A few days ago, I received a telephone call from a fellow professor here at Nankai. He told me that I was needed to take part in a television interview.. He said the television station needed an American professor to take part in the interview. I am told that Americans here are contacted regularly to take part in interviews, so it's no big deal. I was told that I would shortly receive a telephone call from the television station to set up the arrangements. When I received that first call, it was 2:30 P. M. on Thursday. I shortly received a call from the Television Station. They said they would like to conduct the interview at 3:00 P. M. (that gives me 1/2 hour to get ready. I ask him why I am to be involved in the interview.) He says they want to discuss "Nurses in Canada."
I say, "What?"
He repeats himself.
I say, "You got this wrong, I am not a nurse, and I've only been to Canada once."
He says, "not problem.
I say, "what do you mean, "no problem?"
He says, "you'll do fine."
Now I'm a little worried. I think that maybe this is a front for the military to come and get me, and do away with me because of my last weeks problems of being so late to class. He tells me that he will meet me in the lobby of our apartment in 30 minutes. I agree, but I'm concerned. I dress in my suit and tie and go down to the lobby. When I arrive, I meet the man from the station, and two camera men, along with about 25 young people, either college age, or a couple of years older.
He says "this should only take a few minutes."
I think to myself, "Yeah right, if I'm going to executed."
We go out to his car. I get into the car along with the two camera men, and the man from the station. The college kids get into a bus and follow behind us. I check to make sure that the back door is not locked. I want to make sure that I can unlock the door and make a run for it, if necessary. Well, we're off.
I say, "Where are we going?"
He said, " To a university classroom. We want this interview to take place on campus."
That makes me feel a little better. We drive for a few minutes, then stop and get out. We walk up two fights of stairs, and go into a class room. Now, I figure it out. They are going to throw me out the window and make it look like an accident. When everyone arrives, the man from the station sits down with me, and basically says to me,
"here's the deal. The camera man will be in the class room. he will video you walking into the class room. All of the students will be seated in their desk, and you will be teaching them, as though they were your full time students.
I say, "OK, but what do I teach them."
He says, "You are going to teach them about nurses in Canada."
Now, I tell this guy, "Hey, I don't know anything about nurses in Canada."
He says, "No problem."
I start to get worried again.
He says, "When the camera starts rolling, walk into the class room, and say, 'good afternoon everyone, welcome to our class, to learn English as a second language.' "
I say, "Wait a minute, you said I was goiong teach them about nurses in Canada, which by the way I still know nothing about."
He again says, "No problem."
I say, "And now you want me to teach them ESL which I know nothing about also."
He says "No problem!"
I think to myself, "Yeah, no problem for you."
I say, "You know what? You've got the wrong guy here. While my wife doesn't know anything about nurses in Canada, she really does know something about ESL."
He says, "No problem, you'll do fine"
Now I question his judgement.
He says, "walk into the classroom. Say, 'good afternoon eveyone, and welcome to our class where you will learn English as a second language.' "
He says, "Say-'after you complete your one year course at the uniuversity in ESL, you will be qualified to go to Canada and attend Cambio College. There you will be admittted into their nursing program. After two more years, you will obtain your nursing degree."
He says, "Tell them that in Canada there is a big shortage of nurses and after they graduate they can find a good job and earn a lot of money."
I say, "How do I know there is a shortage of nurses in Canada, and also, how do I know if they go to Cambio College for two years that they will graduate and get a good job?"
He says, "No problem."
He says, "After that, the students will ask you some questions."
I say, "about what?"
He says, "Nurses in Canada."
I say, "I don't know anything about nurses in Canada."
Well, you know what he says. So, here we go. The camera starts filming. I walk into the class.
I say, "good afternoon." They all repeat back, "good afternoon."
I say, "I am Professor Ferrell, and I welcome you to the class in which you will be learning English as your second language." They all clap and shout. I say how important this class is because when they graduate, they will be able to speak English. I tell them that they will then be qualified to go to Canada to attend Cambio College near Toronto and enroll in the nursing program. I tell them what a great opportunity it is for them to have this program available,, and they should feel very honored to have been selected to take part in this program. I figure he wants me to really make it sound good, so I do.
He then stops camera man. He says, "good job" He says, "Now, we will start the camera again and the students will ask you some questions."
One boy raises his hand and asks, "How much money can I earn when I graduate from Cambio College."
I think to myself, "How do I know." I know that is not the answer he is looking for. I figure, well, nurses in Canada must earn about the same as the USA. However, I have no idea how much nurses earn in the USA. However, I figure they must earn at least $50,000.00 per year. I say, "If your good at what you do, you could probably start at about $50,000.00 per year." Well, I know that that sounds like a lot of money to a student here in China, because a college grad here starts out at about $5000.00 per year. (American dollars) The students all shout and clap.
Another student asks, "Is it safe to live in Canada?
I think, "how do I know if its safe to live in Canada? I figure it's probably about as safe to live in Canada as it is in the USA. I say, "Well, it's really pretty safe, as long as you stay in the safe areas."
The students clap and cheer. Now, I wonder, why are they clapping and cheering. Well, anyway the production and the interview is over. He says to me, "I will send you a video clip, before it goes on television. I say great. I say "good bye" to the students, and the camera crew. The television director takes me back to our apartment.
He says "Thanks."
I say, "no problem." I open the door to get out, and he says. "Oh, wait a minute." He hands me some money.
I say, "No, no, I am happy to help you,"
He says, "You must take it."
I say, "Why?" The company wants to make sure you are paid. Then, the lights come on. This is not an interview, I just did an advertisement for them, and I got paid for doing it. I say "OK " and take the money. When he leaves, I count the money. He paid me $400.00 American dollars. Not a bad deal. I go in and tell mother what happened. I tell her that I am going to quit the university and go to work full time in television advertising. At $400.00 dollars per half hour, and working ten hours a day, I would earn $8000.00 per day. Even at the $400.00 I earned in 1/2 hour, that's as much as I earn in a month at the university. I don't know who negotiated my contract at the university, but I am not getting what I am worth, according to the television man. Well, anyway, a lot more happened, but that was the most intertesting. If I get to a computer along the way, I will write more. I love you all. Good night, Or good morning. Dad.
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Treadmill incedent- Dad
Hello to everyone: There is still more stuff going on here. Today was my busy day. I started at 8:00 A. M. and finished at 6:00 P. M. when I finailly walked home with mother.
Yesterday, I went to the gym. I was trying to find a treadmill that was working. Some of them didn't have the light on to indicate that they were working. I found one, but no light. I checked to make sure it was plugged in. It was. I checked to make sure the reset light was on. It was. I thought, well, I will reset it again and it might start. When I pushed the reset button, the lady on the treadmill next to mine, came to a screeching hault. I realized I had pushed the wrong button, so I pushed it again, and hers started going again as fast as it was before it stopped. That poor lady went flying to the front of the tread mill, then went flying to the back of the tread mill , and now is running on the ground. When she hit the ground, she immediately started running forward towards the treadmill again while it is going full speed. Then, she hit the front of the treadmill.. Not a pretty site. I think to myself, things may not go well here for me if I stay and get back onto the treadmill next to her, so I walk out of the gym for a few minutes and then casually walk back in and hope she doesn't recognize me. I put my towel on my head and walk past her, looking in the opposite direction. She doesn't see me, but I think that she is still in a daze....
Today , my last class begin at 2:00 P. M.. I couldn't remember which building it was in, nor what floor it was on. I looked in my papers and it wasn't written down. I have only taught it one time prior, and that was a week ago... I think it is in building seven, but not sure. I start on the third floor of building 7, because floor one and two are not there. It is a big tall ceiling, I begin on floor # 3. I go down the hall and open each door and look in, and when I see a teacher teaching a class, I say sorry and leave. No one understands anyway and they all laugh. I go to the next class and do the same. There are about ten class rooms on each floor. I realize my class isn't on floor three, or I have been fired, because there is a teacher in every room. I go to floor four and do the same. No luck. By now I am late for class. This is my class that is adult education. I am beginning to believe that I should be a student in the class, and not be teaching the class.. I go to floor five and check all of the class rooms.. No luck. Now I am really late and if it is not on floor six, then it would be in another building that is about a ten minute walk from where I am. Now I am beginning to worrry, because If I am to late, my monitor (the person from the party who watches you in the classroom to make sure you teach properly) may not approve. I don't know if the monitor is a student or his full time job is to keep track of me. But, anyway he is the monitor and I am just the teacher. I am getting worried. Becides that, I am on the clock, and my salary of $5.33 per hour, could be docked. I am now running up the stairs to floor 6. I start at the beginning and begin to open the doors. I open the first door, and no one is there. Now I am really scared because I figure my students all go tired of waiting, and left. Now I will lose my entire $16.00, plus get turned in. The guy at the guard gate will probably be sent down to pick me up and take me to the police station. (just for being late to class) Now, I'm thinking, America really looks good. I just know that the branch president is going to have to home teach me in jail. I keep opening doors, just in case that last room was not being used this hour. It is now 2:15 P. M. I am down to the last door. I open it, no teacher, but a lot of students. But, I don't recognize any of the students. I go in anyway. I begin to take roll. The first three names I call, no one responds to. I think well, this is the wrong class, and either these students are here studying, or there teacher is late also. I continue to take roll, because even if I am in the wrong class, I can tell the police that I took roll, and no one was present, so I went home. I continue to take roll. I am only calling their first English name, because that is all I know. Person number four responds that she is here. That's good news, however, I'm still not convinced that I am in the right class I am only calling their first English names and everyone here has been given an English name and there probably 500 kids with the same English name. I look at the next English name. I think to myself, if this person answers he is here, then I am in the right class. There couldn"t be more than one person with this name. I say "Saloon", he answers that he is here. Ah, I think I am in the right place. I call the next students name, just in case. I read his name, Now I know that if he answers that he is here, than I will know I am in the right place. I call his name, "Horse". He answers that he is here. My prayers are answered and I know that I am in the right class. I continue to take roll. I call Apple,, here, Peach, here, Apocolips,here, Flower, Here, Tune, here. And so forth. Well, the class went quite well, and so far I havn't been turned in, or at least no one has come to pick me up. I did however go the ATM machine and withdrew 2000 Yuen, (about $320.00) just in case someone comes after me. I will give him everything I have, and I'm sure he will be happy.
Today after my 8:00 A. M. class, I had somewhat the same experience, but a little different. I begin in building # 7. I teach my class, then I have to walk about ten minutes to Main 2. It is raining like crazy. I get to main two, but I am still about 200 yards from the entrance. I see a different entrance but I would have to climb a bunch of stairs. Actually three stories of stairs. I think, what is closer, climb the stairs, or walk the 200 yards? I only have about 5 minutes prior to class starting. I decide to climb the stars. Exactly 95. I am exausted when I reach the top. Well, at least I can get out of the rain. I go to open the door, It is locked, and no one to open it. It is now 10:00 A.M., and class is starting. I realize that I have to go down 95 stairs and then walk back around the building and then walk the 200 yards to the entrance. I walk down the stairs, and walk towards the entrance. As I approach the entrance, I see the guard. Now, I know for sure I have been caught. I go to walk past him, like I own the place, and hope he doesn't recognize me. He looks at me, and salutes. My lucky day. I bow and keep going. I run to the elevator. I have to go to floor 6. The elevator door opens. I can see that the dingbat before me had punched every button, so now the elevator is going to stop on every floor. Now is 10:10 and it will be 10:15 before I get there. I stop at every floor. Finally I get there. My class is still waiting for me, and I don't see the monitor present. Again my lucky day.
It has been raining all day. After class mother and I walk home, it is still raining like crazy. Mother has an umbrella. I tell her that I have found a short cut to get home faster. She says, "great." We take the short cut. Well, like I say, it has been raining all day. When we get almost home, I see that the short cut is flooded with about 6 inches of water. We have a choice, go through the water, or go back around the regular way and take an additional 15 minutes home. We continue walking towards the flooded area. It is kind of a back alley, where businesses have their back door. All of the back doors are open, and some of the employees of the businesses are watching us to see what we are going to do. They start talking a lot. I know that are taking bets as to whether these dumb Americans will go through the flooded area, or turn around. I look at the flooded area. It is only flooded for about 15 feet, but none the less it is flooded. I ask mother, "what do you want to do? Well, you know mother, she doesn't want to walk clear back, but neither does she want to get here shoes flooded. Now, I know what's coming next. All of the guys are watching us out the back door. Well, I boost mother up on my back, and I sink into the flooded water. The guys watching all begin to clap!! I carry mother through the flood. We made it home safe. Well, that is all for now. On my next e-mail I will tell you about the guy that came to help us fix our cell phones to make them work. We have been here for almost a month now and I have yet to make, or receive a call on my phone. Mother has used hers a litte, but the phone company shut them both off. Well, anyway, that is quite another story. I will fill you in on the next email. It is Wednesday evening and we are home safe. We appreciate hearing from each of you. I love you, Dad .
Yesterday, I went to the gym. I was trying to find a treadmill that was working. Some of them didn't have the light on to indicate that they were working. I found one, but no light. I checked to make sure it was plugged in. It was. I checked to make sure the reset light was on. It was. I thought, well, I will reset it again and it might start. When I pushed the reset button, the lady on the treadmill next to mine, came to a screeching hault. I realized I had pushed the wrong button, so I pushed it again, and hers started going again as fast as it was before it stopped. That poor lady went flying to the front of the tread mill, then went flying to the back of the tread mill , and now is running on the ground. When she hit the ground, she immediately started running forward towards the treadmill again while it is going full speed. Then, she hit the front of the treadmill.. Not a pretty site. I think to myself, things may not go well here for me if I stay and get back onto the treadmill next to her, so I walk out of the gym for a few minutes and then casually walk back in and hope she doesn't recognize me. I put my towel on my head and walk past her, looking in the opposite direction. She doesn't see me, but I think that she is still in a daze....
Today , my last class begin at 2:00 P. M.. I couldn't remember which building it was in, nor what floor it was on. I looked in my papers and it wasn't written down. I have only taught it one time prior, and that was a week ago... I think it is in building seven, but not sure. I start on the third floor of building 7, because floor one and two are not there. It is a big tall ceiling, I begin on floor # 3. I go down the hall and open each door and look in, and when I see a teacher teaching a class, I say sorry and leave. No one understands anyway and they all laugh. I go to the next class and do the same. There are about ten class rooms on each floor. I realize my class isn't on floor three, or I have been fired, because there is a teacher in every room. I go to floor four and do the same. No luck. By now I am late for class. This is my class that is adult education. I am beginning to believe that I should be a student in the class, and not be teaching the class.. I go to floor five and check all of the class rooms.. No luck. Now I am really late and if it is not on floor six, then it would be in another building that is about a ten minute walk from where I am. Now I am beginning to worrry, because If I am to late, my monitor (the person from the party who watches you in the classroom to make sure you teach properly) may not approve. I don't know if the monitor is a student or his full time job is to keep track of me. But, anyway he is the monitor and I am just the teacher. I am getting worried. Becides that, I am on the clock, and my salary of $5.33 per hour, could be docked. I am now running up the stairs to floor 6. I start at the beginning and begin to open the doors. I open the first door, and no one is there. Now I am really scared because I figure my students all go tired of waiting, and left. Now I will lose my entire $16.00, plus get turned in. The guy at the guard gate will probably be sent down to pick me up and take me to the police station. (just for being late to class) Now, I'm thinking, America really looks good. I just know that the branch president is going to have to home teach me in jail. I keep opening doors, just in case that last room was not being used this hour. It is now 2:15 P. M. I am down to the last door. I open it, no teacher, but a lot of students. But, I don't recognize any of the students. I go in anyway. I begin to take roll. The first three names I call, no one responds to. I think well, this is the wrong class, and either these students are here studying, or there teacher is late also. I continue to take roll, because even if I am in the wrong class, I can tell the police that I took roll, and no one was present, so I went home. I continue to take roll. I am only calling their first English name, because that is all I know. Person number four responds that she is here. That's good news, however, I'm still not convinced that I am in the right class I am only calling their first English names and everyone here has been given an English name and there probably 500 kids with the same English name. I look at the next English name. I think to myself, if this person answers he is here, then I am in the right class. There couldn"t be more than one person with this name. I say "Saloon", he answers that he is here. Ah, I think I am in the right place. I call the next students name, just in case. I read his name, Now I know that if he answers that he is here, than I will know I am in the right place. I call his name, "Horse". He answers that he is here. My prayers are answered and I know that I am in the right class. I continue to take roll. I call Apple,, here, Peach, here, Apocolips,here, Flower, Here, Tune, here. And so forth. Well, the class went quite well, and so far I havn't been turned in, or at least no one has come to pick me up. I did however go the ATM machine and withdrew 2000 Yuen, (about $320.00) just in case someone comes after me. I will give him everything I have, and I'm sure he will be happy.
Today after my 8:00 A. M. class, I had somewhat the same experience, but a little different. I begin in building # 7. I teach my class, then I have to walk about ten minutes to Main 2. It is raining like crazy. I get to main two, but I am still about 200 yards from the entrance. I see a different entrance but I would have to climb a bunch of stairs. Actually three stories of stairs. I think, what is closer, climb the stairs, or walk the 200 yards? I only have about 5 minutes prior to class starting. I decide to climb the stars. Exactly 95. I am exausted when I reach the top. Well, at least I can get out of the rain. I go to open the door, It is locked, and no one to open it. It is now 10:00 A.M., and class is starting. I realize that I have to go down 95 stairs and then walk back around the building and then walk the 200 yards to the entrance. I walk down the stairs, and walk towards the entrance. As I approach the entrance, I see the guard. Now, I know for sure I have been caught. I go to walk past him, like I own the place, and hope he doesn't recognize me. He looks at me, and salutes. My lucky day. I bow and keep going. I run to the elevator. I have to go to floor 6. The elevator door opens. I can see that the dingbat before me had punched every button, so now the elevator is going to stop on every floor. Now is 10:10 and it will be 10:15 before I get there. I stop at every floor. Finally I get there. My class is still waiting for me, and I don't see the monitor present. Again my lucky day.
It has been raining all day. After class mother and I walk home, it is still raining like crazy. Mother has an umbrella. I tell her that I have found a short cut to get home faster. She says, "great." We take the short cut. Well, like I say, it has been raining all day. When we get almost home, I see that the short cut is flooded with about 6 inches of water. We have a choice, go through the water, or go back around the regular way and take an additional 15 minutes home. We continue walking towards the flooded area. It is kind of a back alley, where businesses have their back door. All of the back doors are open, and some of the employees of the businesses are watching us to see what we are going to do. They start talking a lot. I know that are taking bets as to whether these dumb Americans will go through the flooded area, or turn around. I look at the flooded area. It is only flooded for about 15 feet, but none the less it is flooded. I ask mother, "what do you want to do? Well, you know mother, she doesn't want to walk clear back, but neither does she want to get here shoes flooded. Now, I know what's coming next. All of the guys are watching us out the back door. Well, I boost mother up on my back, and I sink into the flooded water. The guys watching all begin to clap!! I carry mother through the flood. We made it home safe. Well, that is all for now. On my next e-mail I will tell you about the guy that came to help us fix our cell phones to make them work. We have been here for almost a month now and I have yet to make, or receive a call on my phone. Mother has used hers a litte, but the phone company shut them both off. Well, anyway, that is quite another story. I will fill you in on the next email. It is Wednesday evening and we are home safe. We appreciate hearing from each of you. I love you, Dad .
Monday, September 22, 2008
Giving out names- Dad
It was a fun day today. It was my first day with two freshman classes. They are really cute, good kids. About 1/3 of them didn't have an english name. Now they all have a Ferrell name. Ryan and Scott both sit in the back of the class. Amber and Ashley sit in the front of the class. Taylor and Jaxon also sit towards the front. Kalle and Oakley are boy friend/girlfriend and they both love their new English name. I've got Peyton and Hailey, Aurora and Brennen, Makenna and Jonathan. I got them all. Well, anyway I've got to get ready for my class tomorrow. Thanks for all you do. I love you all. Dad
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Do you have any Parsley?- Dad
Dear Everyone: We have had a couple of fun days in China: Yesterday, I went to the copy place. The owner was there with his family. I told them my name, then I had them repeat it to me. They repeated it. I asked them their name. They told me. I couldn't repeat it. I gave each of them English names. I gave the father, the name of "David." As in David Rogers. (you know, Ashley's David) I gave the younger daughter the name of "Amber", as in my Amber. I gave the older daughter the name of "Emily" as in Ryan's Emily--Cardon Ferrell. I gave the mother the name of "Annamarie", as in Katie's mother. I wrote their names of a small piece of card stock, and they pinned their names on their shirt. About that time, here comes the grandma. She saw what was going on, and she yelled something and took off. I guess she liked her chinese name. I was going to name her Matilda. As in, "we'll all sing Matilda." I'll give grandma her English name the next time I see her.
Yesterday I also went to the market. It is called Carefour. It is three stories and each floor is about the size of Sams Club. I want to buy some items so I can cook some hamburger soup. I actually find an american food section. It is about 8 feet long. We'll at least it is an American section. I actually see some things I recognize. I find three cans of Progresso soup. Some canned corn, beets, beans, and some tomato paste. No parsley or soup base. I have been told of a real American market that may have it, I will go their tomorro hopefully. Anyway, I look everywhere in the store for parsley. None to be found. There are Chinese workers yelling all the time to get people to come to their department to buy something. I see that yelling works for them, so I think, Well, maybe it will work for me. When one of them stops yelling, I yell, "Does anyone here speak English?" Total silence. Everyone looks at me with disbelief. I think to myself, what's the big deal, everyone else is yelling. Well anyway, a lady comes up to me and smiles. I say to her, "Do you speak English? She says, "a little." That's good enough for me. I say, "I'm looking to buy some parsley. She says, "parsley?" I say, "yes Parsley." It's obvious that she doesn't know what parsley is. But she is smart. She pulls out her cell phone, and says to me, "spell it." I spell it. She puts the letters into her cell phone, or whatever it is that she is using. The cell phone then gives her the Chinese spelling. She looks at me and says,"oh parsley." I say, "yea parsey!" She goes over to one of the workers and says something to her. The worker shakes her head. I figure she doesn't have any. The lady says to me, "is is a tea?" I say, "close. but not cigar." She says "what?" I say, "no it's not a tea." Well, anyway she says the store doesn't have it. So, I go to look for some hamburger. On the way to the beef section, I pass some water tanks with fish and other smimming things in them. I see one tank that has frogs. They are about 8 inches long. One of them had no legs. I guess the last guy ordered frog legs.
Anyway, I go to the beef section. It really smells gross. I see something that looks like hamburger, but it is not in a cooler. It smells like it has been out on the display shelf for days. I decide not to buy any. I am only a few items short for my hamburger soup. I decide that I will make hamburger soup without any hamburger. Or, I might go to McDonalds and buy a couple of quarter pounders, without cheese and cut up the hamburger to go into my hamburger soup,: (minus the parsley and the soup base) Hey, this is China.
In our apartment we do not have an oven, or a cook top, to cook on. Is all we have is a hot plate. there is no place to light a fire, so I figure the hot plate will do. I plug it in and turn it on. When I turn it on, I can't get it to heat up.. I work on it for a while. Finally I call the maid in and show her it doesn't work. She pulls out a pot, puts some water in it, puts it on top of the hot plate, and all of the sudden it works. I say, "How did you do that?" She doesn't know what I say, but I thank her. Finally I realize that it will not work unless there is something sitting on the hot plate. Now it works fine.
This morning we went to church. It was 5:00 P. M. Saturday evening your time. There were 29 of us there. It was a great meeting. Our friends the Jones' spoke. I said the opening prayer, mom said the closing prayer. I blessed the Sacrament and the Deacon (actually the teacher) passed the Sacrament. We came home and now mother is napping.
A couple of days ago, I told our Branch President that some times the guard wouldn't let our taxi past the guard gate and into the Campus. When that happens we have to walk about 2 or 3 blocks to our apartment. Our Branch President said, "you need one of these cards. He pulls a card out of his wallet which has some Chinese symbols on it with an official government stamp of it. He says, just show the guard the card, and he will wave you through. I say to him, "how do you get one of those cards?" I offer him $100.00 for his. He tells me to go the foreign affairs office and they can arrange with the Government to get us one. I go to the Foreign Affairs office. When I get there, there are all of these red lights that go on. There must be 50 of them. I think to myself, this must be the place that foreigners go to have an affair. Well, I go in. I'm not sure what I will find. I tell the lady that I am a teacher at Nankai University, and I would like to get one of those official looking cards that allows the guard to salute you and welcome you through his gate. She says huh? I tell her again. She says she will talk to some body and see what she can do. A couple of hours later, I get a phone call from the Foreign Affairs office. they say, I am in luck. they have one card left, and if I come over, they will issue it to me. I go get my card. It works great. The taxi driver pulls up to the gate,, the guard tells the taxi driver to turn around, and that he cannot drive through his gate. I say to the taxi driver, "hold on" I show the guard my card, he salutes me like I own the place and waves us through. This is slick. Mother's prayers are answered. Everyone else coming by car to the university, has to stop outside the gate, and walk to where they are going. They now look at us like I am the University President. Life is good here in Tianjin. Well anyway I hope you all have a good night's rest. It is 1:15 A. M. your time, Sunday morning. You will soon be getting up and going to church. Have a great day, and don't forget to call or skype us. I love you all. Dad
Yesterday I also went to the market. It is called Carefour. It is three stories and each floor is about the size of Sams Club. I want to buy some items so I can cook some hamburger soup. I actually find an american food section. It is about 8 feet long. We'll at least it is an American section. I actually see some things I recognize. I find three cans of Progresso soup. Some canned corn, beets, beans, and some tomato paste. No parsley or soup base. I have been told of a real American market that may have it, I will go their tomorro hopefully. Anyway, I look everywhere in the store for parsley. None to be found. There are Chinese workers yelling all the time to get people to come to their department to buy something. I see that yelling works for them, so I think, Well, maybe it will work for me. When one of them stops yelling, I yell, "Does anyone here speak English?" Total silence. Everyone looks at me with disbelief. I think to myself, what's the big deal, everyone else is yelling. Well anyway, a lady comes up to me and smiles. I say to her, "Do you speak English? She says, "a little." That's good enough for me. I say, "I'm looking to buy some parsley. She says, "parsley?" I say, "yes Parsley." It's obvious that she doesn't know what parsley is. But she is smart. She pulls out her cell phone, and says to me, "spell it." I spell it. She puts the letters into her cell phone, or whatever it is that she is using. The cell phone then gives her the Chinese spelling. She looks at me and says,"oh parsley." I say, "yea parsey!" She goes over to one of the workers and says something to her. The worker shakes her head. I figure she doesn't have any. The lady says to me, "is is a tea?" I say, "close. but not cigar." She says "what?" I say, "no it's not a tea." Well, anyway she says the store doesn't have it. So, I go to look for some hamburger. On the way to the beef section, I pass some water tanks with fish and other smimming things in them. I see one tank that has frogs. They are about 8 inches long. One of them had no legs. I guess the last guy ordered frog legs.
Anyway, I go to the beef section. It really smells gross. I see something that looks like hamburger, but it is not in a cooler. It smells like it has been out on the display shelf for days. I decide not to buy any. I am only a few items short for my hamburger soup. I decide that I will make hamburger soup without any hamburger. Or, I might go to McDonalds and buy a couple of quarter pounders, without cheese and cut up the hamburger to go into my hamburger soup,: (minus the parsley and the soup base) Hey, this is China.
In our apartment we do not have an oven, or a cook top, to cook on. Is all we have is a hot plate. there is no place to light a fire, so I figure the hot plate will do. I plug it in and turn it on. When I turn it on, I can't get it to heat up.. I work on it for a while. Finally I call the maid in and show her it doesn't work. She pulls out a pot, puts some water in it, puts it on top of the hot plate, and all of the sudden it works. I say, "How did you do that?" She doesn't know what I say, but I thank her. Finally I realize that it will not work unless there is something sitting on the hot plate. Now it works fine.
This morning we went to church. It was 5:00 P. M. Saturday evening your time. There were 29 of us there. It was a great meeting. Our friends the Jones' spoke. I said the opening prayer, mom said the closing prayer. I blessed the Sacrament and the Deacon (actually the teacher) passed the Sacrament. We came home and now mother is napping.
A couple of days ago, I told our Branch President that some times the guard wouldn't let our taxi past the guard gate and into the Campus. When that happens we have to walk about 2 or 3 blocks to our apartment. Our Branch President said, "you need one of these cards. He pulls a card out of his wallet which has some Chinese symbols on it with an official government stamp of it. He says, just show the guard the card, and he will wave you through. I say to him, "how do you get one of those cards?" I offer him $100.00 for his. He tells me to go the foreign affairs office and they can arrange with the Government to get us one. I go to the Foreign Affairs office. When I get there, there are all of these red lights that go on. There must be 50 of them. I think to myself, this must be the place that foreigners go to have an affair. Well, I go in. I'm not sure what I will find. I tell the lady that I am a teacher at Nankai University, and I would like to get one of those official looking cards that allows the guard to salute you and welcome you through his gate. She says huh? I tell her again. She says she will talk to some body and see what she can do. A couple of hours later, I get a phone call from the Foreign Affairs office. they say, I am in luck. they have one card left, and if I come over, they will issue it to me. I go get my card. It works great. The taxi driver pulls up to the gate,, the guard tells the taxi driver to turn around, and that he cannot drive through his gate. I say to the taxi driver, "hold on" I show the guard my card, he salutes me like I own the place and waves us through. This is slick. Mother's prayers are answered. Everyone else coming by car to the university, has to stop outside the gate, and walk to where they are going. They now look at us like I am the University President. Life is good here in Tianjin. Well anyway I hope you all have a good night's rest. It is 1:15 A. M. your time, Sunday morning. You will soon be getting up and going to church. Have a great day, and don't forget to call or skype us. I love you all. Dad
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Friday, September 19, 2008
McDonalds Angel
Hello everyone: Another great couple of days, especially since we have great phone service now. If you haven't heard yet, you call call me toll free by calling 602-903-5369.
Today I went to a large shopping area. It was really fun. Many hundred little shops selling anything you want. I went with our Branch President. He has been here for 4 years, so pretty well knows his way around. He takes me to a place where I can purchase a pair of levis. I find a pair I like. I ask to try them on. She holds up a sheet and I proceed to change clothes and try them on. They fit perfect. No tailoring needed. Mother decides she wants a pair. Same thing. This time, I hold up the sheet, two feet from the aisle way. Mothers needs tailoring. We negotiate a price of $10.00 each. We walk down the aisle three of four stores to the tailor. She measures moms legs. Cuts off a couple of inches, re hems the bottom and gives them back. Cuts, sews and irons them, all is less than two minutes. Boy could the tailors in the U S take a lesson from these folks here.
Then we went to McDonalds for lunch. When I order, I say I'd like a diet coke with no ice. She nods. I'd like a quarter pounder with no cheese, she smiles and nods OK. I think, this is way too easy. I show her a picture of fried chicken. She nods and says OK. I pay. Pretty soon she brings my order. Diet coke, with no ice. A quarter pounder without cheese, Fried chicken with a wing and a breast. This can't be right, she got it perfect, the first time. I take my order to the table where mom is sitting. I go back to get some napkins. The lady is gone. I ask where is the other lady that was here. Nobody speaks english. I look behind the counter, no lady. I look in the kitchen, no lady. I see the manager by looking at her name tag. I describe the lady to her. I tell her (like she speaks English.) like she understands. She shakes her head. I go back and we eat our lunch. I keep watching for my English speaking waitress. Never to be seen. I know that she was an angel sent from heaven.. My prayers have been answered. Maybe it was my dad just made to look like a girl so I couldn't recognize him, (or her) and he was sent to help me. Who ever it was, I am very greatful, and I am going to pray that I am continually blesses the same way the next time I go to McDonalds.
I take a cab home. He stops in front of the guard gate, because the guard now knows that I am not the base General. The guard makes us get out and walk the rest of the way home. I am sitting in the front seat of the taxi. I open my door. In the side of my eye, I see a man on a bicycle coming. He is flat out moving. My door is open. He sees the door. His face is in horror. (mine too!!!) I know I'm going to go to jail for this. He does a right turn down some alley at full speed ahead. As he goes by he gives me "the look" I mean, this guy was going at least 25 miles an hour. The taxi driver almost got a new fare, bike and all- On my lap. If he would have hit us, the taxi door would have been history. Luckily the door window was down, because his bike would have stopped, but he would have been sailing through the open window. I quickly pay the taxi driver, and hot footed it out of there so the guy on the bike can't find me. I got lost in the croud. This guy was no spring chicken. He was at least my age.
Well, we go to dinner tonight with three other couples from the branch. We have a good dinner. One of the couples are the branch president and his wife. I tell the branch president that Art Jones, (one of the other fellows with us, and his wife) Has been preparing for his PSS. And he is very excited. Art Jones gives me a blank stare. The branch president asks Art what he is preparing. Art doesn't know. The branch president asks me what is his PSS. I say, you know, "permanent Sacrament meeting speaker" Art is not thrilled.
I taught my first sophmore class today. At least I was told they were sophomores. Anyway, I told you a little about the class a letter or two ago. I meet the kids. I speak to them, all I get are blank stares. I ask a question, and no answers. Finally I get two or three of them to speak to me. They really aren't to bad with their English. I ask each student to introduce themselves to me, and why they are taking this class. One student says, I want PHD. I think, does he know what he is talking about? I think, well maybe he does. He wants to be a PHD-- Post Hole Digger. That class needs some help. Come to find out, they are sophomores all right. They are high school kids that could not pass the entrance exam and they are in their second year of preparing to be accepted into their first year of college. Well, like I said, they are nice kids, but will just need a little more help and attention.
Well, it is 6:15 Arizona and California time, 7:15 Utah time. You should be about ready to arise and enjoy Friday. Remember, the next time you ride in a taxi, look before you open the door. I was informed that if the old boy had hit the door, it would have been my fault. I would not only probably have gone to jail, but at $5.33 and hour, it would have been 2050 before I could return home. I think that I am going to try to get me some hazard protection insurance. Well, we enjoy talking to you. I encorage each of you to download Skype. That way we can see each of you and the grand kids. This morning, I go to my lap top and start to do some school preparation. I look at my lap top screen. To my surprise, I see Tyler, Annamarie and Katie. I say "Tyler is that you" He says, "who do you think it is." I'm sitting there in my undies. I look to see if my camera is on. Thank goodness it's not. Anyway, we have a good chat and I get to talk to Katie and she finally smiles and laughs when she see's me. Ahh, life is great. Please, each one set up skype, with a video camera, if you don't already have it. You can see us with out a camera, but the idea is for us to see the grand kids. If you need help, Dave can set it up for you. In Scott's case, Denise can set it up. Well, all of you have a great day. I love you all. Dad
Today I went to a large shopping area. It was really fun. Many hundred little shops selling anything you want. I went with our Branch President. He has been here for 4 years, so pretty well knows his way around. He takes me to a place where I can purchase a pair of levis. I find a pair I like. I ask to try them on. She holds up a sheet and I proceed to change clothes and try them on. They fit perfect. No tailoring needed. Mother decides she wants a pair. Same thing. This time, I hold up the sheet, two feet from the aisle way. Mothers needs tailoring. We negotiate a price of $10.00 each. We walk down the aisle three of four stores to the tailor. She measures moms legs. Cuts off a couple of inches, re hems the bottom and gives them back. Cuts, sews and irons them, all is less than two minutes. Boy could the tailors in the U S take a lesson from these folks here.
Then we went to McDonalds for lunch. When I order, I say I'd like a diet coke with no ice. She nods. I'd like a quarter pounder with no cheese, she smiles and nods OK. I think, this is way too easy. I show her a picture of fried chicken. She nods and says OK. I pay. Pretty soon she brings my order. Diet coke, with no ice. A quarter pounder without cheese, Fried chicken with a wing and a breast. This can't be right, she got it perfect, the first time. I take my order to the table where mom is sitting. I go back to get some napkins. The lady is gone. I ask where is the other lady that was here. Nobody speaks english. I look behind the counter, no lady. I look in the kitchen, no lady. I see the manager by looking at her name tag. I describe the lady to her. I tell her (like she speaks English.) like she understands. She shakes her head. I go back and we eat our lunch. I keep watching for my English speaking waitress. Never to be seen. I know that she was an angel sent from heaven.. My prayers have been answered. Maybe it was my dad just made to look like a girl so I couldn't recognize him, (or her) and he was sent to help me. Who ever it was, I am very greatful, and I am going to pray that I am continually blesses the same way the next time I go to McDonalds.
I take a cab home. He stops in front of the guard gate, because the guard now knows that I am not the base General. The guard makes us get out and walk the rest of the way home. I am sitting in the front seat of the taxi. I open my door. In the side of my eye, I see a man on a bicycle coming. He is flat out moving. My door is open. He sees the door. His face is in horror. (mine too!!!) I know I'm going to go to jail for this. He does a right turn down some alley at full speed ahead. As he goes by he gives me "the look" I mean, this guy was going at least 25 miles an hour. The taxi driver almost got a new fare, bike and all- On my lap. If he would have hit us, the taxi door would have been history. Luckily the door window was down, because his bike would have stopped, but he would have been sailing through the open window. I quickly pay the taxi driver, and hot footed it out of there so the guy on the bike can't find me. I got lost in the croud. This guy was no spring chicken. He was at least my age.
Well, we go to dinner tonight with three other couples from the branch. We have a good dinner. One of the couples are the branch president and his wife. I tell the branch president that Art Jones, (one of the other fellows with us, and his wife) Has been preparing for his PSS. And he is very excited. Art Jones gives me a blank stare. The branch president asks Art what he is preparing. Art doesn't know. The branch president asks me what is his PSS. I say, you know, "permanent Sacrament meeting speaker" Art is not thrilled.
I taught my first sophmore class today. At least I was told they were sophomores. Anyway, I told you a little about the class a letter or two ago. I meet the kids. I speak to them, all I get are blank stares. I ask a question, and no answers. Finally I get two or three of them to speak to me. They really aren't to bad with their English. I ask each student to introduce themselves to me, and why they are taking this class. One student says, I want PHD. I think, does he know what he is talking about? I think, well maybe he does. He wants to be a PHD-- Post Hole Digger. That class needs some help. Come to find out, they are sophomores all right. They are high school kids that could not pass the entrance exam and they are in their second year of preparing to be accepted into their first year of college. Well, like I said, they are nice kids, but will just need a little more help and attention.
Well, it is 6:15 Arizona and California time, 7:15 Utah time. You should be about ready to arise and enjoy Friday. Remember, the next time you ride in a taxi, look before you open the door. I was informed that if the old boy had hit the door, it would have been my fault. I would not only probably have gone to jail, but at $5.33 and hour, it would have been 2050 before I could return home. I think that I am going to try to get me some hazard protection insurance. Well, we enjoy talking to you. I encorage each of you to download Skype. That way we can see each of you and the grand kids. This morning, I go to my lap top and start to do some school preparation. I look at my lap top screen. To my surprise, I see Tyler, Annamarie and Katie. I say "Tyler is that you" He says, "who do you think it is." I'm sitting there in my undies. I look to see if my camera is on. Thank goodness it's not. Anyway, we have a good chat and I get to talk to Katie and she finally smiles and laughs when she see's me. Ahh, life is great. Please, each one set up skype, with a video camera, if you don't already have it. You can see us with out a camera, but the idea is for us to see the grand kids. If you need help, Dave can set it up for you. In Scott's case, Denise can set it up. Well, all of you have a great day. I love you all. Dad
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Not so bright class- Dad
Hello everyone: I received four emails today. Thanks. Today, we had DSL hooked up to our computer. We are one day closer to getting some kind of a direct line to the United States. Thank goodness. Today was a very busy day for me. I started at 10:00 A. M., and went straight through to 5:00 P.M. Well, at $5.33 an hour I did pretty well. I earned almost $38.00.
I had my sophomore class for the first time. Boy, was that a zoo. There is such a difference between my sophomores and my juniors. I had a lot of blank stares from my sophomores. I asked a question, but no one answered. I asked them, do you understand. Still more stares. I think to myself, this is going to be a long three hour class. I finally say to myself, "I am going to ask each one to come to the front of the class and introduce themself to me and point to the China map and tell me where they are from. I have 28 students. I call the first one up. I say, "hello, my name is Professor Ferrell, What is your name?" She giggles and looks back at one of her class mates. The class mate says something to her and she says, "my name is Pamela," (or something) I say, "how are you" She giggles and looks back at her class mates. They say something, and she says, "fine." I say, "where are you from in China?" She looks back at her class mate and the classmate says something. She goes up to the chalf board and puts an X on the map where she is from. I excuse her and start again. This process is repeated 27 more times. When I took this class, the professor that I spoke with said, "they are a little slow." I assure you she wasn't lying to me. I'm sure that no one else wanted this hand picked class and they said, "good old Wynn, the American, won't mind, he doesn't even know anything about this class." So anyway I have it. I asked the professor that gave me the class a little about the class. I said, "how many students?"
He said, "I don't know. "
I said, "what year are they?"
He said, "I don't know."
I said, "When will I get a roll?"
he said, "maybe never."
I said, "How do I grade them?"
he said, "don"t worry about it. Just come to class and everything will be ok."
I have no roll, no count, no book to teach from, don't know what I am susposed to teach, no grades. Boy, this is going to be an interesting semister. However, I must not forget, I'm being paid $5.33 per hour. Really, I am not exagerating about my class.
Well the cell phone I purchased has never worked, nor has the telephone cards. After class, I tell mother, "lets go to the restaurant with the cat for dinner." I really like their food. It is the best American food that I have tasted since being here. We walk to the gate to fetch a taxi. There are two taxi's waiting at the gate. I walk up to the first and show him the card of the restaurant. he laughs, shakes his head, and takes another person in his cab. I walk up to the next taxi driver, show him the same card, he laughs and walks away. I look at the card, it is all in Chinese. I still think that it is a restaurant here in Tianjin. I see a young couple walking toward us. I stop them and say, "do you speak English? They say, a little. I show him the card. He says, "what is this?" I say, "it is a restaurant with very good food." He gets out his cell phone and calls the number on the card. What ever he says, I don't know. Finially he finds a cab, and talks to the driver. The driver shakes his head and takes off. The person says to me, "I will walk you there, it is only one killometer." (What ever that is.) Mom says, "no way, I'm not walking." The man says, "I will find a taxi and take you there." I say, "thanks, please join us for dinner" He says something that I don't understand. We finally get a taxi. The four of us jump in and away we go. He tells the driver where to go. In a few minutes we arrive. I'm amazed. I hand the driver and 100 yuen bill. (about $16.00) He says no, he wants something smaller. I have nothing smaller, He finally takes my money, but doesn't have the correct change. He takes 10 yuen, (a buck sixty) and hands me back 90 yuen. I'm still short 4 yuen. My friend with me supliments my shortage. We get out of the cab to go to dinner. The couple with us says no, they are going somewhere else. They get into the same taxi and away they go. We go into the restaurant, have a little wait. I pet the ungrateful cat, he is still as ungrateful as before. Pretty soon we are invited to go up some stairs to find a table. We order, and the food is as good as before. If you ever want a good meal, come to China and you can have a good cheap meal. My two bowls of soup cost me 90 cents. My spaghetti cost me a dollar eighty, and my french fries cost me 27 cents. Mother tells me that I have stayed within my budget. I bring my own diet coke, because I don't want to go through the same experience that I had at McDonalds last week.
We met our branch President last night. What a nice fellow. he said that we would be receiving a church calling soon. In two weeks, we have a week off. We are taking the Silk Road trip. We are looking forward to it. However, I am going to greatly miss teaching my sophomore students that week. We love China and the people. They are so kind to us. We love hearing about what you are doing and how the children are doing. I just wish you could fax them to us for a while. I am going to speak with the professor over the English department and see if he can assign my sophomore class to another English speaking teacher. I am going to suggest
Dr. Ferrell! (Don't tell!!) Well, we sure do enjoy hearing from each of you. I love you all. Dad
I had my sophomore class for the first time. Boy, was that a zoo. There is such a difference between my sophomores and my juniors. I had a lot of blank stares from my sophomores. I asked a question, but no one answered. I asked them, do you understand. Still more stares. I think to myself, this is going to be a long three hour class. I finally say to myself, "I am going to ask each one to come to the front of the class and introduce themself to me and point to the China map and tell me where they are from. I have 28 students. I call the first one up. I say, "hello, my name is Professor Ferrell, What is your name?" She giggles and looks back at one of her class mates. The class mate says something to her and she says, "my name is Pamela," (or something) I say, "how are you" She giggles and looks back at her class mates. They say something, and she says, "fine." I say, "where are you from in China?" She looks back at her class mate and the classmate says something. She goes up to the chalf board and puts an X on the map where she is from. I excuse her and start again. This process is repeated 27 more times. When I took this class, the professor that I spoke with said, "they are a little slow." I assure you she wasn't lying to me. I'm sure that no one else wanted this hand picked class and they said, "good old Wynn, the American, won't mind, he doesn't even know anything about this class." So anyway I have it. I asked the professor that gave me the class a little about the class. I said, "how many students?"
He said, "I don't know. "
I said, "what year are they?"
He said, "I don't know."
I said, "When will I get a roll?"
he said, "maybe never."
I said, "How do I grade them?"
he said, "don"t worry about it. Just come to class and everything will be ok."
I have no roll, no count, no book to teach from, don't know what I am susposed to teach, no grades. Boy, this is going to be an interesting semister. However, I must not forget, I'm being paid $5.33 per hour. Really, I am not exagerating about my class.
Well the cell phone I purchased has never worked, nor has the telephone cards. After class, I tell mother, "lets go to the restaurant with the cat for dinner." I really like their food. It is the best American food that I have tasted since being here. We walk to the gate to fetch a taxi. There are two taxi's waiting at the gate. I walk up to the first and show him the card of the restaurant. he laughs, shakes his head, and takes another person in his cab. I walk up to the next taxi driver, show him the same card, he laughs and walks away. I look at the card, it is all in Chinese. I still think that it is a restaurant here in Tianjin. I see a young couple walking toward us. I stop them and say, "do you speak English? They say, a little. I show him the card. He says, "what is this?" I say, "it is a restaurant with very good food." He gets out his cell phone and calls the number on the card. What ever he says, I don't know. Finially he finds a cab, and talks to the driver. The driver shakes his head and takes off. The person says to me, "I will walk you there, it is only one killometer." (What ever that is.) Mom says, "no way, I'm not walking." The man says, "I will find a taxi and take you there." I say, "thanks, please join us for dinner" He says something that I don't understand. We finally get a taxi. The four of us jump in and away we go. He tells the driver where to go. In a few minutes we arrive. I'm amazed. I hand the driver and 100 yuen bill. (about $16.00) He says no, he wants something smaller. I have nothing smaller, He finally takes my money, but doesn't have the correct change. He takes 10 yuen, (a buck sixty) and hands me back 90 yuen. I'm still short 4 yuen. My friend with me supliments my shortage. We get out of the cab to go to dinner. The couple with us says no, they are going somewhere else. They get into the same taxi and away they go. We go into the restaurant, have a little wait. I pet the ungrateful cat, he is still as ungrateful as before. Pretty soon we are invited to go up some stairs to find a table. We order, and the food is as good as before. If you ever want a good meal, come to China and you can have a good cheap meal. My two bowls of soup cost me 90 cents. My spaghetti cost me a dollar eighty, and my french fries cost me 27 cents. Mother tells me that I have stayed within my budget. I bring my own diet coke, because I don't want to go through the same experience that I had at McDonalds last week.
We met our branch President last night. What a nice fellow. he said that we would be receiving a church calling soon. In two weeks, we have a week off. We are taking the Silk Road trip. We are looking forward to it. However, I am going to greatly miss teaching my sophomore students that week. We love China and the people. They are so kind to us. We love hearing about what you are doing and how the children are doing. I just wish you could fax them to us for a while. I am going to speak with the professor over the English department and see if he can assign my sophomore class to another English speaking teacher. I am going to suggest
Dr. Ferrell! (Don't tell!!) Well, we sure do enjoy hearing from each of you. I love you all. Dad
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Boiling PVC- Dad
As I told you, last Saturday I went to Home depot to buy some pvc pipe to make a telephone receiver. I also needed two elbows of pvc to put on each end of the pvc so you can hear and speak., I was looking for pipe and fittings that would fit. There was nothing there. The 1/2 inch pipe didn't fit the 1/2 inch elbows. I asked the worker for help. The best he could, he told me that in China they don't use any glue to put the parts together with. He said to bring a pan full of water to a boil, then drop the pvc pipe into the boiling water. He said to cook it for a while, then the pipe would become soft and you can slide the parts together. There was quite a difference in size, well I figured he knows what he is talking about. I buy the pipe and the fittings. My friend with me needed some sheetrock spackle. (Joint compound) We looked for it there, but can't find it. Finally, one worker took us to another area in the store. He said we could buy a 100 pound bag of cement and fix the hole. I told him, no, just a small container. He said no. I said We don't want to build the entire house, just want to patch a hole. He couldn't understand, and we continued to look. Finially, I went to check out. (without the spackle) I say is a loud voice, "does anyone here speak english." A pretty young Chinese girl came and up and said, "I speak English, can I help you?" I say yes, thank you. I tell her that I want to buy some joint compound to patch a hole in the sheet rockl. She tells the worker what I want. He talks to her. She says, "follow me." I follow her and her mother to the back of the store. She picks up a small container of joint compound and says, "is this what you would like?" I say, "yes thank you for your help." I ask her, "do you work here, you seem to be the only one that knows what is going on here!" She giggled and walked off with her mother. In her mind, she is saying, "I just help dumb Americans." Well, I went home to put my pvc telephone together. I boiled up the water. I put the pvc in. I boil it up for a few minutes. I get it out. It is hotter than the place of eternal punishment. I follow the instructions from the guy at Home Depot. I figure he knows what he is talking about. I push with all my might to put the pvc pipe and the elbow together. To no avail, it's not going together. I heat it up again, this time for 15 minutes. I try again. No luck. I sure don't know how they connect pvc, but it sure isn't by boiling it!
In the evening, we went to a place for dinner that we have been before. The food is great. Their portions are small. Last time we ordered three items, but it didn't quite fill us up. The cost last time was $3.00. Mom and I consider our financial portfolio and agree that we can spend 30 yuen, which is four dollars and eighty cents. For that amount we can order 6 items. We order french fries, vegetable soup, some crab stuff, fried rice and fried chicken. We also order a large coke. Our friends who are with us consider their financial condition and agree they can spend $4.00. Poor guys! Any way, we both order. Pretty soon the food starts coming. This time the orders are huge. There is not enough room on the table for our food. We have to stack up the servings. We eat some of the food, but can't eat near all of it. We take several containers of food home with us. I wish they would make up their mind about their serving sizes. Oh, about our large coke. They brought us each a 2 liter bottle of diet coke. Well, that is certainly a large coke. When I go to walk out of the restaurant, I see a cat sitting on the check out counter. I scratch the cats back. That's the most ungrateful cat I ever scratched. When I scratched him (or her) is all he did was lick he paw. He didn't meow how good it was. Stupid cat just layed there like a bump on a log. It will be a cold day before he gets scratched by me again.
I went to class today. My students all have an English name. If they don't have one, we suggest names for them. Several of my students have chosed family names. Two of my students have chosen very unusual American names. I have never heard them before, and certainly hope none of you use them for my grand children. One is named HORSE and the other is named SALOON. These boys are great kids also. We get along great. They love their American names. Our branch president just arrived from the states today. He came to visit us tonight. What a great guy. He was Academic Vice President at BYU Idaho under Elder Bednar. He told us some great experiences he had with Elder Bednar. We are really going to enjoy him. Tomorrow is my busy day. I start at 8:00 A.M. and go through until 5:00 P. M. I don't think that I will go to the gym tomorrow. I think that we will go back to the cat place for dinner. It is great food. I hope all of you are doing well. Mother and I are not spending much of your inheritance here. We couldn't if we tried. On Monday, we also went to a famous Chinese Market. It was a lot of fun. This place was not the typical market. These were nice stores with lots of fun Chinese things. Many jade items and wooden carvings, like that big Chinese guy with the fat stomach that you see in American Chinese restaurants. Well it is getting time for each of you to arise for the morning. I hope each of you have a safe great day. Please fax the grand kids over for a few days.
In the evening, we went to a place for dinner that we have been before. The food is great. Their portions are small. Last time we ordered three items, but it didn't quite fill us up. The cost last time was $3.00. Mom and I consider our financial portfolio and agree that we can spend 30 yuen, which is four dollars and eighty cents. For that amount we can order 6 items. We order french fries, vegetable soup, some crab stuff, fried rice and fried chicken. We also order a large coke. Our friends who are with us consider their financial condition and agree they can spend $4.00. Poor guys! Any way, we both order. Pretty soon the food starts coming. This time the orders are huge. There is not enough room on the table for our food. We have to stack up the servings. We eat some of the food, but can't eat near all of it. We take several containers of food home with us. I wish they would make up their mind about their serving sizes. Oh, about our large coke. They brought us each a 2 liter bottle of diet coke. Well, that is certainly a large coke. When I go to walk out of the restaurant, I see a cat sitting on the check out counter. I scratch the cats back. That's the most ungrateful cat I ever scratched. When I scratched him (or her) is all he did was lick he paw. He didn't meow how good it was. Stupid cat just layed there like a bump on a log. It will be a cold day before he gets scratched by me again.
I went to class today. My students all have an English name. If they don't have one, we suggest names for them. Several of my students have chosed family names. Two of my students have chosen very unusual American names. I have never heard them before, and certainly hope none of you use them for my grand children. One is named HORSE and the other is named SALOON. These boys are great kids also. We get along great. They love their American names. Our branch president just arrived from the states today. He came to visit us tonight. What a great guy. He was Academic Vice President at BYU Idaho under Elder Bednar. He told us some great experiences he had with Elder Bednar. We are really going to enjoy him. Tomorrow is my busy day. I start at 8:00 A.M. and go through until 5:00 P. M. I don't think that I will go to the gym tomorrow. I think that we will go back to the cat place for dinner. It is great food. I hope all of you are doing well. Mother and I are not spending much of your inheritance here. We couldn't if we tried. On Monday, we also went to a famous Chinese Market. It was a lot of fun. This place was not the typical market. These were nice stores with lots of fun Chinese things. Many jade items and wooden carvings, like that big Chinese guy with the fat stomach that you see in American Chinese restaurants. Well it is getting time for each of you to arise for the morning. I hope each of you have a safe great day. Please fax the grand kids over for a few days.
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Dumb Dog- Dad
We just arrived home from Sacrament meeting. It begins at 6:00 Saturday evening, your time. This morning we left the apartment at about 8:10. That gives us 15 minutes to walk to the place where the taxi is, and a 20 minute ride by taxi, then we get there ten minutes early. When we walked out of our apartment there was a taxi just waiting there. He is not actually allowed to come to this area. Anyway, we jumped in and took off. He had to go out the back way (which was actually a short cut to go to church) so the campus police would not catch him where he shouldn't be. He drove like a wild man. Even the Chinese pedestrians jumped out of his way. He got us to church in about 9 minutes. He is so happy he got us there fast. Maybe he wanted a tip, I don't know. When he stopped, he gave me a high five and laughed. I paid him his buck sixty and he was off. Well, we get to church 35 minutes early. The church is locked. ( actually it is a very large house in a nice neighborhood) We sit on the steps of the church (house) waiting for someone to show up and unlock the doors. While we are sitting there, here comes a pooch. Kind of a small back thing. He looks at me and growls. I look at him an growl back. Now we have a contest going of looking and growling. Pretty soon I hear a person yealing.., I think she is calling for the dog. I keep quiet, but the pooch hasn't got enough sense to keep quiet. The owner comes and smacks the pooch for growling at me. I just keep quiet. The pooch gets put inside of a fensed yard. When the pooch is getting put in he gives me a dirty look. I say to mom, if the big dummy had had enough sense to keep his mouth shut he wouldn't have gotten into trouble. We went to the 2nd counselor in the branch presidency's house for lunch. The whole branch was invited. About 20 people. She served a delicious green salad, with cut up chicken, rolls and some fruit. It was really good. .We caught a cab home and now I am catching up on my emails and getting some school stuff ready. Tomorrow is a holiday and then back to school of Tuesday. Well, I wish I could have the children for a while. Love Dad P. S. We BYU so good, or was UCLA so bad? Or a little of both? Good night.
Wonderful Sunday- Mom
Church was wonderful and we went to the 2nd counselor's house for lunch and had salads with homemade salad dressings. They were so tasty!! We have a holiday tomorrow and plan to go to ancient street. It should be fun and we hope to get some pictures. I'm going to take a Sunday afternoon nap--
Love, Mother
Love, Mother
Ordering a diet coke-Dad
BYU game begins in a little over 10 hours. Who are you rooting for? (I guess that question is only for Brit) or maybe Scott. I think the best team will win, and unless there is an upset, then the worst team might win. In any case, one of the teams usually win. I haven't seen any odds on the game here in China. It doesn't seem to be such a hot topic here. I don't think the game will be on local television here, however I could get up at 3:00 A. M. to see if it is available. Today is a holiday, as is Sunday and Monday. It is the Mid Fall Festival. They all eat "moon cakes" Some are great, some not so great. We were given three boxes of them by the school officials. Today, I walked to Home Depot. About a mile walk each way. I needed some PVC pipe and some fittings to make a make shift telephone receifver. (things are a little different here in China) As I was trying to negotiate my way across the street, (5 lanes each direction, without a cross walk)" I was meandering through traffic. Here comes some guy on his bike flat out moving. Well, that's nothing new, everyone on bikes flat out move. But this guy had a white cane he was waving as he zig-zagged through traffic. I got out of his way quick. I wasn't taking any chances. Pretty soon, I hear an ambulance coming, blarring his horn. As bicyclists and cars hear him, they all try to out run him. The ambulance is the last guy in line.
I went into McDonald's to get a diet coke. I try to order. The waiter has no idea. I point to the coke dispenser. She thinks that I want to come behind the counter and pour my own coke. She indicates, no way. I say diet coke, no ice. She looks puzzled. She brings out a bag of uncooked french fries. I say, well, that is probably diet fries, but I want a diet coke. She tells me something in Chinese, I answer in English. She still doesn't understand. I say in English, "whose the ding bat in charge here? Pretty soon she returns with another employee. She points to him and says /Ding. Well I now have Mr. Ding to help me.I say I would like a diet coke, no ice. He motions for me to come behind the counter. The waiter says something to Mr. Ding in Chinese. I think she says "no he can't come behind the counter." They yell at each other back and forth for a couple of minutes. Finially Ding goes into the back. He brings out a picture of everything they sell. He has coke. At least it has a Coke logo. I point to Coke, and I say diet. I point to my stomach, and bulge it out as far as it will go. He looks at me and shakes his head, like he is sorry. He thinks I am really hungry. He points to french fries, a hamburger, a chicken burger and an apple pie. I say no, diet coke with no ice. Everyone in the store is looking at me and my bulged stomach. They look in disbelief. A little boy walked up and patted my stomach. I ask him if he speaks English. He laughs and pulls up his shirt, and trys to bulge his stomach. His mother sees him do it. She is embarrased, and scolds him. I gave him a high five and he left. Well, meanwhile back to Mr. Ding. I say to Ding, I'll take a coke anyway you would like to present it to me. I point to the coke, and hold up one finger to indicate I would like one coke. That Mr. Ding understands, he tells the waiter I would like a coke and she brings it to me.The people behind me are not happy. with me as I walk away, because I have taken so much time with one coke. I walk out in the middle of the street. This time I know how to hail a cab. The only problem is, mother is not with me. I see a cab that is empty. I walk in front of the cab. he trys to swerve, but I swerve also. He has to stop. When he comes to a complete stop. I smile at him. Then I run as fast as I can and get in his cab, before he has a chance to leave me. I say, "Nankai /dah /shur" He shrugs his head and away we go. He aimes his cab, steps on the gas, and the bicyclists scatter. All of this time he is honking his horn. He takes me back to my apartment. Just another day in China. I do believe however, that the horns on the cars are the first things to go when things wear out. I don't believe that the horns are under warranty.. Well, anyway have a good nights rest. And may the best team win. I wonder if God cheers for BYU, or if he performs some great miracles to give those who pay their tithing a little added advantage. If he doesn't, he should. Love, Dad
I went into McDonald's to get a diet coke. I try to order. The waiter has no idea. I point to the coke dispenser. She thinks that I want to come behind the counter and pour my own coke. She indicates, no way. I say diet coke, no ice. She looks puzzled. She brings out a bag of uncooked french fries. I say, well, that is probably diet fries, but I want a diet coke. She tells me something in Chinese, I answer in English. She still doesn't understand. I say in English, "whose the ding bat in charge here? Pretty soon she returns with another employee. She points to him and says /Ding. Well I now have Mr. Ding to help me.I say I would like a diet coke, no ice. He motions for me to come behind the counter. The waiter says something to Mr. Ding in Chinese. I think she says "no he can't come behind the counter." They yell at each other back and forth for a couple of minutes. Finially Ding goes into the back. He brings out a picture of everything they sell. He has coke. At least it has a Coke logo. I point to Coke, and I say diet. I point to my stomach, and bulge it out as far as it will go. He looks at me and shakes his head, like he is sorry. He thinks I am really hungry. He points to french fries, a hamburger, a chicken burger and an apple pie. I say no, diet coke with no ice. Everyone in the store is looking at me and my bulged stomach. They look in disbelief. A little boy walked up and patted my stomach. I ask him if he speaks English. He laughs and pulls up his shirt, and trys to bulge his stomach. His mother sees him do it. She is embarrased, and scolds him. I gave him a high five and he left. Well, meanwhile back to Mr. Ding. I say to Ding, I'll take a coke anyway you would like to present it to me. I point to the coke, and hold up one finger to indicate I would like one coke. That Mr. Ding understands, he tells the waiter I would like a coke and she brings it to me.The people behind me are not happy. with me as I walk away, because I have taken so much time with one coke. I walk out in the middle of the street. This time I know how to hail a cab. The only problem is, mother is not with me. I see a cab that is empty. I walk in front of the cab. he trys to swerve, but I swerve also. He has to stop. When he comes to a complete stop. I smile at him. Then I run as fast as I can and get in his cab, before he has a chance to leave me. I say, "Nankai /dah /shur" He shrugs his head and away we go. He aimes his cab, steps on the gas, and the bicyclists scatter. All of this time he is honking his horn. He takes me back to my apartment. Just another day in China. I do believe however, that the horns on the cars are the first things to go when things wear out. I don't believe that the horns are under warranty.. Well, anyway have a good nights rest. And may the best team win. I wonder if God cheers for BYU, or if he performs some great miracles to give those who pay their tithing a little added advantage. If he doesn't, he should. Love, Dad
Friday, September 12, 2008
How to catch a cab- Dad
Hi everyone: This has been a busy day. It is now about 9:00 P.M. Just arrivede back home. I went to the Gym this morning, then went to the market. I met a Chinese lady who helped me accomplish some things. She spoke good English. I got a hair cut while I was there. I got my monies worth. I showed the barber that I wanted her to take off about 1/2 inch. On the top, she did what I asked. On the side burns, there are no side burns left. I don't know what she thought, but I won't need another hair cut until I get home next June or July. Like I said, I got my monies worth. It cost me $1.60. She washed my head, gave me a scalp massage, and a hair cut. Then back to the washing part again. Ive got the cleanest head ever. I thought it would cost about $25.00, but no, just a buck sixty. I have been given a raise. I now make just $16.00 a month less than mother. I have received a $64.00 per month raise. For the raise, I am going to teach another class. This is an adult education class. They hardly know English. Well. since I hardly know Chinese, we are on equal ground. I teach the class on Wednesday afternoon from 2 until 5. I eacn $16.00. $5.33 per hour. Not bad! Tonight we went to dinner with 4 of our friends from the U. S. Most all of the restaurants are a hole in the wall, but the restaurants are clean and the food is DELICIOUS. Tonights meal was no exception. Mom had baked crab, and fries and orange juice. I had some great tomato soup, Chinese beef and vegetables and soda. The portions wern't too big but OK. Our meal cost about $4.00 total. The cab fare was a buck sixty, so the evening wasn't all that expensive. Hailing a cab is very interesting. I walk out in the middle of the street between the cars, buses, and bikes, going 30 to 50 mph. I see a cab, I hold my hand up. He waves to me and drives by. I do that four or five times, I get the same response from all of the cabs. Finially I see an empty cab coming. I step in front of him. He has to stop. I stay in front of him until mother gets in, then I run to get in before he leaves me. He says,something to me in Chinese. I motion for him to just go down the road. We see a place we want to stop. I hold up my two hands in a :T: (like time out) he stops, we get out, and I give him a buck twenty and he is off. The taxi drivers all work for the government, so they don't care if they get a fare or not. They would just as soon not. I've got it down though, if I don';t get killed first. I am getting good enough to just do as the Chinese do. None of them seem to have been hit, so I should be OK. Tonight, I told the cab driver that I wanted to go to Nankai University. I said Nankai Dah Shuh. He said Ok. He took us somewhere I had never seen before. We passed through the guard gate. he said something to the guard, the guard looked at me, I said Professor, the guard saluted me and motioned us through the gate. I thought I must be on some milatary base and the guard must have thought I was the General. Anyway, the taxi driver goes for a while, I have no idea where I am, but I know I'm somewhere. He drives a while longer, and pretty soon I recognize an area. I am then able to direct him to our housing. I bow and thank him, he bows and thanks me. I bow again and thank him again. He bows a couple of more times to me.. After a few more bown, I realize he wants some money. After I pay him, the bowing stops and he leaves. It is very safe here, no matter where you are. (I think) Our maid comes everyday. She is good and very nice. She speaks to me in Chinese, I speak to her in English, and we have a very nice conversation. We have a lot of pictures of the family, and all of our grand children, on our walls. Some times I walk into the liveing room, and I will say, "Good Morning" to each of you. No one ever talks back, so we get along just fine. In the evening, sometimes I hear someone whistle. I thought someone must be whistleing to tell his girl friend to come down. I look out the window, and I see no one. He whistles again, but still no one. After the 5th or 6th whistle, I go down and outside myself to see If I can help him get who ever he wants. I get there, but no one is there. I go back into our apartment, and the whistleing starts again. This time I hide myself out side on the balcony, with the lights out. Now I know I will catch him. He whistles again, this time I see him. (or her) It is a very large bird in the tree. I tell the old boy (or girl) "good night" and the whistleing starts again. This time I take my harmonica out on the balcany, when he whistles, I play the harmonica. When I play the harmonica, the old boy (or girl) starts whisteling to my tune. When I stop, he stops. I again wish him good night. and we both go to bed. Well, I'm not actually sure about him. (or her) Well, that's about it. China is a great experience. I am very relaxed, and life is simple here. well, OK, "good night to all of you" or maby I should say good morning, as it is about 7:00 A. M. your time. Enjoy your day, I will enjoy my night. I think I will bow to mother and go to bed. I love you all. Dad
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Monday is one of the large holidays in China. It is mid-autumn festival. The university has asked us to be on a TV show and we agreed. It keeps getting more involved as the time draws near. First, they were going to interview us live from our apartment. Then, they wanted to add a Chinese faculty member to the mix. This morning we were told that we will go to a Chinese home and talk about the festival and then make dumplings together and then be filmed eating and sharing the meal and moon cakes, which is the traditional food eaten for luck on this holiday. They are little pasteries with filling (very solid filling) and are quite good. There is nothing I can compare them to because we don't ever eat anything with that sort of filling--the fillings vary from nuts, figs, and bean curd, but is very dense!! We will take our own camera and try to get pictures to send next week. We film tonight or Friday night--it is very relaxed and not precise here in China. Our classes are wonderful and we are having a great experience.
Pizza Hut Salad Bar- Dad
Dear everyone. I don't know how to send this email to everyone at the same
time, so I am sending this to Brit and ask that he forwards it to all the
children. Thanks Brit. We have just finished teaching this week. We teach
only on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Next Monday is a holiday. We will
celebrate the Mid Autumn Festival. It is similar to Thanksgiving. A
television station contacted the university today and asked to interview a
foreigner. The school contacted us to see if they could interview us and
show the interview on television. We said sure. So tomorrow they are
going to interview us in our apartment. We are reading up on the computer
the origin of the holdiay and how they celebrate it. Today, after class, I
was on my way to the gym. While waliking, a student stopped me and asked if
they could interview me. The student had a microphone and there was a
person video taping our conversation. They asked me what I was going to do
to celberate the holiday this weekend. I said that some of our friends and
us was going to have a celebration tegether, and eat moon cakes. Moon cakes
are the traditional thing you eat, on this holiday, just like on
Thanksgiving the traditional thing to eat is Turkey and pumpkin pie. There
is a ledgend about the moon cakes, we are studying up on it. The university
gave us three beautiful packages of moon cakes. The moon cakes are about
the size of a cup cake. the outside is similar to a cookie and the inside is
filled with different types of fillings. We ate some and they were really
quite good. The university sent two beautiful wrapped tin boxes with the
moon cakes in it. They are each individually wraped. Today we received one
more package of them from the Foreigh Teachers Department. They are so nice
to us. So, tomorrow we will be interviewed and be on television sometime.
I don't think that you will get it on your local station. Today was
teachers day. After my classes, I went to the teachers lounge to have
office hours with my students. When I arrived. several of my students were
there and gave me a large bouquet of flowers. They took photos of giving
them to me and then I went to lunch with my students. They all wished me
happy teachers day. Mother didn/t get any flowers, so I donated mine to
her. Mothers favorite dinner here, is a dish like Mimi's five star chicken.
It is served in a large bowl with a few vegetables in the bottom and a lot
of a sweet broth in the bowl. It is served with an entire chicken in it.
The chicken is cut up in one inch strips, by about 6 inches. (the entire
size of the chicken) complete with the head on it. It is very good. It is
similar to Mimi's five star chicken. Our cell phones real aare horrible.
We were notified today that the plan we signed up for is out of minutes. I
signed up for 300 minutes a month. We couldn't have used more than about
100 minutes so far. We are going to change our plan. It is all a matter of
becoming acquainted with how things work here in China. We could never have
this kind of experience by just visiting the country. By being here and
being a part of the Chinese culture, we are really having a true Chinese
experience. We went to a pizza hut a few days ago. We tried to order two
salad bar salads. They refused. She said you can only order one salad from
the salad bar. They gave me a small bowl and I went to the salad bar. When
I arrived at the salad bar, the Chinese had it down. They lined the outside
of the bowl with slices of fruit. It was like laying bricks in a circle.
They stacked the fruit about 10 to 12 inches high. They filled the middle
with different types of salad. Lettuce, celery, croutons, cucumber,
tomataos, onions, beets, and a lot of other things, along with the salad
dressing. I guarantee the chinese get their moneys worth, and they only
need one bowl. One bowl feeds a dozen or more people. The bowl contains a
little of everything so everyones palite it taken care of. The cost is
about $4.00. I didn't fill mine like the chinese did. It was really
comical. I called mother over to the salad bar to see for herself. If I
had told her about it without her seeing it, I think she would have thought
I was exagerating. Towards the end of the month, the Chinese celebrate a
week long holiday.. We are taking a trip with several other couples. It is
escourted by a Chinese tour guide. The church has used this gentlemen a
lot. We go by air to a certain part of China, then by train to an area,
Then a one day ride on a camel to another area in the desert, and a day back
by camel, then on to the area where we can see the Teracota Warriors. They
were unearthed several years ago. We plan on buying one of the replicas and
having it shipped home. They weight severl hundred pounds. After that, we
go to the Great Wall for a day. We can walk the wall, take a bike, or rent
an electric scooter. I'm sure that mother will wimp out and not climb the
wall. I plan on walking it up to the top of the mountains and take a lot of
photos. After that, we fly back to our home city. The tour starts on a
Saturday, and endes eight days later on Sunday. The people here are so
kind. Everyday, some one stops us and wants to pratice their English on us.
Many are very good. Others you must really pay attention, but generally you
get the message. The elevators are very quiet, so I always break the ice
and start speaking. The students act so surprised, but then open up and
start speaking with me. Those who don't know any English just laugh and
don't know what to do. I smile at them and say neehow. That means hello.
A couple of days ago, I called the lady who takes care of our apartment and
motioned for her to come in. I was trying to show her that our hot plate
didn't work. Know matter what I did,, how I acted, how I tried to show her
that it wouldn't heat up, she couldn't understand. She called three other
ladies in to see if they could understand. It was the funniest thing I have
ever seen. These four ladies were talking Chinese, all at the same time,
going a hundred miles an hour. It was a hoot. They finially left, and
still not knowing the hot plate wasn't working. I think they thought that I
wanted to cook dinner for them, and they could't figure out how I was going
to cook dinner for them on that hot plate. They all thanked me in Chinese,
shook their head, shook my hand and left. Well, such is life in China. I
haven't gone back to correct my mistakes, so just understand that I am
typing fast and will make some mistakes. Please do not correct it and sent
it back corrected. Again, Brit and Tricia, please foward this e-mail to all
the children. I love you all, have a great day.Your time is either 5:30, or
6:30 A.M. depending where you are. It is 8:30 P. M. here. Time for bed in
a couple of hours. I will keep you all informed as time goes on. Hopefully
I will get our phone systems corrrected before long. I love you all. Dad
time, so I am sending this to Brit and ask that he forwards it to all the
children. Thanks Brit. We have just finished teaching this week. We teach
only on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Next Monday is a holiday. We will
celebrate the Mid Autumn Festival. It is similar to Thanksgiving. A
television station contacted the university today and asked to interview a
foreigner. The school contacted us to see if they could interview us and
show the interview on television. We said sure. So tomorrow they are
going to interview us in our apartment. We are reading up on the computer
the origin of the holdiay and how they celebrate it. Today, after class, I
was on my way to the gym. While waliking, a student stopped me and asked if
they could interview me. The student had a microphone and there was a
person video taping our conversation. They asked me what I was going to do
to celberate the holiday this weekend. I said that some of our friends and
us was going to have a celebration tegether, and eat moon cakes. Moon cakes
are the traditional thing you eat, on this holiday, just like on
Thanksgiving the traditional thing to eat is Turkey and pumpkin pie. There
is a ledgend about the moon cakes, we are studying up on it. The university
gave us three beautiful packages of moon cakes. The moon cakes are about
the size of a cup cake. the outside is similar to a cookie and the inside is
filled with different types of fillings. We ate some and they were really
quite good. The university sent two beautiful wrapped tin boxes with the
moon cakes in it. They are each individually wraped. Today we received one
more package of them from the Foreigh Teachers Department. They are so nice
to us. So, tomorrow we will be interviewed and be on television sometime.
I don't think that you will get it on your local station. Today was
teachers day. After my classes, I went to the teachers lounge to have
office hours with my students. When I arrived. several of my students were
there and gave me a large bouquet of flowers. They took photos of giving
them to me and then I went to lunch with my students. They all wished me
happy teachers day. Mother didn/t get any flowers, so I donated mine to
her. Mothers favorite dinner here, is a dish like Mimi's five star chicken.
It is served in a large bowl with a few vegetables in the bottom and a lot
of a sweet broth in the bowl. It is served with an entire chicken in it.
The chicken is cut up in one inch strips, by about 6 inches. (the entire
size of the chicken) complete with the head on it. It is very good. It is
similar to Mimi's five star chicken. Our cell phones real aare horrible.
We were notified today that the plan we signed up for is out of minutes. I
signed up for 300 minutes a month. We couldn't have used more than about
100 minutes so far. We are going to change our plan. It is all a matter of
becoming acquainted with how things work here in China. We could never have
this kind of experience by just visiting the country. By being here and
being a part of the Chinese culture, we are really having a true Chinese
experience. We went to a pizza hut a few days ago. We tried to order two
salad bar salads. They refused. She said you can only order one salad from
the salad bar. They gave me a small bowl and I went to the salad bar. When
I arrived at the salad bar, the Chinese had it down. They lined the outside
of the bowl with slices of fruit. It was like laying bricks in a circle.
They stacked the fruit about 10 to 12 inches high. They filled the middle
with different types of salad. Lettuce, celery, croutons, cucumber,
tomataos, onions, beets, and a lot of other things, along with the salad
dressing. I guarantee the chinese get their moneys worth, and they only
need one bowl. One bowl feeds a dozen or more people. The bowl contains a
little of everything so everyones palite it taken care of. The cost is
about $4.00. I didn't fill mine like the chinese did. It was really
comical. I called mother over to the salad bar to see for herself. If I
had told her about it without her seeing it, I think she would have thought
I was exagerating. Towards the end of the month, the Chinese celebrate a
week long holiday.. We are taking a trip with several other couples. It is
escourted by a Chinese tour guide. The church has used this gentlemen a
lot. We go by air to a certain part of China, then by train to an area,
Then a one day ride on a camel to another area in the desert, and a day back
by camel, then on to the area where we can see the Teracota Warriors. They
were unearthed several years ago. We plan on buying one of the replicas and
having it shipped home. They weight severl hundred pounds. After that, we
go to the Great Wall for a day. We can walk the wall, take a bike, or rent
an electric scooter. I'm sure that mother will wimp out and not climb the
wall. I plan on walking it up to the top of the mountains and take a lot of
photos. After that, we fly back to our home city. The tour starts on a
Saturday, and endes eight days later on Sunday. The people here are so
kind. Everyday, some one stops us and wants to pratice their English on us.
Many are very good. Others you must really pay attention, but generally you
get the message. The elevators are very quiet, so I always break the ice
and start speaking. The students act so surprised, but then open up and
start speaking with me. Those who don't know any English just laugh and
don't know what to do. I smile at them and say neehow. That means hello.
A couple of days ago, I called the lady who takes care of our apartment and
motioned for her to come in. I was trying to show her that our hot plate
didn't work. Know matter what I did,, how I acted, how I tried to show her
that it wouldn't heat up, she couldn't understand. She called three other
ladies in to see if they could understand. It was the funniest thing I have
ever seen. These four ladies were talking Chinese, all at the same time,
going a hundred miles an hour. It was a hoot. They finially left, and
still not knowing the hot plate wasn't working. I think they thought that I
wanted to cook dinner for them, and they could't figure out how I was going
to cook dinner for them on that hot plate. They all thanked me in Chinese,
shook their head, shook my hand and left. Well, such is life in China. I
haven't gone back to correct my mistakes, so just understand that I am
typing fast and will make some mistakes. Please do not correct it and sent
it back corrected. Again, Brit and Tricia, please foward this e-mail to all
the children. I love you all, have a great day.Your time is either 5:30, or
6:30 A.M. depending where you are. It is 8:30 P. M. here. Time for bed in
a couple of hours. I will keep you all informed as time goes on. Hopefully
I will get our phone systems corrrected before long. I love you all. Dad
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Holiday Moon Cakes- Mom
My friend from MCC has sent me two boxes of teaching materials because I was so caught off guard at how very advanced my Juniors are. This week I am writing formal business letters with them, at their request and got my lesson of the internet. (reliable, huh?) The first class liked it and I have 2 more this afternoon. Hopefully, the materials will arrive quickly. Next Monday is their fall holiday and so there are no classes--our department sent over 2 darling sacks (one each) with lovely tins in them and each has 6 moon cakes in it. They are really cute and very good--you eat them for luck. I like holidays like that--most of my students will try to go home for the long weekend, but not for the 4 weeks between semesters, odd? Well, give your little darlings a love from grandma. We hope to get Skype hooked up next Monday on the holiday. Talk to you sometime soon, I hope--
Love, Mother
Love, Mother
Monday, September 8, 2008
Finding a place to eat- Dad
I am working on my lesson plans, and I think they are working out fine. I sat in on the last few minutes of mothers class this morning. I didn't have any classes today, because my freshman are on military training. Our second counselor in our branch presidency was telling me about a phone system that he has. He pays $300.00 per year and has a direct line to the united States. He can call out as much as he wants, and anyone from the states can call them as much as they want. He had someone else install it for him last year. He is looking into helping me get it installed in our apartment. We'll see what happens. Yesterday at church, a young couple told us about this restaurant in China that served the best pulled pork they had ever tasted. They also said that they had great brocolli cooked in garlic. The lady gave us a card from the restaurant with the address on it. After church we dicided to go there for lunch. (us and the Jones, from Logan) I show the taxi driver the card. He says a whole bunch of stuff to me in Chinese. I say a whole bunch of stuff to him in English. That goes back and forth for about two minutes. He finially figures out that he is not going to learn English, and I am not going to learn Chinese. He looks at the card and starts on his way. We drive for about 20 minutes. He takes us down a back alley type area, even though it did have a paved street. Oh, along the way, he stops a couple of times and asks other cab drivers questions. I assume he is asking them where to find this restaurant. He might be telling them what a bunch of dummies he is driving aroung. Anyway, we go down this side steet. He looks like a buch of small houses or apartments on one side of the street, and some large apartments on the other side of the street. In front of the small apartments on the one side, it looks like some families are cooking on the sidewalk to sell to who ever happens by. The taxi driver indicates were here, and wants his money. I pay him about $4.00 and he is a happy camper and leaves. Meanwhile, we are standing on the sidewalk, not knowing where we are. There is a lady standing near us. I show her the card. She smiles and indicates for us to follow her. We walk down past a couple of businesses and we come in front of a small building. She points for us to go in. We do. It really is a restaurant. It is kind of a cut up house, and it is very crouded. We have to put our name in to wait for a table. In a minute or so, some Chinese guy comes out and speaks a little English. He motions for us to come in, (ahead of all the others who are waiting, and I did not bribe him) He takes into a back room and sets us down. Kind of an old room, I give it about a three. It is clean however. The four of us sit down. A waitress comes to take our order. She brings us a menu in English. We are greatful. Before we get a chance to read the menu, she points to the pulled pork and to the garlic brocolli. Says it is very good. We say, OK. We also order some cashew crusted chicken. I order a large diet coke. Immediately she brings the large diet coke. It is a two liter bottle of diet coke. In a few minutes she brings the rest of the meal. I have never tasted pulled sweet pork as good as this was. The brocolli and the cashew crusted chicken were equally as good. The order was quite large. It easily fed the four of us. I've never tasted better in my life. At least as far back as I can remember. We all shared the diet coke. We were plenty happy and the lady who referred us was right. It was sooooooo goooooood. The bill for the four of us was about 20.00 +or -. We found another cab and went home. We will definetely go back there again every few weeks. Shopping is interesting here. It's fun to go to the super market and look at the fish section. Ambers children and Jaxon would love watching them. It's like going to Red Lobster and getting the Lobster out and playing with them. Except here, they don't care if you touch them and play with them. Everything has it's head still on and lots of fish are alive, swimming in the tank.It's fun to watch the squid and octupus. (swimming) They have most everything we have, but you have to look and ask. No one speaks English, so you use your hands to make motions, and they get the picture and walk us over to the department where we can find the item. We are generally on schedule here. We go to bed aroung 10:00 P.M. and get up about 7:00 A. M. on the days we have class. On Thursday, Friday and Saturday, we sleep a little longer. On Sunday we went to church. It was a very nice home that the church rents. There were 25 there on Sunday. Which included 5 small children. It was fast sunday. People spoke Chinese, Korean and English, all with someone to interperate. (spelling) It was a great meeting with a great spirit present., I blessed the sacrament. The branch president and his first counselor were still in the U.S. They will arrive in two weeks. The second counselor presided and conducted. He was a very common man and did a great job. Very down to earth. After our last meeting, (which was a combines priesthood and relief society class) the counselor called a young couple by name and said. "Would you speak in church next Sunday?" They said sure. Sure a easier way to ask someone to speak than we do in America. All in all, we are having a great time here in China. Of course, we miss each of you children and our grand children. But this time will go quite quickly and we will return home to continue on with our life there. Well, most emails won't be this lengthly, but I had a few extra minutes.
Sunday, September 7, 2008
People stop us on the street- Dad
We just arrived home from church and having lunch. The phone card you got for me quit working. Could you check on it and see why. I still had about 10 or 12 hours on it. That is why I haven't called you lately. Don't worry if you can't get it working, I will buy one here. Maby the Chinese expect me to buy it here, if I am going to use it here. I don't start teaching full time for another week or two. Right now, I am just teaching 3 classes a week. The kids are smart and fun. I am spending a lot of time preparing for my classes. Mother helps me also. We are teaching some of the same classes, but hers is written English and mine is oral English. The class rooms are nice and clean. I think they are set up about the same as any high school or college class is in the U. S.. The people here couldn't be nicer. People stop us on the street, and want to pratice their English. When I am on campus, people, especially girls stop me and ask if they can take my class. Just to learn english, not for credit. I say sure, come on it. They are so greatful. They are so happy to speak with some one who speaks correct English. I have one class that only has 5 students registered. Only three showed up, and one was just to audit the class. I had a lot of one on one time and the three loved it. I am sending a check for almost $2500.00 to a man in Beijing, to pay for our one week trip, for the China Silk Road. trip. There are probably 40 or 50 couples taking the trip. I am anxious to go to, and walk part of the great wall. I love you and the family. Love Dad
Saturday, September 6, 2008
(A POST FROM ASHLEY)
There has been some concern that the address just posted (by me) is exactly the same as the address in the earlier post. I changed both of them so that there would be no mistakes...Like, in case someone was SO excited to send Mom and Dad a letter that they had already copied down the incorrect address! With all this hullabaloo, I hope Wynn and Paula get some snail mail SOON!!
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Just in case...
Just in case you had already copied down our address that was posted, we just wanted to let everyone know that it has been updated a little bit, and the correct address is:
Wynn & Paula Ferrell
Foreign Guesthouse # 206
Nankai University att; Juo Jing
94 Weijin Road
Tianjin 300071
PR China
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
First day of class- Mom
1st day--our students are really advanced. Much more than my MCC students. Imagine my surprise and lack of appropriate materials. I will have to keep the internet busy and put some real effort into this without any textbook.
First day of class- Dad
Class went very well today. I just taught for one hour, because we had to go to the Police Station to get our residency permit. Everyone here is very nice. So far, my students all (3) speak very good english. That's right, I only had three students today. Not to worry, though there are 5 enrolled in this class. My other classes have 15 or 20 enrolled. We have been shopping quite a bit to get our apartment in order. We usually eat breakfast in our apartment, (oatmeal) eat lunch out and no dinner or just a snack.
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