I was asked to teach the Enrichment Cooking Class this year at TIS.  The kids meet once a week for enrichment classes like hand bells, art, chess club, cooking club, etc.  I teach eighteen 1st through 3rd graders for about an hour.  It is pretty challenging to keep them all organized in the kitchen; thankfully, I have two Chinese teacher assistants to help.  Ding Laoshi is pictured in the lower right.  She is the one who also came to our Christmas cookie party.

The day before Thanksgiving, we made what I call, Turkey Fruit Gobblers.  You take skewers and make fruit kabobs with bananas, purple grapes, pineapples, kiwi, etc. and use them as the turkey feathers on a large youzi fruit.  For those in the States, a large grapefruit will do.  Then you take a cut piece of apple, red bell pepper and pineapple and form the head and feet.

The kids had a great time making their very own smaller turkey using oranges for the body and toothpicks for the feathers.

We are very blessed to have special friends here to share our American holidays with.  This year for Thanksgiving, we invited one of Michael and Rachel’s Taiwanese friends, along with two other families in our community and a last minute addition, Melanie (a gal I met in line at the post office, who has only been in our city three months).   We were able to get a turkey from vendors here who import from the States.  I was so excited that it even had a pop-up timer!   The taste of turkey is so yummy, when you only get it once a year.

The kids had to go to school for half the day on Thanksgiving Day, so we decided to celebrate a day later, on Friday.  Jessie and Maddie helped me cook some desserts.

Our high school guests get to sit at the coffee table with kiddie chairs!

Here are rests of our guests…Where’s Jessie?  Maybe she’s the one taking the picture.

Yay!  Fall is here!  Or is it?In China some seasons are very intimidated by others.  Seasons like Fall and Spring are very shy, and no matter how much we compliment them, they refuse to stay around more that a few weeks.  Summer and Winter drag on with their extreme stuffy heat or frigid cold weather.  Here, you would know when Spring has made it’s prized visit, when green leaves start to unfold giving you a happy sense of new life.  But this beauty is short-lived, soon dust layers itself over the new leaves, giving them a new brownish coat.This being my second Fall in China I have observed two things.1. Being in China there are not many things to get you in the Fall-ish mood, such as a fully stocked candy aisles in the grocery store, or new cute fall fashion sections in  my favorite clothes stores (Gap, Old Navy, American Eagle, etc.)2.  Because of the lack of Fall spirit in the local people, when there is a hint of a chill in the air, you get the urge to whip out the winter clothes, make jack-o-lanterns, eat candy corn and caramel apples, make apple cider, etc. !!!So as you can guess I was ecstatic that Fall was here!  This year we did get to make caramel apples and eat candy-corn (which is a big thing because coveted items such as caramel and candy corn is more expensive because it is imported)!!!  Sadly, Winter is already pushing Fall out of the way it seems.  The temperature this morning was a chilly 39, and we are expecting a freeze tonight.  After this cold weekend I fear Fall will not return.Is this the last I’ll see of Fall’s cool crisp weather until next year?

There has been many changes in my life in the past year.  More than most people have in 10 years of their life.  Imagine taking all your belongings, picking the ones most important to you, and having a garage sale (At 6 in the morning to 5 in the afternoon) and watching things that you’ve had for a while go to people you don’t even know!  Then traveling around the country you live in and saying goodbye to your friends in family, not exactly knowing when you will see them again (at least we have skype!).  Finally flying as far away from your home as you have ever been in your life to a new and different country!  It as if you are standing on (what you think is) firm ground and then in a moment (or in my case, less than a year) your world is turned up side down and shaken vigorously!  Today, all of that seems so much like a day dream.  It is amazing how He gives one the ability to be so flexible and resilient.  Though when I think of all the challenges I have faced in this year of change I can not imagine it without my family!  My Mom, who is so resourceful and supportive.  My Dad, who is so encouraging and thoughtful.  My brother, who is so cheerful.  My sister, Rachel, who is so creative and considerate.  My fun, bright, sister, Maddie.  and finally our little joy, Megan.  Every member of my family He carefully and thoughtfully picked out to inspire and encourage me in my life!  I find that though the local grocery store here in Tianjin is not decked out with Thanksgiving decoration and food, it wouldn’t matter if we had not Thanksgiving decorations at all, it’s being together with my family that make the holidays seem special.  Especially this Thanksgiving, today, when I got to cook pecan pies with my mom.

This Thanksgiving we had two families over for dinner.  Both of the families go to our school and we were glad they could come.  I had a lot of fun cooking with mom.  I helped make Special K Bars. They are like rice crispie treats, but with some chocolate and peanut butter.  Some dishes we made were Turkey(of course), mashed potatoes, green beans, stuffing, sweet potatoes, and a lot of desert. Some of the deserts were Pecan Pie, Pumpkin Pie, Cheese cake, and whipped cream. This was a great Thanksgiving!  We ate a lot of food and the desert was delicious!

This is me and my friends Josie and Amelia.

One week around November our school has Spirit Week! It is a week when you dress up into different costumes and get points for your house. It is a very fun week and I enjoy it very much. Some of the costumes I dressed as was a nerd, a colorful day, and 100% Grey. I’m also looking forward to next years Spirit Week.

One Sunday I woke up to the sound of my dad telling me it was snowing! I was really tired so I went back to sleep but when I woke up it was still snowing! We went to church with no problem but then we couldn’t get a taxi back home! so we decided to go on a bus my dad found out what bus to take and we got on one. after we got on and rode for a while we realized that we were not going to be dropped off very close to home. the bus stopped and we got out to start to walk. our other friends were with us in the bus and thankfully they knew where to go. So we started to go on our LONG walk. it was freezing cold, snow was pouring down, and we were starting to get really cold and tired! We finally got home into our semi-warm house and started to get dry and warm. Then we had leftover soup with friends and played poker with Chinese coins. It was a great weekend even though we got cold and wet it was fun.

In China we have not seen the usual Halloween pumpkins in the vegetable markets.   The only ones to find are small.  (See Jessie’s blog on her jack-o-lantern)  Also, if you want to make a pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving or Christmas, the cost of canned pumpkin imported is about $3.50 per can.  We have found a nice Chinese pumpkin called “nan guar”.  I can purchase one of these for about fifty cents, and get enough pumpkin for 4 pumpkin pies!  But it takes a little work and patience.

Next, find a helper!!

Remove the seeds, peel and cook until tender

Mash and store in 2 cup containers for future use

I find this pumpkin very flavorful, and even sweet.  It sure makes yummy pumpkin pies, and at a fraction of the cost!