Busy being Leisurely

Yup. That's my life in nutshell.
Ok nice talking to ya.
Bye.

:)

I had a great week. I wish all my weeks were so HECTIC. hee hee.

I enjoyed the tour of Chiang Kai-shek's mountain retreat home even though it was in semi-typhoon conditions! Oh and someone stole my umbrella, but the tour guide gave me one to take home (from a stash of forgotten umbrellas). Anyway, the residence itself was "eh" pretty simple, but the tour guide was fantastic. She was 75 but looked/acted much younger. She was very FUNNY and she was a wonderful story teller. I learned a lot about Madame Chiang - she was a fascinating woman. She was a Wellesley grad, like my sister (the brainiac! I mean that in a good way, Jen). She was tight with Eleanor Roosevelt and was an amazing artist. Chiang Kai-Shek was a very shrewd man (to say the least) and also very interesting . He was a major bully though (well, he WAS a dictator) - he stole the land for this retreat from the Boy Scouts! (It was a Boy Scout camp). I WISH I had pics for you, but I didn't want to ruin my new camera. We went on a HEAVENLY walk through the woods - oh man it was SO cool...even in the wind and rain.

My chaperoning of the botany field trip was postponed last Wednesday because of the bad weather. We're going the day after tomorrow. I hope it doesn't rain.

Wednesday night I went with Anjoli and three of the "ladies who lunch" to the Cloud Gate performance. It was the first time Anjoli and I have been to a full -length modern dance performance. We loved it. The sets - the costumes and of course the dances were gorgeous. One honoring "the fallen" - those who died at the hands of the Japanese - was pretty intense. The dancers wore baskets on their heads - just like the victims who were executed by the Japanese. They also honored the students who were killed during the Tianamen Square incident. I hope to see them every year - they were that good. They tour around the world, so if they ever visit a city near you, GO!

I volunteered at the gift shop at Anjoli's school for a few hours (I'll do it every week). It was fun and the ladies were so nice. There were four of us altogether. They were very happy to have me there and I was introduced as being a "new friend." Aw. None of them were American, btw! ;)

On Friday I took a cooking class on Greens and Tofu, but I was a bit disappointed, because the class was called "Greens Galore and Tasty Tofu" but it should have been called, " Very Tasty Meat, Meat, Meat, Deep Fried Eggplant and a little bit of Tofu mixed into Pork Meat Balls." I was mega bummed, really, because there are a BILLION different types of greens and I was really looking forward to learning about how to cook them. I love the teacher though- I've taken classes with her before when we lived here last year. I think I will just pay for a few private lessons. She's so funny though - she says that she tries to make things low-fat for us porky Americans (my words, not hers!) but "eets just not very TASTY!" I don't get how the women are so tiny here, including the teacher. She makes all this fattening food, but I don't think she eats it!

I had to leave the cooking class before she finished (she started about 20 minutes late) and go to my flower arranging class. I am happy to report I probably made about 50% of it! I wish you could have seen me, because I was RACING her at one point (when I was placing the evergreens into the oasis). She insisted on putting in all my pink flowers and she rearranged my berries. I just had to laugh. Once the pink flowers die I will add white ones and I will also look for RED candles.

TA DA!!!!!!!!

It's not terribly Christmasy, but it sure is purdy!

Yesterday Anjoli had a soccer game. Sadly they lost - the other team scored when there was like one minute left. LAST week Anjoli scored the winning goal in her first game, and her team won the second game too. (They had a double header).
Anjoli is kind of afraid of the ball. I think she's just playing to appease her dad, who is a soccer freak! (She's a real GIRL and prefers dance classesto sports).
Her coach is EXCELLENT! He's funny, but a bit tough, and he really motivates them. Unfortunately he's just filling in for the real coach who is stuck in Turkey.

Here are some shots from yesterday's game:










































It was SO beautiful today...so Sujoy thought it would be a good idea to go the park and give Anjoli a few soccer pointers. I ran 6 laps on the track (3K/1.8 miles). I was hoping to do 4K but I got bored! Yeah yeah...no, really!












I bought a new COMPUTER table and it's so pretty, I just had to take a picture of it!







And here is the view! (If you can see through the screen!).I know you all must be bored with my mountain pics by now. I promise to take more interesting shots soon.





My week ahead is not that exciting, sorry to say. Next week I've signed up to work at the book fair at the American School for five days! (Two and a half hours per day). I am also working at a games booth at their Winter Wonderland Fair on December 15th.
I am keeping myself VERY busy!

Have a great week everyone.
Love,
Suexoxoxox