Dale's Bus Ride

The day before yesterday we had what we are calling- Dale's bus ride. First, you have to know that he has personal space issues. Meaning he likes his very own personal space. So we are headed out to go shopping with our Chinese friend, Bob. The bus stops, is very crowded and we jump on. But the farthest we can get in is the stairwell by the door. Dale is at the top of the stairs hanging onto the pole, facing towards the back of the bus and I have my back to  him and am facing forward. In another stop or two, four more people are suddenly in the stairwell with us. Someone has wedged him or herself between Dale and I and since he or she is very short, the small of his or her back fits nicely up against Dale's bum and his or her head rests comfortably between Dale's shoulder blades. As the bus moves along this person sort of snuggles in and seems to enjoy the support of Dale's body.  Dale is mortified and there is nothing he can do about it. He is literally hugging the pole and has become a human vertical lounge chair for a stranger. He somehow manages to turn his head and see that it is a very elderly lady who must have been riding like this her whole life and she must be grateful for the cushion! He survived, and even rode the bus again that night. He's so brave.

                     Linger Longer - after church- 11/2012

Terry Koo, Jacob Yoon, James, Kenzi, Jordan, Danny ( in the front)

John Yoon

Maddi and Bro Choi

Mimi, Sara, Jordan, Je'sus, Allan

Madi, Crystal, Mimi

Jordan, Mona, Danielle, Dondi, Cathy, Maddi

Bro. Koo, John Yoon

Peter, Bro. Koo, Yira, Elise

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Our branch is sad that this is the Yoon families last Sunday.  They are moving back to Korea

Young Women class in our branch

Some of my students invited us to a Halloween party. We made jack-o-lanterns and played games

June Landry, Evan and Jenn's second was born about a week after we came back to China. She looks ALOT like my baby girls. I can't stop staring at this picture.

Maci Christianson, a darling little girl in our branch was baptized by her dad, Allan on Sunday, Oct. 14th in the Yellow Sea. It was a thrill for the entire branch.

beautiful boy

Ian has been gone for 23 years, today. He is often with us-even in China. We look forward to the day that we are to reunited, when only eternity will be long enough for being together.

Qingdao Branch social at the beach

Puppets performing at a restuarant.

   These are for Nancy.

These are two of our favorite tutor students, Helen and Robot. We had them sing happy birthday to our grandaughter, Whitney.

These kids are getting ready to go to American
( University of Utah) and Canadian universities. Dale teaches them on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Since they are such a small group, he teaches them in our apt. which is tiny, so they all kinda squeeze in. They don't seem to mind.

He's teaching them to make chocolate chip cookies. From a box. But still. People don't bake here. They don't even have ovens in their homes so they buy all of the baked goods from a store or bakery.

Suzie, our Chinese daughter, brought Dale this cake for Father's Day.  She takes such good care of us!

These pictures are from an outing in June to Zhou Shan Park.  Most Cities have a park named after  this person who led an uprising to banish the invaders in 1919. 

 These 4 girls held hands all day long. It's very common for girls to hold hands in China.

These cute girls came to our house and spent 5 hours cooking us a delicious meal. We also played games. It is a tradition here for students to cook for their teachers. At one point we heard a wail from the kitchen it sounded like "ohhhhh it's a tragedy!!!" They had burned some of the meat. The next thing we knew some of the girls had disappeared we were told to get some drinks. When the meal was served some of the food was from the restaurant accross the street!

Tah dahhhh. I was voted as the best teacher in the medical college of our university for 2012. That's me in the flowered skirt on the left in the top picture. (only slightly shorter than the rest of the people) It was so fun. I've never won an award before. I'm sure it had nothing to do with the fact that in the other teacher's classes they have to teach them things like diseases of the liver and in my class we can sing songs and play games and I can give out suckers to the winners. They really do already know English and can read and write it very well. It's our job to help them realize it and build their confidence by practicing.

I had to take this picture of Dale and a dear friend Meridene Grant, a fellow BYU teacher at church. They just looked so peachy that day.

Brad, Dana and baby Leila came to visit from Weihi. They are from North Carolina and taught here last year.

The blossoms in Qingdao are beautiful this time of year.

These are three of the kids that we tutor -from the left: Carl, Tony and Linda,

Bobby, another one that we tutor and Dale. Chinese kids often make this "V" sign when you take their picture. They told me it stands for victory.