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Now posting on the Home Updates page 01/31/09
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China Time:
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Travel Date: 1/16/2009
Subject: Evening Outing
What we did today:
After her two hour nap, Hui Dong and Baba played with for at least an hour with Play-doh. While Christopher tried to amass a large, animal army, Hui Dong kept turning his creations into her own.
We had decided to try our luck eating a traditional Chinese dinner on our own. Charlie had taken us to the restaurant earlier and had even asked the hostesses to let us glance at a menu to show us how easy it would be to order. The menu was written in Chinese with pictures, but there was an English menu cheat-sheet we could use to help us order. Hui Dong had even walked the entire way with out insisting on being carried. We were feeling slightly confident in this undertaking.
When we arrived at the restaurant, the tables were arranged differently in the main dining area. All were now large round tables with the traditional lazy-Susan in the middle. As we stood there, a foreign couple with our Chinese little one, the hostess staff didn’t quite know what to do with us. After some discussion, we were escorted to a table in a back hallway…really. There were no chairs at these tables set for two, just plastic, backless stools. An extra stool and place setting, with only chopsticks, was placed at the end of the table for Hui Dong.
Let the adventure begin! The waitress stood at the table waiting for us to order while we tried to decipher the menus. Hui Dong pointed to numerous pictures on the menu that she seemed to think we should order. We tried to find dishes on the picture menu on our English menu, but evidently they don’t correspond. Great! Hui Dong selected a picture she liked. Christopher picked a “Grilled Beef” dish and something with chicken. We hoped that with three dishes that somehow we’d find something we could eat?
Oh another thing different about Chinese restaurants! They don’t serve and entire tables order all together. When one dish is ready, it is served. So depending upon what you ordered, you could eat first or be stuck waiting while everyone else has already been served. Since we were approaching dinner as a shared adventure, we just all grabbed our chopsticks and tried whatever was on the table.
Hui Dong’s selection arrived first. Three hungry people divided in. It was some kind of beef dish with peanuts, cabbage and green onions on top. Bland but very tasty when you are hungry.
Next the chicken dish arrived. It was a lot like Sichuan chicken at home with peanuts and peppers to spice it up. As long as you didn’t eat a pepper, it was very tasty (at least Hui Dong and I thought so). Hui Dong loved the chicken! She picked through the peanuts to find all the chicken pieces. She is a spicy girl for sure!
Christopher’s beef arrived last on a hot iron plate. Grilled beef and onions. He decided he ordered well. In fact we were very proud of our evening meal. We ordered successfully, ate the entire meal with chopsticks, and paid our bill. In fact I was doubly proud of myself. When Hui Dong is finished with a meal, she always ends up sitting on my lap. Because of how we sat at the table, she was sitting on my right side while I was trying to finish my meal. I had to switch hands and use my left hand for my chopsticks. Christopher was even impressed as I awkwardly managed to pick up individual peanuts to eat.
After dinner we walked to McD to get a special treat for Hui Dong…an ice cream cone! She loved it! She had asked for one a few days ago when we were out shopping at the bookstore. She was so excited that she kept thanking her Baba as we walked down the street back to the hotel.
Packing up tonight is hard to do. Christopher said that it is hard to remember that we are just packing to travel to another city in China when we ant so much to just fly home. One more week. Just one more week, and we can bring our girl home.
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Photos... (click
image to enlarge)
Playing with Baba
Running commentary
Hiding from Baba’s camera
Outside the restaurant
We can’t read the name either
Lights hanging in the trees
Street level view at night
An entire building side decorated in light for CNY
Where are we going?
Thank you, Baba!
Ice cream cone damage control in a hotel room
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