Christmas 2013

Even though Christmas isn't the same as it is at home, we were successful in our efforts to keep busy and allow the Spirit of the season to help us enjoy this time. 

 

We attended several dinners during Christmas week.  On Saturday, the 21st we attended a dinner for all the foreign teachers on our campus.  It was a traditional Chinese dinner served at a very nice restaurant not far from our apartment.  On Christmas day, about 15 foreign teachers from all campuses, met for a Christmas dinner.  We enjoyed some traditional holiday dishes, sang Christmas carols and had a "White Elephant" gift exchange.  It was enjoyable.

 

On Christmas Eve, we were invited to attend a Christian service and sing at a downtown church.  Apparently the BYU teachers had done this in the past.  We, again, didn't know what to expect but we dutifully arrived and were seated as "special guests."  The church is a very large building and was at capacity.  We were seated on the third row just behind a large contingent of men who seemed to know each other well.  We learned later that they were local Communist Party officials.  They stayed for one number and left.  I guess they weren't worried too much about what we were doing.

 

The program featured a variety of choir numbers, individual instrumentalists and group dances.  We felt we were a bit out of place, but we sang two Christmas songs with guitar accompaniment.  We got everyone "rocking" with our upbeat version of Joy to the World. 

 

This is not us!  This is the Chinese Church choir!

 We were fourth on the program and listed as "Foreign Friends"  Notice Nancy up there singing????

Notice that the cross is red.  Red is a significant color in China.  It is a "lucky" color.  You will also note that the mural behind depicts the birth of the Savior.  All of the characters have an Asian look.

 

 

Speaking of red, at Christmas time you will see people selling these Christmas apples.  Apparently they use  stencil of some kind, attach it to the apple while it is developing and you get an apple with a unique design.

As we walked from the bus following the Chinese church service, we passed the local Catholic Church near our apartment.  The congregation was just leaving the church following their Christmas Eve worship and there were many people in the streets and street vendors selling varieties of food and "souvenirs".

 

 

Friday night was another unique experience.  We told you about several businessmen who have been attending our classes all semester.  They have been wonderful and we have enjoyed having lunch with them and they have been to our apartment for dinner.  One of them, Jacky, asked Stan if he was interested in basketball.  Since he said yes he offered to take him to a CBA (China Basketball Association) game this weekend.  He had mentioned that a colleague was going to be there, so we thought it was a "guys night out" situation.  When Jacky and I arrived at the sports complex, it became clear that his colleague was a woman and that they had counted on having Nancy there.  They asked Stan to call and see if she couldn't get a taxi and make it to dinner and the game.  Stan was a little hesitant about asking Nancy to do such a thing because the taxi drivers do not speak English and it was a Friday evening at 5 p.m.  Nancy "bit her lip" and said she would at least give it a try.  A taxi actually stopped for her and she was able to call Stan who handed off the phone to our hosts and they directed the taxi driver.  About 30 minutes later she arrived and everything was great.  Jacky's colleague was a business teacher at Shandong University but she teaches at another campus.  She had completed her PHD at Nottingham University in England, so her English was excellent.  She is a very nice single lady that was so kind to us.  She had never been to a basketball game before so we were able to instruct her on the finer points of basketball rules and how to scream "defense" in Chinese.

 

 

Nancy and our hosts, Jing Wang and Jacky

 

Go CBA!!!

 

 

On our way to the Church Christmas Eve, Stan snapped this picture through the window on the bus.  It is blurry but it was such an impressive tree, we couldn't believe it.  It is on the square at Wanda Plaza.

 

 

Christmas day was quiet and low key.  We enjoyed listening to music and had a nice breakfast.  We opened our gifts and skyped Ryan and Tyler.  It was still Christmas Eve for them.

 

Our Christmas tree and gifts

 

5-Star Breakfast

 

Our 2013 Christmas portrait

 

 Nancy's gift - Jogging shoes.  She gets them every year.  She was also given a very nice "Cat Watch" by our friends the Clarkes.  It works well and only cost $3 US.  What a deal!

Stan got a sweater just in time for our trip to the north and subzero temperatures.

 

On Saturday, we jumped on the bus and headed west to the Clarkes, another BYU couple.  Nancy was looking for a new sweater and we knew of a very large market in that vicinity.  She did find a great-looking sweater for $10 US and Stan bought two large packages of caramel peanuts.  They are so good.

 



This is one of the very busy markets near the Clarke's.

 

 You may not be able make out what are in these orange containers.  They are small living scorpions.  They eat these little critters after they have grown up and put on some weight.  We don't think we will ever get to the point of trying them.

 

This is the peanut stand.  Love those peanuts!!

 

Our young adult friend, Lily, went home to visit her parents recently.  She sent this picture to us.  Lily's parents are farmers who raise corn.

 

On Saturday night we were invited to another "party" put on by the students attending Shandong University.  This time it was a group of Chemistry students and featured mostly boys.  They tried their hand at acting, singing and dancing.  It was torture!  They asked David Cox, Zina his wife and Stan to sing.  We did and at first thought that it wasn't that great because we hadn't had the time to really practice.  Then, after things started going it was clear, at least, that we sang on pitch.  It was difficult to sit through nearly 2 hours of howling.

 



Zina Cox, David Cox and Stan at Shandong University Central Campus with Chemistry students.

 

Zina Cox, who teaches on Central Campus, has a textbook for her oral classes.  (We don't!!) For a lesson on food, she made a taste of banana bread for all her 300 students.  It was a hit and soon she was asked to demonstrate her skills on a Chinese cooking show, which is apparently quite popular in Jinan.  She had to bring most of her cooking equipment and dishes were washed at the studio as she needed them.  She made banana cream pie and the show was aired on Christmas Day.  The Coxs made a television commercial for a trucking company during the first month in Jinan and another BYU teacher,  Steve Schauerhammer, was the voiceover  for a ball bearing commercial.  Americans are quite the celebrities!!



 

 

The Chinese tv anchor in red, David and Zina Cox with the finished product and the Chinese TV cooking host.

 

Stan and our tutoring students, Sunny (in the back) and Lisa (in the front), dancing and singing to a video.  We have found that the girls enjoy singing and there are many electronic sources to help with English pronunciation.



 



Pre-Christmas Week

Even though we understand that the Chinese really don't celebrate Christmas, it is surprising the number of activities that we have been invited to this past week.  It all started with an "English Corner" at the Law School last Sunday.  Stan was invited to attend, share a few things about Hillsboro and, with David Cox, a fellow BYU teacher, sing Christmas and other songs for 30 minutes.  They didn't have much opportunity to practice, but the students all seemed to love it.  In fact, they have been invited to do it again next Saturday night.  This time it will be for the Chemistry Majors.  Nancy and David's wife, Zina, also joined in answering questions about life in America.  The students were very interested in furthering their studies in the US following graduation from Law School.  At SDU students can major in law as undergraduates and then they continue on to Law School for an additional three years.  Most were not interested in being in "private" practice but hope to work for corporations.

Stan giving an explanation about Oregon 

 

 Zina and David Cox, Stan singing at the English Corner for Law Students.  They sang Grandma's Feather Bed, Go My Son, Country Road and had the students participate in singing some Christmas songs.   

We hosted two dinners this week.  We invited Jacky, the businessman who has been attending our English classes, plus two of his colleagues to join us for dinner at our apartment.  We thought it was humorous that they were trying to "seat" us according to the position of the host as if they were in charge!  The Chinese are very particular about their seating arrangements.  We very much enjoyed the range of topics we discussed and they were quite open about their feelings about China.  Here is a sampling of our conversation:

• The new Chinese president is very open about his family and personal life which is a change from the past.  He was previously divorced and his second wife is a popular Chinese singer and now considered the First Lady of China.
• They are aware of corruption in their government and are happy the new president is making some changes.  
• Stan had a lesson this week about the 2008 Olympics in China and asked his students "if the cost was worth the benefits?".  Our dinner guests felt it helped the outside world have a more favorable opinion of China.  Even though the Olympics was a huge financial commitment, they felt it was better spent on such an endeavor because otherwise government officials might have used the resources on themselves!
• There has been a debate among the public because the government recently adjusted the holiday calendar.  Supposedly citizens could vote on the internet for some options.  Consequently, there is no longer a 3 day holiday (Jan. 1-3) and only Jan. 1 is the legal holiday so employees need to work the other days.  Plus, traditionally, there is a holiday on the eve of the Spring Festival, which is when many Chinese return to their hometown towards the end of January.  Now that "eve" is not a holiday.  This announcement just came two weeks ago!  Even though this 'choice" was according to a public opinion, the vast majority don't like these changes....and probably the late notification!!
• They are very happy that some families are now allowed to have more than one child.

Robert, Rick, Stan and Jacky

 

Our second dinner was with Brian, the one who dressed up like a tree at Halloween.  His wife is in Taiwan with their 4 yr. son awaiting the birth of another son the first part of the year.  Brian is finishing teaching his classes and then will join them right after Christmas when there is a two month break from school. 

Brian speaks excellent Mandarin so he and Stan headed off for haircuts following our dinner.  He conversed with the barbers and learned that they generally work from 9 am until 10:30 pm. every day!!  They only charge about $2.50 for a haircut.

On Saturday it was a cold crisp day, but we ventured out to Thousand Buddha Mountain, about a 30 minute bus ride from our apartment.  We went with BYU teachers, Wayne and Libby Clarke.  The rest of the BYU group were busy with tutoring, teaching (yes, some teach professionals on Saturday), attending student Christmas parties, etc.  Wayne goes on long walks most days and discovers the most interesting cultural markets, malls, and hidden treasures.  We had been to Buddha Mountain with our young adult friend, Lily, early in the fall, but we did not know about this cave.
There are at least 28,000 Buddha's in the cave.  Some are statues and some are carved into the walls by monks.  The artificial cave goes back at least 1500 feet long!  Halfway into the cave it started to get warm and moist, but eventually we had to return to the outside cold world.  At least the sun was shinning and the air was clear!

This sign on Thousand Buddah Mountain is written in "Chinglish."  We enjoy their unique translations

 

Sunday evening some of Stan's freshman students performed in a "Christmas Gala".  There was a skit about High School Musical, a choir singing Jingle Bells, several dance numbers, a military trainer spoke about studying hard in school, a tribute to teachers, a former SDU graduate "jamming" on an electronic synthesizer, etc.  About half of the dialogue was in English, plus one of Nancy's junior writing students happened to be seated next to us, so he interpreted when needed. 

 This number featured more "traditional" instruments although the number "morphed" into a rock piece.  It was very good.

 This number featured one of Stan's freshmen.  Her English name is Anny and she is very talented.  She choreographed several numbers in the show.

This screen was just off to the side of the stage.  It featured "tweet-like" messages that were coming in all night long.  Stan was surprised when this one was received.  We were considered guests of honor and had privileged seating in the second row.  We were introduced along with other faculty and university dignitaries.  After the show ended, we were instructed to go onto the stage with the performers and have a picture taken.  

 

Winding Down the Semester

It is hard to believe that the end of the semester is only two weeks away.  We have been busy this week inputting grades, catching up on correcting papers and following up with students and their work.  (Some delinquent)

Since China really doesn't do much with holidays, it is up to us to create the Christmas Spirit.  Without the hustle and bustle, the lights, the musical programs and parties, the purchasing of gifts, the festive atmosphere, the sugar cookies and fudge, the Chex mix and the Martinellis, it is a challenge to feel anything.   In another way, we have found that we feel close to the Savior and his influence as we endeavor to love our students and seek guidance about our lessons.  We have felt His hand in our efforts.  China is a "strange" land for us and we sometimes feel very much alone.  At the same time, we have an enlarged vision and understanding of these people; a gift much more precious than cookies and presents.  For that we are most grateful.

This past week the BYU teachers got together 2 different times in addition to our regular Sunday meetings.  On Tuesday we met to celebrate a BYU colleague's birthday and have Relief Society "Homemaking meeting".  (That's what it was like.  We met to see how Wendy was able to make such delicious homemade rolls with her limited resources in China), and do some home teaching.  We enjoyed it very much.  On Saturday we met for movie night.  We had homemade pizza and tossed salad, Carmel corn(it was GREAT!), and watched a DVD called, "The Ultimate Gift."  It was very nice and helped us feel the spirit of the season.

 

 Wendy making rolls with very little counter space.  Another person was using their tablet to record all the instructions!!

 

 

 Wayne and Stan enjoyed sampling rolls plus all the other goodies that are always available when the BYU group gets together!

 

 Pizza and Movie Night!!

On Friday, we were invited to an "English Corner" on our campus.  This was organized by some of our students; Nancy's sophomores and Stan's freshmen.  The topic was Travel.  They asked us about our travel and everyone shared their own experiences.  For many of them, traveling from their hometown to the university was the most they had done.  All of them want to see more of their own country.  Of course, traveling to Europe and America was also on their travel lists.

Two of Nancy's classes had "Teach the Teacher" presentations on Chinese calligraphy this week.   Did you know that there are 5 styles of calligraphy that have evolved throughout the years? The students are taught this skill in Primary school, but it is a basic introduction and to become an "expert' takes a lot of practice.  The students brought all the tools to class:  brush, ink, stone, and paper so that calligraphy could be demonstrated in each of the classes.  Nancy was the recipient of the final product!

The long white paper calligraphy represents best wishes, prosperity and luck.  The one on the yellow paper is a poem about patriotism.

In reference to last week's comment about the smog, it got worse!!  Today the index was 565.   We actually saw less people wearing masks.

It is interesting how SDU operates without a long term academic calendar.  The students do not yet know their final exam schedule, except that they start on Jan 6. This week we were notified that Jan. 1 was a holiday.  Nothing was mentioned about Jan. 2 and 3, which had previously been scheduled off from teaching classes.  We had already planned our finals and asked permission to go to Harbin for the New Year ice festival, so we are going!!  Ironically SDU has invited us to return next year and would like our decision asap!!  We have not yet discussed that option and since we are sponsored through BYU, our BYU directors just asked us to inform them by our Hong Kong conference Jan. 23.

Smog Invasion

We have enjoyed unusually warm and pleasant weather (58 degrees) this November and first week in December.  The 10-day forecast, however, predicts much colder weather for this next week.  We can't complain, especially since we have been monitoring weather patterns in Oregon and Utah, and see truly uncomfortable conditions in both places. 

What we dread is the level of pollutants that we will see as the temperatures go down.  Jinan is located in a basin, much like Salt Lake.  When temperature inversions occur, the air, and pollutants, are trapped at the surface.  For people with respiratory problems, it can be very unhealthy.  More and more of our students are wearing those masks and staying inside.  Today the Jinan index was 436 and you could hardly see the tall buildings since the visibility was so poor.  We personally have not noticed a difference in breathing so far during our stay, but some previous BYU teachers started to have asthma, etc. by spring.

Ugh!  We are not looking forward

 to a winter of this

Last week at church our women's leader gave a lesson about being connected to each other even though many of us are many miles apart in China.  She mentioned that in our 'virtual" branch of the LDS church in China, we have women from over 18 countries, including Ecuador, Brazil, Korea, Australia, Congo, South Africa, Canada, UK, USA, Taiwan, China, Uganda, Columbia, Philippines, etc.  Since all our church meetings are held via Skype it is very interesting to listen to comments during the lesson in English but with very different dialects!

This Sunday our LDS church group started practicing Christmas carols.  We have been asked to sing a few selections at a Christian Church in Jinan for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day services.  Since these are not holidays in China most of the BYU teachers have classes so we will be doing an evening performance both nights.  Hopefully that will help us feel the Christmas spirit.  All the stores have a small selection of secular Christmas decorations but we are not hearing any Christmas music except what Stan brought on our computer.

This is our Christmas corner

Nancy has been doing Teach the Teacher presentations in her oral classes.  The students talk for about 5 minutes about a Chinese cultural subject.  It has been a way to learn about how to make Chinese pancakes, ancient and modern marriage customs, the Chinese judicial system, pollution, current social problems, counterfeiting, calligraphy, tai chi, etc.  One pair of students talked about the practice of foot binding, which usually was for the elite female class and started with the emperor's wife.  Young girls would have their feet soaked in water, bandaged and forced into a smaller position because it was attractive to men.  A few students in the classes said they had grandmothers or great grandmothers who had their feet bound, but it was discontinued many years ago.  They are glad about that change!

One of the Teach the Teacher presentations was about premarital sex.  In one class two young men discussed the issue and one was adamant that he did not agree with the practice.  In another class the presentation was by two girls.  They asked the one boy in the class about his opinion.  He felt that it was acceptable and several girls nodded their heads.  Nancy took a poll in one class and about 2/3 felt premarital sex was permissible and 1/3 said to wait until marriage.  Generally if a pregnancy occurs before marriage, it will be terminated unless the couple decides to marry.

Nancy also had a young man in class ask her if someone who was a member of the Communist Party could go to the US to study.  Nancy explained about freedom of expression.  During the discussion, Nancy asked if she should be worried about teaching her classes here in China.  Was there a camera or monitor?  He said no, except for his class in international politics.  Every day there was a monitor in the class because the teacher was from Taiwan!

Since Stan didn't have classes Thursday afternoon, one of the Chinese teachers on our campus took him plus the Cox's to see all the campuses of Shandong University.  The largest is in the suburbs.   They drove about 40 minutes south to take a look.  The buildings are new, (within the last 5 years), and were constructed on a beautiful piece of property nestled into the hills.  About 20,000 of our 52,000 students live and attend classes there.  It is quite impressive and we understand the faculty and students really love it.  The facilities are A+.   Currently no BYU teachers work at this site.

 Picture of south campus

David Cox and Stan standing in the middle of the street on South Campus. 

Since the weather has turned colder, we see the students carrying thermos bottles filled with hot water.  They do not bring them into the buildings but  "park" them outside near the entrance.  It is quite a sight. 

Thermos Bottles

Stan's Corruption Lesson
This week I prepared a lesson on Honesty and Integrity.  Since we have issues with plagiarism and cheating on exams, I wanted to "emphasize" a few things before administering the quiz I had prepared.  I began the lesson with a discussion about corruption.  Some of the questions discussed were:

1.  Is there a problem with government/business corruption in China?
2.  What kind of corruption are we talking about?
3.  What do you think the country should do about corruption?
4.  What can you do personally about corruption? 

 

 The students were very vocal and open about the corruption they are aware of in government, education and business and wanted something to be done.  They were rather vague about what they could do about it.  I wondered if they could identify corruption in their own life so I gave them 5 questions to answer personally.  We used this to determine their "CQ".  (corruption quotient)

On a sheet of paper, consider and answer the following questions.

 Answer Categories:  Never    Sometimes    Often    Always    Not sure

1.  How often do you consider cheating on a test acceptable?

2.  How often do you consider stealing something from a store acceptable?
3.  How often do you consider downloading music (without paying) acceptable?
4.  How often do you consider plagiarizing acceptable?
5.  How often do you consider lying to a parent or guardian acceptable?

 I showed  them the results of a survey administered by Junior Achievement in the US.  On every question there were substantial numbers of students who thought it ok to cheat, steal, download music, plagiarize and lie to their parents on occasion.   I found that my Chinese students were no different.  They have this "disconnect" when it comes to corruption in government/business and corruption in their personal lives.  When asked, then, what they will teach their children about being honest, they struggled.  That's ok.  Just wanted them to think about it.
 
Below are a few pictures of my students during a discussion period.  They really are wonderful young men and women.  These are freshman English majors.

I used playing cards as a method of selecting groups for discussion

This coming week is our last teaching opportunity before finals begin.  In our oral classes we will be having a five minute conversation with each individual student and need two weeks to cover all our classes.  The writing students will have their writing final on December 26 and 27.  Then we will be working on grading and submitting our records to our co-teacher before leaving on January 1 for the New Year 3 day holiday in Harbin, China.  That is the site of a winter ice sculpture festival.  The temperatures will be well below zero, but we understand the discomfort is worth it!

Thanksgiving in Jinan

Our Chinese students have a basic understanding of Thanksgiving.   Even so, we augmented their knowledge with more holiday "tidbits."  We used Thanksgiving as a topic for discussion and for writing.  In writing we assigned them to write a "formal" letter of appreciation to someone.  For oral English, we created a scene and placed them around "our" American dinner table.  We explained that before we eat the meal we each share a thought about something for which we are grateful.  They discussed with each other the blessings in their life.  Most of them mentioned their family and friends.  Some actually acknowledged thankfulness to God.  For the most part, we would say that these young people are no different than those in the United States or anywhere else.
 

Thanksgiving flowers for Professor Pace

When Nancy started her presentation on Thanksgiving, she turned her back to the class.  The students presented her with a handmade "paper bouquet" and card to say thanks for teaching them and wishing her a Happy Thanksgiving.  She was really surprised!

This week we were invited to lunch by a businessman, Jacky, who has been attending both Nancy’s and my classes the last few weeks.  (Sometimes he comes to several classes a week so he often gets a "repeat" lesson.  We tell him that he is going to get bored with the same material, but he keeps coming!)  He received permission from the university to attend English classes in order to improve his skills.  He wanted to express his gratitude by taking us out to eat.  On Wednesday we walked together to a very nice restaurant not far from campus and met one of his colleagues there.  Both of these men are outstanding people and very successful in their professions.  Our lunch probably “broke the bank” we’re sure.  Anyway, we learned that both of these men graduated from Shandong University;  Jacky with his MBA and Rick with a degree in English.  (Rick graduated in 2002)  We asked Rick if he had any foreign teachers from BYU.  He said yes, and in fact he had Fred and Millie for two years.  He said he enjoyed these BYU teachers very much.

 

 Jacky, Nancy, Stan and Rick at the restaurant.

 

  The food was very good and very traditional.  The fish and shrimp we ate were alive in the tanks when we arrived.  No question, the food was fresh.  One interesting dish is considered a delicacy.  It was sea cucumber soup.  The taste wasn't really an issue but the texture....well, that was the challenge.

 This is a good picture of the food.

 

Some of our dishes were:  fried shrimp, flat fish, "salad wraps" - they call them a Chinese pancake, but they look like flour tortillas to us -, Kong Pao chicken, mushroom salad, shredded potatoes, etc.  Like always, there is too much food.  We can't figure out where that saying came from, "....eat your dinner.  Think of the starving children in China."  It was probably very true during the Cultural Revolution but not any more.

 

It was a delight spending time with Jacky and Rick.  They both commute to Jinan each week from Weifang, about 1 hour to the East, and go home to their families on the weekend.  They work for a very large multi-national heavy industry corporation with interests in Europe and the US.  The business language spoken is English, thus their interest in meeting with us.  Jacky will be traveling to California for business reasons for two months in February.  He is looking forward to the California weather.  Both of them are married and have at least one child.  Rick has two because his wife delivered twins, a girl and a boy.  (One way around the 1 child policy).    Jacky has a little boy, whom they named Jerry.  He and his wife are very happy with the recent change in Chinese policy allowing more than one child per couple.  He stated that they already have that "on the schedule."

 

They have invited us to come to Waifang and visit them there.  They want to show us around and introduce us to their families and friends.  We hope we can do this, possibly in the Spring, during a very popular Kite Festival.  The couple we replaced here in Jinan, attended last year and thought it was something we should not miss.  That now is also "on the schedule."

 

We were invited to tour the museum housed at the Central Campus of Shandong University last Tuesday afternoon.  We joined a number of foreign teachers on the 27th floor of the main university building.  It was an impressive museum, though not large.  It's collection included many ancient artifacts from archeological digs in the local area.  There were a few examples of what are called "oracle bones."  These bones were written on anciently and are the best example of Chinese characters and their origins.

 

 This is an "Oracle Bone."

 

Ancient set of bell-like musical instruments.

  Shandong University Museum.

 

On Thanksgiving day we taught our classes and in the evening we were invited to attend a dinner for all foreign teachers at the university.  About 25-30 of us gathered at the Central Campus Teacher Cafeteria for the event.  Someone was able to find two small turkeys, but no one has an oven big enough to cook them.  The university agreed to cook them in their commercial ovens in the cafeteria.  It was a nice event and we did not leave hungry .  We had most of the traditional foods and the university also

provided some typical Chinese dishes.

 

BYU teacher, Zina Cox, cutting the turkey.  Notice our Chinese guests.  They like Thanksgiving too.

 

After the event, we decided to just walk home, which is about 1 1/2 miles.  The lady to the left in the above picture is Mary and she happens to live in the same apartment complex as we do.  She has been with the university for many years and has some interesting stories to tell, including how the relationship started between BYU China Teachers Program and Shandong University.  Russell M. Nelson, a heart surgeon in Utah and church member, was in Jinan many years ago.  Since Shandong University has a medical campus, Dr. Nelson would occasionally come to China in a teaching capacity.  At one point he performed successful surgery on a well-known opera star.  Eventually Dr. Nelson, as an LDS church leader, was able to formulate a plan to have BYU send retired couples to teach English in China.  Mary knows Elder Nelson personally and even met with him in SLC when she came to do further training at the University of Utah medical school for several months. 

 

 Simon, Kathy Hong and their son, Hansen, at the Hanlin Hotel. 

 

Kathy and Simon are Canadian citizens and their son is a US citizen.  Kathy  and Simon were both born in China and Kathy was raised in Jinan.  They have returned after years in Canada and the US.  When we attended the musical performance  last week, Kathy's mom was the opera singer.  Kathy joined the LDS church in Canada and is allowed to meet with our group since she is not a Chinese national any longer.  Interestingly, she was raised by relatives until age 12 since her mom was too busy as an opera singer.

 

  

 Nancy and Lily, the Chinese young adult, who

 befriended BYU teachers last year. 

 

Lily joined us after church services so she could taste American food.   This is only 1/2 of the food for our Thanksgiving celebration on Sunday,  December 1.  We opted for chicken since turkeys are too big for our small ovens.   We also had sweet potatoes and apples, mashed sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing, homemade rolls, several salads and pumpkin, banana cream and apple pie  We truly had a feast.  Several people commented that our potlucks after church and the conversation are a highlight of the week, especially when we are separated from our families during the holidays.   Lulu, a medical student from South Africa, also brought a fellow classmate from Durban, South Africa, who is from the Zulu tribe.  We are enjoying our international UN!!

 

 

The Hanlin Hotel where we meet for church and where 5 BYU teachers live in their apartment "suites". 

 

 

 

The lobby of the Hanlin Hotel has a Christmas tree.  One of the BYU teachers said the Chinese don't really know how to decorate one, however.  There were various "sparse Charlie Brown" trees scattered on hotel floors.  Some of the stores have Christmas stockings and ornaments available, but no one has found any candy canes!

 

 

Sometimes we just laugh at our trickle of water in the apartment.  We know if the washer is filling or the toilet has been flushed that there will not be any quantity of water for several minutes.  However, sometimes there no logical reason for the lack of water pressure.

The Chinese are very good about keeping the streets clean and the leaves picked up.  Nancy often sees "sweepers" out by 6 am when it is so dark we wonder how they can see the leaves at all.  They have unusual "brooms".  Some are made out of strips of plastic bags, some out of rags and some out of twigs from a bush.  We have only seen a few leaf blowers being used.