A New Season in Guangzhou

We have suddenly moved from spring to a new season we haven’t experienced before, a continue downpour of buckets of water from the sky.  It would be a misnomer to call this rain, but it is water from the sky.  The sky is overcast gray and dark outside even in the middle of the day with loud claps of thunder and lightening that seem to crack very close by. It comes in waves about an hour at a time then a short brake more thunder and lightening followed by another deluge of buckets of water. I think an appropriate name for this would be “river.”  There are constant rivers of water where streets and sidewalks used to be.  It is obvious that this isn’t the first time this has happened in Guangzhou, there is a drainage system designed to manage the water with slops and slants to the street drains. Many of the drains are in overflow as well as the overflow in the middle of the campus lake.  We have been in the “river” season for five days now and the entire week forecast is for more of the same.  Temperatures are in the 70-80 and storms every day all day.

Our windows are all steamy and you can feel the dampness in the air inside and out.  I imagine this is where the mold and mildew sets in as well. I am sure this will create interesting laundry situations without a dryer to toss in the wet clothes. More fun still to come.

Rain shoes for deep and deeper rivers on campus!

Taipei, Taiwan

My nephew, Keith Wilson and his wife Wendy, live and work in Taiwan so it has been high on the list to visit since we arrived in Guangzhou.  It was our misfortune and bad timing that after five very successful years in Taiwan, Keith and Wendy decided to return to Utah at the end of 2013. Keith will make quarterly trips to Asia so when he told me he was returning to Taipei on March 15-April 9 we started scrambling things around to make a trip to Taiwan while they were there.  Our teaching schedule accommodates a long weekend trip if we can get a flight out late Thursday afternoon after our classes.  We were able to get a flight on March 20-23 to spend a long weekend with Keith and Wendy. 

It was still a little early in the season to enjoy beautiful spring weather and the benefit of blue skies.  Friday was in the 60s but clear.  We managed to take in The Long Shan Temple, Wendy gave us a very in depth explanation about Daoism, Taoism and how they fit under the Buddhism umbrella.  Suddenly many things we had seen and experienced in our travels to Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, Cambodia and Laos began to fit together and make better sense. The number sticks, the fortune boxes, the beans thrown on the ground, Wendy explained the details to us.  As we were entering the temple an elderly woman appeared to drop her beans on the floor, Craig bent over to pick up the beans for her and caused quite a stir.  She had actually thrown the beans on the ground and the answer from God was in the way they landed.  Of course, Craig had interfered with that answer and the ritual she was performing simply by trying to be helpful.  That was our first stop early in the morning, however the incense was heavy and it was very crowded as the devout were making their stops before they went to work for the day. 

Next stop was a short subway and cab ride to the National Palace Museum. The National Palace Museum was originally founded in 1925 in the Forbidden City in Beijing, which explains why the word “Palace” is used in the name.  In 1931, to avoid the ravages of the impending Japanese invasion, the collection was crated and moved from the imperial palace in Beijing to southwest China.  In 1949, the civil war raging between the Nationalist government and the Communists, the Republic of China shipped about 600,000 of the most precious objects in the collection to Taiwan.  We spent a few hours admiring four floors of those objects. 

Next stop was Taipei 101, formerly the tallest building in the world until Dubai opened its new target.  It does still house the fastest elevator in the world that ascends 1,010 meters per minute. The world's biggest passive wind damper with a diameter of 5.5 meters and weighing 660 metric tons.  The damper was made of 660 layers of 12.5 cm thick solid steel place at cost of more than $132 million The observatory is located on the 89^th floor with stair access to the 90^th floor and the outside deck.   The building houses a very upscale shopping mall on the first six floors then office space takes the remaining floors.  Very impressive views from all angles of the observatory.

Chaing Kai Shek is highly regarded in Taiwan, not so much in China.  Chaing retreated to Taiwan after the war in 1949 when neither the CCP or KMT trusted anyone. The Memorial is huge, on one end a statue that is very similar to the Lincoln Memorial is erected with Chaing Kai Shek looking very Lincolnesk!

To round out the day we met Wendy and Keith at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints Taipei Temple for a session.  It is always interesting to attend an international temple, and lucky for us the English session was on Friday night.  We met several very interesting mission couples that night.  What a great way to finish off the day.

Saturday was a trek on the bullet train to the interior of the island and a city  called Puli.  A taxi ride to the Chung Tai Chan Monastery with a personal tour by a nun living there took us to the 16^th floor white sanctuary.  They offer seven day or 30 day retreats for meditation and self-actualization to those seeking enlightenment.  Tempting offer but just don’t have that kind of time. We had lunch in the cafeteria where only vegetarian food was served, of course.

Sun Moon Lake was fog covered and difficult to see anything so we returned to the bullet train for dinner and street shopping.

 Dinner - too late for us it was closed!

Keith and Wendy were host and hostess extraordinaire. We had a whirlwind tour of all the highlights in two short days.  We attended part of Stake Conference with Keith and Wendy Sunday morning, then off to the airport and back to China. They took great care of us, which only makes us want to return to see the rest of the story.

Family News

Our family has been in a tailspin for the last few weeks.  Kaci has experienced a rapid degeneration of her vision since the Christmas Holidays.  She has been working a trial and error process with her family physician, and endocrinologist and finally a Graves Disease Ophthalmology surgeon. Kaci recognized that her vision was slipping away rapidly and put the doctors on a fast track to preserve her vision. That brings us to the following emails to our family.

March 16, 2014

Family,

As you all know Kaci has been diagnosed with a very advanced case of Graves Disease.  Once again we seem to be one of the exceptions to statistics.  Her AZ doctor and the Moran Eye center in SLC agree this is a very unusual circumstance. Kaci is scheduled to have surgery on Tuesday, March 18 (our 46th wedding anniversary) at 7:30 AM AZ time.  That is the same as Pacific Time now that Daylight saving time has started.  She hopes to be able to go home Tuesday night with Home/Hospital care to recover.  She will be able to spend their 20th wedding anniversary (March 19) in the comfort of her own bed recovering from a very unusual surgery on her eyes.  This will certainly be one to remember.

I would like to invite each of you to join our family in a 24 hour fast for Kaci and Bill and those doctors that will be attending and facilitating this surgery.  Karli, Rex and Livi are on spring break this week and have committed to take extra good care of their mom.  That would include hand and foot service when she rings her bell.  I recommend that we all begin our fast Monday night with a prayer then fast on Tuesday while Kaci in undergoing this procedure, break our fast on Tuesday evening with dinner.  In China that will be on Wednesday but we will adjust to be able to feel the strength of your faith and prayers together.  Please talk to your children who are included on this email and determine what will work best for each in your own family.  

We have felt the strength and power of faith in a family fast before, I know that the Lord hears and answers prayers. It is very difficult for me to have this going on a be so far away.  However I know that I can depend on each of you to become the tool in the Lord's hand to do what needs to be done for our family.  I love and appreciate each one of you. I feel so blessed to be your mother and grandmother and stand with you as a family to fast and pray together.  

When you were all little we used to tell each other to "be brave."  I think this applies to all of us this week.  

I love you,

Mom

March 20, 2014

All,

Thank you so much for your prayers and thoughts for Kaci and her surgery today. We so appreciate your love and support as we move through this ordeal.  It has put us in a bit of a tailspin.

I was just able to talk to Bill and see Kaci in recovery.  Turns out Livi is a pretty great "slave" under stress.  Kaci was in surgery this morning for three hours.  They were only able to do the right eye today and hope to do the left eye next Tuesday. They went in next to the temple and extracted the bone from the eye socket on that side of her eye, then moved over by the nose to extract bone from that area to allow the swelling of the eye muscles an area to expand into the new cavities they created without severing the optic nerve.  The Dr. reported to Bill that the surgery went as well as could be expected. Kaci's eyes both got very dry with the three-hour surgery so both eyes now have cornea abrasion that feels like having glass in your eyes.  That will hopefully heal in 24 very painful hours.

It sounds like the road to recovery will be a long one.  Next Tuesday this surgery will be repeated on the left eye. Kaci will have double vision after both eyes have healed from this surgery and the double vision will require yet another surgery to correct double vision.  The good news is double vision surgery is not an uncommon surgery and can be done after the healing process.  The Thyroid issue is still to be dealt with.  The surgeon today said radiation is not an option with her eyes in the situation they are in so removing the thyroid surgically is the only option at this point.  That surgery will need to be done as soon as Kaci is able to handle more surgery to stop the swelling she is suffering from.  She has steroids in her IV to help with the swelling. Kaci will go in tomorrow for a check of her vision levels to see if that has made any difference in the swelling.  

The good news is that Kaci is at home recovering with a home/hospital nurse working the IV set up.  We were able to say a quick hello, she is awake but her eyes are so swollen she can't open her eyes. Bill said she was able to eat some eggs this evening.  

I am thankful we have started down this path to get this resolved.  It has been a frustrating few weeks to get to this point.  It will undoubtedly be a long path with complications we don't understand at this point.  Thank you again for your support, it seems we are all sharing this gene pool never knowing what will come up next. I will send you updates as I get them.

I love you

Mom

Kaci is healing well from the first surgery and is preparing for round two on the left on Tuesday, March 25. 

Associated Asian Women's Conference 2014

I have just returned from a weekend in Hong Kong attending the 2014 Associated Asian Women’s Conference. It was a great blessing to be counted as one among Asian Women.  This was the 8^Th annual conference to be held with growth in numbers and spirit every year. A few of the founding women that started this whole event had attended all eight years were in attendance.  The opening session began on Thursday afternoon and the conference continued through Saturday noon.  There were keynote speakers, breakout sessions and a closing general session on Saturday. 

Thursday was a class day for me so we left Guangzhou Thursday afternoon after class on the high-speed train to Hong Kong.  We arrived late to the 7:00PM Opening Session and about half way through Elder Funk, of the Second Quorum of the Seventy, giving his opening address.   Friday morning we were ready to go full steam ahead with the breakout sessions.  Women from all over Asia were attending and presenting, only two presenters were imported for Utah.  There was a standing roll call by country of attendance: Japan, Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Thailand, Jakarta, Saudi Arabia and Mainland China, twelve countries all stood together 250 strong to represent their location. I have never participated in an event that represented twelve countries. The common thread that provided discussion on so many levels was “Thou art come to the Kingdom for such a time as this” Ester 4:14

Asian Women are most definitely amazing women.  They are intelligent, strong, independent, committed,  and well informed about their role in their country. Each country represents an unusual political structure and set of circumstances that must become part of the daily routine and religious practices.   The majority of women attending were expatriot women living in Asia for business purposes, U.S. Embassy and Consulate employees or teachers in English programs throughout Asia. 

I have to say I did find it reassuring to understand that many of these women have lived in Asia for many years and their Mandarin wasn’t any better than mine.  I remember thinking when we served in the Hispanic Initiative in North West Salt Lake City that the reason that Hispanic Women never learn English is because they cluster with other Hispanic women and only speak their mother tongue.  I have been provided a deeper understanding of how exactly that happens.  I have witnessed it here with English speakers clustering and only speak English; unable to learn Mandarin and I am sad to say I have fallen in that bucket but I do have great company. 

I particularly enjoyed the closing session with Elder Gerrit Gong, President of the Asia Area addressing Asian Women.  Most especially I loved hearing from his wife Susan Gong.  I worked very closely with Susan when I was the Principal of Lone Peak Elementary implementing the Dual Immersion Mandarin Program.  At the time Susan was at BYU teaching Mandarin and I was working with Chinese Native speaking teachers to implement Mandarin Chinese in 50% of the content area for students at Lone Peak.  It was a huge learning curve and Susan and I worked tirelessly to stay one day ahead of students.  It was great fun to see her in another role. 

I am one lucky woman to have had incredible opportunities to allow me to be a life long learner, this one was priceless experience.

SERVICE PROJECT

We assembled school kits for the Hong Kong Based Crossroads Foundation who will distribute the kits donated to students in need throughout Asia