On the weekends, we love exploring this new big city & spending time with friends.
Friday night was my first hot pot since last spring when I puked all night after eating it. Honestly, it still isn't my favorite meal, but we were with a big group of classmates so it was a good time.
The restaurant was quite nice with aesthetic presentation of all the dishes. Humorously, this is a fancy plate of raman with the seasoning packet served in the artsy blue bowl.
Friday night was my first hot pot since last spring when I puked all night after eating it. Honestly, it still isn't my favorite meal, but we were with a big group of classmates so it was a good time.
The restaurant was quite nice with aesthetic presentation of all the dishes. Humorously, this is a fancy plate of raman with the seasoning packet served in the artsy blue bowl.
Chip was excited to discover donuts in Changchun.
(We convinced the clerk to hop in the photo.)
There's even a bowling alley in a hotel near our apartment.
One weekend, we surprised our friend, Amanda, with a party and cake for her birthday.
One of the great things about Changchun is that there are 70+ people from our organization in the city (including multiple teaching teams, the language school, and families), so we really are a large community. Our "city-team" has gotten together twice so far this semester.
The first get-together was at NanHu (South Lake) park where we invited Chinese friends and played games and picnicked together.
Chip's team losing tog-o-war. Note: My team won!
Our second outing was yesterday--we had a service at Jing Yue Tan where we hiked up a hill, picnicked, and worshiped together in His beautiful creation.
Me and my friend, Erica, getting a high and windy view of the city.
Changchun is no small place!
The funniest (and maybe most frustrating) part of this outing was how Chinese people would see us & then come do photo shoots.
Can you see the people taking photos in the back of the below shot?
It's so nice to study hard all week long and then to have fun people to fellowship with on the weekends. After being on a team of four last year, we are not taking community for granted!
Mallary, I have been reading your blog posts, and I love love LOVE them! I can relate to so many of the things you share about from language frustrations and triumphs, to finding fellowship with other foreigners, to the beauty of the country around you...and the list goes on. I am truly jealous of the language study time you have--I've been learning Chinese since high school, but I'm guessing yours will surpass mine soon with the kind of time you're putting into learning. Since we teach only in English in the school system where I work, I find that there are fewer opportunities to really learn the language, and we keep so busy that there isn't much time for extra study. I am so happy with the way Dad has taken you to this place. I hope that he will continue to bless you and that you will find many ways to give back to him in this land. I'm thinking of you often!
ReplyDeleteso glad for you to have this chance to be with the other language teachers! sounds like great community! :)
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