We met Hellen and her family at her school. She was so excited and so nervous to meet Fei that she was petting her. Her cousin Sam came too. The English was pretty basic. Mom speaks some too. Dad not at all. They took us for traditional Beijing food. Really old place with all private rooms. We sat on bamboo mats on couches. There was no ac just a fan that didn’t work. Things came to the table that we couldn't identify as food and the English was no where near good enough to explain food. ;) So by pure luck we ended up with the Beijing noodles with black bean sauce I love so much. Yay. Fei loved it too and ate a big bowl. RARE to see Fei eat so much. She is trying things too. When we went to the bathroom we noticed a tank of frogs. Yuk.
Not once on this trip but THREE times we've been offered sheep's intestines. Wild.
Oh and our family tried to take us for mutton hot pot. It took a while to clear it up. I finally asked baabaaa? Yup, that's what they meant. The look on Fei's face was enough for them to quickly change the plan.
Then we were going to the National Museum. I didn't know there was one. There wasn't enough room in the car for all of us so Mom was going to take the subway and meet us there. I asked if we could go on the subway with her. She seemed surprised but was happy to take us. Ekk! So exciting.
So, the subway, soooo clean and has good ac, security like an airport and the signage was so great that we understood it. It wasn't busy being a weekend.
Then the museum. Wow. Loved it. A lot. I want to go again. Chinese antiques throughout. Pictures didn’t really turn out from in there.
Next, home to Hellen's to make and eat dumplings. Yum. They were fabulous. Fei ate and ate and ate. I had lots too :) Clearly Lili and Fei need these dumplings at home.
Hellen is 14 and Sam is 15. They were both interested to hear about Fei's school and her homework. Once I said that Fei didn’t have any homework Sam was sold and he wants to come to Canada. Hellen had no interest in much. The kids all exchanged numbers and emails. We'll see if Hellen has any interest in being digital pen pals. Both kids told me their grades aren't good.
Both Hellen and Sam were on their phones about 75% of our time together. Which although rude, it did relieve the pressure to figure out what the other was saying.
Fei crashed pretty much the moment we got back in our room. I had a bath. Will blog and then crash myself.
Great Wall tomorrow. Will be fun to hear from the group how their visits went.
