Letter #5

The picture is of our new campus and the students walking to class on a rainy day.

Letter #5 September 21- September 27, 2008
Sunday, September 21, 2008 – Dad – The Sabbath Day, and a beautiful polluted day it is. The sun was shining but we could not see it. We received a phone call from the Branch President cancelling our Presidency Meeting due to his illness. We began holding our meetings at 10am now rather than 1pm. We also went to a three hour block rather than a two hour block. With l9 active in the branch it will certainly require all to have a calling plus to cover all the necessities. I do have to admit that this branch is 100% active. We BYU teachers had a potluck (spaghetti, salad, rolls, water, and Oreo cookies) after our meetings today – good to get together. We went on a walk this early evening. A nice day!
Monday, September 22, 2008 – Mom – Today was a sunshiny day!! They are few and far between. We planned our lessons and activities, prepared copies and got all supplies together for our first week of teaching, which will begin on October 7. We also planned our second week. We will be going on the Silk Road tour all of next week. Then we walked to Metro to buy a printer cartridge. While we were walking, we saw a man very carefully pick up a tray of something that had been sitting in the sun. We both looked at each other to make sure of what we saw. We think it was a pile of dried up ants. We are losing our appetite more each day!! When I went inside the grocery store, Dad sat outside with our purchases from other stores. You cannot enter a store with anything more than your purse and a small bag to pack your groceries in. Always, there have been people who sell things on blankets on the ground in front of that grocery store. Some things that we have seen being sold are: socks, watches, posters, belts, necklaces, little mice in a cage, little purses, hair things, etc. Anyway, all of a sudden a police car pulled up and yelled at them through a megaphone. Everyone picked up the blankets full of items in one big swoop and scattered. The policemen stayed around for about 5 minutes and then left. As soon as he left, the people came back and set up their blankets of merchandise. Another interesting thing, all over campus, the students hang their bedding either to air out or they have washed it. They are all over the shrubs, small trees, block walls and benches. They hang their laundry from their windows. It is really quite colorful. Another interesting thing, there are tall persimmon trees on the street we walk down to get to the grocery store. There were two men underneath the tree holding a large blanket, there was another man, who was putting the fruit in boxes and then, way up in the top of the tree with very thin limbs was a man throwing the fruit down to the blanket. Amazing, the things we see. For dinner, we found some smoked salmon at Metro and fried some potatoes.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008 – Dad – Today we walked to the grocery store twice. The first store we purchased toilet paper, bottled peaches, bottled pears, peanut butter, and soup. At least we think these were the items we purchased. Hard to read Chinese, but we are becoming good guessers. Interestingly during this milk scare over here I have been able to taste a very different taste in their milk. I thought that it tasted like metal in the milk. They do not refrigerate their milk as we do – it is in the aisles where one can pick it up like a box of candy bars. I am glad I have sworn off their milk the first week after our arrival. I will not drink milk while over here – the first item I will purchase in the USA is fresh milk. Our branch conference is on the horizon this coming weekend.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008 – Mom – Today we rode the student bus to the new campus just to walk around and eat lunch in the cafeteria (cantina). Immediately, we saw Donna and she invited us to eat lunch with her. She was the student who wanted to copy our quote book. She is a very good student and tries very hard to talk English often. When we entered China, our passport was stamped and dated. We have one month to get our work visa (compare it to a green card in the US) or we are illegally in the country and must pay 500 Yuan a day. We have periodically checked with our waiban about it and he has always said "we are taking care of it." We mentioned it to him again today and he was again casual about it until we told him we will have been in the country one month tomorrow. He said he did not realize that!! Then the whole waiban office became excited, with very animated phone calls and I think the two waibans were arguing. So tomorrow, we and other foreign teachers will be traveling to the police building to get our visas. We have an added problem in that our tour begins on Sunday evening with a plane trip of which a passport is required. Tomorrow will be an interesting day. Our 4th couple arrived yesterday and this evening we had dinner together. It was great to get to know Kent and Kay Summers. This is their 3rd year at Xi’an and their 5th year teaching in China. Kent served a mission in Taiwan 50 years ago. Today was a cooler day and no humidity. It was nice.
Thursday, September 25, 2008 – Dad – Today we went to the police station to get our permanent visa to remain here in China for one year. Ten foreign teachers, including ourselves, piled into a van and drove to the police station. We went up four flights of stairs with our previously filled out forms to the visa renewal room. We stood in line forever and when we finally got to the front the lady demanded that our forms be filled out in black ink. Well, ours was mostly black but had some blue ink on it (thanks to our waiban who should have known better). Anyway, after correcting that, we had to go downstairs to pay 400 Yuan each, then return with our receipt to the same overworked lady (only one working lady there). Then, with us going on our first tour on Sunday, we needed our passport today. Well, we found out that we couldn’t pick it up until tomorrow. A Chinese lady who works with Charlie will pick it up. We were there for four hours along with many other foreigners attempting to get theirs. There was a cute little girl there who was obviously American (I could understand her) and she continued to call me grandpa. She was about 4 to 5 years old and reminded me of my little granddaughters. It was raining cats and dogs today (mostly cats) so we did not go to English corner on campus. I am still experiencing some intestinal issues – all the better to lose weight.
Friday, September 26, 2008 – Grandma Orpha Brown’s birthday – Mom – It rained all night (we have some kind of a drain next to our window, so I heard the pitter patter all night) and all day. It does clean up the air. Our cleaning lady came today. She does a very nice job and it is so nice not to have to dust and clean the floors (even if it is a small area and besides I like to think that we are helping her – $3 an hour - Mrs. Leo). We walked to Metro and bought two space heaters. We have been told by all who have been here before us that we will need them. The heat is turned on in the apartments and schools in November and turned off in March – whether we need it or not. The sidewalks are a sea of umbrellas and people. Also on sunny days, the umbrellas are out because the girls do not want a tan. I was told that the lighter the skin, the more beautiful the girl. Ms. Ling had to go to the police department twice today to get our passports. There was one other American girl in the same situation as us, only she flies out to Beijing tomorrow morning. Thanks to Ms. Ling who was very persistent, we have our passports in time to go on our tour.
Saturday, September 27, 2008 – Dad – It rained all day so we stayed inside in the morning and the early PM. This weekend is our Branch Conference with the District Presidency. At 3pm I had a Branch Presidency training meeting which took about 1 ½ hours then into a leadership meeting at 5pm until 6:30pm. We have a wonderful young District President Toronto who has been in China 12 years with his family. He is an attorney and very sharp. Most of the branch went to dinner with him and his counselor while 10 of us went to a concert. It was a special awards evening for all foreign experts who help the province in anyway. They presented a few awards and then had a wonderful concert. There was an entire orchestra with instrument solos and singing solos accompanied by the orchestra. Very professionally done. We were on the dignitaries’ row and had bottled water to drink and nice soft seats with plenty of leg room. We are not used to this kind of treatment. Love to you family!