We have been in China for the last three weeks. It has been a wonderful experience. Our apartment is pleasant, we are both teaching now. Jim has started his classes in the graduate school. I have two English writing classes that I will keep for the semester. My other four oral English classes are freshmen so they will not start school until the second week in October because they have military service first. So I accepted some temporary oral English classes for the Materials Science and Engineering department. I have two classes of undergraduates, one of graduate students and one of "young teachers." It has been more work that I had expected, but I have enjoyed the classes and I hope their English has improved. Four weeks is not long enough to cover much, but they are more comfortable speaking English for me now than when I started.
People here are amazing. We have been treated so well!!! Our neighbors have brought us gifts, people have taken us out to dinner and on sightseeing trips. We have tried so many new foods, and we like most of them. Eels are a case in point. Once we got over the idea of "eels" they tasted like any other fish cooked in a spicy sauce. We are also getting more proficient with chopsticks.
This past week-end was the mid-autum festival. It is held at the full moon in September. The tradition is to get together with family, view the full moon and eat "mooncakes." These are small pastrys about 3 inches in diameter and 1 inch high. They are quite rich and are filled with various things. We had heard that you have to grow up with them to enjoy them, but the ones we ate were quite tasty--not something to eat every day, but a wonderful Chinese tradition. Of course, we did not purchase any. We were given them by just about every Chinese person we know. We probably have a years supply.
On Monday Kevin and his family came to see us. We were so excited to see them. We went sightseeing together here in Nanjing at the Purple Mountain. It is a huge wooded hill with various monuments, memorials, etc. and some hiking paths. It was delightful to spend the day together.
I hope to get some of the pictures ready for my next entry. It has taken us so long because we had a problem accessing the blog. All the instructions come up in Chinese so it took a visit from Trent to get us on the right track.
We are looking forward to our first long trip in China. We will fly up to Urumqi in the northwest part of the country and work our way back as far as Xian where the famed terra cotta warriors are located. Then we fly home. It should be a great adventure.
My Funny Kids
13 years ago
5 comments:
Yeah, it worked for you. Glad to see that you have access again. We sure enjoyed seeing you on Monday. We look forward to visiting again soon.
Great to hear that you are now in the thick of things and enjoying yourselves. I sent an email with other stuff so I was just trying this "comments" feature to make sure that it works for me. This is Ross and Pat Johnson just so you know since the comment will come up under our Blogger name, i.e. "Granny and Grandpa".
I look forward to seeing your pictures. I was so nice to talk with you Mom. I hope you enjoy your "long" trip. Love ya!!
Okay Grandma, we just have to let everyone else know that when my kids read your blog about the moon cakes being good, my kids laughed themselves silly. They thought of all kinds of ways to let the world know that they thought moon cakes are anything but good. Sorry but moon cakes don't get a very good review from the Suzhou Okesons.
All of the plays in Cedar City are coming to a close. I will have to let you know what plays they are doing next year. I am sure that you will be missed. Thanks for including Colleen and I on your blog. We will try to keep up with you and write you back. Some of the foods that the reporters were eating at the Olympics looked pretty wild so I am sure that you will be given many delights. Get us a recipe for the moon cakes and we will try them. Take care...
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