As I walked toward my apartment I saw an American friend from another city in China. We stopped and talked and another American shows up. He is an American born Chinese and is a medical doctor. He will be here for the next four weeks and will be my new roommate during that time and has already moved his things into my apartment. He and I went to the apartment and got settled in. As we were having conversation, a knock was heard at our door. It was an invitation for us to join a group going out to a Korean restaurant for another great meal. I was going to eat light tonight and go to bed early, but when there are 21 of us Americans going to eat as a group you can’t say no, even when you are not really hungry and are dead tired.
My new doctor friend and now I his patient said yes, we put on our shoes and headed outside to join the growing group. Don’t think we didn’t draw attention, we did. With several babies and other children and all of us except one looking clearly western, we turned many heads. We walked and pushed strollers for about 15 minutes and invaded the restaurant taking over the place with our size party. They formed one long table right in the center of the place and three people worked together to select the food for the evening. Since this was a Korean restaurant, most of the food was new to me; different but good.
We greatly enjoyed the meal and then headed back to the apartment complex to celebrate the birthday of the American friend I first met after all those bus rides. There was an American couple in the group that was visiting from California. I happen to hear her mention the city of Rochester and asked her about it. She said that she had grown up in Rochester, NY, which is just down the road from where I grew up. She is 12 years younger than me, with grandchildren the same age and each of us had one requiring open heart surgery to close a hole. Her dad and mine are the same age. He died at age 93, mine is living at 94. To think that we grew up in the same area of the world and now meet so many years later on the other side of the world.
We ate more food and talked until about ten. By now I was really dead tired. My new roommate and I headed back to our apartment, which was next to the one we were celebrating in, talked a little and went to bed. It was really a good day of food and fellowship; long and tiring, but good.
My new doctor friend and now I his patient said yes, we put on our shoes and headed outside to join the growing group. Don’t think we didn’t draw attention, we did. With several babies and other children and all of us except one looking clearly western, we turned many heads. We walked and pushed strollers for about 15 minutes and invaded the restaurant taking over the place with our size party. They formed one long table right in the center of the place and three people worked together to select the food for the evening. Since this was a Korean restaurant, most of the food was new to me; different but good.
We greatly enjoyed the meal and then headed back to the apartment complex to celebrate the birthday of the American friend I first met after all those bus rides. There was an American couple in the group that was visiting from California. I happen to hear her mention the city of Rochester and asked her about it. She said that she had grown up in Rochester, NY, which is just down the road from where I grew up. She is 12 years younger than me, with grandchildren the same age and each of us had one requiring open heart surgery to close a hole. Her dad and mine are the same age. He died at age 93, mine is living at 94. To think that we grew up in the same area of the world and now meet so many years later on the other side of the world.
We ate more food and talked until about ten. By now I was really dead tired. My new roommate and I headed back to our apartment, which was next to the one we were celebrating in, talked a little and went to bed. It was really a good day of food and fellowship; long and tiring, but good.
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