How Many Tries Does It Take?! 加油

The second half of the trip I made some new friends, one friend from Nigeria, one from Ghana, and a few from China. My friend from Shanghai, who also goes to NAU, visited me in Suzhou. It was so awesome to be able to visit with people I knew from the states in their home country. He welcomed me to his culture. My friends from Ghana and Nigeria did not speak proficiently, so I was able to help them learn useful phrases and order food for them! Although everyone speaks at a different level in multiple languages and dialects, it is interesting to see their facial expressions and hand gestures in order to communicate a meaning. My American classmates and foreign friends often went to a shopping street called Guang Jie Qian. It reminded me of the lantern lit street in Hangzhou. On one occasion, Liu Laoshi recommended a great place for dumplings (饺子）. It took my friend Val and I six tries to find the restaurant! We asked people and showed them the Chinese characters of the restaurant's name. Ultimately, we just kept trying to use our language skills and listening comprehension along with the directional pointing of fingers in order to find the restaurant. Those were the best dumplings I had ever had in China. It was definitely worth the 30 minutes wait and 6 people's directions to find the small restaurant near the main shopping street. Here are two pictures of the street at different times of day.