November 11 - Back to the doctor, Red Leaf Valley

This is what happens when I don't go with David!  All these women gathered around him!

We had our usual classes on Monday and then went to get our massages after lunch.  We had to get back quickly, because David needed to be ready to teach what we thought was going to be the last Engineers class.  They sent him a message on Tuesday morning during class to ask if he could teach again on Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon. The teacher they had lined up for those days came down sick.  He told them he could on Tuesday, but we already had plans for Wednesday.  He is glad to be finished with this round of teaching for this engineers group.  They wanted him to do something different, but after taking time to plan some other lessons, they told him to go back and do the lessons that he has always done.  It has been a little frustrating for him.

Between my two classes on Wednesday, a young woman approached me.  She was good enough in her English skills that she could skip taking the class.  She was really happy about it at first, and then she started to get nervous about taking the IELTS test.  She wants to go study in Bath, England and needs a score of 7 in order to be ready for that.  Her last score on it was 5.5.  As the test is getting closer, she wanted to practice speaking and listening with me to get ready for the next test on November 17.  I told her I was free that evening, if she wanted to come over and do that.  We had a nice visit, and then we set up one more visit for the next week to help her again.  She painted me a picture to show her appreciation.

I thought it was a pretty good water color for someone who hasn't had any lessons.  This is the painting that Helena gave me.

Shandong Airlines asked us to judge a speech contest, like the one we did last year on Thursday afternoon.  We had everything set to go, but David got a message from them during class that said they had to postpone the contest. The manager had cut his hand badly, and was going to need surgery.  They didn’t know when they would be rescheduling, they will let us know.

That actually gave David time to sit down and look over future lesson plans.  He discovered that we needed to consolidate a lesson with another one to make certain that we got them all in.  It was good that he had that time to do it.

Friday was the day to go back to the hospital and have another check-up on my knee.  It had improved a very tiny bit, but not enough to feel like it was going to make it the rest of the semester. This time the orthopedic doctor did a little bit more pressing on my knee and then tells me that I also have ligament damage from when I fell on October 8! So now, besides the injections of the fluid in my knee to help cushion it, I also needed to have some “shock wave” therapy on it.  

The colorful leaves were gone from Red Leaf Valley, but the view is still great.

At the top of Wan Ye tower.

View from the top of Wan Ye.

I had arrived at the hospital a little before 10 a.m., and when I got there, Dr. Tricia had me go down to wait in her office on the 2nd floor because she had just gotten a new patient and had to take care of that. I waited about 45 minutes for her.  Thank goodness I had pretty good wifi or I would have been EXTREMELY bored!  After Dr. Tricia got down there, then she ordered some lunch, and we waited for the orthopedic doctor, Dr Li, to come.  She didn’t want to eat until after he had come, so when the food came, she put it aside until after he left.

My shock wave appointment was for 2 p.m., so we had time to eat a leisurely lunch and talk.  The shock wave was rather painful.  I will probably have to have a few more treatments to get the ligament all better.  Needless to say, I am not looking forward to them.  They are effective though, so I will endure it.

That night, my knee had swollen up, and I was in a lot of pain.  I went to lay down on the bed for a while, and when I went to get up, I couldn’t lift my leg off the bed.  The pain was very intense.  I took a prescription naproxen that David had brought with him, and then I had to have David help me lift my leg, so I could get into bed.  It was still hurting in the morning, but as the day went on, it did improve a lot.

Chrysanthemums at Red Leaf Valley.

I had planned to go shopping at Carrefour with Bonita Quillin when I was finished at the hospital.  There are some items that she is looking for that, I have been able to buy there, so she wanted to know where to find them.  She has never been to Carrefour.  It is a French based grocery chain store and has quite a good supply of foreign food products.  However, after the shock wave treatment I didn’t feel like going because of the pain, so we decided we would do it some other time.

David and I had our tutoring with our three young rascals Friday afternoon.  They were a little better behaved from last week.  Doris, the only girl, got a little upset when we were having a little competition game and Michael seemed to keep getting in her way.   She couldn’t see the computer screen, so she sat back and refused to play anymore.  We had warned Michael several times to sit back, but the heat of competition is strong in these three, and he kept forgetting. 

The gate to Red Leaf Valley. The writing at the top is in the ancient Chinese characters.  It says, "beautiful mountains and water."  It reads from right to left.

Last Sunday, we had been talking about going to Red Leaf Valley to see the colors.  Several of the teachers said they were interested, so we talked to Eva and had her get information about the costs and where to meet the tour bus.  I didn’t think it would be a good idea for me to go, because you have to climb a lot of stairs at that place.  At first, Aaron and Patty said they could go, but they found out they both had to work, which which caused us to lose our Chinese speakers.  David put out a call to all his class monitors to see if there was a student that would be willing to go with our group, if we paid their way.  By Wednesday, we had a girl, Emma, who said she would.  They set up the tickets and a guide for the tour bus, so they were all set.

The group that went to Red Leaf Valley.  David, Jay Wilkins, Nancy Rounds in the back.  Daniel and Bonita  Quillin, Tresa Wilkins and Emma in the middle row.  Kim and Alan Malan and Samuel, a Spanish teacher at SDNU.   If you take one look at the stairs going up to the gate, you will know why I didn't want to go with my sore knee!

David left at 6:45 a.m. to meet Emma at the north gate of campus.  They met all the rest at the Hanlin Hotel, and then headed down the road to get the tour bus.  It all went smoothly that day, especially with Emma along to help order food, talk with the tour company, and explain some interesting facts.  Everyone said they enjoyed the day.

My wonderful David. 

Alan Malan after the visit to Wan Ye Tower.

David inside a tree.

David and Emma by the tree houses.  You can rent these tree houses to stay in.  Not sure the cost and I don't know what comforts they would actually have, but it sound like a fun idea.

When the trees are all leafed out, you can hardly find these tree houses,  You have to know where to look for them.

The walls as you go down the road.

I, on the other hand, HAD to make a trip to the store by myself, because David would not be back in time to go, and there were some things that we needed for Sunday.  Walking wasn’t so bad, and I felt like I should do some walking to help  my leg heal.  I made it to the bus stop, to the store, back to the bus, and back to our apartment, all without David’s help.  And, my leg was okay to do what I did.

Saturday evening was the Adult Session of District Conference.  David was just getting back from Red Leaf Valley, so I picked up a Subway sandwich for both of us and met at the Hanlin to meet the others there.  It was a nice conference and a good  time had with all of those that came. 

Sunday we were off to church and then dinner afterward with all of us.  Alan and Kim Malan, the Deputy Directors, of the BYU China Teachers program, our direct supervisors, are here in Jinan, meeting with the universities where BYU teachers are at.  After lunch, David and I met with them at their hotel room, to talk over concerns that we had about our work and the university here.  It has been a nice day.