LAST WEEK IN UTAH

If I stayed here in Utah for about three more weeks I would have been here for five years, off and on. I've gotten used to the mountains and how close everything is. I've gotten used to most everybody going to the LDS Church. I've gotten used to no traffic on Sundays and people being very trusting. I never did start giving directions using north, east, west and south. I don't say thinks like "crick" or "oh my heck" and I don't refer to Utah as Zion.

I sent a sign up sheet around church today and eleven guys put down their names and numbers offering to help me bring everything down from my third story apartment into a moving van. I was touched to say the least. Becca and I are also trying to get people together so that she and I won't have to unload everything ourselves once I get to Modesto.

I was pretty much alone all last week. My brother Garit came and visited me on Tuesday but that was it. My human interaction has been limited to telephone calls and webcams with Becca and chatting on the internet with other friends. Although it's kind of fun at first it also gets old pretty fast. I am anxious to get to Modesto.

When you study a language you inevitably have to study the culture a bit as well. I don't know if any of you have heard but the oldest civilization in the world is trying to get its citizens to be more civilized. After the cultural revolution of the 1950's being highly civilized started to become looked down upon in Mainland China. The PRC really wants to make a good impression on the rest of the world so they've produced this video to try and remind people (especially Beijinggers) to be helpful and polite.

This next video is a bit long but I really like it. It's one of many songs that was written in honor of the Olympic Games in Beijing. It features most of China's famous singers. The only one I recognize is Jackie Chan. Yes, Jackie Chan has had a successful pop music career in China a long side his Kung Fu movie career. He did the dialog and singing for the character of Captain Shang in the Mandarin language dubbing of Disney's Mulan.

Our new landlords have been extremely kind to us. It makes us really want to keep our new house in good condition while we live there. For us, this new house will have tons of space and I'm looking forward to that. It's in a quiet neighborhood in between McHenry Avenue and Coffee Road (for those of you who are familiar with Modesto) and less than a mile to the south east of my old high school. Becca has been working at her new job in Modesto for the past week, which is why I'm alone here in Utah.

A chapter of my life is coming to a close and another one is about to be written. I don't know exactly what awaits us in Modesto other than wonderful family and friends. It will be interesting to see what the next five years has in store for Ryan and Becca Boothe.