The Shanghai Team

Three of the Shanghai team are in the states on business so we had them over for lunch today and took them to Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park. We had a really great time; lots of laughter, questions and explanations. One spoke fairly good English, but the others spoke very broken English. It made for a fun time and lots of questions and attempts and re-attempts at explanations.

I had been fretting all week about what to make for lunch. I don't keep octopus or tripe on hand, so I resorted to chicken. I figured that was pretty safe. When Steve travels there, he eats some pretty...uh...shall I say interesting stuff? I wasn't sure I could cook something they would like, but I knew they eat chicken and cabbage and I happened to have both. Although after I had the chicken smoked, Steve told me they don't typically like the western style of smoked food. Aargh! I frustratedly asked what he recommended and if he would like to go out to the grocery, he decided they could try smoked and might actually like it. :o)

They arrived around 11:30. They found the place on their own...well, with the help of a GPS unit...but still amazing. They are the first visitors who have been able to find the place without an escort from three miles out. Hershey had them pinned in their car, but she quickly warmed up to them after being introduced. In fact they loved her and kept commenting on just how much. "Hearshy," as they called her, "really a nice dog"

Earlier in the morning I had grilled the chicken for just a couple minutes over an open fire to give it some good smoked flavor, then put a light sweet sauce on it and put it in a slow oven to cook for a few hours. They laughed when I answered that I had indeed cooked the chicken over the smolderig fire outside...still not sure why they found that funny. Anyhow, it was just perfect when they arrived...and they actually liked it. They ate rather noisily, I was suprised that they ate with their mouths open, but Steve told me later that smacking your lips while eating is a compliment to the cook on the food. And here I just thought they had poor manners, lol.

After lunch we piled into their rental car and headed up to Estes and Rocky Mountain National Park. They were in awe of the mountains and took a zillion pictures. there were lots of ohs and ahs and laughter when we tried to explain things. They hadn't seen a coyote or elk before. They seemed pretty satisfied with the explanation of a coyote as a wild dog with really long legs, they practiced saying coyote over and over for at leas 1/2 mile, asking us to repeat it every now and then.

The snow lingering in the summer was mystifying...."but it ez not cold enough ou, how can it be dere is steel dis snow?" Every time they took a picture of each other on a rock or in front of a mountain view they had to take one of us as well. They laughed as they showed each other the pictures they had just taken. I think they currently have more pictures of our family at RMNP than we do. Then at one stop the sky opened up and poured freezing rain on us. It actually hailed very small hail. They had never seen hail before either. They were amazed and kept saying "Ice, Ice" as they pointed it out to each other and to us and took pictures of it from inside the car. Their eyes got big and they laughed when we explained that in some places some storms drop hail as big as a baseball.

We picked up some pizza on the way home. I don't think they liked it, they each had one piece and insisted they were full. They stood around outside taking in the view and said they liked the farm. They found it funny that the chickens just walk around in the yard, that they are not in a "box." They laughed when Steve told them that the sky is just full of stars at night. About 8:30 they headed back to their hotel and I started to clean up from lunch, dinner and cookies.

It was a day well spent. I really enjoy sharing an other's culture and sharing mine with them. I find the differences so interesting. They invited us several times to come along with Steve next time he travels there and maybe some day I'll take them up on it.