I love Chun Bing

My roommate, Mollie, and I have just spent the morning with a wonderful Chinese family who taught us how to make one of our favorite Chinese dishes: Chun Bing.

Chun Bing is a flat and thin, tortilla-like, fried dough type of thing (we call them pancakes here, but they are nothing like the pancakes we know back home) and is eaten kind of like a small burrito -- but the inside filling is totally different. You can order a ton of dishes to put inside the pancakes, but there are a couple dishes that are very popular here and today we learned how to make them (well, we saw them made, so I guess that kinda counts)...

So at 9:30 this morning, we met one of my favorite students, Tina, outside of Langston and her dad picked us up and drove us the 30 minutes to her home. Tina is 17 years old and speaks excellent English. Her parents, who don't speak any English whatsoever, welcomed us into their awesome apartment, and made us feel comfortable despite the language barrier. Through Tina's translating, we were able to see how the dough was made and fried, along with a lot of other dishes. A lot of pictures were taken throughout the day, and Tina's Aunt and Uncle who lived nearby also came over for lunch. We found out later that we were the first foreigners that this family has ever had into their house for a meal. Kind of exciting for all of us...

After all the cooking was done, the 7 of us sat down for the meal...the dishes consisted of: the pancakes (of course), a pork dish with onions, sliced potatoes (one of my favorites), a bean sprouts dish, a Chinese sauerkraut-tasting dish, a green veggie dish that I can't remember the exact name of, a black fungus dish (the only one I didn't eat), a cold spicy dish, and a fried breaded sweet egg thing that I can't describe but was very good. All of the dishes except the cold one and the egg one were meant to be put inside the pancake, and then you wrapped it up and ate it like you would a soft taco or burrito. Every single one of the dishes (except maybe the black fungus because it looks creepy) was delicious, and it was one of the best meals I have had so far in China (I may have said that before, but it's true!)

Mollie and I were very lucky to be able to go to this family's house and enjoy this wonderful meal (which was 100 times better than any of the restaurants that we have eaten in). So, thank you Mollie, for getting us invited, it wouldn't have been the same without you there!

Today was just one example of why traveling and living in a culture so unlike your own is so rewarding. I have had so many memorable experiences here so far, and I have only been here a little over a month. I may not speak the language very well yet, but I have not had trouble connecting with the people. I feel like China is a place that I can see myself wanting to come back to over and over again (I always fall in love with every place I travel to), but this time it's different -- this time I think it's going to be very hard to leave.

But, I don't have to think about that yet. I have 5 months left....5 months full of new adventures and experiences.

Soon I am going to post some pictures of the last month, since I haven't gotten a chance to yet. I have some really good ones from today and also from our trip to Harbin. I should be able to have them up by the end of this week, and will let everyone know the link once it's available.

For now, I hope everyone is doing well, and I will talk to you all soon. Miss you and love you.