Yuzhen was our exchange student from Chongqing who lived with us last school year. We were able to make arrangements for her and some of her family to meet us in Chengdu for part of the day.
After fnally reaching Yuzhen, she, her parents, and her aunt and uncle arrived at our hotel. They had come by train from Chingqing earlier in the day. Yuzhen's father has a friend who does business in Chendgu and had a van and driver that they borrowed for the evening. Yuchen looked great. Her hair was cut, the mole near her eye had been removed, her skin was clearer and she had lost some weight. Her parents looked very good, too. Her father had had a serious illness the eyar prior and recovery had taken several months. There was little to notice now that he had been ill....a scar on his neck, two scars on his head and a very slight limp.
We all piled in the van (all 13 of us!) and headed to a hotpot restaurant owned by either the same friend of a different friend of Yuzhen's father. Hotpot is a traditional spicy meal favored in Sichuan province and espcially in Chongqing. Last year Yuzhen had tried to explain hotpot to us, but to fully appreciate hotpot you must experience it. After a short drive, we arrived at the restaurant (Yuzhen will have to email me the name), we were shown to a private dining room. Almost immediately the food began to arrive. In the center of the table was a large hole with a burner at the bottom. One of the watiresses brought in a large pot that fit neatly into the center hole. That pot had a smaller pot inside of it. The outside pot already had dark liquid broth with numerous peppercorns floating around in it. The small center pot also had broth, but it was lighter in color and like the outside pot it already had seasonings in it. Yuxhen told us that the outside one was very hot and the inside one not so hot.
All kinds of uncooked meats and vegetables (and other unidentifiable foods ;-) are brought in around the two pots. Depending on what you want to eat and how spicy you want it - you add uncooked foods to the pot, wait for them to cook and then fish them out - it was delicious and a real treat! There was so many of us that we needed to swap out some chairs for stools - even at that Yuzhen's mom and aunt didn't eat until everyone else was done...and then they dove in.
After dinner we went to JingLi Park. It was packed with people - mostly Chinese - and all lit up with red lanterns - absolutely magical. JingLi Park is a narrow walking street with stores, bars, restaurants, and small vendor carts selling snacks and small trinkets. Yuzhen's mom immediately began buying the girls trinkets and snacks - first up was small jumping monkey's with swords or a twisty sheep (mei yang yang) that makes a clicking noise. After that it was watching a man blow a sugar taffy candy into zodiac animals that he then put onto wooden sticks. Grace and Maggie got dragons and Ruthie got a sheep. Yuzhen's mom then bought my parents a fan. Ruthie got a panda holding a baby panda with bamboo. After that it was cotton candy for all the girls and after that, it was another candy that is made of carmel flavored sugar that is drizzled into various shapes - birds, dragons, monkeys. For this you spin a dial and the arrow points at the animal or bird you get. All this sugar in less than an hour - good thing the girls had really eaten well at dinner!
Back to the hotel with lots of hugs and kisses all around. It was a very special evening spent with Yuzhen and her family. We can't wait to see Yuzhen before she returns to USA for university. She's been accepted at several places, but she is waiting to hear from Boston University. If she is accepted by BU, then she will attend! Since I am an alumni, I will send along a letter of reference ASAP. Attending BU will also put her on the East coast - much easier for visits to NC and CT!
Your reunion with Yuzhen sounds great!
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