Moochie and Moon Cakes

Yesterday was a very interesting day. We were headed to a community-wide service project for our church when we got rear-ended (at a good speed) by a large pick-up truck. My first reaction was to get out and scream, "My car, my car!" I knew Abe and I were fine, but we have emotional attachements to our cars and to see my car smashed in majorly was very traumatic. Thankfully, Goochie (named after Cardinals player So Taguchi) will survive, he's just in serious condition. So, after arguing with the insurance company, we got a rental, a Nissan Versa that we've named Moochie since he's Goochie's temporary replacement and he's a way for us to mooch miles off another car. The one good thing is that my car will be in the shop for several weeks so it won't have any miles put on it for a while.

After that traumatizing incident, Abe and I went back home to rest. (I cried a lot.) Abe had told me there was a festival in Chinatown that day called the Moon Festival, a harvest festival. So we went to Chinatown with his parents, their friend A Wing, and his family. We didn't have to wait for very long for a table at his parents' favorite restaurant thanks to his dad's connections! His parents arranged the seating so the people who spoke only Chinese sat on one side while the people who spoke only English sat on the other side. It was awesome.

The Moon Festival was interesting. I always love learning about Chinese culture. We missed the lion dance, but we did manage to catch the end of the Chinese American Idol competition. When the singers were introduced, they played a song over the loud speaker that sounded very familiar..."she bang, she bang...she move, she move..." Oh, yeah. William Hung was on the loudspeaker! I don't know if it was a joke or not--I'm guessing he's Chinese!

In traditional Moon Festival fashion, you are supposed to eat dinner with family and then eat a Moon Cake--a Chinese pastry filled with something--ours was filled with lotus seed paste. Abe's mom got us some, so we came home after the festival and Abe and I shared our family's first moon cakes together.

Thankfully, by the end of the day, we had quite a laugh about the day's events. I think it's fitting the accident happened on Moon Festival day since it's supposed to be a day of thanksgiving. Getting in an accident less than two months after being married makes me very thankful for our health and safety and for the experience of sharing each day with Abe. Praise God.