finding friends and finance 101

We had a very social week last week, which is great! I reconnected with old China friends over brunch and amazingly fragrant tea at Alice's Tea Cup. We checked out a small group that meets practically across the street from our place, full of doctors, of course. I hung out with some of the small group ladies, and we got invited to our first dinner party here! It was so nice: pleasant company, fine cheeses, gourmet German cuisine and mochi and cream puffs that we found in Korea "town".

Saturday, we also attended a budgeting seminar which was REALLY helpful as we learn to navigate around the financial perils of living in this mucho expensivo city! Basically, the seminar thesis was: be firmly intentional about living simply, enjoy all the non-consumery things that New York has to offer, develop a budget that prioritizes giving and saving and don't give up!

Today after church, we went out to Flushing to stock up on Chinese groceries and ate at Joe Shanghai's! The xiao long baos were pretty good I must say.

Through all of this bustling activity, I got to meet some people working in schools, organizations and fields I'm interested in exploring...and as much as I may loathe networking at times (I'm so turned off by the posturing and manipulation), it really was a great week for networking.

This week, our first guest comes to visit! I will continue the hunt for jobs and network network away.