Good news...our driver came back today!!! And....I was successful in communicating "take lunch" so he did not stave to death. Celebrate the small successes!!!

The weather has been very fickle...Friday it was "spring" and today it was "winter" again. I went downtown to run some errands and I was freezing. Lucky for me there are a lot of street markets in Shanghai so I bought a heavier coat with the Adidas logo on it for about $16. Shopping in China is a strange experience.

After I bought my expensive coat I went to the Community Center in Puxi (downtown area) to attend a Chinese Tea class. It was very interesting and fun. Our instructors own a tea house and the women that taught us how to make and serve tea is the National Champion "tea server" for China. She was very graceful and I learned to appreciate the slow and calming process of making and drinking tea. There are a lot of rules in making and serving the perfect cup of tea. We concentrated on green tea today. The cup we used to make the tea is called a Gai Wan. It looks like a rice bowl with a saucer and a lid. I have seen these in many stores and wondered why you would need a lid and saucer for rice......Dah!!! Tea cup not a rice bowl.

Here is the shortened version of how to make a perfect cup of tea along with some of my own commentary.

1. Set up your tea making area... This would include a tea pot,(we use an electric tea pot) a Gai Wan, a set of tea tools (did you know there was a whole set of tea tools?) an extra bowl for collecting water, a tin of tea, and a cloth napkin in case you drip or spill. (you really should not spill because you can embarrass yourself and ruin your tea serving reputation. Spilling should especially be avoided if you are serving your Chinese Mother-in-law.)

2. Remove the lid from the Gai Wan and place it on the edge of the saucer.

3. Warm the cup. Put a small amount of boiling water (must be boiling) in the bottom of the cup. Pick up the cup and swirl the water two or three times around the sides of the cup. Note: the swirling motion should be counter clockwise and should be slow and graceful....not like you are shaking dice for Yahtzee.

4. Gracefully pour the water out of the cup and into the extra bowl.

5. Pick up the tea tin and open it with both thumbs and index fingers and place the lid upside down on the table. (hey...I'm just telling you what they said and this was from the National Champ so I trust she knows what she is talking about)

6. Use one of the tools to scoop the tea out and place it in the bottom of the cup. Note: we were serving Jasmine green tea so the tea leaves were actually rolled into "pearls". ( I think "pearls" is a nice way to say "pellets".

7. Pour a small amount of water over the tea pearls/pellets. Put the lid on the cup and swirl (slowly and gracefully) counter clockwise one or two times. Note: this is not fast food so if you are in a hurry I would not suggest making a perfect cup of tea....just go ahead and make a fast sloppy cup, dump it into a Costco "to go" paper cup and I'm pretty sure it will taste about the same...but don't forget....there are loose tea leaves at the bottom of the cup...this could be a choking hazard if you are not careful .)

8.Remove and smell the lid. (I am not kidding.....you are supposed to smell the lid.)

9. Pour more water into the tea cup but do not fill it more than 80% full. Side note: when pouring water into the cup you should pour it slowly and also in a circular counter clockwise motion. AND..... never point the spout of the tea pot at your guest. This is very rude.

10. Place the lid on the tea cup and let it steep for one minute. It is polite to talk to your guest while the tea is steeping. (Oh...I forgot...you should be doing all of the above steps with two or three cups depending on how many guest you have. If you have more than three guests you should forget all of these steps and steep the tea in a pot. )

11. Pick up the cup with the saucer. While balancing the cup and saucer on the tips of your left hand....gracefully scoop the lid across the top of the tea water with your right hand....this will remove any "floaters" and cool the tea. On the last scoop....leave the lid slightly askew....while holding the lid on top of the cup twist your wrist into an unnatural position and sip the tea. Your guest must never see your teeth. (I know you think I am making this up but it is true!!!! I think this is in case you accidentally missed one of the "floaters" and it gets stuck in your teeth. This could make your guest uncomfortable because she would be wondering the whole time you are having tea if she should tell you or not tell you that you have something stuck in your teeth.)

12. You should never drink tea on an empty stomach so you must serve "refreshments" with your tea. (I was thinking a nice cranberry scone, or a piece of chocolate cake would be nice....but .....no.....we got a rubbery rice gummy thing, a chalky white rectangular bar of something at tasted like you were eating......chalk, and a reddish layered candy thing that tasted like pie cherries and had the texture of fruit leather. The cherry thing was actually pretty good)