Today is the Chinese New Year. We celebrated it last night in style with our friend and former teaching colleague Elizabeth who lives in Austin with her husband. We got to know Elizabeth while we were on staff with her at an international school in Hong Kong.
When Elizabeth found out we would be in Texas in February she invited us to join her at one of her favourite restaurants in Austin, First Chinese BBQ where the food is authentic and reminded us all of the kind of food we used to eat in Hong Kong.
Although her family is originally from Texas, Elizabeth grew up in Hong Kong and she speaks fluent Cantonese so we let her order our meal for us. It was such a delicious spread!
Our meal was accompanied by a couple of hours of conversation about Texas, the education system in the state, politics, our families, memories of Hong Kong and our teaching experience there, the large Asian community in Austin, friends from Hong Kong, housing prices, church, travel- well suffice it to say it was a wide-ranging and fascinating exchange.
I was particularly interested in learning about Elizabeth's work as a consultant for the IB (International Baccalaureate) education program at an elementary school in Austin. Her job often takes her to other states to do workshops and help schools set up their IB programs.
It was just a coincidence our meal together was on the eve of the Chinese New Year, but it was very appropriate since we got to know Elizabeth while we were living in China.
2024 is the year of the dragon. It's my husband Dave's birth year. Apparently, those born in the year of the dragon exhibit a magnetic blend of ambition, confidence and charisma.
Happy Chinese New Year!
Other posts about connecting with Hong Kong colleagues.........
Hong Kong- Minneapolis Wedding- Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4
Visiting the Hubbards
Making Chinese Dumplings
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