Tour Through Southwest China

We left our seminar in Hong Kong and immediately began a tour of Southwest China including Guilin (pictured above) viewed from the Li River. The scenery was stunning and our guide said we were lucky the day was overcast and rainy because it produced the mist which shrouds the mountains in a mystic aura.



We then flew to Kunming where we visited the Stone Forest and an expansive underground cave. We were able to see some of the Sani minority group (lower right) and also the Naxi people (upper and lower left) as well as learn about the Dongbe (Shaman) pictured sitting upper right of which there are currently only 65 still living who continue to read and write the history of this people. These minority groups are all required to learn Mandarin in school but continue to communicate with each other in their own language.



We subsequently went to Lijiang where we visited the Black Dragon Pool Park (not pictured) and from there to Dali where we saw a cultural performance by the Bai people (upper left and center) and viewed the 3 Pagodas complex which was recently further developed as a Buddhist temple complex costing approximately US$30 million to finish. It was never-ending and truly amazing! From there we returned via Kunming home to Jinan where we began teaching another semester of college students.

Trip via Hong Kong Home for a Wedding

We made a week-long stop in Hong Kong on our way home to help with a daughter's wedding. In Hong Kong, we attended the temple (lower left), attended a friend's wedding (upper left) and visited with friends (upper center). Back in Utah, our oldest daughter, Kristen, married Dayne Peterson from Wyoming (lower center) and we enjoyed having most of the family together for the occasion (Kristen and her four brothers appear lower right), all except Amy, who is serving a mission in Hong Kong.

Christmas Service

We had two opportunities to "carol" for Christmas. One was in a Protestant Church in Jinan (lower right) which was packed with Christians. We were amazed how many filled the church. We sang a medley of Christmas hymns on their program Christmas Eve as did some other groups. We sang carols on a square near a Catholic Church on Christmas afternoon and attracted quite a group of picture-taking spectators.



We also had the opportunity to visit a couple of schools in a somewhat remote village near Qingzhou, about a two-hour drive from where we live. We took athletic equipment, notebooks, pencils, erasers, etc. and candy to a school for the deaf (upper right) who invited us to share lunch (upper left) with them and to a school which has both a kindergarten (note the beds for naps, lower left) where the 3 to 5 year olds were warmed by one small coal stove in the room (lower middle) and an elementary school through grade 6 where students sang and performed for us in gratitude for our donations to them.

It was a nice way to spend the Christmas holiday and reflect on the true meaning of Christmas.

Lots and Lots of Students!

Fortunately, a couple of my students wanted an individual picture taken with me which facilitated making a better collage of the eight classes I have taught this semester. Most of these students are post graduates in some field of medicine. They come from all over China. Shandong University is a rather prestigious university and all are quite thrilled they were accepted here. Many have already been here for 5 or 6 years.


They will all be taking a final exam from me next week, right after Christmas. I have 280+ students. Susan has close to twice that many. Most of them wear their winter coats in the classroom during this colder period but it is quite comfy for me without mine on. We have had a wonderful semester together and I will miss crossing paths with them on campus because supposedly next semester I will be teaching on one of the university's other 5 campuses while Susan remains on this one. The commute for me will be about 45 minutes one way by bus.

Beijing and the Great Wall

We left Jinan after teaching our classes on Thanksgiving morning and boarded a train (lower and upper left) for Beijing where we enjoyed a buffet Thanksgiving dinner that evening. We visited the normal tourist sites the next day including Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City (upper center) and the Temple of Heaven and Great Wall (lower center). Our favorite stop was the dedication site (lower right) where Elder David O. McKay dedicated the Chinese realm during his world tour in 1921. This spot was only recently pinpointed in 2004 by our first mission president and others and was something we didn't want to miss.

Thanksgiving Play Performance

Lowell had the students in each of his eight classes perform a play the week of Thanksgiving. The play was about a former minister in the Church of England who quit as minister and joined an independent church. He was subsequently imprisoned and was eventually exiled from England and sent to America. It is a true story about John Lathrop and took place in about 1634. The students had a fun time performing the play even though it was not well practiced and some of the parts were long. They got a lot of practice with the English parts and performed relatively well. Lowell was surprised how much effort many had made to memorize their part between the final dress rehearsal and the actual performance. We try all kinds of things to motivate the students to improve their English.

Fall Is In The Air

We recently visited the Red Leaf Valley with some of the other BYU English teachers to see the changing leaves. The day we went was very misty following a night's rain the previous evening so the views were not far reaching. It was beautiful nonetheless and we had an enjoyable time. Lowell ran into some of his students who had chosen the same day to visit this location, but didn't think fast enough to get a picture of them.



Susan and some of the other American English teachers were very excited to acquaint their students with the customs surrounding Halloween, so they spent a whole class period indoctrinating them. Some of the teachers (who live in a hotel) actually decided to decorate their rooms for the occasion. One had a spook alley. Others did apple bobbing and other interesting games. They were flooded with students that evening who came "trick or treating." We tried some crepe-like items for lunch one day which we saw being made on the side of the road (upper right). Many local people get their "fast food" this way. Susan has a group of students over to our apartment most every Friday evening for an "English Hour" (lower left). We recently had our directors, Kirk and Midge Evans, from the BYU Kennedy Center, here in Jinan to check up on us. They invited us out to a nice dinner in a local hotel (lower center and right).