The Adventures (and Dull Stories) of Mr. & Mrs. Smith

Baby's First Picture with... um... Santa?

2011-12-31T04:47:00.000-08:00

At our annual Christmas banquet for foreign workers in our province we had the opportunity to take our little girl's picture with Santa, the Chinese version. This "Teenage Chinese Santa" was super excited to have his photo taken with our family. He is also proudly displaying our little girl's Christmas gift, a stuffed dragon in honor of the Chinese New Year on January 23, 2012. Happy Year of the Dragon!

Christmas in China

2011-12-29T04:34:00.000-08:00

Christmas is always a very busy time for us. We keep our schedules full of parties with students, the annual provincial banquet and final exams. Below are some photos from this very exciting time.

One of the traditional Hui People dancers at our annual banquet. Our province is the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, a special province for the Hui ethnicity. They are descendants of the Middle Eastern traders along the Silk Road, so Middle Eastern styles influence their traditions. Click here to watch a short video of this performance.

Ladies performing a traditional Chinese dance at the provincial banquet honoring "foreign experts" who work in Ningxia.

One of 45 students who came to our apartment for one of four Christmas parties. One activity was helping us decorate our Christmas tree. Students made some very creative ornaments. One even made an ornament with a special message for Brian, "Dear Teacher, I want to pass my exam."

We also had visits from some of our former students. These three were Annie's students last year. They were very excited to visit and meet our little girl for the first time.

Of course, this was also our little girl's first Christmas. We think we were more excited about it than she was. We excitedly helped her open some presents. We want to thank everyone who sent us care packages and gifts for our little one this semester. We feel very loved by your kindness and generosity.

4 Month Milestone

2011-12-22T23:15:00.000-08:00

We admit that being new parents we are super excited by every small thing our little girl does. So, to share this excitement, here's another video. This was taken this morning. She is 4 months old today! As you will see and hear, we are quite excited! Click here to see our newest video of our little girl.

New Parents

2011-12-21T04:25:00.000-08:00

As we are learning so many new things about our little girl we are often amazed at what she can do. Click here to see some of her first giggles. On some of our more difficult days we can just watch this and it makes us smile.

West Coast meets the Far East

2011-11-30T19:40:00.001-08:00

This is some graffiti art that we found near our school. For those of you who can read the Chinese, please forgive us if it says anything inappropriate. We cut out the bad stuff in English. :)

This is just another influence from the U.S. that we find in our city. Being that our city is considered smaller we are amazed at how Western influences have made it this far out in China. Other things we see are a lot of Western products like Oreo cookies, Lay's potato chips, Johnson & Johnson baby products and, of course, Coca-Cola. Recently the second Dairy Queen and Pizza Hut opened in our city. (We still have no McDonald's.) We also see Western influences in clothing and lifestyle. Sadly, some of our bad habits from the West are making it here to China, like smoking and promiscuity. Something we were surprised by is that now more Chinese are putting their babies to sleep in cribs. This is very recent. The tradition is to have the baby sleep in the bed with the parents.

So, should you like to come to China and visit us, you might be surprised by what familiar things you find!

3 Months Old!

2011-11-22T22:12:00.000-08:00

Our little girl is three months old today. It's hard to believe that she has been in our lives only this short time. We've learned a lot from her and about her. The biggest lesson is that we can see how great a parent's love is for their child. We realize how great a sacrifice the Father made for all of us by sending His Son to die for us.

Smiling for the camera!

I love it when she wakes up happy like this.

Play time!

Her new crib! And she's exactly three months old here!

Dressed by Dad

2011-11-15T21:20:00.000-08:00

One day while Annie was out at the supermarket our little girl had a huge diaper blow-out. So, Dad was in charge of the clean-up. Afterward this is the outfit he put her in. When Annie asked, "Did you just put her in the first things you grabbed?" Brian answered confidently, "Yes. Yes I did."

Look closely and you'll see the socks for mittens. That was Annie's favorite part. :)

Fun faces from our little girl

2011-11-06T20:01:00.001-08:00

She is so expressive and makes us laugh often...

Content. She must have just finished eating.

Happy morning awake time!

I think we caught her by surprise here.

Life in China Means...

2011-10-31T04:06:00.000-07:00

Sometimes you can't access the internet and/or websites like you'd want to. Wonder why we haven't updated our personal webpage lately? Currently we are unable to access our webpage and our facebook pages. Yes, this is just one of the adventures of living abroad.

After four weeks back in China we are finally feeling like we've settled in to life again. Brian is teaching freshman and sophomore oral English classes while Annie spends her time with the cutest girl in China. :) We have reconnected with friends, both Chinese and other foreigners. We've also been able to meet two other baby girls in our foreign community who were born within a month of ours. Our apartment is set up nicely now and is feeling like a home. We are grateful for our new apartment with the extra space, especially in the kitchen.

Thank you for all the ways you've supported us with your thoughts and kind notes. We're happy to report that six of our former students worked this summer with a program for orphan children. A student sent us a message today saying that one of these children was just adopted by an American family. Our little girl is doing very well. She is healthy and continues to both amaze and challenge us in many ways. Brian is greatly enjoying meeting his new students who come from many different places in China.

Below is a photo of the freshman students at our university doing their military training, a requirement for all university freshmen. When training, the students are excused from all their classes, hence Brian only teaching two classes per week so far. Starting November 1 he will be teaching seven classes per week.

Back in the Saddle Again

2011-10-29T02:07:00.000-07:00

After a long hiatus we are back to posting photos online. The reason of our hiatus is the topic of this set of photos, our sweet little girl. Below are some highlights from her first two months.

Fascinated by the ceiling fan in Annie's mom's house, where we lived for 3 months this summer.

Raise your hand if you were a super good baby on 4 different flights for our return to China!

Playtime! This "bouncy chair" is her favorite place to play and sleep both in the USA and in our China home.

Technical Difficulties!

2011-04-09T05:23:00.000-07:00

Sorry that it's been a while since we've posted a picture. We've had technical difficulties which are just because of the country where we live. C'est la vie!

Below are three pictures.

This is from our trip to Vietnam. Annie is conquering her fear of riding motorbikes with our friend who lives in Vietnam with his Vietnamese wife.

Brian helping make dumplings while visiting one of our students in the countryside.

This is a panorama view of the countryside where we live. The people here are quite impoverished because of the growing desert that is overtaking their family farms.

This is why we are English teachers in Asia.

2011-03-20T18:58:00.000-07:00

Recently, we visited a local tourist spot and enjoyed taking photos of the informational signs. Here are a few for your enjoyment. Also, you can see the terrain here, very desert-y and dry.

Four Legged Friends in Thailand

2011-03-09T04:14:00.001-08:00

While in Thailand we visited the local zoo. We had a wonderful time, but one of the highlights was meeting this baby elephant. We got to pet the elephant and feed it cucumbers.

Back in China

2011-02-27T16:49:00.000-08:00

After a wonderful month spent in Thailand and Vietnam we are happy to be back in China and to start teaching for the spring semester. This also means that we are starting the picture of the week again!

The two pictures below are from a Thai traditional dinner and performance we attended for our 3rd wedding anniversary. We had a wonderful night and enjoyed seeing so much Thai culture and eating some fantastic food.

Picture of the Week Postponement

2011-01-15T22:25:00.000-08:00

Thank you to all of you who regularly check our picture of the week. We are going to be leaving for classes and a conference outside of China. We will be gone for one month and will not be able to consistently post a picture of the week.

Check back around March 1 for our newest posts.

Banquet Time

2011-01-15T22:01:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the delay in our postings. With the end of the calendar year and the end of our teaching semester we got behind. But, below are some fun photos from our provincial annual banquet for all of the "foreign experts" in our province.

This woman played a traditional Chinese musical instrument called a "zither."

No banquet is complete without a hostess in a pretty princess dress.

This girl performed a magic show. It was a lot of fun!

These girls performed a traditional-style dance.

Christmas Party

2010-12-23T21:26:00.001-08:00

We recently had a small Christmas party with some of our students. Together we told the Nativity story, sang some Christmas songs and made Christmas cards. The students above are showing off their Christmas card creations. They enjoyed making the cards so much that after we had gone 45 minutes past our scheduled time Brian finally had to just start taking away the materials! In the end, we all had a good time, and the students heard the true story of Christmas.

People, people everywhere!

2010-12-13T16:52:00.000-08:00

This is one of the many crowded areas you can find in China. Many of our friends say that the root of China's current problems is because of the "large population." Officially, the population is 1.3 billion, but friends here say it's more likely 1.5 billion. China just completed a census, so we are curious about the results.

Truthfully, you cannot escape overcrowding in China. The city where we live has about 1 million people and is considered a "very small city." But look at the photo above, taken while crossing a sky bridge. You see the effects of overcrowding when getting on the bus. People move in mass and push a lot. If it's rush hour don't expect to get a seat. The idiom of being "packed like sardines" is quite appropriate.

Overcrowding does have other problems too. Recently, we read an article about a stampede at a kindergarten. The children were going out to recess when one girl stopped and bent down to tie her shoe. over 40 children were treated for injuries.

Concert in the Park

2010-12-08T23:03:00.000-08:00

This impromptu concert in the park is a common scene in China. This group was performing traditional Chinese songs. Other groups perform traditional Chinese dances. Some play card games and Chinese chess. Often, the people are retirees. With forced retirement at age 60 for men and age 55 for women, these folks have a lot of free time on their hands.

The parks in China are a fascinating mix of people.

"Civilized People"

2010-12-04T21:32:00.000-08:00

After last week's "Crossing the Street" post we thought we'd share with you how to be "civilized people." This underpass is found at one of the major intersections downtown in our city. Increasingly it's becoming a problem with how people cross the street here. We know of multiple people here who have relatives who have been hit by cars or buses.

Crossing the Street

2010-11-29T17:22:00.001-08:00

Crossing the street in China is always an... "adventure." There are many designated crosswalks, but in general everywhere is a cross walk. In larger cities, like Beijing, the city has built barriers down the middle of the streets leaving access to cross only at the crosswalks. This keeps most people from crossing in the wrong place, but we've still seen people jumping over the barriers too.

Above is a photo from a street in our city. Notice the layers of people and cars. Generally the method of crossing the street involves crossing halfway, waiting while standing on the tiny median (less than one foot wide) and crossing the other halfway when the coast is clear. The good thing is that people always cross the street like this, so when the cars pass you as you are waiting on the median they will swerve a little to give you some space. We enjoy the area of our city where we live because the streets are wide and there's little traffic. This means that often we can cross all the way across the street!

Lastly, for those of you wondering, there is no understanding here of "the pedestrian has the right of way." It's usually, "whoever has the biggest vehicle and wants to go faster has the right of way." Does this make you excited about visiting China?

A Day at the Park

2010-11-21T02:53:00.000-08:00

We visited the main city park with some students on an unusually warm day. They took us to an area of the park where you can buy food and feed the white pigeons. This is one of the families that was also there. Our students tell us that the white pigeon (what they call a dove) is a symbol of peace. It's interesting that this is a similar symbol in Western cultures because of the story of Noah.

Candied Fruit

2010-11-13T19:31:00.001-08:00

Here in China there are a plethora of street food vendors. During the winter season we often get the option to buy candied fruit. The fruit above is mostly hawthorn (the red ones), which is really popular and quite tasty. The fruit has been dipped in hot sugar syrup. When it cools it hardens to make a sweet shell for the fruit. One stick of hawthorn costs only 2 yuan, about 30 cents in USD. What a delicious bargain!

Brian's Birthday Pic

2010-11-06T19:38:00.001-07:00

Happy birthday, Brian! Brian's birthday was on October 24. We had a small party because a lot of our friends were out of town for a conference. We enjoyed eating a lot of cake and ice cream! With two of our friends we watched the second "Twilight" movie and laughed through the whole thing. I'm sorry to all the "Twilight" fans out there, but the movie is so easy to mock. All in all, Brian had a fun and chocolatey birthday.

This week's picture

2010-10-28T06:43:00.001-07:00

This picture is of one of the local Hui men. The area where we live is the "autonomous region" for the Hui ethnic minority group. The Hui, descendants of Persian traders on the Silk Road, are ethnically Muslim. Many of the students we teach are also Hui. Usually the younger people don't wear the traditional dress, but when walking around our town, one can see many older men wearing the traditional hats and women wearing the traditional head scarves.

Two weeks in one

2010-10-18T19:43:00.000-07:00

Last week was so super busy that I forgot to post the photo of the week! This week I'm trying to make up for it by doubling up. Enjoy!

Below is a photo of a very common sight in China: split pants. Here often children don't wear diapers. They wear split pants that are conveniently open in the middle for easy access. The parents begin training the babies when they are very little to "respond" to the mother whistling. It's a pretty fascinating idea.

Below are two photos of the mountains we can see from our apartment. This is one of our favorite things about where we live. The first photo is an unusually vibrant sunset. The second was taken the morning after a thunderstorm in September. We got rain, but the higher elevations got snow.

Kitty Pictures for this week!

2010-10-07T21:28:00.000-07:00

Below are two photos that our Japanese friend took. She is also a teacher at our school and lives in our building. She shares our love of cats and took these awesome pictures of just one of the many stray cats on campus. Thanks, Yuri!

Surprised cat!

Happy cat!

This week's photo

2010-09-27T22:19:00.000-07:00

This photo was also taken during our trip to Hohhot. It's from a Tibetan Buddhist temple. These are the "prayer flags." Tibetan Buddhism and temples can be found in many places in China.

Photo of the Week: September 21, 2010

2010-09-21T02:58:00.000-07:00

This is a photo we took during our visit to Hohhot, Inner Mongolia. We just had to laugh at this sign...and the people in the picture.

This week's pictures--Sept. 15

2010-09-14T21:11:00.000-07:00

Some weeks I can't choose only one picture...

Below is one of the guards at TianAnMen square.

Below is a Chinese tourist at the Temple of Heaven in Beijing.
Smoking is very common for Chinese men.

Introducing, The Picture of the Week!

2010-09-03T02:08:00.000-07:00

Last year we were inconsistent with updating our blog, so this year we are beginning our new series, The Picture of the Week. This is the first installment...

We bought a new camera this summer, and Annie has had a great time exploring it's features and being creative. The picture below is from the Nature Center in Annie's hometown. It's a wonderful place full of walking trails and wildlife.

The picture below is from St. Francis of Assisi Cathedral in Santa Fe, near Brian's hometown. The artwork and expression caught Annie's eye.

At the Market

2010-03-05T23:50:00.000-08:00

There are so many things about life in China that are so different from our life in America. One of them is what foods we can and cannot find. I'm inspired to write about this today because yesterday I made a glorious find........ canned whipped cream! It's from somewhere in Germany, so it better be good. We're saving it for a special occasion because it did end up costing $4.50 for the one can. Some things are just worth it!

We have a lot of great fresh fruits, vegetables and meats. Yes, I wrote "meats," and they sure are fresh. The meat stands have slabs hanging from hooks in the open air. You walk up and tell the vendor how many "jin" (a Chinese measurement roughly equal to half a kilo) you would like to buy. He or she cuts it off right in front of you. We buy our beef this way and have also learned how to ask in Chinese for it to be ground. Granted, there are some ways in which this is really gross (oh, the smell!), but it's also quite convenient. We've also learned to ask the vendor to cut off the fat before he or she grinds the meat, so we get really lean meat. It's also very fresh.

We buy our chicken at the big supermarket. There you can get frozen boneless, skinless chicken breasts. They're in a big pile on a table that is refrigerated. The big challenge about buying them is picking them up! For your convenience, there are some tongs available to pick up the pieces. But the tongs are just two flat pieces of metal with no teeth to grip with. Usually I end up dropping the pieces a few times before they make it into the bag that the butcher lady is holding for me. If I say something silly in Chinese she laughs a little and gives me some extra help.

Here's a meat buying tip: Go to buy before 11:00 a.m. or the good meat has already been sold.

The fruit and vegetable stands here are just beautiful. There is an array of colors, shapes and sizes. Everything comes in season, so we get really excited when new fruits or vegetables show up at the stands. Our most recent additions have been strawberries and pineapple. After a winter of bananas, apples and oranges we are very excited.

China also has to offer some really great fruits and vegetables we can't get in America. Our new favorite fruit is a pomelo. It's like a large grapefruit mixed with an orange and is absolutely delicious! As for vegetables, here they eat garlic stalk. It can be stir fried or put in stews. Lastly, eggplant in China tastes so much better than it does in America. This makes Annie quite excited because she likes eggplant, but Brian doesn't...in America. Here Brian loves it.

Here's a fruit safety tip: All fruit that does not have a thick peel MUST be thoroughly washed before eating. The quality of the water used in the fields is not always good and can leave residue on the skin of the fruit. Bananas and oranges are safe, but everything else must be washed, including lettuce.

(Below: One of the larger fruit & vegetable markets in town. This one is unusual because it is indoors. Commonly, they are open air...or just a cart on the side of the road.)

Where in the World Have We Been?

2010-02-14T21:25:00.000-08:00

After a long absence, we have returned to our blog page. And there was great rejoicing.

Many have heard of the Great "Firewall" of China. The official purpose is to protect the citizens of China from access to pornography. Great idea! But, it also prevented us from our blog spot, youtube and many other websites. Sad! Recently, we have discovered a way to access this blog again, so here we are! Again, great rejoicing.

We had a great first semester teaching at the university here. There were challenges along the way, including the loss of a family member and a very good friend. It hurt us to be so far away and not be able to attend the memorials and to hug our friends and family. But, the One who has called us here reached out to us in this time too. We had a few additional challenges. Annie's ankle is still not completely healed from "the great fall at the Great Wall" (see post below). Brian got food poisoning once, and Annie got it twice. Then there were the stresses of H1N1. Boo! Our campus took measures to protect the students by restricting them to the campus. Culturally, this is completely appropriate. But, after two months being stuck on campus all of our students were ready for the semester to be over. The school decided to shorten the semester so that the students could go home for the holidays earlier. Now our hope is that the gates will all remain open this semester.

As for teaching, Brian taught Sophomore Oral English. Annie taught Freshman Oral English. It was a lot of fun! We have some very sweet students and a few sassy ones to boot. We have enjoyed getting to know our students, most of which are from this small province where we live. We have made many new friends. We have also made friends with some others who are either graduate students or teachers in our department. A special thank you to everyone who sent us packages this semester. We were able to share the contents with not only our students but also our teammates. They all thank you!

After the semester ended we started a whirlwind, one-month vacation. (Our semester vacation is a total of two months.) Our first stop was Xi'an via overnight train. Oh, the fun of the local trains! We had many cultural experiences. In Xi'an we visited the Terracotta Warriors, which were quite amazing. We also enjoyed eating at McDonald's...many times. When we were in the States we didn't each McDonald's much, but we don't have one in our town, so it was quite a treat. We also visited friends and enjoyed getting to know them better.

Next stop: Beijing! We spent a few days in the "North Capitol," the direct translation. There we visited the Olympics area, some Western restaurants and an import store where we bought exciting things like Cheerios, tortillas and Milky Way candy bars. Yum! We rested quite a bit in Beijing too and were able to visit a friend and his family. They have a very cute little girl.

After this, we headed to the southern parts of the country to visit some very good friends. We had a great time just hanging out, playing with their two kids and playing Scrabble. We also enjoyed the abundance of fresh fruit!

Finally, it was time to go to Thailand for our annual conference. We got there a few days early so that we could go to the dentist and to the doctor to have Annie's ankle checked out again. It's amazing that in Thailand you can go to a hospital and see an orthopedic doctor for only $12.50! He gave Annie some physical therapy to strengthen her ankle more. We also celebrated our two-year anniversary...by flying through the Thai jungle on zip lines. This was not Annie's idea, but she overcame her fear of heights and had a great time. The jungle is beautiful.

Our conference was a wonderful time of catching up with friends and sharing stories and a time for us to be nurtured in an open environment. We felt quite refreshed afterward. We also had an opportunity to go with a group of friends to "Tiger Kingdom." There we actually pet tigers and lions! This is exactly what our mothers have told us not to do since we were children. But, once you pass the age of 30, you're a little more free. We found out that Brian's allergy to cats applies to lions and tigers too! He got a little red and sneezy after cuddling with the big tigers. He is quite excited that he can now list on medical forms that his allergies are: hay fever, cats, lions and tigers.

Our last week on Thailand we spent at a beach resort. It was very relaxing. We sat around and read books, swam in the pool, visited friends who were also there and made a trip to Monkey Island to feed the monkeys bananas. We had a long day of travel back to our home and have had a few days to rest. Now, we are starting to gear up for another semester. And, in a short 4 1/2 months we'll be headed back to the States for our summer vacation.

Happy Chinese New Year to you! It's the Year of the Tiger! Grr!

The Great Fall on the Great Wall

2009-08-21T07:10:00.001-07:00

Well, we've been off the internet for a while because our service was a bit limited over the past 3 or 4 days. But, we are back with another update of our adventures!

This past Saturday we had the opportunity to visit the Great Wall with our friends. It was amazing. If you ever make it to this part of the world, we highly recommend it! Our adventure began with us loading the bus and driving away. Then we turned around to go back because we'd left someoene behind. Oops.

The Great Wall is about an hour and a half drive outside of Beijing. It was nice to get away from the city for a while and see some of the countryside. But before leaving the city we drove past the Bird's Nest and the Water Cube. It's excititng to think that just one year ago the city was buzzing with Olympic activity.

Once at the Great Wall we made a bee line for the bathrooms. On the bathroom door was a sign saying, "Bathroom is bad. Go west." Since we didn't have our bearings yet we depended on the Chinese-speakers in the group to help us find the west bathroom. Mission accomplished!

To get to the top of the Great Wall (which is on the ridge of a mountain) you have three options: 1. Walk, 2. Chair Lift or 3. The Gondola. As mentioned above, the Wall is at the top of a mountain; that ruled out #1 for us. I have a bit of a fear of hights, so that ruled out #2. We went the more expensive route and paid our 40 RMB to ride the gondola, or sauna as it turned out to be. The gondonla "pods" are small enough that you can only fit in four people. There are two very small windows, so on this hot day it felt like a true sauna inside.

Once on top of the Great Wall we began exploring. A group of us decided to go to the very end of this particular section, which involved climbing up. But, the Great Wall does not go simply up. It's built on a mountain ridge so it follows the ridge as it raises and falls. So, up and down we went. We found a lot of great nooks and crannies along the way.

At the end of this particular section is a long staircase that goes up, up, UP! We figured that we were still young and healthy, so up, up, UP we went... panting all the way. At the top of the long staircase was another shorter staircase, but this one was much steeper. Remember how Annie is afraid of heights? Yep, this was a challenge! At the top we enjoyed taking pictures. In one we posed as the attacking Mongols. (We later found out that the wall was built after Mongol attacks and to keep them out. It was the Manchurians who were able to surpass the wall. Oops.)

Getting to the top of this big wall was quite exciting. Looking down at how far we had to walk back was sobering. So, off we went. This time down, down, down. We weren't stopping to take as many pictures on the way back. Maybe it was because we were slowly becoming drenched with sweat. This doesn't look as good in the family album.

Our final destination on the wall was the Alpine slide that you ride back to the bottom of the mountain. Fun! When we were about a quarter of a mile away from the slide I mistepped and had a glorious fall. The Great Wall is full of uneven steps and missing tiles. I found a missing tile and rolled my ankle. Now the fun challenge was getting off the Great Wall after my "great fall" with an ankle that was continuing to swell. Thank goodness for husbands! Brian was on one side, I had the wall to lean against on the other. A few of our friends caught up with us and lingered behind too. What great friends! Eventually, we made it to the Alpine slide. You're not supposed to ride it if you are injured. The attendant noticed my limping and started to protest (I think) in Chinese. This was one of the only times I've been grateful not to know Chinese! My friend who did speak Chinese well said something to the man as I was pushing off and sliding off the Great Wall.

In the end, we made it back to the hotel, sweaty and a little dirty from falling flat on my face. I had to lay in bed with my foot up for a day, then was off for an x-ray the next day. Thank goodness nothing is broken! The friends who live in Beijing even had an extra pair of crutches for me to borrow. I'm still limping a bit, but on the mend now.

I still remember sitting on the floor of the Great Wall feeling quite stupid for falling down and telling Brian, "I need a good story for this because basically I just fell." Brian, mater of factly, looked at me and said, "Annie, you're on the Great Wall of China."

An Update from Beijing

2009-08-13T04:10:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been a while since we've updated. It's difficult to capture all of the experiences that we've been having. Sometimes our two weeks in Beijing has felt more like two years. We've had the adventures and challenges of learning more of the language, getting around on public transit and the basic survival skill of getting food. Here's a little about what we've been doing:
Man vs. China: Maybe you've seen the t.v. show "Man vs. Wild?" In this the host is dropped off in the middle of a wilderness and must do what he can to survive. This is what has happened to us in some ways. Our leaders have wisely refrained from coddling us and showing us how to perform basic life skills. Yes, they've given us aids, but they've also just let us free to roam through Beijing, learning as we go.
Getting food has been an adventure. We were given a Chinese/English paper menu with many of the common dishes found in China. We were let loose on the restaurants around our hotel. Quickly, reports came back of the restaurants that had either an English menu or a picture menu. A few times we ventured into an unknown restaurant to find out that they only had a printed menu in Chinese. In these cases we held up the menu and asked in broken Chinese, "What do you have?" After a fun game of pointing, nodding and conferring with our dinner mates, we made our choices. We've yet to find something that wasn't delicious. Our new favorite food is a dish of stir-fried eggplant, potatoes and green pepper. Hao chi! (That's Chinese for "delicious!")
Shopping at the supermarket is another challenge altogether. We quickly recognize brands that can also be found in America: Dove chocolate, Oreos, Skippy, Lay's potato chips and Pringles. We've were also surprised to find products from Bimbo, a Mexican pastry company found throughout L.A. Once we pass beyond these recognized brands we have to resort to a new method we like to call, "What's in the picture on the package?" This was how we found strawberry-flavored Cheetoes! And, they were quite tasty! We've avoided anything that has a picture of a shrimp on it. Some recent fun finds have been: chocolate chip cookies with strawberries or cherries, crab flavored Pringles, chocolate swirled peanut butter, apple-flavored soda, and many more. We are enjoying trying the different types of Chinese snacks too. We're eating a lot of banana chips, dried hawthorne (also called haw fruit), coconut bread and little chocolate cookies that are shaped like mushrooms. They're the only mushrooms Brian will eat. :) In all our searches we have yet to find the elusive Nutella. We found a German version called Nussa but haven't tried it yet.
Please check out our webpage for additional updates and pictures. We'll continue with more of our China adventures in our next note…

Life in Beijing

2009-07-31T23:55:00.000-07:00

Well, after a 12-hour flight we made it to Beijing! Because of our flight times, flight path and crossing the international date line we had 23 hours of daylight. By the time we got to Beijing we were really ready for good sleep. But, we know that the best way to beat jet lag is to stay up until at least 9:00 p.m. (local time) so we don't wake up in the middle of the night. To do this we went out to the grocery store and bought some colas to keep us up. Even with the caffeine in our system we could only make it until 8:30.

After three days in Beijing we are settling into a new pace of life. (We are here for three more weeks for training.) Our first day was spent exploring the city with some Chinese students who are studying English. We had the best guides! Galen and Olive were very sweet and very helpful. We were able to see some of the most popular sights in Beijing: Tiananmen Square, the Drum Tower and Wangfujing Street (shopping!!!). Part of the challenge of the day was spending time using public transit. The subway in Beijing is very easy to navigate, and the busses stop often. We were very impressed.

Since then we have learned a lot in our training classes. Part of our training was in how to order food at a restaurant. We are having fun with that! Speaking Chinese and reading Chinese are two different animals. We have only been focusing on the speaking part so far and are quickly learning how important it is for us to learn how to read it as well.

All in all, we are having a lovely time and enjoying the new friends we are making. We'll keep you posted!

We're almost there

2009-07-27T20:44:00.000-07:00

After much time of preparation and planning, we are about to finally leave for Asia! We are very excited and can't wait to share our adventures with you all. Please forgive our absence on our blog. Internet access will be limited when we are out of the country. But, we hope to be more faithful with our blog now.

Have a lovely rest of your summer! See you online!

A Day Away

2009-05-18T16:22:00.001-07:00

This past weekend we had the chance to get out of Los Angeles. Of course, L.A. is so big that it took us two hours of driving to get out of the city. Yet, we triumphed on our drive south towards San Diego.

We found it a little funny what a vacation really was to us at this point in our lives. We have been so busy lately with our preparations to move overseas. Just a week ago we finished a class we were taking that lasted 16 weeks. We were so thrilled to be done with homework... and then the box arrived. The box contained all of our training materials for our TESOL training this summer. Each of us have six books to read and about as many papers to write before we start training in late-July. So, in the midst of all this we just wanted some time to really enjoy doing nothing much.

Brian had some plans up his sleeve. He knows that one of my favorite things to do is to go to the movies. But, in L.A. that can cost anywhere from $11-$14 per ticket. That's a little out of our current budget. Lucky for me Brian won a work contest at the coffee place where he works. Since he sold the most pounds of coffee in the month they awarded him with a $25 gift card to the movies! Brian is such a good husband that he let me choose the movie. I jokingly suggested the chick flick "Ghosts of Girlfriends Past." He wasn't too excited but was willing to go. See, great husband! In the end, we saw "Star Trek" and used the extra money on the gift card for some ice cream (one of my other favorite things) at the concession stand.

On Saturday we slept in! This was a great treat for me since our 16-week class was on Saturday mornings, I hadn't had a chance to sleep in in quite some time. I hope that one day we will have children, and at that time I know that sleeping in will be a thing of the past. So, for now I'm going to really relish it!

After lunch we went over to La Jolla. Brian had pre-paid for us to rent snorkels and masks to explore this cove where there are a lot of tiger sharks! They are the little ones that you can pet. When we arrived at the rental place they told us that the visibility was really bad that day, but they would give us a big discount on renting a kayak. We agreed! When we told them we'd have to go back to the car to get our wallets to pay for the upgrade the guy looked at us and said, "Don't worry about it." Yippee! We only paid $14 for the snorkels and masks but got to rent a kayak for the same price (normally $45). I love a bargain!

Next, I squeezed myself into Brian's wet suit. It was made for a man and took a little cajoling to fit my German-heritage hips into. I'm so grateful Brian brought the wet suit for me because the California ocean is never very warm. Once we were all suited up we headed to the beach and out to sea on our kayak.

What a beautiful day it was! Along the coast near the beach are caves where birds are perched on all the ledges in the rock. They kept swooping just over our heads. On one of the rocks was a huge family of sea lions. There must have been thirty of them! It was so fun watching them. The alpha sea lion was barking at the people watching. There were a lot of baby sea lions. Some were fighting, some were just playing in the water with their momma sea lions. Ah, nature! How we love it.

After we returned our kayak we decided to swim and play in the waves. Brian taught me how to body surf! I found it challenging to swim and play in the waves without my contact lenses being washed out of my eye balls, but somehow managed to end the day being able to see. The waves were great on this day. What a joy it was to really take advantage of a beautiful beach in California before we leave.

On our way back north we visited a friend for dinner and ate our weight in bread sticks. Yum, bread sticks. This is one of the many foods we will miss while in China. We're also going to truly miss all of our wonderful friends and family.

Now, we are back to L.A. life, the box of books and all the preparations to move...

Ten Weeks from Tuesday

2009-04-17T14:49:00.000-07:00

Soon, we'll be saying "goodbye" to this...

and this...

... and saying "hello" to this...

On June 30 (ten weeks from Tuesday), we will be driving out of L.A. to start our journey towards Asia! Upon leaving L.A. we will be visiting family as we roadtrip from the West Coast to the Midwest. We are super excited to see our family again and look forward to treasuring those times together prior to our departure.

As we get closer and closer to our time to leave L.A. we have come to both appreciate and be annoyed by L.A. at the same time. We have already begun eating at restaurants that we know we won't have in Asia. Last night was Arby's! It was delicious. Normally, we don't eat such unhealthy food, but we keep saying that we're trying to absorb as much American culture as we can in our last weeks here. That's the same excuse I give for my current addictions to "American Idol" and "The Biggest Loser!"

Where have we been?

2009-03-03T14:56:00.001-08:00

Okay, it's been a while since we've gotten online to post a new blog entry. It's happened to us again, life has gotten too busy! So, here's a little about what has been filling out time...

--We've been taking a Saturday morning class for 6 weeks now and have 10 more left to go. The class is great, but there is a lot of homework. We keep trying to carve out blocks of time to sit down and work through the weekly assignments.
--More medical fun for Annie! Annie recently saw the podiatrist. He had to give her a steriod shot into the ball of her foot to settle some inflamation. While there the doctor also noticed a fungal infection in Annie's toenail and decided to remove the infected nail. We both just got our dental insurance activated and went to see the dentist. Annie found out that sometime in the past two years she has started grinding her teeth and now has a number of cavities. When she went to get the first few filled she had a very bad experience. After three shots of novicane she could still feel the drill. Through all of this Annie has quickly realized why torture often affects the teeth and toes... it really hurts!
--Brian has been teaching on Sunday mornings to fill in while his boss has been out of town. He has really enjoyed it, but it's kept him quite busy.
--We've begun the paperwork necessary to move ourselves to Asia for work. And there is a lot of paperwork! We are taking it in small chunks one evening at a time. We can only trust in Father that it will all come together in His ways and His timing.
--In the midst of all our busy-ness we've also been able to have a little fun with friends and escape for the occasional cheeseburger and shake at the 50's Cafe. If you haven't heard from us in a while, please forgive us. We hope to have another newsletter going out in May. By that time we should have our assignement for where we'll be placed to teach in Asia. We can't wait!

Some Wedding Mad-libs

2009-02-05T14:42:00.000-08:00

Our friend, Katie, put this artistic photo together. She is so creative!

This was taken during the wedding reception.

For our wedding we wrote our own Mad-libs for our guests to fill out. We were surprised by how many people did them! Over the course of our first year of marriage we've taken time to read them. Below are two of our favorites. The bolded words are those that were filled in for the game. If you don't know what Mad-libs are, then this is going to look really crazy to you!

The First Date

Brian and Annie met on a websited called flower.com. When Brian saw Annie's smelly picture on-line, he said, "Holy Baloney!" On the other hand, Annie thought Brian's picture looked like a tapir. Still, she dangerously agreed to meet him at Khadafi's Cafe. Brian said that he would be wearing a strong push-up.

When Annie snorted in the cafe she was happy that Brian was funky. He thought she was too. They ordered their chunky drinks and began talking. Annie told Brian about her suspicious career as an organized criminal. Brian was very impressed. He told Annie about his favorit hobby, doing jumping jacks. She thought this was so totally yellow.

Annie and Brian fried for 17,327 hours. They discovered a shared interest in the former Yugoslavia. They each told sotries of flushing there last summer. They especially enjoyed the fluffy people and their eggs.

At the end of the date, Brian shrugged Annie to her car and asked her for another lemming. Annie was very pokey. To say good-bye, Annie held up her sacro-iliac and said "Laugh it." Brian did, and now they are getting married!

The Proposal

Brian realized that Annie was the floor of his life, so he came up with a sweeping plan. Brian bought her a green ring from his friend in Golden Gate. His plan was in motion.

When Brian crashed Annie to go out with him, she thought this ws just another tasty date. They began by visiting a kitchen where they observed many beautiful dogs. Annie was impressed by Brian's knowledge of lights. next, he chopped her to a Persian restaurant. She danced Brian and said "I eat this place!"

After their long dinner, they drove to the top of a wine and enjoyed the purple view. Brian felt a little pink as he prepared to "pop the big cake." He gave Annie a knife, and she unwrapped it. Then she said, "Thank you, I hate it." But there was more. Brian urged Annie to deliver the appliance. Annie was reluctant saying, "I can see the shoe on the box!" Brian was insistent. Faithfully, Annie did as he asked and discovered a mushy ring. Brian quickly fell to his knee andasked, "Will you chase me?" Annie shouted, "Heck no!" And now, they are married.

One Year Already!

2009-01-29T15:27:00.000-08:00

On January 26, we celebrated our one-year wedding anniversary! We can't believe how quickly the time has gone. We continue to enjoy learning about each other and laughing together.

To celebrate we took a road-trip up to central California and had a lovely time the whole way. Our first stop was to visit our aunt in Fresno. We had a great time just talking, eating Chick Fil-A and painting a plate together at Color Me Mine.

Our next leg of the trip was up to Lake Tahoe. What a beautiful drive it was! After living in such a highly congested area for so long we were refreshed to see so much open space. It started snowing as we got farther up the mountain. The highway department had a blockade where they were stopping them and requiring snow chains for any two-wheel drive vehicles. Brian and I pulled off and had another first in our marriage... putting on snow chains! What was most funny about this experience was that once we got the chains on and continued down the highway there wasn't too much snow. They plows had already cleared most of it. Oh well, we had an adventure anyway!

In Tahoe we stayed on the 9th floor of a hotel with a view of Lake Tahoe. It was amazing! We sat for a while just taking in the view of the snow falling over the lake. Because the roads were bad, we stayed within walking distance of the hotel. We managed to eat dinner at a casino buffet and watch "Frost/Nixon." This was the very last film that Annie worked on as an extra. You can see her if you know where to look... and if you look quick! The movie was great, and we highly recommend it.

Our main reason for going to Lake Tahoe was for the skiing! A friend recommended a great ski area, and we had perfect conditions. The snow from the night before left a nice layer of powder, and since we were skiing on a Monday, there weren't too many people on the slopes. I hadn't really ever been skiing before, so she attended "ski school." After the morning class I was able to join Brian on the big hills! Well, we skied a green course and a little of a blue course. I didn't like going too fast, and I REALLY didn't like the ski lift. In the end, it was a lot of fun. Brian got to share one of his favorite activities with me. Neither of us was injured, quite sore, but not injured.

We stopped over in Sacramento on our way back to SoCal. We took a free tour of the capital building that was quite interesting and fun. Our tour guide was a real kick. She made a point of taking us by the sign outside the governor's office that shows the growing state defecit because of the overdue budget.

On our trip we spent some of our time in the truck listening to our Chinese lessons. There are times when we really like the language and other times when we wanted to take out the CD, launch it across the highway and drive over it a few times. We know that with Father's help we can do anything, but this is a challenge!

It's so great to have a husband when you need to put on snow chains!

The guys in yellow were charging people $30 just to put the chains on for you!

Ahhhh.... snow.

Our room with a view.

We just love this pose!

This was at the top of the mountain. It looked like we were going to ski into the lake!

Annie is trying not to look scared on the chair lift.

This was a huge lake!

At the California State Capitol.

I loved this picture from the lobby area.

Below is the sign outside the governor's office showing the defecit.

Livin' in L.A.

2009-01-12T14:35:00.000-08:00

Rock concerts, movies and summertime, oh my! This has been the past few days for us.

Last Thursday we got to see a friend's band (Tommy Peacock and the Gas) play at the House of Blues on Sunset Blvd. It was quite an experience! There was another band playing when we got there. I'll never understand the type of music they were playing. It was very angry. The lead singer had a nice voice... when he actually sang. Most of the time he was screaming into the microphone. Brian said that the theme of every song they sang was, "Everything sucks." That was about it! Luckily, we only had to listen to about three of their songs before Tommy's band took the stage. They were so much more fun... and more talented. We really had a great time listening to their music and watching them perform. They really put on a show. Of all the time we've lived in L.A. we have only gone to one other concert! We don't get out much.

On Saturday night we went our for a hot date. This is something else we rarely do! Ususally, we just pick up a DVD at the library and put a frozen pizza in the oven. Thanks to the kindness of our friends, we were able to make use of some free movie passes and a gift card to P.F. Chang's. This was our first time to P.F. Chang's, a Chinese-style restaurant. It was nowhere near authentic Chinese! We laughed at how we've become Chinese food snobs. After dinner we walked to the movie theatre and saw "Slumdog Millionaire." The movie was wonderful! We highly recommend it (but also caution that it is rated "R"). It was just a very well-told story. And, it showed a lot about these slums where the main character grew up. Seeing this made us very grateful for all the comforts we have in America.

L.A. has decided that it's had enough with winter and cut straight to summer. Because of the Santa Ana winds that blow in from the desert the temperatures have soared. The highs all this week will be in the low-80s! It's just wrong. Brian and I are very grateful for all the blessings we have, we just wish we could have colder weather. I'm sure that those of you in colder parts of the country might really enjoy 80-degree weather right now. But, I assure you that after five years of almost endless summer we're ready for a change. And, a little rain might not hurt either!

Christmas in Missouri

2009-01-06T14:24:00.000-08:00

Christmas vacation was just what we needed! We really enjoyed getting out of the city again and spending time with family. We had a week to decompress in beautiful Missouri with Annie's family. If was refreshing to see all the open spaces and wildlife. We flew into the area on Christmas Day. Annie's mom picked us up at the airport and drove us straight to Christmas dinner.

We celebrated Christmas officially two days afterwards when we went to visit Annie's sister and her family. Annie's sister is married with five kids. The moment we walked in the door we were showered with hugs and questions about when they got to open their presents. Having children around makes Christmas much more fun. Annie's sister made a delicious brunch including her now famous cinnamon rolls. We could have eaten ten of them! Finally, we opened presents. Annie's sister recieved "Mama Mia!" on DVD. We forced Brian and Annie's brother-in-law to watch it with everyone. They were very good sports! And we were all humming Abba songs the rest of the night.

For a large portion of this trip we were just relaxing and visiting with family. What a joy! We really enjoyed playing with Annie's nieces and nephews. Brian has quickly become accustomed to being called "Uncle Brian." We went on a walk through the Nature Center where we saw a lot of wildlife. At the "cave park" the kids ran around in the caves and fed the ducks in the pond. We have really treasured all of these moments knowing that next year we won't be in the U.S. at this time.

Here are some more pictures of our fun:

Baby on the blanket that Aunt Annie made.

Uncle Brian!

Hiking at the Nature Center.

The wildlife at the Nature Center.

"Sisters! Sisters! There were never such devoted sisters."

Annie's mom trying to win at Apples to Apples.

Ugh. Too much Christmas.

Chinese Culture Weekend

2008-12-15T10:43:00.000-08:00

This past weekend we got a good dose of Chinese culture... and loved every minute of it! On Saturday we went to see our friends Allison and Alex again. Allison is Chinese. Alex is Romanian. They are getting married next year. Allison has become one of our best Chinese tutors.

The agenda for Saturday night included learning how to make dumplings and learning how to play mah-jong. The dumplings were a lot of fun. Allison showed us how to best fold the dough wrappers so that they don't fall apart when you cook them. The best part of the dumplings was getting to eat them! They were delicious. We made so many that Allison sent us home with a plate of dumplings and instructions on how to cook them.

Mah-jong was an adventure. The rules resemble rummy, so I caught on quick enough. I just still don't understand some of the strategy of the game. The different tiles have different catagories, like a deck of cards. One of the categories had the Chinese character for the numbers 1-9. Luckily, I've learned these, so I was able to play okay. Brian and I were on a team. We lost consistently, but we had a great time. Some of Allison and Alex's friends from work joined us. Around the table were three Americans (two of those were us), two Romanians and three Chinese. It was a lot of fun listening as people switched between languages. Brian and I are slowly starting to pick up some of the Chinese.

Sunday night we continued our Chinese culture weekend by watching "The House of Flying Daggers." We watched it in Chinese with English subtitles, so we could test what we knew and learn a few new words. "The House of Flying Daggers" is a Chinese film by the popular Chinese director, Zhang YiMou. The epic story takes place in ancient China. There was a lot of kung fu action as two men battle evil empires, each other and the beautiful kung fu warrior, Mei. Kung fu martial arts are very much a part of Chinese culture and history. A friend once told me that there are stories from hundreds of years ago of kung fu masters who were so well developed that they could fly and run through the trees. This is why you often see this in kung fu fights in the Chinese movies. Brian hates this. During a scene in the movie where all the warriors were running through the tops of bamboo trees Brian said, "I just don't like this stupid crap." To which I replied, "It's not crap, it's culture!" We've learned that in a marriage we both don't always have to like all the same things.

L.A. t.v. c'est loco!

2008-12-11T10:58:00.000-08:00

On Sunday evening I was enjoying some downtime flipping through the t.v. stations to see what was on. We recently got a digital convertor box, so we have all of the extra digital channels. For example, NBC4 has three stations: 4-1, 4-2 & 4-4. We don't have cable, so it is extra exciting to have so many new channels.

I watched some of the Chinese station trying to understand a little of what they said. I didn't get very far, so I flipped to PBS (we have about 8 channels of PBS now) where I found the crazy French teacher. I quickly called Brian in. He loves opportunities to test his French skills. I took two semesters in college, but Brian minored in French. The crazy French teacher set up different scenarios where the viewer should watch to learn more French vocabulary. After about 10 minutes I'd only caught about a dozen words I understood, so I retired to the bedroom to read. Brian continued watching and was excited to have learned a few new words.

As I was sitting in bed I reflected in just how many languages I'd watched on t.v. that night. Of course, we have a lot of Spanish language channels. Then, there was the crazy French teacher on PBS. But, I hit the jackpot on the Asian station. There I saw programming in Korean, Chinese, Vietnamese, Japanese and Armenian. So, in the end, I watched t.v. in eight different languages! Considering that we are leaving the country next year to move overseas, I giggle at ways that Father is preparing us for living in a different culture... even if that is just watching t.v. and understanding only 5% of what was said.

Merry Thanks-mas! Happy Christ-giving!

2008-12-03T10:15:00.000-08:00

Me and Brian at the top of the mountain over Albuquerque.

The city lights of Albuquerque.

We hope that you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We were thrilled to leave L.A. for a solid five days to spend time with Brian's family in Albuquerque. We had a lot of fun, adventures and some great time of rest. Here are some of the memorable moments:

-- Thanks-mas! This was our first celebration of Thanks-mas or Christ-giving. Because we will be visiting my family in Missouri for Christmas, we decided to celebrate Christmas on Thanksgiving with Brian's family. His dad enjoyed wishing everyone a happy Christ-giving! It rained on Thanksgiving morning, which was a treat for me and Brian. We stayed cozy in the house. As Brian's mom finished the holiday cooking we all attacked a jigsaw puzzle. Everyone in Brian's family is really smart, so we finished that puzzle in lightening speed! It was really fun! We ate our delicious Thanksgiving meal and shared what we are thankful for. Next we needed time for our bellies to rest. We passed the afternoon with a walk (the rain had stopped) and a movie. Then it was time to open presents! It was so fun to see all of the traditions that Brian's family has and to become a part of them. And, what was the best present I got? A lazy Susan-style spice rack! Brian had become aggravated with my spices diving kamikaze-style at him every time he opened the cabinet, so he was even more excited about this than me.

-- Stranded! The day before Thanksgiving Brian's family and I went to take the tram up to the very top of the mountains above Albuquerque. The tram takes you from an elevation of 6,000 feet up to just over 10,000 feet. From the peak to one side you have a view over all of Albuquerque and to the other side you can see Santa Fe off in the distance. It is quite beautiful. Brian's family made reservations at the restaurant that is at the top of the tramway. We enjoyed eating as we looked out over the city. About halfway through the meal our waiter came over and told us that we should take our time because the tram just got stuck. What?? We ended up waiting at the restaurant for almost six hours! Our waiter brought us free cups of tea, coffee and deserts. In the end, we had a great time just sitting around and talking. But, we were glad to get back down once the tram was fixed. And we were able to tell people that we were "stranded at 10,000 feet!" Sounds like a Lifetime movie, huh?

-- Ni hao! We took the train to Albuquerque. It takes as long as driving, but it's much safer when you fall asleep! On the way out of L.A. an elderly Asian couple was seated behind us. We found out that they were Chinese, and we were able to practice a little of our Chinese skills. We quickly realized how little we know! On our language lesson CDs we've learned how to say things like, "Where would you like to eat dinner?," "Is the shop closed?," and our favorite "Can you buy a lot of beer?" These didn't prove very useful with our new friends.

--Kitty! We enjoyed playing with the two kitties that Brian's family has. One of them, Jasmine, is a huge poof ball who will almost always let you pet her. The other, Jinx, is an actual "'fraidy cat." She only lets you pet her if she really, really wants to be pet... and no one else is free. Brian has a mild allergy to the cats. This doesn't prevent him from gently rubbing his face in Jasmine's soft, fluffy fur. Then, he quickly runs to take a shower before his face swells.

-- Family! It's always a joy to spend time with our families. Sometimes we are sad that we've been called to live so far away. But we realize how fortunate we are to be surrounded with a huge group of supportive friends in California. We often miss our families and greatly look forward to seeing them, yet we are comforted in between by the love of those Father has put in our lives here. Now we only have 3 1/2 weeks until we get to go to Missouri for Christmas!

A night at the aundry mat.

2008-11-11T13:55:00.001-08:00

Last night Brian and I loaded up almost all the clothes, sheets and towels we own and headed off to the "Coin Op aundry." Somewhere along the way the "L" fell off the sign. Normally, we'd do our laundry at the apartment. But the communal one washer and one dryer were no match for our large mound of dirty laundry.

Laundry mats are always an interesting place. It was quite hopping last night. We had to wait a few minutes before we could acquire the four washing machines we needed to fit all of our dirties. We began our washes as we listened to the oldies station play over the speakers. Others whirled around us with their laundry carts. One Asian girl had more loads than we did! She must wash people's laundry professionally. There was also a guy who I swear had to have been in a rock band and another guy who looked like a construction worker.

While the washing machines worked their magic Brian and I sat on the bench and reviewed some Chinese. There was an Asian guy sitting next to us. Was he Chinese? I don't know. But, soon he got up and left for another corner of the Coin Op aundry. I almost wonder if he was Chinese and was just that offended by our poor attempt to speak his language.

Dryer time! After all the clothes had been transferred from the washers to the dryers Brian and I sat down again, this time to read quietly. All was peaceful in the Coin Op aundry. Then in came Old Drunk Guy. He was wearing his Army jacket and holding a bottle who's contents were hidden by the paper bag it was in. Old Drunk Guy's first order of business was to inspect the garbage bin. There he found a pillow that had been discarded by some other patron of the Coin Op aundry. He plopped it onto the bench not far from us and sat down. He began mumbling about the surroundings and taking slurps from his mystery bottle.

Shortly after Old Drunk Guy got there I caught Brian laughing at his book. I asked him what was funny, and he read me a short passage. In it the author referred to Fort Bragg. Old Drunk Guy overheard us and began mumbling about Fort Bragg. I took this as a sign to not say anything else, so as not to encourage our bench-mate. Old Drunk Guy continued to mumble about the songs playing over the speakers and the people passing by.

I was pretty happy when our laundry was finally dry. We quickly set to folding it all. Next to us was the construction worker who happened to be wearing an Army jacket similar to Old Drunk Guy's. Old Drunk Guy noticed and began mumbling something about being in the Army and the construction worker not knowing what it was like. Brian and I loaded up our very clean and fresh laundry and made our way to the car. We had to walk past Old Drunk Guy to get there. I think he was talking to us when he said, "Go ahead and leave!" We gladly did.

Next time we'll have to make sure that our laundry isn't so out of control that we have to go to the Coin Op aundry.

A Week of Fun

2008-10-28T11:09:00.000-07:00

As they tend to do, Brian's birthday was spread over about a week. We were given tickets to a ballet on his actual birthday. We went with some of our friends to see an odd ballet. One of the four pieces was really beautiful. One was very traditional. One was very 60's and really strange. The last one got mixed reviews. At the end of this final piece I said, "At least it had a story." Brian replied, "It did?!"

We spent the day after Brian's birthday at the Getty Villa and Point Dume. The Getty Villa was built to resemble an Italian villa that was destroyed when Mt. Vesuvius erupted and later excavated. Point Dume is a beautiful point over the beach just north of Malibu. We watched a bunch of surfers get bashed by the waves and even saw a pod of dolphins! Below are some pictures of the adventures. Enjoy!

Brian at his concert band performance the week of his birthday.

Point Dume, so pretty. This is where we saw the dolphins. Isn't Brian cute?

The view of Malibu from Point Dume. Dee the hazy stuff in the distance? That's L.A. Yuck!

Ah, Greek art. The man is kind of funny, but the tile work is amazing.

Fun with Greek columns. Wendy, I can fly!

More fun with Greek columns. Who says that Greek architecture isn't fun?

We've been married exactly 9 months in this photo.

Big Birthday Party

2008-10-20T10:13:00.000-07:00

We had a birthday party this past Saturday for Brian and Patrick (our neighbor). Below are some photos of the festivities. We had a great time. Brian really wanted a pinata "to celebrate his New Mexican heritage."

The birthday boys have fun attacking the pinata.

Patrick, dizzy and blind.

Silly, Brian. Eat the cake, not the pinata.

We're so glad our friends could make it!

One of our classic photos. I think we are getting better at these than at regular photos.

A View of the Fires

2008-10-14T15:03:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures that I took from where I work. The smoke is from the fires across the valley. These were taken from Mulholland Drive on the south side of the San Fernando Valley looking at the Porter Ranch area on the north side of the San Fernando Valley about 14 miles away. The fire had been burning for about 24 hours when I took this photo. It has burned over 10,000 acres. This afternoon the smoke is virtually gone. Good job, Firefighters! Still, everytime I step outside I can't help but notice that everywhere smells like a campfire.

P.S. To our moms: This is far away from where we live. We are both quite safe.

The L.A. Landscape

2008-10-13T14:04:00.001-07:00

Once again, Los Angeles is on fire. You might see this on your nightly news program. Anytime the strong Santa Ana winds kick up one tiny spark can burn thousands of acres. Considering that it's only rained maybe twice in the past nine months we were expecting this. It is all part of a natural process where the fires burn the brush, and the ashes fertilize the soil for new plant life. There is even a plant out here that thrives on fires. In fact, the seed pods only open after a fire.

The land out here is still quite foreign to me. The soil is very dusty and dry compared to the fertile soils in Missouri. After living here almost five years I've only recently gotten used to things like: being aware of rattlesnakes when hiking, mountains (who'd have thought they'd be in the middle of the city?), dry & brittle brush and virtually no streams. In fact, our apartment is next to the L.A. River, which is basically a cement drainage ditch. Brian and I are amazed to see the ducks who live there playing in the water that is only there because of the run-off from people watering their lawns.

Here are some facts about Los Angeles County:

--Los Angeles County covers 4,084 square miles.

--The population is 10,331,939.

--Los Angeles County is 44% Hispanic, 31% Caucasian, 12% Asian, 9% African American.

--54% of the population speak a language other than English at home.

--70% of the population have a high school diploma.

--25% of the population have a bachelor's degree or higher.

--16.7% of the poplulation of Los Angeles County is below the poverty line.

--The median household income for 2004 was $43,518.

--The median home price is $464,333.

--In 2005 there were 7,514,916 registered vehicles.

This is a very different place than where I was raised!

The L.A. River near the downtown area...

Stockton Lake in Missouri...

Camping Fun '08!

2008-09-29T10:49:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we went on a one-night camping trip with two of our friends. What fun! It was a joy to get out of the city even for a night. Summer still hasn't ended in Los Angeles, so we it was a treat to leave the 100 degree temperature at our home for the cool air at 6,000 feet. The location was beautiful! We spent a good part of the evening around the campfire looking at the stars. We took a hike on Saturday morning and continued to be awed by nature. Other than some noisy neighbors at the campground, it was a perfect trip!

Our campsite.

Campfire cooking.

Brian finds a natural bridge.

Annie takes a break.

Beautiful wildflowers.

I never knew this was only an hour from L.A.

(below) This is why they are called redwood trees. Beautiful!

Good bye, Cricket.

2008-09-19T12:14:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I saw a cricket in our kitchen. Brian wanted to kill it. In the time it took me to convince Brian that we should try to catch and release the cricket, it smartly hid behind our refrigerator. So, we've been treated to the cricket's song time and again. Having been raised around a lot of crickets I wasn't bothered by it's noise. In fact, ususally I didn't even notice it. This was not the case with Brian. There was a night when we had just settled to go to sleep, and the cricket began it's song. Brian went into the kitchen, shook the fridge a little and said, "You'd better be quiet if you know what's good for you."

A few days later we saw the cricket again. This time it had a friend. Brian wasn't quick enough to kill both of them, but one went to meet his maker. The surviving cricket's days were numbered. Last night we were enjoying an episode of "The Office" when I noticed a cricket sitting on the carpet just in front of the t.v. stand. I pointed it out to Brian. He jumped to attention, running to the bathroom for some tissue while singing, "Kill the cricket! Kill the cricket!" in the same vein as Elmer Fud singing about killing Bugs Bunny. I just had to laugh. Brian was determined. Alas, the cricket evaded capture again. After his failed attempt Brian quizzed me on the composer of the song he was singing. I had no idea. It turns out that the piece was written by Wagner and adapted by the Looney Tunes people.

Later last night we were getting settled for bed when Brian spotted the cricket in our bedroom. This was one brave cricket! Again, Brian ran for the tissue. He got down on all fours and tried to catch the cricket. Boy, those things can really jump! It took him a few tries, but eventually he prevailed. With the cricket bound on a tissue Brian held up his trophy... and squished it. Yuck! The remains of the cricket were flushed to a watery grave. Rest in peace little friend. You put up a good fight.

We'll have to wait and see if there are any more crickets who dare enter our apartment and risk Brian's wrath.

It's been a while...

2008-09-15T15:29:00.001-07:00

Did you think we'd dropped off the face of the earth? No, we haven't left for China yet. I got called in for jury duty! What an adventure. I spent seven days on a trial in downtown L.A. It was a law suit because a guy stole another guys recipe for pudding. I kid you not. When you look at the details, it was pretty serious stuff for the original creator of the pudding. In the end he was awarded almost $5 million. (No, I don't get commission.) The legal process was quite fascinating, and in the end I had a great time.

Here's some updates:

---Last Saturday Brian and I ran a race at Big Bear Lake. The elevation was 6,800 feet. I only ran the 5K because of the altitude. Brian was a "big, strong man" and ran the 1/2 marathon. He finished 9th in his age category, I finished 5th in mine. Neither of us finished in our best times, but we did it and had a good time too! Afterwards, we went over to Lake Arrowhead (about 30 minutes away) for lunch. I had to tease Brian as he climbed a staircase. His legs were so sore that he could hardly bend his knees. I thought it was pretty funny to watch. Next on our list, a 10K race at Manhattan Beach in October.

---We've had a big move! Our regular Sunday morning worship moved from a hotel ballroom to an official building. This has been great because the volunteers were getting tired of setting up everything (sound, children's areas, etc.) every week. They'd done this for two years! We are settling nicely into our new building. It has a great grassy play area that the kids enjoy and lots of rooms for meetings and classes.

---Summer still isn't over, dang it! Many people enjoy living in L.A. because of the endless summer. Brian and I are getting quite annoyed. There is absolutely no reason why the temperature should be over 100 degrees in September! But, it is today and will be tomorrow. We were teased with highs of only 88 degrees last week. We were daydreaming the other day about how nice winter will be when we will be able to sleep with layers of blankets. Of course, "winter" here only lasts for two months.... Dang it!

---Back to school time! Brian and I have enrolled part-time in community college. He found a wind ensemble that he is joining on Monday nights. He is quite thrilled to be playing his French horn again in a group. I was looking for a class at the same time and found a table tennis class. After attending last week, I'm not sure that I'll keep going. I wasn't too impressed with the class after the first week. If I don't go back, I won't be too heart-broken. The new season of Heroes starts in a few weeks!

Please e-mail us to let us know how you are doing!

Week #7: What we'll miss about L.A.

2008-08-21T11:14:00.000-07:00

Great Friends!

When people think of Los Angeles and the people who live here they might think of the surfers or even the gang from 90210. Sure there are people like that out here. There are also the very driven actors who will do almost anything to get work. There are the business people who are commuting back and forth every day. There are pockets of people from almost any nationality you can imagine striving for the American dream.

In the midst of all this it's often difficult to find really good friends. Too often you make a friend right before they decide that they can't make it in the big city and move back East. This is why we really treasure our good friends. They come from all over the country, some from different parts of the world. We know that when we do have to leave it will be difficult to leave these friends behind. We are very fortunate to know so many wonderful people who have supported us during our time here.

To our friends, we love you and we thank you!

Week #6: What We'll Miss About Living in L.A.

2008-08-08T10:26:00.000-07:00

The Dodgers!

We joined a group of my friends from work for a game this past Friday night. I just so happened to be a sold out crowd as Angelenos flocked to welcome Manny to the team. It was a lot of fun to be part of the hype. Sadly, the Dodgers lost. But, we had a great time!

Another fun part of our trip to the stadium was taking the subway system. The city now offers a free shuttle to the stadium from Union Station downtown. A group of six of us braved the public tranist system. It was a fun bonding experience.

Vacation Photos Strike Again!

2008-08-01T16:01:00.001-07:00

My sis and my newest niece.

Mumsey. We were playing pass the baby.

The older nieces and nephews.

A great friend of many years.

More vacation photos!

2008-08-01T15:51:00.001-07:00

Fun at Bass Pro Shops.

Brian's shooting score wasn't too bad.

The question is, does the Indian prefer cheddar or Swiss cheese?

It's going to take a while for this tradition to die down.

Oh yes, the boat that bucked many water skiers and tubers.

A Much Enjoyed Vacation

2008-08-01T15:41:00.000-07:00

Brian and I had a wonderful time visiting friends and family in the Midwest. What a joy it was to see everyone again after so much time. I especially enjoyed meeting so many of Brian's relatives whom I'd heard so many great stories about. Our only regret is that our visits had to be so short.

Here are some of our favorite pictures from our vacation!

Brian's parents. Aren't they cute?

Fun at the Ice Cream Capitol of the world.

More fun with ice cream!

The beautiful view over the lake.

Goodbye Darla!

2008-07-30T11:11:00.000-07:00

We had to return Darla to her owners just before we left for our vacation. Above are two of our funniest pictures with Darla. The first is of Brian petting her. She always had to put her paws on his chin as she was being pet. The other is proof of Darla's biggest stunt. She figured out how to jump onto the top of the shower door. She thought it was especially fun to do when we were taking a shower. Silly, Darla!

Darla is doing well back at her home. She was quite freaked out by the earthquake, but she's okay.

Week #5: What We'll NOT Miss About Living in L.A.

2008-07-29T12:00:00.000-07:00

EARTHQUAKES!!!

Yep, it just hit the news. There was a 5.8 magnitude earthquake in the Los Angeles area this morning. The epicenter is quite a ways from where Brian and I live and work. Here at the offices we felt a gentle rumble that picked up a little more before it relaxed. It lasted about 20 or 30 seconds. It was funny to experience the different responses in the office. One of the staffers ran outside as quick as possible. Another staffer yelled, "I'm gettin' under my desk!" I hesitated crawling under my desk for a moment because I actually wore a skirt today. (It's laundry time again.) By the time I'd decided it might be a good idea the whole thing was over. I have talked to Brian, and he's okay. He's working his coffee job this morning about 10 miles from my job. Earthquakes can't stop Angelenos from buying their coffee!

Check out the link below to see all the recent earthquakes in Southern California. The one this morning was the 5.8 at 11:42 a.m.

http://www.data.scec.org/recenteqs/Maps/Los_Angeles.html

Week #4: What We'll Miss About L.A.

2008-07-28T15:57:00.000-07:00

LEAVING L.A.! After living in Los Angeles for over four years, one of the greatest pleasures we've found is just the chance to leave the L.A. lifestyle behind. Brian and I were able to do this this past week. We headed East to visit family in Iowa and Missouri. We hope to post some photos soon.

Life in Los Angeles is fast-paced, congested and polluted. I never realized how much my soul needs to see wide open spaces that are lush and green until I moved here. I'm not joking when I say that from our apartment you would have to drive for about 60 miles just to get out of the city. Los Angeles redefines "urban sprawl."

So, now we greatly enjoy any chances we have to get out of town. We've grown to appreciate the open road, vegetation that was planted by someone higher than the local landscaper, and just nice, kind-hearted people. Of course, seeing family is amazing! We are both blessed to have wonderfully supportive and fun families. We miss them often! We look forward to a day when the Father allows us to live closer to them.

All this can be summed up with a statement that Brian made about 10 miles away from the Kansas City International Airport. We were surrounded by farmland and a clear highway. "This is like therapy!"

Week #3: What We'll NOT Miss About L.A.

2008-07-14T16:04:00.001-07:00

THE L.A. FREEWAY CAR CHASE!

For some weird reason it's a hot news story when some fool decides to flee the police through the streets and freeways of Los Angeles. The news helicopters follow pursuit trying to get the best shot of the suspect as he dangerously weaves in and out of traffic. Often these chases end in a car accident. Unfortunately, innocent people are injured too. I was watching one on the news a few years ago. When the police got the person to stop, the suspect got out of the car then reached for something in his pocket. The police have to assume that the suspect is reaching for a weapon. So, right then and there on the local news channel I saw a suspect get shot. It was quite shocking.

This morning there was another police chase. The person was running from the police on the L.A. freeways during rush hour. I don't think the suspect thought this one through very well. He soon got bogged down in traffic. After driving down the shoulder for a while he decided to get off the freeway in downtown L.A. Him and his two friends ditched the car. The news helicopter followed the driver, and I watched as he scampered through a rough area of downtown L.A. He was quite athletic. He jumped over fences and climbed walls. He ran really fast when a loose pit bull thought it'd be fun to chase him. I was sure he was in for it then, but the dog quickly lost interest. In the end, he was caught by the LAPD. God bless those men and women who work to keep L.A. safe. I don't envy their job when they are chasing these guys! And I don't think we'll miss this news stories when we leave L.A.

Darla the Destroyer!

2008-07-10T10:28:00.001-07:00

Darla's sand art.

Darla's favorite place to sleep.

We took this one as she was "attacking" us and caught her off guard.

Ah, Darla the cat-child. We only have Darla for one more week. It's been fun to cat-sit for these past few months. She has been a great play-mate for us. We have games that she likes to play. One is where she stalks us from the floor while we are on the bed. If we move out of view she pounces at us. She's too timid to really do much and usually only gives us a pat on the arm with her paw. She also likes to chase me through the house attacking my ankles when I'm wearing a dress. (FYI: This is Annie writing. I don't want to start any rumors about Brian!)

While she has been with us, Darla has earned the name "Darla the Destroyer." This is because of her many antics. She loves to get into the window sill and look out into the world. As she has done this she has bent three sets of blinds. Also, for some unknown reason, she enjoys chewing on the blinds. Strange. When she is angry (usually because we've put her in the bathroom too long) she kicks her cat litter all over the bathroom floor, which looks like she is trying her skills at Japanese sand art. She enjoys jumping onto the back of the kitchen chairs and attacking her own tail through the cut outs in the wood.

Darla demonstrated her newest trick last night. We came home from a lovely night of Chinses massages and Vietnamese food with our good friend, Tanya, to find Darla stuck in the shower. She'd managed to jump over the shower door to get to the window in the shower. Then she was stuck. We've decided to just leave the shower door all open so that she doesn't have to do this stunt again! Crazy cat!

Week 2: What We'll Miss About L.A.

2008-07-09T11:15:00.000-07:00

The Hollywood Bowl! This past weekend we joined some friends to see the L.A. Philharmonic play the Looney Tunes at the Hollywood Bowl. The orchestra played along with the cartoons on the big screen. I can't take credit for taking the picture above. I found these pictures on the internet from someone who had much better seats than us! I loved how they made the rainbow colors on the shell.

This was our annual trip to the Hollywood Bowl. Last year we saw a concert with fireworks. The Hollywood Bowl is the largest ampitheater in America. While enjoying the concert you have a view of the Hollywood sign, the Griffith Observatory and the few stars you can see in the sky through all the light pollution.

Thanks to our neighbor and good friend, Patrick, for organizing this fun outing!

A Year From Now...

2008-07-01T16:14:00.000-07:00

As Brian and I look ahead at our future plans we realize that about a year from now we will no longer be living in Los Angeles. Yes, we will pack up the truck and leave Smog-ville. Although there are many things that make us crazy about L.A. (pollution, overcrowding, the freeways--to name a few), we realize also that there are things that we will miss about this city of over 12 million people.

One thing we will miss is our lovely running club. About a month after we were married we were running through our neighborhood and discovered a little running store. We stopped in and found out that they have a weekly running club. We've been running with this club every Monday night for the past four months. It's a fun and very mixed group of people. There is enough diversity that for some of us the only common bond is the joy of running. We do a group stretch, run through the park (either 3.3 or 4.8 miles depending on the route), eat snacks and stretch more. Brian and I have enjoyed getting to know the people in the group. There is a kind of heart to this rag-tag group.

When we leave L.A., we will miss our running group.

Heatwave 2008

2008-06-24T11:53:00.000-07:00

We never thought that we'd be so happy to have a daytime high of 95 degrees. Yesterday, we were almost giddy. We cooked at home for the first time in about four days, and we even used the oven to bake some brownies.

Why is this so monumental? Because we had a solid seven straight days where the temperature was at least 100 degrees. The temperatures topped at 107 degrees more than once! This is the longest heatwave that we could remember. We often have a two or three-day run of 100 degree temps, but not seven straight days!

Over this week Brian and I spent a lot of time at our local library and other places that had good air conditioning. As this is our first summer in our new apartment we weren't aware of how poor the insulation was. We were only able to air condition our bedroom, and we had to keep it running all night long to be able to sleep. Our poor foster-cat quickly learned that the best place in the apartment was on our bed where the fan from the AC was blowing. This was after about two days of her "yelling" at us. We imagine that what she said was something like, "Turn off the heat, you dummies!"

But, all three of us made it through. I managed to come down with the flu over the past four days. Having a fever during a heatwave is not much fun. Brian took very good care of me. We made it through! I think that Brian and I ate our weight in popsicles and ice cream. That was the fun part!

THANK YOU!!!

2008-06-13T13:27:00.000-07:00

We just want to take a moment to thank you all for the support that has been coming in and for your prayers. We are so humbled by the generosity of so many of our friends and family. We are thankful for your prayers over our preparation and for the students that we will be teaching overseas. Thank you! We couldn't do this without your partnership.

"Give thanks to the Lord, call on his name;
make known among the nations what he has done."
--Ps. 75:1

Picture time!

2008-06-07T13:58:00.000-07:00

This blog has been lacking in photos, so here we go...

(p.s. Check out our website for more photos and fun: brian.annie.smith.googlepages.com)

By the way, we got married. Here's the evidence. Special thanks to Cliff, the Canadian papparazzi, who snapped this during the ceremony.

Our first hiking group! This was our group for March. Brian and I hope to organize trips every two months or so. This was at Malibu Creek State park. We thought we'd hike only 5 miles, but that turned into 8! We never found the "pretty view" but did find an old abandoned house. I (Annie) was there too. Someone had to take the picture.

No matter how much or how hard I tried, this one just would not rotate. So, lay your head on the side of the table and enjoy BRIAN-FIL-A! This was Brian's graduation day from Talbot. He was required to attend. We decided that if we had to drive 35 miles we'd enjoy some Chick-fil-A too! The closest one to us is aboutt 25 miles, so this was quite a treat. See! Brian is enjoying it very much! Oh yeah, and he is happy to have completed his second master's degree.

This is Darla, the cat-child. She managed to get up in the window even though it was only open a few inches. Amazingly, she managed to get out too! She definitely lives up to the adage : "Curiosity killed the cat." She is quite feisty and likes to get in places where she doesn't belong.

Hike #2, Memorial Day at Griffith Park. This is an area of the park known as the "old zoo." It really was the Los Angeles Zoo until the mid-1960's. The cages are now open for anyone to use for fun photo opportunities. I don't know if we ever agreed as to what kind of animal we were supposed to be. And for this one we figured out how to set the camera on a rock and set the timer so that we could take a picture with everyone in it!

Real stories make the best movies.

2008-06-02T15:47:00.000-07:00

This weekend Brian and I went crazy watching movies. We hadn't been to a movie in about 6 months. As this is one of my favorite things to do, I had been greatly anticipating what we would see next. We took Brian's 16-year old friend to see the new Indiana Jones film. Overall, it was entertaining, but it was a little disappointing. Some of the story just got too far-fetched.

Saturday morning Brian showed me an ad in the paper for a new film called The Children of Huang Shi. I had really been wanting to see it! So, we hopped in my car (lovingly named Beeper) and headed off to the matinee. We are both so thrifty that we saw no other choice than the 1:00 showing. The film is based on a true story of George Hogg, an English journalist who found himself in Japanese occupied China in 1937. Through a course of events he ends up at an orphanage. When the Chinese nationalist soldiers show up asking to recruit the boys Hogg makes a tough decision. He gathers the boys and all the equipment they could carry and takes off on a 700-mile journey up the Silk Road in winter. I was so touched by the story. And, Brian and I got excited every time they said something in Chinese that we understood. I highly recommend this one!

Sunday evening we'd planned to go salsa dancing with the couple that live downstairs in our building. There's a great place with free lessons at the Universal Citywalk. And, what happened at Universal Studios on Sunday? It caught on fire!!! There was a major fire in the backlot that burned through some storage areas that housed old films and video tapes. As if we didn't have enough pollution already, all this gunk was floating in the air. Universal Studios was told by the fire department not to open the theme park or the Citywalk area. The really sad part of this story is that we've been trying to get together with these friends to go dancing for about two months now.

But, we had an alternate plan. At the church they were having another movie night with a panel discussion afterwards. The movie of the night was Freedom Writers, another movie based on a true story. Again, I was greatly moved. The stories of these children who lived in a racial warzone was almost unbelievable. After the film, Erin Gruwell, the teacher, was on the panel discussion. It was almost strange to see her in real life. She really made a difference in these kid's lives. And, I guess she inspired me to write more.

As I look at the themes of these movies, I notice that they were about one person taking interest in the lives of a group of children that had been abandoned in many ways. Too often this still happens. It makes me even more excited to go to China so that Brian and I can hopefully make a difference in the lives of our students-to-be. We hope that Father will guide our paths to those He is already preparing for us to befriend.

I guess you don't have to survive a war or the streets of Long Beach to have something to write about.

Learning Chinese

2008-05-29T11:26:00.000-07:00

Oh, the joys of learning a new language. Brian and I are beginning language training even though we have another year before we head off to Asia. We've been encouraged that this is good preparation.

You might ask, "What does your training consist of?" That's a three-part answer!
#1: We are using a language program on CDs. Brian just compled the first level (30 lessons that are 30-minutes each). I'm about to listen to lesson #26. I've gotten behind a bit.
#2: We are attending a Chinese conversation class at one of the L.A. libraries. Our teacher, Grace, is a lot of fun. She explains the origin of the characters very well.
#3: www.chinesepod.com Check it out! This website has different levels of lessons that are about 10 minutes long. You too can learn to speak Mandarin Chinese!

Brian and I practice at home asking each other in Chinese, "Would you like to drink water?" The language CDs are designed for business men, so they've had some funny conversations. In one of them a man asks, "Can you buy a lot of beer?" The woman replies, "Yes." To this the man responds, "Then, I will have dinner with you!" Of course, we've learned other useful phrases. Here are some of the favorites:

"How many children to you have?"/"I have no children."
"Where is my husband?"/ "I don't know."
"Do you want to drink tea or beer?"/"I like tea."
"Go straight ahead, then turn left."
"Which flight goes to Hong Kong?"
...and one which we will use many times: "I don't understand what you are saying."

P.S. Another fun website is www.engrish.com. It's one of the reasons we are going to teach English in China.

One of the joys of living together...

2008-05-21T10:05:00.001-07:00

Thoughts on China...

2008-05-21T09:52:00.000-07:00

Many people have asked me if my friends in China are okay after last week's horrific earthquake. The answer is, yes. They live some distance from the areas affected. Thank you for your thoughts and concerns. Please lift up the thousands of mourning families and the millions of homeless in Sichuan Province. What saddens me the most is that because of China's "one child" law many families lost their only child when the many schools collapsed. Please lift up these families too.

Above is a picture of me with a group of students on a biking adventure in the countryside. I am excited to visit them again next summer. China is a beautiful country.

Darla, the cat-child

2008-05-19T14:48:00.000-07:00

Some friends of ours asked us to take care of their 5-month old kitten for a few months while they were transitioning. So, now we have Darla. Brian calls her our cat-child. It's our first experience in parenting. She's been a sweet cat, although she is also quite noisy.

Brian and I jokingly came up with this list of how parenting a cat-child is the same as parenting a human-child:

1. When she is bad, you just squirt her with a water bottle.
2. When you leave during the day, just lock her in the bathroom.
3. Be sure to leave plenty of water and food on the floor where she can easily find it.
4. To encourage good litter box training, be sure to clean it daily.
5. Pet her until she purrs. If she's not purring, keep petting her. Make her love you.
6. Never feed her from the table.
7. She is quite easily entertained by a string. In fact, you can make her chase it in circles until she gets dizzy.