Jiaozi making in Hangzhou

  (Allison)

Monday – February 23rd…

I woke up today and looked out the window…rain..again… Hopped in the shower… and and quickly got ready for school. I am living in an apartment that is located just behind the school. Every morning, I get to walk or ride my bike (that the school has loaned me) to school! I love this – it is so different from my 35 minute drive to work in the morning at home. To get to school, I have to travel through the famous Hangzhou Silk Market (Hangzhou is most famous for silk, tea, and the West Lake).   As I was walking to school, I heard a car behind me honking..I just thought that it was someone trying to tell me to get out of the way (sometimes cars in China like to drive on sidewalks) ....but it was Mrs. Wu, a vice-principal, offering me a ride to school. Although I love to walk, I hopped in to escape the rain… I thanked Mrs. Wu for the ride, and then walked to the dining hall. Every morning the school cafeteria prepares breakfast for me. They leave it in a small room off of the main cafeteria that is heated (the majority of the buildings at the school are not heated). There is always a glass of hot coffee or tea, which makes me very happy!! I then ran up to the English office to check my email quickly…and then ran to our desiignated classroom. It appears to be one of the schools conference rooms. It has a very large table in the middle. Our first class of the day was Chinese calligraphy! Chinese calligraphy is a beautiful art… it is very difficult…our teacher is very talented. He does not speak English, but Bruce (our translator) does a wonderful job translating and helping us with our calligraphy…

I was scheduled to teach Class 7 at 10:05…it was 9:55…so I handed my brush to Bruce and ran upstairs..When I arrived the students started chatting very loudly (in Chinese of course..)and then they all started clapping…they seemed very excited for my arrival..!  Ms. Cui Hongxiang, otherwise known as Helen came running in...she had been looking for me!!

Lunch – everyday at 12::00 --Mark, Alex, Lianna, their host siblings, and either Rose (an English teacher) or Bruce and I - eat together. The chef does a fantastic job preparing our meals. There is always tea…but today there were little white dried flowers in my tea cup! Chrysanthemums! It was a tea made out of dried mums! It was the best tea I have had in China (..and I have had a lot of tea..), and absolutely the prettiest! Imagine a clear glass of hot water, with pretty little white (with a yellow center) flowers floating in it¦ I drank about five glasses.

After lunch, I headed back to the English office – It is nice and toasty warm there..they have setup a very nice desk for me…Helen asked if we would be available Weednesday afternoon to go shopping for silk in order to get our Chinese dresses, and suits made!

Yesterday (Sunday), I was invited to have lunch with Lianna and her host sister, mother, father, cousin, mom's best friend and her son. They took us to a very nice restaurant that specializes in traditional Hangzhou cuisine. They were so nice, and they ordered an outrageous amount of food (here I go blogging about food, yet again..)…four vegetable dishes, two pork dishes (one being dongpo pork..so yummy)…an entire chicken roasted in a pot, chicken wingss, a huge bowl of fish stew with an entire fish in it, some sort of beef dish, a shrimp dish (for Lianna), dumplings, green tea bean curd cakes, and noodles…it was insane. Sue and her mother are so enthusiastic and happy to have Lianna stay in their home..We were talking about how much Lianna and I like dumplings and noodles, and Sue's mom invited me over to make dumplings with her mother. Sue's mother's best friend's son…he's  very shy..but his mother wanted him to practice his English by speaking to me..throughout the meal he would randomly ask me a question such as what are your hobbies..and then look away…

 After lunch we met..Mark and Alex, all of the host siblings, along with Alice, Bob and Ivan ( the students who came to DS last year). We walked to a KTV…Chinese for karaoke…in China you can do do karaoke at any time of day…you go and rent out a private roomwith couches, a television and two microphones…this way.you only have to listen to the songs that you and your friends want to listen to – and not have to suffer through stranger's singing horrible songs…

 That was Sunday…back to Monday… after schooh, Sue's mother picked us up in her red Buick coop..she was very excited about having us as guests in her home -- and finally being able to serve Lianna dinner! (She has gone out for dinner every night since last Wednesday…!)

After getting stuck in some crazy Chinese traffic… We arrived at the apartment…Sue's grandmother had prepared the dough and was ready to teach us how to make dumplings!! They had strawberries and a very small orange like fruit waiting for us…Sue must have told her mother how much I enjooyed the tea during lunch because she had some waiting for me.. She gave me a huge box full of it and a plastic bag – which I think was grown by Sue's father's mother… ! 

After eating some fruit..and drinking some tea… Sue's grandmother began teaching us how too make dumplings..she rolled out the dough into small circles…Then she began demonstrating..she picked up one of the small dough circles and placed a small ball of a ground pork mixture (that included green onions and garlic) into the middle of the small circle..then she pinched two sides of the circle together… and then very skillfully folded the rest of the dough up to form the dumpling!!

Li and I went right to work.  At first, our dumplings looked nothing like Sue's grandmother…but towards the end they were coming out pretty good. We had a lovely meal (our dumplings were very good) and we were once again joined by Sue's cousin, and mom's best friend's son..

After dinner, Sue's father drove me and Sue's mom's best friend's son home (I keep saying that because I do not know his name…) Back to the apartment – I am staying in an apartment just behind the school. It is very nice…There is a huge television, but I only get one Englishh channel.

Knowing my love for movies, Derek called to let me know that the Oscars would be broadcasted on CCTV tonight at 10:30…I do not know if I will be able to stay awake to watch them.. (even though I already know the results…) >