March 9, 2009 – another lazy day in China. I got up, ate, went to the gym (I am trying to form a new habit!), came home for lunch, saw Floyd off to work (he did office work from the apartment before he headed to the airport to fly to Zhengzhou today), did grocery shopping, worked on the computer and just enjoyed my life here. It is amazing sometimes how easy it is to fill a complete day doing frivolous enjoyable things! We heard from our son Jeff via e-mail first thing this morning that there was a change in leadership in our Ward for our church back home. We were very excited about the change…3 new great men in leadership! We sustain them completely.
March 10, 2009 – again, no real schedule today. Got up, ate and went to the gym. In the afternoon I really started to hit the Rosetta Stone Chinese language tutor. I have worked on it a little here and a little there but have made a second resolution (along with working out at the gym) that I will work hard at it each day. Chinese is a very difficult language to learn but I am determined to do it as we will be here for the next 2 years. This is something very worthwhile. I am thinking the learning is going to be a VERY slow process, kind of a snail’s pace and I am rather impatient right now as I would like it to come to me very quickly. I know I have to be patient!
The Dairy Campaign meetings for Floyd started today. Since much of the first day was on a different subject than Floyd will be presenting for training and was all in Chinese, Floyd was given the opportunity to take a tour to a couple of sites in the area. He went to the Millennium City Park, part of Qingming Riverside Landscape Garden (http://english.51766.com/detail/scenes_detail.jsp?ent_id=dxgs). Millennium City Park, located on the west bank of Dragon Pavilion Lake, is a grand cultural garden. It covers an area of 600 mu (about 98 acres), and the construction area is more than 30,000 square meters (about 7.4 acres). The built area consists of several architectural complexes which are re-creations based on the famous twelfth century painting by Zhang Zeduan of 'The Qingming Festival by the Riverside'. Some pictures are available at this site (http://yeschinatour.com/china-guides/china-attractions/qingming-riverside-landscape-garden-kaifeng/pictures). He also went to the Shaolin Temple (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaolin_Monastery), probably one of the most famous temples in China. It was quite interesting to see such old sites. A new album is posted with pictures.
March 11, 2009 – I changed things just a bit today, instead of going to the gym before lunch I stayed in the apartment and did computer work first. After a very worthwhile workout I came back to the apartment and worked on my Chinese again. I keep having very so small “Ahah” moments, and something will click. This certainly helps my resolve. I am going to have to take some time soon to finish my quilt blocks that I brought with me as my next class is going to be on putting the blocks together for the quilt top. I am excited to see what it is going to look like all together! It has been a long journey; we started the class last March doing a block a month.
Today was Floyd’s busy day. He started out by lecturing for 4 hours about dairy management to about 60 of his Chinese co-workers. After lunch, he continued the training on the farm helping his colleagues put into practice what they had been taught that morning. The hands-on training really helps reinforce the classroom instruction. That evening they had a big group dinner as they did most evenings. Many of the sales managers from the different areas invited Floyd to come to their area to put on additional training. He said right now he feels like one of the most wanted men in China, in a good way.
March 12, 2009 – when I looked out the window this morning I noticed the sidewalks and the pavement were slightly wet. This is the first rain (although very light) that we have had since we have been in Beijing. It didn’t last very long though. I had the same schedule today as usual, got up, ate and went to the gym. Then on the computer again, I am finally getting to the point of wanting to repeat the Chinese lessons over and over to try to absorb it and understand it. It seems like I get something learned but when I go back to it I have forgotten it again. Very frustrating! I know this seems like a boring life but I am enjoying being able to concentrate on 2 areas in my life that would be put to the back burner in “real life” back in Idaho. There are no deadlines or outside pressures.
Floyd had a little different role today. They held what is called a feeder group meeting. This is a meeting where dairy farmers have been invited to come into a seminar type meeting. They consisted of customers and prospects both. He spoke for 2 hours on how to help them improve production and profitability. About 200 Chinese dairymen were in attendance. The feedback he got was very positive. Many of the farmers had questions for him after his presentation. They are very hungry for Western technology.
March 13, 2009 – as I went to the gym this morning, I was planning on my usual hour and a half workout but when I got on the stair-stepper they were just starting a movie on HBO. It was one that I had wanted to see but never got a chance to. After I finished the stair-stepper I went on to the treadmill and continued watching the movie. Unfortunately when my hour was up on the treadmill the movie was not finished so I spent an extra half an hour on the treadmill until the movie ended. I think I may pay for it tomorrow. Boy was I tired coming home.
In the afternoon I made a pot of spaghetti sauce and a pot of vegetable beef soup. There are still only a few things I can make here because of not having an oven but I make the most of what I have and really enjoy it! I also spent a couple hours on the computer working on my Chinese…I am determined.
This morning was the last of the meetings for Floyd. Before returning to Beijing, he was given a tour of the Longmen Grottoes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longmen_Grottoes). It is a fascinating area where the monks carved caves into solid rock and then carved many different figures in the caves pertaining to their Buddhist worshipping. The amount of work they put into this was incredible. There is a new album with pictures in it. Floyd finally arrived back at the apartment about 10:30 PM. It has been a long week for him.
March 14, 2009 – I was right, my leg muscles are sore today. True to the saying “Exercise is good for sore muscles” we went sightseeing today, since the weather is getting nicer. We went to Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City and the Olympic area. I had so much fun taking pictures that Floyd had to keep reminding me that we had to press on so we could get finished before dark. He took many pictures of the structures in his trips to them but I like to take pictures of details so that is what I did. So much fun!!! The “Birds Nest” is HUGE, and very unique! Even the lighting around the building had the bird nest theme, very interesting. There was also a high rise building you could see from the Olympic area that was in the shape of a torch, it was very interesting also. I took pictures of it also to share. Pictures do not do it justice. By the time we finished today I think we walked about 8 or 10 miles.
March 15, 2009 – Happy Birthday to our daughter Terri today! It was good to go to church today and take a reprieve from our worldly schedule. A family that has been in the branch for over 7 years spoke as this is their last Sunday here. They will be moving to Taiwan. They will surely be missed as they leave many good friends behind. This afternoon we worked on the blog to get it ready to be posted and just spent time relaxing.
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