Day 115 - Filling Christmas Stockings

Day 115 

We went with Gilbert to our English school.  We had a new boy named Jerry there today and Lily came for the last hour.  Everything went pretty well today.  Helen was snuggling with David while we were going through our lessons and Leon was a cutie.  He came up to me after the break and jabbered something that he thought I should understand and I couldn’t.  I wish I could have responded to him. 

Leon was kicking around the soccer ball and there in the background were David and Gilbert playing "Cat's Cradle!"   

I just thought it was hilarious that the kids were playing and the grandmas were watching the kids and the two grown men are over there playing "Cat's Cradle"!  David was actually showing Gilbert something about how to play it.

After the school was done, Gilbert and Zinia took us shopping at an underground mall that has some good discounts on things.  We needed to get some warmer clothes for when we go to the Harbin Ice Festival in a week and a half.  Last night and how cold we were convinced us we needed something warmer.  We each got a pair of pants and I got some better gloves and some thermal socks.  We hope it is good enough.

Then Gilbert took us to lunch at a “noodle” place that he said was really great.  There were no places to sit, so we were standing there looking around and two couples that were sitting at a table near the door hurried and finished their meal and let us sit.  The one man was shoveling in his rice so fast that we felt bad for making him hurry.  Then he drank his soup just as fast.  We were sitting there watching him eat and I had to make sure that my mouth was shut and not gaping at him.  The food was good, but they had a sauce there that was SO hot that I had barely an 1/8^th of a teaspoon in my bowl and my lips were burning by the end of the bowl.  David had to stop and pause every so often to let the burning quell in his mouth.  He had more like a half teaspoon in his. 

Gilbert took us home to drop off our packages of winter things and then he drove us to an RT Mart that we wanted to go to.  We thought we could catch one of the busses that come to our campus near there, so we wanted to go see what it had.  We are having a bunch of people over here to have a “traditional American Christmas” here tomorrow for the additional taping they wanted to do for the show, so we decided to get some more candy and stockings and have them for some of the guests that will be here.

When we were done shopping, we went to the bus stop and soon discovered that the bus we thought would stop there does not stop there.  None of the other routes listed on the board looked familiar to us, so we decided to head north and see what the next bus stop had.  Nothing there, so we continued north.  Finally at the fourth bus stop we found our bus.  These are not small blocks.  Thank goodness we didn’t buy any more that we did and had to pack it all that way! 

When we arrived home, we filled the stockings and ate some candy, mostly trying to see what some of this Chinese candy tasted like.  It didn’t spoil our supper.  After supper, I made another banana cream pie, in case the one from the show doesn’t make it here in one piece, and some cookies to give to some of our guests tomorrow.