Oopsey Daisy...

I got bucked off my bike the other night.  Actually, that's only partially true.  Another bike side-swiped me in a crammed intersection.  I went down on my left hip full force on to the road.  Wham!  Limp!  Drag mangled bike off the road!  Limp!  Pain!  X-rays!  MRI!  Good news...no broken bones.  But a heck of a lot of gimp and discomfort.  Invalid.  Crutches.  T I M E  On the couch.  L.O.T.S. of it. I'm coming up on the week mark and wish I could say it's been a productive week on the couch.  Myeah...Time on the couch is over-rated.  Finally today, Paco brought home a couple of walking sticks, and I ventured for the first time outside and strode around the courtyard here where we live to breathe in fresh (sort of) air and just generally shake my environment up.  Call it stir crazy, cabin fever--whatever.  It's real!!!  I've read, had some visitors, done some handwork, and fretted.  Paco has excelled as nurse, cook, gopher.  He's also my cheerleader and quick to point out that I'm progressing each day!!!!!!!!  It doesn't feel all that progressive.  I've also watched seven episodes of

which has been basically the highlight of my week pretty much.  Ross Poldark has this unruly hair, and he came home to Cornwall from the French and Indian War with all kinds of non-gentry ideas.  And then there's Demelsa!  Oh my!!  I'm always on the prowl for a good series to fritter away my life behind, so this totally fits the bill.

Then this arrived ordered by a student, Bear!  This wrapping speaks volumes about China--volumes.  

I won't torment you about the contents--it was 20 of these!!  Coolie hats!  Rice paddy hats!  Peasant hats!!  This class came en masse on Wednesday for their oral English time.  Happy to model hats!  That's how we took attendance!  20 students enrolled--20 hats.  

So instead of hip reconstruction in Singapore and my days in China ending abruptly (which is what my imagination was dictating in the wee hours of the morning before I went to the hospital), I am slowly on the mend AND anticipating the arrival of American family guests tomorrow!!  And for those things I am trembly grateful.

Tiannanmen Sunrise Flag-raising, Mao's Crystal Mausoleum, and a Sacred Mormon Tree...All Before 9 A.M.!

We were up and a little bleary-eyed, but go TEAM SUNRISE!!  On the subway at 5:25.  It was a thing of beauty.  These two adorable youthful faces deserve a moment of homage as well.  Dani (to the south of Chairman Mao) is a visiting graduate student from Oxford.  She is studying Chinese history, and her Mandarin constantly saves us from arrest.  She is our neighbor and wrote the book on Wonderful! The other young lassie is Trezlyn.  She hails from Good Ol' Mt. Potato Peeler, and her mother is one of my besties.  Trez teaches here now, and her story is one for another day.  I will add that I gave Trezlyn a panda pin when she was about five...and here she is, so...

The Sandberg contingent of Team Sunrise!

Old and young alike.

Trezlyn has only been in China for almost a month, and hard as it is to believe, she had ALREADY visited Mao's Crystal Mausoleum!  I know!  She waited in line for two hours when she came...

 but Team Sunrise watched the flag-raising at 6:45 AND WERE ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE MAUSOLEUM BY 7:07!!  Unprecedented.  

We found Chairman Mao looking rested and a tad orange.  Let's see 1976?  Our bi-centennial--China's historical day, and Mao's last.  Kudos to google images.  Had these been live shots I would be soliciting files baked into cakes...

A statue of him in his glory days.

John got a little frisky and started to do the Teaberry Shuffle.   If you know what that is, you're older than dirt.

J

The day was young and crisp, so we headed across the street back towards the Forbidden City and a park

where the trees are gnarled,

the avenues are broad and deserted at 7:20 A.M.,

and holes awaiting bulb planting abound!

Not an altogether unpleasant job, if you ask me.

We heeded this sign which I think was warning us of falling puzzle pieces.

Some jolly souls were already up and had their tops spinning.

And others had put on their cutest bear mittens and gone for an early walk with Papa.

Team Sunrise posed beneath the tree where Elders David O. McKay and Hugh J. Cannon dedicated "the Chinese realm" for missionary work on January 8, 1921, during their year-long excursion in these parts and the South Pacific.  Of significance in that prayer is the mention of the intervention of the allied powers of the civilized world.  I have the whole prayer if you ever want to read it.

Other trees in the neighborhood.  Perhaps the elders rested their canes here as they walked around and got a feel for the place.  It staggers the imagination to wonder what navigating in China would have resembled in 1921...adventure.

I'd like to interview these trees someday.

"In the Good Old..."