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I love a unexpected conversation

We were at an “authentic” Chinese restaurant, some friends and I. Now, for those of you rolling your eyes because you’re thinking of Panda Express, we’d passed that on our long trek to said restaurant.

For the second summer in the row, we were the only non-Asians in the joint.

Having chatted with our waiter we found out he’s been in the US for a year and is from Jiangxi province in southern China. I asked him in Chinese if he was used to life in the U.S.

Oh yes! I love America and especially the 

flickr: creative commons gfpeck

flickr: creative commons gfpeck

air conditioning!

For old China hands, I’m sure this answer will be no surprise :).

Any good air conditioning stories out there? I shared about the Connie Cafe last summer here.

p.s. A (quarterly) Messy Middle Newsletter will go out tomorrow. If you’re interested it’s easy to sign up for AND receive a free copy of “Signs of Eden Regained.” The newsletter won’t show up here on the blog and I wanted to give you a final warning :)

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8 Comments July 29, 2013

About Amy

My name is Amy and I live in the messy middle of life. I have been Redeemed from permanent muck and live with the tension of the Already and Not Yet.

Comments

  1. Soundra says

    July 29, 2013 at 7:33 am

    Great story. We had some Chinese friends in another city in AR cook for us last weekend. It was awesome but I would love to find an authentic Chinese restaurant close by. I miss Chinese food!

    Reply
    • Kristi says

      July 29, 2013 at 9:08 am

      When I was doing as summer program our officials had “authentic” Chinese clothes made for us. We wore them to our closing banquet. The food was great, we enjoyed the conversation about the success of the program and continued friendship and we were sweating profusely. I tried to look uncomfortable and fan myself a lot. I was trying to communicate in an indirect Chinese way that it was getting quite warm. It wasn’t too long before I no longer had to try to look uncomfortable. It came quite naturally. I noticed that only the Americans looked bothered by the temperature. Eventually someone asked the waitress to turn on the air conditioner in our private room. What a relief! Maybe our Chinese hosts were more uncomfortable than I thought.

      Reply
      • Amy says

        July 29, 2013 at 6:52 pm

        “It wasn’t too long before I no longer had to try to look uncomfortable.” HAHAHAH (and sorry for laughing at your discomfort) :)

        Reply
    • Amy says

      July 29, 2013 at 6:53 pm

      It was worth the trek, that’s for sure!

      Reply
  2. Amanda says

    July 29, 2013 at 8:28 am

    Awesome! Amy – do you (or any of your readers!) know of any quality Chinese restaurants in Austin or Dallas area?

    Reply
    • Amy says

      July 29, 2013 at 3:24 pm

      I’ll email you :)

      Reply
  3. Amy L Sullivan says

    August 1, 2013 at 7:41 pm

    So fun! You know, I grew up without air conditioning, and therefore, it makes me brrrrrrr. . . cold.

    Reply
    • Amy says

      August 2, 2013 at 2:01 pm

      I grew up without it too :) … and I know you live in the south now, so probably “need” it more than me! In Denver, I don’t think we need it, but in Sichuan China, Lord Have Mercy :)

      Reply

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