"From Scratch"

I used to think that I baked from scratch. I was wrong.

For example, I used to make a coffee cake “from scratch.” The recipe called for chopped pecans and sour cream. I would often buy the pre-chopped pecans and the sour cream that came in the 1 cup container. Then I would simply dump in both ingredients. China has since taught me that my “from scratch” wasn’t even scratching the surface. (Yes, that pun made me literally laugh out loud)

For starters…
If you want chopped pecans, you have to first SHELL the pecans and then you have to CHOP the pecans.
If you want sour cream, you have to first travel across town to the import store, buy a big thing of whipping cream, add vinegar and literally SOUR the cream. Now that’s from scratch.

However, our team leader takes “from scratch” to a whole new extreme. I just tasted Stollen for the first time in my life…and I don’t have the words to describe the wonder of it. The baking process lasted for at least two days. The recipe involved shelling pecans, plumping raisons, roasting almonds, sifting sugar, doing something with vanilla beans, and letting dough rise at least 2-3 times. However, the result was something that packaged and boxed will NEVER come close too. I will now mark time by PreStollen and AfterStollen.

Speaking of time…HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

stol·len

 [stoh-luhn; Ger. shtaw-luhn]

noun German Cookery .

a sweetened bread made from raised dough, usually containing nuts, raisins, and citron.

 

How to NOT Get Caught...

Grading final papers has been an education in plagiarism.  Below are my top 5 ways to NOT get caught plagiarizing.

5. When cutting and pasting into your paper, remove the "scanned by virus-ware" words.
4. If you are talking in first person, make sure what you copied is also in first person.
3. If you have poor grammar skills, once you cut and paste a paragraph into your paper, go through and make it sound like you. 
2. If the paragraph you are copying is talking about your own people group, it should say "us" not "them."
1.  Don't plagiarize the text book.  Odds are that the teacher has read it before.

Or...you could just cite the source.

Sophomore Grading Pile(s) of Fun

Ode to Coffee

Of the things I love in life, I give my love not only because of what they are but because of the memories associated with them. For example, I LOVE beignets from the Grand Luxe Café. While I cannot deny their inherent goodness…it is the memories that go with them that bring all the more joy. I have rich memories of laughter and friendship each time I had them. Therefore, I love beignets. Coffee is no different.

Coffee is a trifecta of love.

1. Coffee aides in my ability to function. Without it, I become “pre-coffee Lizzie” and I’m told that is just not pretty. So coffee allows me to be…me. 
2. Coffee is often decorated and adorned with happiness. I love coffee mugs. The beautifully decorated cup beckons one to wrap their hands around the wonderful warmth. The whip cream often placed on top begs one to dive their face in and emerge with a smile and a mustache. 
3. Coffee = good memories. How many long, wonderful, thought-provoking conversations have I had over a cup of coffee? If you know me, you know that I crave intellectually stimulating and challenging conversations and I have found coffee to be a natural inducer of fluent, challenging, and memorable conversation. Some of my best friendships have come about over a cup of coffee. 

To end a long ode I will simply say…I Heart Coffee.

Christmas Compare/Contrast

I survived my first Christmas in China!!  And I must say...it was AWESOME!  Good friends, good food, and good times had by all.  However, I wanted to briefly offer a compare/contrast analysis of Christmas in the different countries.

US/China Christmas Contrasts: 
1. In China, people kept saying, “Happy Christmas.” Why do we have a “Merry Christmas” in the US and a “Happy Christmas” in China? 
2. U.S. Christmas wrapping paper isn't pink and purple with puppies and happy everyday quotes.
3. Silk Worms were part of the menu for the Christmas dinner. Never saw that on the U.S. menu. 
4. Some of my students were taking exams on Christmas day. 
5. My neighbors looked at me like I was crazy when I excitedly exclaimed, “Merry Christmas!"

US/China Christmas Similarities: 
1. He is the Reason for the Season. 
2. Christmas movies were viewed. 
3. Way too much sugar was eaten. 
4. I didn’t get my Christmas cards mailed. 
5. It was a white, cold Christmas. 

Used...

Twice a week I have office hours where my students can come make up lessons or ask questions. There are also several non-English majors who come to talk with the foreigner and practice their English. (I also attend English corner on Tuesdays where about 40 students excitedly try to talk with the 1 foreigner…me.)

I have one student, let’s call her Maggie, who comes every Thursday without fail. Many times it is just me and her, and I love it. She comes with a notebook full of questions…questions from newspaper articles she has read or life that she has encountered that week.

However, there have been more and more students coming to practice their English. They are at times pushy and want me to magically pull interesting topics out of my hat that they can discuss in English. (this can be hard at times to find interesting topics that also coincides with their vocabularies) They get upset if there are too many students and they do not get my undivided attention. As I was walking home the other day, I was trying to work through my annoyance at their attitudes. Another foreigner had said that it also irked them that people “just want to use us to practice English.” As I focused in on the words “just use us” I bristled with irritation.

And the words kept rolling through my head…”Just use us…”

And then I realized…isn’t that what I came here for? Didn’t I come to be used?

Some days that will look like a nice chat with my dear student Maggie. Other days, that will be a long drawn out conversation with a pushy student who insists that I help them improve their English so that they can be magically fluent in three weeks for their trip to Shanghai.  Other days it could be me reading the Christmas story for the first time to my excited students. Whatever it is…I want to be used.

Just a normal day in my life…

The other day, I was graciously given the opportunity to judge a singing competition.  No other foreign teachers were able to go, I was flying solo.  I have judged a couple English competitions, so I thought this would be routine…no big deal.

That evening my students hurried me from class without dinner, so that we could arrive 45 minutes early.

Once there, everyone shoved me to the front of the performance hall where I sat all alone at the judges’ table for 30 minutes…right where everyone could see me.  I read over the rubric and got acquainted with the schedule.  I also noted that the Compulsory song would be Porker Face.

I then had a student come explain to me that one of the finalists would be chosen by me.  When the time came, I would need to send a discreet signal to one of the MCs.  This is when I started to get nervous.  I had no idea when this would happen, how I would choose, and what was truly expected.  So while I was judging (they give you roughly 15 seconds to judge and tally your score after the performances), I was keeping notes.  With my notes, I knew who I thought would be the top three performers.  I knew if they called on me, I could confidently choose who would be the third person to go to the finals.   

(The other issue at hand is that it is all in Chinese…so through the entire night I have to listen to all the Chinese words with the hope that I hear them when they say, “Something, something, Lizzie, something something.”)

The next problem was, the top three went to the finals, I had to choose a 4^th place (as opposed to the 3^rd place I had planned on).  ARGHH!!  They were then coming my way with a microphone.

So with a microphone shoved in my face…and a couple hundred people waiting for my answer…I did what any ethical judge would do…I chose the first student that I recognized.

Good news – she was actually pretty good and the other (Chinese) judges generally agreed with my choice.

Afterwards, I was pushed away from the judges’ table and realized that I was the one responsible for granting the awards.  I then had to stick around for a couple hundred pictures, so that the finalists could say someday, “Oh yeah, that’s me with the blonde foreign teacher…can’t remember her name though…”