Chinese Concert

This past Thursday, we were blessed to have some family-time together. We had invited some friends to go with us to a Chinese concert, and they reciprocated by inviting us to join them for Chinese food at a new-to-us Chinese restaurant. So, we went and enjoyed the fellowship of like-minded friends.

During the meal, however, I had to perform the Heimlich on Hope. Thankfully, she pulled through her choking incident.

After dinner we went to hear the wonderful musicians from the Qingdao University Folk Orchestra--as this was their first time in the U.S. The performers were so much fun to watch and listen to, and it was exciting to hear and learn about some Chinese instruments.

After the performance, the audience was welcomed up on stage to see the instruments and to try them out.

Here are Cherish and Hope completely enthralled by what this lovely lady was saying:

Some SAH-WEET children:

Trying out the yangqin--hammer dulcimer:

Cherish really, really liked this instrument and wished she had lessons!

Then, Hope found the drums. Look at Andrew's face.

He's saying, "Are we allowed to play the drums?!!"

Cherish's loving expression of approval for her brother's playing:

Andrew had surprisingly great volume control on the drums!

This instrument, the pipa--pear shaped lute, was Cherish's favorite.

She didn't want to touch it, as there were no musicians near it.

So, she just admired it.

We had such a blast!

We also noticed that when the Chinese ladies or men talked with Hope, she refused to speak in Mandarin back to them. If she didn't know how to answer their questions in English, she simply wouldn't answer them. If she knew the English answer, she'd answer their Mandarin questions with an English answer. It was so obvious--not only to us but to the Chinese people--that she was trying to put Mandarin behind her.

(Even at home, she refuses to let us call her by her Chinese names. She is adamant that we only call her "Kope"--as she refers to herself.)

So the evening ended and we headed home.

At 2:45 a.m. I was awoken by a very loud cry for help. It was the beginning of the pains from food poisoning. First Derek, followed by Andrew. They shared a meal, and they both suffered miserably.

However, the fun we had at the concert with the wonderful musicians and the Proclaim! group out-shined the choking situation at the restaurant and the food poisoning that followed. But, I can pretty safely say: we'll be staying clear of that restaurant in the future. =)