Title "Food, Baskets with things in them, and Little Red Riding Hood"

What a surprise we had when we walked into the English camp thinking we would be "helping" the main teacher. Ha Ha! I knew we were in trouble when she came in and sat down leaving the desk at the front of the room open. She is Chinese and we must have had a communication error because in all of our meetings, we got the impression she had lessons planned. Mei wen tie! (No problem)

We winged it again with both classes and then made a point to prepare for today's class. It ran a LOT smoother. The tweens are quite. We are having a hard time getting them to even talk. But I'm quite sure that within a few days, we'll get them laughing and smiling. I accept the challenge! There are 3 older boys that are 12 and 13, they are clearly unhappy that their moms made them come, so they weren't thrilled about making Valentines cards. (This week the young class learns about animals and the older class learns about American holidays.)

Both classes are to learn a story and act it out. The story for this week is "Little Red Riding Hood". The Chinese version is a bit more graphic than I learned it. The wolf actually eats the grandma and Little Red and then the hunter comes in and slashes open the belly of the wolf while it is sleeping, the devoured humans escape, fill the wolf's belly up with rocks, sew him back up, wake him up, then the hunter shoots him. Maybe the Brother's Grimm wrote it like that and it has not been changed in China the way we modified it in America. I wish I would have actually read it before I read it aloud the first time during the class. I just assumed that "Hey, I know this story." So I didn't bother to study it. I don't know if I was masking my shock enough to give it away that I didn't know that version.

This afternoon we will head over to the twins house for the first time and then we will go to a BBQ hosted by the Latimer team from Omaha. They are guessing about 60 Chinese students will be there in addition to our two teams.

I'm including some pictures of some neat things we see on our walks to and from the center. You'll notice that baskets are used for everything from babies to chickens. Also, there is a picture of a "Baby Swimming Center". Mom and I stumbled upon it and are guessing that since the apartments don't have bathtubs, these larger sinks are for the babies to get a soak and then a nap. The babies were so cute! The videos are of our favorite noodle shop. We eat there for lunch. You will see how the noodles are sliced right into the water. YUM!

I have mentioned how delicious the food is, right? I'm so sorry to say that it blows the American style Chinese food away. I might get sick of it someday soon, but not yet! I love the jiao zi (dumplings) bao zi (steamed buns with egg or meat), and mian tiao (noodles).

Lin Lao Shi, if you are reading this, THANK YOU for teaching me Chinese. As you would say, "It is SO useful!"