Cuba in China

This adventures starts with the fact that I have had 3 days of dumplings and have decided I have had enough Chinese food and it was time for something else. So we set off on the ferry and met a man who helped us find the bus to Carafar, Like Walmart, with a food store.
While shopping for some basic survival food: Peanut butter, jam, cheese, bread, butter, a iron to make toasted cheese sandwiches, hot chocolate and some bread we meet two girls who were their buying the rest of the French bread. They told us that the were working at a Cuban Restaurant.So that is where we went. The one girl Katherine was from Columbia. We had a wonderful meal for about $10. We also thought it would be great to honor our sons who sing to also take a moment to sing a song. Why not...there was only us in the restaurant.

Traveling Adventures

Hi everyone,

We had a great time this week, although it is a little cold. We traveled by train from Shanghai to the city of Suzhou (40 minutes away). It is a lot like Venice with it's little streams and inner city waterways everywhere. We went on some boat rides and took a lot of photos of the place.
It is in the center of China and far from Italy...but the atmosphere was great and we enjoyed it. We even went to the Zoo together. We enjoyed the food here. It is good. People are friendly and we just went walking everywhere.
We stayed in the Youth Hostel again and it was a great, a cheap tourist experience. The cost per night was about $19. -- or just less than $20. It has an American feel and even offers a free American breakfast every morning you stay there.
There are a lot of interesting people staying here from all other countries... We met some of them and talked with them. Some are students in colleges here learning Chinese and who are travelling from other cities for winter break vacation.
When we arrived in Suzhou, we were really excited to find a TGI-Fridays inside one of the large hotels here today. We took advantage of that and enjoyed green Salads and Pasta primavera to die for..twice...Here is Dana trying on wigs, so fun.
The next day, we took an official Chinese bus tour about one hour away to another city called: Zhouzhuang. The travel guide spoke only Chinese, but we did not care. We found two male students from Hong Kong on the trip who we hung around with the whole trip. They helped us a lot. Gypsies need a lot of help.
This city is even more Venice and a great tourist attraction. We spent the day there and toured another Buddhist Temple and then the silk factory on the way back. We seem to go to at least a Temple every time we go on tour.
We are feeling great and enjoying each other. Life is good. Trying to stay warm and happy too. We are flying south tomorrow.. to a city on the sea called Xamen. Google it to see what it is like...We are staying at the Bay Inn Hostel.
10 days there then we will go to Shenzhen and then Hong Kong for our BYU China Teachers conference. We will go to the Temple there too.
We enjoy being companions. We enjoy the gypsy traveling life -- we go where and when we want, where ever we want to turn, go, or stay longer, we can and just do it.We have met so many nice people and everywhere we go, we can truly say that we have left our mark on China. We have not seen it all, but we hope to...
Off we go.

Jay & Dana Thelin
Suzhou, China.

Shanghai Travels

This is us in Shanghai, China. The first day we took a bus ride that took us across to the other side of the river so Jay got his hair cut.

The next day I tried on a wig.

The buildings and sites are amazing here.

Here we are trying on Chinese eye wear.

This is another funny sign.
We found the SLC temple in one of the shops in Shanghai.
There is a picture of our hostel room. It really has been nice.

Here is our email to go to Church in Shangahi.
This is the International Center for Church conference center where they held church on Sunday.
They have met here since August 2009. There was a good turnout and at Priesthood meeting we had about 35 men. We were dropped off by a kind branch couple at a Tex Mex restaurant after church so we enjoyed that a whole lot.

You take the escalator to the church, it is amazing.
Well we are really having a great time on our Christmas break China tour again this year. It has been a great adventure to be traveling again in China.

We are here two more days and then we go by train to Suzhou, the water city.and after that back to Shanghai for one night and then fly south to Xiamen.

We love you all. Keep the Faith!

Jay and Dana,

Jinan, China

Shanghai or Bust

Hi everyone,

We have arrived in Shanghai and are enjoying getting to know this humongous city of about 25 million people. That's a lot considering that Utah boasts a population of about 1 and 3/4 million. We will try to find internet cafes along the way as we tour China. This time we are staying the the Youth Hostel quite cheaply and computers are available for one yuan ($.14 cents) for every 15 minutes. Yes, the computers are coin operated.

Last night we hopped a bus (# 1) in front of the Hostel and rode it for an hour out and back to see the city. Here the buses cost double that of Jinan, 2 yuan (.28 cents). This constitutes our Shanghai initial orientation so that we know one bus and where it goes and what to see along the way for tomorrow and simply a cheap tour of Shanghai.

We slept well with our air mattresses we brought contemplating the customary hard beds all over China. It was very comfortable with a nightly cost of our suite of about $28.

Now we are looking for tours to leave from here.

Tomorrow, we expect to hook up with the LDS members at their branch here.

Processing the Second year.

Hi it's Dana....
How do I describe my 2nd year in China? The first year was so amazing I wondered when I returned how it could be any better. It is sort of like how can I love another child the same as I have loved the one I already have. Like that situation where love can always be added to and made better.

This year started with me liking a thing called dumplings or in USA they are called hot pockets. In fact when I returned that is the first thing I knew I had to have. Sort of like Roakes hot dogs in Oregon City, Oregon. When I arrived this year it wasn’t trying to figure out where to go to buy things or what bus to catch to go some place or even how to tell the taxi driver the direction to some place. (It all comes down to how well you can point and say stop – “daola”). Arriving was like coming home and going to sleep in my own bed and knowing how and where to go to get simple things like toilet paper, milk, butter and the ingredients to make bread.

So with this feeling of being home we started to discover the wonders of Jinan. I really didn’t know how beautiful this place was or what wonders there were to see here. It was also fun to be able to show the people who were new all the things that we had already discovered last year. Of course, since many had been here for a couple weeks before we arrived they were also able to tell us a lot. They showed us some great powder milk that actually taste like real milk and we also found this wonderful real milk that was a hundred percent and taste just like being home in USA. Of course we don’t have it very often, but it is really close to our apt. And so we do know where to get it fast.

Teaching has been even better than last year. Last year I loved teaching a lot because I loved the students. This year I love the students but I figured out how to do it better and feel I am doing a much better job. My students are learning how to listen and speak better and because I know my campus better I have been able to do more things with them and be more a part of their lives. As this semester comes to a close I don’t feel as sad as I did last year at the end of the semester. I will be able to teach the same students next semester and perhaps even next year. It means more work and adding to my curriculum but makes excited about the next 16 weeks of teaching.