千葉の城西国際大学に昨年9月から留学中の3人の中国人女子学生が我が家を来訪。地元の友人にも声をかけて老若混合のBBQパーティーを我が家の庭で開催。春休みで帰省中の姪(新潟県立大の一年生)や、若い志の高い起業家、それに中国に関心のある夫の高校時代の親友ご夫妻が宇都宮からかけつけてくれた。更に、ボランティアワーカーとしてデンマークから来ている21歳の学生と彼のホストマザーも参加。EECCで楽しく英語をはなすメンバーにも入っていただいてパーティーは充実したもにになった。良い天気に恵まれて、日の入りと共に肌寒さを感じると皆火を囲み、親密度アップ。夫が昨年南京の大学で、教え子とプチコーラス隊を結成した時の経験から今回も即留学生達を誘導して中国語の歌を披露し、なごやかなムードとなった。焼き芋からスタートして、肉、ソーセージ、魚介類、野菜、焼きそばといった定番ながら皆楽しんだ様子。夫の同級生はプロ顔負けの焼きたてのパンを数種類持参。停年後の趣味になっているそう。人様を喜ばせる趣味が持てるなんて素晴らしいことです。
Three Chinese girl students who have been studying at Josai International College in Chiba since last September, came to Nikko to see us. In order to encourage them, we organized a BBQ party inviting some local friends of us, both young and senior people.Among them were my husband niece who is a freshman of Niigata prefectural college and now back in her home town for spring holidays, a young determined man managing his own business, and a couple of my husband friend from high school days who came over from Utsunomiya. Also a young student from Denmark who has been in Nikko since last August as a volunteer worker and his host mother as well and a member of EECC(my English class) joined us. Therefore the party was very enriched and enjoyable. As it got darker in the sunset, it got colder and everybody gathered around the fire, which made us feel more comfortable and intimate. My husband organized a petit concert with the Chinese students as he did when he was on campus of a university of Nanjing last year. They sang some Chinese songs. BBQ started with baked sweet potatoes and many ingrediens such as meat, seafood, vegetables were broiled and ended up with Yakisoba. My husband's old friend, now retired, established his hobby, baking bread, which he seems enjoy very much. What a wonderful and practical hobby he has!