Why do I live here?

These past few months have been really busy and I have not posted as much as I would like to on this blog. I have also been so busy or lazy that I have sometimes forgotten why I am here and why I really love being in Qingdao. It is easy to get so involved in teaching and tutoring that I go for days without really getting outside and exploring. I spend time in the classroom, at our apartment tutoring or just watching movies. I have not had the motivation to get out and walk around the city again.

The weather has not cooperated either. On the days when I really feel like going out, it is cold, wet and windy or just plain polluted. On the days I don't feel like going out or have other things I need to do, it is beautiful, warm and windy. Every day here has wind. You can see the pattern and the rut I have been in.

Well on Friday, I had only three goals for the day.

Goal 1: Hike Fushan.

Goal 2: Have lunch with my friend Caroline. 

Goal 3: Go on a date night with Gary. 

There were many other things that I needed to do on Friday (my day off, by the way), but I knew these three things were the most important.

Goal 1: Hiking Fushan 

Mount Fu is located just behind our school. I have talked about this mountain before and last year I hiked it many times. I have not been up Fushan since last October probably, and have only hiked it a couple of times this school year and not once in 2016. I have missed it, but have not had the energy to hike it.

It turned out to be a beautiful day. Warm and not too windy. Conditions just right for hiking. I left my apartment at just after 8 am. I had already been up since 5:30 for seminary, so I was ready to go.

I went by myself because sometimes I just need time alone to think. I needed to remind myself why I love this city, what I am doing here and what the Lord wants me to do while I am here. I started up the same path I always go on which leads to the stairs. If you don't remember, many of the mountains in China have stairs. They put stairs in to make the mountain more accessible. Well when I got the fork in the road, I made a decision. I did not want to go up the stairs. That is not hiking. I took the right fork instead of the left fork and found a new path (well new to me) up the mountain. This was a path just like the path up Adam's Canyon in Layton. I was able to hike in the dirt and over rocks, through trees, bushes and flowers, hear the wind in the trees and see the beautiful ocean through the patches of trees. What beautiful sights I saw that day!!!

It reminded me how much I love to hike. It reminded me of how my Heavenly Father loves me. It reminded me of all my Savior has done for me especially in creating this beautiful world for me to enjoy. I had my headphones on and was listening to gospel music which only made the experience that much better. I stopped and took pictures whenever I felt like it and whenever I saw something beautiful to be grateful for. I stopped a lot. 

I hiked for about 1.5 hours, going farther than I had ever done before, and then turned around to come back. Overall, I spend 2 and a half hours on the mountain. I experienced so much joy! It was one of the best days I have had this year. I was able to get refreshed and remember why I love this city so much. I was able to remember why I am so grateful to the Lord that I live in Qingdao, China. I miss my family and friends, but I am so blessed to be here. Hopefully from these pictures you can understand a little about how I feel about Qingdao.

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It wasn't all fun and games though. I was almost at the bottom of the mountain. Only about 3-5 minutes from the bottom and I tripped over something and fell and hurt myself. I don't even know what happened. I was walking along and then all of a sudden I was on my left knee. It got scraped up, but I actually just looked at it for about a minute and then got up and continued walking back to our apartment. I figured it would be better to clean it up there.

It was a great morning. I probably would have stayed up there most of the day, but I needed to get back to complete goal number 2. Goal 1 accomplished.

Goal 2: Have lunch with my friend Caroline. I don't see her enough. We used to go to lunch or visit multiple times during the week, but both our schedules are busy. She is in the lab doing experiments and trying to publish articles about textiles. All graduate students here must publish 1 English magazine article or 3 Chinese magazine articles in the major.

I was able to have lunch with her in the school cafeteria. I was so hungry. She even remarked about how much I ate. I usually don't eat that much with her. Then we just went for a walk and sat in the shade and talked. I love just talking to her about life, mostly her life. Goal 2 accomplished.

Goal 3: Go on a date night with Gary. Gary and I are both busy. Gary is much busier than I am. He teaches 24 hours of classes each week and tutors. I only teach 12, but I tutor also. He teaches most nights until 6 pm and then does tutoring at many places on his day off or in the evenings and sometimes on the weekends. His day off is Tuesday and he has much of Monday off, too, but works long hours on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Now don't think I am upset about this. We are both working hard to make as much money as possible while we are here, so that we can pay off our debts and be debt free. I also have been teaching early morning seminary. I have to get up at 5:30, which for those of you who really know me, know this is not easy for me. So, I am tired when I get done with class at noon, have lunch, clean and do laundry, tutoring, get ready for the next days seminary and classes. I am usually ready for bed by 8 pm. You can now understand why it is hard for us to set time aside to go on a date.

When Gary got back from class, this Friday he got home at 5, we decided to go out. At first we were going to go to The Canvas, but then decided to go to Luigi's Pizza. We had heard about Luigi's before, but did not know where it was located until we went to lunch with a Chinese colleague of Gary's. The restaurant we went to was right next to Luigi's.

We had wonderful salad, pizza and garlic bread. What a fun and relaxing night. We talked and talked and finally decided we needed to go home before the late Friday night crowd got there. We knew it would get busy and there would be a lot of partying going on, so we wanted to avoid that. It was a great date night. We continued the date night by coming back and watching a movie and talking. Goal 3 accomplished.

So I was able to achieve my goals and remind myself why I love living here. 

It also continued the next day when I went to Signal Hill with Caroline. Gary had to work, so she and I went together. Again I was reminded why I love this city. In fact, I kept saying it over and over again. "This is why I love this city. This is why I love this city."

 

Friends, food, great scenery, beauty, kindness, love, joy, adventure, sharing, and caring. These are just some of the reasons why I live here and why I love living here!!!