Beautiful China

 With the kids being in school I've gotten into a routine where I drop them off at the bus stop then go on a run. Our neighborhood is situated on a super busy road. Along the road is a frontage road of sorts for scooters, bikes, pedestrians, and sometimes cars. I haven't totally figured out the traffic rules yet, and I'm not sure any of the drivers here have either. It's craziness! Running along the frontage road is a little treacherous so I usually run in the neighborhood or on a path around a lake/canal close by. That path is much better but still has the occasional scooter, bike, or even car. However Adam told me about a park nearby that he'd seen on the map so I set out this morning from the bus stop to find it. I was excited to find a beautiful park next to another lake. And there wasn't a single bike, scooter, or car on the path! I took some pics because...well I guess because I take pictures of everything right now. And I like to share with friends and family across the world! You can see from the third one that it was a day with more pollution. The air hasn't been nearly as bad as I've heard China has been in the past but we still get some smoggy days. 

Part of my routine is taking Bella to the path behind our house when I get home. She doesn't get to run with me because she pees every 20 steps. Plus she would probably get mowed over in the crazy traffic. So I took her out back and snapped a pic of some of the people exercising. They do Tai Chi, sometimes with a ball, in groups or by themselves.

And this is the fishing spot directly behind our house--out the gate and across the path. It must be a good spot because there is always a fisherman or two there. Adam explained that they may be migrants from another province. In China you can't move to another province without government permission or you won't be eligible for government benefits. So these may be some of those people, fishing to feed themselves. 

For lunch I headed downtown to Adam's work for lunch again. We got "re gan mian" or hot dried noodles, the dish that Wuhan is famous for. It's noodles in a sesame sauce and you can add toppings like cilantro, green onion, and other things I don't recognize. They are so yummy and so cheap! Two bowls was 12 RMB. Divide by 7.3 and you have American $$ so less than $2. Here's a pic from when we got them with the kids last week. 

We got a McDonald's vanilla ice cream cone then walked around the lake in front of his office building. Everywhere here is rivers, lakes, and bridges. Adam's building is the blue building behind us in the first pic--New World Trade Center. He works on the 47th floor. 

This next one has the cutest lily pad flowers. 

This one is in from the same side of the lake as his building. 

Going backward, we had a fun experience at the school on Saturday. It was a double celebration: International Day, which they do every year to celebrate the many nationalities represented at the school, and the 20th anniversary of the founding of the school. We were there 2 pm to 6:30 pm and had such a fun time! There was a flag ceremony with the flags of the countries represented, a speech by the founder of the school and secondary principal telling the amazing and divinely inspired story of the founding of the school, cultural presentations from many of the countries represented, and sampling of foods from many of the places. It struck me as I watched the Japanese people in their beautiful traditional dress doing martial arts, the Korean people in their traditional dress doing a dance with bells, the Southeast Asians in their varied traditional dress doing a dance, the French, Chinese, etc. I started wondering: what is America's culture? I kind of got my answer when the "English speaking" group got up and danced to YMCA in T-shirts 😆Emmy was laughing because her friends were dressed beautifully representing their countries and she was in ripped jeans representing hers. 

It made me wish we had something a little more substantial to identify as our culture. It made me realize I am also very grateful for the element of strong culture that comes with being members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It also made me appreciate the beauty of these other cultures. When it comes to food though, America hit it out of the park with cheese biscuits (cheese is so hard to find here!) and scotch-a-roos. Maybe we don't have pretty dresses and dances but man we know how to cook sweets! (I'll refrain from a joke about our obesity epidemic here...)

A few other pics: The first one shows off my four adorable water buffaloes! 

Liv and her friend Adiana (a fellow Utahn!!)

Me with my friends and fellow consulate moms Esther and Michelle

Minz with a friend and faculty member

Eve with her friend Matteo, a friend from the neighborhood and school.

Finally, I was mesmerized by a guy who made animals out of sugar. It was so cool and he made it look so effortless!