We had an absolutely great day on Saturday. So great, it get's its own blog post about it.
It was a great day of Family, Friends, Food and Football. We started off talking to my mom for her birthday. It was early Saturday morning for us and Friday evening for them. They were getting ready to go to the BYU-Utah State football game. It was really great to talk to my parents and my sister Karen. It was my dad's birthday a couple of days before. Happy birthday Mom and Dad. We love you both. Thanks for all your support and help. We hope you enjoy your present.
After talking to my parents we jumped into getting ready for friends to come over. We were going to watch the BYU USU game on ESPN. One of the students here has access to ESPN through his Grandparents Comcast account. So thanks to Spencer Bowen's grandma. Alauna was amazing with preparing food and making it a great day for everyone. We had Chili, cornbread, cinnamon rolls, hummus, pita chips, salsa, artichoke dip, carrots, celery and a cream cheese bacon tomato feta dip. It was all amazing. It was all home made from scratch. Alauna is so amazing. It was all so fresh as well. We went to the fresh market the day before to stock up on tomatoes, onions, chili pepper, and carrots to make everything. The food tasted so good. She made 48 cinnamon rolls and everyone was eaten. Most of the friends that came over are college students studying here and it had been a while since they had had a cinnamon roll. I'm glad they really enjoyed them.
The BYU game was ok. Glad they won, but really kind of a boring game. The drive right before half time was a lot of fun. The defense played awesome as usual. It is a lot of fun to watch Ziggy Ansah, Brandon Ogletree and Kyle Van Noy just create havoc for the other team. It was just great to watch a game live as it happened. It was the first and probably only time this year I will be able to see a live BYU game. We do get to watch some of the games replayed on BYU TV but usually this ends up being a couple of days later so it's not quite the same. Still better than nothing. Going to BYU football games with my parents, Brannon and Alauna are one of the things that I miss most about living in Utah. Hopefully we will be able to go to the bowl game this December and see them play live. The way things are shaping up it looks like it will be the Poinsettia bowl. San Diego would be awesome for a day or two.
After the football game Brannon came up and whispered "Dad, can we light the fireworks". That is when the real fun began. We had a few strands of small firecrackers and then a few strands of these big firecrackers. They are probably 1/2" diameter. We started out just lighting them and throwing them. Then someone said let's grab a pop bottle . We had a two liter bottle and would stick a large firecracker in the two liter bottle and that was cool for a bit. Then someone mentioned black cats firecrackers and that took me back to being a kid in Gooding, Idaho and lauching a tuna fish can in the air with a black cat. Alauna got me a soup can and with a screwdriver and hammer I made a hole in the soup can that we could jam one of the large firecrackers in. We then got a plastic mop bucket, which eventually got blown up, and put water in the bottom. We then placed the tin can in the bucket with a bit of water, lit the fuse and the can blew about 60-70 feet in the air. IT WAS AWESOME. Of course we had to do it again and again and again. Chris Gilbert from ASU, Brannon and Spencer Streeter were my partners in crime with launching the cans. Eventually we blew the top off of that can and hole in the side of the bucket. We got a new bigger can and a metal bucket to launch them out of . With the bigger can we made two holes and put two firecrackers in the can. We thought this would lauch it twice as high. It didn't make it twice as high but it did make it twice as fun. The fuses, even when lit at the same time did not seem to burn at the same speed. One would blow and launch the can in the air and then the other would blow and shoot the can in a different direction mid air. At one point the second one blew and shot the can straight at our friends and the kids standing on our balcony on the third floor. Luckily it wasn't going that fast and caused no harm to life or property.
There have been firecrackers and fireworks going off all week because of the Chinese National Day. I think our neighbor was tired of the fireworks going off, however. At one point he stood on his balcony with very few clothes on. There is still debate on whether he was half-naked or the full Monty. Regardless he, in broken English and hand signals was asking us to stop. We moved the show to the front of the house. Lit of the last few fireworks and finished the show.
It was so fun just to relax with friends watch football, eat some good food and blow something up. Thanks to Alauna and all our Nanjing friends for a great Saturday.
Boyd
Sunday, October 7, 2012
Thursday, October 4, 2012
Life
Hello again from Nanjing. It feels like a couple of months since I have written anything. I know Alauna has written a few posts. There are times that I think that I should blog about an experience and then I'm too tired or too busy to write it down. Sometimes I also feel like very few people will really understand what we're going through living in China. I know that should make me want to share even more, but sometimes it doesn't. Living in China has been very difficult in many ways. It has challenged many aspects of our lives if not all. It has also been an amazing experience and wouldn't trade it. I guess that's the way life is. When we look back the most difficult times often end up being the most rewarding. I also don't like to write about the tough times because I like to dwell on the positive.
We celebrated Alauna's birthday in a big way. We had a couple days of dinners and fun culminated with a big celebration. We had our neighbors and friends over for dinner and then a fireworks show. We had Pizza and Pasta from Bellini's, a local--wait, the only--Italian restaurant near us. It was really good. The evening ended with an amazing fireworks show. The fireworks rivaled the Highland Fling or any other small town fireworks show. It was a great evening. Best Buy's Grand Opening was on Alauna's birthday. This of course caused me to work more than I wanted to on her birthday, but we were able to still celebrate and have a great time. I think she might have even gotten even more of a celebration as compensation for me working on her Bday.
Our Best Buy Mobile Grand Opening went very well. It was very rewarding to see the stores all opened. We have now opened 12 Best Buy Mobile stores in Nanjing. During the grand opening I was asked to do a television interview. I did the interview in Chinese. I was so nervous. I repeated myself a couple of times because of being nervous but overall it went well. I was proud of myself for doing the interview in Chinese. Everyone now just expects me to speak Chinese now, but they forget that at some point I was just like them and didn't speak a bit of Chinese. There were many days that I thought I would never be able to speak Chinese. There was a lot of work going into speaking Chinese. There is still so much I am learning and still have moments when I don't understand what people are talking about but it is still progressing everyday.
The three older girls all toured through China for Discover China Trip week with their school. Mikayla went to Guizhou, Tiana went to Beijing and Marissa went to Suzhou and Wuxi. They all had an amazing time. Mikayla helped build a rice paddy for a village. What they did in two days would take four rice farmers a month to accomplish. They stayed in the local village houses. She had an amazing time and I'm proud of her. Tiana went to Beijing and camped at a farm near the great wall. They also went to the Water Cube from the Olympics. It is has a water park in it and that was the highlight of her trip. Marissa also had a great time in Suzhou. She went on a double decker merry-go-round. She also went bowling. She also had Korean BBQ. She saw one of the tallest Buddhas in China and went to a silk worm factory. They all really had a great time and gained a greater appreciation for China and built relationships with their classmates.
Our branch (congregation) at church has grown dramatically with an influx of college students here for study abroad or teaching English. We have been having a few of them over for Sunday dinner each week. It's been fun having them over. They remind me of myself 20 years. Going to BYU, studying Chinese and trying to figure out what to do with the rest of my life. They have such a bright future ahead of them. Having them over also means that we are eating well. Alauna has done an amazing job making some great food. She has been making homemade tortillas with black beans, cilantro rice and pork. It is so delicious. It would taste good anywhere but tastes amazing here in China. She has also taken full advantage of the local fresh market. She has been making chili, and pasta sauces with all the fresh tomatoes, peppers, onions and other vegetables. She made a red pasta sauce that was as good as any pasta sauce I have ever had. We really miss our garden, but having the fresh market so close is a great alternative.
The weather in Nanjing has been amazing the last few weeks. No rain and you don't sweat through your clothes. Fall is so nice here. The leaves haven't started changing yet, but it is getting cooler at nights and feels great.
Our kids are doing a great job adapting to to life in China. We were walking the other day and Trevon jumped over a puddle. I commented to him that in the US he would have jumped in the puddle, but in China he jumped over the puddle. I asked him why he did this. His response was, "Dad, in China you don't know if the puddle has pee in it." I'm so proud of him. He has listened well and learned. It is true. You don't step in any liquid on the ground in China. You never know what it is and there is a high likelihood that it is pee.
Hope everyone is doing well.
Boyd
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| One of the many fireworks for Alauna's Bday. She's so amazing she deserves Fireworks everyday. |
Our Best Buy Mobile Grand Opening went very well. It was very rewarding to see the stores all opened. We have now opened 12 Best Buy Mobile stores in Nanjing. During the grand opening I was asked to do a television interview. I did the interview in Chinese. I was so nervous. I repeated myself a couple of times because of being nervous but overall it went well. I was proud of myself for doing the interview in Chinese. Everyone now just expects me to speak Chinese now, but they forget that at some point I was just like them and didn't speak a bit of Chinese. There were many days that I thought I would never be able to speak Chinese. There was a lot of work going into speaking Chinese. There is still so much I am learning and still have moments when I don't understand what people are talking about but it is still progressing everyday.
The three older girls all toured through China for Discover China Trip week with their school. Mikayla went to Guizhou, Tiana went to Beijing and Marissa went to Suzhou and Wuxi. They all had an amazing time. Mikayla helped build a rice paddy for a village. What they did in two days would take four rice farmers a month to accomplish. They stayed in the local village houses. She had an amazing time and I'm proud of her. Tiana went to Beijing and camped at a farm near the great wall. They also went to the Water Cube from the Olympics. It is has a water park in it and that was the highlight of her trip. Marissa also had a great time in Suzhou. She went on a double decker merry-go-round. She also went bowling. She also had Korean BBQ. She saw one of the tallest Buddhas in China and went to a silk worm factory. They all really had a great time and gained a greater appreciation for China and built relationships with their classmates.
Our branch (congregation) at church has grown dramatically with an influx of college students here for study abroad or teaching English. We have been having a few of them over for Sunday dinner each week. It's been fun having them over. They remind me of myself 20 years. Going to BYU, studying Chinese and trying to figure out what to do with the rest of my life. They have such a bright future ahead of them. Having them over also means that we are eating well. Alauna has done an amazing job making some great food. She has been making homemade tortillas with black beans, cilantro rice and pork. It is so delicious. It would taste good anywhere but tastes amazing here in China. She has also taken full advantage of the local fresh market. She has been making chili, and pasta sauces with all the fresh tomatoes, peppers, onions and other vegetables. She made a red pasta sauce that was as good as any pasta sauce I have ever had. We really miss our garden, but having the fresh market so close is a great alternative.
The weather in Nanjing has been amazing the last few weeks. No rain and you don't sweat through your clothes. Fall is so nice here. The leaves haven't started changing yet, but it is getting cooler at nights and feels great.
Our kids are doing a great job adapting to to life in China. We were walking the other day and Trevon jumped over a puddle. I commented to him that in the US he would have jumped in the puddle, but in China he jumped over the puddle. I asked him why he did this. His response was, "Dad, in China you don't know if the puddle has pee in it." I'm so proud of him. He has listened well and learned. It is true. You don't step in any liquid on the ground in China. You never know what it is and there is a high likelihood that it is pee.
Hope everyone is doing well.
Boyd
 |
| Brannon with his face painted at a local community event. |
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| Korean BBQ. |
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| Baby Panda at the Nanjing Zoo. |
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| Trevy and Dec with their faces painted. |
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
Happy Birthday Alauna
We celebrated Alauna's birthday this past weekend. We celebrated the entire weekend. Her birthday was on Friday. I took Thursday off and we went and had waffles for breakfast at Sculpting in Time. It is a great little cafe across from Nanjing University. They are one of the few places that serve an American Style breakfast. Declan and I even shared a bowl of corn flakes.
Patience......no, FAITH
This past week as Boyd and I were cooking, the handle broke off of one of our measuring cups. It was a measuring cup that we had brought from the US. I realized it was one of my grandma's measuring cups, and then I thought to myself, who ever thought that my grandma's measuring cups would end up in China. They went from my grandma's kitchen in Mapleton, to my mom's kitchen in Orem, and now my kitchen in China.
I thought the lesson I was learning the past few weeks was that of patience, but I now realize it's been the lesson of faith in my Savior. (I guess that's really the lesson of this whole experience though.) My faith has been tested as we traveled over 8 hours by bus, 1 hour by subway and some time by taxi,and even more time on foot during the period of 2 days to be able to get to and from district conference. My faith has been tested as a protest marched through the streets of our compound during the middle of the night. My faith has been tested as my child was required to a read a book for school that I would have never let her read if it wouldn't have been required for school. My faith has been tested as my families faith has been challenged.
Our district conference was in Shanghai. Our branch provided transportation by bus. It was a little over 4 hours each direction. Once we got to the "church building" (conference center with a couple of rooms set aside for our church), our kids were going to have to sit and wait for us for 5 hours during the priesthood session and the adult session, or we could try to get to the hotel and let them wait there. We decided to head for the hotel. We had one hour before the priesthood session, at which Boyd was speaking. We went as quickly as we could to the subway station. We were all loaded down like pack horses. We had our suitcases, blankets for the children, the diaper bag, stroller (Which we had to lift up and down numerous sets of stairs with Declan in it.), all of our food for the next day, and numerous other odds and ends. We were dripping with sweat by the time we reached the subway. Once we got off the subway we made a mad dash for the motel. With sweat dripping down our faces, backs, etc. (You get the picture.) we entered the motel. It had taken us over an hour to get to the motel. Boyd was late for his meeting. He emailed them, got the process started of checking us in, and caught a cab back to church. I finished the check in process. This is not quick in China. They have to scan every one's passports at least once if not twice, print off millions of papers for you to sign (which I can't read), and stamp every paper a couple of times each. By the time we were done checking in, the boys were running around the lobby screaming one minute and crying the next because so and so and done such and such. I quickly hauled my "little angels" to our rooms. I got all of the children settled in the largest room and went to catch a taxi for me to get to the adult session. Boyd had written the name of "the church building" on a card from the motel for me so that I could tell the taxi driver where to go. I tried to tell the driver, but he didn't know what I was saying. What a surprise, my Chinese is so good....not. I called Boyd and he told the driver where to go. The driver dropped me off on the opposite side of the conference center from the church. I walked around the large building and finally found Boyd. I had a hard time concentrating on the conference as a worried about my children in a motel that was a bit sketchy. The kids decided to go to KFC while Boyd and I were in our meeting. I was praying for them the whole time. When our meeting was over, we went and met up with the kids. They were safe and sound. We had fun going to dinner and shopping at the street markets. When we got back to the motel, we were lucky enough to find about 20 call girl business cards that had been pushed through the door into each of our rooms. I quickly told the boys to close their eyes and collected all the cards and placed them in the garbage can. The next morning, we decided we were not going to go through the hour and a half ordeal of walking and the subway. So, we got 2 taxis. I rode in one with half of the kids, and Boyd rode in the other with the other half. It was a crazy time, and I haven't written about all of our happenings, only the most crazy.
Two weeks ago, there was a day here in China that was an anniversary of something that happened during WWII with Japan. (Not much info. Sorry. I don't even understand the whole story.) Anyway, because of this event China has some extremely negative feelings toward Japan and the US. Also, China and Japan's fight over some island did not help the issue. There were protest all through out Nanjing on this day. We were lucky enough to have our compound as one of the target areas. At 11:30 p.m., I was woken up by people yelling in the street by my house. I think they were yelling something about Japanese and Americans go home. It was scary. I woke up Boyd and had him go through the house and make sure all of the doors and windows were locked. (There were other issues that had occurred in our compound in the days before the protest. So, we knew something might happen.) The next morning we found out that a sign had been put up in front of our compound telling Americans and Japanese to go home. Also, a Japanese car had been vandalized. Our compound, school, and the Ford company (The majority of the expats in our compound work for Ford.) warned us to stay in our homes and let us know that there was extra security at the school for the day. These warnings came out after we had already sent the kids to school. Luckily, Boyd had taken the boys to school with our driver. The girls were away at school trip week. So, I was a little nervous about their safety, and we didn't let them know what was going on at home because we didn't want to worry them. I used our driver the next few days to get the kids to and from school (normally a 5-10 min. walk). Everything is good now, but it was a scary couple of days.
We've also had lots of great experiences. I'm finding that I can obtain the majority of what I need to make Western food at a good price if I'm willing to make it from scratch. That means no fridge biscuits, bottled salsa and sauces, canned beans and vegetables. I go to the fresh market and make everything from scratch. (Spaghetti, Chili, Pickles, etc.) We can even buy freshly made noodles at the market. You can buy a chicken and have it butchered right before your very eyes. (Something we have not done.) I even had someone tell me that it's almost the season for fresh dog meat in the market. (Another thing we aren't going to try.)
We've been able to do a little sight seeing. It's finally starting to cool off enough that sightseeing is enjoyable. Boyd is taking the next couple of days off, and we are going to get to see some of the sights in Nanjing. We are really looking forward to a little break in our routine and some well needed family time.
Here's to building my faith!
Alauna
I thought the lesson I was learning the past few weeks was that of patience, but I now realize it's been the lesson of faith in my Savior. (I guess that's really the lesson of this whole experience though.) My faith has been tested as we traveled over 8 hours by bus, 1 hour by subway and some time by taxi,and even more time on foot during the period of 2 days to be able to get to and from district conference. My faith has been tested as a protest marched through the streets of our compound during the middle of the night. My faith has been tested as my child was required to a read a book for school that I would have never let her read if it wouldn't have been required for school. My faith has been tested as my families faith has been challenged.
Our district conference was in Shanghai. Our branch provided transportation by bus. It was a little over 4 hours each direction. Once we got to the "church building" (conference center with a couple of rooms set aside for our church), our kids were going to have to sit and wait for us for 5 hours during the priesthood session and the adult session, or we could try to get to the hotel and let them wait there. We decided to head for the hotel. We had one hour before the priesthood session, at which Boyd was speaking. We went as quickly as we could to the subway station. We were all loaded down like pack horses. We had our suitcases, blankets for the children, the diaper bag, stroller (Which we had to lift up and down numerous sets of stairs with Declan in it.), all of our food for the next day, and numerous other odds and ends. We were dripping with sweat by the time we reached the subway. Once we got off the subway we made a mad dash for the motel. With sweat dripping down our faces, backs, etc. (You get the picture.) we entered the motel. It had taken us over an hour to get to the motel. Boyd was late for his meeting. He emailed them, got the process started of checking us in, and caught a cab back to church. I finished the check in process. This is not quick in China. They have to scan every one's passports at least once if not twice, print off millions of papers for you to sign (which I can't read), and stamp every paper a couple of times each. By the time we were done checking in, the boys were running around the lobby screaming one minute and crying the next because so and so and done such and such. I quickly hauled my "little angels" to our rooms. I got all of the children settled in the largest room and went to catch a taxi for me to get to the adult session. Boyd had written the name of "the church building" on a card from the motel for me so that I could tell the taxi driver where to go. I tried to tell the driver, but he didn't know what I was saying. What a surprise, my Chinese is so good....not. I called Boyd and he told the driver where to go. The driver dropped me off on the opposite side of the conference center from the church. I walked around the large building and finally found Boyd. I had a hard time concentrating on the conference as a worried about my children in a motel that was a bit sketchy. The kids decided to go to KFC while Boyd and I were in our meeting. I was praying for them the whole time. When our meeting was over, we went and met up with the kids. They were safe and sound. We had fun going to dinner and shopping at the street markets. When we got back to the motel, we were lucky enough to find about 20 call girl business cards that had been pushed through the door into each of our rooms. I quickly told the boys to close their eyes and collected all the cards and placed them in the garbage can. The next morning, we decided we were not going to go through the hour and a half ordeal of walking and the subway. So, we got 2 taxis. I rode in one with half of the kids, and Boyd rode in the other with the other half. It was a crazy time, and I haven't written about all of our happenings, only the most crazy.
Two weeks ago, there was a day here in China that was an anniversary of something that happened during WWII with Japan. (Not much info. Sorry. I don't even understand the whole story.) Anyway, because of this event China has some extremely negative feelings toward Japan and the US. Also, China and Japan's fight over some island did not help the issue. There were protest all through out Nanjing on this day. We were lucky enough to have our compound as one of the target areas. At 11:30 p.m., I was woken up by people yelling in the street by my house. I think they were yelling something about Japanese and Americans go home. It was scary. I woke up Boyd and had him go through the house and make sure all of the doors and windows were locked. (There were other issues that had occurred in our compound in the days before the protest. So, we knew something might happen.) The next morning we found out that a sign had been put up in front of our compound telling Americans and Japanese to go home. Also, a Japanese car had been vandalized. Our compound, school, and the Ford company (The majority of the expats in our compound work for Ford.) warned us to stay in our homes and let us know that there was extra security at the school for the day. These warnings came out after we had already sent the kids to school. Luckily, Boyd had taken the boys to school with our driver. The girls were away at school trip week. So, I was a little nervous about their safety, and we didn't let them know what was going on at home because we didn't want to worry them. I used our driver the next few days to get the kids to and from school (normally a 5-10 min. walk). Everything is good now, but it was a scary couple of days.
We've also had lots of great experiences. I'm finding that I can obtain the majority of what I need to make Western food at a good price if I'm willing to make it from scratch. That means no fridge biscuits, bottled salsa and sauces, canned beans and vegetables. I go to the fresh market and make everything from scratch. (Spaghetti, Chili, Pickles, etc.) We can even buy freshly made noodles at the market. You can buy a chicken and have it butchered right before your very eyes. (Something we have not done.) I even had someone tell me that it's almost the season for fresh dog meat in the market. (Another thing we aren't going to try.)
We've been able to do a little sight seeing. It's finally starting to cool off enough that sightseeing is enjoyable. Boyd is taking the next couple of days off, and we are going to get to see some of the sights in Nanjing. We are really looking forward to a little break in our routine and some well needed family time.
Here's to building my faith!
Alauna
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