July 6 and 7, 2009 – Floyd and I left for Beijing today on the 6th. We took a later flight, leaving Boise at 8:57 AM instead of 6:00 AM, but found out from the lady at the ticket counter that this flight can sometimes get out late from Boise or late getting into San Francisco because of fog. This flight seemed so much more reasonable since we don’t have to leave the house so early but we made our connection at San Francisco too close to take a chance during the fog season. It was great today though. We had two uneventful flights with the regular meals, movies and naps. We arrived in Beijing on the afternoon of the 7th due to crossing the International Date Line. The Chinese government is very concerned about trying to minimize the H1N1 Flu. We had to fill out a health declaration telling where we had been the last 7 days and whether we had any symptoms. We also had to give them our information of where we were travelling or staying in China. When we arrived at the airport, we had to all stay in our seats while masked, goggled and white coated health officers boarded the plane and took a temperature scan on every passenger with an infra-red thermometer. It looks like a blow drier and they just point it at your forehead and take a reading. As long as it is normal they pass you by. If you have a fever, you become a guest of the Chinese government at a health facility until they determine what you have. The challenges didn’t occur until we got to baggage claim in Beijing and one of our bags was still back in San Francisco. Grrrrr! They sent it on the next day’s flight and it arrived at our apartment that evening. We were glad to see it but not too happy that it got left behind! It had Floyd’s contact lens cleaners, razor, etc. We took a taxi to the apartment from the airport. The taxi driver was not really happy to take all our luggage though, they would rather you take a taxi van when you have luggage but the cost is about double so we opted to go in a regular cab. We could tell by his sighs and looks that he was not extremely happy. It should not be a worry to him though, Floyd loaded most of the bags and he got paid so what is the problem??? We settled in quickly as we have made the trip many times before. The apartments are basically the same so it is just a matter of putting everything in the same place as we put it before, that makes it pretty easy! We are really tired and ready for a good night’s sleep in a bed instead of the airplane seat!
July 8, 2009 – HAPPY 2ND BIRTHDAY TO OUR GRANDDAUGHTER ADDISON! Even though we were not there for her birthday we certainly thought of her! We did celebrate with her before we left when we celebrated Dylan’s 10th birthday on the 2nd of July.
I took it pretty easy, just continued to get settled in. I went to the grocery store for some of the items we will need during our stay. I also spent some time on the computer trying to learn Chinese on Rosetta Stone. I am surprised at how much I remember since I did not even look at it while we were at home. I had decided I needed to spend equal time there learning as I do here but to no avail, other things just seem to take priority over it. Maybe next month??? I haven’t gone to the gym yet this time but did spend some time out walking around the park. The weather has been very hot, in the 90’s, with higher humidity than we are used to. We have had a few rain showers which keeps the humidity up. It makes it very uncomfortable to be outside. We really appreciate the air conditioning in the apartment.
This trip over, Floyd will be focusing on helping to get things finalized for the training of some of the sales team and deployment of some dairy nutrition software the company is releasing to China employees. This week, he will be in the office all week as his interpreter is out of town to some work related meetings. He will just continue to work on some of the tasks he has been doing at home to finish preparing for the deployment.
July 9, 2009 – Another hot, muggy day here in Beijing…quite a challenge as it makes one not want to go out for a walk in the moist heat, but I forced myself to do so. The park is beautiful and I get to see so many people and enjoy the lovely colorful flowers in bloom there.
July 10, 2009 – Today was still very hot and muggy. We are still adjusting to the time and being away from home. We have noticed that when we are walking around the neighborhood that there are a lot of loud insect noises coming from the trees. We are told it is katydids, a type of grasshopper that makes these noises. To give you an idea of what it sounds like, turn on your speakers and click on this hyperlink.
(http://www.audiosparx.com/sa/archive/Insects/Crickets/Katydid-and-Cricket-Serenade/242160)
Here are a two local news articles from the China Daily News English Newspaper you may get a kick out of: Woman with grasshoppers booted out of bus – A woman carrying two cages full of grasshoppers was kicked out of a bus in Wuhan, Hubei province’s capital, after passengers refused to ride further in the same bus on Monday.
Seemingly troubled by the incessant noise the katydids created, passengers screamed at the driver Wang Gang for allowing the villager to board the bus with hundreds of long-horned grasshoppers.
Even as the driver explained there was no rule prohibiting katydids from being brought on to a bus, passengers forced the woman to de-board at the Jianghan Road bus stop. –Chutian Metropolis Daily
If you did not take the time to go to the link above with the sound of a Katydid now is the time to do so so you can really appreciate what these people were putting up with on the bus! ~Merilee
Reptiles and lizards keep man cool in summer – A man in Wuhan, capital of Hubei province, has found a way to keep cool and comfortable without the use of any electricity.
Zhoa Jing, 26, shares his bed with boas, lizards and other cold-blooded animals.
Zhoa has transformed his home into a mini zoo for reptiles and insects.
The former chef spends more than two-thirds of his monthly income on food for the pets. – Wuhan Evening News
July 11, 2009 – We had a very easy restful day. Floyd got up early as he had some work he had to do for his clients back in the US. While he worked on the computer, I had the luxury of sleeping a couple of more hours. After we had breakfast, we went for a walk around the neighborhood and the park before it got too hot. We had a nice leisurely lunch at the apartment and then did some more grocery shopping. I had to do laundry today. It is very interesting and sometimes challenging. The washer is also a dryer. However, sometimes the dry part does not work so well. The unit we have this month is one of those. Fortunately, we have some special hangers and a portable clothes line to hang clothes up all over the bathroom. It is crude, but gets things done. Around midnight, we had a thunderstorm go through the area. The lightning and thunder are a little different than what we normally see and hear in Idaho. The lightning reminds us more of the summer heat lightening we used to see in California, just flashes with no real bolts. The thunder is more like a jet rumble rather than a clap.
July 12, 2009 – Today we went to Church. The branch has gotten much smaller as many of the people that were over here teaching English have gone home. July is also the month that many families return to the States or where ever they may be from to visit family. There was a lot of visitors there today though as some people are here for summer interns or other short-term work or study related trips. The new group of English teachers will start coming back in August, so the numbers will go back up. We had another thunderstorm go through tonight. This is apparently very common during the month of July.
This trip over, Floyd will be focusing on helping to get things finalized for the training of some of the sales team and deployment of some dairy nutrition software the company is releasing to China employees. This week, he will be in the office all week as his interpreter is out of town to some work related meetings. He will just continue to work on some of the tasks he has been doing at home to finish preparing for the deployment.
July 9, 2009 – Another hot, muggy day here in Beijing…quite a challenge as it makes one not want to go out for a walk in the moist heat, but I forced myself to do so. The park is beautiful and I get to see so many people and enjoy the lovely colorful flowers in bloom there.
July 10, 2009 – Today was still very hot and muggy. We are still adjusting to the time and being away from home. We have noticed that when we are walking around the neighborhood that there are a lot of loud insect noises coming from the trees. We are told it is katydids, a type of grasshopper that makes these noises. To give you an idea of what it sounds like, turn on your speakers and click on this hyperlink.
(http://www.audiosparx.com/sa/archive/Insects/Crickets/Katydid-and-Cricket-Serenade/242160)
Here are a two local news articles from the China Daily News English Newspaper you may get a kick out of: Woman with grasshoppers booted out of bus – A woman carrying two cages full of grasshoppers was kicked out of a bus in Wuhan, Hubei province’s capital, after passengers refused to ride further in the same bus on Monday.
Seemingly troubled by the incessant noise the katydids created, passengers screamed at the driver Wang Gang for allowing the villager to board the bus with hundreds of long-horned grasshoppers.
Even as the driver explained there was no rule prohibiting katydids from being brought on to a bus, passengers forced the woman to de-board at the Jianghan Road bus stop. –Chutian Metropolis Daily
If you did not take the time to go to the link above with the sound of a Katydid now is the time to do so so you can really appreciate what these people were putting up with on the bus! ~Merilee
Reptiles and lizards keep man cool in summer – A man in Wuhan, capital of Hubei province, has found a way to keep cool and comfortable without the use of any electricity.
Zhoa Jing, 26, shares his bed with boas, lizards and other cold-blooded animals.
Zhoa has transformed his home into a mini zoo for reptiles and insects.
The former chef spends more than two-thirds of his monthly income on food for the pets. – Wuhan Evening News
July 11, 2009 – We had a very easy restful day. Floyd got up early as he had some work he had to do for his clients back in the US. While he worked on the computer, I had the luxury of sleeping a couple of more hours. After we had breakfast, we went for a walk around the neighborhood and the park before it got too hot. We had a nice leisurely lunch at the apartment and then did some more grocery shopping. I had to do laundry today. It is very interesting and sometimes challenging. The washer is also a dryer. However, sometimes the dry part does not work so well. The unit we have this month is one of those. Fortunately, we have some special hangers and a portable clothes line to hang clothes up all over the bathroom. It is crude, but gets things done. Around midnight, we had a thunderstorm go through the area. The lightning and thunder are a little different than what we normally see and hear in Idaho. The lightning reminds us more of the summer heat lightening we used to see in California, just flashes with no real bolts. The thunder is more like a jet rumble rather than a clap.
July 12, 2009 – Today we went to Church. The branch has gotten much smaller as many of the people that were over here teaching English have gone home. July is also the month that many families return to the States or where ever they may be from to visit family. There was a lot of visitors there today though as some people are here for summer interns or other short-term work or study related trips. The new group of English teachers will start coming back in August, so the numbers will go back up. We had another thunderstorm go through tonight. This is apparently very common during the month of July.
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