.......... and even more

Walking home from the supermarket one evening and talking away we passed a woman wheeling a bicycle. As we passed her she said "How nice to hear English " and we turned to see a whitey smiling. In no time at all we had a new American friend. Ilene comes to HZ often as she is trying to start a dance school here and is weighed down with the paperwork and red-tape. By the end of the conversation we had been invited to dinner by her Chinese friends who live nearby, and who she phoned to get a phone number for us. Since then she has returned to America, Utah in fact, with her young dance teacher Megan, and we have continued the friendship with Andrew, who obtained his Masters in Auckland, New Zealand and speaks good English, and his wife Stellar, who is expecting their child in August. Stellar is a fabulous cook and enjoys it, so preparing meals for us is something she loves. We will not starve with her for a friend. Apart from the gifts of food Stellar also gave me a lovely pearl necklace, as HZ has, nearby, the famous pearl market which hopefully I will get to see one day - but I think, even though I have read 'The Pearl Divers' I will need Stellar with me to ensure that I do not get taken for a ride when purchasing.
She is a competent and successful business woman owning a factory which makes non woven cloth. She has recently sold this and is onto new ventures with her husband. He was a teacher at the HZ Academy of Art but left in dismay when he discovered that the attitude of the other teachers was 'Who cares?' he has a saying now 'CDC' = Chinese don't care! I'm not sure I agree with him but he IS Chinese.

From these two we then met Don, a dentist from Regina, who after teaching here for a year and going home, returned because he loves the place so much especially the food. Unfortunately he put his neck out a few weeks ago and it is not healing. The local MRI indicates he has a couple of herniated discs so he is returning home on Thursday to see what the Canadian surgeons say. Pity we'll miss getting to know him. Hopefully he will return before we leave.

Ilene , the American, will return with two dance teachers at the end of May so we are looking forward to seeing her again, and next weekend we are going to the Thousand Islands with A&S to hike a mountain and see the lakes.