October 28 - Hospital, Chrysanthemums, and Buddha Mountain

Two of the unusual chrysanthemums. This one is called the "Flaming Phoenix."

After our classes and getting lunch on Monday, we came home.  We couldn’t get our massage that day, because they didn’t have a time for us.  It was nice to get home and get our work done earlier than usual. 

Tuesday evening, a young couple, Mark and Cherry, came over to talk to David about possibly having him tutor Mark.  He is trying to get a fellowship with a professor in a foreign country and wants to improve his abilities.  David doesn’t have a lot of free time, and they didn’t really have the money to pay David, but they wanted to see if it was possible.  They contacted David later that week to say they were going to try some online options for a while to see if that would work. 

 

Baotu Springs was all decorated with chrysanthemums.

As we were headed to our massage on Wednesday, we were waiting for bus 48, the one we usually take.  It was taking a very long time for a bus to come by.  We usually waited for the bus on the west side of campus, but when they changed the bus route for construction that was happening on its usual route, we could catch the bus on the south side, which was closer for us to walk to.  After waiting for over fifteen  minutes, David looked at the board that has the buses that come to that stop, and the orange (temporary) sign for bus 48 was gone.  I guess they were finished with the construction, and that bus wouldn’t be stopping there anymore.  We quickly walked to the west side of campus and caught bus 48 there, but we were a little late for our appointment.  We were glad that we had found out about the change that day, because we have been taking that bus on Monday mornings to go to the far away campus for teaching.  It would have made us very late on Monday had we not found that out on Wednesday!

David started an English Corner for students on Wednesday evening.  He would usually go to it at four in the afternoon in the canteen, before it got busy with kids coming for supper.  Not a lot of kids could come at that time, because they still have classes.  I think the most he ever had there was about a dozen students.  He had twenty-three there this time!  I was afraid that it would be a lot more than that, and he wouldn’t be able to handle it.  Twenty-three was a good number, and they had a good time.  

 

Kung Fu Panda and the chrysanthemums.

The flowers were not quite all in bloom on this display.  We hope to go back and look at it in a few weeks when it is all in bloom.  

Part of the problems with using the canteen is the dirty tables, other kids eating and not being able to use more than two small tables.  His class monitor was able to find him a nice classroom that can hold about sixty people and the chairs and tables are movable - another feature that makes it a nice classroom.  Most of the classrooms have seats and tables that are bolted down to the floor, so you can’t move them around for activities.  Being movable makes it much nicer for English Corner.

We have had problems with our maid not coming at the time that she is supposed to.  We contacted Dr. Tricia, our go-between, and found out what was happening.  The maid had been having some problems back in her village and was having to go back there a lot to take care of them.  The woman who owns the company had allowed her husband to build a company under her license to operate a business  cleaning homes. We had bought our contract with him and the maid worked for him.  He has since had an affair, divorced his wife, run into bankruptcy, and cheated all of his employees out of money, all less than the year we have had our contract with him.  The wife has taken back the company he started, taken on the employees that he cheated, and is trying to keep her business afloat.  She wants to keep this woman working, because she is a great worker and cleans well, so since the maid couldn’t come because of the family problems, she came on Friday afternoon and cleaned for us.  She seems like a great woman, I hope good comes her way after the way her ex-husband treated her.

 

Looking at the length of a pavilion.

This rock is called the longevity rock.  It also is the same shape as the character for longevity.

Friday morning David and I went to the hospital to meet with Dr. Tricia.  My right knee has been very painful, and I am still having some problems with my right leg due to the fall I had on October 8.  An eighty plus year-old orthopedic doctor that has been forced to retire, but still comes around the hospital to treat some cases, was who Dr. Tricia asked to come look at my knees.  He moved them around, then poked and prodded.  Then sent me for X-rays.  Another young doctor in Dr. Tricia’s office took me down for the X-rays, and we waited about three minutes while the radiologist looked them over, and then took them back up to where the old doctor was waiting for us.  They prescribed a medicine for me to take that would reduce the inflammation in my knees and said if that didn’t work in two weeks, that they would try an injectable medicine.  Just two days and some rest has helped already.

 

The parents and grandparents of this little guy in the yellow were trying so hard to get a picture of him among the chrysanthemums, but he wouldn't stay.

While I was at the hospital, our friend, Carol, had said there was an exhibition at Baotu Springs of the Chrysanthemum flowers, so David took off and went with her.  They had some really beautiful displays. 

 

At the gate of Buddha Mountain.

Jay and Tresa Wilkins by one of the Buddhas.

On Saturday, we had planned to go with the Wilkins, Aaron, Patty, and Nancy Rounds to Buddha Mountain, so they could experience the huge Buddha there.  I declined to go, because I am supposed to avoid stairs, if I can, and there are LOTS of stairs to get to the Giant Buddha!  David went with them.  For lunch Aaron, Patty, and Nancy were then going to go to a new sandwich shop that a Vietnamese friend of Aaron’s was opening up in Jinan.  

Patty, Nancy and Aaron.  See all the stairs!  

Big, gold Buddha!

We are told that there is one even bigger than this guy!

Eva was joining us and the Wilkins for lunch, and then we had been invited to the woman’s house that we went to for a tea ceremony last fall.  She was having a gathering there on Saturday afternoon and invited us to come.  We sat and drank some herbal tea for a while.  In the courtyard, they were having someone play an ancient Chinese instrument, so we got up to go see him play.  There was a woman making some candies, similar to rice crispy treats in ingredients, but crackers instead of rice crispies.  She also had a nougat candy.  Both were really good, and we took some samples, but they wanted us to eat a LOT of the samples.  I’m not sure they know how much sugar goes into making marshmallows.  It was a great candy, and we ate more than we should have. 

 

Our assistant hostess had a hard time believing that we didn't drink black or green tea.  She kept saying how good tea is for you.  Coffee is bad, but tea is good.  This young lady goes to Yunan Province to pick the leaves.  She hand picked the leaves for this special tea.

As we were eating these treats, a hostess came out and started speaking to begin some event.  After a while she ask David to come up.  She introduced him and asked him to show his picture of our big family.  She explained how many people were in our family amid oohs and ahs.  There was also a retired traditional Chinese medicine doctor there, and he decided to take David and analyze his health in front of everyone!  None of this we understood, because it was all in Chinese.  He took David’s pulse, looked at his skin, had him hold out his tongue to look at, and then he went off on a long, long talk about something saying his Yin and Yang being not balanced.  That’s all we could get out of Eva.  She seemed reluctant to say much more about it.  Of course, the doctor didn’t know about David’s cancer.  That would make anyone’s yin and yang be off!  He then went to a room, and a lot of people went in and had him do the same for them, including Jay Wilkins.  

 

Traditional Chinese medicine doctor checking on David's health.

The courtyard where most of the other activities took place.  The woman with the red scarf is a prominent television person.

More of the courtyard.  They had trays with grapes, oranges, apples, figs and persimmons for us.  Also fresh made yogurt and the candy.

The opera singer.  He was great!

A regionally famous opera singer sang for us, and a storyteller that we couldn’t understand told a story.  We met a man who was a former mayor of a city in Shandong province, who talked to us with Eva interpreting.  It was about 4:30 when we finally left there.  It was a fun afternoon.

 

Painting Chinese characters with gold.  There were other painting demonstrations as well.

Last night, my throat started feeling sore, so I stayed home from church while David went.  I listened in from our apartment.  That is the good thing about the way we do church here.  We can listen in, even if we have to stay home!  They changed the branch presidency.  For the first time in this branch’s history, the entire branch presidency will be able to meet in the same room, since they live in the same city, Dalian.  Previously they had to meet by video chat!

After church they enjoyed a nice meal with a bit of Halloween decorating of the food.  The stuffed peppers had been cut to look like jack-o-lanterns, and there were carmel apples there too!  They sent some of the food home with David for me.  I sure hope I feel better by tomorrow.  It’s hard to teach when your throat hurts.

 

The women providing the lunch today.  Patty, Linda Jonas, Sue Stubbs, Tresa Wilkins, and Bonita Quillin.  I enjoy knowing these women.