Mom Part 2

On Saturday night we had a welcome dinner to Shanghai for my mom with my friend!!  There were a total of 19!  We went to one of our favorite places Sichuan Citizen!  We made sure everyone had several of their famous Basil Drops!  They are so delicious, and have sugar on the rim of the glasses!  After several different dishes, and drinks we headed off to a local roof top bar for a night cap!

Ashley (roommate), Mom, and Me!

Mom and I

The whole gang at roof top party after dinner!

The girls enjoying Basil Drops!

On Sunday we took the train up to Beijing! It was a nice day so it was fun to see China's country side, we also brought wine and cheese to make the time fly by!!  My friend Jenny, and her two cousins Mallory, and Danielle came to Beijing with us.  The first night in Beijing we took the visitors to hot pot! Hot pot is Chinese found.  There are several varieties of stew in a simmering metal pot of stock in the middle of the table.  The pot is kept simmering will you add sliced meats, leaf vegetables, mushrooms, and noodles to cook. It is so delicious!

Jenny, Mallory, Mom, and Danielle

Hot pot broth, the red one is spicy!

They have great dipping sauce, the hard part is getting everything out with your chopsticks

Here is the pork!  We also got tons of fresh veggies to cook as well!

Mom's visit to China part one

Hello!!!!

It was so exciting to have my first visitor while living in China!!!  I was really missing home, and my mom came at the right time!  My mom, and spring arrived on the same day.  The first night we rushed all over the city on foot, cab, and the metro to meet my co-workers for dinner!  We ate at a favorite Chinese restaurant of my co-workers.  Chinese food is so different here than America.  For one thing there are no fortune cookies or egg rolls.  My mom  also had to eat her whole meal with chop sticks, I had forgotten how difficult it is the first few hundred meals. :) Just kidding but now I am a pro since I eat at least one meal a day with chopsticks.

The second morning we went for a run, and headed out to People's square!  We went to the park to watch the Chinese match making.  Every weekend parents bring their child's bio to the park in hopes of finding them a match!  The bios tell salary, height, age, and some even include a photo.  We also some people training with swords while in the park.

Match making stats

Happy hour on the rooftop of  Fat Olive!!!