This man is "singing for his money." He has his paint can out ready to accept any "thank you's" from generous passerbysLetter #21 (January 11, 2009 – January 17, 2009)
Sunday, January 11, 2009 – Mom – This was a busy day. I spoke on the Doctrine and Covenants and Joseph Smith in Sacrament Meeting. Mark Bednall, from Washington DC, was the other speaker. He is a student here and a part-time English teacher. He returned from his mission to Las Vegas, NV a year ago. He is a very nice and handsome young man. He reminds me of Trent when he speaks in front of people. Mark has the same voice and facial expressions as Trent. Mark knew that his grandparents were from Taiwan, but did not know much about his ancestors until he came to China. It has been an interesting journey for him. His grandfather has now confided in Mark many things that Mark did not know and probably would not have appreciated until now. Mark learned that he has a Chinese name. The Ortons are gone, so I did both sharing time and the lesson in Primary. Because the Ortons and all other BYU teachers in the apartment building are gone, the RS met in our apartment. Curtis (11 years) and I met in our kitchen and the RS met in our living room.
Monday, January 12, 2009 – Dad – Last night I received a text from one of my students saying that I gave her a 36, which is a failing grade. So, I checked the score sheet and sure enough I had failed to finish grading her. I must have been interrupted and failed to continue filling out the line. So, I emailed and text her that I would go to the campus and change the grade. I caught the 7:20am van on a cold morning (approx. 6 degrees above zero) and went to school. While there I changed the grade and talked with two of the administrators. The administrators brought me into their office and wanted to show pictures of Edith and I at the New Year’s Celebration. They didn’t have a disc so they put it on a flash drive and sent me home with it. On the way home I rode in the old bucket of bolts bus(which stalled three times in the middle of the street) to the campus. It is a wonder that they can keep these buses running. We went to Art Street and purchased Chinese items to take home with us.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009 - Mom – Our suitcases are packed! We are ready, but our flight doesn’t leave until Thursday. We met the Terry’s and the Kimball’s at the Village Inn and I had a yummy hamburger and Dad had spaghetti and said it was good. The bonus was when we walked into the Village Inn, the last 2 minutes of the Utah Jazz vs. Indiana Pacers basketball game was playing on their TV on the wall. We withdrew money from the bank, had copies made for our 1st week of classes when we return in February and got the mail. We have the mail key and have been gathering the mail for all of the foreign teachers since the 2nd. When we leave, we will hang the mail key in the attendants’ room so those who are expecting mail can get it. We go to the attendants’ room when we need light bulbs, clean sheets, repairs to the apartment, etc. It was a sunny day but very cold.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009 – Dad – Well, a boring day of computer, last minute items, packing, and washing clothes. Yesterday, I went to have my $.60 cent haircut, ironically they do not accept tips – darn. As I approached the barber shop (woman barber) a little boy (approx. 4) was playing outside with a small golf club like thing. He took a couple of swings at me but missed. I darted into the shop and he followed right behind me. The barber was washing another customer’s hair in the sink and it turned out that the little boy belonged to the barber. The little guy went back outside after his mother scolded him but this time he brought two very long sticks in and began to swing them at me. Fortunately his mother caught him and demanded he play outside. When motioned into the chair I had my coat on because they do not heat their shops. When she put a towel around my neck, her cold hands just about froze me to death. Plus, all of the unclean instruments were ice cold and she squirted me with water so she could use scissors on my hair. She used a nicked up razor to shave my neck. Tough to get a haircut now days.
Happy Birthday to Elva on the 17th and Kamryn on the 24th. I do not know when we will have access to the internet again!! We are off to Hong Kong!!!!
Sunday, January 11, 2009 – Mom – This was a busy day. I spoke on the Doctrine and Covenants and Joseph Smith in Sacrament Meeting. Mark Bednall, from Washington DC, was the other speaker. He is a student here and a part-time English teacher. He returned from his mission to Las Vegas, NV a year ago. He is a very nice and handsome young man. He reminds me of Trent when he speaks in front of people. Mark has the same voice and facial expressions as Trent. Mark knew that his grandparents were from Taiwan, but did not know much about his ancestors until he came to China. It has been an interesting journey for him. His grandfather has now confided in Mark many things that Mark did not know and probably would not have appreciated until now. Mark learned that he has a Chinese name. The Ortons are gone, so I did both sharing time and the lesson in Primary. Because the Ortons and all other BYU teachers in the apartment building are gone, the RS met in our apartment. Curtis (11 years) and I met in our kitchen and the RS met in our living room.
Monday, January 12, 2009 – Dad – Last night I received a text from one of my students saying that I gave her a 36, which is a failing grade. So, I checked the score sheet and sure enough I had failed to finish grading her. I must have been interrupted and failed to continue filling out the line. So, I emailed and text her that I would go to the campus and change the grade. I caught the 7:20am van on a cold morning (approx. 6 degrees above zero) and went to school. While there I changed the grade and talked with two of the administrators. The administrators brought me into their office and wanted to show pictures of Edith and I at the New Year’s Celebration. They didn’t have a disc so they put it on a flash drive and sent me home with it. On the way home I rode in the old bucket of bolts bus(which stalled three times in the middle of the street) to the campus. It is a wonder that they can keep these buses running. We went to Art Street and purchased Chinese items to take home with us.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009 - Mom – Our suitcases are packed! We are ready, but our flight doesn’t leave until Thursday. We met the Terry’s and the Kimball’s at the Village Inn and I had a yummy hamburger and Dad had spaghetti and said it was good. The bonus was when we walked into the Village Inn, the last 2 minutes of the Utah Jazz vs. Indiana Pacers basketball game was playing on their TV on the wall. We withdrew money from the bank, had copies made for our 1st week of classes when we return in February and got the mail. We have the mail key and have been gathering the mail for all of the foreign teachers since the 2nd. When we leave, we will hang the mail key in the attendants’ room so those who are expecting mail can get it. We go to the attendants’ room when we need light bulbs, clean sheets, repairs to the apartment, etc. It was a sunny day but very cold.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009 – Dad – Well, a boring day of computer, last minute items, packing, and washing clothes. Yesterday, I went to have my $.60 cent haircut, ironically they do not accept tips – darn. As I approached the barber shop (woman barber) a little boy (approx. 4) was playing outside with a small golf club like thing. He took a couple of swings at me but missed. I darted into the shop and he followed right behind me. The barber was washing another customer’s hair in the sink and it turned out that the little boy belonged to the barber. The little guy went back outside after his mother scolded him but this time he brought two very long sticks in and began to swing them at me. Fortunately his mother caught him and demanded he play outside. When motioned into the chair I had my coat on because they do not heat their shops. When she put a towel around my neck, her cold hands just about froze me to death. Plus, all of the unclean instruments were ice cold and she squirted me with water so she could use scissors on my hair. She used a nicked up razor to shave my neck. Tough to get a haircut now days.
Happy Birthday to Elva on the 17th and Kamryn on the 24th. I do not know when we will have access to the internet again!! We are off to Hong Kong!!!!
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