My Chinese Family

The past few weekends I’ve had the incredible opportunity to go on “home visits”. Cierra and I have been going to visit this lady (no english name... we’ll refer to her as “Penelope”) and her daughter Sophie. Their neighbor Bonnie and her daughter Jenny come over as well. Penelope is the middle school director here at Daguanghua, so we see her around here sometimes as well.

The first week it was a little awkward at the beginning... we didn’t know anything about them and it can be hard to get to know people through the language barrier. But as we got talking we got more and more comfortable. The little girls are so cute and they have become like little Chinese sisters to me. They love to dance, play piano, and draw. They love the American card games Cierra and I have taught them. And they LOVE chocolate... :)

Kelly set up these visits so we could have a more up close and personal experience of living in China. While we’re there learning about life in China we’re supposed to help Jenny and Sophie improve their english. I have learned so much from them and from these visits. There really are no houses here... just apartments! They don’t even have an oven, dishwasher, or freezer in their home! It’s so crazy to me the things that I never even thought of as luxuries. And they have no pictures on the walls, but there are “good fortune” trinkets everywhere. Chinese people are very superstitious.

Penelope, Bonnie, Sophie, and Jenny are always so hospitable! They have opened their home to complete strangers, and opened the door to a special friendship. I am thankful that they have been so giving and that I’ve had this opportunity to get to know them!

We have learned how to cook many different dishes at their house! This is the GOOD Chinese food... the kind that I like and I’ll miss! :)

The first Jao Zi I’ve ever made! :)

Learning to make Bao zi.

On one of the visits the family took us around parts of Weihai we’d never seen before! They took us to a park. Let me tell you, China has a lot to learn about fun park equipment! But we still had an awesome time!

Sophie and Jenny pushing me on a swing. ... Seems like it should be the other way around, but I swear they wanted to! haha!

They also took us on this amazing drive that seemed like it could be from the movies! It was one of those super windy roads where the mountains and trees are on one side of you and the ocean is on the other. It was gorgeous! Even though it was cold we still played at the beach!

This is Sophie!

This is Jenny. Ironically she reminds me a lot of myself!

Did I mention I love it here?! :)

One week as the family was dropping us off at Daguanghua after the visit they said they had something for us. They opened their trunk and pulled out a whole box of apples. We’d said earlier how we liked them, and they decided to give us a whole box. That type of thing actually happens all the time here. If you say you like something they’ll give it to you! They are a very giving and generous people!

Cierra and I lugged them all the way back to our apartment! And this is what our little fridge looked like after! HA!

We love going on these visits! We hope we continue getting invited back. It’s so much fun to see what life is REALLY like in China!