Serendipity

Yesterday we met with a friend of our Chinese teacher, Charlene. Kelly is about our age and lives in Hong Kong. She grew up in Taiwan and moved to the U.S. when she was 15. Her family is good friends with Charlene. We met at her hotel, which is in a part of Shanghai we hadn't seen yet. The people at her hotel recommended a Shanghainese restaurant nearby. We had to struggle through a packed street market in order to get to the place. I think Eric and I will definitely have to go back. There are people selling all kinds of goods and the street food looks so good. We saw a man carrying a monkey and another carrying an air conditioner. I love stumbling across those places. The weather yesterday and today is beautifully sunny. Rain is predicted for Saturday, but in the meantime, it should be clear.

I am hoping to find a good place where I can find dried beans. The only ones I have found so far look like black turtle beans, but are green on the inside and taste like lima beans. There's a couple of 'expat' stores that I'm going to check out. Here's to hoping.