Only 24 hours of travel!

All right people, this is it!

We're comin' to America!

Merry Christmas!!!

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I'm old!!! er!!! ;)

Yesterday was my twenty-sixth birthday!  Crazy!  Somehow twenty-six seems massively older than twenty-five.

We had quite an adventure yesterday.  Mitch decided that we would try and go skiing for my birthday!  We got up early, put on many layers of clothing and took a taxi to the mountain.  There still isn't any real snow on the ground but this little ski resort had made some fake snow and had been open for a couple of weeks.  We had to be completely outfitted by them and we looked sooo good!  Whoo!  Like something out of the eighties!  Then we headed out onto the slopes.....slope.  Yeah, only one hill.  It didn't have a chairlift either just this rope tow with a bar that you put between your legs.  I had a LITTLE bit of trouble the first go-round and ended up just holding on with my hands which--let me tell you--became very difficult to do after ten minutes!  It was basically all lame but we managed to have fun filming ourselves and laughing at the skiers around us.  They were great!  Either they were terrible and completely yardsaled when they were barely moving or they thought they were good and bombed the hill and THEN completely yardsaled!

The temperature dropped yesterday back into single digits with a strong wind so we didn't last too long before we decided to call it quits and head back home.  We ended up paying sixty bucks for an hour and a half of "skiing" which in China is quite expensive.  We were a little surprised that they get so much business.

That night for dinner we went to my favorite restaurant (Pizza Hut) and got their famous sauceless Hawaiian pizza(YUM)!  When we got home a pile of presents sat at the foot of our door!  The kids had made a stack while we were away.  They have limited access so the cards and gifts were all basically the same but it really was the thought that counted.

So all in all it was a pretty good day!  Thanks to all of you who thought of me and sent me well-wished even if I didn't technically receive them!!  I hope your holidays are happy!!

-Ev

ps 16 days!!!

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Labor of Love

I think my husband liked his birthday present.  Or maybe he likes me.  Or maybe he has too much time on his hands :)

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Happy Birthday!

    So we celebrated my husbands twenty-third birthday on November 11th.  It was a day filled with adventure!  First of all we had decided months before to go McDonalds for breakfast so that he could have a sausage egg McMuffin.  In America choosing a breakfast at McDonalds is usually one of convenience.  You're running a little late with no time to eat at home so you grab something from Mickey D's on the way.  Well, here in Huhhot it's the exact opposite.  We had to make sure to wake up with plenty of time to spare, put on several layers of clothing (because the temperature has been hovering in the twenties lately) and head outside to hail a taxi.  Apparently it was the morning rush hour because it took a good twenty freezing minutes to get one.  Then we say, "May-don-lao" and off we go!  Then the process has to repeated on the way home.  All in all it probably takes over an hour to get breakfast at McDonalds here.  Fortunately the food was quite similar to what we're used to so it was worth it.

    That afternoon we had many visitors.  I had secretly passed around some notes during class telling the children when Mitch's birthday was and asking them to wish him a "happy birthday".  Well they did more than that!  They all began to bring presents over.  Mostly chocolate (which I can't complain about).  But it was quite satisfying to see the pile of gifts grow throughout the day.  I got him a 7x7 rubix cube--which he is playing with while I write this.

    That night Mitch decided that he wanted to try and find this fancy Western restaurant that he'd read about on the internet.  So we got dressed up and then layered up and headed out into the night--and an inch of snow!  We then began the taxi dance.  We thought that we had left late enough to avoid rush hour but with the snow fall every taxi was in high demand.  We ended up getting a motorcycle with three wheels enclosed in a box.  Not exactly well insulated but always an adventure.  He didn't know where it was but after several numbing inquiries and about 45 minutes we found it!  He scammed us on the price but we were so cold that we didn't even argue.  The restaurant was nice and we ordered steak which didn't disappoint.  After that we wanted to find the ever elusive Dairy Queen and get an ice cream cake.  We managed to snag a taxi and he dropped us off at the shopping complex where it's supposedly located.  Unfortunately we were unaware of how late it had gotten and as others hopped in the cab and drove off we realized that everything was closed!  And so we began to walk home trying to get a cab all the way.  The roads were now covered in an inch of black ice and no buses were running.  Halfway home we stopped at good ole McDonalds and got some hot chocolate to sip on.  After that it was easier to just walk the rest of the way home and not worry about getting a taxi.  We told ourselves that we were safer on our feet than in a car anyways (which could have been true unless you know me well...).  We got home so late that the door to the apartment building was locked and we had to wake up a very confused doorman to get in.  Our apartment felt so nice and warm after all that time outside!

      We fell asleep quite easily that night and I was satisfied that he'd had an enjoyable birthday especially because it was the first time in Mitch's life that he could brag about being older than his twin brother!

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So much all at once!

So I haven't been writing much lately because things have been pretty boring.  And then, of course, everything had to happen all at once so that now I have to catch up!

First of all, last Friday Mitch and I took advantage of a beautifully sunny day to go to the zoo!  It was called a "Wild Safari" and it's up at the foot of the mountains that are just outside of the city (the ones that we hope to get a chance to ski in sometime this winter).  The place was basically empty and it was quite a game just trying to figure out where to go.  We eventually found a bus that took us up into the hills and through some gates.   Behind those gates were lions, and tigers, and bears--no kidding!  We just drove through them as they lounged about!  We saw an elephant and some giraffes as well.  The bus ride ended at a big net enclosure that housed hundreds of different birds.  We bought a couple packets of seeds and wandered around inside for a while.  I must admit that I got pretty good and coaxing the birds around me.  Unlike some of the kids in our group.  Their main goal seemed to be to see how many birds they could get to flee from them in terror!  After that we were left on our own and we wandered around sharing sidewalk space with deer and elk.  The biggest part of our adventure was really just trying to figure out what to do next and where to go but that made discovering the animals that much more fulfilling. 

That night as we went to bed both Mitch and I felt the beginnings of some kind of sickness coming on.  Neither of us were surprised because the children had all been getting sick over the past few days and we realized that it was inevitable for those of us living in such close contact with them to get sick too.  Sure enough, we woke up the next morning with the flu in full swing.  The flu sucks--swine or regular.  We were doing all right though, just taking care of each other all Saturday and most of Sunday--we even listened to church!  But by Sunday evening Mitch wanted to see if someone could get us some kind of expectorant.  He called Yalune up but when she found out that I had a bit of a fever she decided that we should go to the hospital.  We really didn't want to go but we didn't have a choice really so off we went.  As we went I began to feel worse and by the time we got there I had a nice high fever of 102.8.  That sent off their little heat detector things for sure!  Then followed a really torturous hospital quarantine.  I won't go into too many details because that's just me complaining but let's just say it included really horrible beds, seriously limited care and far too many needles.

In the end we got to go home after two nights of torture to be quarantined at home which was a HUGE improvement.  Fortunately Mitch and I are feeling much better.  Mitch just has a little cough to get rid of.

Yesterday was Halloween and we had been wanting to celebrate it with the kids.  We'd asked our families to send us some candy and stuff but with the  quarantine we were unsure as to wether or not we'd get it in time.  We did and yesterday was a blast!  We had the kids come over earlier in the day and they decorated masks and brown bags.  Then at night we passed out candy to a couple of people in the building and had the kids come trick-or-treating.  They sure managed to catch the spirit of the holiday (kids and candy is a universal thing!).  After that we watched Hocus Pocus with them while they devoured their spoils.  It was really fun and quite exhausting after our week of enforced bed rest.

Now it's November and I look forward to birthdays and Thanksgiving and then before you or I know it we'll be back in the states for Christmas!!

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A bit of homesickness

I'm hoping that this will be therapeutic.

I  miss American food!!!!

I miss American Chinese food:

-egg drop soup

-fried rice

-crab cream cheese wantons and a freaking spring roll bowl!

-sweet and sour chicken

-sesame chicken

-those pot-stickers from Costco

-egg rolls

I miss American Mexican food:

-enchiladas 

-tacos both hard and soft

-quesadillas

-nachos

-Cafe Rio's chicken burrito with that special sauce

I miss American Italian food:

-frozen pizza

-lasagna

-fettucini  alfredo

-garlic bread

-the creamy pesto sauce from Old Spaghetti factory on the salad and with the bread

I also miss stuff my mom makes:

-kailua pork

-pot roast

-cheap fish sticks, baked potatoes with sour cream and cooked spinach with lemon juice

-chocolate chip cookies made by Chrissy

-salad!  With the good ranch from the BYU creamery or the kind with fruit and that poppy seed dressing

-that salad Grandma Bounous makes for Thanksgiving (I better not start on Thanksgiving food)

-potato salad

-roasting hot dogs over a fire

-S'mores

-pigs in a blanket

-chili pie

-Cheesy tomato soup with toast and saltine crackers!

-cinnamon raison bagels with cream cheese toasted or not

-those chicken fajitas with the cucumbers, corn, lettuce, ranch and cheese

-Reese's Puff cereal (ok my mom doesn't technically make those either)

-that garlic chicken pasta that's frozen with the carrots and corn and broccoli 

-that cheesy chicken and carrot soup which technically I make

-spaghetti squash

-fried zucchini 

I miss stuff Mitch's mom/dad makes:

-her tacos with that special cheesy sauce stuff (I bet I won't notice the spiciness at ALL now)

-souped up minute rice and grilled cheese

-chocolate zucchini cake

-roasted pineapple (just as good as Tucanos!)

-burgers off the grill

-chili 

-kraft matrimony and cheese

-Don's banana bread (technically I haven't actually tried it but Mitch misses it a lot and I do miss a good banana bread so I thought I could put this one on anyways)

I also miss all these other things:

-grapes without seeds in them

-normal tasting bread--not too mention all the different kinds of breads (ie whole wheat, pumpkin, cheese etc like from Kneaders or Great Harvest)

-normal 1 % milk

-strawberries, blackberries, raspberries

-girl scout cookies (Samoas and thin mints)

-grasshopper milk shakes

-cheddar cheese

-frozen peas and carrots (that aren't overgrown)

-red potatoes

-mandarin oranges

-ground beef that doesn't scare me

-washed, refrigerated  eggs

-any food from my home ward

-those little weenies that people make for the superbowl

-hot pockets

-J--Dawgs

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Stew

We just tried to make stew for dinner.  We're actually getting quite good at this particular dish.  We cut up some potatoes and carrots, add in some freshly chopped beef and add in a dash of beef flavoring.  We left it to simmer away and the delicious aroma soon began to fill our apartment.  We checked on it every few minutes while enjoying an episode of Mr. Bean.  Suddenly Mitch leaps to his feet and runs into the kitchen!  He had heard a strange noise!  Was it the pot boiling over onto the floor? Noooo.  Was it potatoes exploding? Noooo.  Was it the ceiling falling into our dinner?  Yep. 

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New Arrivals

            There have been a few new arrivals in our home over the past couple of days.  First of all Mitch decided that he wanted a goldfish.  So we stopped at a vendor on the street and bought Fredrick.  So far he's been a delight to have in our home.  And I'm sure he will continue to be so as long as Mitch continues to clean his bowl....

             Yesterday we had quite an adventure.  Nova took us coat shopping.  Apparently come November the temperature will be dropping into the single digits and now is the time to buy coats.  It was slightly horrifying trying to wade through all the junk but I do think we did come out with some decent ones that don't look TOO ridiculous (who knew I didn't have the same style sense as the Chinese?).  After we successfully found the coats we thought it might be a good idea to look for some boots.  This is where it gets funny.  So for all of you who don't know I have freakishly long feet for my height (thank you mother!) and for a history lesson the Chinese like small feet so much that they used to wrap their feet to stop them from growing.  Well, we find a pair that might work and Nova tells me to try them on.  I begin to protest that I'll need a bigger size but she insists and says she knows my size.  To my surprise it did go on my foot!  To everyone else's dismay it soon cuts off my circulation to said foot.  I then asked for the next size and the saleslady has a cow!  That is the largest size they have--that ANYONE has.  Ha!  Ha ha! Oh ha!!  Sigh, well fortunately my feet do seem to like being cold.  They aren't called the "Heat Reapers" for nothing!

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I told you so!

      Some part of me knew that we wouldn't be starting classes on September fourth even though that's when we were told we would.  We asked for clarification on that point several times and got such a solid reply that we even looked into possibly going to Hawaii during the break.  It's a good thing we ended up not going because last night at 6 o'clock Nova shows up at our door and tells us that at 8 am the next morning we were going to start teaching!  We were supposed to teach Wednesday, Friday and Sunday but Mitch said no because we had already said that we didn't want to work Sundays and they had agreed plus we're scheduled to give talks this Sunday.  So instead we're teaching Wednesday, Thursday and Friday but then on the first the schedule will change.  How's that for confusing?  Fortunately we'd already discussed the fact that a review of what we'd previously covered would be best and since we'd written up our lesson plans that wasn't hard to figure out.

The classes went really well.  It was great to see them all again.  Interestingly enough just as we were getting into the groove we were taken away to finally meet the president of the art college.  We sat down with him and bunch of other people and listened to the translator while he welcomed us.  The best part about it was that we were able to tell him how incredibly helpful Nova has been during our time here.  Recently we've really been wanting Nova to get some kind of recognition for everything she's done.  She's just a volunteer and she's done way more for us than those who are paid to help us.

Later we went through and gave all of the children english names which is great for me but Mitch is still having kind of a hard time keeping the correct names to faces.  

Oh and we got locked out of our apartment again last night and this time Serge actually climbed up to our bedroom window--and we live on the second floor!  Punched a hold in the screen and unlocked it from the inside.  They've now changed the lock for the third time since we've been here.

I guess we're getting our Chinese adventures!

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Behold the beauty

Our trip to the Grasslands!

We left Saturday night on the night train and arrived Sunday morning in Xilinghaote. The city is smaller and cleaner than Huhhot and Nova told us that it is one of the richest cities in Inner Mongolia. We went to our hotel to have a rest and drop off our stuff. It was a nice hotel with the internet so we were able to call home.

We went to lunch at the only western restaurant in the city--Dico's. It mostly had chicken but they also had doughnuts! Which when we tried them were great disappointments. Then we went to a nearby temple. Nova told us it was a temple for llamas which we took in stride. When she began pointing and saying "llama! Llama!" we looked all over for the animal but all we saw was a bald guy in red robes. When we explained our confusion Nova got a real kick out of it.

At the temple Nova bought some liquor and some scarves and we went up to where tourists are allowed. There were these huge columns with thousands of scarves tied around each one. Nova went to one and began splashing the liquor onto the scarves. We walked around three times while she splashed and then we each tied our scarf to the pile. Nova told us to 'make the wish of our heart'. After that we did some more souvenir shopping. Mitch bought a magnified clock that doesn't quite keep the time but he thinks is super cool because you can see all of the gears working.

The next morning we got up very early, had breakfast at the hotels' buffet and then piled into the car of Serge's uncles friends (or something)(oh and Serge is Novas' boyfriend). He drove us for about two hours into the middle of nowhere to a gas station where we met our student Ben's father. We got into his car where we quickly left paved road behind us and spent another forty-five minutes bumping along the grasslands. Every once in a while something that resembled a house would show up on the horizon and I would think to myself 'not that one! There's no way anyone lives in that!'. At one point I realized that I better stop thinking that because knowing my luck I'd think that and we'd pull into one. And so we did. The whole family was there to meet us including the goat.

I have to admit that some things about staying there were quite shocking. I wasn't expecting much but no toilet at all was a bit of a surprise. They just pull up the nearest patch of dirt. I preferred taking a five minute walk to a bush.

They fed us a lunch of mutton. Something that I didn't enjoy then and I didn't enjoy at every other meal after. Later they took us out to their Yurt which we quite enjoyed exploring. Nova told us that the family was only at the house because of us. Normally they live in the yurt. After that we helped to water their sheep.

After dinner more family showed up to meet us and we began to name the kids. There was Ben (our student) and his younger sister Becky, one cousin we named Sophie who lived down the hill and two other, Susie and Tia who lived in the second half of the house. Mitch quickly became their favorite person to follow around. He would say words and phrases in english and they would mimic him.

We went to bed that night on a wooden platform with carpets and blankets laid on it. It wasn't exactly comfortable but we were so tired that we slept surprisingly well.

The next morning we woke up with the sun and enjoyed a nice mutton breakfast. I should explain that this meat is served right on the large bones and you just take a knife and cut stuff off to eat. I wasn't very good at it and stuck to the cold scone-like bread. We were told that there was going to a party that day not far from the house and that we would go. By party they meant festival but it was fun to call it a party. We piled into the car again and headed out for an hour or so until we saw a circle of cars and some yurts. They were actually set up on a hill near a small town and when we got out and began to walk around the local cops became quickly interested in us. We hadn't even had a chance to look around before we were bustled into the cops car and taken into town. They told us that we were twenty kilometers from the Mongolian border so we had to check-in. Unfortunately Mitch had left our passports back at the house which gave them an excuse to keep us around. Nova was very mad at them all. It wasn't hard to figure out that basically they were very bored cops and that we were the most exciting thing around. Eventually we called Ben who was still at his house and told him where our passports were. They let us go back to the party telling us that we'd have to come back when we got our passports.

We watched a bit of Mongolian wrestling where one guy tries to knock the other one onto the ground and then we watched a horse race. Well, actually we stood around for a long time waiting to watch the end of the horse race but in actuality being the center of attention. Groups of people formed around us wherever we went. Many people wanted pictures with us. Even more just wanted to stare at us. After what felt like forever our friend the cop took us in his car out to see the race. That was cool! We saw the leaders and drove along side of them as they ran their tired horses. There were two of them--one was a young boy and the other was his older brother. We were very impressed with the concern that the elder brother had for his brother. He could have taken quite the lead from his younger brother but instead he stayed with him and urged him onward. It was actually quite touching and we were quite excited when they won.

After the race we were invited into the mayors' yurt for lunch. Mitch was taken up to sit with the men while I got shunted off to the side with the other females who weren't serving the men. Now I'm not much of a feminist but there was something about that pack of smoking men sitting there chomping on meat while they didn't even acknowledge the women who served them unless it was to beckon for something that they wanted to got me grumpy. Eventually the mayor who was sitting next to Mitch left and Mitch motioned for me to sit next to him. I did and Nova had to explain to the rest of the men that Mitch was very kind. Sheesh.

At the party we met another one of our students who we named Jane who invited us to her house because she didn't live very far away (although we soon learned that our idea of not far and theirs were two different things). We slept in a yurt while more wrestling went on and then we headed to Jane's house. They were much more wealthy than Ben's family and it showed in their home but still the bathroom was the great outdoors and the food was mutton. This family took us to the hills of the grasslands to a large pile of rocks that we spent quite some time scrambling around on.

I think the best part of the grasslands is the air. It was cool and clean and it felt so good to be scrambling about in something like the mountains of home. In Huhhot I get my exercise by walking around a dirt track by our apartment. It was so nice to be out away from the city.

We left the hills as it began to rain and headed back to Ben's house. It was amazing to me how nice it was to 'come home'. We had only stayed with that family for one night but their faces had already become familiar.

We woke the next morning and took pictures with the family and eventually headed back to the city. We were sad to leave the family. The Grandma cried and we gave them gifts and hugs. They want us to come back some day.

The next morning we headed to another small but wealthy city where a friend of Serge's lived. We had lunch with him and his wife. After that we drove out to another 'city'. Nova had a hard time explaining what we were about to do so Mitch and I were a little confused. Eventually we stopped at some huge gates and an even bigger rock that had Genghis Khan carved into it. After looking around and seeing a huge ariel shot of an ancient city we figured out that we were going to get to tour one Genghis Khans ancient cities! We piled into these large golf carts and headed into the city. Our first stop was a large wall that had been uncovered and the second stop was the remains of what used to be the house of the princess. From there were could look out and see many other ruins and we got very excited. Unfortunately after that we were taken back to a boardwalk that we had passed on our way in. This boardwalk sort of meandered around the grasslands for no particular reason. Now don't get me wrong the scenery was very beautiful it's just that I wanted to see more ruined old stuff! ;)

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Creative dramatics

You just have to know this family to get this video....

EV & MITCH on vacation in the grasslands.

This video and the next one were shot in the grassland region of inner mongolia.

Not quite what we'd planned

Today we began packing to go on our trip.  About halfway through the day we got a hold of Nova to find out the exact time of our departure.  Unfortunately, she told us that her father is having heart trouble and is in the hospital.  She was very worried about him and asked if we could postpone the trip a little.  Of course we said that was just fine.  So, considering the fact that we had purposefully not gone food shopping so as to not have too much food go bad while we were gone we had to go grocery shopping.  

Grocery shopping here is like a treasure hunt.  We are beginning to have a set routine of foods that we buy but every once in a while we make a discovery.  Like today we found peanut butter!  And a lint roller!  (I'm very excited about the lint roller--washing machines here don't have lint traps and I didn't know they were so important until they were gone!).  We're not exactly sure what the time frame for the trip is anymore so we tried to buy flexibly if that makes any sense.  We don't want to go without fresh fruits and veggies but we don't want to buy too much and have to leave it to go bad while we're gone.  Ah well, we'll just have to see won't we?

When we got back to our  apartment Mitch couldn't get the door unlocked.  Now if you ever give me the key to the door it will seem like it won't open and I will become very frustrated but Mitch never has troubles with the door.  But he could not get it open, so he went to get the door man who tried even longer than Mitch had.  I was getting worried about a precious chocolate ice cream when he went to go get some tools and some help.  Two other men joined us and they each took turns twisting and pulling and pushing and for all I could tell yelling at the door in angry Chinese.  Suddenly Mitch, who is just standing and watching, cries, "You got it!" and pushes hard on the door.  It pops right open and the three men burst out laughing.  They all studied the door while I put the groceries away and could find nothing wrong with it.  

Well, we'll let you know how the plans change!

Thanks for everything!

Ev & Mitch

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One Month and Counting!

Ok folks!

I have officially been in a foreign country for one month and so far I haven't gotten sick from the food or water, I haven't permanently maimed myself or anyone around me and I haven't caused an international scandal by wearing flip-flops and liking cold water better than tea.  I did manage to step into a bowl of ramen noodles but no lasting damage was done and it is surprisingly difficult to get cold water at restaurants (even at our beloved Pizza Hut) but Mitch eventually gets the message across.  

We're having a good time out here.  We still get stared at and at the Iron Pot restaurant the other night some people asked to have their picture taken with us but the Chinese people are pretty friendly once you've broken down their stare barrier.  My favorite thing is that when they say "Hi" and we say "Hi" back they always giggle like crazy afterwards!  It cracks me up!

We had a meeting on Tuesday with Yalune and Mr. Wu about where we would be going on vacation and they helped us pick three cities that all have students nearby.  There are also some mountains and lakes in the area so it should be pretty and we should be able to get out into the grasslands as well.  We still have to have it approved by some big head hancho at the university and then they'll set it up for us.  Tragically it's not an area with camels!  Next time.

Well, that's all for now!

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