Toast

I bought a square loaf of bread that looked like sandwich bread. Mike mentioned yesterday that it was funny how it tanned in blotched areas rather than stripes like our toasters. Last night I cooked only one piece of bread and it got darker. A panda face appeared.

Branch Conference

Today was our Branch conference and we had leaders from our District in Beijing. As I have told you before, we hold our meetings in the apartment of a Korean family. Apparently the Church pays part of the rent so that we can have a meeting place.

This is the Kang family who live in the apartment.

This is 3 generations of the family. I think the grandma is probably younger than I am. She always prepares fruit or treats for us to eat after Church. The children in the family had on traditional Korean clothing today.

Here are some of their outfits.

This little girl is from another family. She is SO full of love. When I walk in the door she comes up and hugs me. When I sit down she comes and sits on my lap. Of course you know how I hate that. In Primary she will quote whole scriptures (in Korean, of course) without any help. She makes my day.

This is the branch along with the District President.

Chinese Government Dinner

Tonight we were invited by the Government of Quingdao to a party celebrating 60 years of PRC. I didn't bet many pictures but will share what I got. The hotel is only a year old and is the fanciest thing I have ever been in. There were people about every 5 feet welcoming us, giving directions, etc. At the end of the meal I went to the ladies room. As I stepped out of the great hall I asked where it was an a girl took me right to the room. Each stall was a separate wood paneled room with an wonderful western toilet. A woman met you as you came out and pushed the soap for your hands, turned the water on to wash them and then picked out a terry towel with tongs to let you dry your hands.

The food was served on a big turntable and there were about 7 appetizers, fish, beef, vegetables, soup, and more. A few things were strange but overall it was excellent. The desserts were chocolate cheesecake, moon cake, an creme broule. I tried to get some pictures of the banquet hall, table, and the hotel although they don't do it justice. There were girls in red dresses, girls in white dresses, serving uniforms, hotel staff and everyone was wanting to please you. We sat mostly with people from our college. That was okay but didn't allow us to really meet anyone else.

Thoughts to Share

There is more to this China experience than walks and fascinating places. I thought I'd share a few differences and things I've learned or believe in more strongly.

Shopping has been an interesting experience, especially with Jane, the master barterer, along. The city is huge, with over 7 million people so choices of places to go are abundant.

Normally we go to a huge store something like a Super Walmart that has clothes, school supplies, appliances, food and all of the other things of that type. It is a fairly short bus ride from our place. It is called RT. The first floor is individual stores that have more expensive things and then the main store is on the second level. We have to take our own shopping bags and remember that whatever we purchase has to be carried across a busy street to a bus stop, home on the bus, and from the bus to our apartment.

Another place that we sometimes go is a bit fancier and more expensive and further away but it has better meat and some of the goods have a greater variety . It is called Jusco. Both RT and Jusco have fixed prices.

There is a huge place that is full of little booths full of belts, pearls, jade,perfume, handbags, fabric and about anything else you might want. It is called Jimo Market. This is a place where you do bargaining. Apparently they expect you to do so and start almost 4 times above what they will drop their price to. Jane can hold on and bargain and bargain. I'm such a "woos" that I'm almost afraid to question what they say. Hopefully I will learn the art. Just Jane and I went and we got a lacquer piece, some little gifts, a back pack and some ribbon for a friend. Her "pearl" lady is out of town so I will be waiting to start that business.

About a mile away is a little open market nestled in the middle of buildings that also house little stores. You pick your eggs and hand them to the man who puts them into a sack and they are weighed to be sold. I bought corn meal out of a bin and whole wheat flour out of a bin. I bought the biggest and best mango I have ever had. They had a wonderful bakery, a fish market, fruit and vegetable stands and even some little booths with clothes. Again, you take your own bags and have to either take a taxi or carry everything home the mile. I think that next time we will buy more and take a taxi. I think it would probably be just over $1. Most of the Chinese grandma's go to the market every morning and buy everything fresh. You know that the fish are fresh, for example, because they are still swimming. I want to go and get the blue crabs and some shrimp one of these days.

Probably the most interesting and fun part of all of our shopping is that the Chinese just keep talking to you and saying more and more as if saying more will help you to understand what they are saying. It is universal, at the big stores and the little markets. They say things, you motion that you don't understand so they say more. What fun!

Another interesting experience for us is the Korean/American branch. As I lead the music in Sacrament meeting everyone sings full voice in the language of their choice. In Primary I sing in English and everyone else sings in Korean. I teach 3 little 10/11 year olds and 2 of them speak English quite well. I teach from the English manual. (Dah, what else could I do?) They are lovely people. Yesterday I wore the fun necklace that Franya Waide gave me years ago. All of the Korean women came to look at it and I even saw the grandma in the back point to it during the song. After the block she went to the kitchen and cut up a cantaloupe type of melon for us to have a snack for the road.

I've also had refreshed in my memory the idea of "#1 Christian" that George Durrant used to talk about. He tells of stepping aside for the Japanese who needed the paths and later they told him he was a #1 Christian. I'd like to find the actual story again (http://speeches.byu.edu/download.php/Durrant_George_1976.mp3). We have a single lady here as a BYU teacher who represents herself other than that role too often. I stepped aside because there was an older Chinese couple that looked like they wanted to get on the bus and she literally screamed at me, shoved me in front of them and told me that you never do that. That they people push and shove their way and you need to, too. They do push and shove but I see no reason to not be kind. The bus would not have left me.

The other day as we walked into the Olympic Venue I stopped to try to take a picture of the flags and was screamed at again. She yelled, "keep going". She was quite a distance from me but I stopped my picture taking, hobbled up to her and asked why. She explained that they had to pay to get in the spring before and we had just walked through the gate and she was afraid that someone might see us and have us pay. Again, I was dumbfounded. I was being yelled at so that I could sneak into a place without paying that she thought we might have to pay for.

There are other things that cause me concern about her but she is the other person in the Teacher's College and sees herself as an academic gift where all of the past BYU teachers have been seen as "marshmallows". I need to be a friend but I'm not used to people screaming at me and particularly so that I can be something other than a #1 Christian. Enough said. Lesson learned: Choose another route.

Love to all, Mom/Merlene

Another Walk on the Beach

We walked about three blocks to reach the gates of campus and then caught a bus and rode two stops. We walked about five blocks and we reached the Olympic Sailing Area that you saw across the water in the picture two weeks ago. This picture is of the sculpture at the entrance of that area. The theme was One World One Dream.

This is the tower that is used similar to those at an airport and the building attached is part of the whole venue.

View of sailboats out enjoying a windy day.

An interesting spot because of the smooth rock right next to the broken rock and you will find people at almost any place.

The view when I turned away from the beach.

An interesting tunnel for walkers along the 40 mile beach path (it was soon after we left the tunnel that Jane and I met the guys from Denmark).

A colored glass piece of art work and the Goddess of the Sea. She is actually on a little island that is a private sailing club.

My walking partner in his Qingdao University tee shirt.

Even more artwork (we wonder if the guy on the mast is Magellan?)

A beautiful rock wall and flowers along a busy 4 lane street. Those are high class apartments looking down toward the beach.

We walked for four hours, which may have been a challenge regularly. I fell to the bed when we got home. I'm feeling good today and the knee is repairing. I've got to get ready for church. I'm primary teacher for three Korean children, primary chorister, and Sacrament Meeting Music Leader. Mike is Ward Clerk.

Love to all,

Mom

Walk on the Beach

This is the view from our balcony, the second with the telescopic lens.

The body temperature sign is the first thing that you see when entering our lobby.

Today we went down to part of the 40 mile trail along the beach and walked a few miles. These pictures are of the masses of people down by the water, most fully clothed. It appears like they are looking for something in the close-up but we don't know what.

It is fascinating the number of brides and grooms (and models) that you see all over the beach having their pictures taken. Apparently they may be doing it as much as 6 months after the wedding. They rent the wedding dresses and come down for photo shoots when they can arrange the dress and the photographer. Chinese brides actually are married in red most of the time.

We saw this sign near the entrance of a ferry.

We aren't really sure what the statue is but we decided that it was "He's got the whole world in his hands and feet."

The group of people were having a picnic in the rocks along the ocean.

We have been here 17 busy days. I have been called as the Primary music person, sometimes teacher and Sacrament Music Leader. Mike has been called as the Branch Clerk. We haven't been sustained yet but we start in our callings tomorrow anyway so that the Branch can get organized. I'm speaking tomorrow and we taught the SS lesson last week. Time for a little break don't you think?

More Apartment Pictures

These picture is of the living room. Our deck is behind the curtains in the living room. When there is less smog I will take a picture of the deck and of the view of the ocean from it.

I know I already sent the bathroom but I bought a new rug! It is funny how the others keep saying things like, "we know they are tiny but they are adequate" and we shake our heads. Our 5th wheel was less than half of the size of this apartment.

The only other bother is the water. It is only cold water in the kitchen and often when you turn the water on in the bathroom it runs brown for quite a while. The pipes are very old and it is a rusty brown, thank goodness but we use lots of soap and don't brush our teeth with it or take baths in it (only showers)----we do get clean.

These two are of the kitchen, looking in and looking out of it. The little office fridge looking thing is the cold water washing machine. We hook it up in the kitchen with the cold water and then take the hose that is above it in the picture across the hall and put it into a drain in the floor of the bathroom. To dry clothes we either hang them in the bathroom or put them on a drying rack in the living room. I did put Mike's jeans out on the patio to dry the other day.

These are the bedroom. The two twin beds make a wide bed. The bed is basically a box spring and is very hard even with 4-5 quilts on it. I may hunt for a foam pad. There was already one on Mike's side. The two closets are adequate for the amount of clothing that we brought. There is basically no storage so note the handy little place to put the suitcases and extra bookcase. Waste not, want not, don't they say? So we aren't wasting space.

This is China!

Last Monday we went to another part of the city and met the two BYU couples that are teaching at Ocean University. We all got on buses and went to an area called Jai Dong. It was a wonderful mix of old and new and was a bustling mass of humanity. In this area we found WalMart, KFC, Pizza Hut and McDonald's but we also found interesting little alleys with shops that remind you of swap meets. One narrow little store that we went in had lots of needlework kits, mostly cross-stitch, wonderful wall hangings and frame shops and then little collectible stores.

Jane found an original pair of shoes that had been worn by a woman whose feet had been bound. They had beautiful embroidery and couldn't have been more than 5" long. No wonder they were in such pain all of the time. The binding would also have had to fit in those tiny things.

One of the most fascinating things was the building that housed tailor shops. It was probably about 70' x 200' and could easily have housed 100 stores. Each little shop was about the size of a booth at a fair and most were full of bolts of fabric. Some had sewing machines and the ones that I saw were powered with foot pedals. Several of our group were measured and ordered clothing. We decided to go down again when there weren't so many of us. The beautiful men's suits were being tailored for $80-$130 depending on whether you wanted 2 pair of slacks with them.

Our Church experience is an interesting one. We sing in Korean and English at the same time. One of the sacrament prayers is read in English and the other Korean. All talks or testimonies are translated into the other language. We did divide into separate SS classes yesterday but last week we read sections of the RS/Priesthood manual in our own language and followed silently in our own language. Yesterday we had 5 young people who went to BYU Idaho but have graduated and are teaching in a University several hours away. I think they said they got up about 4 AM to get ready, catch trains and buses and get to our 10AM meeting.

There are many things that we are learning to appreciate that we have taken for granted. We are very grateful for this experience.

It has been an interesting week. Mike taught 3 classes and truly seemed to enjoy himself. He has juniors, 2 with business students and 1 in the trade department. I start my first class this next Friday. Most of my students are freshmen and they have some type of military training before the semester starts for them so they start on the 28th. I'm in the process of having my schedule reviewed. Our contracts say that we will teach 14 hours. My original load was six 2 credit courses and preparing for and sponsoring the English Salon (club) but they called and added Appreciating English Poetry with 107 juniors. The only poetry I have ever studied was in Freshman English in 1960 and perhaps a day or two then. The true magic is that there is NO book, not even for me. Thank goodness for the internet. I have requested that our waiban check into my schedule however. I am the only teacher with that load and it is above our agreed contract. Personally I think that no one on the faculty in the English department in the Teachers College wanted to teach the class and they had failed to schedule it so they combined three classes of students into the one, put me in the auditorium and gave it to the new American teacher. This is China!

We are grateful to be here and hope that we can be a positive influence here.

May 4 Square

Qingdao is a picturesque coastal city that lies on the southern tip of China's Shandong Peninsula, facing the Yellow Sea. Qingdao is a well-known holiday resort in China. Before troops were garrisoned here by the imperial court of Qing in 1891, Qingdao had been a small fishing village. It became a German concession in 1897 and was occupied by invading Japanese soldiers when the First World War broke out in 1914. The famous May 4th Movement was launched in 1919 and protestors, against the then Chinese government yielding to Japanese pressure, demanded the recommencement of sovereignty over Qingdao. The city reverted to Chinese rule in 1922, but was occupied by Japan again during the Second World War. After World War II Qingdao served as the headquarters of the Western Pacific Fleet of the US Navy. The USS Alaska, allowed by the KMT, occupied Tsingtao, China in October 1945. On June 2nd, 1949, the CCP's Red Army entered Qingdao City; Qingdao has been under PRC control since that time. Its major industries include trade, light industry, tourism and oceanography research. Qingdao is well known for its european architecture and attractive coastal landscape. In 2008, Qingdao hosted the Sailing Regattas of the 29th Olympic Games as well as the 13th Paralympic Games.

We took the following pictures at May 4 square and the Olympic Yacht Basin.