Graduates

Here are my two classes of students heading to Missouri State University Jan 2015. They will be missed a great deal. The program is a one year, not two year, MBA. They are all nervous, excited, anxious, and nervous all over again. The group shot with me sitting on the front row is the group who have their BA degrees and have been working for 3-10 years. Their companies and the government are sponsoring them. All but two are married and will be leaving their families here in China for the year. The younger class graduated this last summer with their BA degrees. They are self funded and are looking forward to being involved with the 'college life' in America. I hope to be able to see them when we are home for the summer.

Random Days

A couple of weeks ago there was a knock at the door. A maintenance man and a hotel employee came in, tried to tell us in Chinese what they needed to do, then proceeded to go into our spare bedroom/office. He climbed out the window, not sure how with the bars across the window. A few minutes later the gal came out of the room with this gigantic icicle they pulled out from a drain pipe - I guess!  Then there was another knock at the door, another employee came in with a bucket of hot water and dumped it out the window all over the maintenance man - not sure why she did it that way. Whatever the reason was, mission was accomplished and they left.

 

 

 

 

So, we were walking home from the  market the other day when I spotted this very unusual fire hydrant - Not sure if it is for really short dogs, or to prevent from some random person from opening it up, or if someone will need a job to replace the tiles after the fire department breaks through the sidewalk to get to it - but there you go

 

 

 

 

By the way - here is our Thanksgiving dinner - Yummy!!  (no, it isn't a turkey burger but a real beef burger with real bacon!!)   :)

 

 

 

Christmas in China

December life in China is a little different than that in the States. We are finding a few Christmas trees up. Not many have lights on them. There are some decorations - kind of like dollar store quality, but if you look you can find some things that are worth the few dollars they cost.   We found our little tree at Walmart and had fun decorating it.  The hotel put up some trees and this winter scene. I convinced Jack to have our pictures taken in the lobby. The employees thought it was great and enjoyed watching us!

 Confucius says....This is a beautiful carved statue in the hotel lobby 

 

  There are even twinkle lights!

 The hotel has trees on every floor! They love to load them down with everything from stuffed animals to bulbs and presents. All the trees pretty much look like this one :)

 Our very first China tree - all 2 feet of it!

  Jack gets the honor of placing our Cloisonné bulb  :)

 

 

 Although we are not in a country where Christianity and Christmas is part of everyday life, we are seeing random acts of kindness to others. The gift giving part of Christmas is alive and well here. We have received a few very thoughtful gifts from students and other teachers. We are also in the spirit of gift giving to others!  

 

 

Beijing and Beyond!

We had a weekend tour to Beijing. What a great experience!  It started with a 2 hour ride on China's high-speed train cruising about 302 KM/hr - could hardly tell we were moving at all. Then a 45 minute wait in the taxi queue for a 15 minute ride to the hotel!  Gotta love China...wait - we do!

Full packed days adventures awaited us as we climbed the Great Wall, walked around Tiananmen Square, rode in bike pulled rickshaws, ate an awesome lunch at a home diner, walked around Temple of Heaven park and the Spring Palace, attend church in a business building on floor 4 - just like walking into a church :)  Side stops at a jade factory and Cloisonné factory - both very beautiful to see and the artists are amazing.

Tiananmen Square

Chairman Mao's mausoleum

Jack and Charlene - beautiful fall flowers at the Square. You can see the Forbidden City entrance in the back ground

Best tour guide ever!  Thanks Marvin Wu!

Beautiful art work on the outside of the Forbidden City. This was re-done a few years ago for the Olympics. They are working on restoring some of the other buildings to their vibrant colors.

 Inside the Forbidden City. Looks like a scene from Mulan - the buildings that is

 These two trees grew together forming somewhat of a heart. It is found in the Empress' garden. It represented the love the Emperor and she had for each other. Of course, everyone wanted a picture here. We were no exception!

A large flower bouquet in Tiananmen Square 

 A giant brass statue of a female lion guarding the gate. The detail work was so intricate and beautiful. The male was on the opposite side of the gate.

Rumor has it if Chinese parents take a picture with an American they will be prosperous. This little one was so cute! Her mom was busy taking pictures of me and her daughter while I was trying to get the daughter

 

 Too many cute little children!

These next few pictures are from the Summer Palace. The Empress lived her during the summer months. Notice the Phoenix bird on the left and the Dragon on the right. The bird = woman and the dragon = man representing unity in marriage.


This is a pic of the BYU teachers who were on the tour with us. Marvin, our guide, is in yellow. This gate is a gateway to the large lake behind us. Also in the Summer Palace


This is the covered walkway around the Summer Palace. The art work and detail are beautiful! On the sides at the top were painting of the Chinese fairy tales. Very cool!


A yes, the marble ship at the Summer Palace. Well, okay, not all marble. The bottom part of the ship is marble (stationary in the water, of course) the top parts are mostly wood painted to look like marble. The Empress would hold dinner parties here during the summer. There is a large mirror on the second floor in the middle. That was to satisfy her vanity.

 An artist at the jade factory carving a family ball. It is one piece of jade with three parts. The two inside balls are also carved from the same piece of round jade. It represents 3 generations of family and families forever.

 

 

 Anyone have about $37,000 dollars laying around? Shipping is free!

 

 Our little section we climbed of the Great Wall. Yup about 400 steps - all of varying height, width, and depth. Ha! What an adventure it was. I couldn't believe that I was really there and really walked on it. This section was built by prisoners. I am not sure how they got all that rock and stone up the very steep mountain sides. I am sure they were literally worked to the bone doing so. So much history!

 

 These are locks locked around the chain. These happen to be love locks and not secret locks.

 

 Here we are! We made it to the soldiers watch tower. Whew! Great place to rest. Ah, notice the sign - no climbing - not sure how else to get up there, but oh, well.... Yup this would be the angle in which we climbed - nearly straight up!

 

 Anyone know how to speak 'cellphone'? Well don't speak during a thunderstorm!  We love their signage. It makes for great examples when we talk about translation  :)

 

 

 Not sure what this says, but we were so glad to make it down safe and sound we had to take a picture with it. Coming down was more scary than going up. I had to take my glasses off because the bifocal was making it worse!             

 A zoomed in pic from the top where we stopped.

 

 

 

 A stop at the Cloisonné factory. Wow, everything done by hand, then fired, then painted again, then repeat about 7 times!

 

 We arrive in Beijing the day after APEC. The city still had the lights on for show. We also enjoyed beautiful blue, no cloud in the sky days, thanks to APEC!  or so we are told....   :)

 

 This hotel and office buildings was built to represent a dragon ship. Can you see it?  The tallest part is the head of the dragon and his body lays out behind.