Ok. Sorry guys it has been over a month since I posted here! Not much has gone on, but then again, a lot has!
So I'll start with Thanksgiving. We didn't have it off, seeing as it is an American holiday, not a Chinese, so we had Thanksgiving dinner on Saturday with the branch! There were 82 people squeezed into our house! Luckily, everyone fit, and we had to much food! We had 4 turkeys, and only ate 3 of them, and then we had all the trimmings! I have pictures and will post them soon! (Yeah right!)
So then...see this is what happens when I don't post forever! I don't remember what happened after Thanksgiving.
Anyway. We will be here for Christmas. Christmas Eve Day, church is only one hour since no one will be there, but then everyone that is there (us) is coming to our house if they want to eat Christmas Eve dinner. We are just doing ham sandwhiches and little appitizers. So that will be good. My mother refuses to buy a big Christmas tree, so we have this small 2 foot tree on a side table in the living room. (How lame!) I'll post a picture of it too! There are not even lights on it!
So then Christmas Night I think we are going to go to some hotel place and eat food. I'm not sure, but will let you know!
Oh yeah, I rememebered something we did! We went to Hong Kong on the first weekend in December and went to a place called Stanley Market. It was pretty expensive (Hong Kong is expensive!) but we did get some things. They have a new used bookstore that just opened so we went and bought the whole store! Well, not the WHOLE store, but we did buy a lot of books! But they are all for Christmas, so I don't have any of them yet! The girls got some clothes, and Ben got new shoes. I don't know why I am telling this because they are all Christmas presents! Except that this year, we already know what we are getting! We also ate at a really good restaurant there, and had some good, western food.
The day after Christmas, we are going to a place called Guilin in China somewhere where it will be 45 o F, so I am excited for it to be cold! Except that it has been pretty much that cold here! It has been 9 degrees C which is about 48 degrees F. So it won't be to much of a difference! Guilin is basically a mountanis place, if mountanis is a real word. If not, I have just invented it. I hear it is a western fix place, so I am excited, since I am sad that I don't get to come home like all my friends. I was going to cry when I found out that tomorrow (Wednesday) ALLL of my friends are going to be gone and are going home. It was very depressing. ANYWAY!
We took Christmas card photos on Sunday and we are going to do a Christmas e-Card. So that will be cool, since it is too expensive to send them to EVERYONE!
We hope you are all doing great and we miss you dearly!
Have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New year!!!!
Love, The Busath's
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
Saturday, November 11, 2006
Not much going on...
Hey Everyone!
So not much has happened here. We had a good Halloween. Camile dressed up as an "It" (not from Addams family), Noelle was a Fairy, and I was an army woman. Ben was on his camping trip with school. Camille was really the only one from our family that went trick or treating. Noelle stayed home and watched Hocus Pocus, and I went out with a couple of the families from the branch that have little kids. I am not sure how many trick or treaters we had, but there were a TON walking around Jingshan.
I don't remember if I mentioned it, but I was called as the branch chorister, and the 1st councelor in the Laurel organization, and Noelle is president of the Beehive organization.
We also have a new family in the branch with 4 girls, 2 are YW age and the other 2 are younger. The 2 YW age are going to SIS but the other 2 are just being homeschooled because, unfortunately, they will probably only be for 3 months. But it is fun to have them here anyway!
We are going to Macau (sp?) on Sunday for a baptism of a lady that lives in Shenzhen, but didn't know there was a branch here, so she has been going to Maccau every Sunday for church! So we are going to go to her baptism.
We also had branch conference last Sunday, and it was amazing how many people were there! There were probably over 80 people! So that was really good!
The grade 9's at school just spent a week in the Guizhou province, which is probably the poorest province in China. They were there to dig wells, and then go and visit the schools, and take them supplies and sports equiptment. The reason I mention this is because I have been helping raise money to buy the supplies and sports equiptment for this province. I have been teaching kickball 18 2nd and 3rd graders for the past 8 weeks, and I also helped coordinate a bakesale fundraiser for the province also!! I really wanted to go, even though I wasn't in 9th grade, just to see the looks on those kids faces as they were given the new school supplies and the balls and rackets and gloves and everything! I know it would have been an amazing experiance and I hope that I will get to do this later on in the year with my grade, in a different province. I also have some pictures from the trip that I will post so you can see the conditions of these people. It really made me more appriciative of what I have.
I am not sure weather Noelle or Ben get to go do anything like this, but I hope they do too, because it is such an eye opener for how they live, and even just looking at the pictures makes you really grateful for what you have.
We don't have school this coming week. I don't know why, but we don't! So that is going to be nice.
We are also have 70 people over for Thanksgiving dinner!!! It is pretty much the whole branch! We are not having it ON Thanksgiving because everyone still has school and work, so we are doing the Saturday after! So that should be fun!
Hope everyone is doing well!
We miss you all!
Love, The Busaths
Pictures:
I am going to put the Halloween pictures and the Guizhou pictures on Flickr
www.flickr.com/photos/chinatravelers
So not much has happened here. We had a good Halloween. Camile dressed up as an "It" (not from Addams family), Noelle was a Fairy, and I was an army woman. Ben was on his camping trip with school. Camille was really the only one from our family that went trick or treating. Noelle stayed home and watched Hocus Pocus, and I went out with a couple of the families from the branch that have little kids. I am not sure how many trick or treaters we had, but there were a TON walking around Jingshan.
I don't remember if I mentioned it, but I was called as the branch chorister, and the 1st councelor in the Laurel organization, and Noelle is president of the Beehive organization.
We also have a new family in the branch with 4 girls, 2 are YW age and the other 2 are younger. The 2 YW age are going to SIS but the other 2 are just being homeschooled because, unfortunately, they will probably only be for 3 months. But it is fun to have them here anyway!
We are going to Macau (sp?) on Sunday for a baptism of a lady that lives in Shenzhen, but didn't know there was a branch here, so she has been going to Maccau every Sunday for church! So we are going to go to her baptism.
We also had branch conference last Sunday, and it was amazing how many people were there! There were probably over 80 people! So that was really good!
The grade 9's at school just spent a week in the Guizhou province, which is probably the poorest province in China. They were there to dig wells, and then go and visit the schools, and take them supplies and sports equiptment. The reason I mention this is because I have been helping raise money to buy the supplies and sports equiptment for this province. I have been teaching kickball 18 2nd and 3rd graders for the past 8 weeks, and I also helped coordinate a bakesale fundraiser for the province also!! I really wanted to go, even though I wasn't in 9th grade, just to see the looks on those kids faces as they were given the new school supplies and the balls and rackets and gloves and everything! I know it would have been an amazing experiance and I hope that I will get to do this later on in the year with my grade, in a different province. I also have some pictures from the trip that I will post so you can see the conditions of these people. It really made me more appriciative of what I have.
I am not sure weather Noelle or Ben get to go do anything like this, but I hope they do too, because it is such an eye opener for how they live, and even just looking at the pictures makes you really grateful for what you have.
We don't have school this coming week. I don't know why, but we don't! So that is going to be nice.
We are also have 70 people over for Thanksgiving dinner!!! It is pretty much the whole branch! We are not having it ON Thanksgiving because everyone still has school and work, so we are doing the Saturday after! So that should be fun!
Hope everyone is doing well!
We miss you all!
Love, The Busaths
Pictures:
I am going to put the Halloween pictures and the Guizhou pictures on Flickr
www.flickr.com/photos/chinatravelers
Sunday, October 29, 2006
Pictures and more!
Hey Everyone!
So I have the link for some more pictures. I am hosting them on Flickr and you should all be able to view them.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/chinatravelers
If it doesn't work, let me know.
Also, I got called in church to be the branch chorister, and I am also the 1st councelor in the Laurel advisory. We are getting 2 new young women from Oregon, but they will only be here for 3 months at the most.
And the haunted house and dance I was in charge of planning is OVER!! I am ver excited. My new project is working on an extensive family geneology pedigree. We are learning how to use this program in math called inspriation, and it makes organizers and such, so I am using it to make a pedigree, and then will link the names to different websites with information about the person and also other things. So it should be really neat.
We had the primary program today, and it was really cute! The kids are just the same here as they are in the states. Some read their lines, others are scared out of their wits. One little boy, he is 4, when it was his turn to say his lines, he just kept fluttering his eyes to try and make it all go away. He would do the same thing when singing. And another neat thing to see was, we have a couple of kids that don't speak English, but they speak Cantonese, and they were singing the songs and saying their parts in English, so that was neat too!
Halloween is on Tuesday as you all know! I don't know what anyone is being. Ben will be gone on a camping trip. Camille is being a "thing" according to her. And I don't know what Noelle is. I don't think I am dressing up this year. I am "too old" to dress up for Halloween. I will probably just pass out candy to the kids that come trick or treating. And yes, they do have trick or treating here. You just put a sign on your gate (because we all have gates) and then kids will come to your house if you have the sign up.
Anyway, I think that is all!
We hope you are all doing well!!
We miss you lots!
Love, the Busaths!
So I have the link for some more pictures. I am hosting them on Flickr and you should all be able to view them.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/chinatravelers
If it doesn't work, let me know.
Also, I got called in church to be the branch chorister, and I am also the 1st councelor in the Laurel advisory. We are getting 2 new young women from Oregon, but they will only be here for 3 months at the most.
And the haunted house and dance I was in charge of planning is OVER!! I am ver excited. My new project is working on an extensive family geneology pedigree. We are learning how to use this program in math called inspriation, and it makes organizers and such, so I am using it to make a pedigree, and then will link the names to different websites with information about the person and also other things. So it should be really neat.
We had the primary program today, and it was really cute! The kids are just the same here as they are in the states. Some read their lines, others are scared out of their wits. One little boy, he is 4, when it was his turn to say his lines, he just kept fluttering his eyes to try and make it all go away. He would do the same thing when singing. And another neat thing to see was, we have a couple of kids that don't speak English, but they speak Cantonese, and they were singing the songs and saying their parts in English, so that was neat too!
Halloween is on Tuesday as you all know! I don't know what anyone is being. Ben will be gone on a camping trip. Camille is being a "thing" according to her. And I don't know what Noelle is. I don't think I am dressing up this year. I am "too old" to dress up for Halloween. I will probably just pass out candy to the kids that come trick or treating. And yes, they do have trick or treating here. You just put a sign on your gate (because we all have gates) and then kids will come to your house if you have the sign up.
Anyway, I think that is all!
We hope you are all doing well!!
We miss you lots!
Love, the Busaths!
Thursday, October 19, 2006
Pictures from Thailand!!
Hey Everyone! So I have some of the pictures from Thailand. What I am probably going to end up doing is putting them up on Photobucket or Kodak Easy Share, because there are A LOT of them! So here are some, and I'll explain as I go along!
This is the ferry boat we took coming home from the island
These are at the Grand Palace!
This is the Grand Palace too!
When we were on the island, the girls (not mom) got our hair braided. I have one of me and Camille, and I think my dad has one of Noelle (I still have to get the pictures he too off his computer!) So here is Camille!
And here is Camille with out the braids!!
And here is Me with braids!
And here is me without braids!!
So that is all I have right now. I am going to put them in Photobucket, then give you all the link! There will be tons of pictures on there!! And I will get my dad's pictures that he took too!! SO check it out when I post the link!!
We miss you all a lot!!
Love, The Busath's!!
This is the ferry boat we took coming home from the island
These are at the Grand Palace!
This is the Grand Palace too!
When we were on the island, the girls (not mom) got our hair braided. I have one of me and Camille, and I think my dad has one of Noelle (I still have to get the pictures he too off his computer!) So here is Camille!
And here is Camille with out the braids!!
And here is Me with braids!
And here is me without braids!!
So that is all I have right now. I am going to put them in Photobucket, then give you all the link! There will be tons of pictures on there!! And I will get my dad's pictures that he took too!! SO check it out when I post the link!!
We miss you all a lot!!
Love, The Busath's!!
Saturday, October 07, 2006
THAILAND!!
Hey Everyone!!
Sorry it has been a while since I updated! Well, we went to Thailand on September 30, after we went to the Hong Kong temple to do baptisms for the dead with the youth, and then came back on Thursday, October 5! We had a good time. We stayed in Bangkok on Saturday and Sunday night, then stayed on Ko Samet on Monday and Tuesday night, then back at Bangkok on Wednesday night. So....
Saturday: We arrived around 10 or 11, and went to the hotel
Sunday: We went to the local english speaking branch, and it was testimony meeting. We only stayed for sacrament meeting seeing as we wanted to do some sightseeing. So after church, we went to the Grand Palace. There was a lot of neat things to see there, and were spent about 2 1/2 hours there. Afterwards, my mom, dad, and I went and saw the Reclining Buddha, but the kids wanted to stay in the car, since it was hot outside. So we were there for about 1 hour. After that, we went back to the hotel to change out of our church clothes. At the Grand Palace, there is a dress code, no shorts, flip flops, spaghetti straps, and so forth, so we just stayed in our church clothes. After we changed, we went to a mall, not like US malls, but it was like, I don't know how to explain it, it was like Louhu's, but you guys don't know what that is either!! They have a huge food court thing, with like 12 different restaraunts, serving EVERYTHING, except mexican food. You get a credit card like card, and they you just charge the food to it, then pay at the end. So Ben, Noelle, and Camille had American food, Mom had Thai food, I had Korean, and I don't remember what Dad had!! But none the less, it was all good!
Monday: Monday we spent the morning at a gem factory. Mom wanted to buy us girls rings with our birthstone in it! So everyone, even Mom, Dad, and Ben, got rings with their birthstones in them. Then we went to the ferry terminal, which we thought was only going to take an hour, but them the driver said it takes 3 hours. So we missed the 1 o'clock ferry, but ended up taking a speed boat over!! That was fun! Mom and Camille didn't enjoy it much, but the rest of us did! We got there and it was quite warm. We had to bungaloo/hut/house things, one for mom, dad and ben, and one for us girls! Then we went swimming. The water was warm and sort of clear. Definately clearer then California beach water, but nothing like Hawaii! That night we had dinner at the resort restaruant. That night we went to look at the shops, and it started POORING RAIN!! Of course we didn't have our umbrellas, so we were stuck for a while, then we decided to buy one, and it stopped raining! Also, Noelle, Camille, and I got our hairs braided! Like tons of those small individual braides!
Tuesday: On Tuesday, we spent the day at the beach mostly. It was raining in the morning. Mom and Dad went to check out some more shops, and the kids got pretty sunburned on their faces, so the afternoon was spent watching TV. I did homework at an internet place (because of my online class) and Mom and Noelle shopped. That night we went to a different restaurant. Most of us were adventurous in our eatings, (except for camille and ben!) Dad had chicken kabobs ( i guess thats not adventurous!) Mom had chicken and cashews, Noelle had shrimp, and I had 1/2 kg of crab!! Shells, heads, eyes and all! I kind of stared at it for awhile, not knowing what to do. Then I had the waiter come over and teach me how to eat the crab. He taught me what to each of it, how to open it, how to crack the legs, and everything else! It was pretty funny! Then we went and bought some board shorts for me and ben.
Wednesday: We ate breakfast, then spent time watching TV in our rooms, and packing. Camille was getting sick, almost threw up at breakfast, and she had a fever. So we checked out and went to the ferry terminal, and took the ferry back. We were supposed to leave today though, so it wasn't like we went back because of Camille. Since we took the 12:30 ferry instead of the 3 o'clock ferry like we told our driver, he wasn't going to be there till 3:30. So we sat around for 2 1/2 hours. That night Mom and Dad and I walked around Bangkok, just where our hotel was. It is kind of cool to see everything at night. There are lots of street shops, and so we looked at those.
Thursday: We had to be at the airport by 10 o'clock so we were up early. Our flight left at 12:30. And that was our trip!!
Interesting things about Thailand: So there were a lot of strange things in Thailand. One really cool thing was that they have motercycle taxis. There are umbrellas along the side of the road, and you stand under one, and a motercycle comes and picks you up. You know it is a motercycle taxi becacuse of the orange vest they wear.
There are an unbelieveable amount of dogs in Thailand. They are everywhere. You will see 2 or three of them at a time, and then less then a mile down the road, there will be another 2 or three of them.
Taxi's in Thailand are different colors, like hot pink, or bright blue, or orange or magenta, or purple!
The traffic is as horrible as can be!!
The speed like there is no tomorrow! You don't understand how fast they are going!! And there really are not any seatbelts in the cars.
Some of you were worried about he coup that is going on in Thailand, but honestly, we saw almost nothing related to it.
I am going to post pictures when I put them on my computer, and I am going to get some from my dad too!!
Let me know if you have any questions!!!
Love, The Busaths!
Sorry it has been a while since I updated! Well, we went to Thailand on September 30, after we went to the Hong Kong temple to do baptisms for the dead with the youth, and then came back on Thursday, October 5! We had a good time. We stayed in Bangkok on Saturday and Sunday night, then stayed on Ko Samet on Monday and Tuesday night, then back at Bangkok on Wednesday night. So....
Saturday: We arrived around 10 or 11, and went to the hotel
Sunday: We went to the local english speaking branch, and it was testimony meeting. We only stayed for sacrament meeting seeing as we wanted to do some sightseeing. So after church, we went to the Grand Palace. There was a lot of neat things to see there, and were spent about 2 1/2 hours there. Afterwards, my mom, dad, and I went and saw the Reclining Buddha, but the kids wanted to stay in the car, since it was hot outside. So we were there for about 1 hour. After that, we went back to the hotel to change out of our church clothes. At the Grand Palace, there is a dress code, no shorts, flip flops, spaghetti straps, and so forth, so we just stayed in our church clothes. After we changed, we went to a mall, not like US malls, but it was like, I don't know how to explain it, it was like Louhu's, but you guys don't know what that is either!! They have a huge food court thing, with like 12 different restaraunts, serving EVERYTHING, except mexican food. You get a credit card like card, and they you just charge the food to it, then pay at the end. So Ben, Noelle, and Camille had American food, Mom had Thai food, I had Korean, and I don't remember what Dad had!! But none the less, it was all good!
Monday: Monday we spent the morning at a gem factory. Mom wanted to buy us girls rings with our birthstone in it! So everyone, even Mom, Dad, and Ben, got rings with their birthstones in them. Then we went to the ferry terminal, which we thought was only going to take an hour, but them the driver said it takes 3 hours. So we missed the 1 o'clock ferry, but ended up taking a speed boat over!! That was fun! Mom and Camille didn't enjoy it much, but the rest of us did! We got there and it was quite warm. We had to bungaloo/hut/house things, one for mom, dad and ben, and one for us girls! Then we went swimming. The water was warm and sort of clear. Definately clearer then California beach water, but nothing like Hawaii! That night we had dinner at the resort restaruant. That night we went to look at the shops, and it started POORING RAIN!! Of course we didn't have our umbrellas, so we were stuck for a while, then we decided to buy one, and it stopped raining! Also, Noelle, Camille, and I got our hairs braided! Like tons of those small individual braides!
Tuesday: On Tuesday, we spent the day at the beach mostly. It was raining in the morning. Mom and Dad went to check out some more shops, and the kids got pretty sunburned on their faces, so the afternoon was spent watching TV. I did homework at an internet place (because of my online class) and Mom and Noelle shopped. That night we went to a different restaurant. Most of us were adventurous in our eatings, (except for camille and ben!) Dad had chicken kabobs ( i guess thats not adventurous!) Mom had chicken and cashews, Noelle had shrimp, and I had 1/2 kg of crab!! Shells, heads, eyes and all! I kind of stared at it for awhile, not knowing what to do. Then I had the waiter come over and teach me how to eat the crab. He taught me what to each of it, how to open it, how to crack the legs, and everything else! It was pretty funny! Then we went and bought some board shorts for me and ben.
Wednesday: We ate breakfast, then spent time watching TV in our rooms, and packing. Camille was getting sick, almost threw up at breakfast, and she had a fever. So we checked out and went to the ferry terminal, and took the ferry back. We were supposed to leave today though, so it wasn't like we went back because of Camille. Since we took the 12:30 ferry instead of the 3 o'clock ferry like we told our driver, he wasn't going to be there till 3:30. So we sat around for 2 1/2 hours. That night Mom and Dad and I walked around Bangkok, just where our hotel was. It is kind of cool to see everything at night. There are lots of street shops, and so we looked at those.
Thursday: We had to be at the airport by 10 o'clock so we were up early. Our flight left at 12:30. And that was our trip!!
Interesting things about Thailand: So there were a lot of strange things in Thailand. One really cool thing was that they have motercycle taxis. There are umbrellas along the side of the road, and you stand under one, and a motercycle comes and picks you up. You know it is a motercycle taxi becacuse of the orange vest they wear.
There are an unbelieveable amount of dogs in Thailand. They are everywhere. You will see 2 or three of them at a time, and then less then a mile down the road, there will be another 2 or three of them.
Taxi's in Thailand are different colors, like hot pink, or bright blue, or orange or magenta, or purple!
The traffic is as horrible as can be!!
The speed like there is no tomorrow! You don't understand how fast they are going!! And there really are not any seatbelts in the cars.
Some of you were worried about he coup that is going on in Thailand, but honestly, we saw almost nothing related to it.
I am going to post pictures when I put them on my computer, and I am going to get some from my dad too!!
Let me know if you have any questions!!!
Love, The Busaths!
Sunday, September 17, 2006
Change in Plans!
Ok. So I know I told everyone that we were going to Beijing. Well, we were going to be going over the chinese holiday, but everyone, including the locals, told us that was the worst decision we could make. They said it would be so busy, that we decided we better not. So now we are going to...
THAILAND!!!
So that should be fun! I don't know what there really is to do in Thailand, but there are nice beaches. And for me, its another stamp in my passport!
Now about my parents callings. The guesses I got were seminary teachers, door greeters, and activities people. Well, you are all wrong! They are NURSERY LEADERS!!! No joke! Both my mom AND my dad are in Nursery! Today was the first day and it didn't go to bad. Mom is also the branch missionary.
Ok. So you know how I mentioned that my friend was going to come to church. Well she didn't. Se was so commited and we were both really excited about it until 9:30 on Saturday night. She asked whether the church was an actual mormon church, or if it was a bunch of different sects that met together. I told her it was an actual mormon church, then asked if that was a problem. She said it might be with her parents and she should probably talk to them about it. I was really disapointed, but at least I know it wasn't that it was a problem for her, it was just her parents. I told her that if she has any questions, she can always ask, and she said she might later.
Also today, we had our District President in our meeting. His name is President Toranto. Him and his wife and family live up in Beijing and have lived there for 11 years. They have 5 children, ages 7-18. He and his wife are both very nice people. He kind of reminds me of President Hunter (SJS stake president) in his speaking mannerisms, which isn't too surprising seeing as both of them are lawyers. He also looks a little bit like President Hunter, but he really looks like Brother Hunter, in the Almaden Ward! It is really amazing how much alike they look. President Toranto also lived in Palo Alto for a time so he is familiar with where we live.
I think that is about all the news I can think of!!!
Hope everyone is doing well!!! We miss all of you very much!!!
Love, The Busaths!
THAILAND!!!
So that should be fun! I don't know what there really is to do in Thailand, but there are nice beaches. And for me, its another stamp in my passport!
Now about my parents callings. The guesses I got were seminary teachers, door greeters, and activities people. Well, you are all wrong! They are NURSERY LEADERS!!! No joke! Both my mom AND my dad are in Nursery! Today was the first day and it didn't go to bad. Mom is also the branch missionary.
Ok. So you know how I mentioned that my friend was going to come to church. Well she didn't. Se was so commited and we were both really excited about it until 9:30 on Saturday night. She asked whether the church was an actual mormon church, or if it was a bunch of different sects that met together. I told her it was an actual mormon church, then asked if that was a problem. She said it might be with her parents and she should probably talk to them about it. I was really disapointed, but at least I know it wasn't that it was a problem for her, it was just her parents. I told her that if she has any questions, she can always ask, and she said she might later.
Also today, we had our District President in our meeting. His name is President Toranto. Him and his wife and family live up in Beijing and have lived there for 11 years. They have 5 children, ages 7-18. He and his wife are both very nice people. He kind of reminds me of President Hunter (SJS stake president) in his speaking mannerisms, which isn't too surprising seeing as both of them are lawyers. He also looks a little bit like President Hunter, but he really looks like Brother Hunter, in the Almaden Ward! It is really amazing how much alike they look. President Toranto also lived in Palo Alto for a time so he is familiar with where we live.
I think that is about all the news I can think of!!!
Hope everyone is doing well!!! We miss all of you very much!!!
Love, The Busaths!
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
CRAZINESS!!
So lots of crazy and funny and weird things have happened. So starting with Saturday, I thought I was in the time of Noah again! It was raining sooooo much that inorder for me to go out and take pictures, I had to wear snowboots! I took pictures and will post them! We had a new swimming pool in our backyard from the wall that holds up the next house! There was about an inch of water running down the street, and all of the storm drains were over flowing, and I'm talking storm drains that are 4 feet deep! And it rained like that for 2 hours straight!
Next crazy thing was Sunday. So I had to give a talk in sacrament meeting, and guess what it was on?! MARRIAGE! Why? I don't know, but they wanted my perspective on it. Good thing I have a good example to referance.
Next thing was also on Sunday. So if you've been paying any attention, you will have notice I have not said whether or not Mom and Dad have gotten callings. Well, this Sunday they did. I'm going to give you some clues about what it is!
1. They work together.
That is the only clue I am going to give you! Any guesses?
You guys let me know what you think it is, and I'll tell you tomorrow. DON'T GO AND ASK THEM EITHER!
Also, today (Tuesday Sept. 12), I was at school, and you know how we can't prosalite to anyone with a Chinese passport, right? So I had talked with one of my friends about the church and she was kind of interested and I told her she was always welcome. So today, she was like you know that church you go to at Jordan's house? Can I come with you on Sunday?!!!!!!! I was SOOOOO excited! Of course I said yes!!!. She is ethnically Chinese, but she was born and raised in Texas! So I am sooo excited. I let her know a little bit about church, and what goes on and she seems really excited!
So that is all the crazy, weird, and funny news!
I have also had so request to talk about our branch and the Young Men/Young Women's programs and such.
So we have a normal sacrament. We have talks and testimony meeting on fast Sunday, and surprisingly, it all takes the full 1 hour and 10 minutes! That is first. Then we have Sunday school. The youth sunday school just got a teacher, and we actually have to meet across the street and one of the counseler in the Bishopbrics house since we ran out of rooms to meet in! Then we have YM/YW, Relief Society, Elders Quarum. ( All the while primary is going on!) Relief Society also meets across the street too! We have a Young Women's President, Sis. Bayles, and her first counselor is Sis. Ho. We have Young Womens every week. We had it for the first time last week. We did a service project, and it took us till 10 AT NIGHT! It was kind of crazy. We made cookies and then delivered some of them to people! But we keep getting lost but eventually delivered the ones we needed! The Young Mens has had a president for a while, and same with the first counselor. They meet every week too. I am also really excited because we are going to the Hong Kong temple to do baptisms for the dead on September 30, and we are meeting with the Guangzhou branch. Also that day we are leaving for...
BEIJING!!!!
Yes we are going to Beijing!
We are going for 5 or 6 days. It is a national holiday on October 1-4 so there is no school or work. So horray for us!
Oh and seminary: We do have seminary once a week on SATURDAYS! I was not happy about this, but it is only temperary seeing as we only have a temp teacher. He goes back to the states in 2 weeks I think. So we do home study too, which kind of stinks because then we have to and the 30-40 mins of seminary homework to our regular homework, and it gets to be a lot. School is going good for everyone, I think.
We miss everyone back home!!!!
Lots of love,
The Busaths!
Next crazy thing was Sunday. So I had to give a talk in sacrament meeting, and guess what it was on?! MARRIAGE! Why? I don't know, but they wanted my perspective on it. Good thing I have a good example to referance.
Next thing was also on Sunday. So if you've been paying any attention, you will have notice I have not said whether or not Mom and Dad have gotten callings. Well, this Sunday they did. I'm going to give you some clues about what it is!
1. They work together.
That is the only clue I am going to give you! Any guesses?
You guys let me know what you think it is, and I'll tell you tomorrow. DON'T GO AND ASK THEM EITHER!
Also, today (Tuesday Sept. 12), I was at school, and you know how we can't prosalite to anyone with a Chinese passport, right? So I had talked with one of my friends about the church and she was kind of interested and I told her she was always welcome. So today, she was like you know that church you go to at Jordan's house? Can I come with you on Sunday?!!!!!!! I was SOOOOO excited! Of course I said yes!!!. She is ethnically Chinese, but she was born and raised in Texas! So I am sooo excited. I let her know a little bit about church, and what goes on and she seems really excited!
So that is all the crazy, weird, and funny news!
I have also had so request to talk about our branch and the Young Men/Young Women's programs and such.
So we have a normal sacrament. We have talks and testimony meeting on fast Sunday, and surprisingly, it all takes the full 1 hour and 10 minutes! That is first. Then we have Sunday school. The youth sunday school just got a teacher, and we actually have to meet across the street and one of the counseler in the Bishopbrics house since we ran out of rooms to meet in! Then we have YM/YW, Relief Society, Elders Quarum. ( All the while primary is going on!) Relief Society also meets across the street too! We have a Young Women's President, Sis. Bayles, and her first counselor is Sis. Ho. We have Young Womens every week. We had it for the first time last week. We did a service project, and it took us till 10 AT NIGHT! It was kind of crazy. We made cookies and then delivered some of them to people! But we keep getting lost but eventually delivered the ones we needed! The Young Mens has had a president for a while, and same with the first counselor. They meet every week too. I am also really excited because we are going to the Hong Kong temple to do baptisms for the dead on September 30, and we are meeting with the Guangzhou branch. Also that day we are leaving for...
BEIJING!!!!
Yes we are going to Beijing!
We are going for 5 or 6 days. It is a national holiday on October 1-4 so there is no school or work. So horray for us!
Oh and seminary: We do have seminary once a week on SATURDAYS! I was not happy about this, but it is only temperary seeing as we only have a temp teacher. He goes back to the states in 2 weeks I think. So we do home study too, which kind of stinks because then we have to and the 30-40 mins of seminary homework to our regular homework, and it gets to be a lot. School is going good for everyone, I think.
We miss everyone back home!!!!
Lots of love,
The Busaths!
Sunday, September 03, 2006
Activities, Activities, Activities!
SO...
This past Thursday and Friday, the high school went on a retreat to the beach. The purpose was kind of like a get to know you thing. We slept in tents on the beach and played in the water and we did get to know you games and such. The beach was actually really nice, and the water was quite clear, and warm, even though it still is polluted. We played tug o war and my advisory won! But guess what we won?! CHICKEN FEET! REAL LIVE CHICKEN FEET! I don't know what happened to them, but I definately didn't even want to look at them! I got eaten alive by mesquitos though because it was so hot in our tent (me and soo young) so we slept with the door all the way open. So in total, I have 32 bites from the trip! It looks like I have the chicken pox. So I will eventually post pictures from that trip!
Yesterday (saturday) we had a YM/YW combined activity, and guess what we did?! GO CARTING! It was a lot of fun! We did a total of about a half hour each. I finally said, who cares about being safe, so I was flouring it around the corners and everything! When I think about the things I have done already in my one month here in China, and then I think about the things I did in California, it is amazing. I never would have gone go carting in California, let alone camping on the beach or going to a lake to go tubing, other then at girls camp!
Also starting this week, I am going to be doing an after school kickball club thing with the 2nd and 3rd graders. Now I didn't chose to do kickball, Mr. Neeland ( Assisntant principle) suggested it, I just volunteer to help. So that will be every thursday.
Everyone else is doing really well. Noelle, Camille, and I start piano lessons this week. Mom went to Hong Kong last week and bought a box of See's Candy, but guess how much it cost?! 80 US DOLLERS! It is really expensive, so it is going to last us a long time! Church is going well too. Neither mom nor dad have a calling yet, but I am sure it won't be long. Ben passed the sacrament for the first time last week, and did a good job. If you have any questions, just email us and we can answer them, or if there is anything you want to know about China life, let us know!
Hope everyone is doing well and we all miss you guys a ton!
Lots of Love,
The Busaths!
This past Thursday and Friday, the high school went on a retreat to the beach. The purpose was kind of like a get to know you thing. We slept in tents on the beach and played in the water and we did get to know you games and such. The beach was actually really nice, and the water was quite clear, and warm, even though it still is polluted. We played tug o war and my advisory won! But guess what we won?! CHICKEN FEET! REAL LIVE CHICKEN FEET! I don't know what happened to them, but I definately didn't even want to look at them! I got eaten alive by mesquitos though because it was so hot in our tent (me and soo young) so we slept with the door all the way open. So in total, I have 32 bites from the trip! It looks like I have the chicken pox. So I will eventually post pictures from that trip!
Yesterday (saturday) we had a YM/YW combined activity, and guess what we did?! GO CARTING! It was a lot of fun! We did a total of about a half hour each. I finally said, who cares about being safe, so I was flouring it around the corners and everything! When I think about the things I have done already in my one month here in China, and then I think about the things I did in California, it is amazing. I never would have gone go carting in California, let alone camping on the beach or going to a lake to go tubing, other then at girls camp!
Also starting this week, I am going to be doing an after school kickball club thing with the 2nd and 3rd graders. Now I didn't chose to do kickball, Mr. Neeland ( Assisntant principle) suggested it, I just volunteer to help. So that will be every thursday.
Everyone else is doing really well. Noelle, Camille, and I start piano lessons this week. Mom went to Hong Kong last week and bought a box of See's Candy, but guess how much it cost?! 80 US DOLLERS! It is really expensive, so it is going to last us a long time! Church is going well too. Neither mom nor dad have a calling yet, but I am sure it won't be long. Ben passed the sacrament for the first time last week, and did a good job. If you have any questions, just email us and we can answer them, or if there is anything you want to know about China life, let us know!
Hope everyone is doing well and we all miss you guys a ton!
Lots of Love,
The Busaths!
PICTURES!
Hey Everyone!
SO the awaited pictures are HERE! I tried posting them earlier this week and it wasn't working! But I have them now.
SO the awaited pictures are HERE! I tried posting them earlier this week and it wasn't working! But I have them now.
This is from when we went to Evergreen, and we made pottery. This is obviously Noelle!
Here is Camille!
And here is ME!
Now for pictures of our house and surrounding area!
This is the view from my High School of the bay. And this is on a really good day. Normally it doesn't look this nice.
This is also from the High School. It is of Shenzhen and that bridge in front of it will eventually go straight from Hong Kong into Shenzhen, but it isn't finnished yet.
These are half of the stairs that I take to get up to the High school. I couldn't fit them all in one frame!
So this is half of what you see when you walk through our gate. As the arrow states, we have BANANAS! Actaully we have 2 banana trees and a mango tree. The mango tree currently has no mangos.
This is the other side of our house. Sorry it is kind of weird, the sun was behind it.
This is our living room with our new piano. There isn't anything in it yet, but eventually there will be.
This is our dining room which is right off the kitchen and the living room.
This is our lovely kitchen.
This is my bedroom.
This is the family room up on the second floor.
This is my parents bedroom.
This is Ben's room.
And last but not least, this is the girls room.
I haven't had time yet to take a picture of Ben flexing his muscles (by request from Julie) or of the schools yet.
If you have any other request, let me know!
Andrea
Monday, August 28, 2006
Piano
SO! We got a piano, and now I am sure they are going to ask me to play for church because they are running out of options. Noelle, Camille and I are taking piano lessons. Noelle is learning the flute through school and Ben is learning the trumbone, and Camille is learning the recorder. I promise I will have pictures on by the weekend. I am planning on taking them today. Any request for pictures of specific things? Hope everyone is doing well.
Lots of LOVE!
The Busaths
Lots of LOVE!
The Busaths
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
Pointless Update
So school started and everything is going well. We are all enjoying it. We had a branch activity last night at a lake, and there was water skiing, wake boarding, and tubing. Camille and Ben did it for the first time. We all had a lot of fun, but Dad wasn't able to go. I don't have an excuse now to not put pictures on because I am internet in my room now, but my excuse for this post is I am at school! So I hope everyone is doing well. We miss everyone, and
DON'T FORGET TO PUT OUT THE AMERICAN FLAG ON SEPTEMBER 11!!
Lots of love,
Andrea
DON'T FORGET TO PUT OUT THE AMERICAN FLAG ON SEPTEMBER 11!!
Lots of love,
Andrea
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
SCHOOL!
So school starts tomorrow (Thursday). I am excited, but I don't know about the rest of the kids! We went and met our teachers and they told us about themselves a little. Camille has one main teacher, Mr. Calleway. Ben has Mr. MacDonald and Mr. Lee. Noelle has Mrs. MacDonald and Mr. Burke, and I have Mr. Kim, Mrs. Kim, Mr. Klatt, and Mrs. Lynch. I know that makes no sense to you. But yeah. I'll let you all know how it goes!
Love, The Busaths
Love, The Busaths
Saturday, August 12, 2006
china life
So china life is treating us good. We are having amazing chinese food provided to us by Karen, our IE. Tonight (Saturday) we had a branch get together. Which was a lot of fun because most people are back from the states, and the BYU crew is still here. So there are a lot of people! There should be about 80 people at church tomorrow, or so I've heard. The weather has been pretty nice. Not much else. If you have questions, just email me. eskimo_girl33@sbcglobal.net but all of you should have that! Our Vonage is still not working, otherwise you guys could call us at our 629-5759 number. You COULD call my cell phone, but it would be international calling for you. But if you want it, just email me, but I don't know why you'd want it. And my mom still wasn't able to get a cell phone yet. She has to go buy a new one! HOpe everyone else is doing well!
Lots of love,
The Busaths
Lots of love,
The Busaths
Thursday, August 10, 2006
Typhoon
NOBODY PANIC!
Even though the typhoon in China is like right next to our city, we are not being majorly affected by it. Just rain, wind and clouds, that's it. So you don't need to worry that we are going to be swept away! But thanks for worring anyway!
Even though the typhoon in China is like right next to our city, we are not being majorly affected by it. Just rain, wind and clouds, that's it. So you don't need to worry that we are going to be swept away! But thanks for worring anyway!
Typhoon
NO BODY PANIC!
Even though the typhoon in China is like right next to our city, we are not being majorly affected by it. Just rain, wind and clouds, that's it. So you don't need to worry that we are going to be swept away! But thanks for worring anyway!
Even though the typhoon in China is like right next to our city, we are not being majorly affected by it. Just rain, wind and clouds, that's it. So you don't need to worry that we are going to be swept away! But thanks for worring anyway!
Everyday Life
So! Life in china is going well. Our house is mostly set up. I promise I will attach pictures as SOON as I can get internet in my room! Oh and here is a MIRACLE FOR YOU!!! MY PARENTS ACTUALLY BOUGHT ME A CELL PHONE! So I am as happy as can be. I also went with the YM's president last night to meet a new YW. Her name is Lily and she is 16 and is going to be a JUNIOR at SIS just like me! So I am really excited about that. My mom and I went with a lady from church yesterday to go to the restraunt supply store to buy dishes and pots and pans. We were able to find the really nice avacado colored plates and bowls. SO we are excited about those. There is a typhoon in the next city over so it is overcast and raining off and on today. My mom and I went back down to the cell phone store to see if we could get her phone working, and of course while we were walking down, it started raining. So we get there and they say that we can't use the phone my mom had brought with her. So then we go back home to get her other phone because they said it should work. BUT of course it didn't. So she was going to buy a new one, but she didn't bring her passport and her Cali drivers licence wouldn't work. So we said for get it. So we came back home. We will eventualy go back, but i am happy because i have one. Hope everyone is doing well back in the US!
We love and miss you all a lot!
Love, The Busaths
We love and miss you all a lot!
Love, The Busaths
Wednesday, August 09, 2006
Sorry!
I don't know if you guys were able to read our We are here blog, so I posted it again! Hope you all can read it!
New arriving in China!
OK!!!! So, where shall I begin? Lets start with my birthday! (Oh this is Andrea writing). So I went to Great America for my 16th birthday! So that was lots of fun. My dad decided to leave at 1 am on Wednesday, August 2, for China, which #1 that is a bigf mistake. Who wants to fly at 1 AM! Not me! So we rented a limo (excursion!) and took that to the airport! Since the limo wouln't take our stuff, Aunt Claudia and Kelly were kind enough to follow us to SF with our luggage! So we got to the airport at 10:30 ON MY BIRTHDAY! which i wasn't happy about, and we sat around FOREVER! So finallly it was time to broard and i was hoping that there would be no one next to noelle, but of course there was, but it wasn't an old person, it was 17 year old J.J. So he kind of hung out with us, and you'll find out why we kind of "adopted" him. So the flight was long as expected, movies were pretty good. Everyone had their own tv so you could chose from 80 different movies and tv shows. And of course the food was gross but at least we brought our own food, which didn't last long! So we get close to Hong Kong, and Noelle, J.J. and I are looking out the window and there is a lot of lightning. I said, that's just what we need, lightning. And J.J. said, we are going to land in a lighgning storm. I was just like, great! So we get there and the wind was 60 mph and the rain was really bad. So we weren't able to land in Hong Kong so they said we were going to go to Shenzhen (where we live!) and i figured they would let us out! Now remember, we have just been on an airplane for 13 hours. But they wouldn't let us off the plane! So we sat there for about 3 hours when they tell us we are going to try and land at Hong Kong again. But of course the weather is too bad that we can't land. Oh and the reason we can't land and the weather is bad is because of a TYPHOON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So then they divert us to Guangzhou which is about a 2 hour drive but only a 30 min flight. So we were like, maybe they will let us off here! Because now we have been sitting on an airplane for 16 hours. But will the government let us off, no. So we sit on the airplane at Guangzhou for NINE HOURS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Mean while, everyone is hungry because they food they are giving is just bread with cucumber on it, and the movies are starting to become boring. And the reason we can't go anywhere is because the crew have exceded their limit of flying so we are waiting for the new crew from Singapore to come. Oh and our flight after it dropped people off at Hong Kong was supposed to go to Singapore. So the new crew comes atround 4:30 PM and the typhoon is starting to come our way, so the weather is really bad here now too. We were hopping that once the new crew came, we would be able to go to Hong Kong. But of course the weather is too bad! So guess where we get to go?SINGAPORE!!!Yes, so in a matter of a day we visited 3 different countries. So we actually didn't leave Guangzhou until 9 PM and then we arrived in Singapore that night at midnight. So lets add up the hours: We have 13 hours of flying to Hong Kong, plus 3 hours in Shenzhen, plus 12 hours at Guangzhou, plus 3 hours to Singapore= 31 hours before we were able to get off the airplane!!!!!! That is absolutely ridiculous. So then we get off the airplane in Singapore and we are there for about 3 hours. Oh and I said earlier that we sort of "adopted" J.J. Well that was because he basically stayed with us and used our phone to call his parents because he was flying alone, and then hung out with us at the airport, etc. So then we leave Singapore at 3:30 and are able to land in Hong Kong around 6:30. So total, we were on an airplane for about 36 hours! And then everything got better. We are at a hotel right now and I don't know when I will be able to get online again, but we are going to try and update at least once a week. Our stuff is coming today. Hope everyone is having a great summer. Oh and I will post some pictures once I get my computer up!
Life in China
SO!
Life in China is going good. All of our stuff came in on Saturday, and most was in good condition. Sunday we went to church (of course!). There are a lot of young families, as you know I am THRILLED! Funny thing is, back in California, I babysat for a little boy named Dylan, and there is a baby named Dylan here, and he looks a lot like the Dylan in California did when he was 4 months old! So he is my new friend! Church was different only because there are not nearly as many people! Afterwards, there was a luncheon. Monday we went to Walmart! That was interesting. Tuesday was Luohou, which is the shopping place. Dad didn't have to work, so he went with us. Today, Wednesday, we went to a "resort" place. We made pottery, and went through a "rainforest" and a whole bunch of other fun things. We have pictures but the internet is not always working right, and I can't get internet in my room yet. So you will have to imagine everything until then. Hope everyone in California and Utah, and everywhere else are doing great!
LOTS OF LOVE!
The Busaths!
Life in China is going good. All of our stuff came in on Saturday, and most was in good condition. Sunday we went to church (of course!). There are a lot of young families, as you know I am THRILLED! Funny thing is, back in California, I babysat for a little boy named Dylan, and there is a baby named Dylan here, and he looks a lot like the Dylan in California did when he was 4 months old! So he is my new friend! Church was different only because there are not nearly as many people! Afterwards, there was a luncheon. Monday we went to Walmart! That was interesting. Tuesday was Luohou, which is the shopping place. Dad didn't have to work, so he went with us. Today, Wednesday, we went to a "resort" place. We made pottery, and went through a "rainforest" and a whole bunch of other fun things. We have pictures but the internet is not always working right, and I can't get internet in my room yet. So you will have to imagine everything until then. Hope everyone in California and Utah, and everywhere else are doing great!
LOTS OF LOVE!
The Busaths!
Friday, June 23, 2006
Moving Update
Ok everyone. So we are all packed up and the movers have come and taken everything. We leave for China on August 2, and will arrive on August 3. So that is the update.
China Travelers
China Travelers
Monday, June 19, 2006
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