new year's eve

I wanted to share something special that happened on New Year's Eve. I went out to eat at a local Asian restaurant with some friends + we had this really chatty waitress named Jenny (Jinlan), who was incredibly charming + we all just adored her. The restaurant was not too busy so we got a lot of her time + asked her about where she was from, how long she had been in the US, etc. She is from China + has a really interesting story. She is from a village where her family has grown tea for many generations (white, black + Oolong tea) + told us a brief history of her family's tea farm, which involves multiple stories of theft of plants, fending off the British, 60 people from her village being kidnapped, along with more theft of plants + forced to tend to the plants, but most of all, a lot of pride.

She plans on opening up a Chinese tea house + made us an amazing tea mixture using leaves from her family's plants + shared the story of Oolong, or Black Dragon tea. It was one of those experiences where I felt privileged to get to know someone. She really was just so lovely.

We exchanged information (we also frequent this restaurant she works at) + anticipate the opening of her shop. For now her shop is just on-line .

Happy 2012!