Yesterday was a great day. We had a family that had three sons come and they also brought three other ladies in their mid twenties that teach Chinese at an international school near Hong Kong. They were a breath of fresh air. They handled the morning classes and the afternoon game time for us. It was nice to sit back and play and learn with the kids and not be in charge. The most difficult game to play was their version of Take a Hike where the person in the center says something and if it describes you, you have to run to find a new seat. Their version was different. You could have a gentle breeze or a big wind. If it was a gentle breeze, you moved if it was the opposite of what they said. If it was a big wind, you moved if it described you. Well, first problem was that they said gentle breeze or big wind in English and then they didn't say the description in English. By the time they translated it for us, every one else had pretty much moved. I think we were working at just a lit bit of disadvantage. We still had a great time. We also played a name game and you had to call out someone else's name before the ghost came and tapped you. Well, apparently all the kids like saying Shusanna and then putting me on the spot as I try to remember how to say Chinese names. I ended up in the center too many times. We had a great time playing though. It really changed our relationships with the kids. With new people here, they see us as their old friends. It was also weird having the new visitors asking us information about the kids and realizing how much I knew. I know these kids. I love these kids. Next Wednesday is going to be hard.
Now for the food update...yes, I know it is a constant subject for me. For lunch, R. and Ra. asked if we would like to try a local restaurant. Why, yes! Who would say no to that? When I told my mom on Skype, she asked why there was a Chinese restaurant in China :) I needed that laugh, mom. Thank you! Well, it was delicious. Jared, R and Ra all had appetizers of dumplings. They each got 7 dumplings and they looked delicious. The girls and I all had pork and corn soup and it was tasty too. For our entrees, Jared, R. and Ra. all had fried noodles and the girls and I had fried rice. It was so much food that we could not finish it. I had agreed to buy lunch. When we went to pay, it was the equivalent to $8 for all 6 of us to have eaten so much! Can you believe it? Why haven’t I made this walk every day? Ra. and I had planned on making an American meal for dinner. We got ingredients for stew in her crock-pot. We had about ½ pound of ground pork, four medium potatoes, two carrots and a cup of corn and green peas. We were so excited to eat it. Well, it appears the cooks did not make any “non spicy” food since they saw us cooking. This meant that when dinnertime came the new guests lined up at our crock-pot along with us. Our little crock-pot of stew fed 14 of us! I can’t imagine how much food I would have made at home if I had thought I was feeding 14.