Dad...

We just had to go buy another LARGE suitcase..I told him so :)

Chips

I was in the store one day and I wrote down all the flavors of Lays potato chips:

Fried Chicken Flavor

Mexican Tomato Chicken

Italian Red Meat

Cucumber

We only ate the regular kind, and they're not as good as good old USA kind of Lays.

See ya soon!


I wrote her back and said they should bring some home, who doesn't want to try Mexican Tomato Chicken????

June 10th

Saturday we had a branch party at our Presidents house. He has a huge house on a lake. There were probably 50 people there and all sorts of food! We had hot dogs, hamburgers and chicken and all the trimmings! The boys (YM and older) played with remote controlled boats on the lake. The little kids had bubbles and of course there were water guns! We stayed longer to help clean up and then it rained! Their house is in a complex and there aren't any taxis nearby. We watch Karate Kid 3 and then decided we'd just have to walk in the rain to find a taxi. They don't have a car and their driver wasn't available. So we got ready to walk ..and it quit raining! We still had to walk a ways to get a taxi but that was OK. In our branch we have Joseph who is 30 yrs. old and single, and Brad who is in his 20's and on an internship here for 3 months. The branch always fluctuates with its number of members. Pres. Bakers nephew, in his 20's, is here for 2 months on an internship. Trevor is from SLC but is not a member of the Church. But he has come to church the last two Sundays and Joseph and Brad are very excited to have a new friend! Nelson teaches the Gospel Essentials class to which Trevor has been attending with Brad and Joseph. Today we had 5 young men, RM's, attend our branch. They will be here for 8 weeks. They're on a summer exchange program from the U of U learning Chinese. They also attended the Gospel Essentials class. Nelson had told Trevor to bring any questions he had and they would discuss them during class. And then 5 returned missionaries just happen to drop in! That is not an accident. What an asset they will be to our branch as 10 of us are leaving. Dad had a lazy birthday. We didn't do much, just the branch party and I'd baked a cake for him and took it to the party. Love you all. This week will be full of "last times". that's so weird! Mom XXOO

June 5th

Well, we are into finals. This time we are recording them each night so we won't have to do them all on the weekend or that last Friday. They wanted us to then take the grade sheets and then try and find the college site and the English dept, all in Chinese, then enter each final grade to each student with their student number. We said no. That is why you have assistants. And they have them. Can you see us trying to do that after we hand in our grade sheets for 1,000+ students, and then get ready to pack and leave? Anyway, at least everyone has shown up for their final time on time so far. There are to many to have them all come at once, so we have 1/3 of the kids coming each half hour. we have like 25 minutes between the 2 classes so that helps us. I've got kids taking pictures and giving me cards and pictures and crying and it was just the first day. We went on a neat boat ride with our FHE group last night and saw all the lights. They really like to light up things. Bridges, buildings, anything that will hold a light design. We did see some neat large kites before we got on the boat and as darkness set in, the kites had these neat lights on them as well. Gotta get some of those. Well, better get going and get my walk in. I just walk somewhere. Love you all, because you all love me, your mother, and each other. Dad

June 3rd

Paula Ferrel gave me a huge bag full of instant oatmeal packets in assorted flavors;more than I could ever eat. So I made granola bars out of them! They're really good! The oatmeal had pieces of blueberries, strawberries and peaches and I added chocolate chips (from Lori) and other ingredients. I sort of followed a recipe from the Internet. It made enough to last me for one a day for the rest of our stay! Saturday we went to the Little Italy area of Tianjin. Bodo and Elke went with us. We were not impressed. Just expensive restaurants and souvenir shops. Then Dad and I walked down "Walking Street";no cars allowed. Bodo said they were having markets on the street, but it was just high class stores with sales. We managed to buy a few things :) Bodo and Elke are here for 2 months. He's teaching Mechanical Engineering. They're from Germany and live in the next apt. bldg. He can not believe that we don't drink;not ever! Saturday he kept asking if I wanted a beer. I think his wife got mad at him! Dad told them a little about the Church. It's been so hard for Dad to not talk to people about the Church. I knew that would be the hardest part of China for him. But he's done quite well. He hasn't landed in jail yet. Today he wanted to pack a suitcase, but I restrained him. Everything in it would get wrinkled in two weeks. Our Branch Pres, is flying to Seattle next Sunday and has offered to take a suitcase for us. Johnathan will pick it up for us. It'll probably have our winter coats and other stuff we won't need for awhile. I bought some silk pants from a street vendor last week. They're nice but they wrinkle more than I thought they would, and they might be a little too big also. Tomorrow night for FHE we're taking a river cruise through Tianjin. I've heard it's very pretty. Love you all. Write to me!! I'm getting trunky!! And we check the e-mail ALL the time!! Love ya !!! Mom XXOO

May 28/29

May 29th

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


May 28th

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

May 15th

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