We finished the first semester strong mid-January and headed off for an adventure to Shenzhen and then into Hong Kong for BYU China Teachers workshop/retreat. While in Shenzhen one of our friends from Jinan, Emily and her kids, caught up with us. Then we ran into them again in Hong Kong.
Shenzhen is a beautiful city with a wonderful park - China Splendid Park - which is like the Polynesian Culture Center. Many of the minority groups in China are represented inside the park. We can see culture dances, handcrafts, and other sites about how they live and what they are famous for. My favorite is the Mongolian Horse Show. We don't understand a bit of what they are saying, which is okay because the horse riding is amazing!
One of Jack's favorites is the 1000 Eye and Hand Buddha. She stands as watcher and protector of thousands. Each of her hands has an eye in the center. Jack drew the similarities to motherhood and all the amazing things women do to watch and care for all around them.
This is a chicken head and comes with the rest of the chicken. Apparently the most important person at the table gets the honor of eating this delicacy. 
I'm not the most important because this is all the further I, or any of us, could get to eating the head. I think our tour guide didn't know what to think because we wouldn't eat it!While in Hong Kong we enjoyed a wonderful conference with the other BYU CTP Teachers. It was a perfect time to renew friendships and make new friends. We were able to attend the Hong Kong Temple and see our dear friend Nora Chan. We had a meeting with Elders Wong and Pon of the Asia Area Presidency; what a blessed experience. We also a brief time visiting with Elder Toronto of the Seventy. It was uplifting to be with them, to feel of their spirit, and see their love of the Savior and the work they are involved in.
Hong Kong Temple and the Current LDS Church Administration Building
Past Hong Kong LDS Church Administration/Mission Home building - Currently Dr. Sun Yut-Sen Museum. Beautiful building with amazing woodwork, and they left the baptismal font intact :)
After the conference Jack and I spent four more days exploring Hong Kong, which we both enjoyed a great deal. We went to Victoria's Peak on a very foggy evening, so we didn't see much. Spent a perfect afternoon in Stanley Village and enjoyed lunch and the markets. Another day we found the bird and flower market. You think Pike's Market has some beautiful flowers - this market was even more beautiful. There were so many kinds of birds you could buy; I loved to hear their songs. We went on an adventure to Hong Kong Disneyland with our fellow teachers, Darrell and Christi Burnett. It is much smaller than California, but no less exciting. We did the Buzz Light Year ride. If you don't know, it is a laser type ride, shooting various targets as you ride through the dark. I came out winner with 202,600 points. Well, that brought the competition on and we had to go through again because that just wasn't going to do. When I came out the winner again, they conceded that I had won fair and square. We also went to the Giant Buddha and found the Jade Market in Hong Kong. I went from the first sale of the day, to best friends, to sisters with the sales clerk. She was pretty determined that I buy some 'jade' from her!
Stanley bay and part of the markets
Blueberry waffleDog Parking :)
Off we go to the magical world of Disney. Even the subway/train cars get into the spirit of the adventure.
The Giant Buddha, very cloudy today
Flower market
Birds from the bird market
one of the wet markets in Hong Kong - dinner on the way home!
Fun colors for the apartment buildings this shoe is really a bathtub and the perfect landmark so we knew when to get off the bus!
Oh yes, do you remember those little notes your mother would pin on your shirt so you would be able to get on the right bus or to the right class? Yup, I got a sticker put on my arm so I would get on the right bus from the Hong Kong/Shenzhen immigration station to the Shenzhen airport. ha!After returning back to Jinan we spend the next couple of weeks, of Chinese New Year, exploring Jinan. We, along with some of the other teachers, went to the Museum of Science and Technology - fun! Explored the new old market of the city. A place where they are building new buildings, in the old section of town, to look like ancient stone and moving the venders into the shops. It wasn't too crowded (yet) and fun to see artisans at work and new modern stores opening up. We found the regional Art Museum where there are some amazing works of art displayed. Oh, that trip also ended up being a bus adventure ride too! At least we knew the general direction we were supposed to be going.
Near where we live is Buddha Mountain. On a beautiful day we walked to the mountain (really only a large hill), took the tram to the almost top (they do that, then you have to walk the rest of the way to the top - has to do with culture and tradition). Spent some time wandering around and looking out over the city that never ends. To get down we took the slide (Alpine type). That was a lot of fun! And, if you smile at the end for a photo they will sell it to you!
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| this is the slide route down. below is the cart you ride on |
The building with the red characters is one of the dorms on campus. (I am zoomed in from the mountain). The Hanlin Hotel is the tall building just to the right, at the edge of the picture.
We walked through Baotu Springs to see the giant shaped lanterns, which light up at dark, that are used to celebrate Spring and Lantern Festival. The characters are usually from a Chinese fairytale story or legend. They are large, bright and beautiful. We also spent some time at DaMing Lake where there were a ton of venders set up selling food, crafts, and trinkets. A very popular place to be!
special animal shaped steamed bread for the new year
Ah, yes, then there was a trip to the dentist to get our teeth cleaned! Very clean office and they did a great job and my teeth were happy! (My dentist at home will be glad to know that I didn't let them replace a filling and he will get the honors in a few months.)
Dentists in blue hats, dental nurses (assistants) in white hats, happy patients in the middle. The practice name is Keen International Dental. Jack started classes on Feb 24th. He is teaching 5 Oral English sections and 4 English Literature sections. His students are loving him! My classes in the Foreign Language Training Center will start on the 14th, and boy am I ready! I will have the continuing ed. Oral English class three times a week and one day I will have some of our University professors in an Oral English class.
We love the students and people we have come to know. This is an amazing experience and one I am glad we planned and prepared for.
One of Jack's students wrote a short essay as homework, a quote from what she said, "Aging wrinkles the body, quitting wrinkles the soul." May we never quit trying our best to be our best that our souls will stand strong in the wrinkles of our aging years.
Some other fun adventures:
New Years Day we had some students come and visit with us. Christi brought over ingredients to make no-bake cookies. They had never done such a thing. It was very fun to teach them how to measure, stir, cook, and mix. They loved the cookies!
Adventures in hair color - 4 hours long....think I will do it myself next time. Notice the ear protectors and the plastic wrap used...ha! (ignore the 10 double chins I inherited....)
Chinese New Year's Eve fireworks as seen from our apartment. They started about 6:30pm, took a break about 2am, and started again at 7am the next day. Gotta love it!
Grace, one of our students, is a history professor at our university. She was born and grew up here in Jinan. She took us on a tour of the old city where her grandparents lived and she played when young. It was a great day to be out!
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