February 24 - Back To China, Lantern Festival

I had made this lovely lunch for us to eat at the airport before we left China, but of course it got left at the apartment in all the rush to get out the door.  This is what it looked like seven weeks later.  Lunch, anyone?!

 The trip back to China was rather uneventful, except that with the problems that I am having with my right knee, we decided to ask for assistance in the airports.  I was met by someone with a wheelchair each time we were ready to get off the plane.  When we arrived in Shanghai, we had to wait until everyone got off the plane so that they could take me out by a side door where they could get a lift up to it.  Stairs are especially painful, so we had to wait for everyone else to be off the plane and they took the luggage of the flight crew off with us. 

We saw these ice floes near Nome, Alaska.

We arrived in the Jinan airport at 1:30 a.m. and our taxi driver was waiting for us.  This man has picked us up several times, so he knew us.  He was a little shocked to see me being taken through the airport in the wheelchair.  He couldn’t bring the taxi up to the door because there was a long line of taxis waiting to pick up people, so I told the attendant that I could walk to where the taxi was.  The driver got us across the street and told us to wait there so he could bring the taxi to us. 

This jet flew with us for a good length of time while we were flying over Russia.  

When we arrived at our apartment, he backed-up into the gated area and made it as little distance that I had to walk as he could for me.  Then he held my arm all the way up the stairs to our third floor apartment to make sure that I arrived safely. Then he helped David pack the bags up the stairs.  This is all way above and beyond his duties as a taxi driver, but he wasn’t going to let us just take care of things ourselves.  A very kind man.  We wrote a letter commending him to his company after Eva suggested that it would be a good point for him.  We tried to pay him an extra tip for his service, but China doesn’t “do” tips.  So the letter to his company is a good way to repay him for his service to us. 

We slept as late as we could and then tried to take it easy Wednesday..  Our friend, Carol, offered to order some groceries for us and have them delivered so that we didn’t have to make a trek to the store, so we had her order some basics that we needed.  Jay and Tresa also came by in the afternoon to pick up the items that we had brought back from the US for them.

We decided to go to the canteen on campus for supper.  We went up to the fourth floor, but as soon as the door opened, we saw that the gate was across the opening and realized that they weren’t open yet from the holiday.  We decided that the basement canteen must surely be open, but after we went down one flight of the stairs, we saw that level was also dark.  We didn’t want to try the first, second, or third floors, because our experience has been that you need to know Chinese in order to get the food you want.  We chose to go off campus to KFC and grab supper there.  It was more walking than I wanted to do that day, so I was pretty tired and hurting when we got back to the apartment.  We were in bed by 9 that night.

Thursday, David made the trip up to the Hanlin Hotel to deliver the packages that we had brought over from the US for some of the BYU teachers there.  After he left there, he went to the grocery store and got some more items that we needed.  Eva came over after a meeting that she had on campus and visited with us.  She brought a Chinese New Year gift that SDU had for us.  It was a packet of gift cards to spend at the InZone Market and totalled 2600 RMB!  Very nice.

Jay and Tresa Wilkins brought supper over for us on Thursday.  Eva was still here visiting when they came, so they were able to chat with her also.  Eva wanted to take some of the spaghetti home for her and her husband to try for their supper, so we gave her some since there was plenty.  

Friday we got up earlier than we had since getting back.  We had a massage scheduled that morning, so we had to get going.  We met Carol there, and she took us out for lunch.  It is a really nice restaurant that serves great steaks and pizza.  It was nice to eat there and catch-up with Carol.

This is Carol Wang.  She is so fun to talk to.  Carol lived in Ohio for a year and knows English quite well.  Her sense of humor is contagious.  Wish I had gotten a better picture of her.

Tender and juicy steak.  YUM!

They served the fries in this little school bus.  Cute.

We also wanted to stop in and visit with Dr. Tricia, so after we left Carol, we headed toward the hospital.  We would have been about an hour early, so we decided to stop at Baotu Springs park and look at some of the Lantern Festival displays to kill some time.  It would have been nice to have seen it at night, but it is still pretty during the day.

This is the East Gate entrance to Baotu Springs.

Lanterns hanging from the ceiling of a walkway.

Beautiful display on the water.

It's so fun to walk through paths like this when they are all decorated.  So much to see.

You see the picture of the boy holding a fish.  Boys are cherished in Chinese society.  The word for "fish" has the similar sound as the word for "plenty."  Therefore, the symbol of the boy holding the fish means to have a prosperous year.  

I loved seeing the lanterns lining the walkways.

The butterfly display was so pretty!

This display is about music with the lute being a central part of it.

Our visit with Tricia was only about an hour long.  We were starting to yawn a lot in from of her, so she sent us home in a taxi to get some rest.  

Friday night was a birthday celebration for all of the January and February birthdays in our Jinan group.  We celebrated Sue Stubbs (January), David, Aaron Tran, Daniel Quillen and Patty (all February birthdays).  Aaron wanted to take us all to a Korean BBQ place that he enjoys, so we all met at the Hanlin, and then took the bus over to where we were close to the restaurant.  It was a pretty good meal, except I had to watch out for some of the dishes that were rather spicy.  After the meal, the Wilkin’s and us went home, and the others went to the Hanlin Hotel, where the others had birthday cake that Bonita Quillen had made. We have to watch our time closely, because some of the buses that we need to take don’t run anymore after 9 p.m.

Birthday party!  Daniel and Bonita Quillin, Zina and David, Nancy Rounds, Sue Stubbs, Tresa Wilkins, Jay Wilkins, Aaron (Tran Duc An) and Patty.

On Saturday, Bonita came by with the cupcakes that we had missed getting the night before.  When she was ready to leave, David went with her to show her the way to the Wilkin’s apartment.  She was delivering birthday cupcakes to them also.  When David got back, we hurried to the grocery store and bought a few items that we hadn’t thought of the other day and then hurried home for supper.

One of my students from last semester, Phoebe, had brought me back a gift from her hometown.  Her aunt grows millet, a yellow grain, and wanted to give some to me.  She came over after we had finished supper and brought the millet.  She stayed to visit until we started yawning a lot again, and then decided she should leave.  I figure one of these days we will stop yawning so early in the evening and driving people away!  

Phoebe had given a report in class that I had been rather harsh in my critique of.  I later felt that I shouldn’t have been quite so harsh in my comments, so during the break in class, I had pulled her aside and talked to her about it, apologizing and explaining the position I had on what she had reported on.  She seemed to accept it well, and so we have exchanged WeChat ID”s and we have been communicating ever since.

 

This display was telling the story of Liang Ju.  The woman in the pink dress wanted to be educated, but women in China at the time were not supposed to be educated.  She dressed up as a man and went to the school for many years.  The man in blue beside her fell in love with her when it was discovered that she was a woman.  They wanted to marry, but her family refused to let them. She committed suicide and he died also.  Tragic story that has been immortalized in Chinese folk lore.

Today we went to church with the others in our group and had a fun time at lunch afterward.  Now that the blog is finished, I can stop yawning and go to bed!