9.9.08

Hello Father!
>
> I'm glad you got home safely but I'm sorry to hear that grandma P's
> health is declining. It seems like you talked to her a little bit more
> about moving in with us---what exactly did she have to say on the
> subject? Was she just hesitant or did she outright refuse to move? I
> feel so sad for her :(. If you'll give me her home address I'll try and
> write her some letters now and then to see if I can cheer her up.
>
> Classes are exhausting because I'm standing up talking, trying to get my
> class excited and trying to keep the energy level high for about an hour
> and a half as many as three times a day. I doesn't sound like much, but
> the yelling (yelling in a good way--like "ARE YOU READY!!?!"), the
> enthusiastic hand waving, and extensive gesturing really takes it out of
> me. So far, I've just been having them introduce each other so I can
> evaluate their English skill level. I also went over the class rules
> with them, showed them pictures from home (I get the hugest WOW! when I
> show them pictures of our house), asked them things they wanted to
> learn/talk about in the coming weeks, and played games with them for the
> first week's lesson. I'm currently in the midst of planning lesson 2
> for tomorrow which I think will be about University life in America, a
> subject all my classes seemed interested in.
>
> I'm going to try and attach a couple pictures of my apartment so you can
> see what my accommodations are like. The apartments are brand new, so
> new, in fact, that there was still a layer of construction debris on the
> floor when I moved in, and I still don't have hot water, gas for
> cooking, or internet access. Really though, I don't have any complaints
> to make. They Chinese are SO accommodating and try SO hard to make
> things really nice for the foreign teachers. I have found however, that
> there is a definite way of doing things here, a very beaurocratic way.
> My friend Jeff and I actually got into a spot of trouble yesterday
> because we didn't do things "the right way". I thought I had locked
> myself out of my bedroom so I went to go get Jeff (who went on his
> mission to Taiwan and therefore speaks Chinese very well) to help me to
> communicate to the housekeeper what my problem was. The housekeeper
> wasn't home so we ended up trying to mess with the door ourselves to see
> if we could get it open. It turned out that it was broken rather than
> locked and Jeff, who has worked construction in the past, took the
> doorknob off the door. Meanwhile, we got a hold of Hunter, the
> maintence man, and told him there was something wrong with the door.
> Hunter said he'd be there in an hour, then called back and said he
> probably couldn't have a repairman there until Monday since it was a
> weekend. Jeff decided that was too long to wait, which is when he
> decided to take the doorknob off himself. Well, Hunter turned up, saw
> the doorknob lying on the floor and immediately got really angry. He
> kept on saying, "There is a process for doing things. Why didn't you
> wait. You have to go through the process!!" Things worked out ok in
> the end though, and I got a new doorknob by that afternoon. I felt
> really bad for getting Jeff and myself in trouble---I really don't mind
> doing things their way because I want them to know that I respect their
> culture very much. The Chinese have this word 'guanxi' (goo-wahn-shee)
> that deals a lot with friendship and being in someones good graces. By
> coming to teach in China, we Americans put forth a lot of guanxi--trust
> in the Chinese people hosting us, giving of our time, traveling from our
> homes and putting our lives on hold. In return, our Chineses hosts
> showed guan by putting us in the best and newest accommodations. They
> took us out to eat several times, treated us to a banquet and to a trip
> to the local museum. We return guanxi by being well prepared and early
> to our classes etc. etc. Basically what I'm trying to say is that this
> little spot of trouble has taken Jeff and I a little bit out of our good
> graces. We will now have to try extra hard to redeposit some of that
> good standing back into our guanxi accounts. I'm sorry if this
> explanation is at all confusing, I'm not sure I really understand the
> principle of guanxi myself but I do think it's pretty fascinating.
>
> Sanitation in my apartment is good but instead of having a garbage man,
> we have to throw all our garbage into a nasty little trash heap behind
> the apartment. I'm not very fond of doing it because it feels like I'm
> littering. The bathrooms at the school are kinda gross too because they
> always seem to be wet...I think they clean them by hosing them down.
> There is also no toilet paper or soap located inside which grosses me
> out. The Chinese just do things differently and I have to keep
> reminding myself that different is not bad, it's just different. The
> Chinese people themselves seem to be always very well cared for and
> clean (except for the taxi drivers...what an interesting universal,
> eh?). In fact, they tend to dress nicer on the whole then westerners
> do. The girls wear almost nothing but high heels. How do they manage?!
> All my little flats are killing me. Oh, I've just thought of another
> very interesting difference between Chinese and western culture. The
> babies here DON'T WEAR DIAPERS! Ha ha ha ha...you can imagine my shock
> the first time I saw a Chinese baby and realized that, though it was
> dressed, it's entire back and front sides were exposed. They teach the
> babies to associate whistling with going to the bathroom so when the mom
> or dad whistles, the baby pees. Ha ha ha, it's so funny! Sometimes I
> want to whistle just to see what will happen.
>
> My group is really great. It's mostly made up of BYU or BYU-I students
> with a couple random Utahns thrown in here and their. There are also
> four married couples, one even has a one year old baby with them. They
> are so brave! The 30ish or so of us are organized into a group with a
> group leader (kinda like a brach president but with no
> interviewing/counsleing responsiblilities) an assistant group leader and
> a relief society president. We meet every sunday for a 1 hour sacrament
> meeting and a one hour preisthood/relief society or sunday school class
> (we alternate every sunday between these). Our group is a part of the
> Beijing China International Disctric Branch, BCID for short. This
> branch covers all the foreign passport holding residents for the whole
> of China. We are not allowed to interact with the native church
> members. We have also been strictly warned many many many times against
> proseletyzing of any form, agressive or passive. We've already had a
> little bit of trouble with this because our Native China Horizons
> leiason has been impressed with our group and has wanted to come to
> church with us. We, regretfully had to tell her no despite her
> pleadings that no one would know. Despite all hindrances, what and
> amazing opportunity and experience I've been having, especially in
> regards to the gospel. I find myself with much more time on my hands
> than I usually would have...than I've ever had before. The second
> counselor in our branch, when he came to organize my group, admonished
> us to use this time to grow closer to the Lord. He told us to spend our
> time reading and mediating on the scriptures and the words of the Lord.
> I feel very blessed here to have been able to do that, to take life a
> little more slowly and contemplate about the gospel. Brother Brighton
> (the 2nd counselor) also pointed out to us that we are pioneers! There
> has never before been an organized unit of the chruch in Xiangtan. How
> cool is that and how lucky am I to be apart of it!?! Today during fast
> and testimony meeting, one of the girls in my group pointed out that we
> are the Lords hands in an area that has hardly, if ever felt his
> presence. She said that as members of the church, we are
> representatives of Jesus Christ here. Neat!
>
> Dude, I between writting the above paragraph and now I just had like an
> hour long converstation with some chinese kids....they LOVE to talk to
> foreigners to practice their English skills. They are so nice and so
> interested in my life.
>
> Thanks for putting the adaptor in the mail. I haven't recieved it yet,
> but I'll let you know when I do. Please keep me updated on the goings
> on of the siblings and you and mom too. I love you all so much! Please
> call me soon, I'm avaliable in the mornings between 8-noon (china time)
> on wednesday and thursday and every evening after 6:30. I'm dying to hear your
> voices. Love you mucho!
>
> Love,
>
> Haylee