Monday, November 3, 2008 – Dad – Our day off. Mom spent a lot of time preparing for this week’s lesson. I, being an old school teacher, look at it one time and I am ready. So, I read, watched TV (most channels are Chinese) and played Sudoku. After our cleaning lady left, we journeyed to shop for food and then to the dirt market where we purchased Muslim bread, a curling iron, fruits and vegetables and a solar calculator. This evening we went to the faculty café close to us and purchased dinner. I am beginning to feel the effects of that dinner. Here we go again!
Tuesday, November 4, 2008 – Mom – Our lesson this week is to sing songs. Now you know why I spent so much time on this lesson. It went well today and the students are very kind, but I did choose songs that I knew very well and were easy to sing. Then we played “Who stole the cookies from the cookie jar.” A young man in my first class wanted me to talk about the election. I explained a little about the popular vote and the electoral vote. He asked me who I voted for and why. With our Denmark experience and being here, we are always amazed at how much attention is given to the politics of America. Sometimes I feel like they know more about what is going on in America than I do. On our route to school, we travel on a road that has just recently been built. The past week we have been watching the progress as trees, flowers, bushes are planted along the side of the road and in the middle of the highway. I hope to get a picture of the men in their orange jackets or work vests, all carrying shovels. They manually dig the holes and plant the trees and shrubbery.
The Chinese people work very hard and very long hours. And, they work without the help of modern machinery. Our walk today was to the lady who has been taking in my clothes. It was a very beautiful, sunshiny fall day. I guess with the time change, we are now 15 hours ahead of Utah.Wednesday, November 5, 2008 – Dad – We have been watching the election results over here off and on. A scary future! Mom lost our cell phone yesterday but she realized that she had left it at the alteration ladies little shop. Our neighbor called and got a hello but then Chinese after that. We took some pants to be altered and sure enough she had it. Mom had dropped it in her shop on the floor when she changed. Rained just a little bit.
Thursday, November 6, 2008 – Mom – Today, we attended English Corner in the evening. The main questions asked were “what do you think of the presidential election?” and “what do you think about the financial crisis.” I still think these students know more about what is going on in America than I do.
There is a street sweeper with his or her homemade broom about every 100 feet all over the city. They sweep up leaves and garbage all day long. 
Because they have street sweepers, people just drop their garbage on the ground. Even if they did put it in the garbage can, someone would come by later and throw everything on the ground while looking for recyclable garbage. 
I guess all of this is “job security.” With all of the trees dropping their leaves, the sweepers will sweep the leaves into small piles and will either put them in a trash bag or burn them. I took a picture of a small pile of leaves being burned on the street that we travel on each day.
Friday, November 7, 2008 – Dad – Yesterday the power was out all day. We got up and dressed in the dark, washed in cold water, and ate lunch and dinner out. We had a pizza in one restaurant and fish and chips in another. Both restaurants doused their food in oil and it was not good at all. We wandered around until 9pm then returned home and read by candle light. **Mom-At English Corner last night, a girl asked Dad about Christianity. He told her he could not talk about religion. When it was time to leave, she asked where we lived, so they could talk “in private” and he again told her that he could not. At the restaurant tonight, she came in with a friend and again expressed her desire to be a Christian, but knew we could not talk with her about it. There are so many who want to know more about religion here.
Saturday, November 8, 2008 – Mom – The power finally came back on about 1am. Whenever the power comes back on, our TV turns on. So, we were awakened at 1:00 am with lights and the TV turning on in the front room. We were glad to have power again. We spent today getting our lesson plan ready for this coming week. We went to the grocery store for some items and then to the dirt market to buy a flashlight!!!! We will be more ready next power outage. This evening, we had a RS activity at the Jessop’s apartment, which is located on the 2nd floor of our building. We watched the Women’s Conference, had snacks and enjoyed one another’s company. Our RS President, Linda Terry, loves to get together with the sisters. She has 9 children and when their youngest went to the MTC, she and her husband went to BYU China Teachers training. So, she is experiencing the “empty-nester” feelings.
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