So I LOVE Chinese food…authentic Chinese food. I have definitely been spoiled here by the amazing street vendors, yummy Ma and Pa shops and trying things I have never even seen before.
A whole meal is about $1-$3 for a good amount of food. One of my favorite dishes is hot pot. The first time I had it was when my wonderful house mates’ mom came down to visit and made us all roomies hot pot for the Chinese New Year. Then one of my good friends from OSU is from China and for her B-day she had hot pot. I was secretly hoping that I could have it again when I got to China.
After teaching, the Head Master took us to this ridiculously fancy restaurant. In China most of the places you eat you get your own room. Natasha and I were escorted up stairs into this beautiful room with a huge round table. We were accompanied by 3 of the head staff at the school and 5 English teachers.
“Do you like fish?�
“Yes we do.�
“Do you like lamb…vegetables?�
“Yes.�
“Okay, we are going to have hot pot. You heard?�
“Yes, I have had it before and loved it.�
“Good!�
As we sat and waited Natasha and I shared stories about our mornings as the staff spoke in their language to each other.
Then the food came.
Dish after dish of food was brought out. Whole fish, lamb, tofu, dumplings, seaweed, cabbage, different kinds of mushrooms, different noodles, broccoli, and lots of other food I had no idea what it was filled the huge table. We each had a large bowl with a burner under it to cook our food it.
“Please eat,� said one of the staff members wiping his hand across the lavish spread of food.
And so it began!
As we ate the head master was filled with thanks and gratitude towards us. One of the teachers translated the conversation between us.
“We are so thankful that you came today to teach our students. We have never had an English speaker here before. You gave our students much excitement. We can learn so much from you. We hope that our friendship with you will be long lasting. When you go back to America tell your friends that they are welcome here and we would love to have them. You can come here and teach anytime.�
After sharing our great gratitude for them letting us come and teach, the head master continued to say how much he loves America and wishes to go there. He said he has two friends that live in America and one of them is from Ohio.
“Do you know David?� he innocently asked.
“Well, there are a lot of Davids in Ohio, so not that I know of…� I politely answered.
He asked if he was able to come to America would he be welcomed by me.
“Of course! I would love to have you any time. I will show you around and have you try American food too!�
He then talked about how much he loves Obama and how the friendship between China and America is good and how even right now were are building a stronger friendship.
I still can’t believe that we got to teach and on top of that be treated like royalty. They asked us to come back tomorrow and teach again. Natasha and I are pumped to plan a lesson and teach more. We pray that we aren’t just two girls from America but are an example of Christ’s love and that we have more opportunities to share not only with the students but the teachers as well! We pray God will bless this school and they will know it is Him who has done so! Little did we know that this morning walking to a school would end like this.
If we are just willing to try, God can do mind boggling things!
p.s. the next day we each got to teach 4 more classes each. That is about 1,000 students all together in both days that got to hear the true Christmas story! We also got taken out to lunch again with the head master! Here are some pictures from the second lunch.
noodles, lamb, fried fish, pastries, potatoes, and dumplings
The fish was excellent even though it looks scary!
After the huge meal was served. The head master ordered this dish as an exra thanks.
