Both of us had a 101 temperature this morning and felt pretty lousy with colds, plus L. still has her nasty cough. We stayed at home pretty much the whole day, drinking liquids and cooling down the fever, which for me had gotten back to normal by the afternoon, but L's went up to 102. H. and P. are much better today as well as mom and dad and surprisingly J. and R. have not caught whatever bug is going around.
Not a good start to a "holiday" but perhaps it's better than working for L.
Tuesday, May 03, 2005
Monday, May 02, 2005
finally...a break
We woke up to the sound of heavy rain and loud thunder. It cleared the smog so much that we could see Bai Yun Mountain range in the distance for the first time. The sun also shone amid patches of blue sky. However, the unsettled weather was enough to keep us all at home during the day. L. has a 100.2 fever. She's been coughing rather violently the past couple of days.
The rain and thunder came back. H. and P. are running pretty high fevers. R. and J. have been okay. Mom and Dad are back to normal. I'm sniffling and sneezing myself, so it's going to be an early night. Some way to start a holiday...
The rain and thunder came back. H. and P. are running pretty high fevers. R. and J. have been okay. Mom and Dad are back to normal. I'm sniffling and sneezing myself, so it's going to be an early night. Some way to start a holiday...
Sunday, May 01, 2005
Praise Him in a taxi...
Dad's feeling a little better, but not well enough for church. The rest of us walked to Guang Hua Yi Lu to take a taxi to GICF. It was a woman driver, which is kinda rare. We sang praise songs all the way to church.
A speaker from the US came to speak. He spoke on Deut. 4 and 6, on training children. "I Surrender All" was the last song we sang.
We ate at the hotel buffet with another family before going to Starbucks to pick up the tumbler we lost on the bus last week. The rest of the afternoon and evening was spent relaxing. The heat and travel may be starting to take its toll on us....
A speaker from the US came to speak. He spoke on Deut. 4 and 6, on training children. "I Surrender All" was the last song we sang.
We ate at the hotel buffet with another family before going to Starbucks to pick up the tumbler we lost on the bus last week. The rest of the afternoon and evening was spent relaxing. The heat and travel may be starting to take its toll on us....
Saturday, April 30, 2005
28 bucks for what?!?!?!?!?
We decided to go to Baiyun Mountain. Dad decided not to due to allergies. As we were walking to the city bus stop (outside our campus), we were told by another teacher that the shuttle would be available, since it was a school day (this Thursday and Friday are off, but not officially national holidays. Schools give an extra couple days off to make it a full week of holiday - including the weekend. HOWEVER, they make us make up for those two days off by asking us to teach on another weekend. So, apparently, we had to teach the Thursday schedule today and Friday's schedule some Sunday. We didn't know about it, since the notice announcing it was in Chinese). I say, forget the couple extra days off and give us back our weekend...
By the time we got to the Baiyun Mountain, it was around lunch time and everyone was pretty hungry, so we decided to grab a bite before exploring the delights of the mountain. We ate lunch at a fairly expensive restaurant - a big rip off!!! - and we didn't even get much of a view. Following lunch we went to a nearby garden, where we were charged to get in, despite the fee we had to pay at the entrance of the mountain. (Man, they really milk you for everything little thing here). The youngest two were free and H. had to pay half price. They don't measure "children" by age here, but by height. So, if you have a tall parent and are unusually tall for your age, you're out of luck. However, if you're a "little person" this country is the cheapest vacation you'll get anywhere. There were wading pools with tadpoles, ponds with coy and gold fish, fun paths around the garden, flowers, trees, and ponds. The girls played in a giant jungle gym, while I explored other parts of the garden to see what else they could enjoy. Then everyone (except mom) took our shoes off and waded in the pools provided. The water was glorious and was very refreshing in that humidity. We fed the fish, had ice cream, and walked around. We pretty much enjoyed the garden to ourselves, right until the last half hour or so when a group of roudy, unsupervised, middle schoolers found their way in.
We ate dinner and spent the evening playing games on the computer and watching TV. The kids really like watching Chinese opera. S. thinks that it IS a bit entertaining, especially the dance/fight scenes, but I don't like it at all.
By the time we got to the Baiyun Mountain, it was around lunch time and everyone was pretty hungry, so we decided to grab a bite before exploring the delights of the mountain. We ate lunch at a fairly expensive restaurant - a big rip off!!! - and we didn't even get much of a view. Following lunch we went to a nearby garden, where we were charged to get in, despite the fee we had to pay at the entrance of the mountain. (Man, they really milk you for everything little thing here). The youngest two were free and H. had to pay half price. They don't measure "children" by age here, but by height. So, if you have a tall parent and are unusually tall for your age, you're out of luck. However, if you're a "little person" this country is the cheapest vacation you'll get anywhere. There were wading pools with tadpoles, ponds with coy and gold fish, fun paths around the garden, flowers, trees, and ponds. The girls played in a giant jungle gym, while I explored other parts of the garden to see what else they could enjoy. Then everyone (except mom) took our shoes off and waded in the pools provided. The water was glorious and was very refreshing in that humidity. We fed the fish, had ice cream, and walked around. We pretty much enjoyed the garden to ourselves, right until the last half hour or so when a group of roudy, unsupervised, middle schoolers found their way in.
We ate dinner and spent the evening playing games on the computer and watching TV. The kids really like watching Chinese opera. S. thinks that it IS a bit entertaining, especially the dance/fight scenes, but I don't like it at all.
Friday, April 29, 2005
"Sa!"
The last couple days I has brought my class to the flat because there have been so few people (most of the kids have gone home early for the upcoming week long break). I taught a couple chapters, rather briefly, and then S. and the rest of the family joined in to teach them a game or two ("sa", which means "kill", and "King Elephant"). The students enjoyed their time immensely, and the kids, as always, were entertaining.
Uncle N's package finally arrived and H. has proper pajamas now...no more excuses about not being able to get her pajamas on *smile*
(very ready for this week long break ourselves)
Uncle N's package finally arrived and H. has proper pajamas now...no more excuses about not being able to get her pajamas on *smile*
(very ready for this week long break ourselves)
Thursday, April 28, 2005
The nieces take center stage
Weather: rainy and overcast. Rained most of the day. Cool.
More and more, it looks like our nieces are quite the draw. I took them to visit L.'s class today. The students asked them a few questions. All the classes have taken a liking to them.
We brought them along to the middle school we've teaching at. J. came along as well. Both classes went fairly well. We read some dialogue out of their text book, had Q & A with the nieces, played a "clump"-style game where they stood up whenever questions on possessing certain physical characteristics applied to them. We played another guessing game called "cahoots", where L. and the class would pick an item in the room w/o me knowing what it was and I would try to guess it. There's a trick to this, but I won't tell what it is in case we want to play it on you!
Mom was pretty sick and stayed in bed most of the day. Dad was up and around, feeling a bit better.
Three of L.'s former students all stopped by for a visit later this evening to chat and play Chinese checkers. And of course, they took to the nieces, who also enjoyed their company.
More and more, it looks like our nieces are quite the draw. I took them to visit L.'s class today. The students asked them a few questions. All the classes have taken a liking to them.
We brought them along to the middle school we've teaching at. J. came along as well. Both classes went fairly well. We read some dialogue out of their text book, had Q & A with the nieces, played a "clump"-style game where they stood up whenever questions on possessing certain physical characteristics applied to them. We played another guessing game called "cahoots", where L. and the class would pick an item in the room w/o me knowing what it was and I would try to guess it. There's a trick to this, but I won't tell what it is in case we want to play it on you!
Mom was pretty sick and stayed in bed most of the day. Dad was up and around, feeling a bit better.
Three of L.'s former students all stopped by for a visit later this evening to chat and play Chinese checkers. And of course, they took to the nieces, who also enjoyed their company.
Wednesday, April 27, 2005
last minute indian food
We stayed home most of the day because of the rain. Mom and Dad were sick as well, due to exhaustion. Mom stayed in bed the whole day. I hope nothing serious is the matter with her.
L. had two classes in the morning and then one in the afternoon. I took the nieces to the afternoon class, while the rest rested. They answered some questions as well as asked a few of their own, tho' for the most part, they were shy. They opened up more when they talked with a smaller group of 5-6 that had gathered around them.
Since Mom was mandated to rest for the next couple days, I (L.) decided to cook dinner (which she hasn't done since mom took over *smile*). We went to Carrefour and Trust-mart to pick up some groceries for dinner. There was some traffic jam on the way back that kept us from going to XM via the usual (and shortest) route and the police waved us away from the intersection. The taxi driver cut across a parking lot to get around the mess.
The day before the girlfriend of a friend (J. from England who came to the Boston wedding) met the girls and thought they were adorable. She wanted to come up and spend some time with them, which she did after dinner...bearing gifts. She's quite fond of them.
L. had two classes in the morning and then one in the afternoon. I took the nieces to the afternoon class, while the rest rested. They answered some questions as well as asked a few of their own, tho' for the most part, they were shy. They opened up more when they talked with a smaller group of 5-6 that had gathered around them.
Since Mom was mandated to rest for the next couple days, I (L.) decided to cook dinner (which she hasn't done since mom took over *smile*). We went to Carrefour and Trust-mart to pick up some groceries for dinner. There was some traffic jam on the way back that kept us from going to XM via the usual (and shortest) route and the police waved us away from the intersection. The taxi driver cut across a parking lot to get around the mess.
The day before the girlfriend of a friend (J. from England who came to the Boston wedding) met the girls and thought they were adorable. She wanted to come up and spend some time with them, which she did after dinner...bearing gifts. She's quite fond of them.
Tuesday, April 26, 2005
tourists
Today was a touristy day. We visited the Chen Ancestral Lineage Hall, a temple-like museum that contained various artworks. It was 10 kuai a person to enter, kind of steep, I thought, for the amount of exhibits they had. We then took the Subway to Shamian Island and grabbed some lunch before shopping around for some souvenirs and such. Got home fairly late, completely "knackered" - L's word.
Monday, April 25, 2005
Thunderstorms galore...
Today started out pleasant enough, we just bummed around the house until it was time to take the shuttle to GW. We were all invited for dinner, but had to go a bit early since S. had class this evening. S. left lunch a bit early for his piano class. They had a good lesson. M. has really improved. It was evident he'd been practicing. They played a duet together, which the mom really enjoyed.
The rest of us were going to join him at the house later, but soon after we started walking over it started to drizzle a little and then downright poured. We waited for about 15-20 minutes till the rain subsided to a drizzle again and ventured to the post office and to the veggie market for some fruit. But we were stuck there again by a downpour. This lasted a while, so all the girls decided to get our hair cut. We were going to do later that evening, but since we were right by the salon and stuck in the rain, we went for it. My hair was cut waaaaayyy shorter than I wanted...was nervous about what S. would say - he liked my long hair. The rain went on for about an hour and a half...and at the next break, we ventured out again, only to have to find a nearest shelter soon after. There we waited for another ten minutes and although it wasn't pelting down, we got pretty wet as we walked to another building. Stopped there for a bathroom break. The rain was very soft by now, so we decided to go for it. We were able to walk for about five minutes before it started again. Fortunately, we found an office that had a little sunshade which we huddled under. The folks inside had a fish tank and were gracious enough to allow the kids to watch the fish while we waited for the downpour to subside. I was just about to check the rain when I saw S. walking past with some umbrellas. Apparently, they were waiting for us to come and after the downpour, our hostess guessed correctly that we were stranded somewhere because of the rain and sent S. with some umbrellas in search of us. Of course, Murphy is always at work and it stopped raining once S. showed up with the umbrellas - figures, doesn't it?
Dinner was great (home made pizza - which is a real treat out here) and the kids got along really well. Our hosts have two boys a little older than the girls, but I think both sets of kids missed playing with folks their own age.
S. left early to prepare for class, the rest of us hung around a bit and chatted while the kids played their hearts out. We left with the intention of visiting S' class, however, the minute we walked downstairs from their apartment it started pouring again. We decided to wait and then venture on, but, the kids started falling asleep and Mom and Dad were probably feeling a bit of fatigue. So, we called a cab, which were hard to come by today since the demand was pretty high, and headed home...with a pitstop to let S. know that we wouldn't be coming to class. I was soaked running to and from the taxi to the classroom - I couldn't believe how much it'd been raining and it didn't look like it was slowing down anytime soon. You could see clumps of people gathered together under any kind of shelter they could find. When we got to our campus, the guard mercifully allowed the taxi to take us to our building, rather than making us get off at the gate and walk. Due to construction, a vent in the ground had been blocked, so the rain had formed a small pool at the bottom of our building, right where our taxi drove up...it was hilarious. All three girls, who had fallen asleep during the cab ride, woke up to giant drops of water pelting their faces. The rest of us got quite a shower just walking around the taxi into the building.
Another adventure to remember...
PS: By the time S' class was over the rain was done and he had quite a pleasant ride home...of course.
The rest of us were going to join him at the house later, but soon after we started walking over it started to drizzle a little and then downright poured. We waited for about 15-20 minutes till the rain subsided to a drizzle again and ventured to the post office and to the veggie market for some fruit. But we were stuck there again by a downpour. This lasted a while, so all the girls decided to get our hair cut. We were going to do later that evening, but since we were right by the salon and stuck in the rain, we went for it. My hair was cut waaaaayyy shorter than I wanted...was nervous about what S. would say - he liked my long hair. The rain went on for about an hour and a half...and at the next break, we ventured out again, only to have to find a nearest shelter soon after. There we waited for another ten minutes and although it wasn't pelting down, we got pretty wet as we walked to another building. Stopped there for a bathroom break. The rain was very soft by now, so we decided to go for it. We were able to walk for about five minutes before it started again. Fortunately, we found an office that had a little sunshade which we huddled under. The folks inside had a fish tank and were gracious enough to allow the kids to watch the fish while we waited for the downpour to subside. I was just about to check the rain when I saw S. walking past with some umbrellas. Apparently, they were waiting for us to come and after the downpour, our hostess guessed correctly that we were stranded somewhere because of the rain and sent S. with some umbrellas in search of us. Of course, Murphy is always at work and it stopped raining once S. showed up with the umbrellas - figures, doesn't it?
Dinner was great (home made pizza - which is a real treat out here) and the kids got along really well. Our hosts have two boys a little older than the girls, but I think both sets of kids missed playing with folks their own age.
S. left early to prepare for class, the rest of us hung around a bit and chatted while the kids played their hearts out. We left with the intention of visiting S' class, however, the minute we walked downstairs from their apartment it started pouring again. We decided to wait and then venture on, but, the kids started falling asleep and Mom and Dad were probably feeling a bit of fatigue. So, we called a cab, which were hard to come by today since the demand was pretty high, and headed home...with a pitstop to let S. know that we wouldn't be coming to class. I was soaked running to and from the taxi to the classroom - I couldn't believe how much it'd been raining and it didn't look like it was slowing down anytime soon. You could see clumps of people gathered together under any kind of shelter they could find. When we got to our campus, the guard mercifully allowed the taxi to take us to our building, rather than making us get off at the gate and walk. Due to construction, a vent in the ground had been blocked, so the rain had formed a small pool at the bottom of our building, right where our taxi drove up...it was hilarious. All three girls, who had fallen asleep during the cab ride, woke up to giant drops of water pelting their faces. The rest of us got quite a shower just walking around the taxi into the building.
Another adventure to remember...
PS: By the time S' class was over the rain was done and he had quite a pleasant ride home...of course.
Sunday, April 24, 2005
follow that bus...
Dad and I went to the 3-self church while the rest went to GICF. We got there as the service began singing "This Is The Day" using an accompaniment half-live, half-sequenced. A beautiful "Hallelujah" song using pinyin and Chinese followed next, afterwards the praise songs "Above All Powers" and "As The Deer".
Two women (one translating) shared exhortations to the congregation. Then a young man in a plain white shirt gave a sermon on Isaiah 58. A bespectacled young man in a plaid yellow, untucked, short-sleeve dress shirt translates into English for him. The sermon is a continuation in the study on Isaiah. Some things mentioned ---
An invitation was made to those who wished to follow Christ, followed by applause from the congregation. Later, a woman gave a personal testimony in Cantonese.
After service, we went to the bookshop to buy a Bible for the fellow Dad met at the barber shop a few days ago, but it was closed. During lunch, Dad started talking about his life and the Bible. Those who were sitting with us were very interested in his knowledge. Dad ended up talking himself hoarse for 3 hours. His group grew to about 10, with everyone eating up his words. Other groups formed at separate tables and even one outside. Two became "siblings", led by Dad.
By the time we got home it was around 7:00 p.m., having been through one of the worst traffic jams I’d ever been in during our time in GZ. Turned out to be a severely jackknifed flatbed truck just before the XM bus station. Because we’d got home so late, I didn’t make it to Bible study tonight. While eating dinner, we talked about our day and found out that the girls had their own adventure today.
L's story: Fellowship was fine as was lunch. Mom and J. and the girls met the C's (another family we have fellowship with at our university), and we all had lunch together. On our way home, we stopped by a Starbucks and bought a GZ tumbler as a souvenir. We took the subway to a bus stop, which would take us to the main campus with the intention of catching a cab from there. Everything was okay up until we got off the bus. The youngest two girls had fallen asleep on the bus, and in the rush to get them off at our stop, Mom forgot the Starbucks bag. She realized this just as the bus pulled away and started running after it. I had no idea my mother-in-law was such a fast runner. She was really booking it. J. and I had the three girls, one of whom was still sleeping. We decided to catch a cab and wait for mom....who finally gave up the chase. However, we had the brilliant idea of following the bus and seeing if we could catch up with it at the next stop and retrieve the tumbler. Mom sat in the front to explain to the taxi driver our mission....it was very much a "follow that bus" scenario. However, by the time we had explained to the taxi driver what we wanted to do, we lost the bus. We followed a path that I thought might be where the bus went, but after five minutes, still couldn't find it. Acknowledging defeat, we turned the taxi around and headed home. However, just as we took a turn, we saw another bus of the same number (76) come up and decided to follow it, since it would take us the route of our bus. So, we asked the driver to turn around again and "follow that bus" - which we did for a while. (No way could we have figured out that route on our own). As we were driving, we noticed several 76's going back and kept looking for the bag in their back windows, but we were sure they weren't "our" bus, since we weren't that far behind. Eventually, the driver got close enough to the bus to read the name of the end station and asked if he could go ahead and catch up to "our" bus. Before the words "no problem" were fully out of our mouths, he stepped on the gas and we were off. I don't think I've even driven this fast in a Chinese car....the girls (still only two) and all of us got into the chase and started looking for any 76 ahead of us. In a few minutes, we caught up with ours....and mom asked the bus driver through the window if she could climb aboard and get her bag. He was gracious enough to agree....so she jumped out and looked and couldn't find it. Encouraged by the bus driver, she looked again, but to no avail....it was gone! Someone had felt they needed it more. A bit discouraged, but with another adventure under our belts, we headed home. I'm not sure how much the taxi ride cost, but it was definitely way more than if we had just taken a taxi from the fellowship straight home. But if we had done that, there wouldn't have been the adventure and we'd have nothing to tell you - so, aren't you glad we didn't.... :-)
Two women (one translating) shared exhortations to the congregation. Then a young man in a plain white shirt gave a sermon on Isaiah 58. A bespectacled young man in a plaid yellow, untucked, short-sleeve dress shirt translates into English for him. The sermon is a continuation in the study on Isaiah. Some things mentioned ---
- True fasting is a matter of your heart.
- Genesis 2:1-3 suggests the Sabbath as a "fast" from work.
- Work not for yourself, but for God.
- Deuteronomy 28:1-11: The blessings of God.
An invitation was made to those who wished to follow Christ, followed by applause from the congregation. Later, a woman gave a personal testimony in Cantonese.
After service, we went to the bookshop to buy a Bible for the fellow Dad met at the barber shop a few days ago, but it was closed. During lunch, Dad started talking about his life and the Bible. Those who were sitting with us were very interested in his knowledge. Dad ended up talking himself hoarse for 3 hours. His group grew to about 10, with everyone eating up his words. Other groups formed at separate tables and even one outside. Two became "siblings", led by Dad.
By the time we got home it was around 7:00 p.m., having been through one of the worst traffic jams I’d ever been in during our time in GZ. Turned out to be a severely jackknifed flatbed truck just before the XM bus station. Because we’d got home so late, I didn’t make it to Bible study tonight. While eating dinner, we talked about our day and found out that the girls had their own adventure today.
L's story: Fellowship was fine as was lunch. Mom and J. and the girls met the C's (another family we have fellowship with at our university), and we all had lunch together. On our way home, we stopped by a Starbucks and bought a GZ tumbler as a souvenir. We took the subway to a bus stop, which would take us to the main campus with the intention of catching a cab from there. Everything was okay up until we got off the bus. The youngest two girls had fallen asleep on the bus, and in the rush to get them off at our stop, Mom forgot the Starbucks bag. She realized this just as the bus pulled away and started running after it. I had no idea my mother-in-law was such a fast runner. She was really booking it. J. and I had the three girls, one of whom was still sleeping. We decided to catch a cab and wait for mom....who finally gave up the chase. However, we had the brilliant idea of following the bus and seeing if we could catch up with it at the next stop and retrieve the tumbler. Mom sat in the front to explain to the taxi driver our mission....it was very much a "follow that bus" scenario. However, by the time we had explained to the taxi driver what we wanted to do, we lost the bus. We followed a path that I thought might be where the bus went, but after five minutes, still couldn't find it. Acknowledging defeat, we turned the taxi around and headed home. However, just as we took a turn, we saw another bus of the same number (76) come up and decided to follow it, since it would take us the route of our bus. So, we asked the driver to turn around again and "follow that bus" - which we did for a while. (No way could we have figured out that route on our own). As we were driving, we noticed several 76's going back and kept looking for the bag in their back windows, but we were sure they weren't "our" bus, since we weren't that far behind. Eventually, the driver got close enough to the bus to read the name of the end station and asked if he could go ahead and catch up to "our" bus. Before the words "no problem" were fully out of our mouths, he stepped on the gas and we were off. I don't think I've even driven this fast in a Chinese car....the girls (still only two) and all of us got into the chase and started looking for any 76 ahead of us. In a few minutes, we caught up with ours....and mom asked the bus driver through the window if she could climb aboard and get her bag. He was gracious enough to agree....so she jumped out and looked and couldn't find it. Encouraged by the bus driver, she looked again, but to no avail....it was gone! Someone had felt they needed it more. A bit discouraged, but with another adventure under our belts, we headed home. I'm not sure how much the taxi ride cost, but it was definitely way more than if we had just taken a taxi from the fellowship straight home. But if we had done that, there wouldn't have been the adventure and we'd have nothing to tell you - so, aren't you glad we didn't.... :-)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)