Chinese Cooking and Other Random Events

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I wish firstly to pay tribute to the residents of Shirasagi, who taught me to understand and appreciate the true value in Asian cultures of randomness. Thanks also for the DECD protocol briefing that advised that if you are invited, then of course you accept. Finally to Eddie and Tania, who showed me that any Asian culture is more familiar and comprehensible than that of Indigenous Australia. With deepest respect I wish to share the glories of randomness.

Photocopying and printing are proving to be excellent for my fitness levels. This week, I sincerely thought I had mastered the process of saving the files to my F drive, then walking to the admin building to print from the print server, taking 10 or more copies to the print room (where runs of 1200 are common, especially for the monthly practice exams). I calculated, in my third crossing of the main courtyard, that I had walked 1.8 km's and climbed 180 steps (nice symetry of numbers here!) to print just 6 sheets of paper. Then, this afternoon, I got to the print server, only to realize that I had turned my computer off and so was in for another fitness workout.

My much anticipated Friday night class was meant to be with 4 or 5 middle school students who were keen to improve their English in preparation for a study tour to Australia. I ran short of ideas 8 minutes short of time on the group who turned out to be 16 7,8 & 9 year olds who had never seen a foreigner before and had learned English for a whole 4 weeks. With only one picture book, a laptop and no power point, plus a group of adults (parents, locals, staff at after school care) taking photos and videos, I tried to manage some extremely naughty little boys. At the end, a man of some authority thanked me for giving the children much happiness.

Consensus decision making appears to work here in much the same way I observed in Japan. Wenyan appologised for the very long time it took my cooking group to decide on which vegetables to buy at Walmart, because, she said, they did not yet know each other well and had to accomodate for different regional cooking practices. I used the time, however to enjoy the egg section. Chicken eggs are packaged displaying photos of the breed of hen. Duck eggs appeared to be the same. I am not good at differentiating between quail, pigeon and 1000 year old eggs, and was not helped by the packaging showing styalized birds of indeterminate species.

My kitchen is the size of a small, oblong laundry in Oz. However, five girls managed to chop vegetables, wash things repeatedly, wisk eggs, cook in a furiously boiling wok and produce 9 vegetarian dishes all together in this small space. They used 1 wok, 1 ricecooker, 3 knives, 500ml of peanut oil, tablespoons of salt, a whole bunch of garlic, a white powder with pictures of happy vegetables on the packet, and every dish, cup and utensil I own, to produce a fantastic feast. Only LiLu admitted to enjoying cooking, and all of them apologized because their mothers could all cook much tastier food. The more samples of home cooking I eat, the more I appreciate that the canteen food is canteen food, but it still beats having to cook for myself.

This evening I attended a meeting with Helen (Director of Foreign Affairs), head of the English Department and Ana & Louise, the other 2 foreign teachers. We were asked to write a submission to City Hall to promote our excellent examples of the new electives programs. We had been selected, not because of the quality of our work, but because everyone else was too busy. Further, we need to have the submissions written by Friday, to be translated into Chinese by the lucky student teacher tucked quietly away in the corner of the office. Oh yes, and our classes showcasing excellent practice are to videoed this Friday.

Random Rocks!

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Photos

Consensus Decision making
in the vegetables section of Walmart

Preparation
is the key to success

Five in my kitchen
the size of a large closet

From the fire
to the frying pan

Comments

[Eddie]

Randomness
Well Jacinta, it seems you are settling in well and the locals are providing wonderful vegetarian delights! It looks like great fun, glad to hear you are keeping fit as well! We are both well and are beginning the big move home before the wet hits. So far so good. Is Toni there ? If so, much love to you both. Eddie & Tania

[paid to travel]

Home ward bound.
Toni is in Adelaide, look her up when the road train drops you off. Aren't you finishing the year out? Are the dogs happy? Love to you both.

[Wenyan Wang]

We all hope to have the next lunch soon. Enjoy yourself.
The food was very delicious ,right? We all hope u can have a good memory in China~ enjoy your trip~

[paid to travel]

Warmest Memories
...the food is always delicious and the memories very warm. Short term sadness, but a lifetime of happy memories!