today was supposed to be our "downtime" day but we ended up packing it with time with students since they are all leaving tomorrow...it was so fun! We met a group of 9 girls this morning and received a bouquet of bears...yes, small teddy bears...interesting, no? Then we met a brother and sister for lunch at the Muslim noodle restaurant...yummy! I'm becoming rather adept at noodles with chopsticks, believe it or not. Then we went to visit the students dorms...It was not at all what I was expecting...they live 4 to a room smaller than our dorms at PC with no AC or heat, no matresses, no washer or dryer (they wash clothes by hand and hang them outside to dry)...but they welcomed us with great joy and gave us fresh tangerines and seaweed crackers...we were also presented with white Tibetan silky scarves that are given only to the most honored visitors. We looked at pictures of families and hometowns and Chinese tradition while hearing stories and songs of growing up in China. It is so encouraging to see the Father at work here in many of the same ways that He is working in the US...through beautiful, rich relationships and precious community..
We went to downtown Nanchang tonight with one of Becca's best Chinese friends...I feel like I've known her forever! It was so fun! We went to this restaurant for "hot pot" which is kind of like fondu but very different...it's basically a vat of seasoned oil that you cook vegetables and meat in and then eat them...I had things like Lotus root, glutinous rice, chinese potato, spinach, crinkly tofu, mutton, etc...lots of interesting yummy goodness! Also, I drank a pepsi, which was absolutely amazing :) After dinner, we headed to McDonalds for ice cream sundays and fountain drinks (with ICE!)...on the way across town, we stumbled upon fresh pineapple on a stick...apparently pineapple are crazy cheap here, half a huge pineapple for 1 yuan (1/6 of a dollar) yep, cheap and SOOO yummy!
We traversed the night life to make it to the huge square in the middle of town for the music, light, and fountain show where they play traditional Chinese songs and the fountain "dances"...we had fun making fools of ourselves in the middle of the square dancing around and singing...everyone already thinks we're crazy foreigners anyways, what do we have to lose?? :)
By the time we were ready to leave town, only one bus was running and everyone else was trying to leave too...in case you didn't know, there are a lot of people in China. This bus was the msot packed bus I've ever, ever seen...I taught our Chinese friend the meaning of "Sardines"...also, we almost died because our driver was insane...he took turns at full speed with a FULL bus...we literally tipped onto 2 wheels and thought we were going to fly off the road...thankfully, by the grace of Father, we made it back alive to tell the story..
it's cold and late so i think we're heading to bed...hope all is well in America!
No comments:
Post a Comment