Kevin and I both could not stop cracking up at the dinner table tonight after his timely observation. He noted as we were finishing up dinner, "That's a lot of cucumbers on my plate." This was a class day for me, so our ayi fixed dinner for us. She made three dishes--one being tomatoes (which only Noah likes) and the other two that had a striking resemblance to one another. Our plates each had rice and then a TON of cucumbers (or cucumber-like veggies). Kevin was certain that he'd already eaten 600 cucumbers, but there were still at least 100 left on his plate. (In her defense, one cucumber dish did have cashews while the other had a few pieces of pork at about a 15 to 1 ratio in favor of the cucumbers.) So as the kids tried figuring out what was making Kevin and me laugh so hard for such a long time, Kevin and I looked across the table and had one of those "Where the heck are we?" kind of moments. Maybe you just had to be there, but it really is humorous to me that if you asked me six months ago, I would have affirmed my staunch dislike for cucumbers. Now, here I am, half a world away, eating an entire plateful of them! Again I ask, "Where the heck am I?!"
Another cute note to, no doubt, thoroughly freak out the grandparents. I had a great conversation with Eli on Friday while he was riding on the back of the three-wheeler. He asked me a very serious question that he was obviously seriously pondering: "Mom, who should I marry--Ella (Karis' best friend from TX) or Ayi?" I was stumped and a little shocked, and told him that I wasn't sure exactly how to answer that one. After further reflection, I probably should have explained to him that since Ayi was already in her mid-forties, happily married with a 19 year old daughter, (oh, and doesn't speak any English, nor him any Chinese beyond hello and goodbye), Ella would probably be the best choice (amongst other reasons, as well, of course!). [Forgot to mention that in our conversation earlier today, Amy!] So she may cook us up a lot of cucumbers, but she's obviously still worked her way deep into our hearts!
