Zizi, why are you telling me that you also work for Klein? Don't you think I know that? Don't you recognize the name of your prime minister? Ha!
On your grocery expenses, are you converting from yen when you quote prices? I suppose I could google the exchange rate, but I was wondering what you were paying in yen.
As for scratch Bisquick, did you use that in your egg casserole, or were you making biscuits or flapjacks?
I'll look forward to reading more news of the Olympic characters... and your ongoing haute cuisine experiences!
Today was a great day with the students. I taught them how to make bisquick from scratch. Ist is even better than the one you buy. They loved my vegetable egg casserole. They also made an apple crumble pie. We were missing the vanilla ice cream! It is too expensive to even consider!
Today I went to the open market to buy vegetables for my cooking class. I bought 1.5lbs of long green beans, green onions, 2 pounds of potatoes & 5 bananas. This all came up to $1.50!
The students have requested to learn mash potatoes, so I will be teaching them how to make it tomorrow. Next week some of my chinese students will be teaching the class (and me) on how to make typical dishes! This too is very exciting!
There is a guy at the open ,arket that makes homemade bread that is the size of your palm, it is hollow inside and has some sesame seeds on the top! yummy! Fot $3 he has come to our hotel to cook for us outsude. At our request he is adding ham & cheese into them before he cooks them. We are providing him with the ham & cheese. If you were to buy 2 of these breads with nothing in it it would cost you 1/6 of a us dollar. He is charging us $3 to make 20 of them filled with ham & cheese. This will be a great supper tonight for the teachers!
About the 5 olympic characters I will more informed and pass it along to you tomorrow.
Your observations are interesting. Post more! :-)
What have you seen related to the coming Olympics? I realize since you're not in Beijing you may not be near the heart of Olympic preparations, but I've read that students throughout China have been exposed to stories and films about the 5 Olympic characters China created.
The mall today was not what I expected. Imagibe a big 3 story building. On the 1st floor you have the food court and flea market type of shops. All the things are new & they are cheap. Each store rents a lot where they establish their merchandise (think flea market lots)
On the 2nd floor you have an entire supermarket. 12 slices of pre-packaged cheese costs $3, which is very expensive for China. Cream cheese is around $4.
Because dairy products are not in demand and because they have no cows in China, the dairy products are outrageous!!!
A tube of colgate or crest toothpaste is $.50 cents. How many do you need?
I cannot wait to show you the pictures of the supermarket.
On the 3rd floor they sell kitchen stuff, household items, clothes for the entire family (except for fat people like me) and appliances.
You are allowed to take the supermarket cart to any floor and shop, but the cart cannot leave the building. If you did not bring your own plastic bags they will charge you 5 cents a piece. They believe in recycling!
You also get to pack what you bought!
If you have a large bag, they will not allow you to bring it in the store, so they make you check it in a locker that is free. It is a lot of fun to use a keyless locker. It prints out a digital card that you re-scan when you want to open the door.
Then we took a cab home. The ride costs us $2 (15 min. ride).
Everything here is so much cheaper! shoes, sandals, purses, watches, etc!
It was fun! I do not see myself going back, once was enough!
Teaching was great today, as usual we had a lot of fun! I need to get ready for bed, so I can be ready for tomorrow! Keep in touch friends!
Pray for us and for our heath. If it is not 1 od us it's another getting sick with something.
Here are some differences between our public school and there's:
Public school here:
pays badly
has 2 month off for summer
has 1 month off in december for Chinese New Year
pays teachers while on maternity leave in full for 56 days
it is very hard to get a teaching job in the public school here, they have a huge waiting list at every school to get in.
they teach from 8-12 then go home for 2 hours and return to teach from 2-5
when teachers cannot get a job they work at a provate school.
The private school can make them work upto 7 days a week. They only get paid for the hours they work. Let's say that a teacher is at school from 9am-7pm, but she only teaches for 6 hours, that is what she gets paid for. They do not pay teachers for lunch nor planning time!
Teachers get burned out very quickly!
Beijin is not part of our tour. It it very crowded there because many chinese people are going. We do not have time to go there either. The Great wall must wait!
This trip was a gift from God, so I cannot complain. I am thrilled with everything we have already done and with what is to come. Next trip I would like to go to Hong Kong & Taiwan. The currecy in Taiwan is different from here. They also speak 2 languages there: taiwanese & mandarin. The dollar is even stronger in Taiwan. I hear the food there is very different as well. Many people that live here are from there.
I'm so glad you are feeling better and are back to teaching. Since Steve's cousin is coming tonight, I just called ARS to get a free estimate and they were so reasonable I let them fix it. God is so good. It wasn't a broken pipe after all. The air conditioner drain was stopped up and they fixed it with an overflow thingy. Now I just need to dry out the carpet and the wall. It will be interesting to hear what Chaille has to say about the church.
Will you get to see any of the Olympic areas? Love you, Sue
Good Morning Zi, oh wait, I need to say Good Night!
Those photos are quite interesting; what a mix of modern and traditional. Did you notice the high heels on the lady selling the watermelons?! I hope you are feeling better and are back to teaching. It's just crazy around here-Steve's cousin is coming to stay with us for the rest of the week while he takes some classes and we discovered yesterday we have a leaky pipe. Have to call a plumber today$$$$$$Yikes$$$$. Love Ya, Sue
You need to copy & paste the following link if you want to see pictures of the city we are living in. I did not take these pictures. They are great!
You will see the mall, stores, the train station. the bus station, freeways, and much much more. Enjoy!
I'm so sorry you are not feeling well. I am praying for you. I know you want to be there for your students, and of course, the make-up class (hahaha) at the mall.
Take care, love ya,
Sue
On Sunday we went to church from 2-4PM. Because I got sick during church, I was not able to go to the mall. I am sorry that I have no news about this fantastic mall. I am feeling better now. I hope to go to the mall later this week with my students!
I hope you all had a 4th of July celebration. On the 4th, we taught our students about the meaning of that day & we showed them the kinds of foods that we eat on that day.
Going back to bed. Need to be ready for teaching in the morning.
Miss u all
Z
Zi,
It sounds like you are really enjoying teaching and learning on your trip. My computer has been acting up and I just got it fixed, so a belated Happy 4th of July. Can't wait to hear about your shopping trip to the mall!!!!
Love ya, Sue
Shaolin Quan or Shaolin Chuan originated in the Shaolin Temple on Mount Songshan at Dengfeng in Henan Province. It was named after the temple. The founder of the Shaolin Quan was said to be an Indian monk, Bodhidharma. The proposition, though very influential, was proved to be false, for there was a monk named Bodhidharma but he knew nothing at all about Chinese Chuan. In fact, Shaolin Quan was the manifestation of the wisdom of the monks of the temple, secular Wushu masters and army generals and soldiers.
According to historical records, the Shaolin Temple was built during the Northern Wei Dynasty in the 19th calendar year of the reign of Emperor Taihe (495) and is one of China's most famous an-cient temples. The Shaolin Temple once had many monks on its premises. Those monks of the lower level mostly came from the secular society and some of them knew some martial arts before entering the temple. Those who knew martial arts taught and helped each other to improve their skills. They also absorbed the experience of their predecessors and gradually developed their mar-tial arts into the unique Shaolin school.
If you copy & paste the link below you will be able to see some of the pictures of their performance.
http://www.shaolin.gov.cn/english/picture.htm
The following link will show you what the training center looks like and the discipline that these kids have!
http://www.shaolin.gov.cn/english/picture7.htm
Go to the following link to see pictures of the temples
What a day we had yesterday. Saturday! It rained Friday night and early Sat. morning, which cooled off the day for our tour.
We drove for 2 hours to arrive at Shilao Temple, which is located in the Shilao mountains. It is beautiful! Because Rick's son, Julius, took Kung Fu in Houston's Shiloa's school buy one of the masters from this temple, we were able to get in for free and se parts that are not open to the public. Our guide was a former monk, he had lived as a monk and trained in kung fu from age 13 to 29. Now he is maried and has 1 child.
At the kung fu school, girls and goys can enroll for a lifetime and learn budism as well as meditation techniques thru kung fu. I was told that while they live at the school they only dedicate their life to God, just like the catholic priests. During the summer, they have a summer camp that anyone can attend. People come from all over the world for the summer camp. At the camp they have 300 kids living full time (girls & boys) - year around.
We visited the many temples in Shilao Temple. Then we went to a 30 min. presentation of Kung fu, put on by the stidents that live there full time. It was incredible!
I was selected from the participants to come up to the stage. I was asked to imitate the moves made by a black belt14 year old. As you all know I do not even know my right from my left arm, so I did not do well. The audience laughed their head off! The boy was very patient with me and made sure that I had the correct arm and leg out before we went on to the next move. I had fun.
Because our guide was a "master", we were allowed to get our picture taken with the kids for free!
After that we had dinner in a nice restaurant that overlooks all the temples.
By 8:30 PM we were at an outdoor theatre that was set in the mountains. The mountains were an important part of the backdrop. They have more that 500 people on stage at once. It was like a light and sound show with singing, dancing, and kung fu demonstrations. It was delightful.
By the time we returned to our hotel, it was 11:40 PM.
Now I am getting ready to go to lunch and then to church. After church, I will be going to the mall with some of my students. It should be fun!
My friend, Wendi & I went out for dinner at a place around the corner from our hotel. She got a huge bowl of soup with homemade noddles. It was delicious! I got a large bowl of rice with a fantastic meat sauce. Over the rice was chopped chicken & mushrooms. It was delicious! The bill came up to $2.10
I cannot believe that this price included a sprite, hot tea and someone serving us. The food at this place is healthy and tasty. They make the best fried fish in the world! He cuts the fish in tiny pieces and fries it in a very light batter. We all hope to order it tomorrow for lunch before we go on our long bus trip to the Temple. We will be gone for 10 hours (4-5 on the bus).
Good night. Good morning to you & Happy 4th of July! We already celebrated it with our students today.
Hugs to all of you
Z
All the students that I had today were Chinese. In the afternoon I tried to teach them to make french toast, crepes & vegetable pancakes. Because they have cheap pans and portable hot plates to cook on, the crepes did not work out. The pancakes were ok, although they do not have baking powder in them. This condiment does not exist in China. Their favorite was the french toast with sliced bananas and cinnamon sugar. We did not have powdered sugar nore syrup.
In-spite of everything, the stuents had a blast!
On Monday I will have a new class come to me, I have no idea what we will make...maybe french toast and an apple pie.
On our last teaching day, my original group of students & I will have a pool party. I have become very attached to my 1st group of teachers. We had too much fun together!
Tomorrow Sat., we will go to a very famous temple 2-3 hours awa from our hotel and we will attend the best Kung Fu presentation known to man kind!
On Sunday, we will go to a new church in the afternoon and then I will be going to the mall with some of my students!
There is a cleaning service that washes and irons each garmet for 35 cents a piece! Can you believe that my 4 pieces of clothing cost $1.40? They look better that when I was them. Of course you all know I do not iron!
Teachers in China either teach 6 or 7 days a week. They also work up to a 12 hour day with children. After school children go home for a snack and later return for tutoring. it is mandatory! Our teachers would DIE! The teachers that I am working with now leave me at 4PM and go to their school to teach children from 5-9PM!!!
Mom was amazed that I only sent pictures of FOOD vendors. That was my 1st tour around the area!
What else is there other than food???? ahahaha
I can only download pics on the school computer, not on the one in the hotel, it is too slow! I will try to send more maybe later today. I will be going to see places this weekend & then I will have scenic pics.
The cats were pets. They eat dog only. They also sell frogs, chickens & fish in the market (alive). They kill it and clean it for you after you pick it out. It is sad to see that! I would rather guy it dead. For chinese families it costs the same amount of $ to have a pet than a child (food wise), so they can't afford having a pet.
I am on my way to school in 2 hours to meet a new group of students. My other group I had for 4 days, they did not want me to switch them. There were so cute about it. I really got attached to them!
The cats were pets. They eat dog only. They also sell frogs, chickens & fish in the market (alive). They kill it and clean it for you after you pick it out. It is sad to see that! I would rather guy it dead. For chinese families it costs the same amount of $ to have a pet than a child (food wise), so they can't afford having a pet.
I am on my way to school in 2 hours to meet a new group of students. My other group I had for 4 days, they did not want me to switch them. There were so cute about it. I really got attached to them!
Hola Zizi, he leído tus notas de viaje y veo que estás viviendo algo increíble. Estás en el país de Amélie , qué emoción! En qué zona estás exactamente? Así me fijo en el mapa.
Hay 12 horas de diferencia con España, así que en este momento que son casi las 7:30 PM, tú estarás por levantarte o recién levantada.
Nosotros estamos superbien, le diré a Pablo que también lo extrañas él. El te quiere mucho y siempre te manda recuerdos.
Seguimos en contacto por este medio que es genial!
Muchos besos, cuidate mucho.
Yo tampoco puedo creer que Chaille vaya a cumplir 18 años, el 17 de enero - viste que me acuerdo ??? - No es por buena memoria, es porque es el mismo día que cumpliría años papá.
Más besos y que tengas un buen 4 de julio. Aquí todavía estamos en día 3 de julio!
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On your grocery expenses, are you converting from yen when you quote prices? I suppose I could google the exchange rate, but I was wondering what you were paying in yen.
As for scratch Bisquick, did you use that in your egg casserole, or were you making biscuits or flapjacks?
I'll look forward to reading more news of the Olympic characters... and your ongoing haute cuisine experiences!
Today I went to the open market to buy vegetables for my cooking class. I bought 1.5lbs of long green beans, green onions, 2 pounds of potatoes & 5 bananas. This all came up to $1.50!
The students have requested to learn mash potatoes, so I will be teaching them how to make it tomorrow. Next week some of my chinese students will be teaching the class (and me) on how to make typical dishes! This too is very exciting!
There is a guy at the open ,arket that makes homemade bread that is the size of your palm, it is hollow inside and has some sesame seeds on the top! yummy! Fot $3 he has come to our hotel to cook for us outsude. At our request he is adding ham & cheese into them before he cooks them. We are providing him with the ham & cheese. If you were to buy 2 of these breads with nothing in it it would cost you 1/6 of a us dollar. He is charging us $3 to make 20 of them filled with ham & cheese. This will be a great supper tonight for the teachers!
About the 5 olympic characters I will more informed and pass it along to you tomorrow.
hugs to all of you.
Z
What have you seen related to the coming Olympics? I realize since you're not in Beijing you may not be near the heart of Olympic preparations, but I've read that students throughout China have been exposed to stories and films about the 5 Olympic characters China created.
On the 2nd floor you have an entire supermarket. 12 slices of pre-packaged cheese costs $3, which is very expensive for China. Cream cheese is around $4.
Because dairy products are not in demand and because they have no cows in China, the dairy products are outrageous!!!
A tube of colgate or crest toothpaste is $.50 cents. How many do you need?
I cannot wait to show you the pictures of the supermarket.
On the 3rd floor they sell kitchen stuff, household items, clothes for the entire family (except for fat people like me) and appliances.
You are allowed to take the supermarket cart to any floor and shop, but the cart cannot leave the building. If you did not bring your own plastic bags they will charge you 5 cents a piece. They believe in recycling!
You also get to pack what you bought!
If you have a large bag, they will not allow you to bring it in the store, so they make you check it in a locker that is free. It is a lot of fun to use a keyless locker. It prints out a digital card that you re-scan when you want to open the door.
Then we took a cab home. The ride costs us $2 (15 min. ride).
Everything here is so much cheaper! shoes, sandals, purses, watches, etc!
It was fun! I do not see myself going back, once was enough!
Teaching was great today, as usual we had a lot of fun! I need to get ready for bed, so I can be ready for tomorrow! Keep in touch friends!
Pray for us and for our heath. If it is not 1 od us it's another getting sick with something.
Love u
Z
Public school here:
pays badly
has 2 month off for summer
has 1 month off in december for Chinese New Year
pays teachers while on maternity leave in full for 56 days
it is very hard to get a teaching job in the public school here, they have a huge waiting list at every school to get in.
they teach from 8-12 then go home for 2 hours and return to teach from 2-5
when teachers cannot get a job they work at a provate school.
The private school can make them work upto 7 days a week. They only get paid for the hours they work. Let's say that a teacher is at school from 9am-7pm, but she only teaches for 6 hours, that is what she gets paid for. They do not pay teachers for lunch nor planning time!
Teachers get burned out very quickly!
Enjoy!
This trip was a gift from God, so I cannot complain. I am thrilled with everything we have already done and with what is to come. Next trip I would like to go to Hong Kong & Taiwan. The currecy in Taiwan is different from here. They also speak 2 languages there: taiwanese & mandarin. The dollar is even stronger in Taiwan. I hear the food there is very different as well. Many people that live here are from there.
Will you get to see any of the Olympic areas? Love you, Sue
Those photos are quite interesting; what a mix of modern and traditional. Did you notice the high heels on the lady selling the watermelons?! I hope you are feeling better and are back to teaching. It's just crazy around here-Steve's cousin is coming to stay with us for the rest of the week while he takes some classes and we discovered yesterday we have a leaky pipe. Have to call a plumber today$$$$$$Yikes$$$$. Love Ya, Sue
You will see the mall, stores, the train station. the bus station, freeways, and much much more. Enjoy!
http://paulnoll.com/China/Zhengzhou/index.html
Take care, love ya,
Sue
I hope you all had a 4th of July celebration. On the 4th, we taught our students about the meaning of that day & we showed them the kinds of foods that we eat on that day.
Going back to bed. Need to be ready for teaching in the morning.
Miss u all
Z
It sounds like you are really enjoying teaching and learning on your trip. My computer has been acting up and I just got it fixed, so a belated Happy 4th of July. Can't wait to hear about your shopping trip to the mall!!!!
Love ya, Sue
Shaolin Quan or Shaolin Chuan originated in the Shaolin Temple on Mount Songshan at Dengfeng in Henan Province. It was named after the temple. The founder of the Shaolin Quan was said to be an Indian monk, Bodhidharma. The proposition, though very influential, was proved to be false, for there was a monk named Bodhidharma but he knew nothing at all about Chinese Chuan. In fact, Shaolin Quan was the manifestation of the wisdom of the monks of the temple, secular Wushu masters and army generals and soldiers.
According to historical records, the Shaolin Temple was built during the Northern Wei Dynasty in the 19th calendar year of the reign of Emperor Taihe (495) and is one of China's most famous an-cient temples. The Shaolin Temple once had many monks on its premises. Those monks of the lower level mostly came from the secular society and some of them knew some martial arts before entering the temple. Those who knew martial arts taught and helped each other to improve their skills. They also absorbed the experience of their predecessors and gradually developed their mar-tial arts into the unique Shaolin school.
If you copy & paste the link below you will be able to see some of the pictures of their performance.
http://www.shaolin.gov.cn/english/picture.htm
The following link will show you what the training center looks like and the discipline that these kids have!
http://www.shaolin.gov.cn/english/picture7.htm
Go to the following link to see pictures of the temples
http://www.shaolin.gov.cn/english/picture3.htm
We drove for 2 hours to arrive at Shilao Temple, which is located in the Shilao mountains. It is beautiful! Because Rick's son, Julius, took Kung Fu in Houston's Shiloa's school buy one of the masters from this temple, we were able to get in for free and se parts that are not open to the public. Our guide was a former monk, he had lived as a monk and trained in kung fu from age 13 to 29. Now he is maried and has 1 child.
At the kung fu school, girls and goys can enroll for a lifetime and learn budism as well as meditation techniques thru kung fu. I was told that while they live at the school they only dedicate their life to God, just like the catholic priests. During the summer, they have a summer camp that anyone can attend. People come from all over the world for the summer camp. At the camp they have 300 kids living full time (girls & boys) - year around.
We visited the many temples in Shilao Temple. Then we went to a 30 min. presentation of Kung fu, put on by the stidents that live there full time. It was incredible!
I was selected from the participants to come up to the stage. I was asked to imitate the moves made by a black belt14 year old. As you all know I do not even know my right from my left arm, so I did not do well. The audience laughed their head off! The boy was very patient with me and made sure that I had the correct arm and leg out before we went on to the next move. I had fun.
Because our guide was a "master", we were allowed to get our picture taken with the kids for free!
After that we had dinner in a nice restaurant that overlooks all the temples.
By 8:30 PM we were at an outdoor theatre that was set in the mountains. The mountains were an important part of the backdrop. They have more that 500 people on stage at once. It was like a light and sound show with singing, dancing, and kung fu demonstrations. It was delightful.
By the time we returned to our hotel, it was 11:40 PM.
Now I am getting ready to go to lunch and then to church. After church, I will be going to the mall with some of my students. It should be fun!
Miss you all!
Z
I cannot believe that this price included a sprite, hot tea and someone serving us. The food at this place is healthy and tasty. They make the best fried fish in the world! He cuts the fish in tiny pieces and fries it in a very light batter. We all hope to order it tomorrow for lunch before we go on our long bus trip to the Temple. We will be gone for 10 hours (4-5 on the bus).
Good night. Good morning to you & Happy 4th of July! We already celebrated it with our students today.
Hugs to all of you
Z
In-spite of everything, the stuents had a blast!
On Monday I will have a new class come to me, I have no idea what we will make...maybe french toast and an apple pie.
On our last teaching day, my original group of students & I will have a pool party. I have become very attached to my 1st group of teachers. We had too much fun together!
Tomorrow Sat., we will go to a very famous temple 2-3 hours awa from our hotel and we will attend the best Kung Fu presentation known to man kind!
On Sunday, we will go to a new church in the afternoon and then I will be going to the mall with some of my students!
There is a cleaning service that washes and irons each garmet for 35 cents a piece! Can you believe that my 4 pieces of clothing cost $1.40? They look better that when I was them. Of course you all know I do not iron!
Teachers in China either teach 6 or 7 days a week. They also work up to a 12 hour day with children. After school children go home for a snack and later return for tutoring. it is mandatory! Our teachers would DIE! The teachers that I am working with now leave me at 4PM and go to their school to teach children from 5-9PM!!!
I would never want that schedule!
Miss u all
What else is there other than food???? ahahaha
I can only download pics on the school computer, not on the one in the hotel, it is too slow! I will try to send more maybe later today. I will be going to see places this weekend & then I will have scenic pics.
Love & miss u
Z
I am on my way to school in 2 hours to meet a new group of students. My other group I had for 4 days, they did not want me to switch them. There were so cute about it. I really got attached to them!
I will write more later.
Z
I am on my way to school in 2 hours to meet a new group of students. My other group I had for 4 days, they did not want me to switch them. There were so cute about it. I really got attached to them!
I will write more later.
Z
Hay 12 horas de diferencia con España, así que en este momento que son casi las 7:30 PM, tú estarás por levantarte o recién levantada.
Nosotros estamos superbien, le diré a Pablo que también lo extrañas él. El te quiere mucho y siempre te manda recuerdos.
Seguimos en contacto por este medio que es genial!
Muchos besos, cuidate mucho.
Yo tampoco puedo creer que Chaille vaya a cumplir 18 años, el 17 de enero - viste que me acuerdo ??? - No es por buena memoria, es porque es el mismo día que cumpliría años papá.
Más besos y que tengas un buen 4 de julio. Aquí todavía estamos en día 3 de julio!
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