Impulsive or Sentimental?

A couple weeks back I decided to hop on e-bay and check out used cars. We'll be coming home soon and I was curious to see what kind of cars are on the market and how much they cost. I submitted a search on e-bay for a Subaru wagon, since I loved the one I used to own. I sold my 2005 Subaru Impreza Outback Sport Special Edition last May with much reluctance. I couldn't take it to China with me and there really was no need for it in Washington, D.C. (Public transportation rocks! Utah needs to get on that train). Anyway, the search on e-bay was under way and I came across a car that was the same year/make/model as my old one. I was excited to find it because there are not too many of them for sale on the used car market (because they are such rad cars). I was exploring the ad more and found that the car was located in Bountiful, Utah. The thought popped into my head that this could be my car, but I quickly talked myself out of it. That would be impossible. I continued looking through the ad and came to the pictures of the car. With each new picture that loaded on the screen my heart fluttered a little in anticipation to see if I recognized anything that could give it away as my car. Next Picture: Right Front Passenger Door.

I could not believe it. This was my car. How could I tell? Our neighbors that were ticked at us because we got a better parking spot from the apartment manager because we asked first when it was available, door dinged us. Maybe not on purpose, but I'd like to think so because they totally chewed me out once about it. I also checked a few other things to verify that it really was mine.

I had to have it back, for many reasons. It was the first car I ever owned and my dad helped me purchase it. The plan has been that when my first child (which I don't have yet) turns 16, they will drive it. That was the plan before I sold it, but now there's a renewed chance. I once had a really good guy friend tell me (before I was married or even thinking about it) that I would make a great mom in this car. The reality of this can now once again come true.

I bought it back. It was once again my car within 5 hours of first finding it on e-bay.

This car has taken me (Chris too, once he joined the family) on many adventures. From Polebridge, Montana (near the Canadian boarder) to Monument National Park in AZ and to the Pacific Ocean in California. And countless places in between. It has been a good car and has done a lot for me, from hauling me and my saddle to feed and ride my horses in Fruit Heights to hauling bikes and skis and camping gear of all sorts. I've used it to move 5 different times. It never let me down during my commute to the University of Utah or to work at Primary Children's. It also helped me attract my husband ;) I have so many good memories with it and am so excited that it is now, once again a part of my life. If my car could read, this is the short letter I would write to it:

Polebridge, Montana. August 2006

Monument Valley, AZ. March 2005

Bryce Canyon, UT. Labor Day 2005

Dear Soup-a-roo,

I'm sorry that I left you last year. I did all I could to keep you, but it just wasn't in the cards. I'm glad that you were taken care of so well. 3,000 miles isn't much in one year. I will never again let you go. I hope you forgive me and that we can remain partners in transportation and recreation forever.

Love always,

Emily

Our Favorite Two-Year Old (in Tianjin)

A few weeks ago we offered to babysit for some friends of ours here in Tianjin. Okay, so they may be our only friends here, but friends nonetheless. They have two kids, a 2 year-old and a 9 month-old. There were only a couple weeks left of Kyle's Chinese New Year break and they were wanting to get out of town. The problem: they have two kids. It seems much harder to manage two children here than in America for many reasons, especially when traveling. Well, they accepted our offer after a successful trial sleep over with Ellie. They were off to Xi'an (not without many, many mishaps of course).
Ellie on her way home after her first sleep over (We live in the orange stucco house on the left).

We had district conference in Beijing last Sunday, which was wonderful. It was so good to see people we have gotten to know in Xi'an and Beijing all in the same place. That was good for us, but bad for the rest of the branch on the bus waiting for us to stop socializing so they could get home. We did a baby grab and took Ellie off of her parents' hands after the conference, she was really cute when she was saying good-bye. We got on the bus to head home and knew we were the last people they were waiting for. Then we waited and waited....we didn't tell people that we were babysitting, so we (the entire branch, excluding us) waited for 30 minutes for Kyle and Tiff to come, although we knew they weren't coming. We had a few people not so happy with us, they needed their lunch and their naps. Oh the joys of miscommunication, or no communication at all.

We really enjoyed playing mom and dad for a few days. It was more like playing aunt and uncle though. We couldn't help but be fun all the time. Ellie sure was queen of the house. Looking back on it, I think we catered to her a little too much. Lesson learned.

Ellie liked when Chris read her bed time stories.

She got really good at bossing us around and we totally fell for it. In the middle of one night we played musical beds for about 2.5 hours. Ellie kept directing: "Emi sleep Ellie's bed." "Ellie sleep Emi's bed." "Chris sleep Ellie's bed." "Chris, Emi, Ellie sleep Emi's bed" and every other combination imaginable. My personal favorite was her last request of the night, "Chris sleep Ellie's bed." That meant I got a queen sized bed all to myself.

Ellie loved helping me make rolls.
She also liked making messes.

I learned a lot of things while Ellie was with us:

1- I really love kids (I already knew this, but it was confirmed)
2-I want to have kids (again, already knew this)
3- I can't give in to every request of a two-year old, even if it doesn't affect me at this point, because they'll expect it from here on out
4-Co-sleeping is a dangerous habit (one Ellie started here with us) and my children are NEVER sleeping in my bed, except for the occasional family nap time
5-Patience
6-How cute kids can be and then the next second, not so cute
7-How to read a two-year-old and figure out that she's not really tired every time we want to get her dressed, it's just an excuse.
8-Kids say the darndest things (I have some on video, but promised her parents I wouldn't post them here or on you tube, they're that good)

We're really going to miss Ellie when we leave here. But we are so happy that we have gotten to know her and that she's been such a fun part of our lives.

Chinese Starfish

During our Chinese New Year travels, our last stop was Xi'an. We left Chengdu on an overnight train and arrived Sunday around noon. I slept much better on this train than on the last overnight train we took. We had wanted to attend church services there if they were being held (church gets canceled here quite often during vacation periods because it seems entire branches up and disappear for a few weeks). We got in touch with the branch president and had plans to meet up with him a bus ride away from the train station. He and his wife were kind enough to let us ditch our stuff at their house and share a taxi with two stinky travelers. After church (there were only 10 people there from three families) we met a lady that is a foster mother to Chinese orphans. She bore her testimony about the love that our Heavenly Father has for these children. We didn't even know her or her circumstances but were both so moved. We were thinking about moving our flight up one or two days, as we had more time in Xi'an than we really needed. But after meeting Amanda we decided to stick around. Of the six days in Xi'an, all or part of each day (minus Sunday) we spent in her home with her and these beautiful children. Saying that Chris and I loved it is certainly an understatement.

Here are some pictures so you can take it all in. They are all so beautiful and really touched my heart. I'm so proud of Amanda and the strength that she has to care for these children, love them, give them a home and hope. What a wonderful spirit she has and what wonderful children they all are. I know our Heavenly Father truly loves these children and is aware of their circumstances.

Emily & Genie

Benjamin

Sarah playing with Chris. Sarah really took to him.

Emily with Jasmine & Callum

Chris holding Heather

Shawn

Genie

Sean & Genie

Chris and a few of the kids

Chris and Lily after bath time

Emily with Cailen, Lily, Brianne and Rebecca

Brianne's big smile

Emily with Cailen, Brianne and Sarah

Danielle

Jade

Rose

Emily, Sarah and Genie

Emily with Cailen, Sarah and Genie

Lily's Chinese New Year Picture

Chris with Brianne

Katelyn at bath time, she's the smallest

Olivia and Cailen

Antoinette and Lily

Chris & Callum

If you have interest in keeping tabs on any of these little one's, or donating to their welfare, you can check out the blog that Amanda keeps at http://chinesestarfish.blogspot.com.

Cest La Vie

Q:What could be more romantic than a Valentine's dinner date in France on La Seine River?
A: A Valentine's dinner date in Tianjin, China at a French restaurant.

Valentine's Day this year really consisted of me staying in bed all day with a nasty cold and Chris out and about Tianjin tutoring Korean children in the English language. Luckily Friday night I was feeling better and Chris was commitment free. We went on a real date! We go on dates all the time I guess because we are always together doing all sorts of things. But I was lucky enough to be asked out days in advance. We hopped on our favorite bus #845 and headed out for a night of romance and French food. French food you ask? It was the best dang French food I've had since French fries and French toast. Actually I think it is the first authentic French food I've ever had. If you ever visit Tianjin, China, you'll have to check it out. It was an amazing meal and also the first real steak I've had since I've been here. The Chinese have a really funny way of impersonating American/Western style steak. It's really not the same. P.S. apparently we must have kissed after our date or something because Chris caught what I had. Yucky!

Chengdu

Part of our vacation was spent in Chengdu, which I will call the Bamboo capital of the world, which it very well could be. It was super green and super pretty. We stayed in a tiny hotel room, but it was very nice. I'm all about trading space for quality. It was also nice to have a good hotel because we stayed in for a day and a half when Chris was sick.

Pandas!!!

There is just something about them. They are so cute and playful almost like children. I could go into a lot of detail about them, but I'll spare you the details of their diets and daily routines. Pictures and one quick story will do. I had a friend travel to see pandas at the same location and she has pictures of her holding a panda and feeding it. I was really looking forward to being able to do that. We made our way to that area of the park and walked up to the building where we were greeted with a sign. It was not a good sign. 1000 元 to hold a panda. Are you kidding me. ($139.06 USD) That killed the fun for me right there. I was totally bummed as I had been looking forward to this for such a long time. If I had an extra 1000 元 lying around I would contribute to their protection, but...I don't. I should have known better. You have to pay for everything in China, including using a restroom, if you can even call it that.

乐山大佛 （LeShan DaFo or The Grand Buddha)

Facts: The largest stone Buddha carving in the world at a height of 233 feet. The carving of the Buddha began in the year 713 by a monk who wanted the river watched over, as it was a dangerous river and many fishermen were dying. It took 90 years to complete. It is a fabulous sight!!!

On our way to The Grand Buddha we made friends with a Jewish couple (boyfriend & girlfriend) from Israel. We spent the afternoon with them checking out the sights and asking many questions. We also got into a discussion on the Word of Wisdom because we declined tea. They were very surprised that we've never had a sip of alcohol or coffee in our lives. They thought that was pretty cool. So did I. It was fun for all of us because we learned a lot more about Israel and what life is really like there and they learned about real life as Americans. It was nice to get an insiders perspective rather than just reading stuff in the news. The coolest thing though was while we were at The Grand Buddha they got engaged! We wish Near & Oshi all the best!

Don't forget on your way down to:
Gotta love direct translations!

Em-a-wee

While we were gone for over two weeks on vacation our little friend has progressed in saying my name from Em-wee to Em-a-wee. We really missed them while we were gone. They are our biggest fans. Ellie was very happy to see me but was very wary of Chris. He has been growing a beard for over three weeks now. Ellie finally warmed up to him again last night. Kids are so funny.

Beginning of Chinese New Year: Train to Chongqing

For the two of you that voted on how long our train ride was from Jinan to Chongqing, you were both wrong. Our train ride was not twelve hours. It was twelve hours times two plus five. We arrived in Chongqing 29 hours after boarding the train in Jinan. "Long train ride!" you're thinking...that's correct. We loaded the train around 10 am on Friday, Jan. 25th and to my dismay, the bunks were not enclosed. Open bunks on a sleeper train result in many things I am not a fan of. I like lists and I think this qualifies for one. In no particular order:

1-decreased privacy...instead of five people watching you sleep, the whole train car of 66 can walk by and watch you snooze. And if you are a foreigner, you'll be more likely to attract a crowd because who has ever seen a foreigner sleep before???
2- increased noise levels
a. from people walking by.
b. from people waking up at midnight, 2am, 4am, all night long to eat noodles in a very loud fashion.
c. from people talking to other people who are eating their noodles loudly at midnight, 2am, 4am etc.
c. from people eating sunflower seeds, loudly cracking them in their teeth and then spitting out the shells (on the floor mind you).
d. from people not being considerate and not closing the doors between the train cars when they go out to smoke.
e. from people waking up to start the day at 5 am because they couldn't sleep any longer because they took a nap during the day and then they feel the need to broadcast music from the mp3 player on their cell phone for the rest of the train car to enjoy...at 5 am!
f. from the train attendant ripping someone out of bed at 1 am because they are in the wrong bunk and that person getting in fight with the train attendant and the person that claims to have a ticket for that bunk.
3- increased conversation overhearing ability of everyone in the train car.
4-the increased ability to breath carcinogenic second hand smoke.

#3 on the list calls for an explaination: we were trying to keep hush hush about where we were from for many reasons, and in fact, Chris wasn't even speaking Chinese at all, to anyone. This seems to make long journeys more enjoyable for the two of us. Not to stereotype, but...many Chinese people here are really nosy and don't have a problem sharing anyone else's business. I think they fill it is their duty to know every detail about people they meet and to share that with others who may need to know. So we had been on the train for a few hours and staying to ourselves when we had quite a few people try to speak to us and ask us where we were from. Chris continued to pretend he didn't understand and couldn't speak their language. Well, the train attendant comes wandering past and asks Chris for our passports. Chris acted like he didn't know what was up and waited till the guy gave a few more signals and gestures. Chris then pulled them out and the attendant wrote down our passport numbers on his passenger log, while announcing to the whole train car “美国,” (America) I think he did this really just to fulfill their desire to know. This was the third overnight train we've taken and probably the 12th train ride, and never before had anyone asked to see our passports. Chris later regretted not starting to speak Chinese to ask the guy what he needed them for. Either way it turned out to be a lose lose situation. The whole train car then knew we were Americans and there was a lot of buzz about us. Chris was busy listening in on conversations about us. The overhearing goes both ways. The reason many times we don't want people to know where we are from is because they assume we are rich because we are from America. Yes it is true, most times we are better off than many people we meet, but the real truth of it is, we are still college students, sort of, and our income is not in American dollars, it is in Chinese Yuan, and we aren't RICH. Try explaining that to anyone that knows we're from the U.S...

Beside all the negative points I have already mentioned, the train ride the next day was quite pleasant. We finally started to speak to people and made friends with a little girl named Li Fan (pronounced like Lee Fawn). She was cute and we taught her how to count from 1-10 in English and also played phase 10 with her quite a bit. It was too difficult to explain all the rules so we just played the first round over again, and again, and again, and again. It was super funny to teach her how to count to 10. We would over exaggerate our pronunciation in order to help her hear it more clearly. She would then try to copy us and we would all start laughing. One guy in our cubby was quietly practicing counting and surprised us by counting to 10 almost perfectly.

After making friends with Li Fan, there were many exchanges of food between our cubby and hers next door. I even bought a sprite for her through the train window from a lady on the platform at one of the quick stops we made along the way. Li Fan was traveling with her parents and her father's mother back to their hometown for the new year. It was great to make some friends on the train and helped the time pass.

Once the sun came up it was awesome to see how green everything was. Things haven't been green in Tianjin for months. We passed through mountains and small villages with farms as far as the eye could see. It seemed they used every available plot of land to farm on. This is another bonus of train travel, being able to see the scenery along the way.

This calls for a list of good things about overnight train travel or train travel in general (it will be shorter than the other, but at least it's an attempt to be positive):
1-the cost of a train ticket is less than a plane ticket and hotel and you get two in one.
2-being able to see much of the country side that you would otherwise miss if flying.
3-making friends with fun nine-year-olds.
4-being able to rest while traveling, as opposed to car travel where someone has to be awake to drive.

Our long train ride ended in the afternoon the next day and we were happy to arrive in Chongqing and spend time with Chris' friend Wayne and his wife Shirley.

The rest of the story of our Chinese New Year trip, to be continued....

Children's Hospital Adventures

I'm posting this a few weeks late as we have been traveling for the Chinese New Year. So about four weeks ago, our friends' two children (Ellie 2 years old & Erik 8 months old) were sick. It all started with Erik getting a runny nose and a fever. Well, Erik's runny nose turned into a nasty respiratory illness which was passed onto Ellie (2 years). They both looked and I'm sure felt horrible. I talked their mom through some ways to help them breathe, eat and feel better, and hopefully stave away any sort of Chinese hospital visit. And when I stay "stave" I mean it just as the dictionary defines it: to avert or delay something bad or dangerous. I even went over and played nurse by suctioning out Erik's nose and teaching their mom some awesome techniques. Mom's don't like to make their babies cry, which is good and bad. Oh, the memories of last 'respiratory season' as a student nurse came flooding back all too quickly. Erik screaming, swaddling him in an attempt to keep him still, half-way sitting on him to hold him still, long nasty boogers, Erik crying, lots of nasty snot, the sound of a bulb suction, and then handing him to his mother to be comforted when I was done.

After I was done with Erik, Ellie came up to me with her blanket in hand and said, "Ellie's turn." I was a little shocked that she would volunteer for such harassment, but she needed it almost as bad as Erik. I laid the blanket down on the couch and then Ellie on top. I wrapped her up tight and started brining the bulb suction closer to her nose. That's when I knew it was too good to be true. She started yelling "Bu Yao! Bu Yao!" (Chinese for: don't want). I then realized that she just wanted to be snuggled tight like her little brother. I was however able to talk her into a little bit of suctioning. I was very gentle and showed her that it wasn't that bad, although for all that effort, I wasn't really able to get anything out.

Saturday: Well, as much as we tried to stay away from the Chinese hospital, our efforts failed us. Both Erik and Ellie's lungs sounded awful and full of junk. They needed more sucking out than a bulb suction could do. So Saturday morning we made our way to the hospital together: Tiffany the Mom, Kyle the Dad, Erik, Ellie, Emily the Nurse and Chris the Translator. Oh boy, were we in for a treat. The moment we stepped into that hospital I wanted to rush the children right back out. I felt like I was watching a documentary on the Discovery Health Channel about the horrible conditions in Chinese pediatric hospitals. Hundreds of sick, listless children lined the halls sitting on parent's and grandparent's laps, hooked up to IV infusions. Immediately Tiffany and Kyle threw Ellie and Erik into their chests burying their faces in an attempt to not contract one of an assortment of airborne pathogens we could smell floating in the air. Chris quickly asked the masked nurse at the desk where to go. She pointed down the long hall that was brimming with sick children, IV antibiotic infusions and disease. We hurriedly walked down the corridor to the next set of desks. Chris waited in line a few times to get everything figured out and get us on our way to seeing the doctor. At this point, I was very skeptical that anything was going to be done to really treat Erik and Ellie's symptoms. We got to the next waiting area, again full of coughing children and waited while Chris checked out what we needed to do. While he was gone, we witnessed children squatting on the waiting room floor to empty their bladders and then the housekeeper spreading the urine all around with her mop. Yummy. Ellie was then firmly reminded that she was NOT allowed to get down and we all remembered why we don't wear shoes in our homes. Chris came back with a number: 304. Great! Well in the fifteen minutes we'd been waiting for him the nurse allowing people to come back to see the doctor only turned the numbers from 192 to 194...

So we waited and debated and figured it was best not to wait in the cesspool of a hospital. We made our way to somewhere near bye that we knew would be comfortable with warm food and good bathrooms while we were waiting for number 304. McDonalds!!! Always dependable. After a good lunch to feel our hungry bellies, and much contemplation, we all went home. We realized that most likely nothing was going to be done to help these kids other than some antibiotics through an IV, which...wouldn't help.

Sunday: I was struck with 拉肚子 Saturday and still wasn't feeling hot Sunday morning and thus stayed in bed during Church. Tiff stayed home with her little ones as they also weren't up for three hours of Church and also didn't want to spread the love. Well, Sunday night, Sister Tam thought Tiffany should try to take Erik back to the same hospital we had tried the day before. So again, I came along as the nurse, Chris as the Translator and Barbara as the Chauffeur. Chris wasn't exactly needed this time as Barbara is bilingual, but I did need an escort on the way to the hospital as it was late. This time it was as if we had come to a completely different place. The halls were empty, the smell dissipated and only a few sick kids. The process was much smoother. We were in and out in 20 minutes. I did have to ask the nurse to clean her stethoscope after using it on a boy that looked deathly ill, and to wash her hands. DUH! Erik was actually doing much better Sunday than Saturday and this resulted in a prescription of Chinese traditional herbs. Chris translated them into English so we'd have some sort of idea with Erik was taking. There is a saying in Chinese traditional medicine: The worse the taste, the better it is for you. Well, the medicine must have been pretty amazing because Tiff couldn't do anything to get either of her kids to take it it was so nasty.

Monday: Erik was still improving and so were Ellie's respiratory symptoms, but....Ellie would cough and then she would gag and throw up. This progressed to the point where she didn't even have to be coughing and she would throw up. The end result: dehydration and a trip to the hospital for IV rehydration. This story is getting quite long so I will try to hurry it up a bit. Again, Chris and I came along but we did not go back to the children's hospital because that seemed to be the place the Ellie picked up her latest bug. Instead we went to Di Yi Yi Yuan, The First Hospital. Kyle and Tiff know a liver surgeon that works there and they gave him a call to see if Ellie would be okay coming to the adult hospital. He said it was actually better because of how busy the children's hospital was, which we already had too much experience with. So, we were off again to the hospital. Tiff packed a bag of diapers, books, snacks, water and other essentials as we didn't know how long it would take before Ellie would be up and running again. We were met at the front doors by their friend and immediately taken back to wait for the doctor. After waiting for one child to finish we were up. The situation was explained to the doctor and she examined Ellie (after being prompted to wash her hands). She recommended an antibiotic and an electrolyte solution for her. The nurse in me challenged the doctor on the use of the antibiotic since there was no evidence of a bacterial infection. So, a blood test was done to determine the presence of a bacterial infection. (I again had to remind the lab tech to put on clean gloves before drawing Ellie's blood. He had been handling urine specimens and had visible blood on his gloves as he was reaching to poke Ellie. In very basic Chinese I got the point across. I pointed to his gloves and said: "this new?" "We want new" I then pointed to the box of unused gloves and then to Ellie and said "and then you can." He got the point and Ellie is still HIV negative and does not have hepatitis). Ellie didn't have a bacterial infection so it was only electrolytes! Yippie! If you can't already tell I'm a big supporter of not proliferating antibiotic resistant bugs. Ellie was pretty miserable when she was getting her IV placed and the entire time it was in until she fell asleep. This is why, it was a big needle they used to poke her and then the needle stayed in until the infusion was done three hours later. Unlike in America where a needle is inside a plastic catheter and the needle is removed once the plastic catheter is in the vein. This meant that someone had to physically hold Ellie's arm/hand so she could not move and inadvertently shove the needle through the vein. Man I miss modern medical devices. Oh, did I mention they taped her hand to a cardboard box to hold it still. Really comfortable. I do have to give them credit for the ease in which they placed the IV, they did a better job that I could have. Ellie finally fell asleep, the IV infusion finished and she peed. Hooray! The hospital really did make a difference this time. I should mention that she threw up again on the way home from the hospital, but with lots of love and attention she got better very quickly.

Morale of the story: Don't get sick in China, especially if you are a child, and especially don't get sick enough to need professional medical attention.

Chris taking a turn immobilizing Ellie's hand, he was also enjoying the story.














My most unfavorite job of the night, holding Ellie still.














Our lovely hospital room: