Fun With Food!

It snowed today.
Yes.
In April.
Snow.
In spring.
Crazy Hohhot.

So I've been cooking up a storm this week. I made kimchi, pickles, marinated potatoes, meatballs, cabbage rolls, corn muffins, sweet potato balls and terikayi chicken. I made all this stuff to pack healthy lunches for my long weekends of work. Most of it can be stuck in the freezer and pulled out when needed, warmed up, and packed to take away. Serious lunch packers all agree: Your meal should be tightly packed, but appealing to look at and exciting to dig into.

Today, I made curried lotus root stir-fry that's out of this world good. It's one I really have to share.

Some of you might think, "Lotus root?! That's scary stuff!" But really, it's not scary. If you like crunchy, slightly sweet (carroty) but also a bit of very light bite (radishy), you'll enjoy this. It also soaks up any flavor you put in with it. It's also beautiful! White lace, speckled with curry, graced with sauteed pepper and onion, sour bite of mustard seed...this is a dish that is sure to please. Total eye food.

 

You can get the recipe here. Only thing I did different is that it's a bit spicy for me, so I added about a teaspoon of sugar to cut some of the heat, and I also threw in three small cloves of sliced garlic (she suggested this too). And I didn't have curry leaves either, so added a little more curry powder instead.
This is good hot or cold. Which is good, cause it's in my lunch box. I'll put up a picture of the completed box later. :)

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On another note, I got my hair done this week. Woooo. It was fun.

 

 Result: natural looking loose, fun curls.

Bed time!

Love ya'll.

xoxo

Living Overseas isn't always an Adventure

It's been a while since I last blogged because, honestly, if I blogged more everyone would think of me as nothin but a whiner, complainer, and general pain in the butt. :)

Since being back in China, things have been rough. I was sick for a whole month and still had to work through it. Thankfully the job I'm employing is only 3 days a week. Meeting with friends and building relationships has been the kicker. I've met with Jeff and Judy several times, and saw Rose for a few minutes, but not near as much as I'd have liked.
Apartment searching wasn't going well and came to a complete halt. Looks like I will probably not be moving in to town after all.
Lost my phone, thus losing contact with several friends.
And right after I thought I was finally well, I went out and got food poisoning and had to miss a day of work due to a sleepless night hugging the toilet.  
So all these disappointments have compounded and left me pretty dreary for a month.

But FINALLY, feeling better, got a new phone and number, regained contact with several old friends, and accepted the housing situation after friends assured me they'll still come out to see me as long as I cook for them...and as long as Mahu promises to be good. ;)

I've made friends with some coworkers, though I don't hang out with them a lot out of work. Some of them are afraid of Mahu. He's had a bad case do the bitesees lately...all sweet one minute and biting people the next. He does have all his shots and he's healthy, but he has a mean bite. I'm not sure what to do to correct this behavior, either. I don't have a room to put him in when people come over, so people just don't really wanna come over right now. He was doing so much better for a while. I'm kind of at a loss...

Work is going well for the most part. It's tiring but it's fun at times too. I'm teaching 11 classes total,  2 of those classes are new students. The 7 year old group has only studied 3 weeks, the 5-6 year old group 3 months, so very young. I've learned some new children's songs and even "written" one for the newest learners.
9 of the classes are twice a week. The other 2 classes are once a week. So basically I teach 20 classes every week, and sometimes the Chinese teachers will ask/beg us to do a makeup class as well.
My days go something like this:
5:30am wake up, drink coffee, finish preparing lessons/get things together for classes.
7:00 breakfast/get ready/walk dogs
7:55 meet up with coworkers and get the van to the school
8:30 arrive at Little London
8:45 class starts--40 minutes at a time of faced-paced Simon says, Head Shoulders Knees and Toes, Grammar, vocabulary, word games, and screaming, running, fighting, and "paper scissor stone", music, dancing, drawing, spelling races, word slapping, and babies squatting to poo. Yes, in the classroom. but only the really young ones do this...
12:30 lunch, usually a sandwich from home while I prepare some drawings for my last young kids class.
Class starts back up at 2 usually, but this rotation I got a long lunch :) so
2:45 classes start back up with a vengeance and its a repeat of the morning schedule.
5:45, this rotation, 5:45 is class over. the first month I was scheduled till 6:30.
5:50 get in van and go home.
6:30 arrive home
6:35 walk dogs.
7:00 prepare dinner or warm up leftovers
8:30 prepare for next days classes.
11pmish sleep
and repeat.

 BUT this is only two days a week. :p so it's not bad at all.  OK, when you have a bad cold, constant headache, and can barely breath, it's not great, and tiring. And the first weekend of this I could hardly open my mouth to chew my bbq chicken dinner. Haha. But I've gotten into the swing of things and it's not so bad anymore. I think...I'm not cut out for being a teacher of little children long-term. I really miss teaching college-age students that can actually have more developed and thought-out goals and plans and are able to discuss on more elevated terms...and oh my goodness I really need that because I'm becoming incapable of "higher thinking" conversations myself. LOSING my English!! Blah.
The third day of work is Thursday, and only have two classes in the evening. The rest of the day is spent listening to the Chinese teachers do demo classes, lesson plan, and formally discuss topics chosen by a specified foreign teacher. It's really laid back and we get a 3-hour lunch. Haha. So pretty boring for the most part.


I need to take the dogs out and check on my friends puppy too.