May 3, 2010 – We are back again in China. The flights went well. Such a routine now! It is warm now here, with temperatures in the 80’s today. We kind of have a routine with our unpacking since everything gets put away in basically the same place…different apartment but they are set up the same. We turned in early as we were tired from a long day.
Floyd had to hit the deck running this trip! We got in Monday afternoon, Tuesday morning he had to catch a flight out to visit with dairies and hold meetings. He missed his plane coming home as the people he was with did not allow enough time to get back to the airport. This did not sit well with Floyd as he was already tired from just arriving here and then got in much later than he was expecting.
One of the first things we noticed was all the Cottonwood “fluff” in the air here. It is earlier in the season than back home. We noticed an article and picture in the newspaper…we don’t have it bad at home compared to the picture!!! I am adding the picture to our blog as well as an album of various weather conditions so you can see how bad it really was. Luckily that was in another area of the city and our area had fluff coming down but not nearly as bad!
We have a lady we have gotten to know over here this trip, her name is Kathleen. She is taking a year off from work and is traveling around the world. She is spending 3 months in Beijing, touring and learning Chinese. etc. From here she will tour a few more Asian countries and is planning on going to Spain on her next leg. Our hat is off to her…for the faith and fortitude to go to countries by herself and explore. I am not too sure I could do it.
They have been doing a huge work project across the street, apparently replacing some sort of water or sewer line. It looks like they are trying to make a career out of it. Unfortunately they do a lot of the work at night when it is cooler and as a result we can’t open windows at night to let cool air in because of the noise. We also can’t open windows during day, even if it cooler outside than in the apartment because of the diesel rig they are using to pump water fouls the air so badly. The exhaust seems to come right into the apartment window.
Because people come and go so regularly from here, that is they live here for a period of time due to work, teaching English in the colleges or come to study abroad for a period of time and then leave, it is customary to have a “Closing Social” at our church or kind of farewell party at the end of the school each year. We had the pleasure of having it happen this trip and we really enjoyed visiting with everyone before they head back for the U.S. or country they were from.
The ladies over here in our church decided this year to have everyone submit their favorite recipes and make a cookbook. They asked if anyone would be interested in helping and with the graphic art background I have I decided to volunteer some of my time. It turns out that things had stalled with making an actual book due to cost of printing. I suggested the option of doing it electronically on a CD and it was decided we would go ahead and follow through and get it made. It kind of landed in my lap and I spent MANY, MANY hours pulling things together for it. It was truly a labor of love that I will finish when we get back to the U.S. and we can purchase the CD’s to burn it on.
We moved up a little in the technology world. We purchased a couple of iPod touches with miles from our trips. It is amazing how much you can store on them to listen to or read. We are enjoying them, especially where they are so compact and easy to carry.
Over here there are quite a few beggars that post themselves close to the grocery store near us. They hit up most of the foreigners. We refuse to give them money as they ask but are not afraid to purchase some food for them. There is one gal who is very friendly. She has a couple children and sometimes I bring some food from the store for her. She is always really appreciative and is respectful to us. If we tell her not today she will say thank you anyway. Many of them follow you and keep speaking Chinese to us trying to get us to give them something. This irritates me as I do not like to be badgered!
As you can see, I have not been very good again at keeping up the blog, sorry. I am trying to catch up and will have to make myself at least write an idea each day so I can go back and “fill in the blanks”. This trip has been quite uneventful and calm, I am really enjoying it.
May 18, 2010 – today is rainy and 81 degrees F.
We cherish our evening walks when Floyd gets home from work most nights. We see such a sweet Chinese lady who has had a stroke there walking in the park almost every night we go there. What a huge challenge this must be for her as we watch her struggle through each step, partly dragging her right foot to in front of her. We feel the enormous courage this must take to go around the park. We take it so for granted as we walk once or twice around the park and realize what a struggle and how long that lap must be for her with her limitations.
The culture here has a real difference of what is acceptable than what we are accustomed to. As we were going for our walk this evening, a little boy, about 6 or 7 years old was standing on the sidewalk seeing how high he could pee on the tree. Public urination for males of all ages is very common in China. We see this along the highways as well as in the neighborhoods. Taxi drivers will stop and get out and step next to a tree to urinate. They would be arrested in the United States. We also see public urination with little girls, but not as much as boys.
May 26, 2010 – we are down to crunch week again, we head back to the U.S. on the 29th. As always we do it with such mixed emotions. We love it here in China, love the people and the culture so we are sad to leave. But on the other hand we love the United States, and especially getting to see our family, so we are happy to head out again.
May 27, 2010 – Just after we finished dinner tonight, the power went out our floor of the apartment building. They got it restored a couple of times but couldn’t keep it on, so we ended up going to bed early as there was nothing else to do. Maybe the extra sleep will help make up for the frustration.
May 28, 2010 - Off 8 times in total throughout the night and early morning. Still not sure what has caused to circuit breaker to keep tripping. It made it fun getting ready and packing to go home. Power comes on…shower, power goes off. Power comes on…blow dry my hair, power goes off. Power comes on…flat iron my hair, power actually stayed on the rest of the day…yea!
We had actually extended our stay as Floyd had to visit 6 farms the last 3 days for a large international client they are working with. They are doing nutrition and management audits of the farms and will need to follow up with the reports and recommendations when we get back home.
May 29, 2010 – we got ready and packed early this morning, quite a miracle in itself! So I will take a moment and reflect on our trip this month. This seems to be one of the fastest months we have been here even though we actually stayed one day extra because Floyd had meetings on Friday this month so we leave on Saturday instead of our usual Friday. I guess when you keep busy, the time goes by faster.
Floyd had to hit the deck running this trip! We got in Monday afternoon, Tuesday morning he had to catch a flight out to visit with dairies and hold meetings. He missed his plane coming home as the people he was with did not allow enough time to get back to the airport. This did not sit well with Floyd as he was already tired from just arriving here and then got in much later than he was expecting.
One of the first things we noticed was all the Cottonwood “fluff” in the air here. It is earlier in the season than back home. We noticed an article and picture in the newspaper…we don’t have it bad at home compared to the picture!!! I am adding the picture to our blog as well as an album of various weather conditions so you can see how bad it really was. Luckily that was in another area of the city and our area had fluff coming down but not nearly as bad!
We have a lady we have gotten to know over here this trip, her name is Kathleen. She is taking a year off from work and is traveling around the world. She is spending 3 months in Beijing, touring and learning Chinese. etc. From here she will tour a few more Asian countries and is planning on going to Spain on her next leg. Our hat is off to her…for the faith and fortitude to go to countries by herself and explore. I am not too sure I could do it.
They have been doing a huge work project across the street, apparently replacing some sort of water or sewer line. It looks like they are trying to make a career out of it. Unfortunately they do a lot of the work at night when it is cooler and as a result we can’t open windows at night to let cool air in because of the noise. We also can’t open windows during day, even if it cooler outside than in the apartment because of the diesel rig they are using to pump water fouls the air so badly. The exhaust seems to come right into the apartment window.
Because people come and go so regularly from here, that is they live here for a period of time due to work, teaching English in the colleges or come to study abroad for a period of time and then leave, it is customary to have a “Closing Social” at our church or kind of farewell party at the end of the school each year. We had the pleasure of having it happen this trip and we really enjoyed visiting with everyone before they head back for the U.S. or country they were from.
The ladies over here in our church decided this year to have everyone submit their favorite recipes and make a cookbook. They asked if anyone would be interested in helping and with the graphic art background I have I decided to volunteer some of my time. It turns out that things had stalled with making an actual book due to cost of printing. I suggested the option of doing it electronically on a CD and it was decided we would go ahead and follow through and get it made. It kind of landed in my lap and I spent MANY, MANY hours pulling things together for it. It was truly a labor of love that I will finish when we get back to the U.S. and we can purchase the CD’s to burn it on.
We moved up a little in the technology world. We purchased a couple of iPod touches with miles from our trips. It is amazing how much you can store on them to listen to or read. We are enjoying them, especially where they are so compact and easy to carry.
Over here there are quite a few beggars that post themselves close to the grocery store near us. They hit up most of the foreigners. We refuse to give them money as they ask but are not afraid to purchase some food for them. There is one gal who is very friendly. She has a couple children and sometimes I bring some food from the store for her. She is always really appreciative and is respectful to us. If we tell her not today she will say thank you anyway. Many of them follow you and keep speaking Chinese to us trying to get us to give them something. This irritates me as I do not like to be badgered!
As you can see, I have not been very good again at keeping up the blog, sorry. I am trying to catch up and will have to make myself at least write an idea each day so I can go back and “fill in the blanks”. This trip has been quite uneventful and calm, I am really enjoying it.
May 18, 2010 – today is rainy and 81 degrees F.
We cherish our evening walks when Floyd gets home from work most nights. We see such a sweet Chinese lady who has had a stroke there walking in the park almost every night we go there. What a huge challenge this must be for her as we watch her struggle through each step, partly dragging her right foot to in front of her. We feel the enormous courage this must take to go around the park. We take it so for granted as we walk once or twice around the park and realize what a struggle and how long that lap must be for her with her limitations.
The culture here has a real difference of what is acceptable than what we are accustomed to. As we were going for our walk this evening, a little boy, about 6 or 7 years old was standing on the sidewalk seeing how high he could pee on the tree. Public urination for males of all ages is very common in China. We see this along the highways as well as in the neighborhoods. Taxi drivers will stop and get out and step next to a tree to urinate. They would be arrested in the United States. We also see public urination with little girls, but not as much as boys.
May 26, 2010 – we are down to crunch week again, we head back to the U.S. on the 29th. As always we do it with such mixed emotions. We love it here in China, love the people and the culture so we are sad to leave. But on the other hand we love the United States, and especially getting to see our family, so we are happy to head out again.
May 27, 2010 – Just after we finished dinner tonight, the power went out our floor of the apartment building. They got it restored a couple of times but couldn’t keep it on, so we ended up going to bed early as there was nothing else to do. Maybe the extra sleep will help make up for the frustration.
May 28, 2010 - Off 8 times in total throughout the night and early morning. Still not sure what has caused to circuit breaker to keep tripping. It made it fun getting ready and packing to go home. Power comes on…shower, power goes off. Power comes on…blow dry my hair, power goes off. Power comes on…flat iron my hair, power actually stayed on the rest of the day…yea!
We had actually extended our stay as Floyd had to visit 6 farms the last 3 days for a large international client they are working with. They are doing nutrition and management audits of the farms and will need to follow up with the reports and recommendations when we get back home.
May 29, 2010 – we got ready and packed early this morning, quite a miracle in itself! So I will take a moment and reflect on our trip this month. This seems to be one of the fastest months we have been here even though we actually stayed one day extra because Floyd had meetings on Friday this month so we leave on Saturday instead of our usual Friday. I guess when you keep busy, the time goes by faster.
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