Since our time in the States, Uncle Herschel started talking about coming East to visit us. We nailed down some dates, he got his visa, and it all came together for touching down right before Christmas.
His first time in Asia did not disappoint. We loved exposing him to our world, daily life around town, family life in our home, and enjoying Christmas traditions with him. Herschel dove right into experiencing the sights, tastes, and smells of small town China and was willing to try anything. The kids were ecstatic to show them their school and life and welcomed him with signs and a dance at the airport. Though his delay out of LAX caused him to consecutively miss other flights, he still arrived only 5 hours later than originally planned.
On day one we took him to our wet market (he handled the gore very well, but I will spare you the pictures.)
And he even tried a fried bread snack dipped in sweet soy milk.
Here is our nearby market. The other kiddos were at school.
I couldn't believe he was actually here.
The other kids couldn't wait for him to arrive at their schools. Tobin's was first, but we were distracted by Christmassy things and missed good pics (like our friend, J dressed as Santa with a scraggly white beard, I would post, but I will let his wife embarrass him in that way).
Sophia's classroom:
And Bella's:
Here is one of our fave kids again. Herschel told him that he came from America just to get his picture taken with him. He laughed and laughed. (love the photo bomb there, that was the son of one of the administrators).
For lunch we went to eat 'Over the bridge noodles', where you put the stuff in your pot of oil/broth and let it cook it bit, then add noodles and spices.
This really is delicious.
Herschel really liked it. (and was already a pro chopstick user, Sophia was concerned and asked him about this)
After lunch we did some finishing up of our Advent book, Bartholomew's Passage, read our advent readings, and then walked Herschel around our neighborhood.
We decided to try the exercise equipment...we needed it.
We rested a bit in the afternoon and then took him to a nicer restaurant that tends to host weddings and government parties. They were getting ready for some officials by the time we arrived.
We were trying to introduce Herschel to all the local flavors that we love.
He was willing to try everything.
Next we drove downtown to a small park to get a dessert/snack that is one of our faves. This particular vendor did not do a fantastic job of making it, but we had fun nonetheless.
And for a special special treat, a local park had an event going on for a few months where they put up a ton of lights. This was for us quite spectacular, as we never get to see 'Christmas lights'.
