Fish anyone??

Last Saturday was a busy day of hanging out with friends.  Jess and I met our friend Elsie for lunch. Then in the afternoon I met my friend Sylvia to watch our friend Chen Jing dance in a "talent show" the bank she works at puts on every year.  Each department puts on at least one performance (dance, song, skit), important leaders give short speeches, and they do a raffle.  This year they gave away 4 Sony digital cameras, 4 iPads, and 2 iPhone 4s. Sadly, neither Sylvia nor Chen Jing won.

ChenJing pre-performance

Slyvia also works for China Construction Bank, but she told me she was too short to do the performance her department was doing, so she was just watching. Sad for her, but nice for me because then I had someone to sit with. They gave us all plastic hand clappers, anticipating a lot of applause and being considerate of our delicate hands.

 

Sylvia, the hand clapper, and her workmates.

I wasn't sure what to expect before going to the show, but I knew it would be awesome when the opening song was the theme song from Star Wars! Some highlights from the show: some cool traditional dances; a not very good dance to one of the songs from High School Musical 2 (the girls were good, but the boys were very awkward and off beat.  It was quite entertaining); a large group doing tai chi led by the big boss; a really cool dance done by one person with a screen behind and the movements on the screen went along with the dance/music....kinda hard to explain; and the Chen Jing's two different dances: the first one a pop song, the second a traditional Chinese dance.

traditional umbrella/fan dance

this is the screen dance. you can't see her, but the girl is standing on the platform in the middle

the real person is in the middle. Much cooler in person :)

Chen Jing's traditional dance

After the concert, I headed back to the apartments to have supper with Jess, Edward, and a "new" friend Berlin. Edward and Jess cooked for us. Edward cooked fish for us, which he and Jess bought at the market right before cooking.  They were alive before they bought them, but dead shortly after.  The seller lady kindly cut the fish open in the underbelly, but unkindly didn't remove the insides.  Edward and Jess couldn't do it....a little bit surprising about Edward, he wouldn't even come close to them with all the gunk inside of them....so they called the one person in who was brave enough to handle the insides of the fish. Yes, that's right. I stepped up and gutted two fish. Key to making it easy: use plastic gloves, get smallish fish, and say "ew! ew! ew!" a lot.  It worked for me.

Having lots of fun!

almost all clean!

found this inside the fish.....wasn't real sure what it was

found out later that it's the fish's swim bladder...the thing that makes it sink/float

all clean and ready for some kisses!

Berlin volunteered

Sunday, I led the Kid's Study. It was just Bill and Bruce, and Linda was also there helping/observing so she could lead the next week when everyone is gone. The boys were being boys, but we did get somethings accomplished. And I'm pretty sure they understood the story based on the picture Bill drew......

sorry this is sideways...can't get it the right way....can you guess the story?

                                         

 Snoopy has recently made appearances in the retelling of the stories

 my little bud, Bruce

This is probably the last post I'll make before leaving for my 3 1/2 weeks of traveling for winter holiday.   On Friday, the travel begins to a "small" city called Xiaogan. Then it's off to Kunming, China; Kathmandu, Nepal; Agra, New Delhi, and Mumbai, India; and finishing in Hong Kong for the FoC retreat. I'll be back in Wuhan February 6th and then starting up school again February 13th. See you all in a month!

Until next time....His will be done.