We worked very hard in October.
We both got ourselves buried in a mountain of papers to correct
plus grades to record and other organizational things that needed to be done.
But, we still had to for some wonderful activities.
The following are some pictures from each of them:
SHANDONG UNIVERSITY
110TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION
We are both teaching at Shandong University in Jinan, China,
but we teach on different campuses. Truman's campus in the newer one.
The birthday celebration was held in a new stadium, which was just completed this year.
The stage for the evening program was decorated magnificently.
The only thing wrong with the program was that it went w-a-a-a-y too long.
We left after 2 hours. It went for another 1 1/2 hours.
The girls in this photo with us are two of my class monitors. There role is like that of a class secretary and teacher's aid. They are both seniors. I have two Senior English Writing classes.
Sally, on my right, and Belinda, on Truman's left, are each a monitor in one of those classes.
They sat by us and told us what was going on, since the whole thing was in Chinese.
A NEW MALL IN JINAN
We belong to the Beijing Branch, which consists of members of the church who are living in China with foreign passports, called 'expatriates'.
However, we don't travel to Beijing on Sundays for church services. Instead, we call into Beijing through a SKYPE conference call.
Since we aren't a full branch, our group of members of the church in Jinan call themselves a 'Twig'. Included in that group are BYU China teachers and a few others who are under their own contracts to teach in China. Our group consists of 14 members. After our two hour block, we have a potluck luncheon together.
One night in October, we held a 'Twig' activity where we all met in one location, then, from that location, all hopped on a bus and rode it to a new mall in Jinan.
We had dinner together, shopped at a small grocery store that carries American food brand items, then went outside at dark to watch a 1/2 hour water show.
Truman and two other BYU teachers, Henry Miner and Kirby Jones, got a little silly in the small Halloween costumes and decorations bin in the grocery store.
It was a small bin, nothing like the aisles and aisles of Halloween stuff at WalMart.
ROMANTIC BOAT RIDE
The next week, after the new mall excursion, we went back to the same part of Jinan to take a cruise up the canal to Daming Lake. It was a cool, but not cold, autumn night.
Look closely at the picture. What you are seeing is a lighted bridge over the canal and its reflection on the water. We went under at least 10 bridges with different lighting displayed on each one.
This is a picture of the inside of the small boat we were on. In this picture are, starting with Henry then going clockwise, Henry Miner, Luci Jones, Kay Miner, and Susan Bishop.
Sorry, this picture is blurry, but it shows the beautiful reflections on the water.
Every building we passed had its own unique lighting display.
QUFU, HOME OF CONFUCIUS
A final activity for October was a trip to Qufu (pronounced choo-foo).
The estate and burial spot of Confucius are located in this small village. We had a 2 hour bus ride there and back to Jinan, but it was worth it.
There have been more than 80 generations since Confucius' time. One of the direct ancestors is a university student somewhere in China right now.
First picture shows an example of some of the architecture in the palatial gardens of the Confucius compound. The second picture is of the group we went with on this trip.
There are only four of us who are BYU teachers and all from Utah. All the rest have come through other programs or came on their own. There is one from England, one from Spain, one from France, one from Russia, some from China, 3 from Japan, and there is one from the foreign country of California.
plus grades to record and other organizational things that needed to be done.
But, we still had to for some wonderful activities.
The following are some pictures from each of them:
SHANDONG UNIVERSITY
110TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION
We are both teaching at Shandong University in Jinan, China,
but we teach on different campuses. Truman's campus in the newer one.
The birthday celebration was held in a new stadium, which was just completed this year.
The stage for the evening program was decorated magnificently.
The only thing wrong with the program was that it went w-a-a-a-y too long.We left after 2 hours. It went for another 1 1/2 hours.
The girls in this photo with us are two of my class monitors. There role is like that of a class secretary and teacher's aid. They are both seniors. I have two Senior English Writing classes.Sally, on my right, and Belinda, on Truman's left, are each a monitor in one of those classes.
They sat by us and told us what was going on, since the whole thing was in Chinese.
A NEW MALL IN JINAN
We belong to the Beijing Branch, which consists of members of the church who are living in China with foreign passports, called 'expatriates'.
However, we don't travel to Beijing on Sundays for church services. Instead, we call into Beijing through a SKYPE conference call.
Since we aren't a full branch, our group of members of the church in Jinan call themselves a 'Twig'. Included in that group are BYU China teachers and a few others who are under their own contracts to teach in China. Our group consists of 14 members. After our two hour block, we have a potluck luncheon together.
One night in October, we held a 'Twig' activity where we all met in one location, then, from that location, all hopped on a bus and rode it to a new mall in Jinan.
We had dinner together, shopped at a small grocery store that carries American food brand items, then went outside at dark to watch a 1/2 hour water show.
Truman and two other BYU teachers, Henry Miner and Kirby Jones, got a little silly in the small Halloween costumes and decorations bin in the grocery store.It was a small bin, nothing like the aisles and aisles of Halloween stuff at WalMart.
ROMANTIC BOAT RIDE
The next week, after the new mall excursion, we went back to the same part of Jinan to take a cruise up the canal to Daming Lake. It was a cool, but not cold, autumn night.
Look closely at the picture. What you are seeing is a lighted bridge over the canal and its reflection on the water. We went under at least 10 bridges with different lighting displayed on each one.
This is a picture of the inside of the small boat we were on. In this picture are, starting with Henry then going clockwise, Henry Miner, Luci Jones, Kay Miner, and Susan Bishop.
Sorry, this picture is blurry, but it shows the beautiful reflections on the water.Every building we passed had its own unique lighting display.
QUFU, HOME OF CONFUCIUS
A final activity for October was a trip to Qufu (pronounced choo-foo).
The estate and burial spot of Confucius are located in this small village. We had a 2 hour bus ride there and back to Jinan, but it was worth it.
There have been more than 80 generations since Confucius' time. One of the direct ancestors is a university student somewhere in China right now.
First picture shows an example of some of the architecture in the palatial gardens of the Confucius compound. The second picture is of the group we went with on this trip.
There are only four of us who are BYU teachers and all from Utah. All the rest have come through other programs or came on their own. There is one from England, one from Spain, one from France, one from Russia, some from China, 3 from Japan, and there is one from the foreign country of California.
LOL those men are goof-nuggets for trying on the Halloween stuff :). That's awesome, haha.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed all your pictures. I loved the lights reflecting off the water. I love the view of the city lights, mountains, and the moon reflecting off Utah Lake. It's some of my favorite parts about our view.