Saturday, February 11, 2012

[chameanstea]

today we went to the china national tea museum. hangzhou, the city i live in, used to be one of the capitals of china and is known for its tea industry. before we went to the museum, we ate at green tea, which is ellen's (the director/ guide) favorite restaurant. she made a good choice. we also had warm soy milk or what they call bean milk, which was warmly welcomed, since dairy is not a common thing here.
best food!

fruit at the juice stand

wonder what "blood decompression" juice is.

bread square that evidently was tasty. 

chicken legs

spicy fish

my favorite china pals
then we went on the tour in the tea museum. the tea fields are BEAUTIFUL!! we also did tea tasting, which was super fun!
jasmine tea

tea is essential to life!

tea field

great pals

we are also trying to come up with chinese names for ourselves. i've suggested mulan. thats about as far as we got until today. one of the princess' names was changsomethingorother. richie and i decided we looked alike, so now i am princess chang...
see the resemblance?
as for me, i feel like i'm starting to feel better about this whole adventure. i also got to talk with my mom today for the first time, which really helped. i miss my mom a whole lot when i don't talk with her for extended periods of time. she reminded me how proud she was of me and how excited she was for me, which reminded me that this is a once in a lifetime opportunity, and i really need to soak up everything. i'm really excited about what that looks like reflected in my attitude. 
prayer requests:
-motivation to keep doing my homework/ work ahead
-a positive attitude that seeks joy in every moment
-church tomorrow, we are going to an international church, which i hope we can find some extra community in!

love you all and miss you dearly. =]



3 comments:

  1. my mouth melted at those pictures. I actually moaned out loud. EMBARASSING. this was one of my favorite days in Hangzhou hands down. I looved the scenery and the tea testing. I think I would fly to Hangzhou just to eat at that restaurant..my absolute favorite..I hope you got to enjoy some things there. Were you able to eat the fish? I'm glad you are enjoying things some more..I hope you have a good experience with that church..

    Praying <3

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  2. You make me smile every time you talk about JOY! So thankful that God is at work in you and there will be no stealing of joy this adventure!!! Praying, praying, praying!!!!!

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  3. =] no joy stealing. i had to wear my shirt the other day to remind myself!
    yes i got to taste the fish. it was the last dish, so i was super full when it arrived. but sooo yummy.

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