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Teaching in China
Monday, October 29, 2018
Monday, August 6, 2018
April 2018--A Marriage Market
Because wannabe grandparents are so anxious for their children to find a mate, they come by the thousands every weekend to JongShan Park next to the Forbidden City and advertize for a mate for their son or daughter. In the rural areas, there are 30-40 million too many men, due to the 1979 one-child policy and rural families believing a son is better than a daughter. Now, there are no women to marry in the countryside. In the cities, it's not that way, but young men and young women are not getting married and producing those precious grandchildren.
It so happens that a famous LDS landmark exists exactly where the marriage market takes place. The tree under which David O. McKay offered a dedicatory prayer, was right in the thick of the action. When we single adult advisers took our single men and women to the park to see the tree, little did we know we were taking them to a marriage market.
It so happens that a famous LDS landmark exists exactly where the marriage market takes place. The tree under which David O. McKay offered a dedicatory prayer, was right in the thick of the action. When we single adult advisers took our single men and women to the park to see the tree, little did we know we were taking them to a marriage market.
At our apartment are Kevin Earl, Paul, Sabrina, Eketzel, Emily, Charles and Wei Su (also Laraine in the middle) We love these people! |
The famous tree. Take no notice of all the activity around the tree -- the buying and selling of marriage aged children. |
Listening to a reading of the description of the area in historic records while fending off curious bystanders who wonder if we have brought eligible marriage candidates. |
Imagine the dedication of these parents who bring these ads every week. |
They all look eligible for marriage, right? These are some of the YSA's and singles from our Branch |
Chuck with the Bennetts, District President and wife. |
April 2018--Llama Temple
If you ever have just an hour or two and want to see a beautiful Buddhist temple, try the Llama Temple (or Yong He Gong). It is perfect, but not too large to see in a hurry.
Apparently, there are some scriptures sealed up in this box. Hmm . . . |
Mar. 2018--Jeremy and Rozana Come to Visit China
It's always great to have family come see how we are living in China. Jeremy and Rozana showed up.
Great Wall at Badaling, near Beijing |
Walking near Forbidden City |
Getting ready to watch the acrobat show. Chuck, quit looking so serious. |
Peking Duck with the Peltons and the Martins. Jeremy and Rozana were in for a treat. |
Hiking the Great Wall |
Jeremy and Rozana enjoying the WALL |
Subway ride after a long day |
Temple of Heaven |
Two lovebirds land on the Temple of Heaven |
Feb. 2018--Faces of Vietnamese Women
Outside the Vietnam Women's Museum in Hanoi, there was an exhibit of portraits. Laraine became very emotional looking at these women. What a fascinating museum, even if you don't particularly like museums! When it came to Vietnamese women's contributions in the war effort (the "War of American Agression" or Vietnam War), Chuck had to leave the exhibits because anything Vietnam-war-related causes him to be very emotional. Between the wrinkles on the faces of these portraits, you can see strength, dignity, determination, heartache, adversity, joy, playfulness, and so much more. So between the two of us, we were in tears much of the time.
Look at those hands! |
Feb. 2018--Hanoi Water puppets and Video of Street Traffic
Hanoi is enchanting. We visited around "Tet Week" which is the Chinese New Year. It was a very cultural, enlightening experience . . much different than we expected. What an amazing trip!
Lively streets and vendors! |
Weather was comfortable, but slightly cool. No problem for our Canadian friends, the Peltons, who were with us on this trip. |
Tim and Leslie Pelton teach in Beijing with us. They are at Peking University. |
Laraine in the lobby of our hotel. |
Across the street from our little hotel. |
We ended up eating at McDonalds because all the restaurants were full on the holiday. |
A typical wait at the light |
A water puppet show. Hard to describe. Techniques are handed down within certain families for centuries, and kept secret. |
One of the many puppets performing. How they manipulate the puppets underwater is a mystery. |
An entire cast of animals, people and even fish make up the water puppet show. We didn't understand the language, but it was fun to watch. |
Puppeteers come out for an ovation at the end of the show. |
These delightful hotel staff people were so sweet. |
We just sat by a lake in the center of town and took pictures. |
Eating outside is a local favorite. These tiny tables and chairs are difficult for big Westerners to deal with. |
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