STRUGGLING WITH SERENDIPITY
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fanfare and dumplings

7/17/2019

4 Comments

 
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Look for the 2nd issue of my Serendipity Newsletter on July 24!
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After visiting Beijing’s Forbidden City, I sat with Matt and Linda in the Water Cube one evening for finals. The crowd buzzed when a group of men and women entered the stands in the athlete section. Matt pointed out Hu Jintao, the President of China, before the announcer introduced him. The President watched the competition without any apparent security. Matt said some of the people with the President would be guards. However, only police possessed guns in China, so public appearances held less threat for the President than in the United States.


Capacity crowds of 17,000 packed the dazzling Water Cube for each session.

Finals at big swim meets, always exciting, notched up in Beijing with the addition of an amazingly responsive crowd and the fanfare of the Paralympics. I followed every race closely, cheering for Beth’s friends and teammates. Many swimmers from other countries also had become familiar to me after six years of national and international meets.

Team USA battled to win the gold medal count.

U.S. families and friends cheered as Linda’s daughter Elizabeth tossed a flower bouquet to her mom up in the stands after receiving a medal for her race.

After finals, Matt shared the best dumpling shop. From a dimly-lit street in his neighborhood, it didn’t look like a business of any kind. We sat at one of a few old wood tables in a cluttered little space. A cook stood at a small flour-dusted table in the same room to make the dumplings and carried them to a back room to be cooked. Matt practiced his Mandarin language skills with the cooks who brought us several round wooden bowls of delicious dumplings. They were the best dumplings I ever had, served with an unusual and wonderful dipping sauce.

The entire meal for all three of us cost the U.S. equivalent of $2, including three water bottles.

We always used only bottled water to drink and to brush our teeth. Walking back to Matt’s apartment, we passed a building with a big rectangular window frame with no glass or screen. Inside, two men cooked little pieces of meat on a flat grill and speared the meat on sticks. We bought three beef sticks, one for each of us. Exotic spices complimented the delicious meat. Linda and I shared a nervous laugh, wondering if the beef was really beef. Would we get sick from undercooked meat or something else? Thankfully, we didn’t.

Next blog post on July 31: my favorite place in Beijing!
4 Comments
Linda Stone
7/18/2019 09:35:27 am

I was sitting in a little coffee shop with a friend Monday morning and who should walk in but Matt! We had a few minutes to talk: he is married, has a 3 year old son, has lived all over the world, most recently in Beijing this past year. Is in the States for a visit before moving again to Southeast Asia, I can’t remember specifically where. We reminisced about our adventures, and that little dumpling shop!! So glad we trusted Matt on his choice that night - delicious!

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Cindy Kolbe link
7/18/2019 05:22:18 pm

Hi Linda! How nice that you ran into Matt, and I'm glad to hear that everything is good with him. It really was a wonderful adventure with you and Matt in Beijing!

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Jason Rhode link
7/19/2019 09:32:32 am

It's amazing how culture defines public life for public officials, huh?
We love foreign cuisine, and foreign hole-in-the-walls are LITERALLY holes in the walls! We found that out when we went to Honduras to eat iguana.

Reply
Cindy Kolbe link
7/21/2019 03:25:40 pm

Jason, it really was interesting to see the cultural differences. I'm not as adventurous with food choices now. Iguana? No, thanks. ;-)

Reply



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