My first meal in Sichuan

Today I had my first Sichuan meal in Sichuan. By that I mean it was the first time in my life that I ever ate Sichuan food. It was very hot but I think that many of you know that. I sweated a lot and drank a lot of orange soda.

We didn't have clinic or lecture today because it was the Dragon Race Holiday. The festival last four days (Friday through Monday). So, we ended up at the International Student Office trying to figure out the places that we wanted to visit.

Since it was a day off, we slept in until 7:30. It was already about 10 am when we got to their office. Our classmate, Huang Ren Shuan said that we needed to have Chinese names and have a stamp made for when we open our own offices.

So Angel and the whole staff had fun trying to figure out a name for us. Kind of like I did for Nancy yesterday. Our interpreter "Sherry" doesn't like her American name and asked us to come up with a new one for her too.

So, my Chinese name is Tang Li Xin - the Tang is for the time of the Tang Dynasty when there was great inventions and cultural advancements. There are a lot of interpretations for this name and Angel said that for me it meant sweet and smooth; Li had lots of meanings that all contained gentleness and kindness and for me she said that it meant beautiful; my last name Xin means heart. So she said that I have a sweet, beautiful heart for all the times that I help people especially the children of the world. Wow - that is so cool.

I will post Sheila's and Huang's tomorrow.

After we figured out our names Angel took us to lunch. A lot of people in the restaurant were very curious about us. I know that we made a lot of people smile a lot and I even think that there was laugther.

After that, we went to the cultural market and found a master who hand carves our name in stone and I think that this is where this expression must come from. This is what it looks like:
唐 丽 心
Tang Li Xin

We'll head to the Chengdu Zoo tomorrow and go to the Panda exhibit. The Panda Reserve is still being repaired and they have moved many of the Pandas to Beijing. Then we plan on going to Bamboo Park to the Pavilions and the famous Chengdu tea houses.

We still don't have word on when we can go to the disaster zone. Both the Texas folks and now the International Student Office here are trying to arrange a visit for us. We heard that Tibet is still closed and not safe for foreigners.

That's all for today - keep safe and love one another.

Peace and Love,

Tang Li Xin (Donna) and Xie Kang Ling (Sheila)