But the house was gorgeous. We had to drive down a tiny muddy road to get to the house, which was secluded from all civilization. It was situated right by a river and a pond, and they had several chickens, a cute little horse, and the most obedient dog in the world. The interior of the house was set up and decorated in the most unique way I have ever seen - there were pots, pans, tools, and equipment of all sorts hanging from the ceiling, the kitchen consisted of a wooden-paneled fridge and a quaint little stove, and we had to pull a rope to let down the stairs so we could go up to the rooms. And I think everything was made out of wood. I thought for sure they were some kind of hick town family that probably didn't even know what electricity was, so I was surprised to see they had a huge TV, several computers, and a Nintendo Wii. It was a very interesting weekend.
My friend's grandparents - she calls them Nana and Pa - were fascinating people. It took a while to get used to Pa's mannerisms, for he struck me as rather rude and cranky at first, but he turned out to be a sweet old man. And Nana was such a lovely woman, she embraced us into her home and shared openly about her faith. I thought she was such a woman of God, for she spoke so passionately about God and referred to Him as 'My Jesus.' And she shared about how she believes there is no such thing as coincidences. So whenever she dials a wrong number, or someone calls her by accident, she always takes the time to tell them there was a reason why she called them/they called her, and she would offer to pray for them. It was pretty amazing, hearing her talk about some of the lives she has touched through her small acts of kindness. I was tremendously encouraged by her strong faith. We got to meet my friend's cousins too; all the little kiddos were ADORABLE. The twins were incredibly hyper and just about the cutest little things I've ever seen. They spoke in a mumbly way that only little kids can, and I couldn't really understand them, so I would just nod and smile and pat their heads.
The front porch of the house, covered in snow.
View from the front door.
Super cool stairs that can be pulled up or let down.
Coolest kitchen ever. The black thing is the stove, and the wooden cabinet beside it is the fridge.
Random things hanging from the ceiling.
Me and susan, my friend. she's from China, but lives with the host family here.
Me in her room, sitting on a rocking chair like an old granny.
View from her room out to her grandparents' room across the hall.
View of the snowy river from her room.
This rug disturbed me. I avoided stepping on it at all costs. It think it's some kind of real animal fur. Sick.
The bed that I slept in.
View out the window.
Another view out her room.
We got to go to the asian grocery store on Saturday, which made me very happy indeed. I bought a whole bunch of stuff for $20 - I love cheap asian food! - like Pocky, Hello Panda, Rice crackers, Mochi, Ramen, Japanese crackers, Asian gummies, etc. It's funny how I've come to appreciate all kinds of asian food since being here. I guess when you don't have many options, you learn to take what you get.
We went to her friend's church in the evening to join them for Dirty Bingo, which was so interesting. I've never played Bingo, let alone Dirty Bingo. When I think of Bingo I always think of little old ladies sitting around in a room, circling numbers with their shaky fingers and adjusting their teeth. But this was actually really fun and intense. We would all get our sheets of paper with letters and numbers on them, and we had to get 5 numbers in a row to get Bingo, and this guy would call out numbers one at a time. A prize would be awarded whenever someone got Bingo. Sounds pretty easy, right? But things got more intense when we started Dirty Bingo, which was basically the same concept, except you got to steal people's prizes whenever you hit Bingo. So some people went home with a ton of prizes, like Starbucks/Subway/TGIF gift cards, and others, like me, went home with nothing. Oh well! It was so much fun though, just to meet new people and hang out.
Sunday we visited their church, which was tiny and kind of smelled like old people. Can I just say that sometimes old people scare me? I don't know why, and I'm not being mean or anything, but they just do. Then we had a wonderful lunch and drove back to Taylor. Oh the food we had over the weekend made my stomach very happy indeed. Asian spicy noodles, tang yuan, beef stew, real rice, more yummy noodles. I love noodles so much. I don't really care for rice, but noodles are a staple in my diet. That's why I rely on ramen noodles to keep me alive here.
Was so tired by the time we got back to Taylor. The drive was like 3 hours long. But I brought some snacks to the library for an asian party. It was so much fun to see friends again, even though I've only been away for a weekend. haha.
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