Hi

Dearest family,

I can't believe how fast the time goes by. We have been enjoying "spring" here, the weather was really beautiful for about a week, all of the fruit trees were in bloom, then we got a big wind that blew all the blossoms off, and it turned chilly again. We have had two days of rain, and today it's not raining but still overcast, so it may still rain. I guess it's OK, as we could use the rain. It is really dry here, and it would help green things up. The weather has been nice for the most part, we even had one day up to 70, but most days are in the upper 40s or 50s. The grass is starting to green and some of the trees are starting to leaf out. Reminds me a lot of Salt Lake City. There are a few flowers starting to come out, but I guess it doesn't really hit until next month. I guess we're heading into the "big wind" season, when they have sandstorms that blow in from the Gobi desert up in Inner Mongolia. We had a couple of minor ones so far, and it coats everything with a thick layer of dirt. It will be interesting to see what the "big" ones are like.

I bought one of those electric bicycles last week, and have been having fun driving it around. It's no fireball, has four batteries in series and runs on 48 volts. Top speed is about 35 kph, (about 22 mph), but that's still faster than you normally ride a bike, and it is totally silent. If I were smaller, I think it would do 25 just fine. I took mom to the market on it the other day and it did fine with both of us. It sure is faster than walking. It has a luggage compartment on the back, another one under that, and a third one under the seat. When we rode it to the market, we were able to put all of our stuff in it and still ride home without having to hold any bags. Kind of nice. Mine doesn't have pedals, I tried one that had them, but my legs are too long and I couldn't bend my knees that far, so I just bought the long-distance batteries. Hopefully they will do what I need. It has a range of about 40 miles on a charge, which is plenty to get around town on. I already put my first "used" brand on it, though. Don Bird and I were riding it to the bank and a guy didn't hear us coming. I couldn't find the horn button quickly enough and he turned into the side of us and broke off my rear-view mirror. It didn't hurt anything else (or anybody), so I am going to make a little metal bracket and fix the mirror and put it back on. I did learn to ride with my thumb on the horn button, because they are totally silent and it's hard for people to know you are there if you come from behind. The people in our apartment building are really nice, when they saw it they told me I could park it inside under the stairs so it wouldn't get stolen. There's even an electrical outlet under there so I can plug it in to charge the batteries without taking them upstairs to our apartment. They're really heavy, so when I brought them up to charge them the first time, I decided I was really glad I didn't have to do it every time! Don has ordered a bike, too, and it is supposed to be in this week. He wanted a white one and they are painting it for him. Mine is silver.

This week is the Foreign Language Festival on campus, and our college of Foreign Languages invited us to sing at the opening ceremony. Of course, we had no idea what to expect, and we get there and find it's a major 3-hour production. We're 4^th on the program, following a presentation by the Beijing Opera. I guess you could say it gave a nice contrast! The opera is really loud, and we were sitting right behind the cymbals and drums, and it was REALLY loud. Beijing Opera is nothing like Western opera, the people screech and of course it's in Chinese, so you can't understand it anyway. But the costumes are very elaborate and amazing, and you can kind of follow the story line by the characters. It would have been really interesting if it hadn't been so loud. When we got up to sing, we couldn't hear a thing! We sang "You are my sunshine" and "This land is your land" and they seemed to like it OK, but it certainly wasn't a professional presentation in any sense. We were glad when it was over. Then they had a bunch more numbers and a play that lasted about a half hour. I thought it was NEVER going to end! But they were really nice, and at the end they had us come get our pictures taken with the rest of the participants, and gave mom a nice vase for letting me participate.

Last night we went over to the freshman campus at Ying Sui Dao where I teach three of my classes, and mom spoke to one of the English clubs about public speaking. Afterwards we taught them how to play the "Dot Game" (One has no dots, how many dots does 10 have?) and they really liked it. Then we just visited for about another half hour and they asked us questions and talked. They love to speak English with a foreigner, so it gave them a good chance to use their language skills. They asked about getting into US universities, about our family, and just about anything they could think of. It was fun. Tomorrow three girls are coming over for an hour to do some kind of survey assignment for one of their classes. They are from our sister university, Tianjin University, and they have been assigned to talk to a "foreign expert" about America. They were really excited, so I told them we'd do it. Wednesday night they are having a "Dubbing Contest" where they have to take a movie clip of at least 5 minutes and make up alternate dialogue for it in a foreign language (English), and they want me to come judge to see if the words and sentences are correct, and if the dialogue makes sense and fits the movie. Should be an interesting experience. I have to do it next Wednesday night too. They want me to dub something, but I told them I couldn't do it in a foreign language. Heck, I only know English, and I don't know any movies! We'll see. Next Saturday afternoon mom is going to judge a debate contest. It's interesting so see how they are involved. Last Wednesday she spoke to a group about the difference between Parliamentary debate and policy debate, and spar. It turned out they wanted more information on parley, so she told them that wasn't her specialty, but did tell them the kinds of things judges looked at when deciding who wins, and they really appreciated that. Not as many people turned out for it as they had hoped, but those that came enjoyed it.

I can't believe the winter you guys have had in Rexburg! We haven't had a winter like that for years! I think it was a good year to be in China! J We got a letter from Kevin Willmore and he told us that the big yellow shed behind his house collapsed from the snow. He felt really bad, but was glad nothing important was stored in it. I guess they had gotten rid of most of their equipment when they sold the big fields, and so had some stuff stored in it for other people. He said most of it is a loss, but they may be able to use a small section of one end. I'm SO glad that you guys shoveled off the roofs of the shop and the house! Warren, did the furnace quit smelling after you shoveled out around the exhaust? We need to figure out how to fix that this summer so it doesn't keep doing that. We need to try to think of a way we could extend that exhaust without having a big pipe running up the front of the house, or just dumping under the porch which would cause the ice to build up even worse. Maybe we could run a pipe up the space behind the water heater through the roof and dump it above the garage. We'll have to see.

Julie, thanks so much for sending the pictures! I can't believe how much the kids have grown and changed. It will be fun to see everybody this summer. I'm glad you're liking school, and I'll bet you're ready for a break. It's hard to believe that the semester is almost over for you. I'm proud of you for getting such good grades and working so hard. Isn't it interesting how our attitude towards learning changes as we get older and begin to see the real benefits that come from a good education! When I went back for my master's degree, I loved the learning, and really didn't care about the grades. Because of that, the grades were really good, too.

Ed, your surround sound system sounds awesome! It will be fun to hear it. I could just picture you up in the attic crawling around in that insulation again. I'll bet it brought back fond memories! Maybe you'll want to get some more and blow it in just for old time's sake! It was fun to hear about you getting some chickens, it will be interesting to see how long they last. When we tried it we found that we suddenly became really popular with the neighbors dogs, the skunks, the raccoons and the foxes that live along the river. You'd better build a pretty secure chicken coop! How much are eggs there now? Julie said they had really gone up. I'd imagine most things have, with the price of diesel over $4/gal. I hope they give you a pretty good raise on your contract next year! I'm sure we're sure going to feel the squeeze trying to live on our social security that doesn't go up. And with wheat over $15/bushel I'd imagine bread has gone up too. We've seen prices here in China climbing steadily too, though most things are still less than they are there unless they're imported from there. You can't buy cold cereal here that's made in China, so we buy it at the import store for $5/box. It's what we usually eat for breakfast on Sunday mornings.

Russ, how are you surviving with the price of diesel? I'll bet it costs $100 just to fill your tank each time. You'd better find something cheap to drive! I hope you got the electrical problems on the van fixed. I feel bad that you ended up having problems with it. If I'd known it had those kinds of problems I'd probably just have sold it in the thrifty nickel. I hope it's working good for you now. It is a nice car to drive, and I'll bet Billie was glad to have the 4-wheel drive this winter. Did you ever get the new tires for it?

Billie, I'm glad you got a job with the doctors there in Rigby. I'll bet you haven't missed driving up to Rexburg every day. I hope they are treating you better and that you are enjoying your work. How are you feeling? I hope your health is improving and you are doing well. How are the kids doing? It's hard to believe that Zach is almost 15 and will be driving soon. How are Christian and Bleak doing in school?

Troy, I'm dang jealous about you and Ed going to Alaska. It would have been fun to go, but it sounds like you have a big group going up. Does your friend have room for all of them? Have you got any fishing trips set up yet? I would have loved to go, but am concerned about how much time we will have at home and how much we need to do in the time we'll have. Now, if the chance comes up again another year…..? I don't know what our schedule is yet as far as visiting Texas. If you guys are coming up in July so Emma can teach in Malad, I'm not sure we'll make the trip unless Emma would like help with the new baby. Have you found out if it will be a boy or a girl yet? When you sent us pictures of the ultrasound you said they weren't sure yet.

Teresa, how are things in Arizona? I'll bet you're enjoying the spring there! The Olsens that we teach with said their son who lives there e-mailed them and said it got up to 90 the other day. Isn't that a little early for that high of temperature even in Arizona? Could be a warm summer! How are the kids doing? It was really fun to see and talk to you on Skype last week! That's the first time that you've talked to ME in a long time! You look really good! Have you found us a place to park our motor home for the winters after we come home? J It's going to be fun to see you and play with you this summer.

Brent, how is your schooling going? I guess you're almost half-way through now, aren't' you! It was so good to get a copy of your blog from Teresa. Blogs are blocked here in China, so we couldn't read it. It sounds like both Kiley and Kaedyn had a really rough time! Of course we had no idea, and don't know what we could have done if we had. I just feel SO bad that Mom wasn't there to come back and help during such a hard time. Kiley, I hope you are feeling better, and that you know how much we love you. The pictures are precious! Kaedyn is such a precious little girl! I'll bet she is really growing, and I hope you are enjoying her more every day. Isn't it awesome how fast they learn, and how special each little accomplishment is! I can hardly wait to see her this summer!

Amber, how are you doing? I sure wish you had a skype camera so we could call and talk to you like mom does Teresa. I know you hate talking on the phone, but it would be fun to see you and keep up with what's going on in your life more. Tyler, are you ready for school to be done? I'll bet you are. Have you had any job leads yet? Amber mentioned that you have been applying all over. Do you know where you'd like to settle yet? Are you guys going to be passing through Rexburg this summer? Do you have any family reunions or anything you're planning to come to? It would sure be fun to see you. When is school over for you? Is graduation in May or June? If it's not until July we will come to it! J

Shaun, how is work going? Have they put you on full-time yet? How do you like being back with Lithia? Is it different working in a smaller dealership than it was with Lithia Ford? Is where you are working closer to where you live than the Ford dealership? Is it warm enough to ride your motorcycle yet? I'd imagine it gets better mileage than the pickup. Ed said the price of gas is about $3.25/gal now and going up. Bummer. I hope the little pickup is still running ok. Kelli, how are you doing? I'll bet you're getting to the point where it's pretty uncomfortable to stand or do much at a time. The pictures you sent of Addie are darling. Her birthday was so fun! I can't believe how big she's getting. The age she is now is my favorite age for our kids. They are so cute and so smart! And the things they do and say are so funny! Be sure to keep a good journal of them, as you forget them if you don't. I wish we'd done better with our kids. How are you liking work? I'm glad it's not full-time, anyway. It is nice to have a little extra income, though, I'm sure.

Warren, how is school going? I'll bet you're busy getting ready for the end of the year. It was interesting to hear that you are going to Colorado to work for the summer, what kind of work would you be doing? Have you heard back from any of your internship places yet? You might check out at the site again and see if anything opens up there. You might even check with Craig Porter and see if he knows of anything. He knows a lot of people out there and might be able to steer you towards something. I was hoping you could get something closer to home so we could see you more this summer. I have really missed you. Have you done anything more on your Mustang? Have you gotten the engine for it yet? I haven't heard anything for quite a while.

Well, I guess you're probably all tired of this, so I'd better go get ready for church. This is about the only time of week that I have time to sit down for this long and write. I hope you are all feeling well, and that you know how much we love you and miss you. We love to hear from you and be included in what is going on in your lives. It may seem pretty dull and routine to you, but to us it's news! Have a good week, and hug all of those you love, and remember that we are doing the same in spirit!

Love, Dad and Mom.

Happy Easter!

Dear Family and Friends,

Well, here the time has flown by again, and I decided I’d better write this while I have the chance. It seems like time has speeded up and there is so much to do I hardly have time to get prepared for classes, let alone write and do other things. Or maybe I’m just slowing down! I’ve noticed it takes a lot longer to do the things that didn’t used to take near as long.

We are in full swing in our classes again. It is a lot more fun this semester, as we have a better idea of what we need to teach. We have quite a few of the same students as we did last semester, with some new ones. It’s fun to get the same ones again, as you already know their names, and they are actively involved in the discussions and lessons. It doesn’t take nearly as long for the new students to get involved when they see how much the others participate and contribute. In traditional education in China, the students have to sit quietly and listen to the teacher lecture, and if there is any participation at all, it is group recitation of what the teacher tells them to say. When we do a class and finally get them talking, it’s so novel to them, and it takes them awhile to learn that it’s OK to make comments in class, to talk to the others to get their ideas, and to state their opinions. We don’t have a set curriculum, we pretty much get to choose what we want to cover and how to cover it. Most of our classes only have a chalk board, so we do a lot of discussions. I do have three classrooms this semester with media capabilities, so am having fun with powerpoints and movies, but still don’t use it for the whole time.

This week we are giving our lessons on overcoming hardships, as so many of the students in the university are preparing for their TOFEL and BAN-4 and Ban-6 advanced placement tests. They are the tests that determine whether the students will be allowed to go to graduate school, or even study abroad. The pressure on the students here is unbelievable, as they have been prepared by their families since they were in elementary school to excel so that they can support their parents and grandparents in their old age. Most of our students were in the top 1% of their class through High School, so it’s quite a shock to them to be put into classes full of other brilliant students, and suddenly they’re no longer the big fish in a little pond, but a little fish in an ocean! They are no longer the sun that is the center of the universe, but a minor star in the Milky Way. For some of them, it is almost insurmountable. We try to teach them that they shouldn’t try to be better than everybody else, but to be the best they can be. Many of them have had everything done for them all their lives so they could keep up on their studies, and for some of them, it’s a real shock to get away from parents and home and have to wash their own clothes and take care of themselves. They still have their meals in the cafeterias, but some of them are trying to learn to cook, and they are SO proud when they learn to make soup or dumplings or something by themselves. It’s really fun to hear them describe their experiences in their journals.

I have a non-traditional English class again this semester. I had one last semester, too, and had a really hard time with it. The students are those that are English students, but don’t have good English skills, so they understand very little of the spoken language, and can’t speak hardly any. They can still read a little, but they are required to take the class so they have a better chance of passing their tests. This semester I have a better idea of what to expect, so I prepare separately for that class on a really basic level and cover things really slowly. We are doing a lot better this semester, and I think it’s going to be a lot of fun. We’ll see how it goes. My other classes are really good, the students speak and understand spoken English very well, and we have some fun class discussions. We try to cover things that will help them to talk, and we have a lot of fun. This semester I organized my classes into “families” of 4 or 5 students each. The kids choose an English first name that they use in all their English classes, but they’ve never had an English surname before. Also, most of the kids are an only child, so they’ve never had brothers or sisters. I do have one girl from the country that has two sisters and a brother, and everybody is in awe of her! So the first day of class I told my students that they were going to find out what it is like to have brothers and sisters. They got to choose who was in their family, and if they didn’t, I’d walk up them and say, “Who’s your brother?” Or “Who’s your sister?” If they didn’t respond, I’d point at one of the other indecisive students, and say, “Meet your brother, Steve.” Or “Meet your sister, Julie.” Then I’d have them move over next to them. After they were organized into groups of 4 or 5, then I told them they needed to choose an English family name. We talked about some of the common names, and how many of them were determined, like Smith, Johnson, etc. Or they could choose the name of someone they were familiar with in their studies. We have Washingtons, Lincolns, Jeffersons, Jordans, Scofields, Whites, Bonds, quite a variety. Whenever we have a group activity, they talk with their brothers and sisters. Sometimes they have to make up a skit, or make a presentation to the class, which they do as families. It’s really fun, because now when students e-mail me about a question, they’ll say, “Dear Mr. Powell. This is Alex Washington, and I have a question.” I even have one boy that got quite upset that he ended up with three sisters, because he always wanted a brother and still didn’t get one! J

This next weekend is the Foreign Language Festival, a college activity that involves the entire college of Foreign Languages. It goes on for a couple of weeks, and will be filled with activities that focus on foreign languages. All of our students are required to take a foreign language besides English, so many of them are studying French, German, Japanese, Russian, etc. This will involve all of us. We have a couple of Russian teachers, some French teachers, a German teacher and a Japanese teacher that live here in the same apartment building we are in called “The Foreign Guesthouse.” I have gotten to know some of them as we ride the same bus to the other campus where I teach three classes of Freshmen. It had really been fun to talk to them, but a little sad that they all have to talk to me in English because I only know one language. They are very kind and gracious, but I have come to realize how limited and vain we Americans are. I think we are the only nation in the world that only can speak one language. Reminds me of the riddle, “What do you call a person that speaks three languages? Tri-lingual. What do you call a person that speaks two-languages? Bi-lingual. What do you call a person that only speaks one language? Gringo.” Sad but true! I think it’s pretty awesome that so many of our family speak more than one language!

Anyway, back to the festival. They have asked me and two other Kennedy teachers to sing a couple of songs in English at their opening ceremony next Saturday night, we thought we’d sing “This Land Is Your Land” with a Chinese twist (From Shandong Province, to the Hong Kong Island…) and “You Are My Sunshine,” which they all know and love. Then next week Mom is judging a debate, we are making some American food for the food festival (peanut-butter sandwiches), and we will be attending some speaking competitions. It should be a lot of fun, but time consuming.

We had a fun party over at Brother Cheung’s house yesterday, a fund-raising BBQ to help the youth of our branch go to Shanghai to youth conference. We did hamburgers with salads that were great! Afterwards we had a bake sale auction that was a lot of fun. Everybody made desserts to sell, then we all bought them back. There were cookies, hot-cross buns, mom made a pumpkin pie, Emily made chocolate no-bake cookies, we really had fun. We raised quite a bit of money, will find out how much today when we do the finances after church. It was a lot of fun, and we ate popcorn balls last night while we watched a movie. We were supposed to go to the other campus where mom was supposed to give a talk on public speaking, but just a little while before we were supposed to leave we had a big lightning storm and a downpour, so they called and rescheduled it for next week. I wasn’t disappointed, as we were pretty tired.

The Olympic fever here is really getting intense! They are really excited about the Olympics, and are doing huge preparations for it. Although the Olympics will be held in Beijing, there are several venues that are scheduled for here in Tianjin, and they are really using the opportunity to beautify the city. I have really been impressed at how fast they do things here! Their construction crews work 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and they used huge crews and a lot of equipment. A week ago Friday we went to the church to get some stuff, and they were bulldozing a whole block of brick houses, some of them that still had smoke coming from the chimneys. Two days later they were loading the rubble into dump trucks with loaders and hauling it off, while at the same time hauling in load after load of top soil. At the same time a road crew had taken up all the blacktop from four lanes of the major road out front, and the cars were driving in the dirt or on the other side of the road going the wrong way. (TIC). When we took the taxi to Cheungs yesterday, the lot where the houses had been had been landscaped, trees planted, sod mostly all laid, and they are putting up a brick fence. They almost have that side of the street ready to blacktop, and they have the other side ripped out and are laying new water and sewer lines, all the while the traffic is still as heavy as ever. The road is horrible and the traffic is horrendous, but nobody seems to be upset, and it goes fine. About a mile before the church there is an industrial area that has a bunch of shops. We were there last week looking at electric bicycles, and I asked the guy to bring in one for me to look at. We called him on Thursday to see if it had come in, and he said it would be a few days still, as he had to move because they were tearing down the building he is in. When we drove by yesterday his whole building about 300’ long was gone, just some cement floors left. When he calls, we’ll have to ask him where he moved to. They are taking out so many of the little brick single-story houses that have been here for a hundred years and putting up huge apartment buildings. There is so much construction that it has become a national joke that the new national bird of China is the construction crane. J

It’s fun to go to the grocery stores and see Easter displays. They have colored eggs and candy, Easter bunnies and such. We asked the students in class what Easter is, and they say it’s a Christian holiday commemorating the resurrection of Christ. But they don’t believe that part (at least most don’t admit it), but they think the holiday is fun because of the candy and the excuse to celebrate. Mom bought a bunch of eggs last week and colored them and took them to class and gave them to her students. They eat a lot of boiled eggs here, and they thought it was fun to get colored ones. She also took an Easter basket with an Easter Bunny in it and talked about it in class, but she didn’t do a whole presentation on it. I didn’t have time to do one at all, as I was behind because I BS more in my classes, so it takes me longer to get through the lessons. The kids really enjoy learning about Western holidays and cultural customs, so we usually talk about them when we get the chance.

Today at church is our Easter program. We are going to have talks in Sacrament meeting about the atonement and resurrection, plus I’d imagine the lessons will focus on them. I’m looking forward to them. We don’t have our meetings until 1:00 p.m., as the Chinese branch meets at 9:30 so they don’t get out until just before we get there. I usually get home pretty late with meetings that late, then finances afterward. ReNee is teaching the Relief Society lesson today because the sister that was going to give it ended up having to go to a different Easter program out near where they live. I think she’s going to cover Elder Uchdorf’s talk about being happy in our lives.

On the day the branch presidency was changed on November 11, 2006, Heinz Dickens took several pictures and we just received copies of those pictures from him. On the front row from left to right: Heinz Dickens, 1^st counselor in the China International District Presidency; Steven Toronto, President; Charles Kewish, member of the District Counsel. Back row from left to right: Tiffany Larsen, Young Women’s President; Ellie Larsen; Kyle Larsen, Sunday School President and Branch Clerk; Eric Larsen; ReNee Powell, 1^st Counselor in the Relief Society; Dondavid Powell, 1^st Counselor in the Tianjin Branch; Don Bird, President; Bonnie Bird, Sunday School teacher; Ron Derby, 2^nd Counselor; Larry Lowder, Executive Secretary.

Well, I guess I’d better be getting ready for church. I hope you are all doing well, and that you have a great Easter today. We are having a wonderful experience here in China, and are grateful for the opportunity we have had to be here. We still don’t understand or speak any Chinese, but it’s amazing how you can get along in China. The people here are wonderful, friendly and helpful. They laugh at us a lot, especially when they see me trying to shoe-horn myself into the front of one of these tiny taxi cabs. We just laugh along with them and enjoy the experience. We have come a long way at playing Charades, and usually can end up getting what we need. We have also found that there are a LOT of things we used to think we really needed that we can get along fine without. We really don’t much miss the $3+/gal gasoline or automobile maintenance, we take taxi’s or the bus almost everywhere we go, and it’s still pretty cheap, although prices here are going up too, especially with the devaluation of the dollar. It still only costs us about $2 US to take a cab to the church, and that’s about the same as a gallon of gas round-trip, and we don’t have to find a parking place! Usually we share a cab with another couple so it ends up being half price, too! I hope you all are well and feeling good. Deanna, thank you for the awesome card you sent ReNee, she loved it. Thanks to those others of you who have written and prayed for us. We certainly feel and appreciate your prayers! We are grateful for the Gospel in our lives, for the peace and purpose it gives us, and especially for the knowledge and testimony of the Atonement and Resurrection. May God bless you at this special Easter season. With all our love, Dondavid and ReNee.

Student journal entries:

Thank you, Mr. Powell.

For nineteen year, I am alone in my family. I have no brothers nor sister. I am sometimes felt lonely. I had to keep everything deep in my heart, because I had no one to tell. Oh? My parents? No, they are too old. They couldn’t know what I thought. I had wondered how was like if I had brothers and sisters. My father has three younger brothers. When they are together, I tell myself, “Hey, they’re brothers.” It’s a feeling that I can’t feel. February 25^th is an amazing day. That day I got three sisters. And I get family and family name, Washington, a great word. That day, I am very happy. I have never thought about would be someone using the same family name as me and be my sisters.

I know, I didn’t get really sisters, but a study team. In that team, we can be trained to be more teamwork and active. It’s a good way, I think. But if one day anyone ask me, “Do you have brothers or sisters?” I needn’t to say no. I can tell him proudly, “Yes, three sisters, we are four Washingtons!” Dave Washington

Jane Writing(Jane explains some of the frustrations with relationship with parents) Today is my father’s birthday. The 47^th birthday. I called him at lunch time, but now I’m feeling a little sad about that call. The conversation was quite simple and short, and as always I said, “Happy Birthday”; he said “Thanks,” then was silence; then I asked “Did you have lunch?” he said “Yes, and you?” then a few meaningless lines and I hanged up. I felt so bad that this conversation kept repeating on my mind the whole afternoon. If this happened several years earlier, I wouldn’t be that sentimental at all. But now I am already 21; and I am supposed to act as an adult. There are just no improvement between father and me. My father is a silent man. He was almost absent during my childhood because of his work. When I grow up into a teenager, he was always very strict to me, but still short in word. So all I could think of whenever the image of father comes to my mind, there would be either his angry face or the serious look. I couldn’t imagine that someday in the future I would run into my father’s hug happily that others might do. Almost every of my father’s birthday is on my school days. So usually I just call him and say “Happy Birthday” to him; and the dialogue are often 4-6 sentences long. As I get older and older, I care about the relationship between us more and more. Why can’t we just talk like everyone else do? Why can’t we share our happiness with each other? Why can’t I be close to him? I understand that it’s harder for a father to express his love to the family than the mother. But still, I hope that both I and father could step forward voluntarily and make it better. (This so hard when you are far away for so long—still you are wise to keep trying. Family is important)

Celia: (Students here have a kind of coming of age as far as I can tell. When they turn 21 they are suddenly adults are required to help with making dumplings, house work etc as if they have never done that before. The result is as they turn 21 they begin to think they can’t continue to get help from them parents to go to school. This girl Celia expresses some of the feelings at this time. Most students in college are not to date until 21—of course many do. They have boy friends and often only see them a few times a year because they are at different universities. Much like their marriages later. Both husband and wife work. They have a child. They leave it with the grandparents to take care of and go off to work sometimes in different cities for lengthy periods of time Many students have poor relationship with their fathers. Children are sent to boarding schools by junior high.)

Today, Mina, Rachel, and I went to Beijing Road to do some shopping there, which is not very often for us. It was sunny and warm, making walking on the street comfortable. All of us bought something and we had a good trip. I bought a pair of high heeled shoes and other small things. I was very happy buying the heels. As a college student, I don’t usually wear high heeled shoes, just like most of my schoolmates. But I think it is time for me to wear them, which is not easy for a beginner, as part of preparation for being an office lady a year later. I am already twenty-two years old, not a teenager any more. I think I will try making myself more adult-like both in appearance and psychology. It is interesting that students usually appear younger than workers of the same age. They are more mature, fashionable, and sophisticated than we students. I remember meeting some former classmates during the winter vacation. Among them I looked at least five years younger. In another word, they behaved just as our age people should be; it was I who looked not like an adult. They were out of school, and some of them even married. This reminded me that I was old enough to be a worker, and even a mother. So I should change and begin my adult life.

Korean Bath

Hi Everyone,
So dad is writing to, so this will give you two for one letters. I thought I would write about my Korean bath experience. There is a Korean sister in our branch who speaks very little English. She went to Beijing last week and invited us to go to the Korean bath with her. I think she is lonely because one of the Chinese families moved, and the other Korean sister went home to Korea to have a baby. Everyone was polite but didn't end up going with her except me and Linda Olson , both of us of the older end. (maybe we have no modesty left) Actually, we just thought she was reaching out and someone should reach out to her. So Thursday morning we met at the bath. You go in and disrobe,(that's formal for saying you are naked) I decided not to act embarrassed ;because, no one else there was acting like they needed to cover up. It wasn't really embarrassing; because, they weren't embarrassed. If you had acted that way they would have been and so would we. By the way, this is a female only part of the bath. It was 11:00 on a Thursday so it wasn't very crowded. I guess it gets quite busy in the evenings and on the weekends. They give you a little tea towel and off you go to the shower/bath room. Ok, so in this room, there are showers all around the edge of the room. Some women are luffying themselves on a stool in front of the shower, others showering, Oh and they give you a tooth brush and toothpaste so you can brush your teeth while you are in there. Back to the room. In the center of the room is a large tub sectioned into two parts. It is probably 15 feet around. One side is like warm bath water; the other half is hot. Wonderfully hot! In the corner of the room there is an ice cold small tub. I did climb in that because I got light headed from all the heat.
So we shower. Now you have to know, the morning shower to me is wash the dirty parts, do your hair and you're done. So I get done and Sister Lee is still sudsing up with her little tea towel. So I soap mine up and work on the scrubbing some more. I notice Linda has begin scrubbing more after looking around and discovering no one else is out of the shower. Oh, and these showers are open. Finally, I guess we get clean and climb in the bath tub water, move to the hot pool. Then we are told that for a little extra they will exfoliate our whole body. We think that sounds interesting, so we say we will do that. So we have to sit in the hot water for another 20-30 minutes. By now, I am getting all wrinkley and am ready for bed. Finally a woman about our age or at least middle age calls our number and off we go into the other room. She has on a modest swim suit consisting of a black bra and rather old fashioned panties. You lay on a table with a plastic sheet on it. She has on green mitts. She begins to exfoliate your body. Rather like a wonderful back scratch all over with over-tones of massage. Any way they do almost every square inch of your body. You lay on your back, your side, your stomach. The first couple of strokes, she looks at her mitt and shakes her head. I'm thinking I should have scrubbed more with the tea towel. Periodically when you turn over, they throw a pan of water on you to rinse you off. Finally, after about 20-30 minutes, you are done. You return to the shower again to clean off. Ok I am dead, ready for bed, and think, "Good I'll be home soon and take a nap soon." No way. You get out of the bath room and put on these little exercise shorts and top and go up a floor. On this floor is a lovely dry sauna and a wet sauna. We say we better skip those for the day. I don't think you could peel me out of there if I did that. So we have a Korean lunch. There were slithery mushrooms, some green spinach stuff, a couple of things I didn't recognize, an egg covered rice dish (this was really good), a soup slightly sweet with a tomato base and rice noodles which was good, and some delicious sushi. (yuck, I haven't developed a taste for this yet.) I accidently left my raw fish piece on the rice plate when I went for more rice dish. Actually, it was good, just different. Then she took us into the relax room. You could choose from little bamboo mats with bamboo pillows, or a TV room with lounge chairs that were soft. We did these for about half an hour and I had to fight to stay awake because if I went to sleep I would be out for the rest of the day. Three hours after beginning this process, we go home. Dondavid said I just kind of flowed into the apartment and dropped on the bed. All in all it was an interesting experience and I would go back. I haven't been so clean in 40 years. My skin is soft and silky. I was definitely relaxed. I think we need to exfoliate more in the states. I think we made friends with Sister Lee and she seemed happy.
Well that was probably the most exciting thing in my life. Other than that, we have been busy trying to keep ahead in our classes. Hope you all have a good day and a good laugh here.
Love, ReNee