What day is it?

One of the top ten things about being a teacher is when you're on a longer break and you start forgetting what day it is.  I think that's when you know you're relaxed.  The flip side of that is when you're so busy during the school that you start forgetting the day of the week.  This is bad in a school because schools are built on schedules and people being where they're supposed to be on time.  Today as I walked home for lunch I was thinking about how the week had been long and busy.  I was looking forward to "tomorrow" and thinking about what I would do Friday night...and then I remembered...its only Tuesday.  That's a deflating feeling.

Luckily living in Asia we get to experience the ying and the yang of things which brings me to another top ten thing about being a teacher.   Witnessing the "light turn on" in a student when they understand something for the first time is an extremely fantastic feeling.   We call those "Aha" moments and they fill up your soul when you get them.  I'm lucky this year to have a student who spoils my soul in this regard.  Every time she asks a question and I answer it she responds, "Ahhh".  I told her this afternoon that she is the perfect student because she makes teachers feel good when she has an "Aha" moment after every question.

So its Tuesday or Wednesday depending on your hemisphere which means we have three more days to turn the light on.

Matt

Air Quality Article

The air quality since we've arrived has been better than we expected.  That is not to say it is good; we just imagined worse.  The quality in the past two weeks has dropped dramatically and may have been a partial cause to Bri's bout with bronchitis.  From people we've spoken to the air quality in Shanghai is far better than Beijing.  Other people have told us that the air quality in Shanghai is far better than it was before the World Expo in 2010 because they shut down 1,500 factories and made them move away in preparation for the expo.  (The expo is also the reason Shanghai has an awesome metro system, which is still the fastest growing metro system in the world)

Click this link to read an interesting article on China's monitoring of the air quality.  I found it one day last week when the weather report said foggy but it sure looked smoggy to me.

Matt

Thanksgiving in Shanghai

We're celebrating our first Thankgiving married and away from our homes with massages and dinner. How about Mexican food at the Shanghai Brewery for Thankgiving dinner?

After school tomorrow a bunch of Yankees are getting together to celebrate by eating turkey with all the fixins catered from local Texas BBQ place.

Burnt Tongue = Happy Tummy

Saturday night I found a gem.  I love finding great places to eat that others might not dare try.  Saturday I was walking this street near us that is packed with cabs around lunch and dinner times.  I've walked the street before browsing the restaurants but this time I was determined to eat at one of the many hole in the wall joints the cabbies flock to a meal time.  Its a pretty dirty street and most the restaurants have only 4-8 tables. I walked into two places and was turned off by hardly recognizable meats or various other things that I wasn't brave enough to try.  The third place I walked into appeared quite clean and three men there had their heads down slurping soup with noodles.  There wasn't much talking between the men so I assumed the soup was good.  Since it was chilly and rainy I decided that would be perfect so I pointed at one man's bowl and asked for jaozi (dumplings) and waited patiently. 

The soup that arrived was a delicious pork broth garnished with green onions and the noodles were fresh and delicious.  It was like ramen noodle soup but much better than a packet.  I added some of the chili paste left at the table as a condiment and achieved the perfect amount of spiciness.  I literally burnt the roof of my mouth because I wasn't patient enough to let each bite cool.  This is actually why slurping is not considered rude in chinese culture.  They believe its good to add warmth to the body (thus they drink hot or room temperature tea and never iced tea) and soups are served extremely hot.  Rather than blow every spoonful or every chopstick pinch of noodles they take air in with the soup which cools it.  My slurping must be below par as the roof of my mouth did get burned but it was worth it. 

My dumplings arrived and were equally delicious.  They were not the best dumplings I've tried here but complimented the soup nicely.  I liked that they came in a bowl which collected any juices that leaked out of the dumplings.  The portions were large enough that I left more than full and still took enough soup and dumplings home for Bri to eat the leftovers for her lunch.    The combination of the two dishes was perfect for a cool rainy day and I'll definitely go back to try some of the other dishes.

I'm anxious to do a little more research with people in the know because I don't think the family running it were from this part of China.  They wore little hats like a yamaka and seemed to have trouble communicating with some of the other customers which made me think they weren't used to speaking Mandarin.  They had pictures of yaks and mountains on the wall.  They're mountain not too far from Shanghai but yaks there are none.  I'm betting they're from a province in North Central China or maybe near Tibet. 

Matt

Oh yeah! We're in China.

After living here a few months we've gotten comfortable.  Sometimes we can go a couple days without witnessing something with a shock factor.  Little kids peeing in the street, chickens served with a head still attached and crazy traffic just don't shock us anymore.  But every few days something happens to remind you, "Oh Yeah! We're in China."

I was shopping Saturday when I saw this little reminder that I was in China.  I was wondering if someone at home could check the price of MSG per kilogram.  The price is really good here and I'm thinking I should stock up before I come home for Christmas.  Maybe I'll talk to Bri's Uncle Mel, a self-proclaimed commodities dealer.

Matt

Patience Young Grasshopper

School has been busy and we've both been feeling crummy lately but we're still collecting ideas for the blog so keep checking back.  We'll be adding new stuff soon.  Here's a picture of man at the market last Saturday.  He had a grasshopper in a little cage.  The grasshopper was enormous so I think the man had been feeding it for a while.  I don't know if it has something to do with good fortune or what but I've heard about people selling them on the street.  This man wasn't selling he was just taking his arthropod for a walk and showing him off.  He was very talkative but I have no idea what he was saying.  I was thankful he would let me take his picture as sometimes the elders don't want you to take pictures.
Matt

Trading Spaces

Here is a more recent photo of our living room using the photosynth app which helps you make panoramic photos.  Click here to see a larger version of the photo.

Bri has done a fantastic job of making it homey considering you just get what you get as far as furnishings.  We're not complaining since the school covers rent and it is a huge step up from the housing of many locals, even in our neighborhood.  I'm still(and probably always will be) in bachelor mode as far as home decor so every time she adds something I'm impressed at the improvement it makes in our living space.  This week we're having the school electrician (this is the term for any of the maintenance workers) hang a bookshelf for pictures.  Now if she could just figure out how to make a small awkward kitchen larger and more applicable to actually cooking.

Matt

Top 10 foods I miss from home

Top 10 foods I miss from home

10.  Good red wine

9.  Friday night concessions food (hotdogs, nachos, and popcorn)

8.  Mashed Potatoes

7.  Corn on the cob

6. Potato Chips

7. Chips and Salsa

6. Taco Soup

5.  Mom’s cinnamon rolls, chocolate chip cookies and peanut butter cookies

4.  Halloween Candy

3.  Home-grown beef

2.  Authentic Mexican food

1.  MILK

Paper Boy

At the local wet market there is about a 20 yard stretch that has protected bulletin boards like these.  The man on the left has the job of changing the newspaper each day.  It is an interesting thing to me.  Most of the time when I go to the market someone is reading the paper.  I'm not sure which paper it is for sure but I'd guess The People's Daily, the official newspaper of the Communist Party of China.

Matt