All posts filed under: Blog

Somewhat of a Holiday Season

Published by Sula H.

No, we’re not on break. As a matter of fact, school can get even tricky at times, because you always have to keep an eye on the calendar to make sure you don’t miss Sunday school. Oh, wait! Did I say Sunday school? Well, what I mean is classes on Sunday. Yes, I agree with you. Having to go to school on Sunday doesn’t really sit right with me, either. But having classes on Sunday means, on the other hand, that there are some extra days without class. Today would be such a day. Because it’s the Tomb-Sweeping-Holiday. And since I’m lucky enough to teach on a Thursday, it means that I have an extra day off because of the holiday. It also means that I try to get that extra hour or two of tennis (after all, you’ve got to seize that rare opportunity when there’s a day midweek, when there’s no classes out on the tennis courts). But playing that extra hour of tennis also means you’ve got to make some sacrifices elsewhere. …

And then … nothing happened

Published by Sula H.

Do you remember the construction progress on our building that I’ve mentioned a couple of weeks ago? Well, they’re still building the scaffolds. And their favorite time tends to be early on weekend mornings; that is at times when residents are actually trying to sleep. But if you take a closer look at the progress they’ve made you have to realize that actually … well, nothing really happens. At least not to the building. I’m sure they’ve been putting up the scaffolds for a reason, though, so I guess I’ll have to continue to wait and see …

April Fool’s Day

Published by Sula H.

It’s Easter still, where I come from, but that doesn’t mean it’s a holiday where I live now. As a matter of fact, these days it’s business as usual (as I told you last week), since people here know nothing of Easter, really. But they do know about April Fool’s Day. Lucky for me, I didn’t get tricked, and being busy trying to keep today a holiday for myself as well, I didn’t really get a chance to trick anyone else, either. But then I figured: there are worse things in life than missing out on April Fool’s Day! And I did get myself a little Easter greeting from my family, too. Look:

A Little Easter Walk

Published by Sula H.

With a friend of mine, we’d decided to go for a little hunt of spring blossoms. The problem was: it’s been so cold recently that only very few trees are in bloom yet. That, however, didn’t hinder us in our determination, and so we got a couple of pictures still. And on that note I’m wishing everyone happy Easter!

The Lost Case of the Banana

Published by Sula H.

Admitted. I used to like bananas a lot more when I was a kid than I do now. But every once in a while, I do snatch one from the fruit pile in the dining hall to take with me. I usually don’t eat my banana right away, because I prefer to eat them when they’re sweet. Or I prefer to mix them up in a smoothy. Or make banana muffins and the likes. You get the point. For me, bananas have to be speckled and spotted – in other words, they have to be very ripe. Since they usually don’t come that way when they’re served in the dining hall, whenever I take a banana (which isn’t very often to begin with), I’ll keep it for a couple of days before I decide what I’ll do with it. And so, last week, I took a banana for that very purpose to wait until it’s very ripe so I can make myself something yummy with it. The problem: I never got to keep it until …

Getting Ready for the Holidays

Published by Sula H.

Easter is coming up – a fact which you know, of course. For me, Easter is one of those holidays that I have to look up in the calendar in order to know that it’s coming up. This holiday just doesn’t get much noticed otherwise where I live. In fact, no one here would know that half the world is celebrating a holiday, unless you told them so, because business here goes on as usual. I for my part, however, intend to be aware of this holiday, this weekend. So, I’ve started preparing. Preparing, that means, I started thinking ahead about what are things that are everyday work related that I don’t really need to do this weekend. And while that kept me really busy today, I feel like, for the first time in years, I’ve been somewhat on top of things and can actually enjoy an Easter holidays without making it a normal work weekend like everyone else around here. So, on that note, I hope everyone will have an enjoyable weekend as well!

The Peanut Quest

Published by Sula H.

I like peanuts. In my eyes, they are a good addition to any diet. Fortunately for me, farmers around here grow them, so peanuts are easily available in all shapes and sizes. And flavors, I should add. Recently, however, I’ve got it into my head to find those peanuts which are still in their shell, and which yet have a slight salty flavor to them. So, I’ve been looking for that kind whenever I got out shopping. The problem is: outwardly, the plain and the salted ones look just the same, and while the first time I tried to buy a bag, they turned out the everyday plain ones, this time, they’re not plain. But they’re not really salty, either. They have a rather funny flavor, and I haven’t fully decided yet, whether I like them, or not.

Sweet Puffs

Published by Sula H.

Admitted: they’re not really the healthiest kind of food. But that doesn’t mean they aren’t delicious, really. Puffs, or as they are called here: pao fu. (By the way, did you know that the genius thing about pal fus is that pao fu sounds exactly like “puff” when you only say the word quickly enough? So, to buy them is hardly a challenge at all, even if you speak no word Chinese, really.) But, of course, I like them more for their flavor than their name, because as you (can’t) see, these puffs are filled with a sweet cream inside, which is what makes them rather yummy in the first place.

Waiting for Spring

Published by Sula H.

You would think that with the arrival of spring you’d actually feel something of it, too. But like I told you the other day, sunshine and warm temperatures have an awful hard time these days getting their act together. At least the trees and bushes know what to do, so now you can actually discover a hint of spring here and there when you see a little something budding … I hope – as we all do – that the spring weather will take notice and follow suit!

That Foreign Faculty Photo

Published by Sula H.

I was in for a surprise today. No, no! Not what you think: of course we knew about the foreign faculty photo appointment a couple of days ago. The surprise, however, was how quickly everything was over again. You see, trying to get a 100+ people to one place at one time, and even on the same picture can be a daunting task sometimes. It may take up to 20 minutes of arranging, re-arranging, and then re-arranging the re-arrangement in order to ensure that a decent picture will turn out. And on top of that, we’re dealing with photographers who usually don’t speak English at all – so there’s usually a lot of motioning and hand clapping (though I haven’t been able to figure out what that means, yet). Today, however, was rather different. Within fifteen minutes of leaving my house, I was back in the comfort and warmth of a cozy home, and glad that both, photographers and all the many models, had managed to get it over with in record time. Great job, …