New Friends and Old Places

On Tuesday, I had the amazing opportunity to meet a new friend who works at a foster care NGO that I had a relationship with when I worked in Jiaozuo. Maria's focus is helping children and parents work through the issues of trauma that are an inevitable part of abandonment and adoption. We shared a yummy lunch and our shared enthusiasm for helping kids from hard places build the resilience necessary to live full, happy lives. I love talking about this stuff, and I even more love knowing that these messages are reaching into the China community. 

I took a "day off" on Wednesday before the friend I am staying with and I took advantage of her day off for Qing Ming to revisit more of my old hang outs. This time: Nanluoguxiang, what used to be a traditional shopping street in the hutong and has now become a very crowded and commercial area.

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And Sanlitun, one of our favorite places to have lunch after church when we lived in Beijing. Lots and lots of foreign food places! We went to Blue Frog for the best burger ever made. ​

We then walked back to my friend's house, which was great for soaking up the atmosphere but maybe not so much for my knee. But even after almost 11,000 steps -- no regrets. I still love this place.