I realize that it’s a bit late for the first blog post of the new school year, but within this month I managed to get a few interesting moments to talk about.

First up, after a summer off from school, the kids needed to dust off the cobwebs from their noggins and get back into the swing of things with their writing. After a month, it seems that most of the cobwebs are gone, but there are some who still need a bit more help. For example…

When grading their dictation books, it’s nice to see that they can spell properly, but then again, it’s always amusing when little gems like this happen.

Then, of course, there are the moments at the end of the day when the kids get to go outside (weather permitting) and play before going home (or going to the canteen and then having to sit through evening class, which is basically like a study hall). Last year, the emphasis was on jump-roping. This lasted all year because they apparently needed to be able to pass a physical test involving jump-roping (yeah, it’s like that over here). This year, the emphasis seems to be on hula-hooping. It’s certainly funny watching some of the kids try to shake and jerk themselves (even convulse) to try to keep the hula hoop going. Others seem to be pros. They pull out all the stops to have fun and extend their hula skills.

There are also things that one doesn’t really want to see when school returns. For instance, the corpse of a mouse that the local cat has decided to place right outside of your door area (the one doorway into our cement building known as our teachers dorm is always left open, and a cat or other creature can easily wonder around and go up the stairs if they want). This is particularly irksome to me because it brings back memories of back home when our neighbors cats would leave unwanted “gifts” (dead mice or birds) outside of our back door.

Maybe a week later, I came out of my room to see only a tail and a head left on the floor. Thankfully, this has not happened in the last few weeks, so I hope it stays that way.

Now, back to some other things that one would want to see—food! It’s always a delight when one discovers a new, delicious, and cheap place to eat good Chinese food. In one of the newly built apartment buildings, behind the relatively new plaza area to the right of our school, there is a food place that I think serves Xi’an-style food. Here are some of the goodies that will keep me coming back for more.

I like how they prepare some of their veggies, particularly their fried egg plant (aubergine for those in the UK). The minced braised pork sandwich is also always a winner.

Speaking of food, my co-worker and I recently went to one of the malls and discovered where a Burger King is. Apparently, they have a new item known as the lotus root burger. It’s always interesting to see American food chains around the world and the local items that are listed.

Hopefully I will continue to discover more great food around town.