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.

One of the many fireworks for Alauna's Bday.
She's so amazing she deserves Fireworks everyday.

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

Brannon with his face painted at a local
community event.

Korean BBQ.  

Baby Panda at the Nanjing Zoo. 

Trevy and Dec with their faces painted.