Took the girls to Luohu to pick up their dresses from the tailor. Then to pick out ribbon for a belt, sunglasses and other random things we didn't need. "Prizes". The girls always like to see all the Chinese babies of the workers in the little shops. They try to play with every one we pass.
We stopped at a mall on the way home to exchange some pants for a different color. The cashier picks them up and smells them. My first thought was "who smells the returns?" The pants were brand new, still in the packaging. Then she says they can not return them because they smell. Then I was thinking "I should have returned them on the way to Luohu, maybe they smell like smoke from the shopping plaza? " She says, straight faced, "they smell like flowers. I can not accept the return." The girls and I were laughing. It smells like a sewer here and you won't accept a return that smells like flowers? We all smelled them, along with two other workers, and we couldn't tell a difference in the new pants and the exchange pants. She did finally exchange them but we had a good laugh as we walked out of the store. You really have to be sure of what you buy here, it is almost impossible to return anything.
Chase got home from the Philippines and had a great time. He's very tan and took 3 photos the entire vacation. I told him I need 3 photos / week minimum when he's on his mission and he replied, "it's in the handbook to not look like a tourist." I have a feeling that letters home from Chase will be very different from letters home from Ally.
Brigham and Chase had a basketball game at a boarding school downtown so we all took the subway to the game. It was all gated up but once the whole team was there, the guards let us in. We walked across a very nice track in a huge courtyard surrounded by large city buildings. There were dorms, an indoor pool they were filling, and a large outdoor court with three full courts, two basketball and one volleyball. Girls were doing some kind of dance class on the second level above the pool. They sure drew a crowd to watch the game! All of the students were watching the school team, and Sophie, Brynn, me and one other parent and little girl were the only ones there from our team. They had fans in the windows of the dorms overlooking the courts. We were back behind one of the baskets and as the game went along, their fans circled the entire court and stood in front of us, they were so close they were standing on the boundary lines and court. We finally went up above the swimming pool to get a better view. After the game the girls spent a good 30 minutes posing for photos with giggling students.
We went to the pool a couple of times this week. The water was cold and the foreigner teens who were there were saying lots of swear words. I watched the girls and read my book, sometimes on a diving block with my feet in the water and yelled "not in front of the little ones, please" a few times-with a smile on, of course. Both times we got lots of bug bites, bought some ice cream cones and then we left for home.
I headed to a friend's apartment for a music practice this morning. A taxi driver dropped me off in the middle of Shenzhen today. I was LOST. I tried to ask some people which way to go as I pointed to the address written in Chinese. I have a few things I can ask, but I don't know what people are saying in response. It's very confusing and frustrating. I just started walking looking for anything I recognized. I finally found a metro and wasn't anywhere near where I needed to be. I arrived to the practice so late, and not in the mood for a church song practice! I was also glad I was carrying just a flute, and not a cello. I've had a few days over here where I just need to go home and regroup before heading back out. Happy one year to Ally! Six months to go, we will start the countdown once we send Chase off. No fun to count down knowing it's counting down the days until he will be gone.
The Cox's invited us over for dinner and help planning a trip to Beijing, where they lived before Shenzhen. They had maps and pamphlets, itinerary suggestions and recommended places to stay. They even have a driver to take us around. I was madly taking notes. Todd and the older kids will head up to Beijing for the China-wide Youth Conference (trek) at the end of April. Rhoda also handed off 8 watermelons to cut up for the luncheon on Sunday. I know what I'll be doing tomorrow! Brigham took a couple of finals. Just a few more classes and he'll be finished with 8th grade.
Yesterday we purchased a new to us fruit...mini mangoes. You peel and eat the whole thing in one bite, except for the pit, of course. Haven't ever seen those before. They are sitting on the counter next to the dragon eyes and yellow kiwi, bananas and pineapple. I think of how differently we eat here, and know we will miss some, but not all, of our new diet when we move home. The grocery store today was so dang loud. Women are fighting for your business. They wear microphones and repeat the same words over and over and over, trying to get you to buy what they are sampling. Brooklyn ran the color run (in the rain) with a friend. She still has pink hair and skin. Todd took the scouts to Hong Kong for a merit badge clinic. The rest of us did laundry and hung out at home. Shannon was over for a bit and Ernesto stayed over two nights while his dad is out of town.
The Branch we are in here for church was split today, into the Shenzhen Branch and the Dongguan Branch. We will miss them visiting a few times a month. Most were newly married with a few kids, or not, but they were a great group of families. They have 33 members, so still a small but self-sufficient group. They had a new branch presidency put into place. We also got a new RS president and YW president in our Shenzhen Branch, so it was a big day of changes. A little boy was baptized and we had a luncheon afterwards. Nash's and Shane came over for the rest of the evening. Right now it is POURING RAIN and lightening and thundering. We haven't had a good old fashioned storm in a while. I love all the big trees around us, you can hear the rain hit the leaves before anything else. It will be all shades of green tomorrow. We will have to see what kind of critters emerge in the morning...giant snails, super long worms, and more mosquitos are at the top of the list.
Thinking of our Avalon ward friends today as the new bishopric gets put into place. Thanks to the Hatfields and Allreds for taking good care of Rocky!
Let us know how you are doing! We miss you all.
Love from China,
Todd, Jane & family
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