Jinan, City of Springs

We had the opportunity to take a boat (lower left) ride down a canal from Black Tiger Springs across Da Ming Lake and back on a circuitous route to the point of our beginning one night last week. Jinan is known as the City of Springs and there are some 72 of them around the city. We hadn't been able to visit any of them yet, what with our busy teaching schedule. Nights are cooling off now so we are glad we got on this canal trip before it gets too cold. At one point down the canal we entered a lock where the water was blocked off and our boat lowered to the next part of the canal before we crossed Da Ming Lake and then enjoyed the reverse process (lower center) as we returned to our original location.

University Anniversary and Confucius

We recently attended some celebrations in conjunction with Shandong University's 110th Anniversary. They really put on the production! There were spotlights, TV camera, gala costumes, dancers, singers, and so forth. The celebrations went on for over a week in several locations. We attended two majors ones. The university had really been spruced up to impress all the dignitaries and foreign guests visiting for the event. The campus fountains were working (first time we have seen them on - lower left). We also recently visited Jinan Central Square which has its own water show set to music and lights (lower right)


We went with a group of foreign professors (some from Japan, Spain, Russia, and England) on a tour to Qufu, birthplace and final resting place of Confucius. We saw some temples which are over 1,000 years old and a tree (Susan is standing by it) which is over 1,800 years old (and still growing) in the temple complex where Confucius used to teach 3,000 students. His tombstone is shown here as well. The horse cart and the "tricycle" were seen in the city of Qufu (which is in Shangdong Province and about a two hour bus ride away from where we live).

From the Gobi Desert to Xi'an

In Dunhuang, we each rode one of about 500 camels for about an hour and went to an oasis in the Gobi Desert called Moon Lake (shaped like a cresent moon) which is really quite amazing because for 100's of years it has continued from a spring while the sand dunes have never obliterated it. We also visited a grape and raisin plantation which has been in this particular man's family for many many generations. He and his extended family hosted us and explained how the whole process works. (He is seated to the right of our tour guide leader, Marvin Wu, in the photo top left).



We left Dunhuang and flew to Xi'an, ancient capital of China, and saw the famous terracotta warriors which were unearthed only recently. There are still hundreds of them that have yet to be excavated . We also attended a production commemorating the songs and dances of the Tang dynasty. We enjoyed the festive costumes and energetic performance of the participants.

The Many Faces of China

We have just come back from a 7-day trip to Urumqi, Turpan and Dunhuang in northwestern China and from Xi'an in central China. It was a long and event-filled week. We did this with about 50 other BYU English teachers during the National Day Holiday for China. In Urumqi we were among many Uygur (Wee-grrr) people, a minority group in China. They speak their own language to each other on the street, but most know some Mandarin which they are required to learn in school. We visited the remains of some ancient cities one of which was actually dug out of the ground rather than being built above it. The Uygur people are of Turkic descent and their language is similar to Turkish, but is written in what familiarly appears as Arabic. Signs are in both Uygur and Chinese.

Yeah! The Moon Cakes are Gone!

We are actually happy that Mid-Autumn Festival is over. This is the moon cake festival and we have had our fill (lower right). They are kind of like the old fruitcakes that people back home used to take around at Christmas. Everybody gave them away, but few seemed to want to eat them. It is the same with moon cakes.

Lowell is pictured here standing in front of our apartment building. The scroll of excess electrical wires is our "landmark" to let us know we have reached our building (since many look very similar). Here are some of Lowell's students and the class he alone (no one else seems to have access to it during the week) uses on campus to teach all eight of his classes in.

Teaching in Earnest

We have begun teaching in earnest now. Our campus celebrates it's 110th anniversary next month, so it has its own personality and many of the buildings (including the one lower right which Lowell teaches in) have been around a long time. Others are a bit newer like the Administration Building (upper and lower left). When it is smoggy, which it often is, it has a bit of the Harry Potter feel (at least that is what Susan thought when she snagged some of these pictures.

At Home Again in China

We are getting settled in our new accommodations. We live in a dormitory on campus which is actually two units combined to make it more roomy for the American teachers. It is quite nice and actually huge compared to where we were living in Hong Kong. Susan has started teaching and Lowell starts next week. Her classes are averaging about 50 students each. Maybe we can actually do this.

We were invited to stay for a light dinner after our group meetings the first Sunday. Two of the couples live in a hotel near their campus and that is where we will meet each week as well as where we will generally share a potluck dinner with the other couples. This time there was a member from Bolivia who is here teaching high school and a nonmember from Australia who coincidentally also has the last name of Bishop, There is also a widow who has been teaching now for six years and she is over 70 (the redhead in the picture).