Joyce Zhou at Yale --a Stressful Preparation but a Gorgeous Dinner Party

     Jason，Cherry，Marina and I，the four who share an apartment，have been planning for the dinner party since our second Tuesday at Yale when Jason declared the news after consulting with Carrie and Siggy about the proper time at the end of the class. To our delight，both Carrie and Siggy accepted our invitation，so we decided to begin our preparation. Since we all seem to be tightened up by the schedule on all weekdays，we had to prepare for it at weekend. Friday afternoon we four went to Stop&Shop，a supermarket near the campus. We lingered in the market for more than one hour，put whatever necessary into the carts till the two carts were piled up with meat，chicken，beef，fish，vegetables，fruits，beverages and many other things. We bought so many bags of things that we four could hardly carry them back to our apartment！    

     Tuesday morning，considering that there might be too many things to do，we got up very early. Marina，Cherry，Jason and I were busy with the preparation the whole morning and we didn't notice it was almost late for class. I knocked into a corner of a tea table above my suitcase when I was in a rush looking for my stockings and soon there was a small bump on my forehead . I had no time to deal with it before rushing to the classroom

    After Carrie's class，we hurried back to our apartment to continue the  preparation， and Jason，the only gentleman in our apartment，went to Hong Kong Supermarket to buy something necessary. Linda，Leoking，Julia，Ann，Rachel，Polly and Cecilia came early to help us. When they were making dumplings，Carrie and Siggy arrived and joined them. Marina the chef，with Cherry and I as her assistants，cooked most of the dishes. After a while，most guests arrived. Soon our apartment was full of laughing，chatting，chopping and frying as well as the symphony of cooking utensils. With a joint effort of all，16 dishes were ready （ including  the two prepared by Jennifer，Lyli and Lorean who live in another apartment nearby）. Jason was caught in the heavy  rain and went back all wet. When everybody was present，the long-awaited dinner party began.

     It lasted a few hours. Everybody was so excited that we all forgot our home-sickness. We took a lot of photos when we were chatting，laughing，toasting and doing the square dance after dinner. To our gratitude，Neoking helped collecting and cleaning up.

     Preparing  for such a big dinner party was really a hard job，but it was truly worthwhile. I hope it would be one of the most memorable days during our stay at Yale.