Early Morning at Starbucks

I was in Qingdao the last week of May. I noticed that every morning, the same two ladies would meet at the outdoor tables of Starbucks to chat and do morning exercise stretches as they held onto the outdoor tables. It was an interesting contrast of old and modern! Also interesting is the fact that most of the writing you can see in the background is Korean instead of Chinese. There are thousands and thousands of Korean people living in Qingdao.

More Things on the Mountain

Here are some other things I saw on the mountain climb: misspelled signs (CAREFULL!IT IS DANGEROUS TO CRESS THE CHAIN), a little girl who is a 74th generation descendant of Confucius with her dad, and a view from inside a Taoist temple.

More of the Mountain

Here are more photos of the mountain and my co-climbers.

Mountain Climbing

I went mountain climbing with three friends on Saturday. Here are some pictures.

SCORPIONS - No Kidding

Some American friends are in town now, and they were brave enough to try out local delicacies like cicadas, octopus, and scorpions. Here the scorpion eaters are pictured.

FYI, we have not felt any of the aftershocks reported today from the Sichuan earthquake zone; apparently they were felt over a wide area, but not here.

The Last Two Weeks

I recently traveled to Shanghai and southwestern China's Yunnan Province. The top photo is in a Yunnan village; the second photo is not a sidewalk cafe in Paris, but in Shanghai; the third photo is a village lady who is planning on getting somewhere and taking a seat once she gets there; fourth is an elderly lady in Bedrock; and the last one, a street scene, gives you a view of the flowers alongside the road in Bedrock.

Toby Lives and Other Updates

Hi! I don't have time to post pictures today, but wanted to give you some updates. First, I want to let you know that THANKS TO GOD and His gracious answers to prayer, Toby the dog has survived his very near brush with death from parvo. Toby's American owners were stressed to the limit as the drama played out, but are now very relieved and joyful at his FULL recovery.


I did not feel any earth move related to the recent devastating earthquake in Sichuan Province. It is too far from where I live. But I have instead been very moved and saddened as I join the rest of the population here in grieving the great loss of human life. No other news has been reported here since it happened on May 12th. I have shared with my parents many of the heart-wrenching stories that I'm sure you have not heard, but I can't bear to relive those stories by re-telling them again here. I have seen photos of things that probably would not have been allowed to be published in your newspapers or shown on your TV screens due to sensitivity of the subject matter. I never realized how horrible an earthquake could be until I saw the upclose reporting done by the reporters in this country...reporters standing literally inches from the terrified person targeted for rescue, as he is being rescued. The people in this country are deeply saddened, unlike anything I have ever seen before in my years in this country. The country came to a standstill on Monday afternoon at 2:28 p.m. as the sirens sounded for 3 minutes, as a memorial to the one-week anniversary of the 3-minute long quake. I stood on the side of the road as the sirens sounded. Taxi drivers pulled off the road. There were not many dry eyes at that moment, for sure not mine.

Toby the Dog

Hi. My friends' dog, Toby, was diagnosed today with parvovirus, a terrible disease that many dogs do not survive. Here, Toby is at the vet's office, tied on to a bed, as he receives an I.V. The normal wiggly Toby doesn't even care, he is just so sick. My friends are devastated at this terrible news. I think the man who said he gave the dog immunizations either lied or ignorantly messed up. My dog was immunized against parvo, and Toby should have been too. Pray for Toby's survival, as I don't think my friends could handle such a loss at this early point of their overseas life.

Hot Chili Peppers

The reason I like the food here so much is because it is HOT, spicy hot. At the outdoor market, we get lots of great produce. The price of produce has gone up dramatically in the decade I've been here, but it is still very, very, very cheap compared to prices of fresh meat and veggies in the USA. We now have grocery stores in the city (only since the year 2000), but the market produce is better than what the stores have.

April in Bedrock

Just a few pictures of things around me in April. McDonalds is close to where I live, so I often go there to drink a cup of coffee and people watch. On one recent trip I saw this little tyke eating breakfast (his dad had gone to get a refill on coffee or something). He's growing up in the shadow of Ronald McDonald.

I guess ladies in England have morning tea, but here in Bedrock the ladies sit on stools in their garages and shell peanuts. This lady is a neighbor of mine who often has a crowd of ladies sitting around with her shooting the breeze. On this particular morning, Mimi was relaxing and taking in the fresh air along with the ladies. This neighbor lady is a believer.