11 Days Till
Christmas
December 14,
2014
Dear Family
and Friends,
It’s Sunday
night in Jinan and only 11 days until Christmas! Including this week, we have 4 weeks of
classes until the semester ends on January 9th. From the 9th until February 26th,
we will be traveling in China as well as spending 9 days (including travel) at
home in Las Vegas for Rachel and Robs’ wedding.
We are looking forward to seeing as many of you as we can while we are
home.
We have had
a great week. I hope that my students
have enjoyed getting to know about Christmas in America. I really liked sharing our traditions with
them. We will be very busy getting all
of our grades recorded and submitted and will definitely welcome a break from
teaching. Good news…for me. I may only have to teach 6 classes in the
spring…on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.
That will be wonderful and will allow us to travel and to see more of
Jinan. Hopefully, Richard and I will
have at least a Monday or a Friday together.
The best scenario would be for us to have the same schedule, but we will
be happy with whatever we are given.
We had
Tithing Settlement with our new branch president, President Lainhart on Monday
night, over the phone. We are getting
used to our 2 hour block and Sunday dinner with our friends. I know we will miss all of them when we
return to the states next summer.
The most fun
and interesting day we had this week was yesterday (Saturday). We went with Adam and Susan Yang (Dr. Adam)
and their friends to Debai Hot Spring, about
1 ½ hours drive from Jinan. It
was a beautiful resort with many furnished condos to rent as well as a luxury
hotel, water and beautiful bridges.
There were over 50 natural Hot Springs that we enjoyed, well some of
them. The fountains, cliffs and caves
were manmade, but looked natural and were very beautiful. It was wonderful being with our friends. They brought their 7 year old “adopted”
granddaughter and we all enjoyed her bubbly personality. She is learning English at school and it was
fun communicating with her. We also had
a wonderful “healthy” lunch which included shrimp, vegetables, donkey meat and
cicada bugs. Adam loves donkey meat and
cicada and talked me and Richard into trying them. I tried them and decided that, even though
they are considered very healthy and I’m glad that I tried them, they probably
won’t be on the menu the next time I am at a Chinese restaurant. Richard, on the other hand seemed to enjoy
both. J
I will post pictures on Facebook of our delicacies.
The hot tubs
were very relaxing and helpful to my sore muscles. One of the most interesting tubs was an
indoor tub filled with tiny fish.
Richard and I, again, were brave and climbed in with the fish. It was a very strange sensation to have
hundreds of tiny fish nibbling on your feet and legs, but definitely a great
way to get rid of the scaly buildup from our Las Vegas summer. We could immediately see the difference when
we climbed out of the water. Thanks to
Adam and Susan and their friends for sharing an unforgettable day. Thanks to the gracious employees at the spa
for watching over two “strange” Americans.
It was definitely a 5 star spa and a 5 star experience. We will also be spending December 26th
with the Yang family celebrating Christmas and Chinese New Year.
Richard and
I spoke today in Sacrament Meeting. It
is a little scary not knowing who the other 75 people were listening to us, but
the Lord was with us as we spoke about the prophet Joseph Smith. I am so very grateful to him for the truths
that he brought to the world and the knowledge that Jesus and Heavenly Father
have bodies of flesh and bones and that we are created in their image and can
one day be like them. To know that the little
baby, laid in the manger was the creator of this world and loved us and we
loved him, before we were born, gives Christmas a special meaning.
May your
Christmas memories this year be happy and filled with joy. We love you more than we can say!
Love,
Carolyn,
Mom, Grandma, Richard, Dad, Grandpa
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