Where it All Begins

The Hobbit Door

Today I received a one minute video of my beautiful daughter Genevieve, now a month and half old, smiling and cooing and being as perfect a human being as I've ever seen in my life.  I can't say I've ever missed anyone as much as I miss my little family.   They are my beginning.

There are beginnings here in China.  For instance I am beginning to order food with at least a reasonable expectation that what I thought I ordered I will receive.  There have been a few things, chicken hearts, the hottest peppers I've ever had, and soup that tastes like horse...poop...that were not exactly what we thought we had ordered.  Chicken hearts aren't bad.  They are just chewy..and kinda squishy.  I think Mom would love them!

I am also beginning (strong emphasis on BEGINNING) to understand the language.  Its a tough language.  I remember in Mexico being able to understand folks even if I only spoke a little Spanish.  It was kinda like English and you could make guesses about what they said.  Chinese is not like that...at all.  Sometimes I just stare at their faces and nod because they are not speaking my Chinese.  Some Chinese people sound like this when you ask directions:  "chengsaidanifuiecmiansdlkasdfs."  And then I say, "什么？” which means, "a What?"  and they say it a little slower and it sounds like, "cheng--sai---naaak---fuiee--mianndiiik---dsfeep----ajejjshih."  So I say, "oohhhhhhhh" and keep nodding my head like I understand.  Sometimes it works.  Sometimes it just gets more awkward and I walk away quickly acting like I have an appointment on the other side of the sidewalk.  The goal is not to look back and run faster if they follow.

 Every experience helps me learn though, even the hard ones. Sometimes the hard ones help you the most and open a new doorway into a part of the language you didn't initially know existed.  Then there is quiet reflection and a determination to go out and try again--this time armed with knowledge that "Cheng" means "city," or "often, or "transfer," or "clarify".....phhhewww.

Mountain

Stairway to Heaven

Paradise

On Saturday we went to the Mountain of the Red Snail, which is also a Buddhist temple.  They told us it was a little hike.  They didn't tell me it was mountain of stairs.  If there is a stairway to heaven, its at the Buddhist temple of the Red Snail.  The pictures don't give it any kind of justice.  I'm going to guess that its about 5 miles of stairs to the top.  No one made it...not even me.  A few of us would have had we had more time, but the hours got the best of us and we headed back to beginning--where I found paradise.  I looks like a movie doesn't it?  It felt like one.

Finally, I went to church in Beijing.  Its on the 4th floor of this building and smells like...a Mormon church.  There are actually two small branches: one for the Embassy and one for the rest of Beijing. How would you like THAT job. Of course it doesn't really count since at the beginning of each meeting they remind members that we respect China's laws and that it is illegal to speak with native Chinese about the church unless they have a foreign passport.  Still 16 million people on your mind and one branch?  It is a beginning.

The Branch President of Beijing 

The building the church is in

Oh, and one more thing for Dad and Jared.  Here is a Beijing dumpster.  I don't know how they unload it or why they have little doors on it...all I know is that trash smells the same even on the other side of the world.

Love to All.