Shopping in the Open Market

Our market is the entire length of this street

Yummy, doesn’t the poultry look delicious!  Truthfully, I don’t buy meat here.  I have this strange fetish about non refrigerated meat.

Seafood anyone?

The twisted sticks are a tasty snack.  

This is literally a hole in the wall, my favorite place for vegetables.

You can’t find veggies fresher than this.  The carrots are still covered in dirt.

Weigh and pay.  This woman is an amazing mathematician.  She always helps me pack my purchases.  BYOB – bring your own bag.  Most vendors don’t have bags with “Utah State Bar” logos.

Rick is choosing apples.  Notice the yellow pears in individual foam wrappings.

There is more than just food at the open market.

I choose the eggs and place them in a plastic bag.  They come in all sizes and colors.  Duck eggs are very popular here.

The eggs are weighed.  Grocery stores carry eggs in cartons.  Is there anything fun about that?  I’ve only broken one egg (so far) in a bag.  They survive best when placed on top of the veggies in the canvas bag.

We have tried dragon fruit.

Dragon fruit is bright pink and spiky on the outside.  The interior is soft with black polka dots.  It adds a stunning flair to any fruit dish but doesn’t have much flavor.

The oranges have been delicious this winter.  

This kind lady is my favorite fruit vendor.  These people have been so patient with my lack of Chinese speaking skills.  

CCID

We are members of the China Central Independent District (CCID).  The district encompasses all members throughout China who are living in areas without established branches.  This branch does not include Chinese nationals,  they must attend branches or groups designs especially for the Chinese.  Our group size varies from week to week.  There are five BYU CTP couples that are the base of our Jinan group.  This is a virtual branch which means we all connect together through Skype or phone.  Sacrament meeting is first, followed by a roll call of 30 different groups.  Then, Gospel Doctrine class in held the second and fourth Sundays and Relief Society/Priesthood Meeting classes are the first and third Sundays.

This was the largest group we have had in our Sunday meetings.  Eighteen people met together.  It felt so big!  The Ballentines (BYU CTP directors) were visiting as well as two young couples from Weihai.

This visiting couple was happy to see Richard Gordon, her institute teacher at USU.  It’s a small world after all.

Lulu is our youngest member.  She is a medical student from South Africa.

We meet in an apartment on the 7^th floor of the Hanlin Hotel.  This is where the Shandong Normal University teachers from BYU live.  

Following our meetings, we enjoy a pot luck dinner!

Some members pass through Jinan to visit family or work and join us on Sunday.  All are welcome.  Children are especially refreshing visitors.  They receive so much attention when they are in our group, I hope they don’t feel slighted when returning to regular Primary classes.

Each week we rotate food assignments and so enjoy this casual time together.  

Lulu’s last Sunday.  She is an SDU medical student returning to her home in South Africa for additional clinical training.  We will miss her.  Guenther was working in town also. (back row right)

We receive an email from our Branch President every week.  It also includes a short bio on those who will be speaking in church each Sunday.  Rick is the second counselor and has yet to meet the Branch President or First Counselor in person.  His meetings are held via Skype.  He has also “attended” several training meetings and branch council held in the same fashion.  It all works!  Serving the flock has its joys and challenges everywhere in the world.

CCID has been a delightful experience.  I am much more attentive during the sacrament and appreciate the privilege of worshiping in China.

Quangchen Square

This beautiful square is the center of downtown activity in Jinan.  These pictures were taken in September as the city was preparing for the national holiday.  The spectacular “singing” fountain is smaller than the Vegas Bellagio but is stellar in its own right.  

This is a favorite place to visit whenever we are “downtown”.  The square is fairly close to the medical campus so we pass it every day on our way to school. 

“Eye of Jinan” is one of my favorite sculptures.  This art piece is beautiful from every angle.  It presents a strong landmark and unique feature of Jinan.

Ah, view another festive picture of this section of the square.  There are underground shops nearby.  This is always a fun place with large wooden tops spinning, huge bubbles dancing in the air.  Kite flying is also a popular activity here.  We always find a number of diverse events happen here every day.  It is a fun place to visit and enjoy Jinan.

At the edge of the square is the old city “mote”.  I spotted this fisherman one sunny autumn afternoon.

A hopeful street musician performs outside the square.

Balloons add to the festive downtown feeling.

Best Friends

I’d like you to meet some of our best friends.  The Chinese people may seem reserved and quiet until they want a picture taken with foreigners.  They are most aggressive in asking and posing with their American “friends”.  I am including just a few pictures of these priceless moments we have experienced. 

We are at the Temple of Heaven in Beijing and taking pictures with our group.  Suddenly, there are arms around our waists and a finger points to the camera where we should be smiling in a natural fashion.  I have finally learned to startle them by requesting a picture with my own camera.  They are always more reserved for that photo.

     These children were “talking” with me for several minutes before I noticed Mother with her cell phone camera.  The kids like to practice their few words of English with us and they are patient enough to let me sample my few Mandarin words.  They are the best language teachers.

     I was trying to enter the public restroom when this woman threw her arm around me and pointed to her husband with the camera.  She was more subdued when I displayed my camera and requested a photo also.

     Each of these men stood behind Rick with a hand on his shoulder while posing.  Then, they traded places.  Rick had no idea what was happening.  I then asked them to stand together while I said “cheese”.  This was the 66 anniversary of the PR China, a very formal event.  I laughed at the entire scenario.  

This is Rose.  She is not a stranger.  She staked out our apartment complex and asked us to come to “English Corner”, a casual gathering where English speakers can continue to practice the language in a non-classroom setting.  The dream is to always have a native English speaker there.  She took me to dinner first.  What does that say about me, “Feed me and I’ll follow you anywhere.”

This is English corner.  I’m talking with a handful of graduate students, a few professionals, and three Pakistani students.  Who do you think talks the most?  I’ll give you a shocking hint - it isn’t me!!!

We were invited to judge an English competition on another campus.  At the end of the award photos several audience members requested photos alone with us.  We’ve learned to just smile and let them snap all they want.

     I purchased a warmer coat from this outlet type market.  I did talk the price down a little and then she lowered it again if I would pose for a photo with her.  So surprising but so much fun!  

     The Great Wall of China:  even other tourists want to take pictures with us.  The celebrity status will not last forever so we will continue to pose when asked.

Holiday Time in Jinan

December 26 was the pot luck dinner party for SDU foreign teachers.  Mary Wang, left, is the assistant director for overseas faculty.  She lived in SLC for six months in 1985.  Eva, next to Rick, is our life-saver and colleague.  Her daughter, Elena, is visiting from Singapore where she attends school.

Teachers come from around the world.  Rachel Wang, next to Rick, is from Madison Wisconsin.  Her parents emigrated there from Taiwan.  She has also taught English in Japan.  I’ve lost track of the number of languages she speaks.  Another teacher (with his wife and sons) is from Bangladesh. 

Gao Ge manages the Foreign office.  She is wonderful.

Dorothy, from Michigan, Shifong assists the graduate student English teachers.  Mary is so supportive of foreign teachers and every event held for us.

Darrell is a member of our branch.  He received this six-pack in the white elephant gift exchange.  Several were envious while the BYU teachers laughed.  

The Shandong Concert Hall is spectacular.  We received tickets to attend the New Year’s concert there.  (Thank you Gao Ge!)  The program was classical music performed by SDU students and faculty.

This is the concert hall before everyone arrived.  Beautiful!!