Auld Lang Syne – The Burning Bowl Process

Happy New Years from my roof top.

New Years Eve is the time to purge your 2010 unpleasant happenings.  Easiest way is to create a “burning bowl ceremony.”  Start with a small sheet of paper.  List the old stuff you want to release and cleanse from your life and mind.  Spend some time as you recall these old thoughts.  Soon you will  free them into the Universe and transmute them into the light.  Ignite your paper and throw it in a bowl and watch all those bad moments burn up in a blaze of fire.  Be careful and don’t burn your fingers!   Take a big sheet of paper and write all the good things you want to attract to your life to replace the old things you just released for the new year.  Fold it, put it in an envelope, seal it, and write “Do not open until July 1, 2011”.   Then in six months open it and check your progress.

Happy New Years from the most beautiful roof top in the world, Nanjing China.

Love to all!

The Love of my Life

October 25, 2010

The art market shop I found in a Shanghai alley had a curious bowl of beans.  The first bean I picked up was a nice  big red bean.  It had a set of Chinese characters on one side and on the flip side was an outlined image of a couple.  I turned to my friend Daisy and said what does this say.  She smiled and said “the love of my life!’  Well now, can I plant this bean and grow the love of my life?  The shop owner, Daisy and I decided why not!   Five yuan and I will grow a man!  Maybe I will have better luck with a bean.

Those of you that know me and my love history will know it is not a pretty picture.  The loves in my life include three failed marriages and one failed engagement.  Of these four men, three were addictive personalities whose love in their life was booze and not me.

My bean did not come with instructions, but I imagine this is what I will do to cultivate a good man.

“Do not water with alcohol or fertilize with bull shit!”

Faculty dinner and the back door

The high school had a lovely dinner for all the new teachers, IB and the public school teachers the other night at a very nice restaurant.  One fun tradition was lifting your wine glass and cheering, each table would walk around and cheer you, then your table would stand up, walk to each table, toast and cling each glass.  We had six large tables of twelve each so it took some time.  The food was served with appetizers first, some vegetarian dishes, red wine and some kind of boxed booze, everyone said stay clear of that stuff.  It was 45% must be an “Ever Clear!”  Dinner was many dishes of meat, whole fish, a bowl of guts in a sauce, BBQ beef, pork and chicken.  All my meat eating western friends, did enjoy these dishes.  John and I waited patiently for the vegetarian food and it finally did arrive, but to our surprise was in chicken broth.  We just gave in and dipped out the mushrooms and set them on our plate and ate them.  We had a bowl of steamed weeds, that is the best description I can give.  John liked them, I could hardly get them down.  Reminded me of the seaweed soup I had the other day.  Every time I took a sip, smelled like fish and  just couldn’t eat it.  Melons came and we all enjoyed that.  Someone set off a major fireworks display on the front door of the restaurant, causing me to jump and check it out.  WOW this was spectacular and right on the sidewalk.  My sons would have loved this and gone outside to see the action.

My school has a back door entrance, mainly an exit to purchase food from the local street vendors, but you can see all kinds of activates, from men playing checkers, to ladies washing children and vegetables, to many types of food for sale.  I’ve had Thai food, steamed dough dumplings with different fillings pronounced bowser, milk chai tea and fresh fruit.

Coming back in from an excursion on the back street to the high school grounds, one finds serenity and peacefulness.  Yes, this high school has lovely gardens and a stream with fish.  It has many multistory dorms, for those students who come from a long distance to school.  Many buildings are open air including our teaching facilities.   It is a wonderful campus.

I sometimes like to stand by the stream and look at the fish or listen to the waterfall.  It is so calming and makes me realize how relaxing this is for my overtaxed, multitasking American brain.  Yesterday in the corridors of the first floor, students were learning Karate.  The master teacher was so fluid in his high kicks showing them how far and hard he wants them to kick.  Partnered up, one student would kick and the other held a padded hand paddle to kick too.  They would kick and laugh trying to get their feet up in the higher pose.  Each day is so delightful.

Teacher Day and a real home cooked meal

Friday was Chinese Teacher Day, it is a  special day for teachers, when students call them, give them gifts, cards and flowers to express their appreciation.   I arrived and found a large bouquet of violet tulip like flowers, cards and gifts on my desk from various art students!  What a thrill.  I have a new coffee cup and snow globe now.   Students love telling you to have a nice teacher day, it is on TV and I think it is like a National Holiday.  I like this day.

Alice showed me how to catch a bus, ok not so hard, just lots of people, will have to keep my purse and possessions very close to me.  We took two buses to the University and it dropped us off in a nice shopping district I want to check out later today.   Time for clothes and shoes.  I like shoes, thanks to my mom!   I brought ten pair from my collection of sixty and I am missing some favorites!  Need red ones now!

I gave a call to Sarah, the mom of Filo, one of my art students.  Sarah is the lovely lady that  hooked me up with my apartment.  She was cooking dinner and wanted my company.  Yes, I will be right there.  Hopped on a Taxi and off I went back to the other side of town.  It’s dark now and the town comes alive with lights and it’s misty creating a surreal look about.  Sarah is so excited to see me, off with my shoes and on with house slippers.  I want to see what she is cooking, this is so much fun.  She has a pot of Balsamic rice in the rice cooker, sautéd tomato and fried egg dish and pork meat ball soup with mushrooms,  green chowder peas, and onions (oops forgot to tell her I was vegetarian!)  I watched her cut up some skinny green peppers and sauté them with sugar, salt, soy and some other ingredients-this was a spicy dish and very delicious.  She had fresh greens in a colander — they had red centers, never saw this plant before.  She poured a wee bit of oil in the pan and tossed these in, adding some spices and then water.  The water turned red from the plant and the plant turned dark green as it wilted.

Filo did not want to eat dinner with us, so she played on the computer in her locked room!  Sarah and I feasted with our chopsticks and small rice bowl.  Here you just pick a bit from any bowl you want and eat it.  You don’t make a plate of food.  I am getting quite good with the chopsticks and can pick up peas individually.  The rice turned pink from my greens I put on top…. and that was glorious to see.  Dinner was very good and it felt so comfortable to chat with another mom about husbands, children, our homes, our family, our life.  She had TV that was connected to a Chinese station that was in English.  ( I do not have this station at the motel, darn!)  The main news was of Teachers Day and how exciting it is for the students to make things for their teachers.  We had instant nescafe coffee and Swedish chocolates for dessert.

We admired her apartment, she has been here for over three weeks.  She and her husband live out but the drive is con-jested even though it is not far.  This is her place to stay for the week and then they travel back home during the weekends.  Many parents do this, as the high school I work for is a desired place for their children.  As we look out of her balcony the spectacular view makes me anxious to move.  I get a lesson on how to wash clothes and hang them to dry on the balcony.  Looks like I need to buy a clothes drying rack at Carrefour.

I get back to the motel, walk in and three young men students  from Nigeria, France and Morocco ask me to sit and chat.  Wow what a world talk we have about our Chinese speaking, our experiences and how long we have been here.  The cute Moroccan is working on his PhD and has been in China six years.  The other two just arrived this week and are in some culture shock but loving it.  I enjoy meeting new faces.