fun with fish

one of my freshman student, Alice, has been wanting to come over to cook fish for me and teach me... and tonight was finally the night that it happened!

we went shopping at our local market area and bought a LIVE medium size fish in which she instructed the worker to do something in Chinese.. "she's going to kill it" alice whispered to me. immediately the lady got a wooden stick and banged it to death, i proceeded to scream in shock. haha it was pretty hilarious and caught me off guard. we bought the rest of the ingredients to cook and came back home to prepare the meal.

Alice loves to cook and she loves fish. she was a pro and did everything with no fear. she took out the eggs, the thing to keep the fish in balanced (i've never seen them in my life and was amazed by it all!) and then she began to cut the fish to pieces... cutting fish is no easy task. later she fried and boiled and then alas... fish soup (with some other goodies in it)! great night, great fish, and great company- what more could a girl ask for? :)

spring time & wool socks

baby clothes are all hung up along the sidewalk, flowers are blooming (but don't last for long), and blue skies with marvelous clouds are out- which means spring is HERE... finally!! :D i always am in awe of His creation when i see it on a beautiful day like today... living in china for a while you learn to appreciate days like these because they are RARE!

BUT... why am i still wearing wool socks and layers in my home? because harbin and southern california has made me a wimp. haha in harbin, i've been spoiled with amazing central heating during the cold and freezing winters. on the other hand, southern california just always has good weather- never TOO hot or TOO cold! haha back to the wool socks & layers of clothes i'm currently wearing... that's because it gets a bit chilly in my home. i believe i live in the coldest apartment on the 20th floor- it's a corner apartment, i live ALONE, and in a shaded area of the building that doesn't see the sun for most of the day except from 4-7am! so while it's beautifully 70 degrees outside.. it's about 40-50 something in my home :(

i guess you can't have it all... haha ;)

the love homework

i have the privilege of teaching 2 teacher classes a week, consisting of staff, teachers, and other workers on campus that can practice and learn English on the side. these classes aren't normal for several reasons:

-there is no grade for the class (ei. no necessary attendance, quizzes, exams)
-there is a different number of students each week ranging from 2 to 12
-there is a WIDE variety of ages from 25 to 55
-there is a WIDE variety of English levels

one of those classes has consistently 2 students that show up each week... it changes on which 2 students but it always ends up being 2. today in class the 2 that showed up are some kind of engineering-science-math-related-teachers, both married, both have 1 child each (a 3 yr. old son and a 16 yr old daughter), and they are both very much traditional chinese men.

what on earth would i, a crazy-single-chinese-american-with-no-spouse-or-child-experience-kind of girl, be able to possible teach them? well.. one thing led to another (it's kinda nice to have free talk in class and just let the conversation flow!) and we started talking about ways to show their child/spouse love. i introduced to them the 5 love languages to them (touch, words, time, gifts, and service) and explained that there are many ways to show/receive love and they are all GOOD and important.

after going through each love language with examples i asked them what they thought about it. they had all kinds of responses to it...

"i think it's very well" (the concepts and ideas are good)
"some are so strange because we don't do that in china" (like touch- hugs and kisses and words- i love you, you're great/beautiful... only young lovers say "i love you" but they never tell their kids or wife... or hug them)
"i give many gifts to my son, his room has so many toys" (gifts and service are maybe the most common ways for spouses and parents to show love in china)

i told them about my grandma's who are from china and were not accustomed to these ways of expressing love.. but over time and practice they started to hug me with a real hug and say "i love you" to me! these fathers were encouraged and i challenged them with homework for the week:

do something NEW to show love to your child and wife!!

i really hope they try and do it and bring new ways to express love to their family! i told them with mother's day around the corner they should write a card, get some flowers, and/or take their wife out on a date!! haha one looked back at my blankly and said that he never wrote his wife a card or even took her on a date! pretty crazy... hope this homework assignment gives than an opportunity to love in a new way and be a model to their family :)