picture number one was our welcome table at this restaurant we went to. they are live crabs, tied up with leaves and set around a huge pile of ginger root with christmas lights on it. leave it to the chinese to be creative huh?
picture number two and three are what we call "bib" (bone in every bite) chicken. it is a whole chicken, insides and everything fully cooked, covered in sauce, then its chopped up and served. the honored guest gets the plate in front of them with the head facing him. i think the head ended up on everyones plate during the course of dinner. it actually is my favorite meat dish here. the chicken is so moist and just so so good, it is a lot of work picking out the bones though.
picture number four is of some kids in a paddle boat. peter and i rented a paddle boat and went sailing around the big pond in the beautiful park. these kids were so funny, they were yelling "hello!!!" at me from across the pond and wanted me to get closer to them so they could say hi. notice that none of them have life vests on and there is no adult supervising. so very different from my childhood days of paddle boat fun!
picture number five is me in the paddle boat, it was so nice, the sun was setting behind the buildings and casting a glow over the pond.
picture number six is a rose made from molding clay. there was a homeless guy who was making these flowers and peter bought me one. it was soft and would not harden, so i gave it to a girl because i will not be able to take it back to the states with me, because it is soft and it would get messed up. the red clay even smelled like a rose, it was such a beautiful gift. i wish i could have kept it.
i have been having a very hard time coming to terms that i am leaving in two days. i do not want to leave. peter and i even formed a plan that ends with me getting "lost" in hong kong and then he comes and finds me. haha!
it is funny, at night time the city comes to life, it is 11pm right now and for some reason there is chinese opera playing in the street. we can hear it from our room and it is funny. opera music in general is not something i want to listen to on a regular basis, but chinese opera is about 75 million times more annoying. yet, for some reason, i love listening to it, it lulls me to sleep at night.
tomorrow we are going on a journey, we have to wake up at 5am to catch a bus by 645 and go on an adventure. its going to be so cool! i am really excited! i will tell you all about it on monday night.
this trip could not have gone any better, it has been very evident that each and every one of us came here for a reason. there was never any "dead weight" or fruitless efforts. not only has strength been multiplied, but sickness has not gotten any of us. i only barfed once and one other girl did too, but that has been it. in comparison to other times in china this is unheard of. last night i could not sleep, i would wake up and feel like i needed to spend time with my Father and i would, then i would cry and fall back to sleep, i did that over and over all throughout the night. never in my life have i known exactly what i want to do, where i want to be and where my feet were to go, until now. i cannot wait to learn chinese and then learn the dialect from this area. i know that these people are going to soon become not only my friends, my neighbors, and classmates, but also my family. greater things are yet to come, the harvest is ready, but the workers are few. these tired feet have founding their resting place.
