Like the Crowing of the Rooster‏

Hey, friends and fam,

Something funny I've noticed here - people shoot off firecrackers ALL THE TIME. Well, let me take that back. Not all the time. Only, um, in the day. Which is weird to me. They seem like more of a nighttime thing. For the first couple of weeks, every time I would hear firecrackers going off, I would think, "Is it some kind of holiday??" And I would look it up in my leetle book. Nope - no special holiday has really happened, except for Chinese Valentine's Day. I think people just like firecrackers. Or maybe they use them to celebrate personal things with their family - job promotions, pregnancy, etc. Who knows?? I would say that the most likely time to hear random firecrackers going off is early in the morning. I guesstimate that maybe five out of seven days per week, Ben and I are woken up at 7 a.m. not by our kiddos (though sometimes that is the case), but by people lighting firecrackers. Ca-razy.

I've seen a couple of firecrackers lit mid-day, downtown or whatever, and people that are passing the firecracker-starter always stop what they're doing to watch the firecrackers. They put their hands on their ears and stare at the firecrackers popping. No smiles, no frowns, no eye rolling. They stop, they cover their ears, and they stare. Like strange robots.

They are a kooky people. But I'm really starting to love them. They are patient and kind and have great senses of humor (except when it's time to watch firecrackers go off - that's serious business). I'm a fan.

I guess I'm in a very magnanimous mood, because guess what got (halfway) installed today? That's riiiiiiiiiiiiight, our kitchen!!! Woot-woot! Professor Han called us last night and said, in his broken English, that he was coming today "to install." Ben said, "To install what?" Professor H responded, "Do-ay [the Mandarin word for "right"]. Install. See you tomorrow! Bye-bye!" and hung up. There are just sooo many things that need installing - fans for the bathrooms, an air-conditioner in the living room, our kitchen...we weren't sure what to expect.

Bright and early, he shows up with a guy who had an entire kitchen's worth of cupboards. The guy worked most of the morning installing them - I like them. They're very Ikea-ish. Professor Han just kind of hung out. And then he found out that Ben is learning Chinese Chess on our iPad, and that was it. The game was on. Those two played for, like, probably two hours. I see men on the streets all the time, playing Chinese chess. It's supposed to be really difficult. I have absolutely no intention of learning Chinese Chess at all. I hate regular chess - why would I take up Chinese chess? Ben is a chess lover, though, so this is right up his alley. He has actually started teaching it to Dylan, who is catching right on, in his normal, freakishly-smart kind of way.

So I'm not harboring as much Professor Han Hatred as I have had for the past two weeks. After the cabinet man left, some different men installed a fan thingey to blow air from cooking, out of the building, and they are supposed to be back to bring the stove and hook it up, and then some different guys to put on countertops and our sink. So we're getting there. I'm sooooo excited. I guess that, when people move, they take their cabinetry with them. Interesting, huh? They also take their hardwood floors with them. Pull them up and take 'em. Which is why, when we first looked at the apartment, the floor was concrete and the entire apartment was gutted.

Ben and Jack went and found some bathroom venting fans for our horrible sewer smell, and I'm very, very excited about those, as well. They are also to be installed tomorrow.

Ben also went with Summer to the travel agency to talk about maybe taking a trip to the coast for a few days! He can't remember the name of it, but it looks fantastic. I've been feeling an urgency to get out there and see stuff, but the weather has been so dang hot. And then it occurred to me - what better time than now to see a beach?? While it's warm. It will be perfect. Ben is waiting for a couple of days before he books it because of some weirdness with work here.

Kay, it's midnight, and Ben needs to talk to his dudes in Idaho now; I'll finish this tomorrow.

Alright, it's tomorrow. A man is sawing wood to make countertops in our kitchen and making a big ruckus. I'm holding Gage while I'm typing so he doesn't get in to all our kitchen stuff, which is in the living room while the dude works. I'm thinking his morning nap might not happen - it's too stinkin' loud.

You know, I don't want to get too excited, but yesterday and today, it hasn't been oppressively hot. Kind of nice. We'll see if it lasts.

So. The weirdness at work. I don't know all the details, but here's what I know - they haven't been getting the work site for the domes prepared. They told Ben's company that the site was ready, so we came here a month and a half ago, and nope, it wasn't ready. So, since we've been here, Ben goes over there every now and then to see if progress has been made, and nada. The company from China that is working with Ben's company was telling us that there was some kind of dispute with a railroad company or something, but Ben's interpreter overheard a conversation that indicated that the REAL problem was with some financial backing for the project. But they hadn't wanted to admit that to Ben's company. Well, apparently, the financial stuff finally came through a couple of weeks ago. And still, nothing has been happening over there. Ben's company has been mailing things over from the U.S. - a special foam and other things. Ben goes over whenever a shipment comes in and supervises the unloading of the supplies.

Ben's bosses have been in contact with the boss guy over here (Mr. Ju, who helped us move), basically saying, "Dude, why aren't you guys preparing the site?" And Mr. Ju is trying to blame the delays on Ben - "He's been unavailable to us." Which isn't true. Ben's over there all the time. They have his phone number and his e-mail, and whenever they ask him to go over, he drops everything and heads straight over. And then Mr. Ju was saying that Ben's company hadn't given him the drawings yet, but they have. And this foam stuff that Ben's company shipped over is supposed to be the foam they apply when it's warm outside, so when it starts to get cold outside, it will be no good, I guess. They'll have to chuck it. Which will be a big financial loss. And the company here is saying that they aren't responsible for that. And Ben's company is saying they are. They're throwing around "breach of contract" kind of stuff.

The other day, the main boss guy here, William, who lives down by Hong Kong, called Ben and said, "Hey, they're having a meeting today at the work site and they want you there." So Ben threw on his clothes, grabbed his interpreter, Jack, and went over. There is a main gate, and someone from the inside has to let you in, right? So Ben gets there and calls Mr. Ju, saying, "Hey, I'm here for the meeting. Can you let me in?" And Mr. Ju says, "I'm not there. I'm in Beijing. What meeting?" So Ben calls William and says, "Mr. Ju doesn't know about the meeting, and he says he's in Beijing." William says, "No, he's there. I know he is. Call him again." So Ben calls Mr. Ju again. "Are you sure you're not here?" "No; I'm not there. I'm in Beijing." And back and forth. Hahaha! So Ben sat at this gate for two hours. No one would let him in. And it started raining. The gate guys felt bad for him and Jack and let them into the little gate house thingey. Neeeeeeeeat.

I was wondering if Dome was going to throw in the towel and bring us home, but after a big meeting they had in Idaho yesterday, they decided to send Ben's boss over here a couple of times to kind of kick butt. If the job site hasn't been started with preparations in four to six weeks, we may get sent home and the project postponed. Will I come back here to China with Ben if all this happens - if we're sent home until the project is ready, and then it's time to come back? Hahahaha! I don't know... :)

So that is that. Fun, fun dishonesty.

So Ben was putting off the trip thing until they had that big powwow at Dome. Now that we know we're here for, at the very least, another six weeks or so, we can feel free to make some good plans. So here's what happens with the beach trip - we ride a bus for seven hours - that won't be fun, but oh well. Then we have half a day to play. Then we have the whole next day to play. Then the third day, we play all morning, then drive home all afternoon and evening. They pay for two meals per day. So, with the bus ride to and from, the hotel rooms for two nights, the beach stuff, and two meals per day, it's $80 for me, Ben, and Dylan. And I think maybe $40 for Sadie and Micah, and free for Gage. Touring is insanely cheap here. I love it.

And really, I think we'll end up staying here for the duration of the project. Don't be alarmed or assume we're coming home next month. I think things will get smoothed out. That's the feeling that I get. Neither company wins if everything gets abandoned now. I won't deny that the thought of coming home very appealing to me, but I want Ben to succeed in this project manager thing. And I do get more and more comfortable every day. It's not as hard as it was at the first.

Summer told me that she is the new rock star of Stinky Street. Well, actually, the street is called Nogda something something Cheah, but you know what I mean. The hole in the wall place where she has taken all of us to get our hair cut now gives her haircuts for free, as a thank you for all the extra business our family has brought them. :) When she goes to buy fruit or veggies, people are always like, "Hey, you know those Americans, huh? Have a free melon, on me!" So funny.

She and I went and got an oven the other day - the only ones we can find here are the countertop kind, about the size of a large microwave. It will have to do. The dial for temperature is in celsius, so I'll have to kind of convert that in my mind when I do my baking. They were sold out, but they let me buy the floor model for a teeny discount. I guess they take the rack and broiling pan thingey out of the oven when they put floor models out because people steal them. A lady said she would deliver those to me the following day - I don't know why they couldn't find them when I picked up and paid for the oven, but whatevs. She did deliver the innards the next day. So we're getting there. Soon I will be doing some cooking, and I'm excited about it.

Maybe about half the stores here have their signs in both Chinese and English. And the English interpretations of the business names make me laugh and laugh. One bakery is called "Taste the Delicious Cake." One clothing store I've seen is called "I Like Myself." Today I saw a children's clothing store called "Children's Shopping Paradise."

We had virtual church again on Sunday - for the first couple of weeks, we only had sacrament meeting - while the branch president was on vacation in the U.S. Now that he's back, we're having sacrament meeting, with Sunday School right afterward. The Relief Society president sends us a little e-mail every week telling us which lesson to read and study for Relief Society that week. I fell asleep during Sunday School, which always happens to me, whether I'm in China on my couch or in the U.S. in a classroom. I don't know what it is about that second hour of church that makes me so drowsy. I try so hard to stay awake, but I often fall asleep sitting up. It's so interesting to hear where people are from. A man and his wife spoke in sacrament meeting from Dalian, which is clear up by North Korea. The girl that gave the Sunday School lesson was clear down in Nanning, which is kind of by Hong Kong. That big group of 16 that meets in Chengdu every week for our virtual church? Chengdu is clear over by Tibet. We are all over the place. If the workers from Idaho ever get to come over here - haha - and if any of them are LDS, I have visions of meeting here for virtual church, and then eating home-cooked, American potluck afterwards. Ahhhhh. Can you imagine?

My clothes are getting enormous. But I don't think it's just me. I think it's from hanging clothes to dry on a line. Especially knit clothes. Without a dryer to shrink them, they just grow and grow and grow. :) Ben has this one red shirt that is starting to look like a shirt dress. I told him the other day that he could belt it and look really cute. :) Hahaha! I do think I've lost a little weight here, which is nice. But boy howdy, you bet I'll gain it all back when I get back home, and then some. I'll be like, "Ice cream!!! Mexican food!!! Numnumnumnum!" I'll probably get bigger than I was when I left. Like that thing that happens when someone is deprived of food for so long, and then they kind of hoard and overeat and stuff, because they're used to going without - like that. The kids have found Chinese snacks that they like, and we eat American fast food a lot, so the kids seem not to be losing weight. That's all that matters to me. We give them lots of fruit and hard-boiled eggs, etc. And the whole milk - they love that. I'm not a fan. So I'm thinking they're getting enough calories. And if I'm not, well, then I'll lose weight. And that ain't a bad thing. They're not sick of McDonald's yet, but I am. When Ben brings it home, I just say, "Eh, no thanks. I'll just drink a coke for dinner." The bread here is really gross and stale-tasting, but the kids are cool with it and like peanut butter sandwiches. When Ben is like, "Do you want a sandwich?" I'm like, "Eh, no thanks. I"ll just drink a coke for lunch." Hahaha! I know; healthy. I do eat lots of fruit, though, and I drink lots of bottled water, so at least that, right???

Kay, friends, I need to get going, but I love you tons and I'm working on individual e-mails to you.

Kissy, kissy,
Kar