I’m so grateful we’ve been coming into Qingdao on Saturday rather than making the early morning journey on Sunday.

As the blankets for the homeless have yet to be given out we continued to break them in. I’ve become quite adept at sleeping on hard surfaces, there is no way I could play the part of the princess any more, I’d never even think about the pea!  To save money Victoria kindly let us crash on her floor.

Nothing like a sleepover! No worries Katie was in the Middle.

We awoke at Victoria’s to just wonderful weather!

This view just made me want to crawl back under the covers.

Brother Yoon found the least slick path

Everyone had a buddy the kids seemed to have the best balance on the ice.

We eventually all made it. Luckily we had started out early the bus was packed and the final trek we all took cautiously. The ground always seems to turn to ice before it snows so even with fresh snow it seems slick.

Keeping with tradition the Qingdao Branch had a Branch Christmas Party. Victoria planned it and it was spectacular.

Sister Shields and the Stevens

Our Korean Members

It was potluck style and oh so delicious. Jenifer made the most delicious potato salad sandwiches. I ate way way too many.

President Halladay

Shelly and Peter they sang Jingle Bells in Korean with their son. (Ding Ding Dong)

The Shields - Canada

The Blakes

Jennifer, she has such an amazing voice both in English and Korean.

The Yong Children, they are so well behaved at church, Rosy on the end is just the friendliest child you've ever met.

On to the White Elephant, I came prepared and was so excited. Victoria read a variation of the Night Before Christmas which added Left and Right all over the place. Each person began with their own gift then through the reading you passed the present according to the direction read. It was quite entertaining. The funniest was the fact that Adam had purchased a live turtle and cage. He placed it in a paper bag and gave explicit instructions not to shake his gift. Well needless to say some people forgot those instructions as the poem continued and poor Fred ended the night with fried nerves I’m sure.

I got Chinese Yo-yo’s! I was exstaticed!

Tonight is the Branch Christmas Party, there will be a White Elephant* gift exchange. I’ve always disliked White Elephant exchanges as I am terrible at selecting a gift. I think the games is fun and I love participating but my gift is always so unoriginal.

This year I finally did it!! I got the best gift.

The White Elephant gift of White Elephant gifts in my opinion.

The mismatched, pieced together, furry toilet seat warmer.  And for the novice or those who can’t figure out how to get this thing on the toilet I found the instructions while wrapping.

Even the foreigner can follow the pictures.

So I can proudly attend the Christmas Party armed with this gift. Hehehe

*White Elephant is a party game where each guest brings a small gag gift to be exchanged in unique or random fashion. Traditionally people try to bring a random item that will get a good laugh.

I’m going with a Middle Eastern Stable Scene but in this case I guess I should say an Eastern Stable scene.

A Reagan family tradition is collecting Creches, it has become a family hobby as we begin traveling and widening the selections. I didn’t really put much thought into a Chinese Nativity before coming as this is not a Christian Country nor is it open to Christianity. When another member of the Branch shared a Christian wood carver with all of us I jumped on the chance. I surfed the website with Mom and found the ONE.

Chinese Nativity

Victoria  picked up my order and held it until I could get it from Qingdao. Last night I opened the box while in Qingdao and pulled out a few pieces to preview the Creche. Katie and I enjoyed the mini Christmas, and joked about not finding the Christ child. I just figured it was at the bottom of the box tucked away.

When we set it up this evening in my apartment we were all floored to discover the Christ Child was truly missing. I seemed to have an abudence of animals, or atleast more than I thought normal but no Christ Child. How exactly you forget to but the key component in the scene I don’t know but the proper channels have been alerted and I’m hoping to have him in time for Christmas.

Angel, I'm a little scared it will fall and break as it is not very secure.

The Wise Men from the East!

What's missing?

The trees are one of my favorite parts of this Nativity

The characters on top say "Christmas" in an ancient Script not the modern simplified

The Nativity is camphor which smells absolutly wonderful. It is so light weight which is a real blessing for transportion. It also came in a beautiful wooden box.

The following is a wall hanging Creche that turned out to be more beautiful in person than I had imagined. Well with three Creches hanging in my living room I think it will be pretty hard to miss the fact that I’m Christian.

My complete Chinese Nativity

Nativity with the Chinese Knots

Large Ornament Nativity

I know that by writing this post I relinquish the right to claim that I will freeze to death this winter. I do reserve the right to complain about the cold weather and remind all those at home that it is bone chilling Sibierian winds I must fight daily to survive.

The only reason I'm still here.

  About a month ago people began discussing the coming Winter. It soon became apparent that I was no where near prepared for what was to come. As a California girl through and through my thin blood could not comprehend the temperatures they were discussing nor the wind chill factors they all dreaded. The Idahoans and Utahans in the branch soon took pity on me and began helping me outfit for the winter. Victoria was the life saver, she lent me this beautiful bad boy for the winter. I must admit when she handed it over I almost laugh it was so light. 100% down this baby is. I always thought the only way to get warmth was weight boy was I wrong. Nothing gets past this coat, now if only I could get a pair of pants made of this stuff.  

Outfitted for winter! Still taking donations.

We made the train in plenty of time this week! Jane was kind enough to make a pack dinner for us to take with us to the train station. Tuna sandwiches and Egg Salad sandwiches. Delicious! Egg Salad is my favorite, unfortunately I’ve never been able to make it. Go ahead, laugh, how hard can egg salad be, obviously beyond Kayte’s abilities!

We all got comfy and slept!

After a late night Saturday and a long Sunday I finally conked out on the train.

I have decided to  reserve the train ride for my Children Class preparation. Coloring pictures takes so long but it seems to make my train trips productive as I usually just zone out to music.

Sunday was so much more relaxing when we spent the night Saturday. I just might start making it a habit sleep an extra three hours! Not to mention avoid the early train hassle and the COLD!

P.S. Nana if you could send a copy of your Egg Salad with detailed instructions I would love it! You always made the best Egg Salad sandwiches.

I got up at my usual time for Sunday morning, 5:45am I was out the door at 6:05 and ready to begin the trek. We caught a ___ trap cab to the station and had 10min to spare before the train. I think that just might be a record for us. Usually the last few mins is a sprint to catch the train on time. So all was well this morning getting to the train and Adam conveniently discovered it is possible to purchase return trip tickets here in Weifang. So upon arrival to Qingdao we had a 30 min head start as we didn’t have to stand in line for tickets.

Chinese ___ Trap or Cheap Taxi if you care to gamble with your life.

And another big bonus we found a bus stop closer to the train station. Before it was a brisk 1/2 a mile jaunt to the bus stop to catch the 304. Now it is but a mere block! So with all our good fortune this morning we caught the bus and gathered other members along the way. Turns out the 304 is the bus most members take to church we just have never gotten on the bus that early. So we were at church 15min early, it was splendid, no jogging through the complex and up the stairs arriving out of breath and trying to sneak in during the opening song.

After the block (3hours of church) there was a baptism for a Korean boy who had turned 8. When I was informed of the baptism on the bus I was curious where it would be preformed as we meet in a home rather than a chapel with a font. Turns out the branch owns a portable font that was set up and filled in the dinning room. It took the entire block to fill and I’m guessing by the time the baptism came around the water must have been chilly. It was a truly amazing baptism to witness as I contemplated the circumstances it was done in.

Of course in true Mormon fashion there were refreshments, I should really say for this case a dinner was provided for the entire branch. Delicious Peking Duck in a crepe wrap of sorts also sweet potatoes and steamed buns with fruit for dessert.

After all was said and done we headed to the bus stop for the return trip. The morning trip had gone so smoothly I guess I should have expected the return trip to set things right. As we were coming straight from Church rather than the University as normal we caught a different bus, the 301! That bus route is now on my never ever again if you paid me a 301 Yuan. We caught the bus at 2:45pm with our train leaving at 4:16 that was plenty of time, or so we thought. Construction, congestion and just plain CHINESE traffic were all conspiring against us. We pulled up to the bus stop across from the train station at 4:05. WE BOOKED IT! Adam was the first one off and the first one gone. By some miracle there was a break in traffic just as we darted across the street and into the station. The line into the station was thinner than normal and we rushed through security, skipped the escalators and took the stairs down two at a time. We cruised into the waiting room across the station at about 4:12 and luckily the guard hurried us through the gate. Then up the escalator one step at a time, they are most definitely not meant to be ran up! Completely out of breath we made it to the platform and could finally slow to a walk as the conductors on the platform where making final preparations to leave. As we found our car I tried to ignore all the stares as I continued to pant and cough heavily.

Once seated on the train my body just wanted to collapse. I am not in shape at all and yesterday’s little excursion did a number on my knee which did not make today’s sprint any easier. I had to ration my water to keep from vomiting. I finally settled into the seat and pulled out my Kindle.

I still can’t seem to shake the cough, oh how I hate physical exercise. Really, how anyone finds running pleasurable beats me.

After a restless evening of nightmares of not catching my trains I finally gave up and got up. I started out extra early only to discover the buses don’t run before 6:30am so there is no point in rushing out to meet the bus at 5:45. You can leave at 6:10 and still get a taxi to the train station in plenty of time.

The nice thing about sticking out like a sore thumb is anyone who wants to practice their English is more than willing to befriend you and make sure you get from point A to point B. A rather talkative gentleman insisted I sit with him for the train ride over to Qingdao. I have to admit I’m one of those travelers that as soon as my bum hits the seat my ear phones go in and my Kindle gets switched on. I have been blessed not to get motion sickness and have always found trips the perfect reading time. So obviously a chatty neighbor was not my idea of a pleasant ride. I was never rude but did manage to convey my desire to read.

Once off the train I came to a T, East Exit/West Exit after a moment of panic I decided to go for the East and back track if I had to. To my relief that was the correct choice. On to the ticket window. Things went even smoother than yesterday much to my relief and the ticket back was only ¥14 or $2. but to be fair this train was three hours long rather than the ¥29 which only takes 2 hours.

The 304 bus to church was going to be the hardest part as it was a 45min ride and I had no landmarks to signal the stop was coming up. Just as everything else worked out before the kind ticket attendant asked where I was headed, I showed her the card with the stop and in English she told me she would tell me when to get off. She was even nice enough to count down the stops for me 22 from the start!

The members were a little surprised to see me as they knew the rest of the crew was sick. I got the usual ‘you’re so brave’ line although I really don’t get it. I’m gonna have to get use to doing things on my own eventually so why not start now?

Victoria invited back to her apartment for dinner and gave me tons of great ideas for my classes this week. I also got a whole slew of medicine to take back which I desperately needed. It wasn’t until I had a splitting headache this morning did I realize I hadn’t brought anything with me to China, big mistake. So outfitted to open my own pharmacy I went to the bus stop to start the journey home.  

I jumped on the 202 and headed back. Time always seems to drag when you are by yourself and weary of missing your stop. Finally I leaned over to a young man next to me and pointed to the stop I was looking for on my trusty 3×5 card. He shook his head, which I hoped he was referring to the current stop. I kept and eye out for possible landmarks and finally caught sight of the ocean and the lighthouse that I had passed walking to catch the 304. So now I know when to look up! So next time will not be as troublesome.

Getting to the right  platform turned out to be a piece of cake as all the waiting rooms are labeled in both Characters and English. Lucky for me the train was boarding when I reached the waiting room so I was able to find my seat 15min before the train was scheduled to leave. The ride back was long but at least the train wasn’t that full. I wondered how an hour trip could be dragged out to three hours but soon realized. This train stops at every station between Qingdao and Weifang, and waits at each station for about 10min. So 3hours later I got back to Weifang and headed to the bus stop. I then discovered that the buses I could take back to campus all stop by 6:00pm. So Taxi again!

So finally home and happy to be so. My Monday schedule is absolutely wonderful! I only have one class and it doesn’t begin until 2:30! I fully intend to sleep in.

Today I had the wonderful opportunity to attend Church. When I had first signed up for the job I didn’t think it was even going to be an option, upon the discovery I was overwhelmed with graditude. In Argentina, Church was my backbone. To be able to go each week and recharge my batteries for the following week gave me the strength needed to get through anything thrown my way.

No matter where you go it is exactly same. The three hour block divided into Sacrament Meeting, Sunday School and Relief Society. We even start with Sacrament Meeting here like in Cali! The continuity always brings peace when settling into a new ward or branch, as is my case.

Quick background on the Branch in Qingdao. An agreement has been reached with the Chinese government that allows us to openly meet and practice our religion, but with certain conditions. We cannot under any circumstance proselyte or discuss our religion with any Chinese Nationals. If asked about religion I was told to say “I am sorry but out of respect to the agreement between our governments and this university I am not permitted to discuss this subject with you.”  We may however discuss our religion with any non nationals in other words, any  foreign passport holder. The other stipulation is that all tithing collected must remain in the country. With these rules strictly obeyed we have been fortunate enough to be allowed to practice as we may.

Our branch therefore consists of Americans and Koreans for the majority but we do have a couple from Iceland that is here studying at one of the Universities. Sacrament meeting is translated back and forth between English and Korean depending on the speaker. However Sunday School and third hour (Priesthood Meeting and Relief Society) are divided English and Korean.

Can I just ask why I never manage to miss the marriage lessons? Huh? Really come on people! So as I sat in Sunday school looking around at all the couples I realized that once again I found myself in a sea of couples with no one to catch my back on the, Single is Great motto! I didn’t discover till after that one of the women was single, I had just assumed her husband had been sick, my bad, so I guess I really can’t throw a pity party for myself after all.

I knew that the branch was full of BYU teachers and had assumed they were all the young ones that I hear go all the time. Boy I really need to stop the assumptions, yes yes I know what it means to assume, thank you Ms. Neelands! I was just rather taken back as I walked into Sacrament today and saw all the Gray. Beautiful Gray don’t get me wrong, oh and the black but the sea of black hair has finally stopped being of note by now. So come to find out all of the teachers here are through the David M. Kennedy Center for International Studies at BYU. They are an amazing group!

The Branch President and his wife had us all over for a potluck after church. That was the best Break-the-Fast I’d ever been too. Yes mostly for the fact that I got real American food all the way down to the chocolate cake. These folks are resourceful, the cake was baked in a toaster oven! I know I have loads to learn!