May 28/29

May 29th

I thought I'd get my hair cut one more time before we come home. My bangs were getting too long and bothering me. I just needed a trim and shaping. How to do convey that by pantomime? I wrote on a note card "just a trim" and I had a Chinese student write it in Chinese. I should have had grave concerns when she didn't know what "trim" meant. But she looked it up on her electronic dictionary and a boy explained it to her. Apparently boys get trims.
I walked to my beauty shop. There are beauty shops all over the place here - every other shop! I showed them my card with the Chinese writing on it. And they questioned me - in Chinese. That's never good. Then they wrote down, 30-50-80. What did I want to pay for my haircut? 30 is what I paid the first time. Then I had to wait for 15 min. and finally had a shampoo and "trim". I think something got lost in the translation of "trim". I only have a very small ponytail now, and I had to cut my bangs shorter when I got home. It's the last hair cut I'll need for a few months! Oh well, it's summer :)
Tuesday was my last day to teach Sophomores. Just two more days of teaching Freshmen and then 2 weeks of finals and THEN ...TA DAH !!!!
Love you all!!! Mom/Pat


May 28th

We had a "tremor" here yesterday after a 4.8 earthquake in northern China. I was hoping maybe they'd send us all home. no such luck :( XXOO mom.

May 15th

I haven't given a full report of last weekend! So Friday we first went to the medical center in Tianjin. Dad had to pick up a perscription. On the way there the hospital in Beijing called and asked Dad to have some lab work done while he was at the medical center. No problem. The center here is just another office of the hospital in Beijing. When we were done they wanted full payment. Wait, our insurance covers it. Oh, but they don't have an OK from our insurance. If the lab work would have been done in Beijing that would be covered, but Tianjin doesn't have an OK from the insurance. So get an OK. That took several phone calls and about 30 min. At one point the girl asked for Dad's bank card! After that was finally figured out and we got to leave with the insurance company's blessing we went shopping! I spent 55 yuan, Dad spent a lot more! He bought a wooden carved warrior, about 2 feet high. It will fit in h is carry-on. Nelson teases him about having to put a rack on top of the plane! Then he bought 3 BIG kites and the string too. He did say he thinks he'd about done buying things. Saturday,my birthday, he got up early and went to Beijing with Wynn. Apparently Wynn needed company on his buying spree. Wynn bought a lot of pearls. Dad just bought a little bit, compared to Wynn. Dad also bought 2 suitcases to replace the two we sent home with Lori & Kari. They came home from Beijing full of Wynn's stuff. I spent the day as usual, laundry, ironing,etc. We were going to go out to dinner but Dad got home too late, so I walked down to KFC and then came home and made mashed potatoes, just in time for Dad to get home and enjoy my birthday dinner! Then we walked over and bought two ice cream bars! Dad did get me a beautiful shawl too. Sunday,Mother's Day, we were invited to lunch at our Relief Society Presidents home after church. She drove us there. She's a very cautious driver! She has a cook who made Pot Stickers and soup. It was very good. She kept bringing out more and more pot stickers. We were stuffed! Then we took the subway home and took a nap. That night we went to a student performance at the university. It was very well done. They had an orchestra and chorus and comics and dancing. We saw some of our students performing. It was a good show. Monday ,it was back to teaching. We met a couple here from Germany. They just live in the next apartment building. They're coming over tonight for dessert. I made an apple pie. Love to you all!! Can't wait to be home!! Mom XXOO

May 5th

We have a mouse in our church building. It has caused a few upset classes. Today Nelson brought some mouse traps and loaded them with peanut butter. Someone asked if Chinese mice like peanut butter? We'll find out tomorrow! -Dad The weather has been beautiful lately - almost too hot for me. We were visiting last night when we were out for dinner and it was brought up that there are 35,000 abortions a day in China! There is a large fee to have a second baby, depending on your social status. The higher up the ladder, the larger the fee. And after you have a baby you do not wash yourself, or your hair nor cut your fingernails or toenails for a month! Love you All !!!! Mom

May 1st

It was so great to see Lori and Kari!! Last Thursday after school Dad and I went to Beijing on the bullet train. Our travel agent had made reservations for us at at 2 star motel. It was a Korean motel where no one spoke English or at least not very good English. The carpets were filthy, but our linens were OK. We had an address for the motel in English and Chinese. We took a subway to get close to the motel and then looked for a cab to take us to it. We could not get a cab to stop. Finally a pedicab (3 wheeled enclosed scooter) stopped and offered to take us. It was a memorable ride; like a taxi ride down the bike lanes. And then he couldn't find the motel. Luckily we had the phone number. The motel was down a back alley. We dropped off our bags and walked a block to get another taxi to take us to the airport. This driver was in one heck of a hurry! We knew the girls flight would be an hour late but it was 2 hrs. late. By the time we got back to our motel it was 2:30 a.m. There weren't many taxis running so we had to take a "rogue" taxi. They set their own prices. Friday morning started with a Korean breakfast at 7:00. I took 4 hard-boiled eggs for us and we went and got another taxi to go to Alice's and drop off the girls' luggage and then get to the train to Xi'an. The train left at 10:01. Dad wanted to stop and have a real breakfast. Then we had to take the subway and a taxi to the train station. The station is huge and the signs that were in English weren't helpful. Finally a young woman led us to the train. We got on with 6 min. to spare! I was a little anxious. We had to sit up in the train for 9 hours. So we napped and talked and ate PBJ's. There is no food on the train. We got to Xi'an (pronounced She On) at 7:00 at night and took another taxi to our hostel. The hostel was really nice! Saturday we had breakfast at the hostel and then decided to take a tour to the warriors that was offered by the hostel. We're glad we did. It was easier than trying to do it by ourselves. Our guide spoke English and there were other tourists to visit with. You know Dad! The Warriors were amazing! We got back to the hostel and then took a bus to the train station ( we went the wrong way first) and this time we were on the overnight train in a room for four. It wasn't too bad. PBJ's for dinner. ( we bought peanut butter, jam and bread and I had a knife) The noise from the train was so loud that our sleep wasn't very good. We got off the train at 7:00a.m. We had arranged to take a tour to the Great Wall and the tour guide had a heck of a time finding us at the train station. Another English speaking guide and a small bus of tourists. We only got to spend about 1 1/2 hours at the wall but it was very impressive and steep! If you're in China you have to see the Terra cota Warriors and the Great Wall;so we did! When we left the Wall the road in to it had been closed because of too much traffic; it was a national holiday. Then we went to ta jade factory and bought trinkets and had lunch. Afterwards we went to a silk factory. We left the tour at this point because of the time and got on a subway back to Alice's house to retrieve the girls luggage.With their 4 suitcases and backpacks and shopping bags we got on the subway, made 2 changes and got on the bullet train to come home to Tianjin. We got home about 9:30 in the evening. We were tired! Jeanne had dinner waiting for us! Monday we relaxed and just went around the neighborhood. We went out for dinner and had FHE at the Boren's. Lori and Kari sung a song for us. Tuesday we went to the Tianjin bell tower and a huge local shopping center. It's so big that you get lost and pass the same stalls 10 times. We didn't find what the girls wanted and Dad went home early. His feet hurt. We had dinner out again at a local dumpling house with Jennifer Lee, our Relief Society president. She really wanted to meet our daughters! Then home, packing and crashing! Lori and Kari left for the Beijing Airport this morning at 7:00. I know they had a good time in China and we had so much fun with them! Now we miss home more than ever!! We will arrive at PDX June 16 at 2:55 on Alaska! Don't be late!! Love you ALL !!!! MISS YOU !!! Mom XXOO