A Unique Adjective

One of my favorite things to do with friends is bake. It's easy, somewhat cheap (although butter is a bit expensive), and nice to enjoy some American baked goods afterwards. This past week I decided to bake some apple crisps with a friend. This led to a very unique adjective to describe Americans.

First you need to know the ingredients to understand my friend's amazement. On the apples I put white sugar, cinnamon, and a little flour. For the topping I used brown sugar, flower, butter, and oatmeal. Then you put it in a pan and wait for the deliciousness!

We cut up too many apples, not a big deal, I just put them in with the sugar and then eat the leftovers. I took an apple slice and ate it. My friend was shocked, "you are eating raw flour!". I was thinking 1) There isn't much in it (about 1 Tbs) and 2) What's the big deal? Then I ate some of the topping (sooooo gooood!) "you are eating raw flour AND raw oatmeal????!!!!!" Really? What's wrong with that? It taste really good!

My friend started to think of a word that describes Americans. This is what I got, "someone that lived a long time ago" I said, "primitive?" "I don't know... maybe..." I looked up the word and, sure enough, primitive is the word. Why you ask? How are American's primitive?? Well, we eat raw stuff like flour, oatmeal, and veggies (they don't eat raw vegetables in China). And... in my friend's word's "you take a slab of meat and cook it over a fire... that's primitive". If that "slab of meat" is alluding to steak, hamburgers, or brats, I'm ok that Americans are a little primitive :)

Pictures from Cookies!

Alisa, Jack, and Jess figuring out the art of Christmas cookies.

Edward's turn!

Time to decorate. :) Jess enjoyed this part.

Alisa and Jack- New friends

Some people (John, bottom left) were more interested in the music.

Nicole showed off her talent of decorating.

Need I saw more??? It was a fun time.

Final products

One friend came late (really late-9:40pm). We decided to make another batch for our students. He helped.

He got to the level of the table 1) to roll it easier and 2) to make sure it was thin enough. He was a very fast learner!

Same, same, but different

For those of you who have gone to Thailand, or read my posts from Thailand last year, may remember the phrase, "same, same, but different" That is how I can compare my school this year from last year. It's the same, but very different. Here are my lists:

Same:
Chinese students
Teaching English
Limited communication between office people and teachers
Students don't understand when I talk to them.

Different:
Older students
I am in the classroom alone (no co-teacher)
I never teach in the morning (unless I need to make up a class)
I can actually speak in English and somewhat be understood

Overall, I do like my school. It keeps me busy, but also allows me to have free time to do what I came here for. The past few weeks I have been able to have people over here Thursdays nights. We bake and play games. This past week I made pancakes for supper and then we baked cupcakes for dessert! I used one of my boxed cake mixes from America. The best part... frosting!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have powdered sugar so I whipped some up.

Good news of the week, I got the tickets for my trip to and back from Vietnam for this winter break!