This is an update from several weeks. Life since school has started has been very busy for the both of us, but in very different ways. Patty has far fewer classes four per week, but has taken over continually being outdoors walking, spending time in the mountains and has been taking tons of walks with our dog, Noah. She continues growing and eating incredible amounts. I have many more classes than I know what to do with, taking up most of my time planning, teaching, and correcting. I feel as though I have gotten lazy in other ways though as I have not been able to go out walking, playing basketball and ping pong, or running much lately. But with this there have been plenty of other activities to keep us busy. The dog is in constant need of walks, so we seem to spend countless trips down the stairs, around the campus and out into the countryside with her. It has been even more exciting now that she is in her puppy making stage.

Last weekend was our anniversary and as tradition goes in our family, I got sick the night before and that day also. Patty had to teach my class as I could not get out of bed, but I would not miss doing something special for our 5th anniversary. So many blessings during this time!! I wanted to take her to a fancy restaurant here in Anshun, yeah I found one, but asked her if she would rather have toasted fish, so we used our anniversary to have a chance to get together with some friends and celebrate together. We got Patty 11 roses which is the Chinese number for forever "1 + 1" together forever. Other friends got us matching keychains, matching mugs, candy etc. The next day was Noah's big day--her surgery in Guiyang.

The morning started early at 7 traveling to the bus station to catch a bus...we went to another station that allows dogs and met the vet there. He had a bag with little puppies (it turned out to be 4 of them). The trip went fairly well, almost two hours of an antsy dog head out the window, then wanting to smell all the people on-board. Finally upon arriving we took a taxi ish thing to a market where they sell huge dogs like German Shepherds, Mastiffs, etc. and we met the people who would do the surgery. They gave Noah her shot when Patty was away and Noah was laying still a minute later. They put her on a table, tied her legs down with rope and Patty was ready to get out of there-but they asked us to stay just another minute to check and soon found out that they could not do the surgery because Noah was having her period. She was totally out at this point, so we expected that we would have to carry our dead looking dog back home, but they soon gave her another injection and she was almost instantly awake and wanted to run around. it was a bit funny as she staggered around falling frequently before they gave her yet another injection and she was ready to go. So we traveled back to Anshun, getting pretty much nothing done and finally got to eat at 2 pm after 7 hours and 140 yuan ($20). We are hoping to not have to do that kind of travel again, but we will see. She seems to be able to stand it better now, she will finally fall asleep next to us after 30 minutes or so. Students are getting more and more used to her, but it is still quite the struggle to convince people that she is safe and will not bite them causing the dreaded trips to the doctor for numerous injections.

It is late now, I will try to put some more of this past week up tomorrow or soon...been trying to sneak in a little NCAA basketball scores and games as I can. Not quite the same though across the ocean. Many blessings and lots of love from the Muellers!!

Since returning back to our apartment in China, we have had lots of Noah time. When we returned to AS, we rushed over to our student's house to pick up Noah (our dog). We received a picture halfway through our 6 week vacation, so we knew she was no longer a puppy, but when we got there we barely recognized her. She was huge!! From a dog that we could easily carry in one arm, to a mammoth pouch that could nearly pull us home. It has brought a big change to our lives. She needs lots of outdoor time, but is very protective over us (maybe afraid we will leave her again), so we have "gotten our exercise" to say the least. Many trips up and down the 92 stairs and numerous walks around our campus, the track and the lake near our school, and also up and over the mountain beside our home has brought a new appreciation to having a pet. This is certainly more time and effort then Tippy was in MN, but also a lot of ma fan (trouble/annoyance).

It is not because we do not love to walk around and spend time with Noah, but because of the extreme fear of dogs and people's reaction to Noah. Even when she was a little puppy (3lbs.), some people would cower in fear of being bit, but now that she has grown to be able to above their waist when jumping up (only friends though as she is well behaved), so many people will divert their paths or scream in fear even if Noah is 10 feet away. To us this is quite an irrational fear, but for so many Chinese this is a fear born of instinct and necessity. As most dogs (probably nearly all in our area) are not vaccinated, if they are bitten they must go to the doctor for a series of shots or injections. You would think Chinese people are quite acquainted with injections and IV's as they receive one every time they go to the doctor, no matter the what the problem is or its severity. But no, they still run and hide when they see Noah coming...the curious dog that wants to say hello to and sniff everyone (a very bad combination). But our favorite people are the ones who will call her over and then when she is about 5 feet away will start to scream. All of this has led us to put Noah on her leash almost all of the time.

Today, we took Noah to her doctor to get her operation, so that we would not have more mafan to worry about ie puppies. This means that we need to take her on the bus, not an easy task at all. We have to pick her up and carry her on conspicuously as many bus drivers are afraid of having a dog on-board and try to find a seat away from people. Inevitably, we end up near someone who is deathly afraid and try to assure them it is okay. As the bus fills up and people are packed on, Noah gets more excited, so we have gotten her to stick her head out the window, the only place she is happy and people are not so terrified. After the 30 minute ordeal, we are at the animal street, where they sell all kinds of animals and plants too. Our friend is with to interpret, since we have no idea how to ask about the operation.

After 15 minutes of talking, we find out that it cannot be done in Anshun and we will have to travel by several buses to GY to have the operation this weekend. Or we can just keep her inside for the rest of her life to make sure she cannot become pregnant (the doctor's advice). It should be quite the adventure, and she will probably come back to AS in a cone collar--something else scary for the students and people to see. We still do not know what to expect from a Vet clinic in China...it could be interesting. We have heard from friends that they do the operation and you take them home right away, even before they have woken up...so I am looking forward to carrying a limp 35 lb. dog on the bus...let's see if people are still afraid?!? It will certainly get some stares!!

We hope you are blessed in your daily encounters and activities and that each moment is a blessing...we send our love.

The worst imaginable thing that could happen during traveling is that a bag with your valuables is stolen or missing. We lost a bag when returning back to America from China the first time. It seemed rather suspicious, as we arrived in Chicago after our first flight was canceled but found that our bags made the flight. There was no way we were going to let something like that happen again, but that was until we traveled for over a day straight. We made our trip from Kuta (Danpassar) Indonesia to Kuala Lumpur, catch our connecting flight, arriving around midnight and started doing the routine arrival cards when we saw a group of Chinese women totally lost. They were waiting in line and then started walking around the area looking like they needed help. Maybe we could help...we started trying to translate the arrival cards into chinese because they are completely in English. This was going to take forever spelling out everything until they gave us their National ID cards and we got a line of workers waiting for us to write out their cards...many of the questions we had to just answer 'Other' because they did not know the meaning and our Chinese was not up to date...little practice in Indonesia and only some with a 4 year old in malaysia. They all made it through customs, as did we 45 minutes later than we thought.

Our next flight wasn't until 5:50 am, so we had a long wait and found that we were not the only ones. There were people everywhere sleeping on every chair and open space. We piled our bags up and found an open place and tried to sleep--Patty succeeded better than I. By the time, we made it onto the plane, we were certainly very tired and ready to sleep. We did get some sleep on the plane but were not ready for the day we would have ahead of us when we arrived in Guangzhou.

We arrived early in the morning, caught the bus to the train station and it seemed like things were going to work out just fine. We remembered the craziness of the train station from the stories during last winter's ice storm and were happy there were far fewer then 600,000 people there, but it certainly was very crowded. We got in the back of a line stretching out of the building and trudged our way to the front of the line. It was only 9 am so we had a long time to get our ticket to Wenzhou. One hour went by and most of another and we found ourselves at the front of the line. The lady behind the counter stood up, pulled her curtain closed and left. We had to wait for her to go to break and come back later. I decided to get in another line, not knowing how long Patty would have to wait, and almost made it to the front of my long line before Patty got her chance before the ticket lady. The news was grim...no train tickets to Wenzhou today and only one very late tomorrow night. We said no, even though the wait was over 2 hours. We'll try buses.

We went outside and asked a police officer where the bus station was and a bunch of people came together to work out our problem--finally coming up with the conclusion that there are no buses to Wenzhou today and one tomorrow, but very expensive. Maybe a plane would be better. We headed back to the ticket place, luckily all three are in one convenient place!! There are a couple tickets to Wenzhou that night, but there price was insanely expensive...but if we waited for tomorrow night the price is less than half. The only problem is that means we would only have 3 days with our students followed by a 2 day train ride back to college. What should we do...we called our friends in Wenzhou and then decided upon returning early to college and getting some time to relax (tickets were cheaper too).

The flight was at 10:40 pm though so we had a whole day in Guangzhou. We went to a park, walked around for a long period of time but were just tired and looking forward to getting back home. We decided to go back to the airport and wait there for our flight. We arrived around 6 and took a seat and talked about all of the events of our travels...Patty was still going over and feeling bad about leaving our coats in Ubud, indonesia, besides losing her watch...there is something about her and losing things while traveling (many umbrellas, watches, and hair thingies since). We were ready to sleep, so decided to get our ticket and rest at the gate and that's when it happened. Patty put down her bag to get her travel bag with our tickets, passports, extra money and other valuables in it out and started removing things slowly, followed by her ripping everything out and calling out in disbelief...they're not here!! I was totally lost, because I did not know what she was looking for, and kept her calm as we checked all of our other bags. It then sunk in, our tickets, passport, money, everything was gone...we might be stuck here in Guangzhou forever. I tried to stay calm in the face of Patty's hysteria...maybe we can check with the buses. Maybe someone has found it there and turned it in.

We went back to the bus stop just in time for the next bus to come (every 15 minutes) and Patty rushed onto the bus to the amazement of the women working there. What was she doing?? We tried to explain and the women were like, ahh...you want to get on the bus, buy a ticket over there. No, no, we left our bag on the bus...yes, yes buy a ticket take the bus. All in Chinese. It did not seem like we were getting anywhere, so I decided to go try the lost and found while Patty stayed at the buses. We had a few hours, so this was okay...as long as we find it. At the lost and found, the women listened to my broken Chinese...the bag that we had with money, tickets, and passports we have no more, left on the bus and handed me a phone. The connection was horrible and I could barely hear anything as I tried to explain the story again. So frustrating!!

On Patty's end, she has continued trying to rush onto every arriving bus to search, and finally has given up and has started crying hysterically. The women are trying to console her, "don't cry lady, buy ticket over there." After several more minutes of this, they decide that they need someone who knows more English. A woman comes and explains slowly in English..."it is okay, you can get on the bus after you buy a ticket." Patty frustrated explains the story, my bag was lost on the bus with my ticket, passports and money. This springs her (the bus lady) into hyper-help form and she takes off in her high-heels with Patty chasing behind.

During this time, I am still on the phone ready to hang up on the lady and checking the time on my cell phone and see a clock...the times are not even close. All of the extra time we thought we had, really isn't there. This is getting desperate. I have long since sent messages to friends to keep us in their thoughts and I really want to hang up and do something else, but what... At this time, the lady on the phone says wait and I hear the phone passing hands, I am not going to explain this again, but then I hear Patty's voice. She is crying and trying to talk..."they cannot find the bag, I don't know where I am." As she says these words, she starts screaming. I finally catch a few of the intelligible words, they found it. I cannot believe it, but we do not have time to celebrate. I try to explain where we should meet and the time difference and to hurry, but am sure Patty heard nothing through her screaming and she hangs up. I go to the meeting point and wait, looking at the clock the whole time. We are going to miss the flight and the tickets are not refundable...ahhh!!! So I start walking around the airport looking for Patty, which turns into running and calling her name...I assume most people had no idea what I was saying. Through the crowds of people I finally see Patty's familiar blonde hair and thus starts the next step. Catching our flight.

We ran in circles trying to find the correct check in place for our flight...the sign says they will stop taking luggage 45 minutes before the flight and we are pretty much at that point and there is a small line. We find our way to the front and hand our ticket half expecting her to say sorry but she says how many bags and we put our bags on and get our tickets. Her instruction was to hurry. So much for our planning ahead, and no time to think about the miracle of finding our bag. We rush with our backpack and a couple plastic bags of things to the inspection point. Patty again gets frisked and I wait for her with my bags and we leave towards the gates knowing that we have at least 10 minutes to get there. As we arrived at the Guiyang gate, we let out a sigh and Patty gave me a huge hug, releasing her pent up stress.

Even though it is nearly time for our flight, there is no plane there, but this does not bother us, we are there. I am hungry though and look around for the bag with our food in it. It is nowhere to be found and I look at Patty. Knowing she is already feeling bad, I try to break the mood by saying, I know you did not want to bring my rocks home, but where is our other bag? She is distraught, and beside herself, she is so good at being in charge of those things but this was not her day. I had to run back to the inspection area and get it before our plane arrives...all successfully and we board our plane an hour late. We have called our friends and are looking forward to relaxing at their house upon arrival.

The flight is totally uneventful and we land in Guiyang a little before 1am to find that there are no taxis. We ask several people and they say, meiyou (none). How are we going to get to our friends house, the airport is very far away. We see a bus ready to leave and take off running with our last levels of energy and get there as they are preparing to leave. "We want to go to the college." The inevitable answer is, we do not go there, we go to Qianling Park (nowhere close). We insist over and over again, we need to go to the college and finally they say okay whatever but more expensive. Money has long since been issue in this day of fiascoes. We would pay whatever. It turns out to only be an extra 5 RMB per person (70 cents). It has never felt better to see people we know and to be able to speak in English and to lay down and sleep. What a crazy day...the Fiasco in GuangZhou has ended.

After our six week Chinese New Year/winter holiday break, school is starting tomorrow. That means I needed to get the last minute copying done and walk the dog at the same time. This is usually an enjoyable activity. The former students who own the copy shop are so accommodating and we seem to have an understanding not made from words, as we both struggle with the technical parts of each others language. I went ahead to get the copies done, while my wife tried to harness in our dog, Noah, who had just ran in front of the bus when she saw the pile of garbage in the street and the man with his carts picking through it for valuables. Noah was not going to be outdone and wanted a chance to be in the search. So I left them to their struggle, to explain my stack of papers and the number of copies I needed of each. I needed two copies of each (24 copies in all), and to my amazement they had bought a new copy machine so they got to work immediately without the turning on and waiting period, often with the shaking of the machine and a few bad copies. In amazing speed the copies were shooting out, almost like being back in America and in the teachers lounge for last minute copies...but then we all heard a series of loud noises and shouts and ran outside to see what was happening.

I immediately thought the worst, someone was throwing things Noah or beating Noah, because many people are afraid of dogs. Most dogs in China are wild and thus carry all kinds of diseases, so if bitten you need to get a long series of shots, so many people will whistle at our dog and then run away in fright when she comes near them. So when I saw the person wielding a mop and running towards something to hit it in the shop, I was mortified. I went out further and saw the student (college student at that), breaking the mop over the head of another student and use the remaining piece to beat him. This freaked me out even more. Other students jumped in and started to kick this kid who didn't quite know what to do. The original student then found a brick and started to beat the student who was now curled up in the fetal position.

I could not sit by and not intervene. In America, I would have been there after seeing the first part of this along with a line of other people, but things are a bit different in China. The Chinese people are not violent people by any means, but the reaction to fighting is very different. When there are traffic accidents, you will often see those involved getting into a scuffle right there in the middle of traffic. One such incident comes to mind, a man driving his motorbike through town when a man walks aimlessly in front of him causing the man on the motorbike to swerve and topple his bike on top of himself. My wife nudged me and said go help him get his bike off the street, but within seconds the man was up limping and dragging his injured leg to catch up to the man who offended him and started beating him. Many others saw this and formed a circle around the pair in the middle of the street with buses and cars going around. The police eventually came, now to two bloody men and money changed hands and the ordeal was over.

I was afraid another tragic story like the one several months before was going to happen, where a guard was stoned to death by bricks. I would not let that happen even if the Chinese expectation seems to be that you stay out of others affairs. So with a crowd of shopkeepers and other students watching I ran over, the foreign teacher, trying to stop this madness of a fight. As a student started beating him again with the brick, I started yelling, "bu yao" (literally don't want) grabbed the student, picked him up and turned him around. To this his girlfriend or friend, came running over and asking me not to hurt him. When he was removed, another student jumped in and started kicking the guy and I once again had to remove him. All eyes and mouths were wide open in amazement...what is the foreigner doing?? After a few more seconds of my shouting in Chinese and English--I really did not know what to yell...the students started to disperse and shopkeepers hurried back to their stores. The show was over.

I went back paid for my copies, told the guys in the copy shop that I would see them later and left for home, confused. I have never been in a fight before, so this was a whole new feeling. I hope I am tagging the culture wrong on this one, but from all of my experiences it seems to be true...to stay out of others' affairs is of great importance even if it means harm is coming to them and you can help. In all other ways, the Chinese are incredibly helpful. And I cannot say I have ever felt in danger, even after this experience.