My Dilemma

Decisions, decisions, decisions. So the one that is most pressing now is what kind of car to buy when we return to the States, since that is the first thing we have to do. Mini van...been there done that. But I still have three kids at home and four not married. (go figure) SO I still need a big car (but not tooo big says Noelle (like a mini van)) ....sigh.... what to do, what to do! I've been looking at the GMC Acadia and like it. But what else is out there, I mean it has been THREE years since we've owned a car. So if you have any great suggestions (meaning anything but a mini van) PLEASE let me know!!

Mary and Noelle

The decision is made...

So as of last Friday the decision has be made that we are moving back to AMERICA! We are HAPPY and SAD at the same time! How can that be! The three years have gone by soooo fast. Ed will continue to work for the same company but just not in China. He will have to travel back at times. So as we close this chapter of our lives we are sad to leave our China-made friends but we will be happy to start embarking on a new adventure! I will post our plans as they develop.

Sisters in the Shenzhen International Branch

We had a VTing/RS birthday celebration this past Sunday. We tend to have these after church due to the fact that some of the sister live as far as 2 hours away. It just work better for us. Here are the Sisters in the Shenzhen International Branch. This is about half of the sisters. We have 35 sister in the branch. We sure have grown in 3 years!!


Here are my friends!
Back row:Chantelle Bailey,Jane Farnsworth ,Jenina Lambert,Quingru Zhong,Hsiaowen Westbrook,Carrie Turner,Alex Lee,Coree Rundell,Mary Busath,
Middle row:Joyce Tsai,Sharon Alden,Amber Scharkowski,Hannah Dockter,Elso Ho,Jessica Dayton,Nicole Lewis,
Couch:Jeanetta Robinson,Pon Sears,Beth Ingoldsby,Cindy McDowell,Siobhan Westrop,Jessie Tan.

Chinese Public Bathrooms

Chinese Public Bathrooms
A few things I have learned about Chinese public bathrooms:- Hold your breath (that's all I'm going to say about that).

- Look in every stall before you select one. You may get lucky and find a western-sitting-toilet.- McDonald's in China still has western toilets!!
And sometimes Wal-Mart

- Bring some tissue in your pocket (just in case TP is not supplied). It’s never supplied!

- Turn on the water BEFORE you put soap on your hands. Walking around with a blob of soap in your hands because the water doesn't turn on... UGH!!

- Have sanitizer handy (in case there is no soap at all).

- The "No Smoking" sign really means "Please, come smoke in the bathroom!"

- Don't worry about bad words being scribbled on the stalls -- if there are some, I can't read them! (One of the ONLY times being illiterate is a plus!)
And…Just don’t go to the bathroom at lunch time. The lines are too long and they are washing their lunch dishes!!!

Depression Cooking with Clara. I like this recipe. Made me hungry! *Stole this from my cousin's blog. Thanks Dr. Doolittle!* Check out her website http://www.greatdepressioncooking.com/Depression_Cooking/Welcome.html shes got a lot of great recipe's from the days of the Depression! She sure is a crack up.

Mulan Has Come and Gone!

Welcome friends! Welcome to Ancient China! Welcome to the Story of Mulan!!

Hahaha that was the opening line for my play Mulan! So I'll bet you have all heard of the story of Mulan. She is a disgrace to her family when she upsets the matchmaker, takes her father's sword and goes and fights in the army, and helps to save China. Well my play was no different accept a few new songs. So the pictures I have posted are from different scenes from my play. Here we go!

This picture to the is of us, the ancestors. We would pop in and talk about Mulan and sing and dance. Here is Sandy, a senior here at SIS, who played Mulan. She was really great. Very emotional.

So here is Sandy (Mulan) again but after she has transformed into a 'Man'. Also beside her is Captain Shang who was played by Se Won another Senior at SIS. He just found out his dad died (in the play).

These pictures are of the soldiers. The one in yellow is actually a girl, her name is Ali. She was great at her part of Chi Fu the guy who was in charge of taking notes and informing the Emperor. The fog you see in the other picture is from our dry ice machine. It was for the avalanche scene. It was really cool!

Here is when Mulan was discovered to be a woman. We are singing about her failure and how she was never meant to take on that journey. Little do we ancestors know!

This crazy man you see is one of the scary Huns! He was played by Mr. Astbury our 9th grade humanities teacher. He was VERY good at his part as well!

I actually don't remember when this was...but I must have been mad. =D

This scene was when the soldiers were learning how to be girls. Talk about vise versa!

This scene was when Shan Yu (the leader of the Huns) had been captured. This smoke you see from a smoke machine. Boy it sure smelled horrible!

Ok this part was funny! At the end when we are supposed to let Mushu back in the temple I said 'Welcome home!' in a sarcastic tone and so he jumped up and hugged me. Since I am a grouchy old ancestor who believes in discipline and tradition I yelled 'Touching! No touching!' it was hilarious!

The final song before curtain call! All of us having fun.

This was when we had to do our bows. Now it looks like I hit the guy but really I didn't. Honest!

This was when we were giving flowers to our Music Teachers who put on the whole performance. Mrs. Astbury and Mr. Weinhold. And that's Mushu in the front.

Me and my Mormon friends! Emily in yellow (who was also an ancestor with me) and Coryne (who was Grandmother Fa).

Some additions to our photo! Carly in the green (who was Fa Li the mom) and Junha (who was the Emperor).

More friends including Sandy!

And finally the belle's of the ball!

So I hoped you enjoyed the pictures! It was a lot of fun doing this play but I have to say I'm glad its over. Now I can look back on these photos that have been full of very fun memories. Until our next report it's Noelle Busath signing off on the China Travelers! Cya l8ter! :D

Chinese New Year! In Haerbin! 2009

SOOO!! Here we are in Haerbin China over the Chinese New Year. We went to see the famous snow and ice sculptures. This is on my Dad's list of 'must sees' for China. So we decided to come along for the ride. Like Aunt Sandy said 'don't be a ship sitter' so we didn't, although this is the snow...so yeah we went. The first night we went to the Disney themed ice place. On your right is what was waiting for us when we first got in. Below is Ben and Camille getting ready to go down a slide. I think it was supposed to be Donald Duck's boat.

Here is Ben and Camille again on Jack Sparrow's ship from Pirates of the Caribbean. Ben looks terrifying.

Ok here is Ben going down the slide at Donald's house. He said it was slippery. Figures its ice.

It was super cold and it was dark by five o'clock. The first night we had dinner at a Russian restaurant, and it was suuupperr good. Haerbin is about 500 miles from the Russian border. Dad said that was about as close to Russia as I was ever going to get. Very tragic really...

Tale as old as time is here with Beauty and the Beast. Don't take note of the ice people in the background. (which is Belle and Beast). Then here is me and I am trying to be funny by kissing Nemo. But he's to cute to be kidding around with.

Lions and tigers and bears OH MY!! Well we only had lions and tigers so two out of three. We hopped on a bus and toured around the Tiger Park. But there weren't just TIGERS in the park. Oh no. There were many other kinds of 'cats'. The black one you see is a jaguar. It had its back to us the entire time. I call it 'Ignoring the Annoying Tourist's'. It shows the jaguars inner thoughts. Roar. Ok he doesn't roar but the guy next to him does. He is a white lion. There was also a lioness near by. They both were BIG cats. But not nearly as big as the... (drum roll please)

The LIGER!!! Yes that's right folks a real liger. Ligers are real! It's only the head but still you can tell it stands out in a crowd. Ligers are extremely rare. Why? Because Heavenly Father didn't want Tigers and Lions to breed so when people force them too mostly the cubs die. But there are the few that do survive but the tiger and the lion have to grow up together or they won't mate.

Ok this guy is awesome. Talk about King of the Compound (where the tigers were). He sat there nice and still watching everyone and everything. These other lions here that are by each other are African Lions. They look really cold. Probably are, because it was really cold. Not exactly in their nature to be in the cold, more heat for them.

I put this picture up because I thought it was cute. The lion yawning. It was a perfect shot.

Now you are probably wondering why this picture of a skeleton is here. Well its a skeleton of a tiger soaking in some weird liquid. People drink it. I'm not kidding. People actually drink it. They think it is good for them!!! I think its nasty.

Onto the night....we went to a city made entirely of ice blocks! No joke! Huge buildings were made to look like monuments you see all around the world. The ice blocks come from the frozen river. There was Big Ben in London, Notre Dome in France, the Disney Castle and LOTS more. The one to your left is of the view from our hotel window. Pretty huh. Then there is us as a family at the very beginning of our tour.

Here is the big golden Buddha all lit up! And then there is the entrance/exit.

Here is Big Ben...or Notre Dome. I don't remember which one. Then there is a pretty castle that Mommy liked.

Here we are after our horse and sleigh ride around park. Check out his coat and hat! I hope no animals were sacrificed. The horse was nice though. Then here is a big slide. Daddy went down with Ben on the slide.

This is the front of the city. Notice the cars in the dark.















Here is the big snow park. It was really cool and cold. Even though there wasn't a lot of snow on the ground they would make snow and pack it and then people would carve. Here are our Ox's! Daddy, Mommy, and Camille. Daddy also got his one shot with a really REALLY big ox.

Mommy caught Daddy kissing Buddha girl!
Here I am. The graceful dancer inside. No so graceful on the outside.

This one was SOO cool! A huge place where you could sled, slide, ski, snowmobile, and they had ATV's! ALSO dog sledding! I guess Santa really does live up north.

OOOKK!! Remember the lions? WELL they get hungry so what is a tourist to do? FEED THEM!! But only in China (where you can't get sued for animal rights, don't tell anyone. Shhh....)

You get to pick your own! We picked a semi fat one.

OK enough of that...poor Camille she cried. We had to teach her about (1) the meaning of life for animals (2) the food chain. Oh boy...

So here was the last day. Mom, Dad, and Ben went to see St. Sophia's Cathedral. Camille was not feeling well (I wonder why. HEHEHE) So I stayed behind. And besides putting on five layers every time just to go outside was getting old. So I got to stay in one layer. Mom said that it was cool. Not as cool as our temples but cool.

Here is the only picture we have of our tour guide Mickey. Yes her name is Mickey. Because she likes Mickey Mouse.

This was a food cart that we saw a lot. It had all kinds of fruits on a stick. So a fruit kabob that had like a syrupy coating on top. Didn't try it but it looked good. We stay away from street vender's.

SOO another great trip a success! We went, we saw, we conquered! So stay tuned for our next great adventure from The China Travelers!