The Ferrells: December 2008

Dear Family:

We have enjoyed Christmas in China. It was different without any of the family being with us. None the less, we enjoyed ourselves. We opened presents, went to the market and picked up my new suit I had made. It fits and looks great. My $50.00 was well spent, and I also received two pair of pants with it.

Today, we took a Korean family to dinner. They are a family that we home teach. Tyler knows the lady. She taught him Korean at the MTC. She said that Tyler was always the life of the class. She remembered him and his humor. Well, we took them to a Korean restaurant here in Tianjin. (first mistake) They are Bing and Uno Kim. Uno ordered our food. (2nd mistake) Here comes the food. (third mistake) Kim Chee,al a mode. Doesn't look all that appetizing. I taste it. (4th mistake) I was right. Here come some more stuff. (5th mistake) More of the same. Oh, by the way, we are sitting on the floor. Some one says that it is sea weed. I try it. It is sea weed al a squid. Complete with the squid. Yuck! Next comes 5 little plates of more Kim Chee al a mode and sea weed. I get the idea now. If you don't eat the stuff, they won't bring you anymore. I was right. Well, pretty soon they bring some raw meat and fry it at your table. That part was OK. I give it a two or a three. Nothing to have sweet dreams about, It was the kind of stuff that if you were starving on the Gobee Desert, you might eat it after the third day. Well, all in all, I give the meal about a two. I can honestly say that I am so proud of Tyler for sticking it out in Korea, and eating that stuff. Or, maybe he didn't eat the stuff. Perhaps he went to McDonalds. That must have been why I sent him a little extra money from time to time. I don't blame you Tyler, I would have gone to McDonalds also. If I had known how nasty it was, I would have sent you more extra money to go to Mc Donalds, or even somewhere else Western.

Well, I can count my home teaching complete. (complete with kim chee) The Kims left happy, and I left sick. Well, next time we are taking them to TGIF. They already know it, and have agreed to it. They will find out what some good food tastes like. They may never go back to kim chee again. And by the way, TGIF is not a great restaurant here in China. Well, perhaps it's great here in China, because that may be the closest you get to good American food. Even the McDonalds hamburger tastes yucky here. I give McDonalds about a three.

Our first semister is over. It has been a good experience. I love my kids. They are just "good kids." They have a real desire to learn. Since I teach Oral English, all of my finals consisted of a five minute conversation with each student individually. We talked about what we did in class. My freshman had to write a dialogue. Then they read it to me. They were graded on the content, (did it make sense?) their pronunciation, and how well their dialogue flowed. All in all they did quite well.

Next week, mother and I are traveling to Harbin. It is very cold. the daytime high is about 14 degrees. It is where all of the ice sculpturing takes place here in China. It is north of us, up by Mongolia somewhere, but still in China. It is about a two or three hour plane ride. We stay there two days, then back to Tianjin to un thaw.

It snowed last Sunday. I think I told you, we had eleven of us to church. It has been cold all week. Mother and I still get on the three wheeler and away we go. Mother actually likes this thing. I would never have believed it. I am going to sell the Lexus before we get home and bring the three wheeler back with me. I think that mother will be happy with the three wheeler when we get back to Arizona. She will so happy not to have to walk, that the three wheeler will be a real treat. If she comes home to the Lexus, our time here in China will have been a complete waste. This is just like being back on the ranch in Burlington, complete with the three seat out house. (with no curtains between the seats.) I wonder if they ever had three sitting there at the same time?

We went to Beijing yesterday. Left about 9 and returned at about 7. All in all, a great day. More shopping, more stuff. Went to the pearl market and to the silk market. More peals and more ties and magic tricks. I bought a few more magic tricks. While there, the guy gave me a rubber mask of Barrack Obama. What am I going to do with that? He and I have gotten to be good buddies. I think that I now own his store. I have every magic trick known to man. Well, now I have to figure out how to work them, so they will really be magic.

The toy store is something to behold, as is the Silk and Pearl markets. You can't imagine it without seeing it. The Silk market has hundreds of little shops, aisle after aisle and row after row. Each booth has a person trying to get you to stop and buy something. If you don't stop, they often times grab your arm and pull you inside. Yesterday, I was looking at booth after booth of watches. I begin to negotiate with them. She said, "just for you, I give you a special deal." I say, "I want your cheapest special deal." She says, "OK 600 Yuan." About $40.00. I say, "What." She says, "OK, last special deal, just for you because you are so handsome. 5oo Yuan." I say, "no way" and start to walk off. She says, "OK special deal, just for you, 300 yuan." About $20.00. There are Rolex watches. I ask her if these watches are genuine. She assures me they are. Not a bad deal. A real Rolex for $20.00. A Rolex in the States sells for several hundred, or even several thousand dollars. Well, I tell her she is still charging me to much for this genune Rolex. "OK" she says. last beto deal, just for you, 250 Yuan." I say, "well, it sounds like a pretty good deal, but I want to look at the other booths to see what kind of deal they will make me." She assures me that no one can even come close to her deal. I leave anyway. At each booth we go through the same adventure. I am assured that the Rolex watches are all genuine, and their price is the very best. Well, it is time to go meet up with mother. I have to walk over to the pearl market. About a half block away. On the way over, a street vendor (lady) asks if I want to buy a genuine Rolex. She shows them to me. She has a whole case of genuine Rolex watches. She pulls the case out. She asks which one I want to buy. I say "none." She says, "Make me an offer." I say, "OK." I offer her 100 yuan for 5 watches. ($2.50 per watch) She says "OK." Well, I buy 5 genuine Rolex watches for $12.00. The lady assures me they are genuine. Well, I looked at them again this morning and they are still running.

Mother buys some more pearls, I buy some more ties and magic tricks, On the way to hail a cab, a poor lady (she looks poor) approaches me and pleads for some money . I give her 10 Yuan. A buck sixty. She thanks me and another street person approaches me. I give him ten yuan. About that time another lady approaches me, now I see a line up, all waiting in line wanting money. I could go broke being a Good Samaratan. They got a good thing going. One person gets a hand out, and the whole tribe joins in. I have no idea where they came from, but they all came out of the work from somewhere.

Well, anyway we hail a cab and off we go to the train station. The train is wonderful. We ride first class for 69 Yuan about ten bucks. It is the bullet train, takes exactly 30 minutes to get to Tianjin. 80 miles. We arrivee home about 7:00 P. M. Exhausted, but a great day.

This past week, mother and I were riding the three wheeler going to a small market. Going the opposite direction, I see a car come by and hits a pedestrian with her passenger side mirror. The pedestrian (an older man) yells at the driver, she honks her horn and both keep going. I guess no harm, no foul. Well, I'n not so sure about the no harm part. I suspect the old boy has a sore arm.

On Christmas afternoon, we went to an Italian restaurant. It was very good. That was our Christmas dinner. We went home and considered that we had had a great Christmas. When we come home, we will look back on this experience with fondness.

Well, each of you are still sleeping. It will be your sabbeth when you wake up. We have had ours. While you are in church. I will be sleeping. Well, I suspect there will be a few in your church doing what I am doing. I, however will rest better. Like my dad used to say, "If everyone who slept in church was lined up end to end, they would all sleep better." Have a great day.

I love you all.

Dad