Noodles with Bulgaria

After church today I had lunch at a Chinese restaurant with Beth and Dave Kanelos, who were leading the worship. What really made it special, however, was that we had a real live Chinaman to keep us company during the meal. And, better still, Isaac Huang is from Shenzhen. In fact, he goes to the OCT church and knows quite a few people at SIF, Shenzhen International Fellowship, our church during our five years in SZ. Of course he knows Heidi, but then every Christian in Shenzhen knows Heidi.

It was so strange (and so enjoyable) to hear someone speaking English with a Chinese accent and occasionally chatting with the restaurant staff in Cantonese. Isaac politely tolerated the few (very few) phrases of Mandarin that I still remember.

The other strange thing was that meeting Isaac showed me how much I miss China. Five years is a fair old chunk of your life, I suppose, and part of me wishes that we were still there. Lianhuacun Park, Bill, Julia and the extremely naughty Diudiu: will we ever see them again?

And in case you are wondering, yes, the food was pretty good too. It was, in fact, the first Chinese food I have eaten since leaving China. I must take Irena to this restaurant, as the food is delicious and it is good value as well. Noodles in Bulgaria! Well, it certainly made a welcome change.