Note on Sunday Morning...

Good morning:
It is Sunday morning at 6:00 a.m. and I thought that I would drop a note before the day begins for me. We had a great day yesterday. I FINALLY found out which department I will be traching in - the Medical College !!! Can you believe that? I will be teaching the Freshmen as well as the Sophmores and I will teach them English reading and English listening. I met with "Mr. Chen" and he told me what days I will teach and gave me 4 textbooks to use. I have a funny schedule - they call the weeks "odd" weeks and "even" weeks. I teach the Freshmen on the "odd" weeks and the Sophomores on the "even" weeks. I don't even get to teach the Freshmen until the week of September 22, as they are on some type of military deal.
Yesterday Rog and I, and one of the single ladies went to the cafeteria here in our building - what an experience...It looked like a place from an old German movie - very institutional. They had old silver sectioned trays, chopsticks, and lots of white, sticky rice. I really do not know what we ate - some sort of cucumber/pepper mix (Rog hated!) and some other tasty tidbit. Needless to say - we did not eat much. We did have to buy a meal card before we could eat and I have promised to take all the other teachers to lunch on that card some day - my treat! We also went on a tour of Qingdo city - it was a Mini tour - this place is huge. We went to #1 beach and #2 beach also to Guanhaishah Park and walked up a big hill and on the top was a pagoda. At the top we could see for miles over the landscape as well as the Yellow Sea. It was gorgeous. We had a great walk and it was a little overcast and the weather was so pleasant. We did not take the camera - but our friends took some pictures and we will them as soon as we can.
Then, last night our friends from Oceans University came over and we walked - in the rain - to a German restaturant and had dinner. As you know, China was given to the Germans when the Treaty of Versalle was signed after WWII. It was good. We walked in the rain and it was great - all with our umbrellas. On the way to the restaurant, we walked thru the outside fruit and vegetable market.... It looked just like something in the movies. The sights and smells were something else. I HAVE to go back there and take my camera because I could never ever describe it to you.
As you can see - we are having some great, educational experiences!!! We are loving it and learning so much.
We miss our children and grandchildren and our Cove ward family - but we know we are supposed to be here at this time.
Love - Jane

Update from China!!!

We have had a crazy day... at 8:00 a.m. we had to go to the hospital and have our blood drawn because the government required another blood test! We were NOT happy - any of us!Then, we came home and started to clean our apartments - they are gross and filthy. Then, the Branch President came to take us shopping at a big variety store. We bought a new shower curtain, rug, plastic to put on the flood (used so that the water coming out of the shower cannot be next to your feet) a rack to dry clothes on and some Clorox!!!!!!!! I really cleaned that bathroom good. It looks and smells so much better tonight. Then we came home and cleaned some more and Rog downloaded the enclosed pictures and we went to dinner. Just got home. Tomorrow morning Rog meets with the people in the department he will teach in. I STILL do not know where I will be teaching. But, Rog called our little guy, Leon, and he said that he would let us know tomorrow. My little friend, Julie doesn't start teaching for 3 weeks!! Maybe I won't either...I guess that the Branch President wants us all to talk for 5 minutes in church Sunday and introduce ourselves and tell about an act of service we have done. Next Sunday he wants us all to bear our testamonies....Busy - busy - busy.It is real humid here and we reallhy feel it. But, we are so tired every night and sleep well.

Lots of love to you all!!

Jane

Here and Safe!!!

We had a long flight and we got here very late last night (Wednesday). I had not been to bed for so long that I had nearly forgotten how a bed felt. We arrived at 1:30 in the morning and unpacked and then went to bed. We only had 5 hours of sleep and now I am so very tired. Jet lag is hard on old people. We had to take our passports to the office today and submit 6 passport photos to them and then we went to lunch at a cute little restaurant - named Lisa's. After that we went to a huge store that has everything in it and we bought some new towels, toilet paper, etc. and then came home and tried to get everyone set up on their computers. Then, tonight we walked across the street to a great little, outside restaurant for some authentic Chinese food. It was fantastic and only cost us $2.50 per person!!!! It was as good a tasting food as I have ever had. They had some great stuff. Tomorrow they tell us that we all have to have another physical. We are all very unhappy about that. Hopefully something will happen and we won't have to have them. Our wybon - Shirley - will get involved and we won't have to have them.
The apartment is something else. Very old and in need of some major repairs, but we will get by - I am sure. We are on the 5th floor, but there is an elevator and the halls are very hot - we have a great air conditioner in our apartment. Our apartment is the nicest one of all the teachers, I believe. The BYU people that we are here with are all so nice and we all get along so well. That is nice.
Jane

Countdown day

It is Sunday - only today and tomorrow and then we fly out Tuesday, August 26 at 7:00 a.m. We are so-o-o-o-o excited to get to China. Darren, Lesa Marin and Jack are here helping us do the final "pack up". They are such a big help and we appreciate them. We had a great weekend together with everyone. We got family pictures taken and they turned out so well! The girls went out together Saturday night and the men stayed and watched the kids - the power was out in our neighborhood and kids had a great time playing. We took some fun pictures of the kids that night!

Hawaii Trip 2008

Getting Ready!!

Only 3 more days - and we head to China! We are very excited and looking forward to getting there and getting to work!