Sunday, March 8, 2015
Hello from Jinan, China to our dear family and friends! We love you and miss you and hope that life
is going well for all of you.
After almost a week of adjusting, Richard and I are finally
getting used to the change in time from the USA. Hope you are all surviving your lost hour of
sleep with Daylight Savings. J
Thankfully, my load has been reduced and I am only teaching 6
classes, two each day on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Unfortunately, 2 of my freshman classes were
given to Richard and he has 8 classes.
It is a good thing that he is very flexible and cheerful. His classes are all from 8-12 on
Monday-Thursday. We both have Fridays
off. Also, Richard is almost finished
preparing our 2014 tax forms as well as finalizing the inspections and repairs
on the new home in Las Vegas. He still
has some hair, but it is a bit whiter than before.
Life is a great teacher and often, if we chose, we can learn a
lot from our mistakes. I am grateful to
my students for surviving a new teacher last fall, who had never taught college
students or Oral English before coming to China. We talked together about the adjustments they
had to make leaving home and I told them about adjustments that I had to make
coming here. Fortunately, they are kind
and very forgiving. It was a wonderful
first week and I am grateful for this life changing experience.
Before our travels, I received an email from Dr. Wang, a CT
doctor at Quilu Hospital. She asked me
to tutor her 12 year old son and was also anxious to show us the beautiful
spots of Jinan. On Friday, I went with
her, her mother, her son and her niece to Baotu Springs Park, near our
home. It was a little cold, but the
company was wonderful and the springs and park were beautifully decorated for
Lantern Festival. Her son is an
exceptional artist and was excited to show me the art exhibits at the park. Their English is very good, so I will just be
helping Ky Tee improve his skills. I
feel blessed to have such kind Chinese friends.
My freshman students (2 classes) who have transferred to
Richard said that they really like him and that he is very funny. I’m so glad.
I tend to get too focused in class and forget to have fun.
Last night, we went to a violin/piano concert at Shandong
Grand Theatre. I loved hearing them
perform the sonatas by Mozart and Brahms and to my great surprise, they
performed the Sonata in A Major by Caesar Franck. I actually performed this one as part of my
graduate recital at Wichita State University in April, 1975. It was magical and reminded me that once,
like Camelot, there was a young girl who also performed that sonata…so long
ago. Jinan is a city of 7 million people
and has many parks, museums and performances.
Even the BYU Young Ambassadors came here 2 years ago.
Lulu made it safely back from S. Africa. It was so good to see her. She spent much of her time at home volunteering
at the hospital Trauma Center. We are
very proud of her and look forward to beginning our “Singles” Family Home
Evenings next week with the girls. We
will miss Bryan and Omar!
As this new semester begins, we have become more aware of
Heavenly Father’s love for us and His desire that we let our light so
shine. So, as Richard says “be good,
work hard and have fun.” J
Thanks so much for you love and prayers. We love you.
Mom, Carolyn, Grandma, Richard, Dad, Grandpa
No comments:
Post a Comment