Wednesday, November 25, 2009
We are becoming more brave...
Hi All, Burton again asked me to drop a note about being invited by my students for lunch yesterday. It was quite the lunch - many things we had never thought of trying - surprise - not any more - and some of them are even good - we had sea cucumber and abalone soup, raw trout and salmon with soya sauce and wasabi, cod, eel, shrimp, some little tiny fish - the whole thing - full of eggs, cows tongue, sharks fin soup, and some vegetables that are about as hard to recognize - spinach, bokchoy, pumpkin, onion, and many ???s. Burton did find Haagen Daz for dessert - and they gave you about 1 teaspoon full for who knows how much - it seems to have been at a price of 368 yuans each for the 5 of us. Oh, My. That is a lot for over here - about $65. each - we eat at our normal restaurant for about $2.50 together and bring home enough leftovers for 3 more dinners. Unique foods - we think they do this on purpose to us to see if we will taste it. Better get back to work - have to teach the children tonight - I'm never on top of that one.
I'm behind on my posts...
This is a message from Stacey.
I have not posted much in a while. I apologize. Here are a few pictures I have received.
The first four below are from the "Royalty Weekend" that the parents had a few weekends ago.
At least 17 courses....
Below are displays from the Flower Show location. Budda is one.
The show was over, and the flowers frozen, but it is a great site.
Below is Zhongshan Park that was built by the Germans in 1921.
It is a 15 minute walk from here.
The building Burton teaches in at on the Laoshan Campus. It is called building #4.
Burton at the front of a class at Laoshan.
I have not posted much in a while. I apologize. Here are a few pictures I have received.
The first four below are from the "Royalty Weekend" that the parents had a few weekends ago.
At least 17 courses....
Below are displays from the Flower Show location. Budda is one.
The show was over, and the flowers frozen, but it is a great site.
Below is Zhongshan Park that was built by the Germans in 1921.
It is a 15 minute walk from here.
The building Burton teaches in at on the Laoshan Campus. It is called building #4.
Burton at the front of a class at Laoshan.
Primary Presentation
Hi All, Burton asked me to tell a bit about the Primary Presentation yesterday. It was an amazing experience. It was mostly in Korean with the kids singing some songs in English - maybe 5 or so. All the talks were in Korean. Sister Yoon started off by saying a few words (which we could not understand but felt Very strongly) by her wonderful spirit. Then the kids took over and she went off with her baby - who at 1 1/2 is still tied to her back but he was very tired and she didn't want him at the front.
The kids took over and did the program with the music leader and a few notes on the side of the wall. They sang songs, gave talks - no notes anywhere for anyone - no music anywhere for anyone - we were all in tears - the spirit was so strong, even little Sam ( our local hyper child - he just turned 3) gave a talk by himself - and sang a solo. Nearly all got that chance as there are only 9 children. We talked about it and said we have never seen a better presentation with such an overwhelming spirit EVER. It was really a blessing to see. We loved it and said it made our day very worthwhile. These saints have very little but are so strong in spirit they know the Lord will bless them if they do his will. So worth all the trip to China to just see this.
The kids took over and did the program with the music leader and a few notes on the side of the wall. They sang songs, gave talks - no notes anywhere for anyone - no music anywhere for anyone - we were all in tears - the spirit was so strong, even little Sam ( our local hyper child - he just turned 3) gave a talk by himself - and sang a solo. Nearly all got that chance as there are only 9 children. We talked about it and said we have never seen a better presentation with such an overwhelming spirit EVER. It was really a blessing to see. We loved it and said it made our day very worthwhile. These saints have very little but are so strong in spirit they know the Lord will bless them if they do his will. So worth all the trip to China to just see this.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Some Photos of our Weekend of Royal Treatment.
We have been having a few issues with our camera and computer - I think things are working now. Here are a few pictures of our weekend of royal treatment. Below is a picture of Patricia and I standing at the entrance to a small mountain hike we went on.
The Buddhist temple in the background was about half way up the hike.
More photos to come...
The Buddhist temple in the background was about half way up the hike.
More photos to come...
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Royalty for the Weekend
E-mail written letting the kids know about the parents travel plans for the weekend.
November 6, 2009
Dear Family
We do not know how this works, but we are going to a nearby city of Weifang this afternoon, maybe train, maybe by bus. Our friend Charles called Wednesday nite and invited us to go with a student from my Wednesday class to Weifang Friday and Saturday. It seems there is some kind of vegetable fair going on this weekend.
I did not recognize the student’s name, but if Charles was going, it seemed alright. Then Charles cancelled going, leaving us wondering.
Today, about 10:30 AM, I get a call from an older well travelled lady in my class, saying this was organized by the Foreign Student Office, and that a bus would pick us up at 2 PM.
I guess we are going. Pat gets finished at 12 and David Blake gets here about 1 PM. They claim the Hotel will be fine and that it is being paid by ?.
That's China.
Later that morning...more information...
November 6 & 7, 2009
The saga gets better. I am sitting at my computer Friday morning about 10:30 and I get a telephone call from a student in my Fushan Class (Monday/Wednesday) asking when we will be ready, as she is coming to pick us and Blakes up to go to Weifang in a University bus, with William. So we are on, but still very much unsure of the agenda. She arrives at 2 PM and off we go to Fushan campus and meet the bus. William is there, as well as another senior lady, who works in the Foreign Student Department, as well as my lady student. We head out for Weifang and go very fast on the freeway.
AS soon as we are out of Qingdao, the countryside became very much flat and farmland. The farm land continues the whole way, most small farms, some were corn fields, some are winter wheat and some are vegetables. As we get closer to Weifang, they are greenhouses appearing everywhere, literally hundreds of them. The government has planted many trees along the road, several rows back towards the fields, all in uniform rows and mostly without leaves. There are farmers everywhere, putting rolls of some kind of insulating material on the tops of the greenhouses, and doing other tasks.
We approach Weifang, but don’t realize that we are going another direction to Qingzhou a smaller, newer city about 40-50 miles away. We are met by a contingent of people, including my “student”, who it turns out is the senior financial manager in the region, and as we learn later, many of his staff are with him. We are lead to a very fancy small hotel at the foot of a small mountain with Buddhist and Taoist temples on top.
We are treated like royalty at the hotel, with several young ladies escorting us to our rooms and everywhere else we needed to go. They actually were stationed outside our rooms, in case we needed something. Shortly after our arrival, we were taken to a lavish private dining room, where we were soon met by the local group, including my student and several of his staff. My lady student and the other female passenger are all part of the university administration. They are both going to Europe/Russia by Monday on educational business.
The meal consisted of no less than 24 items including all kinds of delicacies, some which were hard to look at, let alone eat. We tried enough, to show we were polite. There were many toasts given to the group and to each other. It became apparent, that we should have brought gifts, but no one seemed to know in advance what was to happen. We were told that they had intended to invite us earlier during the National Holiday week, but we had travel plans.
The Vegetable Festival which we were told the reason for the trip has already past. The Flower Festival had also passed and the flowers were now frozen. Our rooms exceeded the 5 star rooms on the previous trip. We retired early and got up for breakfast at 7:30 Am, followed by the hike to the top of the mountain. Immediately after the hike we headed to a local museum and saw some ancient artifacts. Upon departing, our host gave each of us a beautiful wooden box with a copy of the exam we had seen inside the museum. This civil service exam was written in 1598 and had comments written on it by the Emperor, because it was so well written. The paper is about 12 feet long.
We then went to the site of the Flower Festival, a beautiful location on about 70 acres, The pavilions of all the Provinces and 14 countries were still up and the flowers (frozen) very much in place. The USA was there as well as many major countries, but no Canada. Maybe next year. It is a permanent venue, with annual shows.
Lastly we were taken for lunch at a very nice restaurant, in a private room, only 17 courses this time. We could taste most of them, without dire consequences. We were then given two boxes of Snow Pears, with about 100 pears in each. What are we going to do with that many. We were then given a further escort out of the city, but my student, and didn’t have to pay tolls or obey traffic rules. All in all, it was a magnificent 26 hours. Especially when you think, this student travels at least two hours one way to get to my classes (twice a week). I have another student that travels 3 hours by bus and taxi to get there.
That’s the report on that one. I guess that student will get a passing grade (for sure).
November 6, 2009
Dear Family
We do not know how this works, but we are going to a nearby city of Weifang this afternoon, maybe train, maybe by bus. Our friend Charles called Wednesday nite and invited us to go with a student from my Wednesday class to Weifang Friday and Saturday. It seems there is some kind of vegetable fair going on this weekend.
I did not recognize the student’s name, but if Charles was going, it seemed alright. Then Charles cancelled going, leaving us wondering.
Today, about 10:30 AM, I get a call from an older well travelled lady in my class, saying this was organized by the Foreign Student Office, and that a bus would pick us up at 2 PM.
I guess we are going. Pat gets finished at 12 and David Blake gets here about 1 PM. They claim the Hotel will be fine and that it is being paid by ?.
That's China.
Later that morning...more information...
November 6 & 7, 2009
The saga gets better. I am sitting at my computer Friday morning about 10:30 and I get a telephone call from a student in my Fushan Class (Monday/Wednesday) asking when we will be ready, as she is coming to pick us and Blakes up to go to Weifang in a University bus, with William. So we are on, but still very much unsure of the agenda. She arrives at 2 PM and off we go to Fushan campus and meet the bus. William is there, as well as another senior lady, who works in the Foreign Student Department, as well as my lady student. We head out for Weifang and go very fast on the freeway.
AS soon as we are out of Qingdao, the countryside became very much flat and farmland. The farm land continues the whole way, most small farms, some were corn fields, some are winter wheat and some are vegetables. As we get closer to Weifang, they are greenhouses appearing everywhere, literally hundreds of them. The government has planted many trees along the road, several rows back towards the fields, all in uniform rows and mostly without leaves. There are farmers everywhere, putting rolls of some kind of insulating material on the tops of the greenhouses, and doing other tasks.
We approach Weifang, but don’t realize that we are going another direction to Qingzhou a smaller, newer city about 40-50 miles away. We are met by a contingent of people, including my “student”, who it turns out is the senior financial manager in the region, and as we learn later, many of his staff are with him. We are lead to a very fancy small hotel at the foot of a small mountain with Buddhist and Taoist temples on top.
We are treated like royalty at the hotel, with several young ladies escorting us to our rooms and everywhere else we needed to go. They actually were stationed outside our rooms, in case we needed something. Shortly after our arrival, we were taken to a lavish private dining room, where we were soon met by the local group, including my student and several of his staff. My lady student and the other female passenger are all part of the university administration. They are both going to Europe/Russia by Monday on educational business.
The meal consisted of no less than 24 items including all kinds of delicacies, some which were hard to look at, let alone eat. We tried enough, to show we were polite. There were many toasts given to the group and to each other. It became apparent, that we should have brought gifts, but no one seemed to know in advance what was to happen. We were told that they had intended to invite us earlier during the National Holiday week, but we had travel plans.
The Vegetable Festival which we were told the reason for the trip has already past. The Flower Festival had also passed and the flowers were now frozen. Our rooms exceeded the 5 star rooms on the previous trip. We retired early and got up for breakfast at 7:30 Am, followed by the hike to the top of the mountain. Immediately after the hike we headed to a local museum and saw some ancient artifacts. Upon departing, our host gave each of us a beautiful wooden box with a copy of the exam we had seen inside the museum. This civil service exam was written in 1598 and had comments written on it by the Emperor, because it was so well written. The paper is about 12 feet long.
We then went to the site of the Flower Festival, a beautiful location on about 70 acres, The pavilions of all the Provinces and 14 countries were still up and the flowers (frozen) very much in place. The USA was there as well as many major countries, but no Canada. Maybe next year. It is a permanent venue, with annual shows.
Lastly we were taken for lunch at a very nice restaurant, in a private room, only 17 courses this time. We could taste most of them, without dire consequences. We were then given two boxes of Snow Pears, with about 100 pears in each. What are we going to do with that many. We were then given a further escort out of the city, but my student, and didn’t have to pay tolls or obey traffic rules. All in all, it was a magnificent 26 hours. Especially when you think, this student travels at least two hours one way to get to my classes (twice a week). I have another student that travels 3 hours by bus and taxi to get there.
That’s the report on that one. I guess that student will get a passing grade (for sure).
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