Ropers in Xi'an China

I was visiting with my supervisor a couple of weeks ago about how to put together the final for my class.  Afterwards we were just talking.  She asked me how Americans choose their names for their children.  So I explained that many just choose a name that they like.  Some will choose a family name or they might choose a name from a person that was prominent--such as a bible name.  But generally, the names are not chosen for any meaning.  She explained to me that in China, the names they choose always have meaning.  For example, if you are born on National Day (October 1) your parent's would probably name you the name of that holiday.  So in English it would be "national day".  Interesting!  She said there are many Chinese whose names are that holiday.  A little strange but I get it.  So my aw-haw moment came as she explained this.  That is why many of my students have such strange English names.  They have chosen a n...

I guess I tried to add too many things onto my last blog and it wouldn't save it all so here is a continuation of our trip.  The next place we went to was a leaning pagoda.  Every city has at least one pagoda.  Pagodas were used by the Buddhists to store their scriptures.  They are usually towers that are several stories tall.  I know of 2 that are in Xi'an.  This pagoda leans and is referred to as the Pisa of China.  It isn't as obviously leaning, though, as much as the tower of Pisa.  Then we were off to another garden.  As beautiful as they all are, after awhile they all start looking the same. I loved this shot.  I thought it was gorgeous.  The stream, the people, the rocks, the greenery.  It just all came together in beauty. The area below, the people were just lounging around and enjoying the quiet.  So of course, Kim decided to  join them.  And then the highlight of our...

Last weekend Kim had a former student contact him and ask if we would like to go see Avengers Endgame with her.  So, of course, we wouldn't say no, even though we know very little about the Avenger movies and Katie and Brandon tell us there really are 22 movies you need to see to truly understand.  But that's ok.  I enjoyed it anyway.  It was a cold and rainy day so what better way to spend 3 hours!   The next day at church we had lots of visitors from all over the world, so they took a picture.  I just have to share as well.  We had people from England, Iran, Brazil, Korea, Hungary, and Benin (a country in West Africa).  We have a member from South Africa but she just had a baby and wasn't there.  It was really fun to see all the diversity. Time is really going by fast.  It's crazy.  We have about 2 months left and then we'll have a quick trip home and then off we got to Fiji.  It's just all going so fast that som...