Rainy Day Parade. The LONG HU GARDEN BASHU SCHOOL parade practice must go on...

It's April 10 in China, April 9 in USA.  Thursday now.  We live in a high rise apartment in the City of ChongQing, China, like most everybody else we know here.  High rise apartments is the only way you fit dozens of millions of people in a relative small urban area.  Density is high. We live right next door to an elementary school.  The LONG HU GARDEN BASHU elementary school. Many of the kids that go to this school also live nearby here, even in this apartment complex where we live, the Long Hu Xi Yuan.

We moved here about a year ago, and things are in flux right now, or so it seems.  Deadlines on visa looming, job opportunities outstanding and hanging out there, no final decisions made yet, and only 10 more days to go and time is UP.  If I weren't a praying man, I'd be pretty stressed by now, and have already purchased airline tickets, and made all of our preparations to leave this place, this country. But somehow, in my faithful mind and heart, I believe that there is an opportunity for us here.  You could call it a hunch, a premonition, or something like that, but I would go further and say that the spirit of revelation is at play in all of our lives if we would but listen to it. What's that scripture? Knock?  Its called inspiration, prayer.

• Matthew 7:7 ¶Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:

Those who have grown to trust in that also know that there are no absolutes on timelines or even expectations.  But hindsight is easy once the waiting is past, and it always has turned out that no matter the inspiration I got, the Lord was right and true in what He said, and sometimes I have slightly misunderstood it, but it turned out even more pleasant than expected in the end, because the Lord always wants to BLESS us... not hurt us.

He tells us just enough.  One day at a time.  One step at a time.  That's they way it has always worked in my life anyway. I have found that if I put my trust and faith in the Lord that He has always given us what we NEED and we have never suffered.  Now there may come a day when I actually do suffer, in fact the way the world is shaping up we might all count on that happening as a norm in a future world... depends on whether everybody can get along or not, and also how much mother earth cooperates by not sending tsunamis, earthquakes, lightning, and volcanoes to test and try our patience and love for one another.

On this particular rainy day the Chinese kids at the school were out in full force and colorful uniforms, practicing for an upcoming big event.  This school is in an affluent area, and it shows.  So on this rainy day, we are in our apartment. I'm working on future job prospects, even preparing for interviews. All at the seemingly last moment. Seemingly? Absolutely the last moment!  But there was not much I could do.  It came as a surprise, an unexpected turn of events for me and my family here in China.

The company I work for now has had a significant change in management at the levels that affected me and my job there. Again, its probably all fate and I have nothing to worry about, but needless to say, I did not see it coming, did not expect it... but the company formed a new company internal to the original company, that was going to become the department I was a part of.  Problem is, the man they hired to be the General Manager of it, QUIT.  Yes, he left.

So with all new players and a host of uncertainty about the future of the department and a huge marketing hole, the Vice President of the local company here stepped up to lead it. Problem is, he knows virtually nothing about Transportation Engineering and Planning. He is changing the direction of the focus of the department, turning it into something entirely different from what I was hired to come and help lead.  Now all of that is in the past. I move on to other opportunities.
I must focus on what my talents are.

I have always thought of my skill set being something in addition to merely transportation engineering.

I like the creative side of things too.  Communications comes to mind. Data Mining, marketing, visual communication, all of these, and there are some opportunities over her that complement my skill set.

The school is called LONG HU GARDEN BASHU SCHOOL.

HONG KONG DISNEYLAND

I think this page is self-explanatory. We had a great time in Hong Kong after we got our visas in hand, Which was a difficult process for us. But after we had them, we could relax a little bit, and it didn't cost us an arm and a leg to go to Disneyland so we went. About 50 bucks for kids each, and 60 bucks for adults so it's actually a little cheaper than what they charge in America. But the place is a little bit smaller, Has less rides, In some cases shorter rides, but what a memory! What a great time we had! We are so thankful that we could do something fun for the family after all of the busy government paperwork etc. It took so much time and money. In fact, each visa cost each of our six family members $200 each. Ouch. Disneyland was less than a third of that.

"IT'S A BIG WORLD OUT THERE" Hong Kong Beaches and Double Decker Buses

When we first arrived in Hong Kong we were ready to take care of business and get our tourist visas to go back to the mainland China. Our home was there. All of our things were there in the mainland. We had to get back in. But we had a little problem with our planning of this trip. What we did not realize is that down in Hong Kong they were celebrating A four day holiday weekend for Easter. So our plans to go to the Chinese consulate on Friday were foiled. Same with Monday.

So we decided to try to make the best of it and take a little vacation time. It also meant that our return flight tickets would be wasted and lost because there was no way we were going to be able to return on Tuesday. We also had to make new reservations at another hotel. A lot of expenses taking place but nothing we could do about it. So in this video and a few of the hundreds of pics we took, it documents just a little taste of what we experienced on the weekend traveling on the double-decker buses and going to one of the local beaches on the Hong Kong Island on the southeast side, and visiting Disneyland after the weekend was over. 

We also visited the Temple there of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. We also went to church on Sunday and met so many wonderful people in that branch that meet together each Sunday on the main island in a nice building just across the street from the Chinese consulate in the central area. I can't say enough about the Saints in Hong Kong. They were wonderful people and I really enjoyed my visit there with my family. I would love to go back and see them again someday. One man that I met was Dastan from Togo Africa. He was a wonderful person.

Old Town Ci Qi Kou in ChongQing China 老城磁器口在中国重庆

We went here to CI QI KOU 磁器口 with friends and had a great time!!! We went with Ken my Chinese friend in this video.

My Daughter Emily and Grant Johnson

Also taught at an English school, Ken's school, in downtown ChongQing ShaPingBa area and had a great time there too. Christa had a class, and I participated in another. The kids in the class I was in were great! Had a good talk with them too.  They work so hard, study so much, and yet they too have hopes and dreams for other things. 

When I showed one young man our music studio because he liked music, his face fell a bit as he realized he would never be able to do that soon, being obligated to studies from morning until late at night, every night. 

This was a Saturday that he was also at a special English school getting even more learning. 

I feel like kids need more time to play and have social interaction, and I can tell that these kids too, want that. 

They need that, but they are feeling the realities of what happens if you don't study hard and get the consequences of lack of future opportunities.

it's way cooler than I thought it would be, and the people experience in public places is tops here. We're having a great time with so many people.

Here are several photos taken from the video (screen captures):







PHOTOS:

Adam eating the honey candy chew  photo © 2014 grant johnson enoch studios

the musicians at the tea house  photo © 2014 grant johnson enoch studios

the candy mix and pounding table  photo © 2014 grant johnson enoch studios

the packed streets  photo © 2014 grant johnson enoch studios

Audrey getting some money out to pay the lady for candy honey  photo © 2014 grant johnson enoch studios

Audrey getting professional calligraphy advice  photo © 2014 grant johnson enoch studios

Emily in the tea house  photo © 2014 grant johnson enoch studios

looking at family photos with the musicians  photo © 2014 grant johnson enoch studios

pounding the candy dough mix  photo © 2014 grant johnson enoch studios

churning the sticky rice  photo © 2014 grant johnson enoch studios

on the streets  photo © 2014 grant johnson enoch studios

in the tea house, the musicians photo © 2014 grant johnson enoch studios