November 2-20, 2009

November 2, 2009 – they predicted right, the storm passed but it is in the low 30’s today. I will only be going out just to go to the store to buy things I need.

With the snow and cold snap I found a newspaper article quite interesting. Things are quite different here in China than in the US!

A newspaper article from the China Daily News: Heat supply could take 7 days – Beijingers shivering from the cold temperatures may have to wait another seven days before heating is supplied to their apartments. Beijing heating office said the city’s 600 million sq m of housing would be heated to the required standard of 16 degrees C (60.8 F) by Saturday.

“Providing heating supply to the whole capital is a gradual process,” said Guo Weiqi, director of Beijing heating office of the municipal administration committee.

“The professional heating supply companies need to test the hot-water pipe and ignite the fire. Usually it takes three to five days to make the temperature in rooms reach 16 C,” he said.

Sunday (the 1st) , snow fell on the capital on the earliest winter date in 22 years and temperatures plunged to 4 degrees C (39.4 F). The urban administration commission said that the government decided it would switch on the heating supply two weeks earlier than the Nov. 15 launch date. The heating season normally begins Nov. 15 and ends on March 15. “The Nov. 15 date has been fixed since the 1950’s by the Beijing municipal government,” said Guo.
Zhang Qiang, deputy director of the Beijing modification office, said officials “enhanced” the natural snowfall in an attempt to combat drought conditions in the city. The weather modifications office launched into action from 8 PM on Saturday to about 7 AM Sunday, 84 packages of silver iodide into the clouds above Beijing.

According to the meteorological definition, winter officially begins when temperatures stay below 10 C for at least five consecutive days.

But due to harsh economic conditions in the 1950’s, the Beijing standard was lowered to below 5 C for five consecutive days.


The week has quickly passed and I have not entered a thing for it. I have spent my time answering emails and working on my genealogy. We have not done anything special and out of the ordinary.

November 6-19, 2009 – my niece Amy Clanton, the oldest daughter of my brother Jim (who is just younger than me) went on a cruise from Bancock, through many ports in Asia and wound up in China. They, Amy and Erin (a friend of hers) stayed here in Beijing for a few days to do some sightseeing. We got together here at our apartment for dinner Saturday night. We had so much fun just talking and eating. They had so many, many enjoyable experiences. Their experience in Beijing may be one of the most memorable though. They did their homework and thought they brought the right clothing…it was good most of the time but it had turned quite cold here and they did not come prepared for the cold. They did not bring coats and only had open toed shoes, they were quite cold most of the time while sightseeing. I think the worst, which I haven’t had a chance to verify with her yet, was when they left Tuesday morning the 10th. We woke up to about 5 inches of snow. Floyd had a flight to catch that morning also and it took him an hour and a half by taxi to get to the airport, this trip normally takes no more than half an hour. Then flights were delayed or cancelled so his flight was 2 hours late getting off. I am sure Amy probably had some of the same experiences only with open toed shoes…brrrrrrrr! It is now the 11th and as of right now, I am still waiting for Floyd to make the trip back from Zhengzhou (pronounced Gin-Joe). His flight yesterday coming home was cancelled as they closed the airport because of freezing rain. It was due to open at 9 AM this morning but they received 8 inches of snow overnight and the airport did not open until 2 PM as they do not have all the snow equipment to keep the runways open. We shall see what kind of story this turns out to be! Well I just heard from Floyd, they (he and his co-worker Wilson) are stuck another night but are booked to come home Friday. Because of some training meetings that were supposed to be put on today, he will go straight to the meetings and not get home until late now.

China Back Roads - In the Pacific Northwest, there is a television program called Northwest Back Roads. This program takes you on tours through areas of the Northwest that are seen by travelling the back roads, off the beaten path. This week, I experienced my version of China Back Roads.

Early on Monday morning (Nov. 9th), we drove to Langfang, about 1 ½ hours from Beijing where we conducted an internal training meeting. It was Merilee’s birthday, so the plan was to try to get done early so we could enjoy dinner together. Well, the meeting went excellent, but due to some other challenges we had to address we got out of Langfang late. We were on the expressway back to Beijing, when the traffic ground to a halt, apparently too fast for about 5 cars. They all took on a new accordion body style. We finally got clear of the accident area and found smooth sailing the rest of the way. I walked into the apartment just in time to see Merilee downing her last bite of a Chinese version of cake and ice cream. By this, I mean whatever we can get to mimic a cake, which happened to be half of an apricot pastry. Yes, she saved the other half for me. I gulped down dinner and then had to do some computer work to prepare for a trip to Zhengzhou early on Tuesday. In between, Merilee and I got to visit a little and then off to bed.

Tuesday (Nov. 10th) arrived along with about 8 inches of snow. This is the second snow storm we have had this trip. It is very early in the year for snow and generally a big surprise. I packed my bags and headed out to catch a taxi to the airport. After dodging out of control bikes, pedestrians and cars, I finally got a taxi about a block from the apartment. Off to the airport we headed, or so we thought. The police had shut down the Airport Expressway due to the winter weather and hazardous driving. Probably a great idea based on how they drive over here, but not when I needed to get to the airport to fly out for customer visits. During the drive, I would call Dr. Wu, my co-worker and translator that I was to meet at the airport. He would talk to my driver and give him some suggestions based off his experience and that of his driver. Well, after a complete tour of Beijing via back roads, we finally arrived at the airport, having taken 3 times as long as normal. Yes, the cab fare was also 3 times as much. Our flight had been delayed so even though we were late, we were able to catch it. We should have taken the hint from the morning and gone home.

After we boarded the plane and started taxiing out, they came on the PA system and announced we would now have to wait in line for the wings to de-iced. Of course we were not the only ones waiting for this service. To help pass the time, the flight attendants started what would normally be their in-flight service. After consuming everything on board, it was finally our turn. It had been 1 ½ hours since boarding. Once the wings were de-iced, the pilots put the pedal to the metal and we shot out of Beijing like we were headed to outer space. We arrived in Zhengzhou 3 hours late. We grabbed a quick bite at the airport as we has missed lunch and the airplane snack, yes they actually have snacks on some of the planes in China- just not always sure what they are, was long gone. We went to a little fast-food place called Dico’s. Their specialty is chicken sandwiches and fries, similar to what we have in the States. It wasn’t much for taste, but it did move the belly button off the backbone, as if I really need that.
We left the airport and drove to our feed mill in Zhengzhou where we had a meeting with two sales managers and the general manager regarding a customer we came down to visit. After the meeting, we headed off to the village where the customer’s farm is located, about 1 ½ hour’s drive from Zhengzhou on a nice expressway, equivalent to our freeways. The weather was cold, cloudy and windy, but nothing really going on. We arrived at the hotel, which is supposed to be a 4 star hotel. Somewhere along the lines I think there have been a couple of fallen stars as it was not up to the normal standards. However, considering where it was located, I could see where they think it was 4 stars. We had dinner at almost 9 o’clock in the evening, and then off to bed on a full stomach.

During the night, I could hear noises on my window that sounded like hail. Well, close. It was 28 degrees F and raining. Yes raining. Wednesday (Nov. 11th) morning was a mess. This area does not normally get a lot of winter weather and so not very many were prepared. I could have made a fortune selling ice scrapers. Once the car was finally cleared of ice so we could see, etc. we started on our journey, or should I say adventure. If you think driving is bad normally, throw in a little ice. It was very interesting. Needless to say, Dr. Wu and I did a lot of back seat driving to help the person driving us to understand we both had families we wanted to return to in this life.

We made it to the farm and did have a good productive visit, with a mixture of freezing rain and snow coming down all day. After completing this visit, we drove to a small village where we met a different group for a lunch appointment. The building we entered into to eat would have been condemned in the States. We had a small private room that was about as warm as our garage in Idaho in the middle of winter. The food was as authentic and ethnic as it gets. I thought I had eaten about anything you could eat here. Well, I was wrong. They had a very interesting soup. The meat in it was from a bull. There were three different “cuts” – bull’s tail, vertebra by vertebra with each bone surrounded by a donut of meat, small pieces of what had been a long tube used for reproductive purposes and chunks of gonads (I tried to keep this at least PG-13) . When you put enough vegetables, ginger and spices with anything, it can make a pretty tasty dish. You just have to think about it as pieces of meat and hope they boiled it long enough that all bacteria have been disarmed. The kitchen was across a small unroofed courtyard. Yes it was raining in the courtyard. The toilet facilities were right next to the kitchen. The toilet facilities were very multi-purpose. A trough along the wall (urinal), two squat toilets and a shower head directed towards the toilets. Everything drained out the back of the building - no I didn’t look. Boy, you could really be efficient here. No wasting time while doing your business, just shower at the same time. Oh, and all of this was in a room 8 foot long by 6 foot wide and no dividers – tons of privacy.

One of the people we had lunch with joyfully announced that the expressway back to Zhengzhou had been closed due to hazardous driving conditions. Well, this now meant the 1 ½ hour drive would be about 3 hours. Our flight was scheduled for 5:00 PM and it was now 2:00 PM. The math didn’t look too good. We started out and the driver had to find out for himself if the road was indeed closed. Yes it was! No problem, we will just use the “local” roads. As soon as we turned off a paved road onto a dirt road I knew we were in for an interesting ride. We wound through village after village dodging cars, people, bicycles, motorcycles, tractors, horse drawn wagons and about any other form of transportation. No matter what the weather, they continue to travel in whatever they have. At least I was in a warm car and was dry. About 1 ½ hours into the journey, we came upon a large traffic jam. Traffic was at a standstill. Well, in the States we would all stay in our lane on the road and wait for things to progress or turn around and go back the way we came from. Not in China. All of a sudden, everyone is charging forward in their cars. It is similar to Black Friday at Wal-Mart at 5 in the morning except everyone is in cars. No one is to be out done. Horns honk, lights flash and everyone heads for the little space of road that is open. What once was a two lane road is now 5 cars across, all packed tightly heading the same direction. The realization is that the same process has probably happened on the other side of the traffic jam. We are in a “Chinese stand-off.” We truly come to a complete stop. In the distance we can see two cranes working. A truck had run off a bridge that was under construction and reduced to one lane. He was completely off the road, but someone in their great wisdom thought that since this is the only open road to Zhengzhou, why not close it down completely so we can remove the truck. Well, 3 ½ hours later the cranes finally fold up and start to clear themselves off the bridge. Whoops, remember all the cars I told you about? Now no one can move. Finally some police show up and try to clear a lane to let the cranes out and some of the cars from the other side so we can at least have some sort of lane to travel in. They succeeded, but not without a lot of time consuming challenges and heated discussions. By now the rain had quit and it was starting to snow heavily. We negotiated the maze of cars and finally after another hour broke free of the traffic jam. Now onto Zhengzhou. We arrived at the airport at almost 9:00 PM and rushed in to see what we could salvage. Guess what! The airport had been closed all day.

We tried to find out what our options were. The best option was to try to find a room for the night and see what morning brought. We were told there were no hotel rooms available. Not very comforting. We left the airport in a heavy snow storm. Very close to the airport is a very nice 4 star hotel. We took a chance to see if by the remotest chance – WOW! Our luck changed. They had some people just cancel and we were able to get rooms for the night. After a very late dinner we retired to bed.

Thursday (Nov. 12th) morning was beautiful, if you consider 8 inches of snow everywhere beautiful. We were snowed in. The airport was closed and wasn’t sure when it would open. Finally, about 2:00 PM we got word the airport was back open, but we had no idea of what was going to happen. We checked out of the hotel, but made reservations for tonight just in case and headed to the airport.

I got to experience what a Chinese snowplow looks like. It is a “vehicle” manned by about 100 Chinese, each with a shovel. The first takes a swath a shovel width wide, followed closely by the next just to the side of where the first went etc. They can clear and area quite quickly. It really gave insight to the saying “many hands makes light work”.

The airport was alive with people. It reminded me of New York City right after the Yankees won the World Series, except the people were not celebrating. Everyone thought they should get the last seat on the plane. In China as I have said before, lines mean nothing. The same was true here. The people are not rude, at least by their standard, just wanting to make something happen. There was a lot of pushing and jockeying for position, but no real signs of anger. It is just their culture. After 2 ½ hours of ebbing back and forth in the sea of people, it was apparent we were not getting out of Zhengzhou today. We returned to the hotel and checked in again to await tomorrow’s adventure.

Friday (Nov. 13th) dawned with no new snow, just a little fog that wasn’t causing serious problems. After breakfast we headed to the airport again for our scheduled departure of 9:55 AM. The good news was that flights are flying. The bad news was that ours was delayed. At least we were able to wait in the Air China First Class Lounge due to my United Airlines frequent flyer status.

We finally arrived in Beijing at 2:30 PM. We had 20 people waiting for us in Beijing as we were supposed to be conducting a training session that started Thursday morning. We had been doing what we could do by phone and email and one of the group had been coordinating and filling in for us. When we walked into the room where training was being held, a loud cheer went up and we received a standing ovation. We had lost a few who had to leave by plane, but all of the others stayed and had waited for us to return. We continued on with the training, wrapping up at about 10:30 PM. I got back to the apartment at 11:00 PM. Boy, has it been an interesting long week.

The rest of our time here in Beijing was rather uneventful. Merilee went out to dinner with the Simpsons Friday (Nov. 13th) night without Floyd as his meetings lasted long into the evening. It was an enjoyable evening. They dropped a package off with me to take back to the US for their family.

We packed and got ready during the week of the 16th through the 19th for our trip back to the US with nothing else too memorable to write about.

November 20, 2009 - we did wind up with some challenges on our flight back though. We got to the Beijing airport on time with absolutely no problems only to find they had a mechanical problem on our plane so we had an extra hour and a half wait for that to be fixed. Seems they had a problem with the GPS system and since we would be traveling all night it would definitely be a good thing to not have problems with that…who knows where we could wind up!?!?! Our flight finally did get off and was very uneventful…2 movies, 3 meals and sleep. When we got to San Francisco many of those on our flight missed their connections and had to be re-booked. “Luckily” our flight was not supposed to take off for another 4 hours so we had plenty of time. Originally we were to have a 5 hour layover but the mechanical problem in Beijing used up some of that time. Unfortunately as time got closer for our flight to Boise we noticed that they changed our gate and time, then again and again. When all was said and done we changed gates around 3 times and did not get out of San Francisco until 8:30 PM instead of the 2:20 PM we were supposed to leave. That put us into Boise at 9:30 PM. You do the math…we left our apartment at 11 AM (which is 10 PM MST) and did not get here until almost 24 hours later…we were very tired! All is well now though! Glad to be home again.

October 26-November 1, 2009

October 26-31, 2009 – Well here we are again, back to our second home in China. We have actually noticed that when we are flying over here we feel like we are coming home and then when we fly back to the US we are going home also…kind of like we have two actual homes. It is a strange but wonderful feeling to love two places as home at once! This trip has been a bit harder on us than the others. We seem to be suffering from some jet lag this time and are wiped out more than ever before.

We have not done much this week besides work and relaxing so there is nothing really interesting to write about.

November 1, 2009 – what a beautiful day to start off the month of November. It is snowing in Beijing. In the 6 trips I have made over here this is the first snow I have seen here. It was beautiful! We had been watching the long range weather forecasts on accuweather.com before we came over here and it predicted just some regular cool fall weather so we brought clothing that reflected that. I only brought a light jacket and no sweaters. Luckily my church clothes were warm enough with my light weight jacket over them so there was no problem, other than the snow making my hair get wet and start curling…ugh! Floyd was a little leery of getting into a taxi to ride to church if the snow stuck on the roads much…they drive bad enough in good road conditions, it would be really scary if the roads were icy or slick!!!! It snowed all through church and there was probably a few inches in some places and in others up to 6 inches. It was very heavy in the trees and as we came home in our taxi we could see many tree branches that had given way under the weight and broken off. I was certainly glad that we were not standing under any of them when they gave way. As it was, while we were waiting for a taxi we were standing under a tree as a tall van passed by us and hit the branch…you got it, the snow fell from on the branch right onto us! That was fun…lol. Luckily it was still dry enough to brush it off and be done with it. Beijing is a very busy city and there were lots of people out and about taking care of their normal business in spite of the weather! The storm is predicted to pass by this evening and the temperatures are supposed to slip down into the 20’s…I am sure I will not go out for a walk in the morning.

August 31-September 25, 2009

Note: As you can see we did not get any postings done while we were here this trip. We are sorry for that but are trying to catch us once again.

August 31, 2009 – we are back again in Beijing. Our plane ride over this time seemed quite a bit shorter as we slept quite well on the plane. We stayed up the night before leaving and helped Rhiannon (our daughter-in-law) can 17 quarts of pears and 36 quarts of peaches. That was so rewarding but also tiring since we had to get up at 3 AM to get ready and catch our 5:30 AM flight out of Boise.
I mentioned to Floyd on the way over here that it seems strange, when we are flying this way it seems like we are going home and then when we fly back to the US it seems like we are flying home. We are starting to feel like we have 2 homes. It sure makes it nice though.

September 1, 2009 – I finished unpacking and started with some of the computer work I put off just before we left from Idaho. It is good to have the time to get things done over here!

September 2, 2009 – I got to get my computer work finished up today that needed to be done for my church calling and everything emailed out. What a relief!

September 3, 2009 – today I stayed in apartment, did computer work and watched TV. Just a relaxing, no pressure day.

September 4, 2009 – rained all morning. I stayed in apartment most of the day doing computer work then walked to the store to buy some dinner and groceries. I walked the long way around the block to avoid the beggars that are usually by the store. They know just enough English to say “Hey” if you try to get away from them and then when you say “No” to their request for money they sometimes ask “why not?” I will sometimes buy them some rolls or fruit but I will not give them money.

September 5, 2009 – it rained again today a bit, not enough to keep us indoors but the humidity did. It was 77 degrees outside with a relative humidity of 78% which makes it feel like it was 89. That is certainly enough to make you stay indoors with the air conditioning on. We did odds and ends of computer work and laundry.

September 21, 2009 – there have not been a lot of thing happening this trip so I have been somewhat lax in writing. I will try to fill in a few highlights of this trip with no exact dates.

I have felt a great urgency to do several things with my time while I am in China with fewer interruptions than I have back in the U.S. I will try to address each of these as best I can.

Chinese language – this is one of the most taxing things I have undertaken in a very long, long time! I have finally gotten to the point that I have a lot of aha moments which something will become clearer but I am nowhere near being able to even understand the conversations being held around me or to be able to speak it outside the apartment other than just general greetings. I know it is good to work out some of the “cobwebs” in my mind but it is also very frustrating at time. I sit working on the Rosetta Stone website until sometimes my head just feels like it is going to explode. Then I walk away for a little while and then come back and resume. The more I learn, the more I find that I still need to learn. I can see where this could be a full time (many hours every day) thing for many months to get to where you can speak or understand some conversations. I am determined though and will keep working on it.

Camera – a few years ago Floyd bought me a very nice camera, a Canon Rebel XT, so I could adventure into something I really enjoyed which is photography. I have taken many very good pictures but have not really ventured into seeing what my camera can really do. He challenged me lately to learn more about it and how to make my good pictures into great pictures. That too has taken quite a bit of my time over here. The more I learn about it also, the more I see I still need to learn!

Genealogy – I have always had some interest in Genealogy and have done some research but I have always been kind of hot and cold on it. In the past we have made a trip back to Arkansas, where my Dad’s side of the family comes from, and gathered a great deal of information. After that trip, my daughter Terri put most of that information into the computer and helped me organize it. Unfortunately, I haven’t done very much since then. Recently, my daughter Lacee called me and asked me if I could help her mother-in-law work on some of her genealogy that she has been researching and has hit a dead end. I told her I would do what I could. Well, I guess she opened up the floodgates as it goes. I asked a friend over here to help me put a few things together that I had found on the Internet that I could not directly link to her. She showed me places I did not know existed and has me totally hooked again. I have found a great deal of information for her, which I hope will enable her to research differently and be able to find her own ancestors. I also started back up on my family to see what I can find. WOW, I have found all sorts of ancestors that I had no idea how to search for them. I am afraid that this too will take a great deal of my time.

All in all, with the 3 previous things I just wrote about I am talking about things that could take my every waking hour so now my job is to budget my time and be able to do all of them and still be able to do the things that are needed to be done, i.e. housework, cooking, canning, helping with grandkids, etc.

Great Wall Trip – we had the greatest opportunity this trip to go to the Great Wall of China on Saturday and Sunday, the 12th & 13th of September. I have heard of it many times before but until you actually stand there face to face with it, it is truly unimaginable! Of course we actually only got to visit one very small portion of the wall but as you can tell when you see the pictures of it behind us, it goes on as far as the eye can see. What a blessing this trip was for us, it was not just your ordinary mundane tourist trip…it was actually an annual trip which was called “BYU Alumni, and Friends, annual Great Wall Excursion”. It included about 170 members of the church over here at this time. We left from our church building, in 2 tour buses, at around 9:30 AM for about a 2 hour drive up to the wall. There was also another 2 buses coming from another location where many members live. We left the trip up to the drivers, not always a good thing as we found out. It seems that one of the drivers called the Inn where we were to stay and asked for and wrote down directions there. The other driver said he has been there many times so we took off following that bus. After about an hour and 45 minutes the lead bus stopped. They had encountered a steel beam across the road between 2 trees saying anything that could not go under it could not go on. Apparently there must be a bridge or tunnel with a height restriction ahead. Unfortunately, the buses were a few inches too tall so we had to back up a ways and turn around in the road to go back. This was no easy task; you remember the 3 point turns you had to make in Driver’s Ed.? Well this was probably at least a 6 point turn, in a big bus (that probably held about 40 passengers). Wouldn’t want to be them! So, then we had to backtrack quite a way back and then go the right way. Our 2 hour trip actually turned into a 3 hour trip. Ugh, the hard part was that the leg room was non-existent! My knees were smashed into the seat in front of me! By the time we got there, my knees were really hurting!

We got to the Wall at about lunch time, checked into our rooms and ate the sack lunches we brought with us. We then had free time until 6:30 PM, dinner time, to rest or explore the Wall. We opted to explore the Wall. WOW, wow, wow is all I can say. We did not make it all the way to the top before I had to stop and come back down. We rested many times on the way but it was still more than I could handle. It was hot and a very steep climb. Actually, it was very different in different areas, some areas were level, some had steps that were probably equal to about 2 to 2 ½ steps and other areas it was on an incline and still other areas had steps that were only less than half of a normal step. This really taxed your muscles! The view was breathtaking though!

That evening dinner was furnished as part of the trip. We ate at the dining hall at the Inn we stayed at. Chinese Cuisine (American Friendly kind) was served. It was very good and enjoyed by all. It was served the typical Chinese way. Plates of food were brought out and placed on a large glass lazy suzan in the middle of the table so all could have access to them to dish up onto their own plates. Most of us ate with chopsticks. I did notice a few of the new people, ones that have just gotten here to start teaching English in the universities, had a few problems with their chopsticks but they had the determination to stick with it and learn!
After dinner, we met in the large open air Amphitheater for fun and games. After the games they shot off fireworks, and then had a bonfire and dancing. It was great fun, everyone enjoyed themselves! Then off we went to go to bed for the night. Our room consisted of twin beds, TV and dress with a small bathroom, with a western toilet! Their showers were a bit different up here. The shower head was open to the middle of the room, the floor and walls were all tile so you shower in the middle of the room. There were no shower enclosures or shower curtains. Really different! Floyd tells me it is this way in many of the hotels he has stayed in as he travels over here.

The next morning we met for a light breakfast at the dining hall. Their breakfast was different than Western breakfasts. It consisted of meat, fried eggs, fried bread, tomatoes, cucumbers and bread slices.

breakfast we had our Church meetings in one of the courtyards between the rooms. There were about 150 in attendance (apparently some of the people who came up for Saturday and Saturday evening when home after the program). It was a great meeting and you could really feel the Lord’s presence out in the middle of China with just the natural outdoors all around us. We then hopped back on the buses and headed back to Beijing. This time it took only 2 hours on the bus. I was apparently tired so I slept most of the way back so the trip seemed even shorter.

We felt so blessed to be able to go on this trip and not just go on an ordinary tourist sight-seeing tour up there where you don’t know anyone. We were surrounded with friends and others of our same faith!

Renovations for 60th Anniversary of China – the week after we leave, the country will be celebrating the 60th Anniversary of the Revolution. All around us they have been readying the city. They have been painting, cleaning, hanging out flags, hanging banners and lanterns and planting flowers. Apparently they will be celebrating it in a really big day. In fact, everything shuts down and everyone has a mandatory 8 day holiday. (I am sure some things will be open still like hotels, grocery stores, etc. but it will be a national holiday like we have in the US where government things shut down).

We had the opportunity to go out to dinner with Floyd’s boss over here. He is from Korea, so he, his wife and son and Floyd and I went to a Korean restaurant close to our apartment. They asked us what we liked so we told them we were open to most things so they ordered food kind of family style. This was quite a unique experience! I found that my taste pallet is not used to the unique fermented vegetables that are part of the Korean foods! They are not something I would want to try again. Many of the regular meats and vegetables were very good though. All in all it was an enjoyable evening to try yet another culture over here.

We also went out to dinner with Wilson (Floyd’s co-worker and interpreter) and his wife. They took us to a very lovely restaurant in downtown Beijing. This was a dinner show with Chinese opera, magic and some other forms of Chinese entertainment. The food was fabulous and the entertainment was lovely, quite different than in the US but still enjoyable!

Once again we leave September 25th to head back to the US. We do so with mixed feelings. We are anxious to get back home but sorry to leave this home each time. It is bitter sweet! We are growing to love the country more and more each time we come over here.

July 27-31, 2009

July 27, 2009 – today was full of the mundane everyday things I do here… I took a walk, finished the blog for last week and posted it, worked on my Chinese (which can really takes hours EVERY day!), doing laundry, and then we spent a lovely evening together here at the apartment.

July 28, 2009 – I spent quite a bit of time on my Chinese really trying to figure out what sentences are asking or saying. I also finished up my laundry.

July 29, 2009 – I researched more Chinese to learn more why’s of how their sentences are structured to try to understand the language better. Things like I went for a walk, she went for a walk, he went for a walk or they went for a walk come up of course different but on Rosetta Stone it does not give the English translation. I needed to know what the difference was between the sentences. I guess it is just the way I learn or something. I took a nice walk this afternoon to enjoy the beautiful scenery at the park. As the close of this visit comes near I get kind of sad as I walk through the park knowing I will be missing it for another month.

July 30, 2009 – Packing, packing, packing…that seems like the subject of the day as I get ready for our trip home. Floyd is away on a business trip so I need to get everything done and ready when he gets home.

July 31, 2009 – today we headed back home to Idaho. It is great to be able to see the grandchildren again. We also have Molly fly in to see everyone tomorrow. Then Jen (Matt’s wife) and their 2 boys are going to drive up from Salt Lake City (where they have been visiting her parents) on Sunday to spend a couple days visiting. We are looking forward to that also. Until next month when we head back to China Aug. 31st, 再见 --- zai jian (goodbye).