Over the weekend, both my sister and I as well as our friend Elinor, drove to Jeff City, MO to visit our friend Crystal. What a time we had! We arrived around 8:00 p.m. on Friday evening. We would have been there sooner but I missed the exit & we had to backtrack 4 miles. I do not know how I missed it-not like it was my first time to go there. Anyway, we had some yummy pizza upon our arrival. I had purchased the "Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader" game earlier in the day to take with us. We attempted playing as teams first & found that we were dumber put together than we were apart from one another. I'm pleased to say, I did OK. Crystal & I tied, both dropping out of school at $300,000.00. I'm hoping my check arrives in the mail soon. I think they forgot to give it to me at the time of my win! The half a million dollar question that I decided walk away from was, "What is the only city in the world that is located on two continents?" I had no clue & figured winning my $300,000.00 was better than dropping back down to $25,000.00. Good thing I did not guess as I would have been wrong. For those interested, in case you ever need to know, the answer is: Istanbul. I never in a million years would have thought of that answer! Other students (hmmm...Haley & Elinor), did not fare to well. A good time we had though. After stuffing ourselves on hot fudge brownie ice cream sundaes, we played a round of the board game "Like Minds." Unfortuntely, Haley & Elinor were losers on that game as well as once again, Crystal & my's mind's thought alike. I will give the losing team credit though-they were only a point or two behind. If you have never played that game, I encourage you to do so. The game is great fun & it is interesting to see how others think. For instance, we once played with some family & my sister or cousin was my partner when the question asked us to name types of math. My mind immediately thought of things like trig, algebra, calculus, etc. while there mind was completely opposite--they answered with things like addition, subtraction, division & so forth. Always leads to, "What were you thinking?!" After Crystal & I tried to spook Haley & Elinor in their bedroom & continued on with them never making an attempt to get us back, we finally decided to retire & get some shut-eye. Those two had to be party-poopers!
Everyone awakened after a bit of rest & we took off for the day. We headed to Columbia. Two, had never seen the Mizzou campus (Haley & Elinor) so Crystal drove through so they could catch a glimpse of it. While driving, it did not take long for us to get lost. Eventually, we found our way back to where we needed to be & entered into the Columbia Mall. We grabbed a bite for lunch & then, I opened their eyes to the beloved, Lollicup. I was uncertain as to whether or not they would make my slushie just as I had it in Taiwan (half yogurt/half passion fruit), but they agreed to do so. Elinor, having never had one of these slushies, followed in our footsteps ordering the same. Haley & Crystal were ecstatic when they just saw the cups alone! The three of us were enjoying ours so & I only hoped that Elinor would like it as well. She did. One sip & she was giving the thumbs up. We wandered around the mall for a while, buying nothing. We returned to Lollicup before we left so that I could order another slushie to put in a cooler & bring home to a fellow Taiwan team member. Crystal & I could not resist. We each ordered a Caramel Milk Tea. While Crystal drank hers hours later, I downed mine within minutes. I was so very happy to see Hope & Jocelyn working again & even filmed them sending a message to my friend Megan (who introduced me to the place). I can't wait to go again.
Once we left there, we were off to the Hong Kong Market so that I may buy some more Apple Cider Soda. My dad loved it & had asked me to so. I wanted some more for myself as well. Haley was preparing herself for the smell walking in as I had told her, it smelled like Taiwan-stinky. You will notice in my slideshow, a picture of Haley, Crystal & Elinor as well as a black guy. He was a kid working in the store that I had struck up a conversation with. I was joking with him asking him how much Chinese he knew, what country was he from in Asia, etc. He noticed that I was preparing to take a picture of the girls in front of the Market sign & dashed into the picture. He was a funny little fellar. I brought back some treats for 3 other team members. I was able to give one to one of the men on Sunday morning. He looked thrilled as he said, "What exactly is this because it looks like rocks?" I told him I had no idea & really, I do not. They were inexpensive & I knew it would make for a good joke. I'm sure that whatever it is, it's probably horrible tasting!
Time to head back to Jeff City...we stopped at the Governor's Mansion for a photo session. Some, were more enthusiastic than others. I was not enjoying the swarming gnats & bugs that were biting me every second. Granted we have some nice pictures, when it came time to go, I was perfectly OK to escape to critters eating me alive!
We returned to Crystal's & she showed Elinor the video of she & Haley's mission trip to Poland. How beautiful that we are able to share such with one another. Elinor, is a 5th generation South-African native living here in the states as a teacher. Her parents are missionaries. Elinor has been on many mission trips herself. So cool was it, as we drove around to sing hymns & Elinor sing in Africanz (I'm probably not spelling that one right). We had a great time of laughter with one another & fellowship as believers. Once my car got jumpstarted (for some unknown reason, it was dead when we were ready to come home-it's died twice since), we were on our way back. We are eager to spend time with one another again.
