I spent this past weekend in Suzhou (SueJoe) and a city named Hangzhou (HongJoe). It was the labor day weekend here in China, so I had Monday off.
I go to Suzhou for church every weekend, but there is always more to do and see there. Saturday night I had Indian food at Kamal's with my friends Joan, Monica and Andrew. I'd been craving Indian food for weeks, so this hit the spot. It's basically impossible to find this place at the end of a random alley way off of another alley if you don't have someone with you who has been there before or who is Chinese. Luckily, I had both. That night I stayed with Joan and we watched Captain America 2, ate ice cream and just chilled.
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| All of Suzhou is on the water. Hence it called the "Venice of the East" |
Sunday was church, and it was fabulous as always. Actually, it was probably the best meetings of church yet, but I feel like it just gets better and better every week. Because it was a holiday weekend, only 25 members were there. Since it was testimony meeting, I wondered how many people would get up and if there were would be a lot of silent time. But member after member bore their testimonies, and we went over time! Amazing. I taught a Sunday School lesson on retaining a remission of our sins and retaining a remembrance of Christ daily. I love how one class member shared the etymology of the word retain - basically it means to "hold again." Love that thought.
Sunday evening, I traveled to Hangzhou. So this city is in the Zhejiang province of China, about two hours from Wuxi. So, I guess it would be like going from Virginia to Maryland. Anyway, it is a gorgeous city of 9 million people. I'm starting to learn here that all the cities of populations the size of New York City, but they are considered small to people here. One of my best friends from college, Christy, lives in Hangzhou with her husband and three adorable children. Christy and I had so much to catch up on about our lives, and she treated me to some delicious Chinese traditional dumplings and baozi.
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| What baozi looks like - curtesy google images |
I am amazed by families like Christy's that come here from the states and thrive. You can tell Christy is loved by her community. She has learned Chinese, talks to everyone she sees in the streets, and just radiates love to all. I am seriously amazed by how amazing of a mother she is, and by how she has managed to grow a vegetable garden on the balcony of their 30th floor apartment-home! Insanely amazing, right? Christy's ayi (it's like a house cleaner - sort of) called me this when she met me on Monday. Hence the name for this post's title. People are so sweet here!
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| Are my shoes awesome, or what? |
Monday morning, more friends joined me in Hangzhou, including Andrew, Monica, Joan, Miley & Mathias Boggs, and a guy named Derrick and his girlfriend. We first went to see these amazing Buddha cliffs - almost a hundred Buddhas carved into the mountain hundreds of years ago. Incredible. After that, we grabbed lunch at a popular chain here called Grandma's House (founded in Hangzhou) and then walked around the famous West Lake before returning home.
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