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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

July 20, 2009 – today I had to get caught up and ready for the end of the month bill paying. I have to do everything online so it takes a bit of time to get prepared and everything set for bill pay through our bank. In today’s newspaper I saw a very unique article, it goes as follows: She says sorry to stranger who called her wife – A woman has sought media help to apologize to a stranger she cursed for calling her his wife on a street in Wachang, Hubei province on Tuesday.
The woman was talking on her cell phone in the city’s Zhongnan Road area when a strange man shouted out to her: “Hey wife, who’re you talking to? You’ll get a thrashing when we get home.”
She got into a fierce argument with the stranger, who quietly walked away from the spot.
Later, the woman was told a thief was trying to steal something from her bag while she was talking on the phone and the man said what he did only to scare away the thief. Chutian Metropolis Daily
Now wouldn’t that make you feel a little small???
July 21, 2009 – Today was the first day of training for Floyd on the software deployment. It is really challenging due to the language difference as well as all of the trainees are first time users. They have never used software like this before. They know just enough to be dangerous as Floyd would say. He said they would not wait for instructions, but start clicking etc. They spent a lot of extra time getting everyone back on track after they would get it fouled up. He said he felt like a long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs.
July 22, 2009 – today was the solar eclipse in Asia. Beijing had about a 60% eclipse, but we weren’t able to see it due to clouds and haze. This was very disappointing to be in an area where one can be seen but not be able to enjoy it! Later in the afternoon, it got dark due to a severe summer monsoon. It rained really hard for about an hour. The streets were running water like rivers. Floyd got soaked just catching a taxi. He said on the way home that every overpass they went under was crowded full of pedestrians, bicyclists and people riding scooters trying to get out of the rain. Soon it passed and started clearing off and we had a nice evening. Floyd finished up the first round of training. He said it was very challenging. When we get back in September, he will help conduct a second round of training. This training will go on for quite a while.
I would like to share some of the superstitions that were written about in the newspapers about the solar eclipse. In India, people were told by their elders that this is the best time to improve our after-life so they went to their temples to pray. Pregnant women are advised to stay indoors to prevent their babies developing birth defects, while prayers, fasting and ritual bathing, particularly in holy rivers, is encouraged. One lady was quoted as saying “I was advised not to leave the house as the eclipse brings bad luck to you and your family.
In China some feel “The sun got bitten” or that “The heavenly dog ate the sun”. Some say “Traditionally, both praying and having vegetarian food can help us avoid misfortune and bring about peace to families after the eclipse”. Also talked about in the China Daily News is the witnessing of a tidal bore. It apparently was 2nd only to the Solar Eclipse in its intrigue. Apparently these tidal bores occur around the world, but the only known place in China is the Qiantang River, where the peculiar bottleneck shape of Hangzhou Bay creates the world’s tallest tidal bore – up to 9 m in height (29.5 feet). (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tidal_bore)
July 23, 2009 – Floyd went to Langfang today to visit a large dairy farm. They are hoping to get a good relationship established and to be able to secure them as a client. On the way home in the afternoon, Floyd said it got really dark, just like at night and the monsoons hit again with rain I think you could drown in. He said it was raining so hard that cars were pulled over on the freeway as they could not see to drive. We had very severe storms here in Beijing as well. It looked like midnight about 4 in the afternoon. The street lights turned on, all the outside building lights turned on and all the cars had to turn their headlights on. I have never seen such a thing before. I tried to take pictures but the camera did not do it justice. Floyd had a dinner meeting tonight with the people from the farm. He had a post-it type note with some Chinese writing on it and that is all he had to get to the restaurant. He said it was an adventure, but he made it.
July 24, 2009 – Floyd was in the office today following up on the meetings with the dairy farm and the training. Tonight we met some friends from church for dinner. They actually live not far from us back in Meridian, Idaho. There is a little Tex-Mex place close to our apartment that we both like so we met them there for dinner and an enjoyable evening of sitting and talking for over 2 hours in the restaurant.
July 25, 2009 – today was shopping day. We did literally shop until we dropped. We started out this morning with two Skype video calls to friends in the U.S. Then we went shopping to get some items for friends at home. Our group that goes on a motorcycle ride on our Harley-Davidsons each summer collect Harley shirts from wherever we can. These shirts have a graphic on them that tells where the shirt came from. We thought it would be fun to have one from Beijing so we wanted to go to the Harley dealer and get some shirts. The taxi driver thought he knew where it was but could never find it. Finally, after some backtracking and searching, we got out of the taxi to do some foot exploration in the area but we too did not find it. The maps available like Map Quest do not have as much detail in China as in America or are in Chinese. We gave up and went shopping at Pearl Market again to get the other items we wanted to purchase. On the way back to the apartment, Floyd noticed something on one of the maps for the Harley place that he hadn’t seen before. He thought he may know where it was. We went back to the apartment and Floyd looked on Google Maps and did indeed find a better explanation of where it was. It is between 2 and 3 miles from the apartment. Since we hadn’t walked much this week, we decided to walk there. Sure enough, after a little more than an hour Floyd took us right to the dealer. We were able to get the shirts we were looking for, as the dealership is much smaller than what we are used to in the states. The internet had more to offer, but we were limited for time for delivery since we leave on the ride on the 10th of August. Floyd asked them how many motorcycles they sell in Beijing each year. The lady waiting on us told us about 100. It appears that the Harleys are $5,000 to $8,000 more than the same motorcycle in the states. We then walked back to the apartment. The temperature was in the 90’s and it was plenty warm! We were both soaking from sweat when we got back to our nice cool apartment. We were also very tired!!!
July 26, 2009 – it is Sunday again. It seems like this week went really fast. Today in church we had more talks about the pioneers since July 24 is called Pioneer Day in the church. It was this day in 1848 that the pioneers first reached the Salt Lake Valley. It was interesting that parallels were drawn to us in China. Many of us are like pioneers in what we are doing over here. It is also challenging to give up the comforts of a life we know so well to go to a country where life is much different – the language, the food, the culture and living conditions. With all of that said we are thoroughly enjoying this experience. It is not always easy and is sometimes very challenging. But, it is also very rewarding.

July 13, 2009 – Another hot, muggy day today. I lucked out though, I checked the weather on accuweather and it said it was supposed be in the high 90’s so I decided to go for an earlier walk than usual. It was still quite hot and was foggy. I could hear thunder in the distance during the last lap of the park so I decided to head back for the apartment even though I always take my umbrella. Within a half an hour it began to rain, I mean REALLY rain. I was sure glad I wasn’t out in it! After a short while the rain stopped and I went out for another walk after lunch. Again I could hear the thunder in the distance so I headed back to the apartment and in a while it began to rain again, this time it did not stop for a few hours…kind of reminded me of Seattle…lol. I also spent considerable time on Rosetta Stone learning Chinese, some of it is actually starting to make sense to me very slowly. It could be years before I understand a conversation or can hold a conversation though.
July 14, 2009 – It is again hot and muggy so I went for my walk early. Today it was not foggy but I took my umbrella for sun protection. I had a wonderful walk and got a little sun on my legs, my tan marks are bazaar though because of capris and flip flops. I also was working on Rosetta Stone again today.
I would like to share some articles again from our China Daily News English News we get here. Gotta love this one! Wine-gulping burglars get 4 months each in jail – Two burglars who were arrested after they got drunk and dozed off in the house they broke into in April were each sentenced to four months in prison last week.
In the wee hours of April 6, Zeng and Lia, both in their 20’s broke into a house in Yongjia, Zhenjiang province, and wer only too happy to find some American dollars and an expensive bottle of red wine. They pocked the foreign currency and then sat down to finish the bottle of wine.
At sunrise, a neighbor saw the house door wide open and called the police, who caught the burglars snoring away under a thick quilt. www.chinanews.com.cn
July 15, 2009 – today is laundry day again. I can’t let my laundry get too far ahead of me because of my small washing machine. We also have a work trip this Friday and Saturday for Floyd which I was invited to attend so we need clean clothes for that also. This trip is a recreation trip with Floyd’s office and is going to the Grasslands about 6 hours bus ride from here.
People would not stand for this in the US, but in China it really happened! Fatigued driver falls asleep at traffic junction – Tired after a long journey, a driver fell asleep in his car at a crossroad in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, for almost two hours, disrupting traffic movement in the wee hours of last Monday.
Police hurried to the scene as many vehicles were forced to take a detour around the intersection, choked with honking traffic.
Police woke the man who explained he had driven for several hours from a neighboring province and ay have fallen asleep waiting at the traffic signal. Inner Mongolia Morning Post
July 16, 2009 –Unfortunately Floyd’s computer decided to take a major dive and quit doing some of the things it is supposed to do for their major deployment of the dairy ration program they are supposed to have happen next week. Because of the time wasted with the computer and trying to get ready for next week we opted to not go on the recreation trip with his office. I am sure we will go on other sight-seeing trips some time.
There were two articles in the newspaper today that interested me, so I will share them both: 2-year-old falls from 21st floor, escapes with bruises - A 2-year-old girl miraculously survived after falling from the 21st floor of an under-construction building in Jiangyang, Sichuan province, last Wednesday.
The toddler suffered only minor injuries, and is said to be in stable condition.
Zhu Tianjun, 31, a migrant worker, said his wife brought their daughter to the 21st floor of the construction site, where he was working, to pay him a short visit.
Minutes later, his wife raised an alarm, saying the girl had fallen off the building.
The girl was rushed to the hospital where doctors were surprised to detect only a broken left femur and some minor injuries on her liver and spleen.
They said the soft soil on the ground may have broken the girl’s fall. Tianfu Morning News
Yikes, that was scary! This next one is definitely for the records… Bibliophile on trial for stealing 1,697 books – A man stood trial in a Chongqing municipality court last Wednesday for stealing more than 1,500 books from various bookstores in the municipality over a period of three years.
A staff of a bookstore in the municipality first caught Liu with books he had not paid for and handed him over to police in March.
Lie then confessed to often taking away books from various stores without paying, maintaining he did not think it should be considered stealing.
Police searched his house and found 1,697 unbilled books, valued at some 36,000 yuan ($5,271).
The court will pronounce its judgment soon. Chongqing Commercial Daily
July 17, 2009 – we had a very rain day today so I did not venture out of the apartment until late afternoon when I had to go to the store to buy some groceries. I was trying to wait for the rain to stop but finally had to give up and just go with an umbrella up. It was still warm so I wore capris and sandals so my feet and legs got kind of wet. It wasn’t too bad though, it was only raining slightly instead of the downpours we had in the morning. It was very muggy though. After dinner the showers had stopped so we ventured over to the park for a walk. The humidity was so high that I only lasted 2 laps before I felt like I was drowning…actually it was really very hard to breathe! Floyd promised me dinner out tonight or Saturday since we did not go on the trip, but with the rain I opted for Saturday night.
Here is a another news article for the records: Wearing a T-shirt? Beware of the black birds – Two black birds in Zhengzhou, capital of Henan province, have attacked more than 50 man sporting T-shirts on the city’s Funiu Road in the past 20 days.
Three of the victims have even bled as a result of the pecking.
Seemingly, the two birds never attack women, children and senior citizens, and incidentally, all their victims are young men walking around in T-shirts.
Zoologists believe the two birds are avenging their baby’s death 20 days ago.
The baby bird was killed after it fell to the ground from their nest. A man, wearing a T-shirt, picked up the dead bird and chucked it into a roadside dustbin. Zhengzhou Evening News
July 18, 2009 - Floyd is still trying to play catch up with his work on the computer so we have spent most of the day in the apartment. There was an interesting article in the newspaper today…I think someone is going to have some explaining to do (I don’t think he can talk his way out of this one!). Wife bumps into husband and pregnant mistress – A woman got into a major fight with her husband and his mistress in a hospital in Wuchang, Hubei province, on Tuesday after she realized he had made the other woman pregnant.
The 35-year-old wife was at the hospital to see a gynecologist when she accidentally bumped into her husband and his mistress.
The suspicious wife snatched away the woman’s medical records only to learn she was there to get her pregnancy aborted and that her husband was the father.
The fierce fight ended only an hour later after hospital staff intervened. Changjiang Commercial News
July 19, 2009 – we had a slight adventure today, we left our apartment a little late but got a taxi right away. This driver seemed to know where he was going, he went a slightly different way but passed many of the regular landmarks we are used to but then went in a direction we had never been before...we thought for sure we were lost but then he took us right to the building, and the fare was the same as usual. You never know here, we were a little late for the meetings though, we walked in during the opening song. After wonderful talks on Pioneers today, we came home and just relaxed. Unfortunately, Floyd is still preparing for his meetings on Tuesday and Wednesday so he spent most of the afternoon on the computer.

July 6 and 7, 2009 – Floyd and I left for Beijing today on the 6th. We took a later flight, leaving Boise at 8:57 AM instead of 6:00 AM, but found out from the lady at the ticket counter that this flight can sometimes get out late from Boise or late getting into San Francisco because of fog. This flight seemed so much more reasonable since we don’t have to leave the house so early but we made our connection at San Francisco too close to take a chance during the fog season. It was great today though. We had two uneventful flights with the regular meals, movies and naps. We arrived in Beijing on the afternoon of the 7th due to crossing the International Date Line. The Chinese government is very concerned about trying to minimize the H1N1 Flu. We had to fill out a health declaration telling where we had been the last 7 days and whether we had any symptoms. We also had to give them our information of where we were travelling or staying in China. When we arrived at the airport, we had to all stay in our seats while masked, goggled and white coated health officers boarded the plane and took a temperature scan on every passenger with an infra-red thermometer. It looks like a blow drier and they just point it at your forehead and take a reading. As long as it is normal they pass you by. If you have a fever, you become a guest of the Chinese government at a health facility until they determine what you have. The challenges didn’t occur until we got to baggage claim in Beijing and one of our bags was still back in San Francisco. Grrrrr! They sent it on the next day’s flight and it arrived at our apartment that evening. We were glad to see it but not too happy that it got left behind! It had Floyd’s contact lens cleaners, razor, etc. We took a taxi to the apartment from the airport. The taxi driver was not really happy to take all our luggage though, they would rather you take a taxi van when you have luggage but the cost is about double so we opted to go in a regular cab. We could tell by his sighs and looks that he was not extremely happy. It should not be a worry to him though, Floyd loaded most of the bags and he got paid so what is the problem??? We settled in quickly as we have made the trip many times before. The apartments are basically the same so it is just a matter of putting everything in the same place as we put it before, that makes it pretty easy! We are really tired and ready for a good night’s sleep in a bed instead of the airplane seat!

July 8, 2009 – HAPPY 2ND BIRTHDAY TO OUR GRANDDAUGHTER ADDISON! Even though we were not there for her birthday we certainly thought of her! We did celebrate with her before we left when we celebrated Dylan’s 10th birthday on the 2nd of July.

I took it pretty easy, just continued to get settled in. I went to the grocery store for some of the items we will need during our stay. I also spent some time on the computer trying to learn Chinese on Rosetta Stone. I am surprised at how much I remember since I did not even look at it while we were at home. I had decided I needed to spend equal time there learning as I do here but to no avail, other things just seem to take priority over it. Maybe next month??? I haven’t gone to the gym yet this time but did spend some time out walking around the park. The weather has been very hot, in the 90’s, with higher humidity than we are used to. We have had a few rain showers which keeps the humidity up. It makes it very uncomfortable to be outside. We really appreciate the air conditioning in the apartment.
This trip over, Floyd will be focusing on helping to get things finalized for the training of some of the sales team and deployment of some dairy nutrition software the company is releasing to China employees. This week, he will be in the office all week as his interpreter is out of town to some work related meetings. He will just continue to work on some of the tasks he has been doing at home to finish preparing for the deployment.
July 9, 2009 – Another hot, muggy day here in Beijing…quite a challenge as it makes one not want to go out for a walk in the moist heat, but I forced myself to do so. The park is beautiful and I get to see so many people and enjoy the lovely colorful flowers in bloom there.
July 10, 2009 – Today was still very hot and muggy. We are still adjusting to the time and being away from home. We have noticed that when we are walking around the neighborhood that there are a lot of loud insect noises coming from the trees. We are told it is katydids, a type of grasshopper that makes these noises. To give you an idea of what it sounds like, turn on your speakers and click on this hyperlink.
(http://www.audiosparx.com/sa/archive/Insects/Crickets/Katydid-and-Cricket-Serenade/242160)
Here are a two local news articles from the China Daily News English Newspaper you may get a kick out of: Woman with grasshoppers booted out of bus – A woman carrying two cages full of grasshoppers was kicked out of a bus in Wuhan, Hubei province’s capital, after passengers refused to ride further in the same bus on Monday.
Seemingly troubled by the incessant noise the katydids created, passengers screamed at the driver Wang Gang for allowing the villager to board the bus with hundreds of long-horned grasshoppers.
Even as the driver explained there was no rule prohibiting katydids from being brought on to a bus, passengers forced the woman to de-board at the Jianghan Road bus stop. –Chutian Metropolis Daily
If you did not take the time to go to the link above with the sound of a Katydid now is the time to do so so you can really appreciate what these people were putting up with on the bus! ~Merilee
Reptiles and lizards keep man cool in summer – A man in Wuhan, capital of Hubei province, has found a way to keep cool and comfortable without the use of any electricity.
Zhoa Jing, 26, shares his bed with boas, lizards and other cold-blooded animals.
Zhoa has transformed his home into a mini zoo for reptiles and insects.
The former chef spends more than two-thirds of his monthly income on food for the pets. – Wuhan Evening News
July 11, 2009 – We had a very easy restful day. Floyd got up early as he had some work he had to do for his clients back in the US. While he worked on the computer, I had the luxury of sleeping a couple of more hours. After we had breakfast, we went for a walk around the neighborhood and the park before it got too hot. We had a nice leisurely lunch at the apartment and then did some more grocery shopping. I had to do laundry today. It is very interesting and sometimes challenging. The washer is also a dryer. However, sometimes the dry part does not work so well. The unit we have this month is one of those. Fortunately, we have some special hangers and a portable clothes line to hang clothes up all over the bathroom. It is crude, but gets things done. Around midnight, we had a thunderstorm go through the area. The lightning and thunder are a little different than what we normally see and hear in Idaho. The lightning reminds us more of the summer heat lightening we used to see in California, just flashes with no real bolts. The thunder is more like a jet rumble rather than a clap.
July 12, 2009 – Today we went to Church. The branch has gotten much smaller as many of the people that were over here teaching English have gone home. July is also the month that many families return to the States or where ever they may be from to visit family. There was a lot of visitors there today though as some people are here for summer interns or other short-term work or study related trips. The new group of English teachers will start coming back in August, so the numbers will go back up. We had another thunderstorm go through tonight. This is apparently very common during the month of July.

May 25, 2009 – I just kind of took it easy today at the apartment. I did go for a short walk for groceries and then spent time on the computer doing several things. Floyd has suggested that I use some of my time over here to do genealogy so I started doing that today. As with so many things, it is easy to get really involved in it and lose track of time. Before I knew it, Floyd was home. Luckily we were having leftovers so I didn’t have to panic and start dinner late. We took a walk after dinner and then spent a quiet evening together at the apartment. We decided we wanted an ice cream bar after dinner so we headed for the store. The store is only a block away but we decided to take the long way around to burn more calories. (The block is like a big rectangle…we live on the lower right corner of the rectangle with the store on the upper right corner. We walked left from the apartment to the bottom left corner of the rectangle, right to the upper left corner of the rectangle then right to the upper right corner of the rectangle where the store is. We then turned around after we bought the ice cream and walked back the way we came…the long way.) It was a little windy and it was bothering Floyd’s eyes or we might have walked further. It was really a nice evening.

Floyd is going to be in the office all of this week due to some challenges with a software application that is being released in China that has to do with balancing diets for dairy cows. In addition, his translator had an unfortunate accident over the weekend and tore some tendons in his ankle playing basketball. As a result, some trips that were planned at the end of the week and over the weekend were cancelled. We will end up with some extra days in Beijing this trip.

May 26, 2009 – I guess genealogy has me hooked again. I took a walk this morning and then spent most of the afternoon on the computer doing genealogy. I guess when we get home I will have to spend some time in the Family History Center and see where I need to go from here to organize and search more. I also need to get back to being serious about studying my Chinese also.

May 27, 2009 – HAPPY BIRTHDAY to our grandson Jared. He is 6 years old today! I found an article in the China Daily that I thought was quite interesting since we just had 2 new grandbabies born in the last month so we have babies on our mind. It was entitled See your child play in the womb –The 4-dimensional (4-D) ultrasound technology that can present an almost real image of a fetus is fast becoming a craze with would-be parents, especially well-off urban couples, across the country.

Many of them happily cough up between 200 ($30 US dollars) and 2,000 ($300 US dollars) Yuan just to see what their babies look like. The company aims to ease expecting mothers’ anxiety over their babies’ health, and help build a connection between would-be fathers and their kids.

Most of China’s public hospitals don’t offer the service because it requires too much time and extra doctors. Besides, many people fear it could be misused to identify the sex of a fetus. Fetus sex determination tests are banned in China. The traditional preference for boys and the country’s family planning policy have prompted many people in rural areas, and even in cities, to commit female feticide. That has left China with 32 million more boys than girls.

May 28, 2009 – We found out that Floyd has a 3 day holiday for the Dragon Boat Festival. This is a national holiday and is a very big thing here. Even the banks will be closed for part of the time, including all day Thursday and some on Friday and Saturday with everyone going back to work on Sunday. Floyd will be working on his computer from the apartment after church though instead of going in to the office.

For those who do not know about Dragon Boat Racing here is a link to let you know more. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon_boat

We started the morning by going to the gym and walking on the treadmill. We enjoyed this time together. After lunch we decided to do a little exploring, Floyd went online to find out where the nearest Wal-Mart is to us. Floyd’s sister works for Wal-Mart in California and wanted us to get some pictures and a receipt for her just so she could see the differences. We found one about a mile and a half from our apartment so off we went. What an adventure, it was sprinkling the whole time we were walking and it was in the low 80’s so it was slightly humid! Between the humidity, the heat and the fact that we had spent about an hour and a half on the treadmill we were really tired by the time we got back to the apartment! It was good for us though. People did look at us rather strangely though as I think we were the only non-Asian people in the store! The prices were really cheap though, but we can’t really speak for the quality. Didn’t see anything that said made in America.

May 29, 2009 – We visited with a couple of friends from Idaho, the Beers and the Skinners via a video call on Skype this morning. We had a good visit and enjoyed talking to them. We had decided we were going to do some more exploring today. Floyd heard about a shopping area from some co-workers that is in downtown Beijing. We took a taxi to Wangfujing Street in Beijing (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wangfujing). Floyd even got the driver to the right place by just telling him where we wanted to go. We usually have to show them on paper, printed in Chinese where we want to go. This was quite interesting. Basically it is a very high end shopping block out on the main part of the street, with department stores, restaurants, jewelry shops, etc. However if you go into the alleys you find some very quaint shops and eateries. They sell souvenirs and all sorts of snacks on a stick – like scorpions, sea horses, star fish, beetles, etc. We watched a young man threading live scorpions onto a skewer. I didn’t see any stingers, but they were wiggling plenty. This isn’t just a novelty as people were buying them and eating them the way we would something in the States we liked. We have some pictures of this as well as the whole shopping trip we will be posting. Just look for the May 28 shopping trip album. We had lunch at McDonalds, just to be able to say we did. A few pictures of that are also included. After we finished up here, we wanted to go back to Pearl Market, where we have been a couple of times before. We went to get a taxi, but the driver said it was just down the block and to the right. After over an hour of walking and about 3 miles, we did get to the market. I just don’t know how Floyd always figures out how to get us where we are going. I was lost. What was just a little ways to the Chinese driver was a pretty good jaunt for us. It did us good and we got our walking in for the day. It was interesting as we walked along past people’s homes and shops, which sometimes appear to be one in the same. Some shops for example were little rooms, perhaps 8 feet by 8 feet with 3 solid walls and the only opening being the front which opened the entire width by two doors. Some of the shops were bicycle repair shops where they fix the bicycles or flat tires, etc. When they don’t have any work, they just sit and watch crazy Americans walk by, probably wondering where we came from. I don’t think Americans walking down the street is an everyday occurrence in the area we walked through. Even with that, we felt totally safe the entire time. After we got done shopping at Pearl Market, we went to catch a taxi back to the apartment. There were some parked by the end of the building so we walked up there. They wanted to know where we wanted to go and then asked how much we were willing to pay. When this happens you know you are in trouble. They are trying to take advantage of you rather than going off the meter. The first guy wanted almost 4 times the normal fare. Floyd told him he wasn’t being honest and he wasn’t too pleased with Floyd. We found a driver that was being honest and he took us home jabbering in broken English part of the time. He actually was a very good driver by Beijing standards. By the time we got home, we were plenty tired. It almost fit the shop ‘til you drop scenario.

May 30, 2009 – Today was supposed to be part of the holiday still, but because it was still Friday in the U.S., Floyd spent most of the day on the computer doing work for clients back home that were having concerns. Unfortunately he still has their work to do while he is gone. He kids about having two jobs when in China – a day job to do his work here and a night job doing his work from the U.S. due to the time difference. When he gets calls from the U.S., it is generally somewhere between midnight and 4:00 AM. He just takes it in stride. He doesn’t want to miss their calls as it is too hard to play phone tag from China. While he was working I went to the grocery store a couple of times. We needed to recuperate from our busy day of shopping the day before.

May 31, 2009 – We had the opportunity to go to church again today. For being a small branch, the quality of people here is excellent. We had 3 very good talks given on honesty, perseverance and patience. We also got to see Phil and Donna Coleman, friends of ours from Kent, WA, again. They had taken a trip to Tibet during the week. The high altitude apparently is very hard on the travelers and many got quite sick. We went for a nice walk after church and after Floyd got some of his work done he needed to do, since today was actually a work day. We just wanted to continue to explore the area we live in. There is actually a large hospital that has a section for westerners, as they call us, about two blocks from the apartment. It is nice to know it is close by. We have talked to people that have gone there with health issues and the said the quality of service is very good. That is also comforting.

June 1, 2009 – Floyd had to work today to tie up loose ends. I started the process of packing and getting everything organized to leave for home tomorrow. We enjoy it here very much but we look so forward to coming home to see the family. Just think, in a few more weeks, we get to do it all over again. We will be returning to China in early July.

May 18, 2009 – an article from the China Daily English newspaper today I found interesting because it is about one of the many ethnic groups that are in China and how they are handling a challenge facing them - The cultural heritage of the Qiang (pronounced Chee-ong) people is faced with grave challenges as some 30,000 Qiang, or one-tenth of the entire Qiang population, perished in the earthquake a year ago. The ancient Qiang people once helped found the Xia (Shee-ah) Dynasty some 4,000 years ago. Wang (Wong) Guanquan (Guan-chew-on) and his friends are trying to keep this heritage alive.

Since last September, Wang and his wife have been living in Shengli (Shun-glee) village, the biggest resettlement of quake survivors. Every night at 7, Wang leads the group dance at the square. During the day, he teaches those who want to learn more at a cultural center, where some 100 women also learn to do traditional embroidery.

Traditionally, the Qiang get together during festivals, marriages and harvests, to do the Salang (Saw-long) group dance, believed to have been taught in Chinese traditions by a fairy called Sister Salang.

When men join in, Wang changes the steps to make the moves more vigorous. Typically in ancient times, after war, the Qiang men would stage dances with armor and swords to commemorate those who died in battle.

Wang says, “When you work outside, you are earning money for yourself. Here, I’m passing on my cultural heritage” and that benefits others.

May 19, 2009 – something from the China Daily that I found quite Western and interesting - McDonald’s has expanded its 24-hour delivery service to other cities in China after a one-year trial in Shanghai (pronounced Shong-high). This is part of the company’s efforts to win more customers and offset the impact of the economic downturn.

The McDelivery service has been extended to six other cities – Beijing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Wuhan, Nanjing and Tianjin. McDonald’s has promised that each McDelivery would be completed within 30 minutes. There is no requirement for a minimum order amount, and each McDelivery will be charged 7 Yuan ($1.03).

Kenneth Chang (Chong) said the trial in Shanghai, which started last May, had been an “overwhelming success”.

May 20, 2009 – We thought it was interesting to see China’s side in the China Daily on the new nomination of Jon Huntsman. Here are some excerpts from one of the articles. Obama names Utah governor as China envoy - US President Barack Obama has nominated Utah governor Jon Huntsman, a Republican and a fluent Chinese speaker, as ambassador to China.

"This ambassadorship is as important as any in the world because the United States will best be able to deal effectively with the global challenges of the 21st century by working in concert with China," Obama said at the White House ceremony on Saturday with Huntsman standing beside him.

He also said there was "much to be gained by a closer, working relationship with China" and that he could think of no one better suited for the job than Huntsman.

Huntsman, who has a good command of Putonghua, will - once confirmed by the Senate - succeed Clark T. Randt, who left the post on Jan 21 after an eight-year tenure, the longest since 1979.

Chinese experts call the Obama pick a "surprise" as well as a "smart move", which shows commitment to a bipartisan foreign policy.

Huntsman's nomination as ambassador to China has broadly been met with praise in both countries.

"Jon Huntsman is a well-regarded politician in the US ... his experience as ambassador to Singapore and his knowledge of China plus his wonderful Chinese language skills singled him out from the large number of candidates," Dai Min, president of the US-based Center for America-China Partnership, said.

Yuan Peng, professor of America Studies at the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations, said Obama appointed Huntsman "in order to seek China's help and cooperation" on several international and regional issues, including the global financial woes, climate change, and the denuclearization process in Iran and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

Huntsman may play a key role in strengthening high-level exchanges by helping put in place the Sino-US Strategic and Economic Dialogue mechanism, agreed to by President Hu Jintao and Obama at the G20 summit in April, said Tao Wenzhao, an expert at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

"Dialogue on climate change may be a highlight of Huntsman's tenure as he has already made a name for himself in this field as governor of Utah and the issue is very much part of the Obama administration's core missions," Tao said.

Benjamin Moeling, deputy political attache at the US embassy to China, said he thinks Huntsman is highly qualified for the job, citing his "knowledge of trade laws, people skills and language competency".

China connection

Huntsman, whose Chinese name is "Hong Bopei", learned Putonghua when he was a Mormon missionary in Taiwan as a teenager.

There was also another article that had some interesting thoughts. Here is part of the article. China expects new U.S. envoy to play "positive" role - BEIJING - China's Foreign Ministry said China hopes that the nomination of Utah Governor Jon Huntsman Jr. as the US ambassador to China will play a "positive" role in bilateral relations, local media reported Monday.

The Beijing-based Global Times said in its cover story Monday that China's Foreign Ministry had been diplomatically contacted regarding the nomination. China's Foreign Ministry said China hopes that the nomination of Utah Governor Jon Huntsman Jr. as the US ambassador to China will play a "positive" role in bilateral relations, local media reported Monday.

"We hope that a new appointee will play a positive role and work to the advantage of the development of bilateral relations in a new era and strengthen the friendship between the two peoples," the ministry said.

"The nomination of the new ambassador does good to both sides," Shi Yinhong, director of the American Studies Center at Renmin University of China, was quoted by the Global Times as saying. Shi called Huntsman a powerful politician with rich policy-making experience related to China.

Fluent in Chinese Mandarin (Putonghua) and having adopted a Chinese daughter, the newly nominated US ambassador to China looks to assume a crucial role of diplomat between two nations that are increasingly interdependent in economic matters and are often at odds over hot-button issues such as human rights and weapon sales to Taiwan.

But analysts warn that even with the strong Chinese cultural background that Huntsman possesses, it doesn't mean the US will be any less firm with China on contested and thorny issues, according to the Global Times.

The governor has strong ties to Asia: He lived as a Mormon missionary in Taiwan. He and his wife, Mary Kaye, adopted two daughters, one from China and one from India. He also supports Utah's legislative push to offer Chinese language courses in school, which would be the first of its kind in the US.

May 21, 2009 - from the CHINASCENE in the China Daily, something with a little humor - Fugative’s nervousness leads to his arrest – A wanted man was arrested after he behaved too nervously for some police officers in Dengfeng (pronounced Dung-fung), Henan (Hur-non) province, on Wednesday.

The suspect surnamed Chen (Chun) was taking shelter during a downpour in the city’s Duancun (Doo-on-tsun) Road at about 11 PM last Sunday when he blurted out he couldn’t travel to the capital due to the weather.

One of the men under the roof then asked, “You are going there so late?”
Chen then noticed the people under the roof were policemen. He was nervous and then tried to run away but he was stopped.

Police then learned that Chen has been on the wanted list for 10 years after he seriously attached another villager in 1999.

He was on his way to Zhengzhou (Jen-joe) to have plastic surgery to hide his identity.

May 22, 2009 – a human interest story was in the China Daily newspaper today showing some growing pains that this country is going through, seems they have the same problems with their youth as we do in the US – When worlds collide - Pi (pronounced Pee) Li's (Lee’s) future was bright indeed, just as her mother planned. Having studied in the UK for three years, the 20-year-old had a good chance of getting into Cambridge University and was due to start her own business on her return to Beijing.

In fact, Pi intended to do nothing of the sort. She had actually been studying her first love - cooking - and on her return, her friends helped her to open a Western-style restaurant. A predictable storm erupted when her mother found out, but Pi persisted and finally won over her parents.

So goes the TV series Wo de (duh) Qingchun (ching-choon) Shui (shway) Zuozhu (dsoo-jew) (Who Determines My Youth), which has touched many hearts with its tale of three mothers in their 50s and their daughters born in the late 1980s.

The generation gap is a familiar theme in Chinese books, movies and TV shows. Post-1980 youngsters are often called the ba (bah) ling hou (hoe), the "me generation" born after the introduction of the one-child policy. They are now entering adulthood and beginning to play a role in society.

They are often stereotyped as spoiled and self-centered. One thing is for sure; they are more aggressive about making independent choices.

The ba ling hou have grown up in an era of tremendous economic growth, social changes and rigorous educational requirements. The gulf between them and their parents is most evident in their purchasing habits, career pursuits and more open attitude towards love and marriages, says Zhou (Joe) Xiaozheng (Shee-ow-jurng), a professor with the Sociology Department of the Renmin (Run-meen) University of China.

The producers of Who Determines My Youth interviewed many youngsters and tried to accurately convey their anxiety about the generation gap.

Parents' expectations of their children are often self-projections and therefore doomed to end in disappointment. "The parents do all they can to make it easy for the younger generation to do better than they did," says series director Zhao (Jow ((rhymes with cow)) Baogang (Bow ((rhymes with cow))-gong). "But the younger ones often have their own dreams that deviate from what their parents want."

May 23, 2009 – today we took it easy and spent time together at the gym, shopping and going out to dinner. We had been told by one of Floyd’s business associates from the US that is now living in China, that there is a great Tex-Mex restaurant around the corner so we tried it instead of going Chinese this time. They had a great atmosphere and a great Philly Cheese-steak sandwich!

May 24, 2009 – HAPPY BIRTHDAY to our grand-daughter Kylie. She is 7 years old today! We are continually blessed to be able to attend church here. I call it a blessing as the communist leaders could pull the plug on our meeting at any time if things are deemed necessary to them. I am not complaining about that, I only feel blessed to be able to attend! Today we had 3 wonderful speakers who spoke on charity, hope and honesty. They were great subjects with many great stories. It was a very uplifting day for sure. We spent the rest of the day at the apartment just relaxing, enjoying time together and catching up with the family on the computer.

May 11, 2009 – Since my weeks tend to be a bit of the same old thing around here, I decided to do something different and share some articles from the local CHINA DAILY English newspaper as they will truly tell you more about things here. Some of these will be from the section called CHINASCENE which is some rather unique articles about the locals and others will be regular articles about the news here. I will leave the wording as it shows in the newspaper, as sometimes their translation from Chinese to English is very unique! If we do something interesting we will still report on that.

To see grandkids, couple threatens sons with divorce – An elderly couple was so desperate to see their sons and grandchildren that they lied to them that they were fighting and wanted to get a divorce.

Tian (pronounced Tee-on), 74, and his wife, 71, of Zhengzhou (pronounced Jen-joe), capital of Henan (pronounced Her-nahn) province, have four sons who never visited them since they moved out and got married.

Tian phoned his eldest son earlier this week and said he and his wife were planning to divorce.
When the son showed up, his parents said they just wanted to see their grandchildren. The other sons also rushed home after they heard the false rumors.

May 12, 2009 – Today is the one year anniversary of the very deadly earthquake that occurred southwest of us in the Sichuan (pronounced Sish-wan) province. I would like to share some of what is written in the China Daily about it. There were 69,227 confirmed deaths, with 17,923 missing, 374,643 injured and more than 50,000 deformities suffered from this calamity. Here is a very short story about one of those trapped in that quake.

Jiang (Jee-ong) Yuhang (Yoo-hong) vividly recalls spotting the firefighters last year, glimpses of their orange uniform flashing through the cracks of debris that separated him from salvation. When he was miraculously pulled from the rubble of the six-story building after 124 hours, Jiang immediately knew his new calling – saving lives alongside the same people who had saved his.

“I want to be a rescuer,” Jiang (Jee-ong), 21 said to his mother Long Jinyu (Gin-yoo) when he first emerged from the debris of Yingxiu (Ying-she-oo) township at the epicenter of the Sishuan (Sish-wan) earthquake.

May 13, 2009 – Another article from the China Daily about the earthquake - Famous sow moving into grand new pig digs – A pig that became famous across China for its indomitable will to survive after it was pulled from the rubble 36 days after the May 12 earthquake has moved into a state-of-the-art new home.

Zhu (Jew) Jiangqiang (Jee-ong-chee-ong) – or “Strong Pig” – has taken up residence in a facility provided by Chengdu (Chin-dew) Baisikang (Bye-see-kong) Biotech Co. at Jianchuan (Jee-on-chew-on) Museum – China’s largest private museum – in Sishuan (Sish-wan) province’s Dayi (Daw-yee) township.

From its new home, the two year old porker will meet the public, said the museum’s planning director. “A lot of people will come, because this pig has sent a powerful message to us humans about never giving up in the face of catastrophe.”

“She is not just a pig; she’s a hero. And she has a special personality” says Wu (Woo) Zhiwei (Jee-way), department manager.

Zhu (Jew) Jiangqiang (Jee-ong-chee-ong) survived on (ate) rain-soaked charcoal until June 17, by which time she had lost two-thirds of her weight.

May 14, 2009 – A heart warming article from China Daily about the earthquake: Jiang (Jee-ong) Xiaojuan (Chee-ow-jew-on): MOTHER OF MERCY – the image of Jiang (Jee-ong) Xiaojuan (Chee-ow-jew-on), captured as she breastfed a baby left uncared for in the May 12 earthquake in Sichuan (Sish-wan) province and circulated on the web, was one of such power it propelled her to hero status in China…a 30-year-old officer in the city of Jiangyou (Jee-ong-you), earned more than just a nickname.

On May 22, less than a week after the photo was published she received an honorary “national police model’ award from the Ministry of Public Security, and was invited along with other quake survivors to talk at schools and other public venues across the country.

When she looks back to the time following the disaster, she revealed she feels more guilt than pride as her relief work meant she had to stop breastfeeding her own son Doudou (doe-doe) who was only six months old when the quake hit and was sent to live with his grandparents. She wound up after the earthquake caring for nine babies at a local disaster relief center for babies whose mothers had either died in the disaster, were injured or were too scared to produce any milk as there was no powdered product available. She said it was instinct, she simply reacted to the babies cries by unbuttoning her uniform and starting to feed them.

May 15, 2009 – A Chinese custom from the China Daily: When her baby daughter Xiao (Shee-ow) Zhengyang (Jen-yong) picked up a pencil and a collection of poems at a birthday ceremony yesterday, Wang (Wong) Shan (Shawn) was thrilled.

“I hope my daughter studies hard and makes it, and not lead a poor life like me,” the 23-year-old farmer in Shifang (Shee-fong), Sichuan (Sish-wan) province, told China Daily.

It is a time-honored tradition that a plate with a book, a pencil, a comb and rouge are shown to a child during the first birthday to find out his or her future vocational inclination.

If the child picks up a comb or rouge, it is believed he or she will not be diligent as a grown-up. If the child takes a book or a pencil, however, he or she is expected to be studious and aim high.

Floyd spent most of the week in the office. He has a lot of detail work to get worked out on this trip.

May 16, 2009 – We took the opportunity today to actually go to the gym together. Floyd usually has not been able to go workout with me due to his schedule. Today he was. It was fun to go spend time together. The rest of the day we just relaxed and took it easy. It seems like when we are at home in the States we don’t have the chance to just relax with so many different things pulling us different directions. We are complaining, but just trying to give an idea of the stark difference between the two places.

May 17, 2009 – At church today a couple spoke that has been living here in Beijing for 3 years. The man is American and his wife is Chinese. They will be leaving to go live in the States for schooling. It was interesting to listen to them speak of the good qualities of each other. Her family was very concerned that marrying an American would not be good as the divorce rate is so high. In China the divorce rate is climbing but divorce is not popular. The parents of course were concerned if he could properly support their daughter. As he spoke, he related in China, even though they make much less money than we do, their saving rate is much higher. They learn to live within their means and do not go into debt as a whole the way the Americans do. He also spoke of the commitment to each other as a family and how they enjoy being happy. We have noticed that simple things make them happy, like walking in the park, playing ping pong or just playing with their children.

May 5, 2009 – Happy Cinco de Mayo! I spent most of the day today unpacking and getting things ready in the apartment for this month’s stay. I also went down to the store to pick up the items we will need. What a difference a month makes in the scenery from our room. When we were here in March, the trees were still void of leaves for the winter. Now the trees are full of lush green leaves and the scenery is so much different. There are parks, signs and streets that are now just “green trees” from out our window. It is hot again today. I also ventured up to the park around the block. They have done quite a bit of renovation there adding new landscaping.

Floyd is attending an international symposium on dairy cow nutrition and milk quality. It is being held in Beijing. The meeting lasts through Thursday May 7.

May 6, 2009 – I ventured out to the gym today. I have enjoyed walking on the treadmill and being able to watch movies. It doesn’t feel like just a waste of time sitting and watching a movie. The only movie worth watching was an old one, but I had not seen before. It was “The Perfect Storm” and was 130 minutes long. I felt really great until I stepped off the treadmill, then my legs were like they were not attached to my body. They worked but just on “auto pilot”, it was a really weird feeling! I spent the afternoon on the computer and fixing dinner.

May 7, 2009 – I made it to the gym again today and watched the classic movie “Over the Top” with Sylvester Stallone, it was a shorter movie so my legs worked just fine when I got off the treadmill today.

May 8, 2009 – I made today be a “me” day and I took time to give myself a facial, did my nails, etc. It takes a lot of time to try to be beautiful! LOL I also watched “We Are Marshall” here at the apartment, what a “heart warming” movie that is! I did not worry about fixing dinner today as Floyd offered to take me out to dinner for Mother’s Day, I chose to go on Friday rather than Saturday (we do not go out to eat on Sundays). We went to the restaurant at the Holiday Inn Hotel where they have seafood night on Fridays. What a smorgasbord of delightful, tempting, beautifully prepared seafood dishes! The buffet had so many excellent choices. We had a very enjoyable evening and of course, we ate too much.

Floyd was back in the office today. He is doing some training on a new software application Cargill just released for internal use. They are having a few technical glitches that have been a challenge that he is trying to get resolved so he can conduct the training sessions next week.

May 9, 2009 – We spent the day walking in the park, working on the computer and visiting a local market we had not ventured into yet. It is one of the typical street markets full of individual vendors. This market is not as pushy as Silk Street Market where the vendors would grab you by the arm and try to sell things to you. I enjoyed shopping here much more than the other. I would say though Silk Street Market is a place a person has to experience at least once though. The weather has cooled off a little the last couple of days, dropping back to the mid to low 80’s. We are thankful we have air conditioning in our apartment.

May 10, 2009 – HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY to everyone! Today at Church, the topic of course was mothers. We are so grateful for all of the mothers in our lives. There is no way to express thanks for all that our mothers do for us. We went for a short walk after our late lunch today. Sunday is truly a day to remove ourselves from the world and try to focus on the things that are the most important to us. We had a very enjoyable day together, but we did miss having our family around as they normally come over on Mother’s Day.

May 4, 2009 – We made it back to Beijing today. Our flight left Boise at its usual time of 6 AM on Sunday morning May 3, and arrived with no problems in San Francisco. We then had the usual 4+ hour layover to contend with. We walked; we used our computers, and purchased a bite to eat and just waited. Then after our connecting flight landed and the new flight crew began to board the aircraft a small commotion began. It seems the airplane was going to be taken out of service and we would be getting a new aircraft. As it turned out, we had to change gates and wound up leaving about 45 minutes late. After takeoff, things went as normal, after 3 movies, several meals - lunch, snack, lunch and several naps, we landed in Beijing. Because of the H1N1 (Swine) Flu concerns that is present almost everywhere, we had to fill out health declaration forms while in flight and hand them in at the airport. In addition, in China you have to go through a checkpoint each time you arrive from an international flight that checks your temperature to make sure you are not running a fever (this has been in effect long before the flu awareness though). Normally, you just walk through this area and the infrared temperature scanners take your temperature. This time we had to hand in the form. This created a HUGE bottleneck at this checkpoint as it appears that tourist season has begun as well as many school children were apparently traveling also. It kind of reminded us of herding cattle into the chutes at a dairy…LOL. It took us probably a half an hour to clear through this then we had to go through customs before we could go to baggage claim. All in all, we were probably close to 2 hours late getting through to where our ride was waiting for us.

Here is a synopsis of an article that appeared in the China Daily newspaper - Passengers entering the country through Beijing Capital International Airport may need to brace themselves for an additional half an hour to go through tightened quarantine procedures against A(H1N1) influenza.

There the doctor conducts checks and, if necessary, the passenger is transferred to a designated hospital for quarantine.

When we left Boise, it was raining and the temperature was in the 50’s. When we landed in Beijing, the sky was clear and sunny and the temperature was around 85 degrees F. What a change! By the time we made it to the car with all of our luggage, we were slightly overheated! We made it back to the apartment complex with no other problems or adventures. To our surprise we actually wound up in the same exact apartment as last time. That makes it easy to unpack as we remember where we put everything before.