and somehow, I'm in Shanghai again.

A final little relax trip until finals hit in two weeks. To my credit, I brought my notes and textbook too so that I can study. And I actually DID study today. Went to Xintiandi on the 109 route bus (a mere 2RMB my friends) and bought an iced coffee (25RMB) and two croissants (11RMB each) and sat down to study, outdoors in the brilliant sun, surrounded by little chirping sparrows trying to eat some of my crumbs, for 2 hours.

The cafe that I was at is called Paul and comes directly from Paris. In fact, the last time I was there, the two Americans that I happened to found myself in a conversation with told me that the croissants in the Shanghai Paul were exactly the same as the ones they had in the Paris Paul. And honestly, the croissants were heavenly. Before, on my "best croissants" list, T&T croissants came in number 1 (it's sad when the best croissants I had were from a Chinese supermarket in Vancouver) but now, they're definitely Paul. I might consider buying half a dozen to bring with me when I leave Shanghai...

Currently listening: 小步舞曲 - 陳綺貞

1 Corinthians 13

Recently, Karen told me a simple way to "checklist" myself and see if I really love the people around me. It comes in the form of 1 Corinthians 13:4-8:

Love is patient,
love is kind.
It does not envy,
it does not boast,
it is not proud.
It is not rude,
it is not self-seeking,
it is not easily angered,
it keeps no record of wrongs.
Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
It always protects,
always trusts,
always hopes,
always perseveres.
Love never fails.

So, everytime I am not doing one of these things, I am not loving the people around me enough.
The plan is, every now and then everyday I'll try to run the list through my head. However, I still haven't managed to memorize the whole passage yet but I guess I don't really need to since I rarely fulfill the first "requirement" of love anyways: patience. Maybe when I get the patience part down, I can finally move on to kindness, etc.

Currently listening: Put on Your Sunday Clothes - Michael Crawford

Back in the BO

Yes after a one week absence from Ningbo, I am back to my daily grind of exchange, living-on-my-own life.

Both Nanjing and Shanghai were excellent and I took too many photos, went to too many places and ate too much food to post all of them here.

However, I will show you this:



On my supposedly 4 hour bus ride from Nanjing to Shanghai, the bus driver decided to overload the bus by having people sit in the aisle on little stools too. Extremely crowded, uncomfortable, stuff and dangerous.

That's the uglier part of China.

Currently listening: 今日 - 陳奕迅

please leave a message

I am in Nanjing. Will post some photos when i have the chance.

我是公主

學校的舞臺劇, 我演棄婦 (皇后生不出皇子所以國王就出去搞三搞四). 今天所有演員去了婚紗店租戲服, 又被我發現原來我的肩真的是太寬, 應該穿西裝.

In my opinion, i look more like a milk maid in that stupid ugly dress.

do re mi

People always say that you don't know something until you've taught it. My recent experiences as a singing/musical theory teacher to a group of 30 has confirmed this saying. It is so difficult to explain the simplest of music concepts (i.e. what is a staff? what is a quarter note? what are notes?) I suppose that it doesn't help that I've learned these things myself more than 13 years ago. Teaching music is like trying to teach math - but in a foreign language. Music seems so logical and second-nature to me by now (at least the really straightforward, non-creative components of it), that teaching it seems almost illogical because I've come to see it as common sense (especially when you're in Canada I suppose, where 9.999 out of 10 kids are forced to play piano or some sort of musical instrument). So now, when I plan my lessons, I imagine myself teaching little kids and have created little "do-re-mi" flash cards and rhythm clapping games for my class.

I now have new found respect for Mrs. Forestor, Alyssa, and Hilda (my first piano teacher at Tom Lee, my piano teacher that got me to my grade 10 piano cert., and my theory teacher that taught me harmony before I realized what I can use it for, respectively.)

Currently listening: Toco Rosalia De Souza

Blueberry Jam Chicken

(as inspired by this recipe)

Ingredients:
chicken wings as many as you like
soy sauce a bit
cooking oil a bit
salt a bit
sugar a bit
chopped onion 1
soy sauce a bit
vinegar a bit
rosemary a bit
blueberry jam 4 tablespoons

1. Marinate chicken for 1-2 hours with soy sauce, cooking oil, salt and sugar.
2. Microwave chicken until it looks semi-cooked (i.e. no bright blood)
3. Heat up a bit of cooking oil in a wok.
4. Saute onions in wok until slightly brown.
5. Add chicken and let grill until slightly golden on both sides. Remove onions and chicken from wok.
6. Add jam, vinegar, soy sauce and rosemary into wok. Stir around for 1-2 minutes.
7. Re-add onion and chicken. Stir around.
8. EAT!

Tips:
1. CHICKENS TAKE FOREVER TO DEFROST!!!!!! make sure you account for defrosting time.
2. This is GREAT with plain rice. It's like sweet and sour sauce. But blue.

No picture. But you get the point.