Chinese BBQ

Peter, Peter's brother, Jason (Scarliet's boyfriend), Scarliet, and Blasen grilling away.

This weekend we had a BBQ with Blasen's employee's and their families. Well, he only has two employees, so a small group. There were 9 of us all together. Peter, the guy who works with Blasen, set it all up and we were to go to this park by a river that had grills. I was thinking along the lines of River Road Park in Tuscaloosa. I was way off. It was by a river in a bamboo forest type place. The grills were in the center of the tables and you would sit around almost like a camp fire to cook your food. It was different, but a really neat place. The fare was a bit different than an American BBQ. We brought chicken breasts to grill just to be on the safe side. There was chicken legs and wings...normal. Then lamb, chicken stomach, and octopus. No thanks. I usually like lamb, but this stuff looked shady. We also had eggplant and corn.
Unfortunately, we had monsoon rains the night before and the ground was still damp, so I had to resign to the fact that the kids were going to get filthy. They had a playground area not far from the grilling area in another bamboo forest. It was a bunch of wooden and rope climbing things. Mostly for older kids, but Bliss really enjoyed it. They had these tree houses that were connected by rope bridges that were really cool. The weather was probably our first enjoyable day of weather since we've been here. It was in the low-70's and windy. I actually had to dress the kids in pants, mainly because people would think I was freezing my kids if I didn't. It's stayed cool since and it's been a nice change. We have the windows open for the cooler air. The only down side is all the street noise that is continuous, as in 24-hours a day. It gets down to the 50's at night and lower 70's during the day. Hoping it doesn't get any cooler, because we don't have a heater here. No one does really, from what I understand, because it doesn't stay cold for too long.

More grilling.

Peter's wife(she doesn't have an American name and I'm not sure how to spell her Chinese name) and Zade.

We finished out our weekend with church. Zade had an accident in nursery. I guess he climbed on a chair before they realized it and then he pulled it over on himself. In the process somehow he hit his chin and split it open. It looks more like it was sliced at an angle. Not too bloody but looked pretty deep. Of course, he wouldn't leave band-aids on it. Blasen went by a pharmacy to look for butterfly band-aids and they lady told him they didn't exist. He assured her they did, but they, obviously, just didn't carry them. It finally sealed up and started scabbing regardless of Zade's efforts to stick his finger in the open wound. It probably could have taken a stitch of two, but I figured he'd likely rip those out too, so we'll just try this first. It looks pretty good today and didn't come open during the night.

Fuzzy picture, I know. I took it without the flash, because it would glare really bad with the flash. The gash doesn't look too bad here.

We were invited to lunch yesterday to a family's home we go to church with. They live in a nice area in Guangzhou where a lot of expat's live. The dad is here with the State Department and just recently moved here with his family from Taiwan. They actually had real salsa and chips! Then with the meal they had homemade whole wheat dinner rolls. Two things I've not had in months and was thrilled to have. They are a neat family that's lived all over the world. They gave us a good perspective on that kind of life...living abroad. There is a lot to think about, as we've debated on whether or not we would want to do something like that with our family. There are definitely pro's and con's. A big con for us being the loss of a sense of a "home" base, since you move around a lot. Anyway, it was nice to spend some time with another family. Thanks to the Obah family for a great afternoon.