Multiple Event Week in and out of Xi'an

I discovered something important about China Post after Karen and Elaine headed out in their taxi for the airport: You may not mail an item that is fragile or that looks like it might possibly be an antiquity. On amount of my pantomiming—as good as it is—can sway a postal worker in Xi’an to bend his rules. Not only was Karen’s vase fragile but I didn’t have the right kind of receipt to prove its being new. It was a good thing Karen didn’t carry it with her to the airport; she’d have been stuck there with it.

I decided the best thing for me to do was to first sort out the problem of the receipt, then figure out what to do with the vase after. Doing so necessitated a return to the West Market and the Shaanxi craft shops where Karen bought the one-of-a-kind item. After an hours wait, the manager finally produced two official looking documents. Mission accomplished on my way back I was figuring how to talk the postal clerk into now shipping the box when I remembered that Karen and Elaine were returning to Xi’an with their tour on Thursday evening. I decided to pack Karen’s box with some small, fragile Terracotta Warrior figures and a few other delicate items in a small suitcase we were anxious to get home and meet the gals at the hotel and have Karen take them with her. It seemed the best solution.

Thursday evening saw John and me at the Golden Flower Hotel to await the arrival of the Fun For Less groups coming in from the airport. We arrived early and had dinner in the restaurant while we waited. It was such fun to see them again for a few minutes and to learn that they had made it to the airport after our late start Monday morning still went just fine. Oh happy day! Karen willingly agreed to roll the bag along with them and I was relieved to turn it over, promising her one of our two Terracotta figures if they both made it home ok.

Elaine was glad to head for bed after their big day of traveling, but Karen was game for another outing to the Muslim Market. We sent John back to JiaoDa to attend English Corner and conference with his students as well as to make my apologies for missing. Karen, I with Julie & Dave Monson, Julie’s friends and cousins all hopped in cabs and headed out.

We had fun once more poking around the shops. Karen was able to get her cloisonné Christmas stars and both of us bought more jewelry bags. It was a fun outing. Getting them all back to the hotel was tricky. Finding taxis is never easy at night and on top of it, none of the travelers had picked up a hotel card with the hotel information on it. All I could do was point at the location on the map and send them off, hoping they would make it.

John and my next few days have been spent getting our mission papers filled out, the medical forms scanned to doctors back home requesting that they fill them out for us, in hopes that the mission committee members will recognize that if we could survive a year in China, we would be able to handle a mission as well. John also called and talked with Mark Woodruff who works in the missionary department, and was assured that he would walk them through for us after we alert him they have been sent in.

By Saturday morning we had received the medical and dental forms signed and scanned back to us as well as statements about John from Dr. Richard Schmidt in SLC and Dr. Jack Bennett at NIH. I then scanned the entire packets and send them on to President Toronto in Beijing.

Like many things that are feared, the filling out of the forms as not as daunting as at first it seems. It is good to have them send. We also heard back from President Toronto and have our interviews scheduled with him, over SKYPE, a week from Sunday at 5:00 pm. We are grateful to have that mode of communication so that we don’t have to take another trip to Beijing for them.

Friday in the afternoon, I met Elaine and Karen at their hotel and headed out for Kung Fu Lu to explore. It was not far from their hotel and gave them the chance to experience it. We poked around in shops of jade and the strands to string it with, found my belts, and added embroidered Christmas, fish, ornaments for Karen to take home. After a couple of hours of wearing us all out, we returned to the hotel for a good visit. It has been such fun to have them here for a brief time. Tonight they attend the Tang Dynasty dinner and show before heading out to the airport once more. (They won’t return to Utah until June 3, going first to Wuhan, then by cruise ship to Chongqing.) They assure us that the best part of their trip has been their time in Xi’an with me. It makes me happy to know they feel that way.


Saturday was a lovely cool morning and I got up early to hop a bus to XISUs south gate to meet Monsons, Karen, and the Phillipis, along with their students who were going to tour us to their home town of HuXian, also the home of the farmer artists. Over the two hour bus ride I got a lot of my evaluation papers graded—a useful outing!

Once in HuXian, Vivian and Melissa guided us to the small Bell Tower they have and then took us to the artist’s village. Previously the girls had made arrangements for a luncheon place, with foods grown from the proprietors’ gardens. It was very yummy. Following our luncheon we visited a display hall which housed many, many of the artist’s award winning work. I was so glad to have come to see. I bought only a book of the history of the artist and one small painting. The experience was awesome.

It was interesting getting out of Xi'an to see how other outlying areas in China look. It makes such a contrast with modernity when we encounter they Chinese still doing what they have done for centuries.

On our way home, I feel asleep and was unaware of much of anything until we arrived back in Xi’an. My last stop for the day was a quick trip to Metro then another bus home. It was so good to get home but I was so soooo glad to have gone.

I am trying to fit a lot of things in that are close by Xi’an before leaving. John is generally not up to going out on long distance bus trips but looks forward to my returning with a bunch of pictures and details about the outing.

When Monday arrived looking cool and a little rainy I decided it was to the day to go to the huge Xi’an Expo for which our university gave us 100 yuan tickets. After a couple of false starts I finally found the right place to go to catch a bus, arriving about 9:30 after leaving at 8:00.


It was fun to see all the provincial sites—each was really lovely with gardens and buildings to represent the best of that location. I rented a bike there to cover the massive grounds and made a quick circuit of the major sites, but skipping those with long, long lines—like the panda and golden monkey houses. I’m sure Brent Gledhill would have gotten a lot more out of the horticultural aspects but I was there as his proxy and it was fun to have gone. I would not have liked to have missed it, but was glad John didn’t try to walk or ride through it.

The time is fast slipping by before the term ends and we leave China—at least for now. It has been and continues to be a wonderful experience.