my favorite people-Helen

I'd like to introduce you to some of my favorite people...
Helen has been one of my best friends here since we met shortly after I arrived in 2002. I love her for so many reasons. She's fun. She has taken me to fly kites in the middle of the town square, mountain (hill) climbing in a town about an hour away by train, and taken me to eat some very interesting things over the years (cow stomach!). I love her because she is willing to eat anything I cook. Sometimes people make comments about the food being so differrent, but she doesn't care, she is such a good sport about eating Western food. She LOVES salad. I love it too, so it's so great when she calls and asks to come over and us make a salad together. (This is always a welcomed change especially when most folks always want to take you out to eat lots and lots of sheep).
Helen once told me that her friends asked her if we spoke mostly in Chinese or mostly in English. She told them that we speak our own special language. It's true. Every sentence will include words from both languages. Somehow, we always manage to communicate. (Although, the cow stomach and styrofoam are examples of when our system failed us).
Recently, Helen fixed my TV/DVD player. The DVD player wouldn't play in color. Various folks (including our American guys) had looked at it and no one could figure out what the deal was. Everything seemed to be plugged in right, but it was still black and white. Helen found some button to push that fixed the problem. She helped me decorate my Christmas tree. She delievered big pieces of styrofoam to my house. I am so thanful for a friend like her.