A Very Typical Thursday in China - May 8, 2014

A Very Typical Thursday in China - May 8, 2014

It’s 11 PM. Let me tell you about our day. I woke up at 6 and Ann woke up at 7. We both took typical showers. Ann’s for a reasonable length, mine for a very long time because I do some of my best creative thinking there. So nice to have unlimited, very hot water, at a good volume!

My morning was divided between finishing my lesson plan and PowerPoint, talking with a couple of our kids on the phone (NOTHING in China is better than when one of our Chinese cell phone caller ID says one of our kids is calling (love Google or Skype calls at $0.02 cents a minute for them) and it sounds like they are next door!!!), making some plane reservations online for an upcoming family trip (takes forever with the slow internet on campus), and then dealing with some other email items.

Ann did 3 batches of laundry. 2 were bedding because our washing machine is not large. She went to the fruit and vegetable market 30 yards away to get some bananas, apples and oranges and assorted vegetables. She also finalized her lesson. It was a normal noisy morning. Just outside our kitchen window (30 feet) is a 2,000 student elementary school. There is so much happy noise coming from it all the time and especially when the kids play games as they arrive early to school.

The market where Ann buys all her veggies, fruit and eggs. Somany nice people who will deal with us and our lack of Chinese.

Ate breakfast and lunch at the apartment. Fruit and cold cereal for breakfast, corn on the cob and fruit for lunch.

This is the milk we buy. packeged in Logan, Utah!!

At 12:20 we walked a short distance to catch a ride on the 12:30 school bus to the New Campus. Fortunately it was so full there were no double seats left – only singles – so they let us wait until the bus filled and the next one came moments later. We liked that because we got the front seat and we love the front window to better watch so much of the traffic, the ongoing construction (and many teardown projects for upcoming construction), and China in general pass by.

One of the pretty tree-lined streets on our campus

Our school bus

We got to the new campus at 1:20 and went up to one of the teacher lounges to read on our Kindles. That got disrupted by one of last year’s students coming in and conversing with us until we needed to leave. We don’t teach the junior class so we had not seen or talked to her for months. It was very enjoyable!

A view of the library on the new campus where we teach

The halls are rooms on one side and windows on the other. Quite pleasant!

At 2 PM class started. Ann and I were in adjacent classrooms each teaching ½ the English Major sophomores – 21 students in each class. At 2:40 the bell rang for a mandatory 10 minute break. The classes ended at 3:40 and we had a break until 4 PM when the next class started. Ann and I just swapped students. Same routine until class was over at 5:40.

Ann’s classes were both American History. She said class was great. In each class they did her regular routine: 10 students gave a 4-8 minute presentation with PowerPoint on their assigned topics which today included  Lincoln, Gettysburg Address, Edison, WWI, and more. Ann said she added 5-10 minutes total of comments throughout the class on monopolies, native Americans, WWI, the depression, etc., interspersed to help clarify things the students said.

My classes were both Sophomore Writing. They were really enjoyable. They included examples/discussions of their essays about transferring to BYU (or sending their kids there) – this has been a VERY COOL project. I loved the things they researched and found on the internet. I loved telling them, “I am sorry, I cannot answer that question” in response to "off limits" questions. Nothing gets them on the internet faster than a non-response! We talked about pretentious, flowery, and melodramatic issues in writing and had some fun activities with those. It was a great time. Our PowerPoints for today are just waiting for some new teacher to look at as a starting point or whatever for their teaching.

After class we got on the first bus back at 5:45; it left at 5:55. Rush hour. Slow. We finally got off the bus about 7 at the West Gate of the Old Campus where we live. Instead of going right back to our apartment we decided to go out to dinner. “Where do you want to go?” “I don’t care. Where do you want to go?” We talked about MacDonald’s or KFC for speed and because we likethem. We both quickly voted no. We talked about one of our favorite Chinese restaurants but we think we are eating there tomorrow night with Donohoes, the other BYU couple on our campus. We settled on a really nice Thai restaurant in the Silk Market Road. It is a very cool place!

Our favorite KFC

I can't count the number of times we have eaten here. Our favorite Chinese food.

One isle in the Silk Road area of the mall

We had pineapple rice, sweet and sour pork, and some spring rolls. Way too much food. Should have just gotten 2 items or else invited someone to join us. The food was so piping hot it really warmed us up on what was already a warm 87 degree evening. None of the food was spicy. We really enjoyed it. On our walk home we stopped at a new French bakery, “Tous Les Jours” and got a baguette and some desserts. I am currently eating the baguette and Ann is serving the desserts. (Baguette was ho-hum. Desserts were disappointingly Chinese – beautiful to look at but not sweet enough. It was new so we had to try. Starbucks across the plaza is still the best place for American style desserts.)

On our way to the closest mall

The front of the Tang West Mall . The whole front lights up at night with LED lights.

Our favorite Starbucks. Serves great hot chocolate and pastries.

We started walking home around 8-8:30. We just love evening walks here. They are the best. We love walking around the West Market Mall and plaza. Hundreds of people were out and about in the general plaza vicinity. Several different large groups of mostly middle-aged and older women were doing group dancing. Little kids and families were everywhere. Young lovers, who have no private space anywhere, have nothing but these public spaces. We just love the Chinese and all their personal activity. People watching made our evening a delight.

On the way home we talked about how many restaurants we thought there were in just a few block radius of our apartment. The number we came up with was about 90. 90! 90!!! In just a few block radius. There are actually none on the north side because it is all university housing with a totally enclosed wall and no exit. There are 20 or so on the east side – none of which we are interested in eating at. But there are 70 or so that we would eat at on the west and south sides and many, many that we have eaten at and enjoyed. Some we will actually miss. 90 plus restaurants! You just cannot imagine the scale of things over here. (Don’t get me started on new construction…) We love it!

Just a sample of a "typical" meal

Ann and I talked about how we love our charming campus home and neighborhood and there is nothing in America that is close to as neat and appealing to us.. However it does not have our grandkids so none of the rest of it matters! But we sure have loved it. Students and professors and children are everywhere walking or sitting in the dark. A very lively evening. And just a wonderful feeling of safety and comfort.

We love this picture of a grandmother and grandson enjoying the day

A foot bridge around the moat at the base of the city wall in a park by our apartment

More of the same park

As we got to our apartment building we ran into the Assistant Dean of our college, Zhang Yi. She is wonderful and one of the great parts of China. We are good friends and she has taken especially good care of Ann. The other day she called at 7 PM and said to Ann, “Let’s walk.” She picked her up in her car. Normally they walk around campus which Ann loves. But this time Zhang Yi drove across town to one of the great public spaces, Big Wild Goose Pagoda. They had a super time. They bonded over not being able to remember where her car was parked although they found it quickly. Ann did not get home until 11:30! I wanted to go to bed!!

ZhangYi

Zhang Yi, like all Chinese faculty, gets free housing on campus. All the teachers live around us. It is great. Lifetime housing so lots of retired grandparents too. Among other topics she asked if there was any way we would like to stay a 3^rd year. We told her we would love to but our kids and Ann’s mom had already vetoed it. She express her tremendous concern about not having any BYU teachers for the department and we reassured her BYU was doing all they could. (There are just not enough seniors able to serve so the program has a very hard time getting 80 people each year. The couple originally replacing us just had a reversal and had to cancel out.) We love our Chinese friends and we love our relationships and conversations with them. Imagine riding on the bus with faculty and hearing personal stories of being a Red Guard back in those days! Very rare.

We are now home, dealing with emails and getting ready to watch a TV show. NCIS or NCIS-LA. We buy and download our shows on Amazon. Tomorrow? No teaching so I will probably spend the day correcting essays or maybe we will spend a few hours exploring more of this great city. If I am correcting all day, Ann will likely leave for a few hours shopping or perhaps walking several miles through one of the many parks taking photos. Her teaching assignment is a little quicker to prepare for and doesn’t have the essay correcting with it.

Bedtime. Hope you enjoyed our day. We did. Very typical. Lots of “Only in China” (OIC- “Oh, I see!) and a regular, enjoyable, fulfilling, joyful day. We are so grateful to be here!

The doorway to our apartment building. Just 5 non-elevator floors up and I am  "home" 

Good night....