Jordan Landes

ok, it’s a really long story and I only have time to post the short story so…

My Boss broke our contract by paying me late the second month in a row and she didn’t even pay me my contracted amount, so I ended the contract. I’m coming home but I wanted to hit a few sights before I went back to the states so I took sleeper train from beijing to Xi’an to see the Terracota warriors then Xi’an to Shanghai to see the biggest city in China then a train from shanghai to beijing all in four days time.

Friday I spent the day at Xianmen, Wafujing, and Beijing Opera House hanging out with my old co workers, which are the best Chinese friends anyone could ask for, It was a nice walk around the city and then at wafujing I ate some Scorpions on a stick. It was pretty cool. I will miss Ronnie Amy and Andy very much.

Saturday the Young Single Adults in my Branch went to a part of the Great Wall that we haven’t been to before. it was fun. We got seperated so I spent the time with my friends Wyatt and Janea.

Sunday I spoke in church giving my good byes. I will really miss this Branch. I also taught sunday school. then we went to the Classen’s and had a Thanksgiving Dinner that was amazing. The turkey was actually very moist instead of the usual dryness. It was good times.

I was planning on flying out to the states on wednesday, but I have a friend that is getting me stand by tickets and he said that I’ll have a better chance of flying business if I fly out tuesday so that’s what I’m doing. it’s cool because I leave beijing around 1pm on tuesday and arrive in san francisco at 9am on tuesday. I’m going back into time haha

so nothing too exciting happened this weekend. I spent much of my time playing board games. I actually really like board games, but I think I might be getting a little board gamed out lol. Maybe I just need a little break. One of the board games that we play a lot, but that I really like is called Settlers for Catan. I think I will try to get my friends and family to play that game when I go back to the states.

I went to the silk street, which is the market where I get all my cheap, nock off brand stuff, and decided that it was time that I get a tailor made suit and shirt. together it came out to 900rmb which is about $130. In the states it probably would cost around $700 for a tailor made suit.

I also got some nice cufflings for my shirt I’m getting made, and I think I’m going to try to get another shirt as well. besides that my weekend was pretty quiet, but nice because in beijing most places actually have the heat turned on. I have to wait till the 15th for the heat to turn on in Langfang, which just really sucks because it has been around 32F and snowy. What makes it worse is that my apartment has random holes that lets in the cold air. I hate being extremely cold! doesn’t get like this in Arizona :S

this past week was pretty tough. my body started aching really bad a week ago saturday and I had the chills all over. I took some IB profein and went to bed hoping that I would feel better in the morning. Well when I woke up I felt great so I went to church, but about half way through I started feeling very hot and achy and had the chills. I was really hoping it wasn’t anything big because I simply didn’t have the time to be sick. we were heading over to a member’s home for lunch and I was feeling really sick, so as soon as I made sure everything was ok with lunch I left and went back to the apartment in beijing and took a nap to try to feel better. I ended up still going back to Lang Fang that night but that night was really tough, I was really sick and finally decided to go to the hospital the next day where I found out I had the flu.
I didn’t go to work on monday and tuesday and by wednesday I felt like I had the strength to teach, even though I was still a little sick. Being sick here really amplified my desires to leave here. for example, I had to walk up and down 6 flights of stairs to get to my apartment, which was made worse because of how weak I felt being sick, my boss left me at the hospital with someone that barely speaks english so I had no idea what was happening or what medicine was getting pumped into me, I had to take a taxi to the front of the school then walk 100 yards or more in the cold while I was sick, and the list goes on and on.
it got really cold this weekend so I went and bought me a coat, which was a good idea because I woke up on sunday morning to a snow storm, and Friday night I hung out with my German friend Ruben and stayed at his place. He is a good guy and a good friend. Saturday night the ysa had our halloween party. we had taco/buritto’s for dinner and hung out and played some games. It wasn’t a big party, but it was nice to get dressed up and just have fun together.

i was thinking about getting a taxi to go to church so I could sleep in a little longer but I was told the taxi’s don’t pick people up when the weather is bad. so I had to walk about a mile in the snow to get to the subway, but it was a good thing I did that because someone else that lives in my building got to the church really late because they were waiting for a taxi for about an hour before one finally stopped to pick them up. It didn’t stop snowing till around 4pm and by that time we were already having our lunch together at President Johnson’s place. the snow was really pretty in the city and I wish I had brought my camera to take pictures, but I would rather it be a little warmer than to have the snow. I doubt it reach about 32 F the whole day. I then had to wait outside for the bus to lang fang to go to my freezing apartment. They don’t turn on the heat until the 15th of November, so I basically just have to freeze for the next two weeks. I’m not really happy with china right now. all the little things are starting to add up. there is a potential of coming home this month, but I guess we’ll just have to see.

From October 2nd to the 6th I went to Hong Kong. It was cheaper to fly to Shenzhen then take a bus to Hong Kong so we did that. However, it is a lengthy process because you have to go thru both china and hong kong customes. I went withmy Aussie friend Jesse and Samily, who is from Hong Kong. We stayed at her parents place. the first day we went to Victoria Harbor and watch the worlds largest light show. Right after I look this picture the light show started. Many of the buildings have lazer lights 0n them. The Harbor is beautiful.

Jesse had to leave the next afternoon, he only came to renew his visa, so we made sure to go to the temple before he left. The temple is not the biggest but it is one of the most expensive because of the real estate in hong kong. it doesn’t even have temple grounds, we had to go across the street to get pics.

today was the chinese national day. I’m staying at an apartment in beijing very close to the parade, and had a great view of the air show.

This weekend was a lot of fun. Friday we made pizza for FHE and it was pretty good. on saturday morning the first and third beijing branch had their yearly great wall of china trip. only four of the ysa went this year because some where sick. We went to this part of the great wall that is not very touristy which was nice because there wasn’t a lot of people there. the branches rented a bunch of rooms at this hotel at the great wall.

it seriously connected with the great wall so it was perfect. we hiked the wall all day and then we had a very nice dinner followed by the branches getting together at the hotel’s amphitheatre where we played games, danced, and had a bonfire. three of the ysa, including me, decided to sleep on one of the towers on the great wall. it was cool because not many people get to sleep on the great wall,

but it wasn’t comfortable at all lol and it was pretty cold at night. the next day my legs were hurting a lot especially my thighs which sucks because everywhere I go involves walking up at least a couple flights of stairs. we had a nice breakfast, with a lot of homemade things from the sisters like chocolate muffins and banana bread. then we had sacrament service in one of the courtyards at the hotel which was cool because I could see the great wall the whole time during the service. then we headed home

When I got home to langfang I found out that my classes had been canceled because they’re pretty scared about the H1N1 flu here so they sent all the kids home till October 8th. Which is nice because I don’t have to worry about teaching but at the same time it gives me more time to be bored. I’m going to try to get my boss’ xbox and try to entertain myself that way.

On monday my legs were even more sore so I decided to get a massage. I walk into a room that has nothing but a queen size mattress on the floor so i thought it was kinda sketchy but my boss said she goes here all the time so I figured it was ok. it was a pretty good deal, it was a full body massage for 2 hours for only $13, but it wasn’t a relaxing massage haha. it was actually pretty painful especially for my thighs but it was interesting because she pretty much used every part of her body to massage me. my legs feel better today so that is good

I also tried beijing duck for the first time. it was good. this is one of the only meals that I’ve tried so far that was sweet. they would sometimes dig the duck in sugar. we also had a side dish of sweet potatoes that were coated in sugar and tasted like cotton candy. it was too sweet for me. that was about it.

I didn’t get a chance to write last weekend because I’ve been kind of busy and somethings happened, like my computer stopped working. anyway so about two weeks ago things at work started to go down hill. my roommate/friend/coworker decided to quit and go back to school in beijing. he was my only guy friend out here in langfang, even though we didn’t always understand each other, so it sucked to see him go. a couple days later my boss tells me that the middle school here wants me to teach there but first I needed to do a practice run with the class. so on thursday I tried to teach 50+ students and with 10 teachers supervising. Well I really had no idea what to expect in regards to how much english they knew so it didn’t turn out good. apparently they knew very little English so I struggled to get anyones attention. they almost didn’t hire me, but I guess on monday they decided that they should hire me, and maybe I would get better haha. I wish they didn’t hire me because I wanted to quit here and now it makes it harder to quit. it has been tough for me because it seems like almost all of my social life is in beijing and the church so it would be much easier if I lived there. all my friends in beijing are always trying to get me to move there, but I’ve been trying to stay in langfang because I don’t want to break my contract. I stayed at my friend’s apartment in beijing this weekend. it is a really nice place and has a room available if I decided to move to beijing, but after church I had to head back home.

When I got home I starting talking with my other friend/coworker in langfang. She told me that she had decided to quit as well so she could go back to school. I couldn’t believe that the only two friends that I had in Langfang were leaving me, and I was staying. it really sucked. I called my parents and complained a lot to them. I was determined to quit and move to beijing and if I didn’t find a job there then I would just go back to the USA. I was going to talk to my boss the next day after this foreigner activity I was involved with.
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the activity was something about the langfang hot air balloon festival so we played a game in the hot air balloons were we had to throw sand bags at a target on the ground. we were still tied to the ground so we weren’t that high in the balloons but it was still pretty cool and something I’d never done before. then we went to eat at a hot pot restaurant. this place seemed very expensive. the table was huge and sat 30 people. I’m sure if the table was in the states it would have been around $15,000 or more with the chairs. afterwards I tried talking with me boss about leaving, but she gave me a huge guilt trip about how much she needs me to be here and support her. And I felt really bad. Curse the way women use the power of their emotions to get us to do what they want!
the next week I started teaching the classes. I have a younger middle school class that is pretty roudy and two older classes that aren’t as bad, but all of the classes have around 50 students in them so it is pretty scary. I didn’t realize how much I needed my two friends in my life out here in langfang because since they’ve left I have been extremely bored, and to top it off my computer wasn’t changing so the only entertainment I had wasn’t working either, but i got it fixed for now so I’m surviving lol.

I left friday for beijing like I always do. I waited at the bus station for a long time only to find out when the bus arrived that I couldn’t get on the bus if I didn’t have my passport on me. I never carry it with me, but because they have started practicing for the National day celebration they were checking all foreignor visas. so I had to go back to the apartment then wait for the bus again.

I had volunteered to help clean the chapel saturday morning so I did that then I was meeting a friend at church to go apartment hunting with him. before I left the building the branch president grabbed me and gave me a calling. I am the new co chair rep for the YSA in the branch. I didn’t think I was going to get that calling because I live so far away but I guess I’m one of the few that will be here for a long time to help. I’m hoping that someone will let me rent out there extra bedroom for the weekends so I don’t have to keep carrying my luggage back and forth every weekend and I can be more envolved with my calling.
we looked at one place near the church that was a dumb then we were supposed to go look at another place but the real estate agent wasn’t there so we left. Later that night we went to this really popular street for foreignors. it is really the only place they have mexican food so I happy to get to eat some of that. it wasn’t like it is at home but it was close so I was happy.
After break the fast on sunday I started heading back to Langfang. I took the subway to the last stop then I do what I usually do, which is catch the bus all the way to Langfang. I got to the bus station and it was closed. I didn’t know what to do so I walked back to the subway station, but now that was closed. I called the branch president to see who might live in the area. I figured I could stay at a member’s place until my boss came to pick me up. so I started walking towards the member’s house. it was quit a walk, but before I could get there the police made everyone cross to the other side of the street, then I walked for a little bit and the police and completely stopped traffic on the street and the sidewalks. I had no Idea what was going on because no one was speaking english and I didn’t know where to go. after awhile all these military vehicles started coming down the street, pretty much every tank or vehicle they have, it was pretty cool and I wish I had my camera with me. in that time finally someone spoke english and told me that this part of the street was blocked off for the next couple hours and that I needed to walk back to where I started and try to catch a bus or taxi, well the buses weren’t going anywhere close to where I needed to be and there where no taxi’s available so I finally decided to walk about around, and managed to get back on the other side of the street, the side i originally started on. slowly but surely I was getting to where I needed to be. the reason everything was blocked was because of the national day celebration practice that was happening that night. the military vehicles on the streets and all the participants on the sidewalks and subways had blocked everything off. you would think that they would have left something open for people to get around. not only had I been walking around now for 3 hours but I also had my suitcase with me and it was raining. it was Hell, but I tried keeping my cool. I finally made it to the member’s house and a little bit later my boss came and picked me up. I ended getting home pretty late which sucked because I had an early class to teach. well that’s been my life for the past couple weeks. next weekend the branch is camping on the great wall so I’ll make sure to take pictures, and two weeks after that I am going to hong kong. I’ll keep you posted.

this past weekend was pretty cool/exhausting haha. I had made prior arrangements to stay at my friends house friday to sunday in beijing so I could go to FHE then stay in town till after church on Sunday. I left Langfang around 4 so I had enough time to drop off my bag then meet the rest of the young single adults at the silk market for the activity. when I got into beijing I was supposed to call my branch president because I was going to leave my bag at his place then pick it up after the activity so I wouldn’t have to carry it with me around the silk market. however, when I got into beijing my phone wasn’t working. so I walked around for a little bit trying to find the phone company that I go through to try to figure out what happened. I was trying to stay calm because I didn’t want to get upset. I wanted to stay rational lol. I finally decided that I would take the subway to the president’s apartment. I wasn’t exactly sure if I knew where he lived but I was going to try. I managed to find the right place but he wasn’t home yet. I waited for him for about 30 minutes. by that time I was really late for FHE but they were planning on doing dinner afterwards so I met up with them for dinner. I was really annoyed that the phone wasn’t working. I guess I needed to put more money into the phone but I was under the impression that my boss was doing that and then taking it out of my pay because that’s what she did the week before. I called my boss from the President’s phone and she put more minutes on my phone. the whole phone not working thing gave me another reason why I wanted to live in beijing.

I met up with the young single adults and then we walked for a long time to finally find this korean BBQ place they wanted to eat at. it was ok, but over priced.
The next day I met up with my Langfang friends/coworkers and we went the the 798 which is the famous beijing art walk. it was pretty cool. I have seen pictures of the place but it was much better being there. there were a lot of fun and interesting art pieces. After awhile though we were really tired from all the walking and because we woke up really early to get there. a good thing was that it was a cooler day and not very humid. they were also shooting a movie in one of the buildings there. it could have been the movie “the kung fu kid” staring will smith’s son and jackie Chan. some of my friends have seen Will Smith around town, and one friend is actually an extra in the film.

We were doing a lot of walking that day and after lunch we decided to go to this really popular strip mall in beijing because I wanted to buy some new shoes. The place was packed. I think the combination of it being saturday, the weather being nice, and just being in beijing’s central area made tons of people come to this place. I found a couple of shoes I really liked, but the problem was that I couldn’t find hardly any in my size. the highest that most shoes went up to was 9. I finally found a pair of new running shoes that were my size but they were a little more expensive than what I was wanting to spend. we then walked to this old catholic cathedral that was nice looking. the people there don’t have much respect for it though and were skateboarding all over the cathedral grounds even while people were trying to take there wedding pictures there. they will have to photoshop them out of the pictures.

After that I met up with my friend Samily and we went to this really good american food restaurant called Grandma’s Kitchen. It was the most authentic American food that I have had here so far, and the place had a very nice Old American feel to it. I will going back there for sure. I did alot of walking in the past two days so I decided to go home a little early, also I didn’t want to get to my friends apartment after 12 because they turn off the elevator at 12. the night before I had to walk up 12 floors with my suitcase; it was not fun. there were some really good talks in church on sunday, one of which was from my friend that I was staying with. The branch was pretty small on sunday but I think it is because it is the transition time when people are leaving china, and in the next couple weeks more people will be coming. I’ve been told that this year it is harder to get working visa’s so there might not be a lot of people coming, but we will see how that goes.

I then came home to Langfang to an empty apartment. I found out the next day that my one student may not be coming back because he has to go to regular school, so he wont be living with me anymore, and my coworker/roommate andy decided to quit so right now I have the apartment to myself, but I’m pretty lonely and bored right now lol. I have a new student that I am teaching for this week then I think next week I start teaching a class of 40 students through the school that we are staying at. I’m pretty nervous about teaching them but we will see how it goes. I almost bought a ticket to come home for Brent’s wedding but I couldn’t find any cheap tickets because everyone in china has that time off too because of national day. It seems like everyone is traveling that week. I might go to southern china that week or southern asia if I can get a cheap flight and find someone to go with.
My boss had a feeling that I was thinking about quiting and going to beijing so she basically begged me to stay because she really needs me here right now, so I think I will be staying in Langfang for at least November, but we will see how things go. I was also asked to give a talk this sunday on patience, so maybe I’ll learn how to deal with being stuck in langfang lol.

Yesterday the Apostle Elder Cook and one of the presidents of the 70s came and spoke briefly to my branch and the other english speaking branch in beijing. It was really special to be in such a small fireside with them. I was actually really close. the seat that was saved for me was in the second row pretty much right in the center, so I was in spitting distance from the speakers. I was thankful to be able to here them speak. I almost didn’t get to come because traveling to beijing from langfang during the week is really hard. My boss had previously said she would take me, but then she had to make a business trip to shanghai. Luckly she asked her mom to let me use her car and driver. it was nice having the driver to take me everywhere haha. I tried getting a photo with elder cook, but he managed to disappear once he got into the halls so I missed my chance. Maybe I’ll get to meet him again. I did get to shake his hand, which was nice.

Also this week the new American Ambassador to China arrives. He is the former governor of Utah and is rumored to be running for president in 2016. He was a top nominee for the 2012 election so Obama sent him away. Anyway, he is going to be in my branch. It will be interesting to meet him.

As far as work goes, I’ve been really bored at work. I guess there was an earthquake near Taiwan that broke an internet cable. Many websites are down, including almost everyone that I use on a normal basis including yahoo, facebook, and websites I use for teaching. I can’t send or receive emails, which really sucks. My friends from Church have been talking to me a lot about quiting my job in langfang and moving to beijing, and it’s sounding more and more like something I might do. Almost everything in my life in china deals with people or things in beijing with the exception to work. I miss out of a lot of things with friends and church because I live out in langfang. I could also probably get a better paying job in Beijing, although I think my living expenses would be higher in beijing. I think I’ll talk to my boss about it soon.

Well thats pretty much me for right now. I didn’t do anything fun last weekend because I was sick, but I’m planning on going into beijing on friday to hang out with friends from church then go to the art walk on saturday, and the whole church thing on sunday. I’ll report how it goes.

Saturday morning I got up early and heading into town to meet up with some friends to go to the summer palace and maybe the zoo if we had time. I’m getting more fimiliar with the subway because now I am able to find the first subway station instead of going all the way to suihua where the bus finally stops. It saves me around 15 minutes of travel. I took the line 10 then to the line 13 to meet at my friends apartment where I was going to stay the night. Samily just got this apartment in northern beijing and wasn’t planning on sleeping there that night so she said I could stay there so I wouldn’t have to go back to langfang that night then come back to beijing the next day. I met samily and her friend from Tiawan Geni then we headed to the summer palace where we met up with Jeremy and Natalie. Jeremy is here for the summer doing his internship. We all had some kind of student ID so we got in the summer palace at half off, so it was 15 instead of 30 rmb.
     The palace grounds were huge! it was built sometime in either the 17 or 18 hundred for the empress at the time. she had a lake dug around the main palace and with all the dirt from the lake she had them make a hill to keep the temperature down during the summers. it was pretty cool to see all the architechure. we walked down this famous long hall way and every beam had a different painting on it. there was a lot of work that went into it. I was told a story about how the empress would get people to cut of the limbs of the women who were her husband’s concubines. then she would comfort them and pretend to be their best friend.
     the picture is in the little city on the other side of the hill, it was really cool. if you go to the summer palace you should go here and because its on the other side of the hill it wasn’t too crowded. the lotus plants in the back of the photo are popular to eat. people eat the flower seeds and deep fry the roots, which are pretty good.

Then we took a pretty long bus ride to the beijing zoo. I haven’t seen that part of town so I didn’t mind too much except that my feet were killing me and there was no where to sit on the bus. You have to pay extra to see the panda exhibit but it was fine because together it was only 20 rmb. The pandas were cool. There were smaller than I expected, maybe as big as a really big dog. they aren’t actually bears from what I’ve been told, but are actually part of the racoon family which you can definately see in the red panda. I felt bad for the animals there because they cages were really small especially for the elephants, but besides that it was cool to see a bunch of animals I haven’t seen before.
     The next day was really nice because I didn’t have to leave the apartment till 10am. usually I would have to leave my apartment at 730am to get to church. did the whole church thing. found out that elder Cook is coming to town next week on Tuesday night, hopefully I can find a way to get over there. That was about it for me this weekend