I've got a fever and the only prescription is more cowbell! Well, I do have a fever but I haven't seen a cowbell since we moved to HY. Ahh well, that means I have time to sit in bed and work on our janky internet that cuts off every few minutes to get some updates out about what we've been doing. When life hands you lemons, make limon C (the chinese version of Crystal light lemonade, served warm). Apparently this fever also makes me overuse catchphrases. Schwing! ok..I'm done.
1. A few days ago we went out for a birthday lunch with Chris's friend, Peter, and about 30 of his closest friends, including teachers. We were having a great time and were a little startled when we started eating our rice and one of the other girl's we know at the lunch leaned over and said, "I thought you didn't eat rice." Ummmm, "No, we do, we eat it quite often" Chris and I replied simultaneously. "No you never make it at your house, you only make cookies and cakes and noodles, no rice" Peter stated to the entire table of 10. Chris gently corrected him and we went back to eating...you guessed it, rice.
A bit later, we overhear Peter making the rounds to the other table, where his teachers are sitting, explaining to them why the foreigners are not drinking alcohol. "No, they only drink coffee and water, and they only eat cookies, and cakes." Then it hit me like a ton of bricks, when people come over, I bake things that they don't get to eat in China, like brownies, banana bread, cookies, and lemon bars. But I never thought of that as an American tradition until that moment. I wanted to defend us but the damage was done, all Peter's friends now think we only eat sweets and drink coffee. I am the Paula Dean of China.
2. Last week we were having some students over (and yes I was baking cookies for them) and our living room had a bit of a funk to it. So without thinking I lit some candles in the living room to mask the smell of ick and continued baking and cleaning. I meant to blow the candles out before everyone came in, but I forgot and as we all sat down, the 5 or so students started speaking in rapid chinese and then Leigh, the outspoken one, was voted to ask the question. "Um, Allie, someone wants to know why you have candles burning." Dang, I realized too late that in China, candles are apparently ALWAYS a romantic gesture and here I was, a teacher, creating an 'atmosphere' when my students were over. I tried to mime out that the room was smelly and the candles helped but they just looked more and more confused so I blew them out and quickly removed them.
Maybe this will be the last time we get laughed at....ummm, probably not.
Dang, I miss you. These stories just made my day. Perhaps because I saw myself all up in there. I never thought that by only having brownies and cookies made me look weird to them! And oh dear mercy, I always have a candle burning. My mother-in-law always includes Yankee votives in care packages. What must my students think..... Wow.
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