ketchup

weeks 10-20!! you can thank my procrastination for this lovely post.

 week 10

Todd traveled to Qingdao this week for work. Took a plane from Shenzhen Airport and was back the next evening late. 

Most of the week we were helping Pon 

(our neighbor whose husband was thrown in jail for driving a scooter)

 and taking care of her 

12 year old 

daughter while she dealt with the US Consulate, hospital and doctor visits (this event has set off her MS) and prison visits, trying to get her husband released from jail.  To no avail.  He hopefully will be released tomorrow. 

Sweet 

Pon sat at our table 

eating duck pancakes with green onion and cucumber and a dark soy sauce, 

and told us of her childhood in Laos, gathering a green root type vegetable in a basket everyday because their family had little to no food. Her mother would stir fry it with small cans of horse meat. If they got lucky enough to have a potato, her mother would make soup for the whole family out of the one potato. (8 or 9 siblings).  When she was around 9, her parents would go early into town, two miles, and buy bananas from a farmer for she and her brother to cart around their tiny village.  She sold the bananas for 50 cents a bunch.  In her route she had some regular customers who bought two bunches.  There was an American guy who would drive by on a scooter with a lady on the back and just throw money onto her cart without buying bananas.  She remembers him doing this a few times. The money she made all went back to her parents, except for the American man's money, she got to keep that for herself.
 

The girls and I walked down to Old Shekou.  On the way home from the grocery store we could not find a taxi so between the four of us we nearly finished a box of mini ice cream cones on our walk home. We saw lots of exciting things.  A construction worker was pulling up the sidewalk brick with a 

p

ic ax 

wearing 

flip flops

 . He didn't even stop as we walked by so we were inches away from the swing.  Then we saw a 

girl picking lice out of another's hair

 while she sat on a stool in front of a store

. Brynn nearly stepped on #2 on the sidewalk

 -she claims she saw it, but came a little too close for the rest of us

. 

A cute little boy-maybe 4-5 yrs old,  brush sweeping the wet sidewalk in front of family restaurant with vigor.  We purchased lanterns for the mid-autumn moon cake festival while downtown too. Quick change for tennis lessons met our neighbor Anna from Canada whose husband works for Husky. 

They move home to Canada in December, 

and then dinner. Then there was a Mid-Autumn talent show in our neighborhood down at the soccer field.  Lots of dancing to inappropriate music-I'm thinking they didn't know what the songs were saying, a few piano players and about 5 booths with free things for the kids.  The

  Balloon man

 wait was over an hour-we were at the end forever because couples with little babies kept butting in line.

  

At one point while we were in line I look up on the stage and Sophie was up there dancing with a little boy from the neighborhood. I see her little silhouette hop off the stage and she ran back and stood in the balloon line some more. Balloon man was getting tired, even though the creepy clown mask was smiling, you could tell his shift was about over. Finally he was just blowing up balloons and doing nothing with them. One mom said to her toddler when handed a balloon, "look! you get a blue sausage!".  

 

The marshmallow (c

otton candy

 looking but burnt sugar tasting)line was ok, but so disappointed in the taste. There was a lantern table but they ran out of lanterns. One booth had a spinner board. Kids would spin it to determine the animal the woman would shape out of burnt sugar and melt onto a stick. She had a portable electric burner and would ladle spoonfulls of sugar onto a plastic cutting board.  Very neat.  There was a moon princess photo booth and finally a candied fruit kabob. By the time we got to the front of the line the kabob was made of three grapes and 3

   

c

herry tomatoes on stick, 

with 

caramelized sugar.

 Must be an acquired taste? 

Todd 

just told us at dinner that he ordered a fruit tray while traveling and it was watermelon and t

omato on fruit platter. Green coconut curry

 for dinner was a new family favorite. For

 Mutual

 the kids played soccer with an oversized ball and then had a water balloon fight. The group is small but they have a good time together.  Today for the holiday, we had a 

  

s

eminary day off.

So nice to sleep in. 

  

More v

isits with Pon. 

Grocery s

hopping with Yao Feng

 and her husband

 .

 She can navigate the grocery store so much quicker than I can. It's nice to go with her.  She bags while I pay and we are off.  I took the girls to the s

 tationary store. 

We loaded up on paints, brushes, oil pastels, paper, pens, pencils and notebooks, wrapping paper.  

 

We had a f

ruit delivery

 this week. If I can get a set order and figure how many days a week to have it delivered that will be a huge help

 . Tutor

 came on Saturday

.  Chicken foot modelling

 by Brooklyn

.

 She actually touched that thing and held it by her mouth.

week 11

M

​onday: It rained all night long. I kept the window open to hear the storm,  which kept us awake so by about 4 am we shut the window and got a little sleep.  The street and entry were covered in sticks.  A few neighborhood trees were down as was a section of the fence around the basketball court.  Other than that it was pretty uneventful. Kids tried to work on school but hard to concentrate today for some reason.  All the neighbor kids had the dy off because of the typhoon. Brigham headed to the park with friends for soccer, Chase went next door with friends. Brynn and I walked to the post office to mail Grandma and Ally a letter.  Sophie had another variety show tonight including a rising curtain (that giggled as it rose) and disappearing act at the end (stood behind a blanket and fell behind the table and into a pile of pillows).  Of course it was followed by autographs.  Todd worked until around 7pm tonight. Chase started filling out college applications and starts mission papers a week from Sunday.  Mixed emotions for this mama. Letters from Ally. Her one year to go mark is today. Can't wait to see her face! And oh, ya, Jeff our neighbor was released from the Chinese prison this morning.  Happy day.  

Tuesday: Seminary bright and early. Yao Feng was here, ordering our water bottles and teaching us a bit of Chinese. Brooke and I headed downtown to pick out a few things for a friend's birthday. They decorated her room a bit. She shared her birthday cake in return.  Todd worked til late and then went to play squash with two guys from work.  I got to chat with Ulrika, a friend from Sweden, while we watched our husbands play.  We shut down the fitness center. Ulrika has two daughters here and a son going to university in Australia.  She was telling us her favorite places to travel...Bali, Malaysia and has lived in Dubai as well. Brooke is teaching Brynn and Sophie piano so we did that tonight.  We also watched people opening mission calls on YouTube for about 2 hours. Kids these days are going to some crazy places.  We like to listen to their voice as they read the location...it gets high pitched and loud if they like it, sort of monotone if they are unsure.         

Wednesday:Horine, the Mandarin tutor came this morning. Chase and Brooke are doing well! Tennis lessons except Sophie, she fell off the merry-go-round and scraped up her knee, YW for homemade ice cream and manicures, activity days for Brynn. Boys to the store for treats for our flighttomorrow early.  ​

Thursday: up early to head to Hong Kong airport, our cross border driver arrived at 4:30am. We crossed through the border fairly quickly and arrived plenty early for our flight. We found out when we arrived, that our flight was delayed an hour. In the airport, we ran into three missionaries heading to Cambodia. Guess what we ate at 7:30 am? Popeye's chicken tenders and mashed potatoes. Good thing we had that in our bellies because the airplane meal was exceptionally non-edible. Noodles with veggies so overcooked you couldn't even pick them up with a fork, the carrots turned to mush on contact, and chicken pieces of un detectable parts, a roll, orange juice and three cubes of fruit.  The other choice was a scrambled egg wedge, triangle shaped potato mass and one cherry tomato and one piece of cooked broccoli.  There was paprika sprinkled over the egg. Arrived in Phuket.  The entire walkway leading to immigration was lined with potted purple orchids . Immigration lines were quick this time.   At the rental car pick up, a car runner was smoking marijuana.  He picked up a guys suitcase and took him to the car to drive to the rental office. Scary! When we got in our car, we immediately started killing mosquitos. We cannot escape them it seems. Todd seems to be immune, and Chase does well, but the rest of us usually have red bumps or scabs at any given time. I didn't realize they drove on the left side of the street here, but they do.  Todd does well, and enjoyed being back in a driver's seat. We dropped our things off at the condo and went to collect the snorkeling gear off the back patio. Todd went to grab the life jackets and inside one was a 3 foot long and skinny snake just taking a snooze. Todd rustled it a bit with a broom and it slithered across the floor and up a fishing pole. Todd forced it up and it it climbed up the tile and over the fence.  Yikes!  We went looking for a bank and some food.  For the second time in one day, we ate at a Popeye's.  This time it was a Thai restaurant with tweety bird tablecloths. There were toilet paper rolls with crocheted covers on the table for napkins. It was open air. Best Thai I have ever eaten. Laab, spring rolls, green curry, panaang curry, crispy lemon chicken, rice paper cold noodle bundles, sticky rice, mango slushes, coconut juice straight from the coconut...and the sauces, so delicious. Fed seven + leftovers for $33. The beach was our next stop. We rented two lounge chairs and an umbrella. Didn't use them too much, however, because the water was so nice and warm. After some swimming, frisbee, castle building and shell hunting we headed back to our place to clean up. There were 14 geese running down the middle of the road, blocking our car in the street. Three babies Sophie called "triplets", some middle sized and some old geese.  Todd had a quick call and then to grocery store. They had salmon flavored lays potato chips and jergens skin whitening lotion like the skin browning lotion we have at home. Everybody had fun checking out the products and our cart filled up quickly...coconut shreds, granola, brown sugar, plantain chips, ice cream, dragon fruit, oranges, sun block, bug spray, tropical fruit juices, cereal, bread.  I was a bit shocked when the cashier said, "$1,750.50 please". (Converts to $60, but sounds like a lot more!) We found a vendor making roti so we ordered seven with condensed milk and sugar and were on our way back home. They had all sorts of choices...Nutella, banana, pineapple + egg, coconut, strawberry etc. 

Friday:woke up to rain this morning, trail mix of coconut, plantain, and dried tropical fruit. We headed into town to eat brunch. Banana pancakes for some and Thai food for the oaths. I felt something on my lap, then down the back of my leg and let out a startled scream- it was a gecko lizard crawling on me  yuck!  Double scoop ice cream cones for dessert. Back to the beach. Todd scheduled scuba certification classes that start this evening. We parked it on the beach and a big Russian family came beside us with grandmas, grandpas, a couple couples and a few crying babies. Creepy Italian place for lunch. Good food but weird art, bad movie playing, mice in cages and a cat napping right under the table. The older kids went with Todd to class, and I took the girls to the Kamala night market. Every Friday night the market goes from 5-9. So much Thai food, fruit, drinks and desserts. We purchased a pineapple for $1.33 and they cut it right there and served it in a plastic bag with a bamboo skewer. We also had more roti, fried banana slices, cane sugar juice served in a baggie with ice, guava, kettle corn, popcorn, corn on the cob, strawberry juice, orange juice, and Swedish cookies. There were tables with octopus, whole fish, hot dogs, sushi, slushes, shrimp chips, fish balls and all kinds of grilled meats, rice and salads served in baggies. It was crazy. The girls and I walked around the market twice and then a third time when the rest finally arrived. We had a good time there. 

Saturday: up and off before 9am. Scuba equipment shop and then Todd and big kids went to the pool for scuba training. Girls and I explored the streets of Kamala. It poured rain for a bit. We bought some kitchen tools and Thai sauces to take home. Also some things from a pharmacy-oils and ointments and antibiotics because in China they give prescriptions for floral tea mixes and I don't trust the meds to be authentic. Just praying nobody gets sick over here. Next we went to get foot massages and a facial. There were three workers. I can now make a statement I have never before and will probably never say again,"I had a facial from a transvestite who ate panaang curry while waiting for my mask to dry." At lunch following, Sophie mentioned that the girl with me sounded like a boy and wasn't very pretty. We ate at Popeye's for the third time and then back to the condo for the Byu game. More scuba quizzes in the evening, and a night market on the other side of town tonight with more, lots more, crazy food. Brooke found some vintage clothing and it rained again. Headed home. 

Sunday:Rained most of the night. There is a bird here that sounds like a key knocking on glass. We have checked the door a few times but it's always that darn bird at 3-4-5am. T

he drivers here are crazy. All types of people drive scooters from tween girls to grandmas and new parents with infants in arms. Today we passed a sleeping baby in a man's arms on a busy highway. We gasped as we passed it looked so unsafe. My favorites are the motorcycles with carts in the side, either to hold as many people as our car, or food carts. Everyone knows what everyone else is selling, and where they set up, so if you want fried bananas you ask on the street and they will point to where that person usually sets up shop. Todd saw two carts by where the school lets out. One sold shaved ice and the other some type of corn dog. The lady would put some type of sauce in the bag with the skewer and the kids were just buying them up. The power lines are plentiful and super low. We had to warn the little girls not to touch them. I love seeing laundry hanging out to dry everywhere. Life stories on those clothes lines. The effects if the tsunami are still evident. Run down buildings and huge landfills of trash are plentiful. We drove to Phuket for church, about a 35 minute drive. On the way we passed an elephant walking down the highway. A bit later we saw an elephant crossing sign. There were six Thai people there, none together or with any family. The group leader who ran the meeting came about fifteen minutes late. Our family more than doubled the congregation. We sang hymns to a cd, one side Thai, one side English. Todd was called up to introduce our family, then sacrament, then a few words by group leader about himself and then he said, "now it's time for Sunday school."  The room was freezing. I mentioned in passing that my cousin served a mission there and one man said I did too, 17 years ago. I told him his name and he said "I served with him". I pulled up a photo and identity was confirmed. Such a small world. It made this man very happy today to remember a friend and reconnect. Since we were close, we drove up a mountain to see the big Buddha. It's really BIG. On the way down the mountain we stopped to ride elephants. Such a fun time. The kids grins were constant as they took turns riding on the elephant's neck and in the bench seat. We quickly stopped to check out Kata beach on our way home. Rough waves today. Resting at the condo now.

week 12

End of week 12

Early and off to chalong pier to catch the dive boat. Everyone took a motion sickness pill. It was rough 

o

n the way out. Brigham and Sophie throwing up off the back of the boat. They served toast, scrambled eggs, weird colored sausage, cucumbers, carrots and cheese for breakfast. I was sitting by the sickies and a huge splash came over the side, soaked my plate of food and 

 salty water

went into my bag with camera and two phones. While the others went to scuba, we went to snorkel. Pretty fish! Parrot fish was our favorite. The guide swam down to grab a starfish for Brynn. The scuba instructor also took Brynn and me down for a dive in between the real dives. My ears were killing me. We ate lunch prepared by the same lady who made breakfast ...Thai coconut chicken and potatoes over rice, stir fried veggies, chicken broth soup and/or spaghetti with meat sauce. While they had their second dive, the girls and I snorkeled to the beach and didn't stay long...flippers, rocks, and waves + me don't do well together. (

 S

hannon?!). I remembered really quickly that things can go bad in a hurry and told my girls to swim for the boat. I really needed to know the word "help" in Thai. Anyone?  We waited for the others up on the sun deck. The same lady cooked pancakes and had fresh fruit platters waiting for the ride home. She fed 50 people three meals from a tiny little sink and counter space. I was impressed. Brigham, Brynn, Sophie and I all napped on the sun deck on the boat ride back. We stopped to eat dinner with some friends from Shekou at an Italian restaurant in Patong and tried to get out of that city before dark. Roti and magnum bars back in Kamala and bed early. Everyone was pooped. 

Tuesday:up early again for another dive day. The girls and I walked around 

 the 

town exploring. We found a cute pink beach house/cafe with a front porch and ordered iced chocolate and sodas, and two boxes of bite sized, custard filled cream puffs. The owner was filling them with custard when we got there. Sophie was stuffing them in her mouth she loved them so much. The little boy there was playing angry birds, wearing an angry bird shirt, shorts, and shoes. Next we found an art supply/variety store that reminded me of Kaufman & Warner's in Kearney Nebraska. From worker uniforms and scout supplies to paints and nail polish, yarn, socks, glitter,

 books, hardware, 

notebooks and stuffed animals, they had it. We had to stop there when Brooke got off the boat too. Chase got an hour long haircut-ask him about that! Everyone else but Todd went to the beach to swim for a bit then down to 

 HC 

Anderson's for dinner. I was going to get some rice at the grocery store but the bags I checked had bugs crawling inside them. PASS. FaceTime with Grama Beeson for her birthday. Hope it was great, mom! 

 Sad to miss the party. Mom's birthday is also the start of the Chinese National Holiday (week). Todd was off of work along with all of the Chinese.  

 

Wednesday: 

Up early once again. We decided last minute to go to 

 the P

hi 

P

hi island

s

. It was our last full day and the weather was the best it had been all week. No rain, sunny, and no wind. We tried to get on a tour boat but they were either full (the Chinese have arrived for the holiday!) or 

 had 

already left the pier. They told us no luck! We were trying to decide how to spend the day when Todd comes back with a man holding a clip board. He found a private ski boat to take our family for the day. They filled up with gas and drinks and we were off. We first stopped at maya bay then went around the back to a cove, almost a 360 view of straight up cliffs with turquoise water below. We swam there for a bit but it was crowded with tourists. Next were some caves and monkey bay. We got to see Chinese taking photos with monkeys and then three monkeys started fighting. This was crowded too, so we left. We went to a beach that was nearly empty, got out and snorkeled among a ton of sea urchins. On to 

 P

hi 

P

hi island for a quick lunch. I ate some turmeric (looked like an orange piece of ginger) that was is my soup and my teeth turned bright yellow. Kids got a kick out of that!

 SMILE! 

 A little kitty would not get off of Sophie's chair, even when she about tipped it over. This is where they get their postcard pics. White sand, turquoise water, cliffs covered in lush green and flowers. After lunch we went out a bit further and snorkeled some more. I've never seen so many fish underwater. Brooke was having the best time swimming with and through schools of fish. She was having a mermaid moment. We saw polka dots and plaids. Colors and stripes, spiky and smooth, velvety and rough. We decided to head back, the waters were getting rough. Bumpiest boat ride ever. We were sitting on life jackets to save our backs and trying to stand every once in a while. It took an hour, maybe a bit more to get back. Loud and windy. Sophie and Brigham were able to sleep because the motion sickness pills made them so tired. On the way home we stopped 

 at the

 gelato

 cafe

 and passed many interesting travelers. Our favorite was a Muslim man driving his wife in a black head cover with only eyes showing riding side saddle. They had a baby standing up in the cart dressed in gangster jeans, a hat and sunglasses. He did not want to miss a thing. Behind him was another dad and little son in sunglasses. He smiled for a photo. We stopped at a night market and bought a pineapple, mango, duffle bag and a few crepes and headed to dinner. I think we are about finished with the food here, ready for some simple meals cooked at home. 

 Can't wait to sleep in tomorrow morning.  

 

Thursday: rained all night and morning. It's beautiful outside with the low clouds against the mountains. Todd has a fever. We were going to the beach but now we can relax and get ready for our flight. Do laundry. Watch movies. Prepare seminary lessons. Girls are making Pom poms with the yarn we found. Headed to double tree resort to eat breakfast. Brooklyn is sick now. All packed, headed to meet another family from shekou for lunch before heading out. We ate on a deck with a beautiful view of the beach. Started to rain as we got to our car. I split up the remaining 

 baht-Thai 

money and the kids spent an hour picking things out at the gift shops and restaurants. One chose a DQ blizzard, extra large, Others chose snacks,

I picked

  post cards and a tote bag. Uneventful flight

 (THE FOOD IS SO NASTY ON THIS PLANE)

 and border crossing. Arrived home and in bed around 2am

 .

 

Friday: got to sleep in and relax all day. Needed that after a busy go

-

 go

 -

 go vacation.  Green smoothies, how we have missed thee.  Todd and I went to get haircuts

 in the evening

. They had us lie down flat on our backs while the

 y

 washed our hair, twice, then conditioned and massaged. Todd almost got a facial and I almost got a massage--not on purpose. Todd kept wondering if we agreed to something we didn't know we did- not a fan of massages. Also, the hair clipper setting numbers are different than in the states. A "three" here is practically a scalp. Let's just say the language barrier and a pair of scissors is not a good combo! We took a taxi to the grocery store and then home for dinner, photo editing, painting, and duck dynasty. It was a good day. 

Saturday: 

B

rooke, Brigham, 

 C

hase and Todd went to the church for technical training. 

They run the technical things for church meetings, and the fingerprint door system. 

The tutor came for 

 C

hase and 

B

rooke. I ran a letter for 

A

lly down to the 

 C

hina 

P

ost and then back to the gym.  The weather hasn't been as muggy since we arrived back from Thailand. A local said we are now in the dry season, and we even felt a cool breeze last night. 

 After the tutor, the Ho's sent their driver to pick us up and take us to their house for lunch.  They prepared a kid/beginner friendly sushi lunch with spaghetti, salad, homemade rolls for the not so adventurous.  Cheesecakes for dessert, games, and then over to the mall.  Chase and Brigham headed back home to play basketball. Todd and I went on a date last night too. We checked out luggage for Chase's mission and tried to find some fall drinks at starbucks but they don't do pumpkin here, just the salted caramel.  

Sunday: Normal fast Sunday here, we will watch conference next weekend.  We did get to see a couple talks from the Saturdayafternoon session during relief society.  Didn't seem the same without the traditional foods and schedule of conference weekend at home. We had Alex, our friend from Mongolia, over for dinner.  Now we are just getting ready for the week.  I hope you all have a fun, relaxing, good weathered fall break! 

week 13

Dàjiā hǎo

Hello Everyone,

Back to it after a long vacation. So hard to get up at 6:15 am again. I went down to open the door for the seminary students when I heard chase throwing up. Still can't keep anything down six hours later. Tried my Thailand rice steamer/basket combo. Worked like a charm with Pon's instructions. Sticky rice with omlets on top and hot sauce for lunch. Brigham got the haircut with the shampoo today, they washed twice, conditioned, cut then washed again. Brigham wanted Muslim noodles so we stopped to get takeout for him. Brynn and Todd ordered Indian,

Brooke had marshmallow pebbles and then made caramels for family night. We watched a couple of conference talks. Chase and Brooklyn had a meeting at wasinc before working at the convention for the next three days. Letters from Ally.

Tuesday: Chase & Brooke

worked at the convention center today. I signed up for the Shenzhen

​ 

International Women's Club

 

​

 this morning. I met ladies from Philippeans, Sweden, Hawaii, Georgia-(country of), Germany, Ireland, England, and my friend Rhoda from az! Love to hear the names, accents, where they have lived, about their families, and why they are here. There are about 400 members, so lots more to meet. They meet Tuesday mornings at Starbucks and then have field trips during the week. Tomorrow we are going to a fabric market 2 hours away. They say the fabrics are 5-9 rmb/meter (80 cents-1.50$) and very nice. They buy fabric for tailors to make into whatever you would like. I will report on that tomorrow.  About 30 of us including 5 or 6 from church are riding a rented bus at 8 am tomorrowmorning. We hired a driver for our family and today was his first day. He took my friend jenni and I to a German place for lunch. I had the best French onion soup and a farmers salad. No lettuce, just peppers, tomatoes, too many onions, olives and cheese. I came home and Sophie was laying on the floor on blankets and pillows moving the computer mouse around on the wood floor while doing schoolwork on the big tv. A little later I walked in and she was searching Pinterest for Halloween ideas. So funny. Todd worked from home which is a treat from days long ago. Tomorrow he travels again. Not his favorite. Brooklyn and Brynn made some baked apples with oats and caramel inside and whipped cream on top. Working on Chinese words for fruits so I can order from the delivery man on my own. I can get mangoes, bananas, grapes and apples so far. Progress, thanks to my Ayi. Brooke taught piano lessons after working at the convention all day.

Wednesday. Seminary and I left a bit early to catch the tour bus. Todd finished up class for me before heading out on his business trip to Qingdau . Brooke and chase to the convention they are working and Brigham in charge of the little girls for the day. So much experienced today as I traveled to Guangzhou. We crossed the Pearl River and drove for 2.5-3

motion sickness filled

hrs to get there. We passed garden plots of purples and greens outside of the city with farmers working the perfectly aligned rows. Huge barges full of sand piles dumping conveyer belts of sand on shore, college campus with tennis courts, swimming pools and a modern soccer stadium. Land fills. Apartments. Fabric market

 ​ (Pearl River International Textile City)​

as shops and shops and shops

!

of fabric. So many it would take days to get to them all. We were in the clothing, silk section. Never even made it to the cotton quilting section. We also saw the leather, fur, super soft baby blanket fabric, belt buckle, snaps, chains  where they were placing Gucci charms on chains while smoking and sitting on lawn chairs. Counterfeiting right before my eyes. So many bikes carrying cargo piled high. Semi trucks unloading huge bolts into pick up trucks. The whole truck would bounce as bolts were dropped into truck beds. There were bikes and vans driving around inside the buildings. I was always watching around so I wouldn't get clipped from a bike passing by. Some shops would sell you pieces. Some would only sell bolts. Some would take your order and then disappear for a bit and come back with what you wanted. Very few English speakers there. I have found more and more that Shenzhen is pretty "western" friendly when it comes to groceries, restaurants, church, English speakers. In Thailand and other parts of China it is not that way. On the way home at a few on ramps to the freeway where there were lush green trees, I could see tarps and corrugated tin roofs and porches held up by bamboo. I realized people are living there. I saw quite a few...twenty or so. One man in rolled up pants only, had hundreds of ducks and a black goat and a white goat with water on three sides. And it was raining the whole way home. Pretty sad living conditions. Some of the houses were up on bamboo stilts. Arrived home late. President cox picked us up from the bus and took us home.

Tennis,

Activity days, mutual. Found out our friends, the Kesters, are moving next month to Kentucky. Sad day. Todd arrived safely in Qingdau, Beijing tomorrow.

Thursday: Mr Li picked me up and we went to another apartment complex to pick up Carrie turner, the branch president's wife. We went to "Euroland" which is ikea and metro and decathlon. Basketball nets for chase, random things from ikea and a new big trash can from metro plus lots of groceries. Quickly home to unload and then off to mandarin class. It is held at a cafe with three other students. Chase and brooke had a long day with a work dinner afterwards at a Korean BBQ restaurant.

They met a group of pilots who wanted to be friends of the Americans.  They have been texting Brooke tonight.   Beijing: (Todd here--"stay away from my daughter you filthy pilots.

...Beijing is a bit....stinky.  Smells like Utah valley during an inversion when Geneva was in its heyday.  The IBM office, however, is in the head of the dragon building that sits above the Olympic park.  So I had a great view of the birds nest stadium, aquatic center and such during my meetings.  Glad I'm not based in Beijing.  No time to see the forbidden city or any sights.  We'll have to take Jane and the kids sometime after we buy a few masks or borrow Aunt Mary's radiation masks that we used to clean the turkey coops :) " 

Friday: (Jane back) Went to lunch with friends Carrie, Pon, Elsa, Joyce.

 Pon was thanking us for helping while her husband was being detained.  She treated us to a fancy place called "Golden Jaguar" located in KK Mall.  We took the subway to Grand Theater and it hooks right into the mall.  I'm still so impressed by the cleanliness of the subway here.  Even the bathrooms are super clean.  Anyway, lunch.  It was a buffet style lunch with food in many different rooms.  There was a dessert section-cakes, cheesecakes, ice cream sundae bar,

chocolate fountain with cherry tomatoes, of course.  S

eafood, sushi, Chinese, Thai, beef and lamb, japanese section, prime rib, ham, soups, salads, dim sum, noodle soup bar, and beverages of all kinds, juices, slushes, soda and tea. There were things I'd never seen and never hope to see again! (Tortise shell jelly cake, deep fried chicken feet, pig ears). There were some delicious things.  After this the kids were finished early so I went back to get the little ones and we met Chase and Brooke at Laojie, a gift mall with backpacks, phone cases, speakers, shoes, wallets, hats, fabric. Brynn was walking by a grandma in the subway, turned her head and they were the same height. We got a giggle out of that. Smoggy skies at sunset made for some cool looking buildings in Dongmen, the shopping district. 

 It started raining and we headed home.  Todd arrived really late from Beijing...2 AM. Happy anniversary Brig & Tammy! 

Saturday: Tutor here early. Watched one session of conference and then got ready for the evening. We had a bunch of people, 30+ here while the guys went to priesthood session at the church.We had quesadillas, homemade chili cheese fries, cookies, trail mix, rice krispie treats, chips etc. It was a do nothing, music, movie, chat party.  Happy anniversary Mom & Dad! Todd took Chase and Brig to the Priesthood session at the church.  Not  many more for all 3 of them together with Chase heading out in a few months.  They ate pizza and then came home to join the big party.

Sunday: I was stressed about making my conference cinnamon rolls without a mixer or vanilla pudding.  I tried it with coconut cream pudding and hand mixer and then finished kneading by hand. They worked out just fine but I left the second tray in too long. oops!  We watched three conference sessions and it took most of the day. Chase got his college application sent in.  Girls are Halloween crafting.

  Things I should have brought but didn't include: sewing machine, stand mixer, blendtec, chocolate chips. Live and learn.  

All is well in China. Hope all is swell with you as well.

week 14

Today after seminary I met up with my friends Joyce and Rhoda to hike Nanshan Mountain.  It is the hike with approx. 1000 stairs. At the top was a group of college aged kids, taking pictures and doing the Tarzan yell to clear out their lungs.  Very common to hear yelling at the top of the mountain. No one thinks it is strange.  I don't think i could do that with a serious face.  All the way up the trail there are benches and pagodas with painted ceilings and boards with suggested yoga and meditation ideas. Kind of like our obstacle course parks with the different exercise stations.  Kind of.

Todd and I took Brigham to get new church pants. He's growing. His pants are high water and giving him a wedgie.  We went to the All City Mall and liked the names of the employees...Rainbow, Win, Laughing.  Some other good ones lately... Golden Dragon/Phoenix, Flying Dragon (a baby) Apple,Banana, Smile,Dream, Letters.  Chale.

Tuesday: I walked with Todd down to the subway today.There was music playing from a pest control truck that sounded more like an ice cream man.   I was headed to SWIC ( international women's club) A guy was sitting Indian style  on plate glass on the back of tricycle motorized bike delivering it to somewhere. There was a man with a pretty gingham ruffle hat delivering something else.  During our meeting there was lots of excitement outside as a woman construction worker was being carried up from the new subway entry construction site with a bleeding foot.  All the other workers were following the man carrying her.  It looked pretty bad.  Birthday lunch with friends at Italy Square in Coastal Rose Garden II-ravioli was so good.  I guess the kitchen was upstairs because there was an oven that moved up and down a shoot. Our waiter would open it up, take out our dishes and then shut the door and send it back upstairs to get more food.  The Overseas market had their Mexican section stocked. First time since I moved here, big day! The owner of Overseas market was in my Mandarin class today.  I finally went into the meat shop, premium meats, because I had some ladies to show me around. Everything is imported, so I purchased my first beef and pork since we arrived.   We had a fun seminary party, planned by Brigham (games and Mexican food from Coyote) while the girls went with Pon to her daughter's school concert.  We have a great seminary class and the girls had fun with the Sears.

Wednesday:Dafen art village with international women's club. So many counterfeiters (even a Greg Olsen hanging in one shop.) Lots of art supplies,  pop art and tons of florals, horses, beaches, mountains, portraits. More canvas than I've ever seen, rolls and rolls of all types. Clothing store in an under stair closet .  On the way home there was a tricycle on the freeway. I was pointing it out to my  friend Rhoda when behind a bus came another tricycle bike heading towards us against the traffic on freeway.  Death wish?   We had an ice cream delivery for tonight's mutual activity, tennis w/lots of bug spray. Brooke made yummy chili for dinner, smells good.  Todd is now in the young men program. Brooke and I were asked to plan the Christmas party. It's the biggest party of the year with 150 members approx and 40 guests. We are to order imported hams and plan a dinner/entertainment/visit from Santa.

Thursday: 

The 

air is so bad there are lots of masks. People running and riding bikes with face covered except for eyes-looks creepy. Mr Li took everybody + Ayi to old Shekou to the tailors. Chase got fitted for a new mission suit. Brig fitted for new church suit pants, Brooke a shirt. Made lasagna roll ups and fried zucchini for dinner-

 recipe from Giada

. Pon and Sydney Sears came over and Brooklyn whipped up a batman stencil and painted it on a shirt for Sydney's Halloween party tomorrow. Family

 ,

 minus me

,

 watched duck dynasty. Brooke finished making a vimeo video

, a favorite pastime, 

of the Thailand vacation. 

 Chase and Brigham played basketball all afternoon. They come home dripping with sweat most days. They get the consistent cardio awards for our family. Good day. Tired.

Friday: Pon and I went to a clothing factory/distribution area. We turned left at a tall office building that has a horse sculpture coming out one side and a Greek mythology man coming out the other side.  Yes, it's as strange and gaudy as it sounds.  Go down until you see a parking lot entrance and the word "Chintina" written on the building on the south side of the street.  Go straight all the way 

to the

back

 of the parking lot to the last or second to last white building on the left.  There is an elevator entrance on the outside of the building. A lady set up a table and chair and was watching a movie on her phone inside the elevator. Her job was pushing elevator buttons. We went up 8 floors and then to an office with red banners and gold Chinese characters.(side note: Chinese think the number 4 is bad luck so they leave it off of elevators like we avoid the number 13 sometimes).   Pon knocked on the door and then pushed it open. There were four Chinese ladies eating lunch at two big desks. The acknowledged we were there and went back to eating. Pon walked right in and into a room off to the left.  There we found racks and racks from floor to ceiling of dresses, skirts, formal dresses, shoes, sweaters, pants, blazers.  We would hold up an item and they would name the price.  We went to two or three more offices like this. My favorite was the shop making all black women's suit pieces and dresses heading to UK, just because they were cutting, sewing,ironing, packaging right there and it was fascinating to see the process in action.  This particular shop had J Crew wool hooded coats heading to Virginia also.  We also saw Tommy Bahama, Boden, Ann Taylor, Tory Burch, White House Black Market, Fendi, Lilly Purlitzer, Juicy etc.  It reminded me of the fashion district in NYC where they have cellophane bagged items ready for shipment to Macy's, Lord and Taylor, etc. After that I took Chase down to an eye "doctor".  It was also in Old Shekou, to a man named Peter.  He sells wallets and purses, sunglasses and at the back of the store is an eye chart and a few other optometry machines.  He fitted Chase for new glasses, told him to walk out to the street and see if he could see and we ordered them.  They are ready for pickup tomorrow.  No insurance papers, no appointment, just sit down, try out a few lenses and come pick up your glasses.  We will see how they work ! Todd had a super long work day so I took the girls out for dinner and he still wasn't back by the time we finished.

Saturday: We were up early and off to Hong Kong by 6:45 AM this morning.  It was branch Temple day. From the border crossing, our group took five taxis into the city.  Sophie and I were in the last one. When we arrived our group was standing around outside the temple.  Todd told me that he accidentally left our suitcase in the taxi with all of our passports.  Now, I wasn't too worried, I grabbed mine from him at the last minute in case I needed it for something.  Thoughts of going back home by myself sounded kind of nice for a few minutes.  President Ho was on the spot and started making calls. His Cantonese sure is helpful! After a visit to the police station, many calls and trying to remember anything that would distinguish this driver from the many, many, taxis in Hong Kong, and through a few miracles and answered prayers, the passports came right back to the temple with the driver in an empty taxi. We paid him and off we went to lunch at Festival Walk Mall.  Brig went to the Apple Store to have them look at something on his ipad and they replaced his ipad on the spot.  Todd, Brigham and Chase headed home and the girls went with the Ho family.  They took us to a four story craft store and then to Prizemart, which carries Kirkland brand and Costco items...almonds, knott's jam, Skippy, tide, craisins etc.  From there we took the subway/bus/taxi home.  The border was so busy and a group of Indians was pushing, butting in line, you could feel them breathing on you.  In the line you are back to back, shoulder to shoulder, it's ridiculous.  At one point after they butted so much around a turn that Sophie was about 7 people x 4 wide ahead of me I said "Wait in line!" It's pretty crazy how they, especially the oldest women, press up against your back and step on your heels. The taxi line was so long that we started counting in Chinese to keep our minds off the wait.  We counted over 100 before we were able to get to the front of the line and head home.  Todd and I headed out to La Maison for dinner. The weather was so nice we sat outside at a red and white checked tablecloth.  The food was so-so, but the mosquitoes had a nice feast on my legs.  I should have known when the neighboring table had their drinks brought out on a tray with bug spray. The kids ordered pizza and we were in for the night. 

Sunday: Today we had an Asia Area Conference and listened to Bro. Evans, Sis. Stevens, Elder Holland and Elder Hales.  They talked a lot about missionary work and family involvement and the growth of the church in Asia. Elder Holland recently replaced Elder Oaks as the representative in this area.    There were lots of things reminding us about Ally, and looking forward to Chase getting ready to serve as well.  After the broadcast we had the women over for the Relief Society Broadcast at our house.  Carrie Turner and Joyce made a girly lunch--Chicken curry salad on lettuce with rice and almond bars.  The chicken salad was chicken, mandarin oranges, pineapple, fresh water chestnuts, mayo, curry, soy sauce. Fun to chat with Aunt Jane and Uncle Jim, Mom, Dad, Molly, Beeson, Todd and Stakers for a bit.  No fun to miss parties at home, and especially Uncle Jim's famous cooking!        

week 15

<IMG_9070.jpg>Monday: Todd left for Shanghai.  There was a robbery in our neighborhood on Friday. A man robbed a family at knife point. The father chased the man and they heard someone at the house behind them scream so found him there.  The neighbors are on a rampage, angry at the neighborhood management because the guards have been slacking.  Construction workers sleep in the homes they are working on, streets are dark, etc. The management company is feeling the heat too.  They now wear reflective vests at night, patrol more, have wolf dogs and are personally guarding the homes that were robbed. 

Chase and I took a taxi down to get his glasses, bank, grocery store and drop off a memory card to get some photos printed.  At home we finally got the missionary packet and he worked on that for a while.  Seminary went well, I have the greatest class.  Half are my own kids, but still! 

Tuesday: I went down to unlock the door for the seminary kids and the door was already open...no one locked it after the robbery scare, and with Todd out of town.  Yikes.  Yao Feng was here so I thought I would order the fruit while she was here to help.  I memorized the fruit and quantities I wanted to order. I dial the number and start with "ni hao, la ge wa" the lady then starts talking mandarin so fast! I had no idea what she said and paused for too long because then she hung up.  She called right back and my ayi told her i wanted to order some things and then I slowly stated my fruits and the fruit lady said a few more things and then the ayi gave our address and we hung up the phone.  Defeated.  I can memorize phrases all day long, but when they reply and I don't know what they are saying it's awkward silence.  My go to phrase is wo buming bai--"I don't understand".  Every time I say it the Chinese people laugh. We had coconut lentil curry with naan and then I had Chinese class and Chase had basketball.  We took a taxi there too, our driver's car is being repaired today.  While in the cab I got a call from Brigham that Sophie fell while dancing with Brooke and her nose was "gushing blood". I checked about 10 minutes later and it had stopped and she wasn't crying any more so I stayed at the class.  Brooke and Brigham went to babysit at some friends from the ward, and will do the same everyday this week except Friday.  Home, skyped with Todd.

Wednesday: Same old thing! Seminary, get kids up for school. Today I went to the stationary mall with SWIC. There you will find the most random collection of things.  Office supplies, mops, stools, paint, calculators, soccer balls, ping pong paddles, hulahoops, glue, fax paper, wash cloths, violins, those airplane rides that you put a quarter in to ride, books, balloons, Halloween costumes, flags from many countries etc.  Tennis, beans and rice for dinner-Brynn's request, Activity Days. Met Todd 22 years ago today over lunch. (Todd here....it was a rainy day, Jane was dressed in head to toe denim with brown boots.  Her green eyes gleaming and sparkling. It had been raining outside. After eating navajo tacos, she showed her wit and intuition by guessing people's names as they walked by whilst tutoring me and a friend in prep for a biology test.  I was hooked.:) 

Thursday: Todd comes home tonight! Seminary was good today, we read missionary letters from friends and family.  Walked with Rhoda around our hilly neighborhood. I've never seen so many butterflies, outside of a butterfly exhibit or museum.  They would fly right by our feet.  Found out the other break in from last Friday night (where the girl was screaming for help) was the Swedish family, our friends the Karlborgs.  Todd is trying to get more info, and drove by to check that the guard was outside their home since the husband is on business in Germany.  Chase played basketball and Brooke and I ran errands...photo shop, fruit market, tailor, and overseas market.  The shirts we had made at the tailor were very nice, so I left the same shirt with her and added some different fabric and also a skirt this time.  We will see how they do on those.  Chinese class in the afternoon where I got my Chinese name.  Most people don't give themselves a name, you are given a name.  My Chinese name sounds like Jenny, Zhen Ni. Don't know when I'll use it, but whatever.  Brooke and Brig babysat for the last time and Sophie and Brynn had a movie night with the Kesters. They prepared all afternoon...Jello with green and purple stripes, a door sized Frankenstein, popcorn, candy, mini pizzas, drinks, a few games, pillows.

Friday:  our friends, the Grenatas, needed to take their son to Hong Kong for immunizations so we had their 4 other children for the day. We went to the park down the street and the weather was perfect.  A bit cool and breezy. My friend Alicia  went with us to the park with her five children too so we had a crew running around.  Brooke and I went to Metro and loaded up on things I don't like buying...paper plates and trash bags and paper towels.  We hurried back so the driver could take Todd and the scouts to the border crossing at Shenzhen Bay. He and Brigham will be camping on the beach in Hong Kong. He said there are nice bathrooms and showers and you can even drink the water.  Merit badge clinic with the Hong Kong scouts tomorrow.  Brigham was very concerned about getting some hamburger for his foil dinner, so hopefully they found some that was safe over there. I made egg rolls for dinner, and Pon came to test out a few.  Chase went to a haunted house sponsored by a local school and the girls and I took a taxi to Garden City Mall to finish Christmas shopping for Ally.  We happened into a store where everything was 10 quay, like a dollar store.  We also found a Papa John's pizza. We ordered but they said we had to take it away since they were closing the inside of the restaurant.  So, we took it out into the mall and sat on the floor.  Now by this time it was after 10pm and the tired silliness was setting in...this led to some pretty funny video clips of them dancing and sliding and running high kneed across the mall with a goofy face and lots of Chinese onlookers.  We also loved seeing a little boy pulling his mom on a wiggle car. She was holding onto a belt hooked to the back of his pants.  He almost ran her into the side of McDonald's, and then started spinning her in circles until she tipped over.  At home we turned on Christmas music and started wrapping presents for Ally.  The music helped because it doesn't seem like it's time to wrap gifts quite yet.   We were cutting out snowflakes and printing off nativity and santa coloring pages and coordinating wrapping with string. Chase came home at midnight (always on time for curfew), and we got to sleep after 2am.

Saturday:  We watched the Kester children while they packed their suitcases for their trip home and sorted through their things. Not looking forward to that anytime soon.  We are really going to miss their family.  Pon brought me some green papaya salad for lunch in exchange for a couple tomatoes.  SOLD.  Todd and Brigham went to the merit badge clinic at the Hong Kong International School, which a BSA troop in Hong Kong is sponsoring.  They said if felt like staying in LaJolla.  They made it back but ran into 1hr 30min border crossing.  The met us at the Warr'shouse. Sara spent 9 hours cooking with a kidney infection to host four families for a farewell to the Kesters.  She had curry in three flavors and homemade cheese, homemade yougurt, homemade ice cream and veggie dishes.  She also has no dishwasher which stresses me out completely.  Side note. You can't go anywhere, I've found, to be alone. There are always people everywhere. Even in the bathrooms...enjoy the silence! On our way out of the bathroom tonight there was a man blowing his nose farmer style in the sink.  Some  older ladies were chatting in the hallway.  One of them burped really loud.  I looked at the other three and they kept right on talking as if nothing happened. 

Sunday:  With our friends, the Kesters, leaving back to the US, Brendan was released as young men's president.  So Todd was set apart today to fill in for Brendan. He is excited to be in YMswith Brigham and Chase.  Todd received a very nice blessing from the Branch President as he was set apart.  He still keeps in touch with many of his former YM from Houston and the branch president felt prompted to promise Todd that the relationship he will form here with the YM will last forever.

The Kesters son Quentin was also baptised today.  Quentin asked Todd to give the talk on baptism.  Quite an honor for Todd and a really nice baptism service.  They have a portable font that they set up outside in the back of the church.  The grandparents skyped in and it turned out great.   We had our traditional navajo tacos tonight for dinner, and pumpkin sheet cake with cream cheese frosting for dessert. A nice ending to Sunday.

We will certainly miss the festivities in AZ, the service project and chili dinner trunk or treat.  Enjoy it all, the weather, the food, each other.  We miss you!

Happy Halloween!

week 16

Monday: I think we finally are feeling a little more comfortable here. It still doesn't seem like "home" or that we live in China, but we are figuring out how to get along.  Our friends, the Kesters, just got in the van to head back to the states.  I have to say, it's easier to leave than to be the ones left behind.  When you leave you are looking forward to the unknown and so busy getting the details all together that it helps with the sting.  We are all sitting here so sad to see them drive off.  Excited for them at the same time. Rhoda, Elsa, Joyce and I were meeting to go walking this morning.  While we were waiting we were stretching out in front of my house and a Chinese woman, 73 years old, walked up and started stretching with us.  We smiled, tried to speak, each in our own language, and stretched some more.  She would copy each of our moves.  Later, Elsa and Joyce could speak to her in Cantonese. She said she needed to stop home to get breakfast but wanted to walk with us.  She had her driver follow behind. She hopped in when she got tired and he went back to the house to get her re shui (hot water). Cute lady.  Her name is Wang Yi.  Also met Rosabel and her 10 year old daughter Sophie from Canada. They will be moving home in December. This place is a revolving door! Not good for those of us who love to get to know and love people.  Also met Mr. Wang, another cross border driver.  Oh, and we acquired a ping pong table for our basement.  Todd is far away on business today. He won three projects close together, so they are all due and need attention at the same time. I took the boys to get their suits from the tailor. Brigham's pants fit well. Chases suit fit well, that is if he were getting married. It was a fitted euro tapered jacket and perfectly fit pants to wear if he were standing still. It looked so nice, just not mission practical. Hopefully they will be able to take it out a bit. I took them to Emily's for dinner they (bravely) ordered hanbaobaos or hamburgers. The waitress then asked "beef or chicken?"  Todd is now home after a long day and the boys are playing ping pong in the basement. 

Tuesday: I tried to order fruit over the phone myself again. I called, said a few things, told them my address and laughed as I hung up wondering what I had ordered and how it would differ from what I thought I ordered. When it came I was gone but we got the grapes, apples, oranges (not enough) pomelos, and three bananas and a dragon fruit. I ordered a 1/2 kilo of bananas and Chinese lanterns not dragon fruit. Yao Feng was laughing I guess. Oh well, I'll keep trying. Dongmen with Kathy, Carrie, Donna, Rhoda. I knew when I stepped out of the van that there was a wet market nearby. We were actually right in front. There were hundreds of baskets with lids containing crabs. Our first stop was into a mall type building, up to the 6th floor, down a narrow hallway. Carrie knocked on a door and we went inside to their favorite DVD shop. Next was the fabric and trim market. Back in the van and to lunch at a brand new tapas restaurant. Dessert at a French bakery then home. Met at the gate by property managers who went over all the repairs they still need to do. Family headed for coyote for taco Tuesday. Oranges and bananas from the fruit man because I didn't order enough this morning, obviously! Home teachers met us on the golf cart limo taking us up our hill. They came and gave us a nice lesson. I made hot fudge to go on ice cream. 

Wednesday:Crazy busy can't wait to lay my head on my pillow kind of day. Cupcakes without muffin tins didn't work so great so we had to borrow from a couple ladies and try again.  We cut out bats, blew up balloons and attached jack o lantern faces, colored Halloween pictures, had tennis, braided hair, gathered costume pieces, made dinner, did laundry and tried to get some school work completed.  Todd took all the kids but Chase to the Halloween party at the church. 
Thursday: Another long day, this time at a Chinese hospital.  We went to get Chase's mission medical papers completed.  No small task.  There were escalators in the new Shekou People's Hospital and we rode them up and down and up and down probably 20 times during the day.  Up to 4th, down to 2nd, pay, come back at 2PM. Up to 2nd for x-ray over here, blood work over there, urine next to that eyes down this hall, and so forth.  Finally to the Dr. She reads, "abnormal chest x-ray, need CT scan before I will sign papers".   Back to 2nd floor to pay for CT scan. Wait. Eat dinner, back to hospital. They let you take your own tests to the testing centers...you walk your own blood to the lab.  You walk your own x-ray to the Dr, etc.  and a piece of paper for everything.  They waste SO MUCH PAPER. Finally we pick up the second x-ray and take it up to the Dr who looks at it, reads it, doesn't say anything, poker face. Then she gets up and says "excuse me" and takes the x-ray with her.  After a LONG 5 minutes she comes back and tells us there are some nodes on the lungs, keep the x-ray for future reference, nothing to worry about, and signed the papers. Chili and cornbread for dinner before trick or treating. We were slammed with kids begging for candy.  Chase and Brig are playing ping pong with Matthew.     
Friday:After seminary Brooklyn and I headed to Hong Kong.  We went straight to Times Square. Quick lunch at Pizza Express.  We had fun looking at and trying out the new Canon cameras. She has her heart set on one and has been saving all the RMBs she has earned.  We checked into our hotel, rested for a bit and then headed to the ladies market, which is not just for ladies.  They had all sorts of items, silver rings, bags and backpacks, socks, sports jerseys, clothing, electronics, scarves, games etc.  For dinner we went to Tamarind, a recommendation from theKesters.  It was an Indian/Thai/Vietnamese menu and we had some of each. The Thai coconut soup had a pepper in it that was so hot I thought it burned a couple of holes in my lips.  Back to the hotel. We snacked on our Marks & Spencer treats and went to sleep.

Saturday: We both slept so good.  A quick skype with Lincon and Lizzie and Todd and kids.  First stop was the post office to mail some things to Ally. Then to Causeway Bay for <IMG_9233.jpg><IMG_9309.jpg><IMG_9333.jpg><IMG_9327.jpg>

Forever 21. There we found some things for Brynn's birthday.  A quick lunch at BLT Burger (YUM- like zin burger) and a taxi to the ferry building.  In the basement there is a store called A.M. that carries costco items. We were finding things we said we missed, but still couldn't buy, even though it was right there, because it was still stinking expensive.  For example, the whey protein powder we buy at costco is usually around $25. Here is was $700 HongKong dollars which is just under $100. They also had peanut butter cups for $500 HKD and UNSTOPPABLES (the laundry stuff) for $160HKD=$20USD. Stating the prices out loud to each other got so comical Brooke had us both laughing up and down the aisles.  We did splurge on the chocolate chips, syrup, white linen pasta sauce and Brooke's beloved slim jims.  Loved the sunset on the ferry ride, it was red and purple.  I've never seen a sky like it in all my life.On the ferry ride we were watching videos of Sophie dancing around the living room on couches and coffee tables, twirling all around.  We were happy happy happy to be back home with the family.

Sunday:  Branch Council bright and early. Nice meetings and now nap time! We missed the Kesters at church.  They left a big hole when they moved from the branch. We were hoping they would skype in for the meeting. Maybe next week for the primary program. Maybe not.

Kids are trying to finish school before the deadlines that are coming up.  Weather is great, warmish and breezy. Everyone is healthy. All is well in China.

Here's to another week!

week 17

<IMG_9398.jpg>

Monday:  Mr Li took all of us to Ikea and Metro.  I got a new sewing machine and some storage things.  Import store with Todd when he got home from work for a Dr. Pepper. I miss Sonic ice so much.  Rained a bit.  Some of my friends skyped at my bedtime for my birthday when they were busy getting kids off to school.  So fun to see happy, smiling, familiar faces.  Miss you all.  Letters from Ally. Transfers coming up next week.  We will see if she stays in Katrineholm.  

Tuesday: Scripture mastery review day--made chocolate mug cakes. Opened gifts from the family.Skyped with Mom & Dad. Todd working from home this morning and kids working hard on their school work.  Went to All City Mall and then met Todd for lunch at Italy Square for ravioli and salad.  Chinese Class-learned how to sing "Happy Birthday" in Chinese. All of us met up with Todd on his way home from work at Coastal City for Papa John's pizza. Tasted so good, just like it does at home.  Shopped a bit with no complaining from the boys and then taxis home.  Yoga while family watched Studio C.  Todd had a call at 11PM. 

Wednesday: Got this text from Brooke: "I peeled an orange and saw saw some weird holes on it so I was like whoa, better not eat that...and so i left it on the counter for a sec and when i went to throw it away, there was a worm under it!! AND IT COULD JUMP. I flipped."  EiYiYi.  Went to the mall with Joyce, Carrie and Donna for Cantonese food (loved the mango pudding--mango jello type dish, fresh mango cubes and cream) and facials. Strange experience! Lady put this goop on my face and left for like an hour.  I got up and got my phone she was taking so long. My back was aching from laying on the table for so long.
 Walked Brooke down the the subway so she could get to mutual-Mexican food and planning meeting,  and then watched Chase play basketball and Brigham,Brynn,and Sophie play tennis.  Dinner and Christmas Party Planning meeting.  The party is in one month and one day.  Lots to do.  Todd isn't home from work yet, stuck in traffic.  It's been a long day and week already.  Not like his home office jobs. Ping pong tournament for the young men at our house. Big spiders in Chase's room.  

Thursday: Chinese class-practiced sentence structure which is actually very simple compared to English. For questions and statements, it's always subject + verb + Todd and Brigham reserved the squash court. Brooke made a gingersnap crusted pumpkin dessert from a baked pumpkin. They carried canned pumpkin at the international store for a few short days. I bought a few cans and told my friend. She must have bought all they had cause they are out. We are a little concerned we might miss Thanksgiving here.  It's a normal work day, and on Saturday there is an activity for all the moms in Guangzhou.Maybe we will plan for the Saturday before.  Thanksgiving is my favorite! Now to secure a $100 turkey. Early worm gets the (U.S. imported)bird here! <IMG_9420.JPG><IMG_9418.jpg>

   

Friday: Took my Chinese class mates to the clothing factory sample stores. My friends scored some Boden.  Went to an Italian  leather store where they had every color of leather coat in all different styles. Lime green, gold, teal, orange and blue,hot pink, red, along with all of the normal colors.  We must have been a sight-- our group had ladies from Laos, Ireland, England, Haiti, America, and China. 

Management came and hung some hooks, changed a couple light bulbs and switched out our water dispenser because the water was tasting moldy. 

Saturday: Up at 7AM to hear Joseph Costello open his mission call-congrats! Todd and a buddy hiked Nanshan Mountain.  Had groceries delivered.  Todd and Chase had a church meeting with the area authority, Elder Toronto.  Took the girls out for Brynn's birthday. We had our nails done and then headed out to Dongmen to the fabric district to find fabric for dresses and skirts. I was taking the girls a different way than I had been before and I'm not sure if that was a mistake or a cultural experience I didn't plan on giving them quite yet.  The street we went down was the Dongmen wet market through street.  The streets were packed so there was no turning back.  We were single file between cars on the street and curb of sidewalk where there were buckets and buckets of fish parts, squirming shrimp, slithering eels in front of meat markets where they cut the animals right on the sidewalk. We walked by buckets of white innards.   The smells! And our legs, about up to our knees, were splashed with who knows what kind of juice/blood/guts/random parts. I looked back at the girls a few times and their faces were all contorted.  We made it through and finally found the entrance up to the fabric markets.  While inside bargaining for corduroy, the girls found a man walking a pet monkey.  They got a kick out of that.  We also found a shop with more zippers, serger thread, needles, elastic rolls and buttons than I've ever seen. Even more than SAS in AZ.  I'm still amazed at the stuff they can pack into tiny shop stalls.  Next we quickly walked through the walking streets of Dongmen toLaojie for a backpack and some shoes and then an hour ride back on the subway. The girls were getting antsy by the end of the ride and started doing some swinging and spinning and monkey bar type things on the ring handles.  We were in the first car. When we got off the workers got off too, and gave us a good stare and watched us all the way to the escalators.   Todd met us at the entrance and we headed home to get ready for dinner tomorrow. We have a family coming that has a couple of girls Brynn's age and and couple men who are out in China working by themselves.    

Sunday: Brynn's birthday! It rained today, possible remnants of the horrible typhoon. Brynn and Sophie had their primary program today and did a great job.  They each had a small group singing part and Brynn had a talk on "How I can be a missionary now".  I taught a primary class and boy was it so hard--it was a train wreck. There are some unique personalities.  One child would not quit eating her boogers after I asked her three times.  One was smacking a Barbie violently on a table.  Another was crying under the table and then wrapped himself up in the drapes. By the end I was folding paper airplanes as fast as I could and took the kids straight to the restroom to wash their hands because one boy had pink eye and was handling all the crayons.  Hurried home to get the birthday dinner ready. Brynn chose spaghetti-we had red sauce and alfredo, sauteed mushrooms on the side, bread tray with dipping oil and chimmichurri, my friend Sarah brought a salad. We made a cake and our friends brought two cakes so we were all sugared up by mid afternoon.  Chase had his final interview (takes so long over here, unlike Bishop Staker'sblazing speed!). Papers will be submitted in the next couple of days.  He should hear the first couple of weeks in December if the mail system works correctly.

Laughing over a family game of "what if...?" and eating ritter sport chocolates. Happy Sunday to you all!

Love from China,

Taylor family

PS- Learned this phrase, Chinese slang, from a Chinese tutor.

Ni tai niu le. It means, you are awesome.

niu means cow so I don't know how that figures in, but then I thought of Ally and her cow adventures and it made sense.  You are awesome Ally!

week 18

Monday: My friends were all back from vacations so we walked/hiked today.  Today was a big day in China. They call it singles day--11-11.  The online shopping sites have big sales, similar to the day after Thanksgiving at home.  Too bad we can't read any web pages! Chase played/coached basketball and we dropped some things off to be made at the tailor.  Girls are having fun designing their own clothes. Hoping they turn out as they have pictured in their minds.  

Tuesday: I stopped at a German bakery before my Chinese class and bought a couple shortbread cookies. One was apricot and the other was chocolate almond.  I was eying a cookie and the lady before me ordered the last one of its kind, so I'll try again another day. Today we had a lady from Israel join our class (she goes to the same class on a different day) She had blond curly hair like Brooklyn.  About half way through the class, her 20 something daughter who is visiting her walks into our class and I COULD NOT STOP STARING. She looked like a lion.  Her face was small (or maybe just looked small compared to her hair) and her brown curly hair was probably 6 inches up, 4 inches on sides, and not joking, 8-10 inches off the back of her head.   She looked like a model. I left my phone at home on accident or I would have asked her for a photo.  It was awesome. I've never seen such big hair, except for one time at the Gap outlets in Glendale we saw a mongo afro that was very impressive.  

  Yao Feng helped me so much today, I'm grateful for her.  

Wednesday: Pon, Elsa and I went to an international cooking class. They demonstrated Korean, Japan, Indonesian, Malaysian and French cooking.  Pretty impressive dishes and cooking styles and presentations.  Reminded me of my days at Thunderbird Graduate School and the International Women's club activities.  After the demonstration we took the subway to the wet market but entered a way I haven't been before. EYE OPENING. I saw things I've never even imagined, and smelled things I'll not soon forget.  Mr. Li picked us up and took us to Metro (the Sams club type store).  I like going with those who have been here for years because they can steer me to products, or away from things that aren't good.  Being able to read ingredients in Chinese would be a nice, helpful thing to be able to do, just sayin'.  We also worked on the Christmas party planning quite a bit today. It's coming along.  Mr. Li took Brooke, Brigham, Brynn & Sophie down to Muslim Noodle.  Brigham sure loves that place.  I think they had a good time together.  They got some ice cream afterwards and walked home.  Brigham went to scouts down at President Turner's office because  he has a flight simulator.  They had one of the WASINC pilots help them with the aviation merit badge (which Brigham already earned with Bishop Clark). Chase stayed home with the girls while Elsa and I walked hills in our neighborhood. Brooke and the YW planned the Christmas party decorations.  Oh, and today was the first time since last spring that I felt cold outside. Got to wear a sweater! Found a slug in the lettuce and bugs in the cereal boxes we had delivered this afternoon. I called the grocery store and they came and picked them back up. It took about twenty minutes to relay the word "bugs". Finally I typed it into google translate and played the phrase into the phone. Success!  Wouldn't have been a big deal, but I ordered six boxes and the bugs were eveywhere.  

Thursday: First time to go visiting teaching was today. We had a driver take us to Grace's house. She lives on the 22nd floor and has a great view of the bay and Hong Kong. They had great views out the back or the apartment also, Windows of the World, an amusement park with a sledding hill is there, an Eiffel Tower replica, etc. When I came home the kids yelled "we love you, Mom!" And jumped out from behind couches, and Chase and Brigham were on the tv stand and a chair. Sophie had planned the surprise with a sign and a note, and rallied all of them together. She was very proud.

I ordered 7 water bottles, a case of orange juice and a case of water, in Chinese. I always wait in anticipation, to see what actually comes.  This week our fruit delivery guy came without us even ordering oranges, apples, and grapes.  I tried to tell him I didn't call him, I told him we didn't order any fruit,  and asked if my zhangfu (husband) ordered it, but communication wasn't happening so I just paid him the money and took the fruit.  When my ayi came, she asked him and he said he took it to the wrong address, that someone else ordered it and he got a good laugh. 

Friday: Pon and I went to buy paper goods for our Christmas party and then we found canned pumpkin at the import store.  Brooke had a quick lesson with her tutor and then we headed to the Youth District conference in Guangzhou.  Sophie and I hitched a ride since the bus was so big.  Todd and Brynn took the high speed train early this morning to go to the US Embassy to get a new passport.  It took them 30 minutes.  It took our bus 4 hours.  There was an accident on the freeway and we were stopped for a while.  Todd and Brynn lunched at an Italian buffet at The Four Seasons Hotel, lobby on the 70th floor. They then sent me photos from the 99th floor and I told them to immediately get down! 
At the embassy they didn't allow Todd to take his bag or any electronics.  They wouldn't even allow them on the premises but encouraged Todd to check his bag with his personal items with one of the many "entrepreneurs" holding bags for money outside the gates.  Todd didn't like that rule much and let the guards know it.  He relented, however, left his gear with a lady outside the gate and was amazed to see it still there when he returned.  He then crafted a constructive criticism letter to the embassy. 
Todd and Brynn spent the afternoon napping and swimming and bowling.  Brynn got an eye full in the ladies' locker room and called to tell me about it. 
We finally arrived in Guangzhou and hurried our group off the bus and onto a smaller shuttle that took us into the Chime-Long Park. We headed straight to a Chinese acrobatic circus/show.  It was one of the best shows I've ever watched. People falling/bouncing from the rafters from bungee cords with glow sticks, trapeze artists, teeter totter flipping on stilts, onto high chairs, people riding horses while standing, two horses-one person riding around the ring and then up to two horses five people standing atop in a pyramid, a girl climbing around and under the belly of a horse while it ran in a circle, flamingos, giraffes, hippos, bears on motorcycles and bikes, monkeys riding razor scooters and mini bikes, six motorcycles in a cage all riding at the same time, Colombian gerbil cage/ferris wheel type performance, guy and girl dancing/hanging on a ring, with no safety net underneath (photo from their website below), diving/trampoline act with a sky diving finale into a pool, ladies hanging from the ceiling by ropes start spinning and then sparkler fireworks coming off of their twirling skirts. Crazy talent show.  Afterwards we headed to our hotel and the youth went to member's houses. We hadn't eaten yet, so we went to the hotel cafe. Brynn ordered a fruit salad. It came doused in Chinese mayo and was topped with quartered cherry tomatoes.  We "tried" to ask them to rinse the whole thing off but to no avail.  Ta men bu ming bai. (They not understand.)

Saturday: We met up for a buffet breakfast at our hotel/introductions and testimony meeting. Off to the Chime-Long Paradise amusement park.  <Screen Shot 2013-11-17 at 8.56.35 PM.png>

They had some pretty great roller coasters and kiddie rides.Perfect weather and not too crowded for a Saturday. Sophie said her cheeks hurt from smiling so much for photos with the Chinese. Brigham started charging money to have pictures taken with him. He made a whopping 5RMB (less than $1). Quite the entrepreneur.   <photo-15.JPG>  

Group photo and then on the bus to head home.  We had Shane and Gabe staying with us overnight, so washed the sheets,made the beds, ate some nachos and called it a day. 

Sunday: Todd had early meetings. They called me up from the podium to lead the music for the meeting. Went home during Sundayschool to get ready for VT luncheon at our house for 18 people. Back to relief society and then home for lunch. Pon brought chili and toppings and garlic bread. I added cornbread + honey butter, fritos, drinks and blueberry cobbler.  Bro. Warr stopped by for a bowl of chili also.  Sunday naps! Ahhhhh.

Keep in touch, and have a great week! ZiaJian!

Love from China,

Jane & Family

week 19 

Monday.

 

Joyce gifted us with a leather sectional sofa for the basement in the 

p

ing pong area. Chinese movers brought it over and set it up. The girls, meanwhile, were chasing and catching butterflies all down the street barefooted in their pjs with bed head. The butterflies were everywhere. Shannon, one of my seminary students, said he had to dodge them while riding his bike this morning. We need a net! Two paper bowls worked ok for a while. Kids are rushing to finish their classes by the deadline. Chase took a final today, government. He's happy to have finished that class. 

Todd super busy with work, long days in far away offices. Received a letter from Uncle Troy for my birthday--Thank you! 

 

Side note: if a Chinese person is getting me a cup of water, they always add half hot/half cold so I get a cup of warm water. Also, the drinks will be in a cooler like at the Walmart registers,  but it will be unplugged so that everything in it is room temp.

 Blech. 

Tuesday 

Painted ceramics with the Granatas (thanks Kesters!). 

 

 T

oday I walked to my Chinese class. The weather is so nice. The new mall 

at Seaworld 

is getting closer to being finished. 

It's always busy with little kids riding scooters and bikes and Chinese people taking photos of themselves, solo, straight faced holding a peace sign.  

The mall guards were going through training. Their outfits are royal blue with white cowboy hats. East meets west-a unique look. I met Todd on the way home. 

Purchased some pie crust from the French Bakery for our Thanksgiving pies. 

A birthday package from Ally awaited 

at home 

with delicious Swedish chocolate bars x 3 and sweet notes for the 3 November birthdays in our family . Thanks Syster Taylor.
Wednesday: took a bus with the international women's club to Zhuhai, a city about 3 hours away. There is a furniture and accessory market that had two sections. One had more antiques and the other side had newer replicas. All sorts of intricately carved beams, doors, moulding

 s

 and screen panels. One beam cost $75,000

 . It was old and beautifully carved.  

They also had huge tables carved from a seamless tree trunk, driftwood pieces, pottery and my favorite, colorful chandeliers and lighting. I'm trying to figure how to get some of that home. I got to walk around with Rhoda from AZ, Donna from Connecticut and Sophia from Sweden who has a four year old and twin 16 mo old babies. Tennis lessons and activity days-Sophie was invited too. She's loving that!
Thursday. Secured 23 tablecloths for the Christmas party, I bought all they had. I had an international afternoon. Lunched at an Italian restaurant with my friend Sherley from Haiti and Tania from Australia. Purchased a strawberry 

jam<IMG_9721.JPG>

  filled shortbread cookie from the German bakery and headed to Chinese class with Valerie from Ireland. The lady from Israel came again and I asked her to email me a photo of her daughter with the lion hair. I'll try to remember to attach it.
Friday. Mr li took Rhoda, Elsa, Milani, Ashley, Brooke and me to the stationary mall to get supplies for the Christmas party. We purchased lights, flag banners and stocking stuffers. Also lots of white paper to make snowflakes. Elsa guided us around a food cart--

B

rooke and I ordered a plain steamed bun. Mon Tao or something like that. They ate some meat buns and fish balls. Rhoda took the girls and me to our tailor to pick up their dresses and skirt. We found out our tailor is moving to Shanghai Dec. 31. So bummed. I made the kids some cauliflower cheddar soup and headed to Seaworld with Todd for date night. We found one box of candy canes,

P

olar 

E

xpress and Downton Abbey season 4. I'm really missing all of the Christmas holiday traditional things like decorations and music and foods and lights. It's so different being in a place that doesn't celebrate. We are doing our best inside our house, but out and about they miss the Christmas spirit completely. No bells ringing and people being extra nice and happy. When we got home there was a letter in the mailbox from Syster Pearson, Ally's second companion 

that 

Ally adores. She 

said many kind things about Ally, said she wished she could have served with her longer and told how Ally builds up and loves everyone she meets. I couldn't even read the last part my eyes were so full of tears. Super nice girl and it made me miss Ally so much.

Saturday: tithing settlement. President Turner said Chase may find out electronically about his mission call since the mail is so unreliable here. Most likely before Christmas. Todd hiked the mountain with our neighbor Jeff. 

Thinking about the Costellos. 

Brigham and Chase spent the afternoon at the park. I rode the subway out to Dongmen. I found the kitchen restaurant supply store, more fabric, gifts for some missionaries. We got to Skype with Kesters from their Kentucky home. They were headed to costco, lucky ducks. 

We wondered about Ally in Sweden and if the baptisms were still going to happen.  Three, maybe four were on the calendar.  

Sunday. 

Huge bird outside our window, bent the branch when it landed. Any professional bird watchers out there? I also saw a red faced, black bodied, white tailed bird with black stripes on the tail. Tail was about a foot long.  <IMG_9719.PNG><IMG_9716.jpg>

Branch conference. Great talks were given.

 Afterwards, 

Grandma and Grandpa Beeson and Nana and Papa Taylor were able to video conference in as Chase was ordained an Elder. Brooklyn was called up to share her testimony

 during the conference

. Heather Taylor's Aunt Sharon and Uncle Paul were there and we had the annual branch photo. Cheese enchiladas for dinner and polar express for family time.

 Cream of mushroom soup for dinner with french bread. Tasted good on this rainy afternoon.  We haven't had rain for a long time.  All is well in China. Hope all is well with you. We will be celebrating Thanksgiving on Friday night and missing all of our family and friends...thankful for you! 

week 20

Seven Days, seven different views--

Monday- Sophie's view:so today i memorized 3 articles of faith 1,2,3. Our primary teacher said we get a prize when we memorize all 13. Butterflies are everywhere. Big news! Spuddy, our elf,  has been back since Thanksgiving.  Brynn, Brigham, and Brooke said he would not come but he did.  It was such a big surprise. Some of the places we have found him are hanging upside down from the chandelier,holding a note.  Stuck in the a/c hole in the wall-half inside, half outside.  In the office with snowman shaped peppermint marshmallows.  We also found him in my mom's new apron pocket.  He hid in our green vegetables that looked like trees and he hid in the blinds.  For the nativity, I got to be Mary and Ian Ho was Joseph. I had to hold a jacket for baby Jesus.    

Tuesday-Brigham's view: Today is Tuesday! Well today I did a ton of school and finished algebra and digital photography. Later when I was done with school I went down to SeaWorld and picked up some pics for our visas. On my way back from getting the pics I went to my favorite restaurant and got fried rice for 10RMB ($1.60 US) so that was pretty sweet. After lunch I came home and watched sports center and Cake Boss.

Wednesday-Jane's view:Preparing my final lists for last shopping trips for the Christmas party.  We are having US imported ham, mashed potatoes, spinach/romaine salad with mandarin oranges, cranberries and toasted almonds and balsamic/orange vinaigrette.  Pies, cookies, rolls, red and green jello, green beans. The standard for the party is a US meal.  My friend Kathy is heading back to the states for a month so we went to lunch with her. We sat outside under an umbrella and ate ribs and sandwiches and salads and fries and cokes at Gypsy's. Kids had tennis and then we went over to the church to work on the program "passports". After they were cut, I sewed them together and we attached the flag stickers for the kids.  They will use these as their "ticket" to see Santa.  We also added the program and Christmas carol lyrics in the passport.  The youth played Christmas music and happily worked without complaining. They were super helpful and productive. Donna brought banana bread. We cleaned up our mess and called it a day.  Thanks to Todd for formatting the program and getting it down to the printer! 

Thursday-Chase's View:On Thursday we woke up and had Seminary. I did about 2 hours of school. We had basketball practice at a nearby gym on the 3rd floor of a building. Before and after our practices there are tons of Chinese paying badminton. One of the corners of the room smells like pee. I think from the Chinese guys. After we practice we run back to their campus while doing workouts along the way. The Chinese people love staring at all of the foreigners running around and doing planks in the middle of Sea World. We went to Shannon's school play. The students made all of the plays and everything, so that was weird.

(Jane here- had a long day of errand running for the Christmas party with Rhoda, Pon, Elsa, Joyce.  We picked up our clothes from the tailor. Kind of a miss.  Sam's club for a cart full of food.  After the play we walked to the music store to check out the ukuleles and guitars.  The kids started playing pianos and we made videos of Chase mock playing to Brooklyn's real playing.  Great fun. There were a couple of cats living in the music store, one mom and one baby kitty climbing all over the books and accordions. The dirty litter box is right there by the water bowl and food.)  

Friday-:Friday

(or as our chinese tutor calls it: "firday")
before I start, I need to apologize in advance for any grammatical errors... my English is getting progressively worse everyday we're here. ;)

This was my plow-through-school-all-stinkin'-day-until-my-eyes-burn-out-of-their-sockets day. You'd think I missed out on all the action, but what's more interesting than learning about the middle ages and how to graph quadratics? I even missed out on going out to eat at Bombay. They brought me back some curry and rice though, so that was good. Even though I was stuck in front of the computer screen for most of the day, mom freed me at about 8:30 by taking us on a "mandatory" shopping trip. Love my momma. We grabbed a taxi and headed to Coastal City mall. When we were almost there, we stopped at a stoplight at just the right moment  to witness 5 guys simultaneously peeing on the bushes. RIGHT BY THE ROAD. Get a bathroom people. We tried to forget that 

 nastiness 

by looking through the new forever 21. We then headed to Uniqlo (probably our favorite clothing store in china), and finished up at Starbucks. Do yourselves a favor and go buy a gingerbread hot chocolate there. (You're welcome) So after that we kinda lost track of time and ended up frantically trying to catch a taxi at 10:30 pm. Did I mention Brynn and Sophie were with us too? #waypasttheirbedtime. We passed some throw up, and lost 2 taxis because people kept beating us to them. Sophie said "If we catch one, you guys have to thank me because I said a prayer." A few minutes later, Brynn caught us a taxi. So good thing the little girls were there haha! Our taxi driver was super funny. He didn't speak much English, but he was really good at understanding our broken mandarin! So that was a fun ride. We didn't pass any peeing guys this time (score!) or at least we didn't SEE any. :/ Brigham, Chase and I stayed up a little longer to watch cake boss, and then we all headed to bed. We probably should've gone to bed earlier because the huge Christmas party was the next day, but who can pass up an episode of cake boss?

While Brooke was schooling it all day I took the little girls to the hair salon and they had hair wash/blow dried/shoulder & arm massages for 21 RMB, $3.50 US. They found a new activity-one they will miss when we move back home.  

  

Saturday-Brynn's View: Today was pretty legit. I didn't have to do school. HOLLA! Brooke and I decorated our room with Christmas art and white lights and a branch with stockings hanging from yarn.   Mom had to go to the bank and post office to mail a package of warm things to Ally, so the girls tagged along and got our nails done after.  We went home and then started preparing for the Christmas party. Dad, Brooke, Sophie and I watched an episode of the one and only CAKE BOSS!! I love that show! haha! After seeing the coolest cake ever made,  Brooke and I headed over to the church to help Sister Ho, Sister Sears and my mom. I got to peel those annoying stringy things off the oranges. I really like sister Ho, we were about to leave and she said to my mom, " You're gonna change right?" Went home and then got on my shoes for the party. I grabbed a few things and then headed down to the SPAH. I sat around while everyone was working super hard. I am a kid, what did they expect me to do?! That party was a blast! The food was dang good and the country presentations were very interesting. Got a new boyfriend! Cutest 1 year old ever! He would get on the stage, come back down, walk over to me, give me a hug and then sit on my lap. He did this routine about 16 times. And hey hey hey, i got to be a stinkin' cute donkey in the Nativity while all my friends were angels and wise men! All thanks to the blue eyed baby Gregson-he didn't want to be a donkey. We had to take off our shoes for the Netherlands tradition with the present in the shoe thing. Got a cool pen, a ball and two laser rings! YAY! Santa came and didn't even ask us what we wanted for Christmas! Dang I was excited. Can't fit all the details, siblings (A.K.A Sophia and Brigs) are rushing me. Went home and The Sharkowsi's and Shane slept over for church in the morning! Love and miss you all! - Brynn

Sunday-Todd's View A family who lives a few hours away, the Scharkowski's stayed the night after the Christmas party.  They have a little girl and boy who speak English and Mandarin fluently.  (Makes me feel like slacker :)  )

We left to church early to prepare for sacrament meeting and practice the songs for the program.

The program was really nice.  Jane sang with a group of women, Brooke sang with the young women, Brynn and Sophie sang with the primary and.....Jane played the flute, our friend Milani played the piano while Brooke, Brynn and Sophie sang "Stars were Gleaming" (in harmony).  It was really well done.  Chase, Brigham and I sat back and enjoyed.   There are some really talented folks in our small branch.  This south China district includes branches in Guangzhou, ours in Shenzhen and groups that meet together and connect in from a few other locations.   They are starting the process to organize branches in some of these other locations.

--One thing I learned about the church here a few weeks after arriving is that there are "native" China wards/branches that operate in parallel to the international branches here in China.  Current govt policy doesn't allow the 2 to mix.  So, we can't speak about the church or gospel topics to native Chinese or invite them to participate in any church-sponsored activities.--

Chase is still running all the technical aspects of the branch.  We have several monitors in several different rooms of the rented house we use for church and he keeps the video and audio piped into each room.  He also ensures that those connected remotely are able to see, listen and participate as needed through our video conference set up (China limits Skype so we use a service called "fast meeting").  He was running around a bit today because someone disconnected one of the monitors.  Brigham is starting to help him a bit and is in training so he can take over when Chase heads out on his mission.
(*btw.  We were checking on Chase's mission papers this week and found out that they were just sitting in the Area office...Salt Lake hadn't even received them yet.  The church doesn't give District Presidents access to the online system so it's really delayed things.   Chase has been ready to turn his papers in since October. Maybe his particular assignment is simply not ready.:)  )

A highlight from today for me was hearing our friend, Hey Ho, bless the sacrament.   He was ordained a priest last week, but Hey doesn't speak extemporaneously in English.  I think someone made fun of his English several years ago and he just stopped speaking.  He speaks at home and to his family in Cantonese, but won't speak otherwise.  He will read scriptures in seminary but won't speak off the cuff.  However, he gave the sacrament prayer today and did a great job.  He was asked to teach the lesson in YM's next week so we will see how that goes.  He wants to serve a mission, so speaking with people is something he needs to get comfortable doing.

A new member family came today.  Husband is not a member but grew up in Idaho and works for Oakley overseeing their manufacturing operations here.   Really nice folks.  2 little boys.  Jane invited them for 

 FHE

 tomorrow.

 

That's a wrap! Miss you all!! Keep in touch. We love hearing from home. 

Trying hard to make it feel like Christmas over here.  Making plans to go somewhere soon.