Our Daily Life

Every day in the streets of our neighborhood you’ll see people throw out their garbage into the streets: full garbage bags, uneaten leftovers, rotten fruit and vegetables, cut hair from the endless barber shops lining the street, and any other type of garbage imaginable, including human waste. Very gross. TP will occasionally get mad at those people if he sees them do it and confront them, like he did today: “Why do you ruin your city like that? Do you not like your country?” The people are always thrown off and are very confused. TP always wants to throw the garbage back into their homes or businesses but I have to remind him that these people have never been taught any other way. They’ve simply known all their lives to throw out the garbage in the street, and the street sweepers (with their blue overalls, their garbage wagon on wheels, and their bamboo brooms) will come out every few hours and sweep it all away.

In the local restaurant today we paid $2 for our dinner. The lady brought out TP’s food first (not like in America where everyone gets their meals at the same time) and then brought out my soup and placed it next to TP, on the opposite side of where I was sitting, as if serving to an imaginable person, even though I had ordered it and she knew it was mine. We laughed and TP said, “Who are you serving it to? There’s no one sitting there?” She seemed very confused as she put it in front of me. We still haven’t been able to figure that one out.

Our apartment has a gym with a pool where I like to swim…or float. Call it what you want. The first time I tried to get in the lifeguards wouldn’t allow me to since I was pregnant and it’s apparently unhealthy for a prego woman to swim??? I assured them I’d be fine and that I would only pool run to ease their nerves. The agreement was that I would stay in the shallow end only and not dunk my head under. One of the lifeguards stayed by my side the entire time and yelled at anyone who got too close telling them to be more careful when near me because I was 7 months pregnant.

The other day I went for a swim, and a rather large old lady blocked the stairs and told me not to get in since I had a big belly. I ignored her and got right in beside her and smiled. She also yelled at me for swimming with my head under water. That same day a bunch of young boys were playing tag in and around the pool, running at full speed around the perimeter chasing each other. Even though the floor was slippery wet and they could have fallen and been hurt quite badly, not one lifeguard gave a second glance…Some things I will never understand.

Jen at 11 weeks


At 31 weeks

At 33 weeks

I think we are back in the blogging business

The government has put restrictions on various websites, including blogger.com, and more recently Facebook, which is why we haven’t been able to post. Unfortunately, we have been denied access along with the rest of the country. We are sad we won’t be able to view all your blogs, however, we will now send our posts to TP’s sister and she’ll post them for us allowing us to keep up with our family journal. Thanks H!

So to play catch up:
In China:

We had our friends from Guam spend two weeks visiting us in China. We had a great time taking them around 4 different cities. In Pudong we rented bikes and boats in Century Park. In Hangzhou, one of our favorite retreats, we rented bikes and biked around West Lake, and explored many different areas. We took them to a water town and took another little fishing boat along the canals. In Nanjing we hiked up to Sun Yet Sen’s Mausoleum. And we spent the majority of the time exploring Beijing on bikes and foot. I think we all agreed that Beijing is quite the historical place to be and were astounded at the immensity of the Great Wall. It is simply the most amazing man made structure I have ever seen. I don’t think I can write words that fully express how amazing it is. Did you know it was built in 221 B.C.? Neither did I. It’s crazy to think the Great Wall was built before Christ walked the Earth! We also enjoyed running in the Birds Nest where the greatest runners in the world competed in during this past Summer Olympics. We all ran a short 100M sprint together in honor of becoming such awesome friends through running. The last time we had all been together for a run was in 2003…

The Bird's Nest

The Great Wall

In America:

We took a ‘heavenly summer holiday’ back in the good old USA. I quote ‘heavenly summer holiday’ since I’ve been asked to write about this exact topic for a ward newsletter, and since upon arriving in the U.S. I did use that exact word: ‘heavenly’. Here is what I wrote:
Highlights of our heavenly summer holiday included spending a week with my sister and my beautiful nieces; getting together with college running friends at Ruth’s Diner up Emigration Canyon for breakfast and laughing like we had never spent a day apart; a Price Family Reunion up in the top most hills of Ogden Canyon and being in endless amounts of open land on top of the world; playing a made up game with my brother that lasted all day long; cheering TP on in the Wasatch Back Relay, a 12 man relay race that spans 188 miles beginning in Logan and ending in Park City; having a 4th of July bratwurst bbq and then taking an evening walk with TP in the quiet, calm before the fireworks--and then watching the sky turn all sorts of wondrous colors before the setting sun; sitting on a grassy hill with TP on a Sunday afternoon after a Sunday walk and watching another family playing fetch with their dog: up and down, up and down that hill, repeatedly he went; shopping with my mom, of course; and above all, sitting quietly in Logan Temple’s celestial room with my husband beside me, holding my hand. I enjoyed the open green land and wonderful Utah morning air so much I knew I couldn’t pass up the opportunity (despite being 7 months pregnant and increasingly uncomfortable) to go on a quiet morning run, which I did, and didn’t make it more than 20 meters without realizing I had to walk the rest of the way. But that’s okay, I enjoyed it almost as much as a run. It was almost the same.

TP and his sister at the end of the Wasatch Back Relay

Ogden Valley

Back in China:

Taking a visit back to the U.S. to be with family and friends is always heavenly, but upon being back home in SH., I’ve discovered a new noise: It’s something quite different than the normal loud honking, people talking, jack hammers pounding away throughout all hours of the night. No it’s not that. It sounds like a loud washing machine gone crazy. A vacuum multiplied by a thousand. Its loud humming buzz seeps into my apartment on the 11th floor along with the heavy humidity, and upon further investigation, I realize it’s the cicadas alive and well in the trees. It’s an amazing sound that reminds me of movies I’ve seen of jungles in Vietnam, or of a lush tropical island, or of hiking in the jungles of Brazil (something I can only imagine), and I think that this is heaven too. On this side of heaven I get to spend the entire weekend with my husband, and I get him all to myself; and all because of our great house help, dinner is on the table at 6, dishes are washed promptly when we are through, our home is clean and orderly (though not always the case), our laundry is always clean and folded; we have awesome friends in our branch; and cicadas buzz in the trees during the hot humid summer months. Besides that, SH’s week long New Year’s firework celebration can’t even compare to any 4th of July firework celebration ever given in the U.S. I mean really, the U.S.’s show starts at dark and ends with the finale at 10:30 PM. In SH, the celebration doesn’t even begin till midnight!

baby love

...at least I think.

On the phone with my sister, she asked how I was doing, and I told her I was 'good'. But what I really meant to say is that my lower back is starting to ache, especially when I lay down on my back and side, and or any other creative way at night (my china bed is really rather hard), and it aches when I walk a lot, or walk around without shoes, and I feel like I'm going to POP! And I'm only 23 weeks along, and my feet are swollen, and my hands too, and I have total acid reflux in the night and even in the middle of the day...
But I'm not complaining or anything...
Whoever said the second trimester was the easiest?...

It's all worth it though when I can lay down and I feel my baby boy move and kick.

Happy Birthday Jenny!

This Happy Birthday! shout goes to my great friend Jenny!
Running friends are the friends that seriously last the longest!
Here's to all those marathon training days,
and those good ol' college running days.
When you run with someone for HOURS and HOURS, and HOURS in the freezing cold, the wind and the rain, the mud, the gruesome summer heat on all sorts of terrain, and sweat, and train, and work the hardest you've ever physically worked before, and hope, and dream and cry, and laugh, and smile together, somehow through it all you start as running pals and end up as sisters!

I hope your birthday was the best!!!

Even though it's Tuesday...

I am stealing the idea for this post from my great friend April. :-) On her blog each Wednesday she spotlights an amazing woman and describes why she thinks this particular woman is great.

Rachel, my sister-in-law, has been on my mind lately.

Rachel is an awesome mother to her daughter and a wonderful wife to my brother.

Patient and put together describe her very well.

She has her head on straight, so to speak.

She is a balanced person, hard working and is always striving to reach greater heights.

She keeps my brother in balance.

She is extremely courageous and stalwart.

She is calm and collected.

She always has a smile on her face and always has something funny to laugh about and share.

Whenever I talk with her I always end up laughing about something.

She is a beautiful person and extremely photogenic.

I always said the person who marries my brother is a saint.

She is that saint.

She has tamed my untameable brother.

This past month she has dealt with much more than I could ever imagine in my lifetime.

She gave birth to two beautiful twin girls, and in the same month, lost them both.

While her new daughters developed kidney complications in the NICU in one hospital, she developed an infection from her C-section and had a week long stay in the ICU at another hospital.

While in the hospital they brought Katelyn, one of the twins, to Rachel's hospital so Katelyn could pass away in her mother's arms. Little Carly fought hard to live but within a couple more days Carly passed away as well.

During this rough time Rachel has remained in control of herself and brought comfort to my brother.

She inspires me everyday to laugh more, smile more, work harder, and to enjoy the journey more.

You can read her amazing story on her blog at

http://www.alexiabruschandfamily.blogspot.com/

The twins funeral will be in Salt Lake this Thursday at 1:00 PM.

In lieu of flowers she has set up an account at Zions Bank under Rachel Brusch

or online by clicking on this link.

https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=4968467

Thanks to everyone who has been so helpful, supportive and caring to our family during this time.

(Rachel and Lexi)

Rain

I love waking up to the sound of rain.

These three weeks

Here are some things that have happened to us the past three weeks:

-I am now 19 weeks along in my pregnancy and am getting bigger. Sometimes at night I think I can feel the baby move or kick, but I can't be quite sure.

-Taylor joined an expat frisbee league and is tearing up the field. He's getting used to playing frisbee with rules, and it's great because now we know where there's an accessible running track in Shanghai.

-Taylor took a long business trip to India and even met the missionaries undercover due to the current presidential(?) elections. Apparently it can get quite dangerous.

-I took a trip home to the U.S. using my mom's flight benefits and was able to spend lots of time with my wonderful family and beautiful nieces.

- I've finished up the second of three intense Chinese language courses right before I left for America. I'm now able to buy, barter, and get around much more comfortably. However, once I got back from America I feel like I'm starting new again, or atleast a couple steps back. It seems to go easily...

-My brother's beautiful twin babies, Katelyn and Carly, were born on his birthday, April 3rd, and sadly developed kidney complications. It was such a blessing to be in the U.S. at this time so I could meet them and be with my brother and sister-in-law. Complications became greater and they were switched to Primary Childrens Hospital for better care. Despite the great care Katelyn received, her small body couldn't handle the stress and she passed away just yesterday. Although her small body couldn't bear the stress and wasn't able to recover, I believe her spirit was strong and smart and that she knew more things than we can understand, fresh from heaven. I believe she knew her purpose on Earth, that she knew her family, and that her parents loved her immensely, and was peaceful with the fact that she had gained a body and now can rest peacefully and perfect in joy. Though I still do not fully understand why she had to leave so early, I believe one day we will understand. I believe God has an eternal perspective and vision, and of course, with our earthly vision, we simply can't comprehend. I do know that he is mindful of all his children, knows us individually, and has a plan for all of us. I greatly admire the strength of my brother and sister-in-law.

-Carly is quite the fighter and we are praying and hoping that she will be able to heal well enough and develop strong enough to be released from the hospital and return home with her family.

-It was a blessing to be with their 2 year old sister, Lexi this past week and get to know more of her wonderful personality. She loved to hold my hand and talk with me, and I can't wait to spend more time with her in the summer.