More Detailed Update from David in China

Dave sent this detailed email today. Thought I'd share, since the Chinese don't let them have bogger.

Well, we are back online. We just got our internet connection hooked up today. Finally! Not that we really have had much time to use it this last week. We have been non-stop busy the whole time. The plane ride over was a huge fiasco. I am still not sure what really happened, but our flight into LA was late. We were supposed to have a good two hour window in LA before we had to fly out to Seoul, but the plane was late coming into Chicago by almost an hour. By the time we made it to the Korean Airlines desk in LAX we were told we were too late to board. This was the confusing part, and I am still not sure how they wouldn't let us on the plane. But Korean airlines said that we were too late to board their flight, so they had made arrangements to put us on China Southern Airlines which was leaving in like 15 minutes. Seriously! 15 minutes. We literally ran, through the airport as fast as we could with 9 pieces of carry on luggage and the kids racing behind us. Little Savy ran so hard and so long, and eventually pooped herself out. We had agents from both Korean airlines and China Southern helping us through Security and holding the plane so we could board. It was insane! I don't know how we managed to do it. The China Southern flight was a straight shot to Guangzhou and we totally bypassed Seoul altogether. It would just put us into Guangzhou 5 hours ahead of our original flight. The other thing was that our luggage was stuck on our original flight going to Seoul. I know, I know, one thing after another. The flight wasn't bad. It was long, but the night flight allowed us to sleep a good portion of it, and the kids did amazing. We arrived in Guangzhou, and had to hang out in the airport for about 5 hours for the Korean Air flight to come in to collect our luggage. It sounds bad, but we would have had to wait in the airport in Seoul anyway, so it wasn't too bad. We were just hoping and praying that our luggage really was on that flight. Luckily after watching the luggage go round round and round, our bags made it. There was one that was ripped but it didn't look like we lost anything. I am so glad that we duct taped the crap out of them. Otherwise they all would have ripped open.

Heather from our school picked us up at the airport at the arranged time and we had all of our luggage and we were off to our new apartment that our friend Melanie had found for us. She was waiting at our apartment when we arrived. China is incredibly humid, moreso than I remember Florida being. The drivers are pretty crazy. They don't drive very fast, but you can forget about signaling or even what the lanes are. It is very unnerving at first because cars will get so close to you. Thats the way it is here though, and we are already getting used to it. Because they don't go very fast the worst that will really happen is you get side swiped and rub paint with another car. Funny. I think even Paul and Adam, our crazy drivers, would seem pale in comparison. Over the last couple of years there has been a huge influx of drivers and new cars, and that is probably what has contributed the most to it. If you come for a visit, come prepared for the drive home from the airport. The kids don't mind a bit. They love not having to wear a seatbelt! Yeah, no seatbelts here, except in the newer more expensive cars.

China is very clean though. There are plenty of old buildings that look grungy and dirty but the streets and stores are clean. They take that very serious. Much different than Russia where it was always dirty. Flowers line the streets of the highways and the vegetation is lush and green. Its beautiful here. The skies seem to always hang with moisture and pollution though, so it seems there is always a kind of grey overcast feeling to the day. The people are very nice. We have been helped so many times already that we can't help, just by random people. Savy and Tyson, as expected, are the center of attention. People will just walk up and smile and say hi to them. Everyone tells Savy that she is Beautiful. They aren't sure what to make of all the attention. Tyson gets really shy and tries to hide behind us while Savy just acts crazy, reverting to baby gaga sounds shaking her head and basically acting like she has a severe form of tret syndrome. I am surprised no one has called her a 'gwai lo' yet, which means white devil. lol

We got to our apartment, and all of the things Melanie had asked them to do when she put down the deposit, hadn't been done at all so we arrived at an apartment which was filthy and filled with other people's crap. A bustted broken up couch, a bed in the living room, nothing was clean, the toilets wouldn't work. It was mess. Luckily, Heather put us up in the teacher dorms for a few days while we had the landlord and his agency work on getting things cleaned up and fixed so we could move in. The dorms weren't very far away, and they were clean, but very sparse with no kithcen. We could at least sleep and shower and use the toilets. I am glad that it worked out like that. The beds are extremely hard. I woke up the first morning and thought I had died and was lying on a stone slab. They don't use mattresses. It feels like either boards or just the box spring. Even Tyson, who can sleep anywhere, laid down on the bed and said, "I can't sleep here, its too hard." To put it short we have had to argue and argue with the agency to get things fixed or cleaned for our apartment. They did such a poor job cleaning that we had to come in and clean for a whole day. The landlord is very nice, but the agent girl he hired doesn't want to do anything, and she fights with us mostly. Well, not us really. We have been using Heather and Melanie to help us get things arranged and since they speak both Chinese and English we have used them to do the battling for us. After a week of arguing back and forth we are finally getting things done and fixed the way we want. We finally just bypassed the agent and call the landlord when we have a problem. This is not how it is supposed to be done, but he is very accomodating. He couldn't get the tv remote to work one day, and said he would be back in a few minutes and came back with a newer bigger tv. Nice! Now we don't have to go buy one. Thats great. We spent a day at Ikea and the grocery store getting things for the apartment. Lots of little storage, as they don't have closets here. We bought some cheap couches at Ikea because we didn't think we would like what the landlord exchanged the broken one for. I am going to paint the walls soon, and we are having drapes made. I will show you the before and afters. After a week we are pretty well settled in. We still need a desk and space for my art stuff but that can come a little later. The kids love it. Tyson and Savy have made good friends with Melanies Children and they love it when we hang out togethre, which this week, we have done most of the time.

We have an Auiee, (pronounced I.E) who comes in the morning and cleans and cooks for us. She is great. We still don't know what she is saying half of the time, and we are constantly calling Melanie to translate for us. Poor Melanie. She has been our constant guardian, watchdog, and translator since we got here. She even made me brownies for my birthday when we got here. She cooks really good food.

Our sunday branch is small, and it takes a long time to get there. I guess they shorted the meetings to 2 hours during the summer and next week we will be up to 3 hours again. The members of the branch are very nice. We have even met some Chinese members who live in our community. Shannon was trying her best to figure things out at the store the other day and she must have looked lost because a Chinese lady came up to her and asked her in English if she needed some help. They got to talking and Shannon mentioned that she was from Utah, and immediately she asked, "Oh are you mormon?" She is a member of the Chinese branch. Because she is a Chinese national she cannot attend our meetings but the nationals meet separately. She took down our information and then dropped by one day with contact information for members of the branch who live close to us. We only have 3 or 4 members in our huge area, but they are so great. Brother Lau came by and has helped us sort through setting up internet and phone and helping us find our way around. He invited us to his house for Sunday dinner and it was great. They live in our same complex and have 3 children. The meal was great and we had a fun family home evening with them as well. We played pictionary and they helped us with chinese words and we helped them with english ones. It was really a fun evening. The kids made friends too. Brother Lau is the first counselor the Chinese branch. He helped me get in contact with Brother Wan, who is an artist. I went with him yesterday into Guangzhou to look for art supplies. He took me all over. He got his master's degree from the Guangzhou academy of Fine Art and as we were so close to it, he took me around and showed me the school. It was very nice. If I decide to attend that school, he said he would help me to try and get in. It is a very competitive school though, so we'll have to see, plus I need to learn to speak Chinese.

Seriously, that is our biggest trial right now. Learning chinese. Brother Lau has been over several times to help us with Chinese lessons so we at least have the basics. We just need to practice practice practice. We are off to go exploring now. We found a huge park with basketball, tennis, and some huge swimming pools close by. We need to work on getting stuff ready for school next week as well. Kinda crazy. Tyson is starting school, and Savy will be going to preschool. We love you guys.

... and will keep you posted as to what is going on. So far, we are loving it.

David, Shannon, Tyson, and Savy