Here are pictures of the bus ride. We have had many bus rides like this. This is not unusual. We have also had bus rides where we are nearly the only ones on the bus. Yes, you can hardly move, but it was fun! When the bus driver would turn the corner or stop fast everyone would fall a bit and then laugh, not just the ones in our group, but the other Chinese people, too.
This was only part of the crowd waiting to get into the food festival. They only let a certain number of people in at a time. Gary took this picture as he climbed up the metal things. We were told we would not be able to get in until 1, but then they let us in. It was about 11:30 am at the time. We really wanted to get in then because we had to catch a bus around 2 to go to the Choi's home in north Qingdao.
There were many people and many different booths set up to sell food. It was all delicious. We had barbequed pork, candy, and cream puffs to start with. They were giving many free samples away to us. Despite the crowd, it was fun!!!
Lisa and I in the above picture.
Inner Mongolian Barbeque. This is pork. Soooo DELICIOUS!
Me eating the pork. Gary and I shared a stick, but I could have eaten one myself. You can see our friends in the background enjoying theirs.
Chinese corndogs
This booth was packed. One of my students bought one of these for all of us to share.
It is black, sweetened rice in a pineapple with pineapple sprinkled on top. It was so good as you can see by the smile on my face!
After the food festival, we went home to drop off some things. Then we took Bus 31 to City Hall and transferred to Bus 502 to head to Chengyeng (This is the northern part of Qingdao). It takes about 1.5 hours to get from our apartment to the Choi's home in Chengyeng. It was a wonderful trip. Gary and I listened to music and I read a book. We love riding the bus. It only cost us 4 yuan which is less than $1 to get there.
This is Bobo and Eira Choi and me in their kitchen. Eira is sauting mushrooms. Bobo is almost 14 and Eira is 19. Eira will be attending BYU in the spring. She leaves for Utah on December 29, 2014.
This is Bobo, Eira, and their mom, Jennifer. Beautiful, aren't they. They are not Chinese. They are Korean. They have been in China for 8 years.
This is our dinner. It is Korean pancakes. They are a little like crepes, but thicker. We had pork, mushrooms, onions, tomatoes, sesame leaves, apples, pears, carrots, bean sprouts, cabbagte and eggs (all sliced in small slices) to put on the pancakes. Each pancake is a little bit bigger than your hand. I ate probably 8 of them. I am not sure how many Gary ate. They were delicious. We decided we want to get some because it is an easy meal.
This is their family first with me and then with Gary. James Choi is the dad. They are such great people. They remind me of my friends back home. They are part of our family here in China.
The following pictures are of the Choi's home. There apartment has 3 bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen, dining room and living room. It is probably more than twice the size of our apartment. Gary and I talked about it and decided even the Choi's apartment was too big for us. We are becoming accustomed to our small apartment. When we move to the new one, I will show you pictures and let you know if the size is different. Anyway, the Choi's apartment is beautiful!
This is Gary and James speaking about many things. They had a really great conversation while we girls were getting dessert ready. I forgot to have Gary take a picture of it. It was some dough with a glob of melted cinnamon in the middle. So yummy!
This is Eira doing the dishes after dinner.
We had such a great Saturday. We are grateful to be able to have made some new friends that we can spend time with. We are also grateful that we got to talk to many of our family on Friday morning before we went to school. It was still Thursday, so still Thanksgiving. It was good to hear their voices. How blessed Gary and I are.
