Eating out and meeting friends

James and I were blessed with the opportunity to meet a Baha'i' couple from Toronto, Canada, David and Meim Smith. David is an eye surgeon and is now on the staff of physicians here at the Medical University. They visit every fall and David does surgery and teaches some classes in a voluntary mode. Meim, his wife, visits friends in the area. They have been doing this for about 10 years so have made some good friends. We had breakfast with them on Friday morning at the Sheridan Hotel where they stay when they visit. It is about a 10 minute bikeride from our campus. The hotel caters to Westerners and some even live there for periods of time. They have a lending library of english books and a good selection, too. James just borrowed 2 Dick Francis books. The breakfast was a buffet and spread out over a large area. There was Chinese food, Korean, Japanese, and western. I chose an omelet prepared in front of you as you choose the filling, french toast, a Japanese custard with shreaded ginger on top, great coffee, and fruit. That was my first helping. I also had a pastry which there were numerous to choose from. We hope to see David and Meim again next fall.

Friday was a good day for eating out. We also had our evening meal out! We were escorted by our favorite Chinese friend, Monkey, to a great Korean restuarant for supper. The food was good, the place was bright and clean, and it was cheap. We will return. We were served complementary pumpkin soup served at room temperature, 2 bowls each! And the meal was ended with a kind of sherbert that was good. Monkey and I had a traditional Korean dish of rice covered in sliced vegetables and topped with a fried egg. It was served with a hot sauce to stir in with it. James had a cabbage and chicken dish that was very spicy; he was dripping. We also had 2 side salads, one of black noodles with a sauce that I didn't like and the other was a fresh herb salad that was really good. We rode our bikes there at about 5:00 at night and that was a thrilling ride! I will plan not to do that again soon. I am more careful since I had my fall on the bike and it is scarey the things that I notice now that I didn't before!

Monkey and I went from there to a nurse's English corner. It takes place every Friday night from 6:30-8:00 or so in the nursing building on our campus. We have had 2 sessions and about 5 students were there each time. It was organized by Jean, a nurse from Great British who it the other English speaking nursing instructor at the university. It is really fun because she and I can share our past experiences as nurses and hear the 5th year student's experiences in the hospital. It is so fun to talk to other nurses about nurse stuff. I didn't realize how much I miss that! It also give the students a chance to practice their English and medical terms and get support in what they are doing. They have some "interesting" experiences!