Like so many times with Chinese friends, my lunch date with my co-worker Lucy, turned into an all-day affair.
Lucy has been promising to teach me how to cook standard Chinese dishes, and we decided that Saturday should be my first lesson. We met at her apartment around noon and went straight to the market, where we bought ground pork, tomatoes, eggplant, bean sprouts, garlic, and celery. Altogether, our ingredients cost approximately USD $3.
For lunch, we made ground pork with celery, fried bean sprouts, eggplant, egg and tomato, and fresh soy milk. We shared many laughs while cooking because Chinese people and American people do things very differently. For instance, Lucy rushed over to me all of a sudden, shouting “what are you doing?!” as I was in the middle of chopping a tomato because I was supposedly doing it all wrong. (note: all I was doing was dicing a tomato, I didn’t know a person could mess that up. Apparently I was wrong). She explained that Chinese people hold the tomato and cut slivers off the outside until only the core is left. Their reasoning is that by holding the tomato you don’t squish it and lose all of the juice and seeds onto the cutting board. Interesting.
Although the food we made was delicious, the company was definitely the best part of our meal. I know I have said it before, but just to reiterate: I am so blessed to have such wonderful Chinese friends in my life, Lucy being one of them. As my CWEF co-worker, we partner together to lead service teams (recently we led the California team), and we are working together to plan the CWEF Summer English Program. And as my friend, Lucy is always there to support, encourage, and laugh with me.
We had so much fun during lunch chatting away. She was telling me that she had spent the night at a friend’s house the night before, and they stayed up talking all night. She said, “You know, girls just always talk talk talk!” Then, she said, “Hey Whit, do you know the American television show Friends? One time Rachel and Phoebe go shopping, and Ross has to talk to Phoebe’s boyfriend. All the boys talk about is sports and beer. But the girls are always talking!” At this point, all I could think was, “I can’t wait to tell Lisa Dinse that my Chinese friend is quoting ‘Friends.’” Made me so happy. We also discovered many random similar sayings between Chinese and Americans. For example, in Chinese there is a saying that money is too hot to hold so people always spend it, which is equivalent to the American saying that money is burning a hole in your pocket.
Most meaningful to me, however, was the point in the conversation when Lucy looked at me and asked how my week was going. She noticed I had been acting different the past several days; I quickly explained that I was struggling to find the path where G-d was leading me. Lucy looked me straight in the eye and said, “Whit, we must search for G-d by giving up yourself, giving up your wants, your ideas, and your plan and truly looking for Him.” She said, “When you search for G-d, you discover Him and his purpose becomes clear.” First of all, I was impressed that Lucy could explain this idea in English. And secondly, I was touched by her advice. Having a “sister” to confide in and to hear her beliefs was so encouraging to me and really helped give me a new perspective. Friends are such a blessing!
After our two hour convo following lunch, Lucy invited me to go see one of her friends. I thought, “okay, sure.” Well we wind up at what looks like a classroom, and as we walk in the front door, I see a huge Mary Kay sign hanging on the wall. I got a confused look on my face, and asked, “Lucy, where are we?” She said, “Oh my friend sells Mary Kay. This is her classroom where she teaches women how to use make-up.”
Lucy’s friend rushed to meet us and was obviously excited to have a foreigner in her shop. We sat down and all talked for a bit (well, Lucy translated) about Mary Kay products in China and America and how they are alike. Then I made the fatal mistake… I asked to see some of her Mary Kay Products. I know, slap my hand. I should have known better. Nothing good was going to come out this request. Little did I know that the next four hours would involve two Chinese women (Lucy and her friend) teaching me the in’s and out’s of Chinese beauty tips. They used special face wash and cream, then made me use a face mask. Next, they used a “holy” water from a special lake in China to rehydrate my skin, because according to them my face is much too dry. (Picture this, I’m sitting at the table with a helpless look on my face, while four little Chinese hands are rubbing special water all over my forehead and cheeks).
If that wasn’t enough, Lucy and her friend then get the brilliant idea to do my make-up. Of course, they didn’t think of the fact that I am a foreigner so my complexion and coloring is completely different than all of their products. Didn’t slow them down though. They splattered this foundation onto my face that was literally five shades too light (I mean my face is pretty bronze after the beach in Thailand, not to rub it in : ) So after the foundation was rubbed in, I looked like a ghost. Awesome, I thought. Next on the list was eye shadow. Out comes this palette of dark and royal blues. Oh no. Yep, pretty soon, my eyes lids are brilliantly blue. We finished with eye liner, mascara, blush, lip liner, and lipstick. Overall, how did my make-over turn out? You ask. Let’s just say that I made Mimi on the Drew Carey Show look NORMAL! No kidding, it was atrocious. I looked like a member of the freak show; or maybe more accurately, like a clown. Fortunately, no one had a camera so I don’t have any pictures to show you. You can imagine. It really was THAT bad. : )
Mimi looked normal compared to my make-over!
After my make-over, it was time to immediately go home to scrub it all off. Thus ending my long day with Lucy, which began as just lunch plans, but ended with me not getting home until 9pm. Regardless, what a fun/funny day!
