What's for dinner???

From the desk of Chris....

Ni hao! If there's one activity that Allie and I are always up for, its eating. We love to try new places, preferably somewhere that serves ethnic food. The good news is that Louisville is a great place for foodies-- I actually read an article ranking Louisville in the top 10 cities for foodies. The bad news is, since we have so many great options here, we've become pretty picky. Don't get me wrong... we'll eat almost anything. We just may complain about it a little in the process :) One of my more "impressive" feats involved convincing a group of guys to try to eat a 20-ounce cheeseburger and fries:

Yes, that burger is as big as his face. And yes, that is Muhammed Ali in the background. 4 brave men attempted the challenge, 3 of us were successful. Since then my food standards have evolved, and I now find myself eating things like this:

Healthier, and with less GI issues. As we get closer to leaving the country Allie and I have been trying to hit as many of our favorite food places as possible. Most recently we went to our favorite sushi place, Osaka. When we go out for Asian food in America, we like the place to be clean and nice. We need the food to look good. For example:

There were 7 of us, and we had 4 plates that looked like that. It took us just over 8 minutes to destroy it all. And yes, we did go out for icecream afterwards.

We'll be in Beijing in less than a month, and there are plenty of things we should be learning. Case in point, the Chinese I used at the beginning of this blog represents 50% of the Chinese I know. But, being the driven people that we are, of course Allie and I spend our time researching the most important, helpful things we can about Hengyang-- the food. We found some videos on YouTube about what it is like going out to eat in Hengyang. This video is taken exactly where we're going to be. The university in the video is where we're going to teach. I will offer a few disclaimers though: 1. This guy does not necessarily teach with the ELIC or represent the ELIC in any fashion. 2. There is some STRONG LANGUAGE in the videos. If you are offended by certain words, or watching this with your children, you may want to skip the videos. Minus the language, this is the best visual representation we've been able to find of what our lives will be like in China. Enjoy!

I love watching these videos with other people and seeing their response. Before you read any more, take a moment and comment about your reaction to the video. Stop reading. Do it. Please. The typical response goes something like this, generally said with a look of horror and disgust-- "Uh, that looks, um, great? I hope you guys have a good time." Noone gets as excited as Allie and I do when we watch the videos! For some uncanny reason, I can't wait to walk through the rain, next to trash, and pay a guy under a tarp for a grocery bag of noodles! I am excited because I am called. Anyone want to come visit?? ;)

Please send Immodium and Pepto... they don't sell that in China!

"So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well" -- Matthew 6:31-33