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Remember 1 year ago when I went to China? If you were not a faithful reader, feel free to go back to mid October 2008 posts and read all about it. This weekend, China came to me. 13 Chinese "officials" came to visit the States and spent 3 days with Bethany. I offered to help, which much to my delight, meant a trip to Chicago to show them around and then a few days in Grand Rapids.

As fun as it was to be a part of this there is a little stress trying to lead a group of 13 people around a big city and only one of them speaks English. We thought it would be good to do some authentic Chicago stuff... So first stop, Deep Dish, Chicago Style Pizza... I neglected to think that the above mentioned pizza contains an absurd amount of cheese. Some where through the meal (they were all politely eating) it occurred to me that in the 3 weeks I spent in China, not once did I see a piece of cheese. I began to worry what this might do to their "system". Later, one of the group said "Americans dress in summer clothes in the fall b/c they eat so much cheese" Translation: We are fat.

They seemed to enjoy Navy Pier and the top of the Hancock, but trouble began brewing on the walk down Michigan Ave (if you happen to not know Michigan ave in Chicago it is hard core, name brand, shopping). The leader of the group said "NO WASTING TIME SHOPPING!" So here were are walking down the street surround by stores like Nike, Coach, Saks, Macys, Disney, Crate and Barrel, you get the drift. The women are drooling and gazing into store front windows as the men march by with out a glance. Until the Apple store appeared. All bets were off. That stoic group leader in his suit and tie marched right on intothat store and was determined to buy an iphone. (apparently the network does not cover Beijing...)

The third point of interest I will share tonight (there are many more) was also about food. You see, the group really wanted Chinese food. They had Chinese food in China town in New York and it was not up to their standards. They had Chinese food in Chicago in a snazzy, pricey restaurant and it was not up to standards. We had to find Chinese food, fast and we were in West Michigan. Things were not looking good. We had a group of 19 adults that had 1 hour to eat and we were in Byron Center (for those of you from far away, Byron Center is a farming community turned suburb, in the heart of Dutch, conservative, CRC W. MI). We all file into the Blue Ginger in a strip mall across from Metro Health Hospital. Then something wonderful happened. The owner greeted us and he was Chinese! He through out the "American" menus and spoke Mandarin and made them everything they asked for! His father came out of the back to do Tai Chi with some of the delegation. They ate with chop sticks, and drank tea, talked and laughed. Then they insisted we cancel our lunch plans for tomorrow and eat at the Blue Ginger (which we happily did). By the way, all 13 of them had NO idea what a fortune cookie was.


So I think the weekend ended with a happy delegation. On a more serious note, it was amazing to spend time with people who want the best for children and despite the cultural and language barriers we all share the same passion for the children of the world.