October 1st is the anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949 and celebrated as China’s National Holiday. An important occasion, the holiday is celebrated all of the People’s Republic of China.
Since the National Party Plenum meeting in May 1999, Chinese people have been guaranteed a week off during the holiday, turning the holiday into both a patriotic and economic fixture of the Autumn season. In folk parlance, National Day is referred to as one of the “Golden Weeks”, of the year, the other one being the week during the Chinese Lunar New Year.
The 15th of the eighth month according to the Chinese lunar calendar, is the date for the traditional Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival. The reason for celebrating the festival during that time is that it is the time when the moon is at its fullest and brightest.
The Mid-autumn festival is one of the two most important occasions in Chinese calendar (the other being the Spring Festival or the Chinese New Year) and it is an official holiday. It is a time for families to be together, so people far from home will gaze longingly at the moon and think about their families.
The traditional food for mid-autumn festival is the moon cake which is round and symbolizes reunion.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Friday, September 11th
Friday, September 11, 2009
Today we went shopping at the RT Mart for groceries and a few other items for the apartment. I spent most of the day correcting papers for my writing class and Lugene worked on preparations for her class tomorrow. It will be at the West campus.
Earlier in the week, Xueruili, Lugene’s contact at the university, asked her if she would be interested in tutoring the family of a “high” government official. Lugene said, “yes”, so she arranged for us to go out to dinner with them tonight. We went to a very fancy Chinese restaurant. Each party had their own separate room. There were seven of us. We met the family. They are very nice. As far as we could tell, the father is in charge of water quality for Shandong province. We will be tutoring his wife and fourteen year old daughter each Saturday morning for an hour. They will come to our apartment in the hotel.
We sat around a round table with a large glass “lazy susan” in the middle of the table. They then started bringing in the food. We had beef and pork and fish and squid and shrimp and duck. We had vegetables and fried squash and eggplant and lotus roots and everything you can imagine. We then had dumplings. They were delicious. We ended it all with a plate of fruit. We were both really stuffed when we got through. They then insisted we take the leftovers home with us. Ugh!!!
Today we went shopping at the RT Mart for groceries and a few other items for the apartment. I spent most of the day correcting papers for my writing class and Lugene worked on preparations for her class tomorrow. It will be at the West campus.
Earlier in the week, Xueruili, Lugene’s contact at the university, asked her if she would be interested in tutoring the family of a “high” government official. Lugene said, “yes”, so she arranged for us to go out to dinner with them tonight. We went to a very fancy Chinese restaurant. Each party had their own separate room. There were seven of us. We met the family. They are very nice. As far as we could tell, the father is in charge of water quality for Shandong province. We will be tutoring his wife and fourteen year old daughter each Saturday morning for an hour. They will come to our apartment in the hotel.
We sat around a round table with a large glass “lazy susan” in the middle of the table. They then started bringing in the food. We had beef and pork and fish and squid and shrimp and duck. We had vegetables and fried squash and eggplant and lotus roots and everything you can imagine. We then had dumplings. They were delicious. We ended it all with a plate of fruit. We were both really stuffed when we got through. They then insisted we take the leftovers home with us. Ugh!!!
9-9-09
Happy Birthday Mom... and what a very special birthday!!!
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Today is a special day. It is 9-9-09 and it is Lugene’s birthday. In the morning we both worked on our lessons. Then, about 10:30 we went to our Waiban’s office to get our pay. When we left our apartment we noticed that our neighbor had decorated our door with Happy Birthday. This made Lugene happy. Some of our children also called to wish her Happy Birthday. They pay us in cash, so we each got an envelope full of Chinese money. While we were at his office, Toby gave Lugene a big birthday cake. It was very big and pretty. It was a white sponge cake with whipped cream and chocolate frosting. I had my two writing classes in the afternoon, so I was gone for about 6 hours. When I got back we went with the Sorensons to Jenny’s Café for a birthday dinner for Lugene.
We are riding the bus more now because it is convenient and less expensive. I’m really proud of Lugene. She is becoming more and more adventurous. She crosses the scary, busy roads by herself, takes a taxi by herself, and I’m sure will soon take the bus by herself. We both feel very safe wherever we go (except when trying to cross a street).
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Today is a special day. It is 9-9-09 and it is Lugene’s birthday. In the morning we both worked on our lessons. Then, about 10:30 we went to our Waiban’s office to get our pay. When we left our apartment we noticed that our neighbor had decorated our door with Happy Birthday. This made Lugene happy. Some of our children also called to wish her Happy Birthday. They pay us in cash, so we each got an envelope full of Chinese money. While we were at his office, Toby gave Lugene a big birthday cake. It was very big and pretty. It was a white sponge cake with whipped cream and chocolate frosting. I had my two writing classes in the afternoon, so I was gone for about 6 hours. When I got back we went with the Sorensons to Jenny’s Café for a birthday dinner for Lugene.
We are riding the bus more now because it is convenient and less expensive. I’m really proud of Lugene. She is becoming more and more adventurous. She crosses the scary, busy roads by herself, takes a taxi by herself, and I’m sure will soon take the bus by herself. We both feel very safe wherever we go (except when trying to cross a street).
Tuesday, September 8th
Today Lugene had her second oral English class. Only one student showed up. He is a lawyer who has been studying English for many years. She said the class was more a tutoring session than a class. She is going to check with her school contact to determine if there will be more students in the class.
Many of the buildings in Ji’nan are illuminated. At night the main streets look like Las Vegas. This evening was especially clear and nice. Lugene wanted me to take some pictures of the buildings. Someone had told us you could get onto the roof if you use the stairs. We decided we would go on the roof and take some pictures. When we went out onto the roof, we made sure the door didn’t close. We wanted to make sure we could get back down. The city was beautiful. It was a clear, warm night. We took some pictures and then walked around looking at the city. When we got ready to leave, we went back to the door and it was closed and locked. Lugene started saying, “Oh, shoot. Oh, shoot”. Anyway, we found we were at the wrong door. We finally found the right door and got down. We’re sure having a lot of fun (?) experiences.
Many of the buildings in Ji’nan are illuminated. At night the main streets look like Las Vegas. This evening was especially clear and nice. Lugene wanted me to take some pictures of the buildings. Someone had told us you could get onto the roof if you use the stairs. We decided we would go on the roof and take some pictures. When we went out onto the roof, we made sure the door didn’t close. We wanted to make sure we could get back down. The city was beautiful. It was a clear, warm night. We took some pictures and then walked around looking at the city. When we got ready to leave, we went back to the door and it was closed and locked. Lugene started saying, “Oh, shoot. Oh, shoot”. Anyway, we found we were at the wrong door. We finally found the right door and got down. We’re sure having a lot of fun (?) experiences.
Friday, September 11, 2009
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Mount Tai
Saturday, September 6, 2009
Today, we met in the hotel lobby at 9:00 to start our trip to Tai’an for the Mount Taishan (Tai) Climbing Festival. This is an annual festival. Mount Taishan is the most holy of five holy mountains in China. The emperors from the old dynasties used to make sacrifices to the mountain. It is said that as long as Mount Taishan stands, so will China. [Mount Tai is a mountain of historical and cultural significance located north of the city of Tai'an, in Shandong Province, China. The tallest peak is Jade Emperor Peak, which is commonly reported as 1545 meters (5069 ft) tall. Mount Tai is one of the "Five Sacred Mountains". It is associated with sunrise, birth, and renewal, and is often regarded the foremost of the five. The temples on its slopes have been a destination for pilgrims for 3,000 years.]
The adult teachers rode in a van and the foreign students went by bus. This excursion was arranged by our Waiban, Toby, and is paid for by the school except for 100 Yan (about $14). It took about 2 hours to get to Tai’an. We went directly to the hotel. We were impressed with the hotel because the lobby was nice and clean. The rooms, however, weren’t as nice. I would say on a scale of 1-5, they were a two. One interesting thing about the room was a red plastic bucket in the corner that was half full of water. I didn’t know what it was for and suggested (humorously) to Lugene that maybe it was a chamber pot. After we had put away our things in the room we had lunch. It was a typical Chinese buffet lunch. It was quite good. We’re getting good with our chopsticks. In fact, I don’t even think about eating with a fork anymore. We found out during lunch that the bucket of water is our room’s fire extinguisher. I guess if you have a fire, you throw the water on it. So much for my idea of how it was to be used.
After lunch we did some site seeing of the city. We walked down one side street near the hotel that had a lot of little stores and street markets. It was very quaint and very interesting. We also went to a department store across from the hotel. It was very high end. It was nice, but very pricey. The prices were similar to what you would pay in the United States.
We ate dinner at the hotel and then had our free evening. Lugene and I were able to find a channel on the television that was playing the Godfather movie in English so we watched that until bedtime. The beds were extremely hard!!
Sunday, September 7, 2009
The next morning Lugene and I decided to go down to the lobby about ½ hour early for breakfast and wait for the others to arrive. We got in the elevator and went about half way down (we were on the 7th floor) and the elevator stopped and the door wouldn’t open. We didn’t know what to do, so we started pushing the alarm bell. After about 10 minutes we heard knocking on the other side of the door and some people talking in Chinese. We knocked back and said we didn’t speak Chinese. Of course, they didn’t speak English. The people left and we kept pushing the alarm bell. Lugene was getting a little excited at this point! Again some people started talking on the other side of the door. This time there were some men’s voices so we thought that maybe someone was trying to fix the elevator. After some time (and a few jerky drops of the elevator), we finally arrived at the 5th floor. We tried to open the door, but it still wouldn’t open. We assumed that whoever got us to 5th floor would now come and get us out. We waited but no one came. So, Brian, being as strong as he is, forced the doors open. Lugene said we had to walk the rest of the way to the lobby. We showed up about 5 minutes late for breakfast.
After breakfast we were each given a number to pin to our shirts (like runners in a marathon). We didn’t know until then that there was a race to the top of the mountain and we were part of the race. We walked to a plaza not far from the hotel where they were getting ready to start the climb to Mount Taishan. There were several thousand people there. Some were waiting to see the race start and some were race participants. Again, we were the only Americans there so we got lots of stares, “hellos”, etc. We were also interviewed again for the local television. We asked why we were visiting and what we thought of the city, the mountain, the people, etc. Lugene said getting all this attention could become addictive. The Chinese people really are nice and friendly.
Someone had the idea that we should be at the front of the racers. This was a mistake because we were packed like sardines and it was hot and humid. Also, we weren’t really going to race. We walked about a kilometer, took a bus to some cable cars, rode the cable cars most of the way up the mountain and then climbed about 1,000 steps to the summit. The last climb, however, was really hard. The real runners ran all the way from the plaza to the summit. There are granite steps that lead to the top. Just before you reach the top you go through a granite arch called the southern gate to heaven. We’ve always wanted to go to heaven, and now we have!
It was a fun day. We did a lot of walking and climbing, but it was worth it. After the climb, we had lunch and came home. We were given a medallion for having made it to the top of the mountain.
Lugene has to teach her first class tomorrow, so she is spending the rest of the evening getting ready for her classes.
Today, we met in the hotel lobby at 9:00 to start our trip to Tai’an for the Mount Taishan (Tai) Climbing Festival. This is an annual festival. Mount Taishan is the most holy of five holy mountains in China. The emperors from the old dynasties used to make sacrifices to the mountain. It is said that as long as Mount Taishan stands, so will China. [Mount Tai is a mountain of historical and cultural significance located north of the city of Tai'an, in Shandong Province, China. The tallest peak is Jade Emperor Peak, which is commonly reported as 1545 meters (5069 ft) tall. Mount Tai is one of the "Five Sacred Mountains". It is associated with sunrise, birth, and renewal, and is often regarded the foremost of the five. The temples on its slopes have been a destination for pilgrims for 3,000 years.]
The adult teachers rode in a van and the foreign students went by bus. This excursion was arranged by our Waiban, Toby, and is paid for by the school except for 100 Yan (about $14). It took about 2 hours to get to Tai’an. We went directly to the hotel. We were impressed with the hotel because the lobby was nice and clean. The rooms, however, weren’t as nice. I would say on a scale of 1-5, they were a two. One interesting thing about the room was a red plastic bucket in the corner that was half full of water. I didn’t know what it was for and suggested (humorously) to Lugene that maybe it was a chamber pot. After we had put away our things in the room we had lunch. It was a typical Chinese buffet lunch. It was quite good. We’re getting good with our chopsticks. In fact, I don’t even think about eating with a fork anymore. We found out during lunch that the bucket of water is our room’s fire extinguisher. I guess if you have a fire, you throw the water on it. So much for my idea of how it was to be used.
After lunch we did some site seeing of the city. We walked down one side street near the hotel that had a lot of little stores and street markets. It was very quaint and very interesting. We also went to a department store across from the hotel. It was very high end. It was nice, but very pricey. The prices were similar to what you would pay in the United States.
We ate dinner at the hotel and then had our free evening. Lugene and I were able to find a channel on the television that was playing the Godfather movie in English so we watched that until bedtime. The beds were extremely hard!!
Sunday, September 7, 2009
The next morning Lugene and I decided to go down to the lobby about ½ hour early for breakfast and wait for the others to arrive. We got in the elevator and went about half way down (we were on the 7th floor) and the elevator stopped and the door wouldn’t open. We didn’t know what to do, so we started pushing the alarm bell. After about 10 minutes we heard knocking on the other side of the door and some people talking in Chinese. We knocked back and said we didn’t speak Chinese. Of course, they didn’t speak English. The people left and we kept pushing the alarm bell. Lugene was getting a little excited at this point! Again some people started talking on the other side of the door. This time there were some men’s voices so we thought that maybe someone was trying to fix the elevator. After some time (and a few jerky drops of the elevator), we finally arrived at the 5th floor. We tried to open the door, but it still wouldn’t open. We assumed that whoever got us to 5th floor would now come and get us out. We waited but no one came. So, Brian, being as strong as he is, forced the doors open. Lugene said we had to walk the rest of the way to the lobby. We showed up about 5 minutes late for breakfast.
After breakfast we were each given a number to pin to our shirts (like runners in a marathon). We didn’t know until then that there was a race to the top of the mountain and we were part of the race. We walked to a plaza not far from the hotel where they were getting ready to start the climb to Mount Taishan. There were several thousand people there. Some were waiting to see the race start and some were race participants. Again, we were the only Americans there so we got lots of stares, “hellos”, etc. We were also interviewed again for the local television. We asked why we were visiting and what we thought of the city, the mountain, the people, etc. Lugene said getting all this attention could become addictive. The Chinese people really are nice and friendly.
Someone had the idea that we should be at the front of the racers. This was a mistake because we were packed like sardines and it was hot and humid. Also, we weren’t really going to race. We walked about a kilometer, took a bus to some cable cars, rode the cable cars most of the way up the mountain and then climbed about 1,000 steps to the summit. The last climb, however, was really hard. The real runners ran all the way from the plaza to the summit. There are granite steps that lead to the top. Just before you reach the top you go through a granite arch called the southern gate to heaven. We’ve always wanted to go to heaven, and now we have!
It was a fun day. We did a lot of walking and climbing, but it was worth it. After the climb, we had lunch and came home. We were given a medallion for having made it to the top of the mountain.
Lugene has to teach her first class tomorrow, so she is spending the rest of the evening getting ready for her classes.
Friday, September 4, 2009
September 2nd - 4th
Today Brian woke up with a terrible cold. He was really frustrated because today he starts teaching two writing classes. He slept most of the morning and felt well enough to go to class. Fortunately, he had prepared his lessons earlier in the week. He made it through the classes fine. He really enjoyed teaching the classes. The students were very friendly and responsive. Both classes, however, commented that he had a cold. Oh, well.
While Brian was at school, Lugene took a taxi to WalMart. She did this all by herself. Brian was very impressed that she would do this. She just handed the taxi driver a card with WalMart’s address on it. When she had finished shopping, she found another cab and showed him a card with the hotel’s address on it. She made it back without any problems.
September 3, 2009
Today, Nick, one of the people who works in Toby’s office, took us to a giant electronics mall. It was a whole street of electronics stores. The store we went in was like a three-story warehouse. The Chinese rent space by the foot and have all these little stalls where they sell everything imaginable.
We bought a printer and a splitter so we can both use the Internet at the same time. Since all the instructions were in Chinese, it took me all afternoon to get everything to work. After many attempts, I finally got everything working. Our neighbor brought us some pot stickers for supper. They were really good.
September 4, 2009
Today Lugene met with her school contact. She will start teaching next Monday. She will have a class on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. She will also have one lecture per month. She and I both spent the day preparing for next week’s lessons.
In the evening we went out to dinner with the Sorensons.
While Brian was at school, Lugene took a taxi to WalMart. She did this all by herself. Brian was very impressed that she would do this. She just handed the taxi driver a card with WalMart’s address on it. When she had finished shopping, she found another cab and showed him a card with the hotel’s address on it. She made it back without any problems.
September 3, 2009
Today, Nick, one of the people who works in Toby’s office, took us to a giant electronics mall. It was a whole street of electronics stores. The store we went in was like a three-story warehouse. The Chinese rent space by the foot and have all these little stalls where they sell everything imaginable.
We bought a printer and a splitter so we can both use the Internet at the same time. Since all the instructions were in Chinese, it took me all afternoon to get everything to work. After many attempts, I finally got everything working. Our neighbor brought us some pot stickers for supper. They were really good.
September 4, 2009
Today Lugene met with her school contact. She will start teaching next Monday. She will have a class on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. She will also have one lecture per month. She and I both spent the day preparing for next week’s lessons.
In the evening we went out to dinner with the Sorensons.
September 1st
Today Lugene and I took a long walk through an area of town we haven’t been before. We found a lot of street vendors selling fruits and food to eat. They cook it right on the street. We also found a couple of satellite campuses of the Shandong Normal School. We then stopped at McDonald’s for breakfast.
In the late morning we went with the Sorensons to the New World Market. It is a large three story building with many vendors selling everything from toilets to food. We were looking for a topper for our hard mattress, but didn’t find one. Lugene did find a pan to use for cooking. After the market we went to a nearby Pizza Hut for lunch. It was very nice with a broader menu than in the U.S. After this we went to the Lotus Supermarket. It is similar to the RT Mart, but not so busy.
In the afternoon I worked some more on my lesson and got some information cards copies for the students. I now have a very bad cold. I hope I’m able to teach my lessons tomorrow. Lugene had a bad blister on her toe that she is trying to get healed. In the evening we watched the movie “Benjamin Button”. It has to be the slowest, longest, most boring movie ever made!
In the late morning we went with the Sorensons to the New World Market. It is a large three story building with many vendors selling everything from toilets to food. We were looking for a topper for our hard mattress, but didn’t find one. Lugene did find a pan to use for cooking. After the market we went to a nearby Pizza Hut for lunch. It was very nice with a broader menu than in the U.S. After this we went to the Lotus Supermarket. It is similar to the RT Mart, but not so busy.
In the afternoon I worked some more on my lesson and got some information cards copies for the students. I now have a very bad cold. I hope I’m able to teach my lessons tomorrow. Lugene had a bad blister on her toe that she is trying to get healed. In the evening we watched the movie “Benjamin Button”. It has to be the slowest, longest, most boring movie ever made!
August 31st
Brian has been working on his lesson plan. He starts teaching on Wednesday. We caught the 9:00 bus and went to the West campus to find his classrooms. Fortunately, the building where he will teach is across the road from the bus stop. After we got back we went to the RT Mart and bought some groceries and household supplies. We also went to the Bank of China branch nearby to get some money out of their ATM. We found out it was broken.
After we got back to our apartment Brian went to find an ATM so we could withdraw some money. He first tried the ATM in the hotel but found out it won’t take Visa cards. The hotel then sent him with the bellman to another hotel. They said their ATM wouldn’t take Visas either. They then went to another hotel where Brian tried their ATM. It said he was using the wrong pass code. He tried it on another card and got the same response. After going back to the apartment, he and Lugene decided to trek to another Bank of China branch about 1 mile away. Eureka, their ATM worked and we were able to get some money. We will get paid the end of the second week in September. We need to pay 200 yuan for our trip this weekend. We also need to buy a printer for our computers.
Today is our 42nd wedding anniversary. We went to dinner at Jenny’s Café with the Sorensons. This café is near the RT Mart and specializes in American food. They have hamburgers, Italian food, Mexican food, steaks, etc. It was really good. They also have a small market where they sale American food. It’s pricey, but will come in handy. For example, a box of Honey Bunches of Oats cereal was $6.00.
After we got back to our apartment Brian went to find an ATM so we could withdraw some money. He first tried the ATM in the hotel but found out it won’t take Visa cards. The hotel then sent him with the bellman to another hotel. They said their ATM wouldn’t take Visas either. They then went to another hotel where Brian tried their ATM. It said he was using the wrong pass code. He tried it on another card and got the same response. After going back to the apartment, he and Lugene decided to trek to another Bank of China branch about 1 mile away. Eureka, their ATM worked and we were able to get some money. We will get paid the end of the second week in September. We need to pay 200 yuan for our trip this weekend. We also need to buy a printer for our computers.
Today is our 42nd wedding anniversary. We went to dinner at Jenny’s Café with the Sorensons. This café is near the RT Mart and specializes in American food. They have hamburgers, Italian food, Mexican food, steaks, etc. It was really good. They also have a small market where they sale American food. It’s pricey, but will come in handy. For example, a box of Honey Bunches of Oats cereal was $6.00.
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