Chinese exchange students!

This summer we hosted two Chinese exchange students for 19 days. They are both 16 years old and from the Cheng Du area of China which is inland. When we went to pick them up the first day, they introduced themselves as Mike and Jack. I don't know their names in Chinese and they didn't ever seem too interested in helping us learn what they were. If anyone knows why the Chinese have this custom of giving themselves an American name I'd be interested to know. I thought that maybe whatever their name in Chinese was kinda translated to Mike and Jack. Then when we met the two Chinese teachers we would be adding to our carpool for their stay I found out their names were Mike and Jackie. The one whose name is Jackie is named that because his daughter gave him the name after Jackie Chan. So, I guess there's no connection at all to their real name, just something for fun.

David and Mike played a lot of chess while they were here. Jack didn't know how to play so he would watch. Mike was a very good player.

Ping pong is something else they did a lot of when they were here. They also like to play basketball with David.

We took them swimming a few times at Nana's pool.

Air hockey in the basement.

The Mayan is not one of the best Mexican food places around but you can't beat the atmosphere and entertainment value. We got a table on the floor and had a front row seat to the cliff diving show.

Having fun outside the restaurant.

Video games were a big hit also. They looked confused when we asked if they play Wii but when they saw it they knew exactly what we meant. Funny how things are called different things in China, just kidding.

We took them for a chairlift ride at Sundance. It was a gorgeous day and they seemed to enjoy it. A story that David told us after they left struck me as funny until I saw news footage this week of a smokestack in China that they were razing. David said he was in the back yard with Jack when they noticed an airplane way up high in the sky with a contrail behind it. Jack was amazed and asked what it was and wanted to take a picture. David was confused and told him it was just an airplane and they leave trails sometimes. He was very excited and took pictures of the sky. Now back to the news program...in the footage of China where they were razing this smokestack, you couldn't see blue sky. It was totally cloudy looking and then we realized it was pollution. I am sure you have all seen media with the Chinese wearing masks in public and remember when the Olympics were in Beijing they banned cars in the city for a while to try to reduce the pollution. Pretty sad that that is what they see every day. Jack had never in his life seen that sight. Amazing, huh?

What a view!

We took a picnic and hiked down to eat our lunch.

At the base of Arrowhead lift.

Heading back down.

Their stay fell over Pioneer Day in Utah. It was fun trying to explain Utah history and then parade, etc. Our neighborhood had a parade, dinner, program and fireworks. Here is the Bishopric leading the parade in Bob Anderson's awesome car.

The kids all followed in whatever costume or transportation mode they chose. David chose stilts and Katie is dressed in her pioneer outfit.

Love the striped socks!

More ping pong but in the shade. They thought Utah was very hot.

We took them to the Spanish Fork rodeo. I was a little worried because at the orientation meeting someone had said that they took their students the previous year and they were so horrified by the rodeo that they left early. Not these boys! I tried to explain each event as they started and told them that they were given points based on certain things. They really got into it. At one point when someone scored high I looked over at them and they were celebrating with fisted arms in the air, whooping it up. Too funny.

The bad part of the evening is that it rained pretty much the entire 3 hours. It was pretty light but the wind was strong and then it did eventually stop towards the end. Of course we go to the rodeo so infrequently I hadn't brought blankets, jackets or anything to cover up with. I went down to see if there were umbrellas or anything I could buy to help out. One of the concession stands sold me 7 grocery bags for a dollar. The kids said I looked like an idiot with it on my head, oh well, I was warm and partially dry. They laid theirs on their laps.

How much more American can you get than with a rodeo? It was fun seeing their reaction to each event.