April 28 - English Salon, New Classroom, Happy Anniversary

     

Wisteria growing over the fence.

Monday and Tuesday were pretty usual for us this week.  The cleaning guy came, we went to our massage and shopped for groceries.

Jane joined us with our usual Wednesday lunch with Eva.  We decided to have “hot pot’ for lunch.  They remade part of the teacher canteen to a hot pot area.  Each person at the table has a little convection burner by your place with a little pot of water that you bring to a boil.  At a little buffet area, you can choose the foods that you want to cook in the hot pot.  There are different meats, tofu, noodles, and vegetables available.  They also have different condiments that you use to make your own sauce to dip your cooked foods in.  If you like a hot pot with some spice, you can put some hot sauce in your boiling water, or just in your dipping bowl.  Most of the sauces for dipping start with a peanut sauce.

                                      Eva and Jane with the Hot Pot

It takes a little while to cook the food and eat it.  That makes it a fun way to visit with each other as you are cooking your food and eating it.  I think the Chinese really like it, because you can gather around the cooking pot and just enjoy the time eating and talking.

Wednesday evening we were picked up by Lingling, Dr. Yang’s assistant and brought to Qilu hospital, so we could have the English Salon with them.  They fed us some really good pizza, and after singing with them and talking about restaurants, we did the game where we divide them into two groups and have them guess the name of the fruits or vegetables in English.  It is a very competitive game, and even Dr. Yang joined in to guess some.  He had someone come that needed him to take care of some papers for a little bit, but when he was finished, he was there enjoying the game with the rest.  They sent home two boxes of pizzas, that lasted us for four meals!

Earlier in the week, we had received word that they were going to move us to new classrooms after the Labor Day Holiday.  On Friday afternoon, we decided to go over and see where they were and what they looked like.  The building they are in has been recently refurbished.  Instead of the classrooms with the bolted down to the floor desks, we have movable tables, and chairs!  It also has a smart board, computer monitor screens, all over the room, so you can see it from wherever you are sitting.  

Our new modern classroom.  I'm here on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday.  David will be there on Thursdays.  He has a class at 8 a.m. and I have a class at 10 a.m.

Computer command central.

 My problem with the new classroom is that instead of it being just across the street from our apartment building, I now have to walk all the way over to the other side of the campus (almost a half mile).  It has been hard enough lugging my bag in one hand and using my cane with the other, just to get the close classroom.  One day a week, I had to go over to a building on the other side of the campus, and I always had to stop part way over there and change hands carrying the bag and walk with my cane on the wrong side, until my right hand felt like it could carry it the rest of the way.  Now I get to do that four days a week.  I’m thinking of some other way to carry my supplies over, so that I don’t have quite the trial.  I will be putting a LOT more steps on my step monitor!

The smart board.  Hope I know how to use it.

Handy station for the marker and eraser for the smart board.

Saturday was our 43rd wedding anniversary.  We had planned to go to one of the malls in the afternoon to try and find a moisturizer with sunscreen in it for Jurgita, but it was supposed to rain in the afternoon, so we went in the morning.  The store we went to is called, “The Greenland Center,” and it carries a lot of foreign products, so when we need something like this, we go there.  We don’t go very often, just when we can’t find something at the other stores.

As we were about to enter the mall where the Greenland Center is, these kids were having a fun unique ride.

There were also trampolines in this area for kids.  

 On our way back from the Greenland Center, we decided to take the bus and stop at a fruit and vegetable shop that we like for some fruits for lunch on Sunday.  Then we stopped in to get our hair cut.  She did a really good job on David’s hair, but she got mine a little too short.  I had used my translation app to try and explain what I wanted, and she nodded her head.  Then she proceeded to cut off an inch more than I wanted.  Oh well.  It grows back.

We had arranged to meet Jay and Tresa Wilkins at Lydia’s Restaurant for lunch.  We were little late, because of the hair cuts, and we had to drop our stuff off at the apartment.  We had a fine lunch with good food and good company. 

After supper, Daryl Reeve, a guy from England and the Netherlands that works at Shandong University dropped in for a visit.  He is a fun character.  He likes to talk politics, but also just about any subject interests him. 

 About a half hour later, Daniel and Bonita Quillin came by.  She had bought a treat at the store that she knew we liked, well David really likes, and wanted to bring it over. She didn’t know it was our anniversary, so it became an anniversary gift for us.  It was a fun visit, they are such a fun couple.  It made what was going to be a quiet evening, one that was filled with laughter.

This was our gift from Bonita.

The treat looks like this.  It is quite greasy.  We aren't sure what they are made from, but we think it is flour, honey and lard with sesame seeds sprinkled on the top. 

 Sunday was the trip to the Hanlin Hotel for church.  We were just a small group today.  Because of the Labor Day holiday this week, the teachers have to make up classes for the classes that will be missed by the days taken off for the holiday.  The students don’t like it and neither do the teachers.  I think there are other workers that have to make up the holiday also, so it just stinks all the way around that they make it that way.  Anyway… life goes on!