Happy Anniversary

Some of you may know that Linda and I had an anniversary yesterday (May 20th) (our 13th) so tonight we went out to celebrate by having dinner at a little Thai restaurant here in Tianjin. Tonight we rode our bikes to the restaurant. At 4:30 the streets of Tianjin are really crowded. Schools are letting out, people are commuting home, the streets are narrow and bikes and cars are everywhere. Linda discovered if she stayed close to this Chinese lady she could just sail through everything without a problem. She told me and we both stayed close after that and things worked out much more smoothly. I can't figure that out but we have more trouble in traffic than the Chinese people do. I should strap a video camera to my chest and give you all a ride around Tianjin sometime. I don't have a video camera but I think it would be a hoot to show you all what traffic is like here. We actually got to the restaurant before it opened but they let us in and brought us some water and then let us wait for half an hour. It's ok, it was our anniversay, we were in no hurry.

The food was really spicey tonight. We decided that 2 peppers was too much at this resataurant. In the future our choices will be confined to one pepper or less. The menu is in English and Chinese and that makes the experience much better.

We had a really nice meal then walked around a little just a leisurely stroll to look at what was in the area (a shoe store wouldn't you know) and to wait a little after dinner. The portions were not huge but we both had plenty to eat. Then we road home. We got home just about sunset. Linda still doesn't want to ride at night but I think it would be a great adventure. I'm sure we will one of these days.

I haven't felt much like blogging lately. There is a lot of sadness right now, but we are also busier. The foreign Baha'is are having a devotional meeting and fund raiser for earthquake relief this Friday evening. For those who are interested there are interviews with a Baha'i who came to a city about 30 miles from the epicenter of the earthquake in August. She gives two interviews to Alex Chadwick on All Things Considered. You can hear them at npr.org. If you can't figure out how to hear them and you want to email us, I'll explain it to you.