你好
Nǐ hǎo.
Finally emptied out the last of the boxes from moving here, this morning. Kids logged on to school but the site was updating...kinda like a snow day. They did their reading and the Hos called...they could go ice skating today. Perfect. We picked the three boys up from Milani on the platform of Haiyue and off we went. Ben, Teddy and Ian are the cutest little guys that run in their pack of three and are the best of friends. Sophie forgot her socks but remembered her helmet. Brynn remembered her socks but accidentally on purpose left her helmet at home. "It wouldn't fit over my high bun."
I sat at Caffe Bene with an iced chocolate drink and watched them skate for 90 minutes. They got better as the time marched on, and I am used the free wifi. "WEEFEE" as one of my girls first called it. We went to McDonald's afterwards for ice cream cones, but ended up with chicken nuggets, fish sandwiches, fries, orange juice and cheeseburgers. This was with little fingers pointing at a picture menu and three languages being spoken. The five of them ate every last crumb and home we went.
Such great letters from the missionaries today. I have to say that them being happy and positive makes it so much easier on me. I'm grateful they are having such great life experiences, learning languages and serving others. I spoke with Stacy Jackson, a girl who has been home for a month now about the transition back after a mission. Hopefully it will be easy for Ally. Stopping off at China might be just the distraction she needs before heading back to the states. I can't wait to see her walking around China with new eyes.
Brigham went to the field to meet up with friends for soccer/basketball. So glad they are back and he's got some friends to hang out with. So many girls at our house right now. He has picked up juggling recently and is quite good. Brooklyn is working hard on her chemistry and World History.
On shuttle bus to ikea. A French mom and four little ones riding too. Her kids keep singing sweet songs in unison. The streets are lined with lush trees and shrubs with bright shocks of yellow, purple and hot pink flowers. Delivery mopeds and wheeled vehicles of all types going by with us and against us. I just mouthed "THIS. IS. AWESOME." into the reflection of myself in the shuttle bus window. Trying to soak it all in because I now know how quickly the time will fly by.
I sat at Caffe Bene with an iced chocolate drink and watched them skate for 90 minutes. They got better as the time marched on, and I am used the free wifi. "WEEFEE" as one of my girls first called it. We went to McDonald's afterwards for ice cream cones, but ended up with chicken nuggets, fish sandwiches, fries, orange juice and cheeseburgers. This was with little fingers pointing at a picture menu and three languages being spoken. The five of them ate every last crumb and home we went.
Such great letters from the missionaries today. I have to say that them being happy and positive makes it so much easier on me. I'm grateful they are having such great life experiences, learning languages and serving others. I spoke with Stacy Jackson, a girl who has been home for a month now about the transition back after a mission. Hopefully it will be easy for Ally. Stopping off at China might be just the distraction she needs before heading back to the states. I can't wait to see her walking around China with new eyes.
Brigham went to the field to meet up with friends for soccer/basketball. So glad they are back and he's got some friends to hang out with. So many girls at our house right now. He has picked up juggling recently and is quite good. Brooklyn is working hard on her chemistry and World History.
On shuttle bus to ikea. A French mom and four little ones riding too. Her kids keep singing sweet songs in unison. The streets are lined with lush trees and shrubs with bright shocks of yellow, purple and hot pink flowers. Delivery mopeds and wheeled vehicles of all types going by with us and against us. I just mouthed "THIS. IS. AWESOME." into the reflection of myself in the shuttle bus window. Trying to soak it all in because I now know how quickly the time will fly by.
This came at 11:38am (after disinfection was already underway!) Tuesday:
Dear Tenants
In order to eradicate rats,
The time will be 9:00am-11:30a
tear all the seals in two
Sorry for the inconvenience.
Jingshan Management Center
So ya, we may have rats coming out our toilets like my friends Jordana and Pon. I messaged home to the kids, "tape the drains, shut the toilet lids and put something heavy on them". All they could find was washi tape, so we have some fabulous looking drains right now.
Woke up to a super thunderstorm. The lightening was showing up, even in the daylight. Yao Feng cooked us a delicious lunch today. She takes my random, almost not usable veggies and makes the best dishes with them. It's a treat when we ask her to cook and she says "yes". Bonus: she does the dishes afterwards too. I went to the gym to ride the bike, walk in, and stinky guy IS ON THE BIKE. There's only one bike, besides the low down bike that isn't plugged in, and the pedals have no resistance. He sprayed the bike down with cleaner and wiped it good. I let it sit for about 20 minutes then I brought some clorox wipes (never did that before but was lucky today I guess) and took my turn. The bike didn't stink, but he kept coming to use the tricep machine right next to the bike. I will say that it's easier to breathe while riding the bike with stinky guy in the gym, than to run and breathe with stinky guy in the gym.
Todd worked late today. He came home and the kids went bowling for mutual. Our friends, the Greenlands, received word last week that they were relocating to a city near Hongzhou (near Shanghai)..then early this week the company said they wanted them there right away and had purchased tickets for them to come on Wednesday. So they packed on Monday and left on Tuesday. Roy is from American Fork and Lina is from Brasil. A really nice couple.
Thursday: Brigham has been waiting for this day...his friend Ernesto is back. All is right in the world. He was down at the fields with more boys that have come back from their summer vacations. I watched him play soccer from up in the gym. Stinky guy was there, but I was almost finished. I now know that he comes around 3:30PM on weekdays and 10AM on saturdays and can adjust my schedule accordingly.
We corresponded with Chase's companion, Elder Tribe's parents this week. It's been fun getting to know a little about them. Hopefully we will meet them in person some day.
Friday: Ernesto made his appearance. ALL the kids wanted to go to lunch with him so down to their favorite noodle shop they went. Yao Feng went shopping for me and brought back mangos and grapes and melon along with a big bag of rice. She not only delivers, she puts it away. She also hunted down a small fuse for our power converter and asked about a new xbox cord since ours accidentally got plugged into the 220v socket, popped a couple of times and then started smoking. Oops. Brigham went to a friend's to play FIFA and order mcdonald's and eat homemade cookies. The girls and I went to the new Chili Party restaurant. The pic below is the menu...no English speakers so we had to look up the characters from one sheet and order on the other.
We had fun chatting with the taxi driver. We can about say all the Chinese words we know in a 15 minute drive. The taxi driver smiles, asks questions and then starts rambling beyond what we can comprehend. And they always give us a thumbs up and a smile and ask us twice to make sure we knew what we said when we tell them there are six kids in our family. Todd got home at almost 11PM from work today. He had a good day of presenting and dinner following the presentations at a hotel nearby. From Todd: I'm having a good time at work lately. I was in an all-day meeting on Friday and I saw the best China chewing-out that I've yet to see. The big boss completely called someone out in a meeting, yelling at them and telling them they were worthless (and luckily, the translator kept going through the lambasting :) )...a few hours later, at the dinner, they were best of buddies again, laughing and joking. I guess this is typical China
SAT: Todd and I had a date today. We went to the bank. A worker there was doing a transfer for us on the computer in the lobby. A girl came up and stood shoulder to shoulder to the worker and watched everything she was doing on our account...balances, who we were transferring to, how much etc. I kept looking at her like, "excuse me, that is private information!" she looked at me twice and just smiled and never did leave until we were finished with the computer. We walked down to another bank but it was closed, went to the new subway sandwich restaurant (this one has real mustard! and dill pickles!). Next we walked down to old Shekou to get a bike pump, 1m sheets of vinyl, and a birthday present for Ally. We couldn't find a taxi and Todd is sort of impatient with things like that, so he hired two mopeds donned with umbrellas and off we went with all of our garb-me with a large bag and 5 meters of rolled vinyl in 5 different colors and Todd with a bag of sandwiches and cookies, a drink and a tall bike pump. I was a minute ahead of Todd and hoped he was making sure I went where I was supposed to go. It was kind of fun to run red lights. I did get nervous to have busses honking from behind. We finally got off the busy street and went down the bike lane, but that's just as scary. He was playing chicken with multiple bikers coming the other way. I think between Hong Kong and Shenzhen, people don't know which side of the walk to go on. I know I get confused. Hong Kong left, Shenzhen, right. Todd was getting ready to go to the pool with the girls when it started pouring rain again. They did make it after the rain stopped.
Waiting for a grocery delivery from Overseas market and then going to Coastal City for dinner before making tomorrow's lunch, tonight. Gabe Granata will get to stay here again with us. We had fun eating dinner (found a place with ICE and FREE REFILLS in CHINA, what? ) I might have had like 6 cokes in a row, just because I could. The boys took one taxi home with Sophie. He sent us the usual, "I forgot to grab the house key from you" so the girls and I quickly tried to find a taxi.
Sunday: Pictures of Chase on the mission blog here. If you go the link, he is in the exercise photo next to his cousin, Chase Hansen, center, back row. I'm sure that was fun for both of them.
Church was good and is filling up more and more each week as summer travelers return. Happy to see Sarah and the girls, Tovars and the AZ sisters and Rhoda again. Can't wait for the rest of my friends to get back! I love our little branch. Brigham was set apart as the Teacher's Quoram President today. Interviews with Pres. Turner & Pres. Cox, thankful for all they do for the branch. Our friend Kimberly taught the girls a new game and we had a nice visit and chat with Gabe and the Tovars. Sunday naps, letter writing and a few games.
Grama Mary, HAPPY BIRTHDAY this week!
All is well in China. Keep in touch, come visit!
Love from China,
Taylor Family
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