"I spy with my little eye, something that begins with _B_."
"Book?...Board?...Button?...?"
"...No...No...No."
"All of the girls have them."
"...?" >>This is a totally innocent thing, right? I hope so.
"Our teacher has some: Big ones."
"...?" >>OMG, Is this innocent or not? Does he have the vocab or the guts to say that?
"Bags!" >>What a relief.
On April Fools Day, my students gave presentations. We played the human knot game. Then we played 'I Spy.' It was a good game for repetition and for practicing pronunciation.
I had played April Fools on all of my classes, telling them that we were having a big quiz. Actually the quiz is scheduled for next week. At first, they didn't believe me, but I told them to check the syllabus, and they were all freaking out and pulling out papers. It was pretty effective.
My last class of the day played a trick on me. The students in that class always have suspicious grins when I go into the classroom, but before this class it was more than usual. In fact, I was being cautious, thinking that they might have put a rubber spider in the computer console. Nothing happened. Then at the very end, I was relieved that class was over because their presentations had run a little short and I was running out of things to do. I talked for a bit about nothing important and made some announcements.
Then I said, "Ok, that's the end of class, thank you, and have a good weekend." They all stayed in their seats. So I said, "And so...that means you can go now." They said, "No, this clock is broken. It's not the end of class yet." I checked my watch and cell phone, which all said class was over. But they insisted that we still had 15 min left of the class. For one terrible moment, I felt myself almost believing, and panic set in because I knew I couldn't keep talking about nothing for 15 more min. When I realized, I said, "No, that's an April Fool's joke."
I'm actually quite flattered that they all thought of the joke and played it together at the end. It shows that they are comfortable enough to have a little fun in class.
-吴佩芙
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Friday, March 21, 2008
Kapok: Hero Tree
Earlier this spring, I noticed a sad tree outside my window. While the HK orchids have kept their leaves and continued to bloom throughout the winter months, this tree was a naked stick with no leaves. It was that tree that prompted me to write about Atreyu and the quest to save the Empress.
A few days later, the tree began to grow huge buds, the size of golf balls. There were no leaves, but the buds gave us hope that the leaves would be coming soon. A few people commented on how quickly the tree was progressing, when it had been completely dead before.
Before long, the buds started to pop, not with green foliage, but with huge, bright-orange blossoms. The bare tree looked silly, but we were delighted with this surprise.
As I looked at the trees today, I realized that they are a sign of Easter, coming out of the dead of winter, suddenly alive and vibrant.
Now the blooms of the Kapok or "Hero Tree" are falling, and decorating the streets and bushes below.
-吴佩芙
A few days later, the tree began to grow huge buds, the size of golf balls. There were no leaves, but the buds gave us hope that the leaves would be coming soon. A few people commented on how quickly the tree was progressing, when it had been completely dead before.
Before long, the buds started to pop, not with green foliage, but with huge, bright-orange blossoms. The bare tree looked silly, but we were delighted with this surprise.
As I looked at the trees today, I realized that they are a sign of Easter, coming out of the dead of winter, suddenly alive and vibrant.
Now the blooms of the Kapok or "Hero Tree" are falling, and decorating the streets and bushes below.
-吴佩芙
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
La Jiao
Fresh water chestnuts are the thing I will miss most from China. When I see a bowl of them, ready-to-eat, at the vegetable stand, I can't resist buying a few handfuls. They are sweet and crunchy, and the canned variety tastes nothing like the fresh. The ACC hotel dining room makes the best water chestnut dessert. It's made from shredded water chestnuts and a few peanuts, fried in the form of a big flat patty, and sprinkled with sugar. Come to think of it, I haven't had water chestnuts in a stirfry or in a salty dish, ever since I've been in China. Truly, Heaven must be filled with fresh water chestnuts!
La jiao is usually translated "hot sauce," but Chinese hot sauce is really in a league of it's own. Jalapeño peppers and wimpy picante don't compare to the type of flavor la jiao can provide. For one thing, the pepper affects a different part of your mouth, and, if it's really good, it will contain "prickly ash," a Szechuan pepper, which comes in buds that numb your mouth when you bite them. When we were in Dengfeng, we ate local cuisine, which had the most prickly ash I've ever eaten. It was enjoyable at first, but then I was actually starting to feel worried that the numbness wouldn't go away.
I ended up getting the famous "Unhappy Woman" brand, which I don't know the real name of, but it has a recognizable yet unhappy woman on the label. It was a mini-quest because I had to walk to East Gate to get it, and then I had to ask what it was in Chinese, and interpret the Chinese answer. I saw one of my students on the way back, and she translated the ingredients for me. She said it would be too hot, but that's quite all right with me.
I lost my memory stick/thumb drive/jump drive, whatever you want to call it. I've had some students on the "search and recover" job, like little ants, since Monday, but we probably won't find it. All I can think is that I might have left it in my classroom last Thursday. So on Monday, my students checked the lost-and-found, put up internet messages, and signed ad sheets that are hanging around campus. One of them knows someone who works in the student union office that has lost-and-found, so they put the word out too. However, it's seeming unlikely that I will get it back. Fast forward to Thursday this week: My students are going to hook me up with a student agent who deals in computer parts. Many students have mad hook-ups, and they can get things to sell on campus, which the other students find to be very convenient, better quality, and cheaper than buying at Wal-mart. I'm waiting for a call today from my student who will be the language mediator between me and the agent. It all sounds very under-handed, but that's how things are, and it's totally legit.
-吴佩芙
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Easter in the East
I just returned from a very fun St. Patrick's Day party. I spent the afternoon with my upstairs distinguished colleagues. They have a little oven, and they had all this random caraway and no place to go. So...Irish Soda Bread for the party! Then we were bored waiting for the bread to cook, so we mixed up some brownies from scratch. (I usually make 1/4 of a brownie recipe in my crockpot, which requires 1/2 of an egg. It was awesome to make 3/4 of a recipe, which didn't require such minimal amounts.)
It was while we were leaving that we realized that tomorrow is Palm Sunday, which means there is one week until Easter. In the States, the stores are full of Cadbury Eggs, Cadbury Robin's Eggs, Peeps, and all of those candies associated with Easter. I must say, the high sugar of all of these treats no longer sounds appetizing. There are other things about Easter that we will miss: Tenebre services, dying eggs, brunch... The worst about Easter in the East is that it is generally not mentioned and unacknowledged, except in passing. I don't know whether the students know about Easter. I don't know whether it would be good or whether I would be a Dancing Bear if I tried to go to a church service next week.
Incidently, today is a Chinese holiday, one in which certain families go to the graves to honor their family members. There is some disagreement about which family, but we guess Zhong because...just because it seemed as logical as any other. Anyway, I left at 8:30 to go "climb mountains" with some colleagues. As we approached the mountain beside our campus, which leads to the Tao temple, we began to realize that the normally deserted road was suddenly taken over by buses, motorbikes, cars, trucks, and motorcabs. Makeshift refreshment stands were set up to sell water and other drinks to the hikers. People brought food and crowded the road to the extent that we were suffocated by people and exhaust fumes. None of us knew that it was a grave-related holiday, but we changed our route and ended up going to the Tao temple and walking up the stairs that lead to the top of the mountain. We stopped in a sandy quarry to take in the view of a nearby village, before we went back down to face the hoards of people still carrying food and offerings up the hill.
-吴佩芙
It was while we were leaving that we realized that tomorrow is Palm Sunday, which means there is one week until Easter. In the States, the stores are full of Cadbury Eggs, Cadbury Robin's Eggs, Peeps, and all of those candies associated with Easter. I must say, the high sugar of all of these treats no longer sounds appetizing. There are other things about Easter that we will miss: Tenebre services, dying eggs, brunch... The worst about Easter in the East is that it is generally not mentioned and unacknowledged, except in passing. I don't know whether the students know about Easter. I don't know whether it would be good or whether I would be a Dancing Bear if I tried to go to a church service next week.
Incidently, today is a Chinese holiday, one in which certain families go to the graves to honor their family members. There is some disagreement about which family, but we guess Zhong because...just because it seemed as logical as any other. Anyway, I left at 8:30 to go "climb mountains" with some colleagues. As we approached the mountain beside our campus, which leads to the Tao temple, we began to realize that the normally deserted road was suddenly taken over by buses, motorbikes, cars, trucks, and motorcabs. Makeshift refreshment stands were set up to sell water and other drinks to the hikers. People brought food and crowded the road to the extent that we were suffocated by people and exhaust fumes. None of us knew that it was a grave-related holiday, but we changed our route and ended up going to the Tao temple and walking up the stairs that lead to the top of the mountain. We stopped in a sandy quarry to take in the view of a nearby village, before we went back down to face the hoards of people still carrying food and offerings up the hill.
-吴佩芙
Friday, February 22, 2008
Mei you Mayo (mei you="don't have")
I look outside into what looks like the Swamps of Sadness from The Neverending Story, where the hero Atreyu meets Morla the Ancient One. The weather can't decide if it wants to rain or not. So we see an incredibly thick haze with heavy air and the occasional drop of rain. I walked to the nearby village with one of my colleagues, and we were constantly putting up our umbrellas, then putting them down. The air was so thick that it also felt warm, so we ended up carrying our warm clothes by the end of the trek.
In the village we ate a common Chaoshan delight, which we call "big noodle" for lack of a better term. The premise is that the dish is one big layer of soft dough. A scrambled egg is poured over the dough and then whole thing is cooked, either on a flat grill or in a kind of special oven with layers of jellyroll pans that pull out like drawers. They the whole thing is folded up with some green vegetables, and soy sauce and preserved vegetables are sprinkled on top. I prefer some peanut sauce too, but the place we went to today didn't have it.
We walked around the village for a bit. We didn't find anything that we needed. Many of the stores are still closed from whatever holiday just happened. I DID find some Hellman's mayo, though. It's has both the Hellman's and Knorr labels on it, but I don't know if it's the good stuff.
I had three choices: light blue label, dark blue label, and yellow label with pictures of pineapple on it. All of them had sugar, so I chose the dark blue label because of the resemblance to Hellman's and because of the pics of veggies on it, which suggested savory instead of sweet. Buying things in China is always an adventure.
-吴佩芙
In the village we ate a common Chaoshan delight, which we call "big noodle" for lack of a better term. The premise is that the dish is one big layer of soft dough. A scrambled egg is poured over the dough and then whole thing is cooked, either on a flat grill or in a kind of special oven with layers of jellyroll pans that pull out like drawers. They the whole thing is folded up with some green vegetables, and soy sauce and preserved vegetables are sprinkled on top. I prefer some peanut sauce too, but the place we went to today didn't have it.
We walked around the village for a bit. We didn't find anything that we needed. Many of the stores are still closed from whatever holiday just happened. I DID find some Hellman's mayo, though. It's has both the Hellman's and Knorr labels on it, but I don't know if it's the good stuff.
I had three choices: light blue label, dark blue label, and yellow label with pictures of pineapple on it. All of them had sugar, so I chose the dark blue label because of the resemblance to Hellman's and because of the pics of veggies on it, which suggested savory instead of sweet. Buying things in China is always an adventure.
-吴佩芙
Monday, February 18, 2008
Hot Hot Pot
There's hot, there's really hot, and in China, there's "I can't feel my face" hot. Tonight we went to have hotpot for the second time. We liked it so much the first time, and we got the hang of how to order more efficiently. I also remembered how to order broccoli, which was a nice addition to the variety of ingredients. This time we got the "ying-yan"-shaped pot, with non-spicy on one side and Uber-spicy on the other side. This served the purpose of keeping the spicy side vegetarian, while Mom and Dad had non-spicy with chicken.
Hotpot is from the Northern parts of China, and I usually describe it as "Chinese fondue." Choose your soup, choose your ingredients and cook while you eat. We (in the two times we have gone) are partial to the peanut dipping sauce. When you take the cooked food out of the soup, you dip it in the sauce just before you eat it. The peanut sauce is mild with just the right mix of salt, and it tastes good with the spicy soup as well.
When I say "I can't feel my face," it's because of a special spice called "prickly ash." We can get it sprinkled on top of mapo tofu, and mixed with spicy green beans at the Banyan Tree Restaurant. Biting a prickly ash releases a wave of numb buzzing over your mouth and sometimes to your chin and cheeks. Quite frightening when I first experienced it, I've learned to relax and enjoy the sensation.
We also fulfilled our code violation for the day (but it was worth the risk):
-吴佩芙
Hotpot is from the Northern parts of China, and I usually describe it as "Chinese fondue." Choose your soup, choose your ingredients and cook while you eat. We (in the two times we have gone) are partial to the peanut dipping sauce. When you take the cooked food out of the soup, you dip it in the sauce just before you eat it. The peanut sauce is mild with just the right mix of salt, and it tastes good with the spicy soup as well.
When I say "I can't feel my face," it's because of a special spice called "prickly ash." We can get it sprinkled on top of mapo tofu, and mixed with spicy green beans at the Banyan Tree Restaurant. Biting a prickly ash releases a wave of numb buzzing over your mouth and sometimes to your chin and cheeks. Quite frightening when I first experienced it, I've learned to relax and enjoy the sensation.
We also fulfilled our code violation for the day (but it was worth the risk):
-吴佩芙
Saturday, February 16, 2008
China Through the Backdoor
Today we took a short day trip to Chaozhou ("chow-joe" if you don't read pinyin). We took a bus to the Shantou TV tower, and then got a taxi to Chaozhou. I had written the characters for the Guangzi Bridge, where we planned to go first. The taxi driver knew where it was, so we were off down the road to Chaozhou, avoiding about 100 near-accidents on the way, with Dad in the front, and the girls in the back. The driver was from Sichuan province, and I had initially established myself as "someone who speaks Putonghua," so he asked a few questions, and I asked him some questions, but I didn't understand him most of the time. He dropped us off at the bridge, which happened to be right next to the old city wall. We walked around looking at the water and the wall, enjoying the bridge from the sidelines, since they charge admission.
After that it was time for lunch. I knew that there was a vegetarian restaurant near the temple. We have the sister restaurant near the waterfront in Shantou, where I have been once before. I asked if it was near the temple, and the petty cab drivers were eager to take us there for 10 kuai (just over $1) per cab. So we hopped on.
The vegetarian restaurant is the place where people eat before or visiting the temple. The food is vegetarian because strict Buddhists technically shouldn't eat meat, drink beer, or eat spicy food. I couldn't read the menu, but luckily they had set meals. Since the whole restaurant never serves meat, a set meal was a pretty safe option. They make food that tastes like meat, but it's actually texturized vegetable protein (TVP) and tofu. Our meal included winter melon soup, sweet and sour vegetable purses, seafood cutlets on skewers, and a few other mixed dishes with veggies and TVP meat. Most of the dishes were great, so it was another successful dining experience. (Check out my mom using chopsticks! That's not just for show--she's actually holding something in the pic and using them to eat.)
After the meal, we went to Kaiyuan Temple. The tourism websites say it's one of only four temples of the same style in China. It's a temple that is still in use, so the visitors navigate around the corridors amongst the people who are there burning incense and praying. Some parts are closed off to visitors, especially the monks' quarters, from which we could hear monks chanting this afternoon. There are the usual Buddhist statues and Arhats inside the various parts of the temple. There is also a portion dedicated to GuanYin, who is the Buddhist goddess of mercy. The carved statue of GuanYin inside the temple is about 20 feet high, and has 1,000 arms, 1,000 eyes (one painted on each hand), and a face on each of her four sides. Pictures can be taken outside the elaborately decorated temple that houses this statue, but not of the statue itself.
In the afternoon we got a cab back to the university. The cab driver was creative and took us on a dusty road, presumably to avoid traffic in the city. In the end, I think my parents liked Chaozhou, and everything went pretty smoothly, but they still aren't used to the traffic in China.
-吴佩芙
After that it was time for lunch. I knew that there was a vegetarian restaurant near the temple. We have the sister restaurant near the waterfront in Shantou, where I have been once before. I asked if it was near the temple, and the petty cab drivers were eager to take us there for 10 kuai (just over $1) per cab. So we hopped on.
The vegetarian restaurant is the place where people eat before or visiting the temple. The food is vegetarian because strict Buddhists technically shouldn't eat meat, drink beer, or eat spicy food. I couldn't read the menu, but luckily they had set meals. Since the whole restaurant never serves meat, a set meal was a pretty safe option. They make food that tastes like meat, but it's actually texturized vegetable protein (TVP) and tofu. Our meal included winter melon soup, sweet and sour vegetable purses, seafood cutlets on skewers, and a few other mixed dishes with veggies and TVP meat. Most of the dishes were great, so it was another successful dining experience. (Check out my mom using chopsticks! That's not just for show--she's actually holding something in the pic and using them to eat.)
After the meal, we went to Kaiyuan Temple. The tourism websites say it's one of only four temples of the same style in China. It's a temple that is still in use, so the visitors navigate around the corridors amongst the people who are there burning incense and praying. Some parts are closed off to visitors, especially the monks' quarters, from which we could hear monks chanting this afternoon. There are the usual Buddhist statues and Arhats inside the various parts of the temple. There is also a portion dedicated to GuanYin, who is the Buddhist goddess of mercy. The carved statue of GuanYin inside the temple is about 20 feet high, and has 1,000 arms, 1,000 eyes (one painted on each hand), and a face on each of her four sides. Pictures can be taken outside the elaborately decorated temple that houses this statue, but not of the statue itself.
In the afternoon we got a cab back to the university. The cab driver was creative and took us on a dusty road, presumably to avoid traffic in the city. In the end, I think my parents liked Chaozhou, and everything went pretty smoothly, but they still aren't used to the traffic in China.
-吴佩芙
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