Cooking, school, random things around China

Long time, no post!

This week has been long, and my computer and I are really  not getting along. It is lagging at literally everything I do, which sucks, but know that there will be no pictures on this post.  However, I will be posting a bunch to Facebook  via my phone, so that should make life a bit easier.

Work

My first week of classes went pretty well, overall. At our meeting on Tursday I began feeling very overwhelmed.  I didn't think I was up to par with the other teachers, especially those who have been doing it awhile.  And, honestly, I still feel that way.  I have always suffered from imposter syndrome. However,on Friday, my boss sat in on one of my classes, and he said I was doing well.  He gave me a pointer, but it was for something small.  I appreciated the feedback, and it did make me feel a little bit better.

I've got plans for this week, and my lessons are all set, so hopefully it runs smoothly.  I'm excited about my British and American Lit class...we will be discussing the first chapter of The Hobbit. =]

Adventures in cooking

I decided that I needed to cook. Eating out is great and all, but so is saving money and going on trips, sooooo.  Cooking.  This was an...um....adventure, to put it mildly. I went to Walmart on Friday at around 5:30.  I needed some things for the apartment and I also needed food to cook.  I decided on making curry, as I saw the curry blocks when I was there several days before.

I was not able to find a kitchen knife, so I got scissors. Well, I also needed a potato and an onion....So, once home, I made rice first (because I only have one pot).  I don't have measuring cups, but I was able to use a paper cup to do a 2:1 ratio.  While that was cooking I cut up the chicken and then proceeded to use a regular butter knife to cut onions and potatoes!  A butter knife. ~headdesk~  I managed to, amazingly. xD

Either way, the curry turned out amazing.  I've since eaten it on Saturday night, Sunday day, and Sunday night.  I have enough to eat tomorrow, probably for dinner, because I think some of us are grabbing lunch during the afternoon.

I'll be cooking again...probably more curry, because it's easy and tasty, but I did also see a lot of different sauces so if I can figure out what they are, I might end up making noodles or something.

Board Games

Our weekly board game meetup  was today.  Super fun.  I really like that street it is on...I need to get there before the gaming one weekend or just go on a different day, because there are some pretty cool stores I'd like to go into.  Sure, a lot of them are touristy, but there are so many people, including Chinese people, wandering around that street, it is just fun.

We played Betrayal at House on Haunted Hill today...twice...I ended up dying both times (one time I was the bad guy xD ) Still, though, it was a lot of fun playing with people.  It feels nice to be social. Hah.

Next weekend is actually a board game convention which our group might go to, which would be cool!

Random Things

I found out where there is a nice park near me.  I might go take a walk over there on Wednesday.  Apparently it is about a 25 minute walk from me in the only direction I haven't gone yet.  I'm excited.  There is a surprising a mount of greenery here, despite everything. I will be posting some pictures, and if I computer decides to work, I'll put some in the next post.

Spitting.  This really creeps me out.  Spitting has always creeped me out, but EVERYONE does it here.  Like, EVERYONE.  I was walking behind this really smartly dressed young business woman.  Super fashionable.  Next thing I know she turns her head and spits. Eh.  Definitely one of the harder things to get used to.

Apparently there is a restaurant not far from me that our boss calls the dog restaurant...apparently they sell dog meat?  I really don't like thinking about it, and I definitely won't go because if they even might do that, I couldn't bear it. Nope.

We got out of the metro today and there were literally like 20 old guys selling these little tiny bids in cages.  I've seen the birds around...they must catch them and sell them. For what, I don't even want to know, but I don't necessarily believe that everyone buying them wants tiny pet birds. =/

I found a new pastry shop today.  The one next to me shut down, but there is one near Walmart.  I had told myself that once a week I would get a pastry.  I really like them, and I know for me moderation is important.  So, I walked down to Walmart, which, by the way is a nearly 20 minute walk, and went to this Korean-owned bakery with a French name.  The pastries were expensive,  so it's definitely a once a week thing, but my muffin was delicious.  I actually ran into one of my fellow teachers, and we sat and talked while I ate and he killed time before his hair cutting appointment at Walmart. xD

Money

I've spent some money over the past several days. I had another two Walmart runs, one of which cost me a bit, mostly because I needed some cooking supplies, a cup, a cutting board, etc.  On Saturday I only did a Walmart run, so it was a cheap day.  Thursday wasn't bad except I had to put 100RMB on my metro card (it costs me 10 RMB for a round trip for work.  Apparently, though, every month we get some credit on our Metrocard if we spend over 100RMB, which will be easy because I have to go to school three times a week).

Today was a bit pricy only because I bought my pastry stuff this morning (along with an OJ) and it cost 60RMB for the gaming because we went to a much more suitable room which cost 10RMB extra.  Definitely worth it, though. And, I leant Clark 10RMB, though since he had bought me a drink before, I won't be asking for that back.

Dumpling Update

Alas, no dumplings. =[

Stuff and Things: Dumplings, Walmart, and Orientation

Today was long.  Very long.  But, it felt good to be productive all day.

Today was orientation at the campus.  My commute is kind of long, but I headed down there with Clark because we are both new teachers at the school.  We managed to navigate it just fine.

The campus has some really cool aspects.  For instance, there is this lovely pond area that has black swans! I didn't get to go there today, partially because it was raining, but it is definitely a place I can see myself spending some time.  The campus also has about four stray dogs.  My boss was telling us that most colleges in Beijing who had stray dogs "deal" with the problem, but here the students banded together to get the dogs neutered and whatnot and the school lets the dogs stay.  I am actually hoping that I run into one or two...apparently they aren't huge fans of men. xD

I also received my schedule, which is pretty sweet.  I have class on Tuesdays and Fridays with a 2 hour meeting on Thursday.  Tuesdays will be a long day for me.  Super long. I have three English 3 classes, which are all oral based, and I have a 2.5/3 hour class on British and American literature (which is also oral based and I can bring in chapters from LITERALLY ANY BOOK THAT I LIKE). So, why so long?  Basically, that class starts at 6pm so I'll be there until about 9 and then have an hour long commute. Yay.  The plus side to that is that I don't have to be up early on Wednesday.  On Fridays I will only have the first three classes, and I'll be done by 12:30.

I'm excited for classes to start.  Nervous, granted, but excited.  I'll probably spend some time tomorrow looking at the books for English 3 and planning some things out.  Then, I will work towards figuring out a schedule for my one night a week class.

Orientation Outfit...who doesn't love Harry Potter shirts?

I think my jet lag is also gone.  I'm exhausted now, but it was a long day.   I don't sleep very well at night, but that's okay. It has me waking up early, which sucks, but I did not take a nap today, so I think I've finally recovered.

Money:

I mentioned in my last post about money.  The exchange rate fascinates me, so I'm going to keep this up in future posts.  I'm also trying to see what my monthly spending is on average.  I spent a total of 138 RMBs today which equates to about 20 dollars.  With this I bought an umbrella (it was raining today, and I didn't pack one), a bowl and set of cutlery from Walmart, lunch, a drink, a small thing of chocolate, a bottle of coke, and a small bag of doritos.

Cool bag...and these are no where near as cheesy as the ones in the US

I needed the bowl and cutlery and umbrella, but I didn't need the rest.  Still, though, for a day's spending, 20 dollars is not so bad.

Walmart:

I finally made it to the Walmart here!  It's huge.  In many ways it is like the Walmarts at home.  There is a clothing section, an electronic section, a beauty and health aides section, a produce section, a meat section.  Pretty standard.

The hot bar area is extensive here, and all of it smelled delicious.  Like, seriously delicious.  This hot bar was spread out in multiple places, so anywhere you were in the store smelled good!

The meat section is huge too.  I'm going to try to get a picture next time I go, but they definitely had more meats than we do here in the US.

Dumplings:

I HAD DUMPLINGS!  Near the school there is this mall-ish area with food.  One of the places was a dumpling place, and I got beef and onion dumplings and OMG they were great.  Super flavorful.  So flavorful, in fact, that you didn't need any sauce, even though I ended up using some.  Also, I got a passionfruit drink that was pretty tasty.

Yum!