Abi is in the last few days of school and she is feeling a bit overwhelmed....and so are her parents!!!! I am knee deep in color coordinated vocab flash cards. I had to make flash cards out of cardstock that I brought from my studio. We can not find index cards anywhere in Shanghai. (Note to self...put index cards on the "buy while in the US" list) Abi has finals on Monday and Tuesday....then they have a day out of school and then they go back to school on Thursday for 1/2 day. I think it would be better to have a day off school between test days but what do I know....and they did not ask me what I thought. We will all be happy when this semester is over and she can have a break from school for a while. Abi says Hi

Tim and I just got back from the pool. We have been swimming in the evenings and sometimes in the morning before work. We usually go right after dinner while Xiao Zhang is doing the dishes.....Okay we are really spoiled!! It is really easy to go to the pool....we just get off the elevator, walk across a sidewalk to the pool and jump in. How hard can that be??? Well...we have lived here for 4 months and we are just now taking advantage of the pool. As soon as we got back to the apartment I put on my pajamas and ate two chocolate chip cookies. Good thing I went swimming!! I made cookies again yesterday with Xiao Zhang and she did a great job. This afternoon when I came home she was baking the rest of the dough so our house smelled like fresh baked cookies.

Xiao Zhang is learning how to cook western style food.....she learns very fast. I show her how to make something, we take a picture of it when it is done, and then I print the picture and put it in a binder. I write instructions in English and she writes them in Chinese. I only have to show her once and the next time she can make it without my help. I am very impressed. We also have a cookbook that has recipes in English and Chinese. We made cashew chicken tonight with a recipe from that book. I use the word "we" loosely here because all I did was make the marinade for the chicken. Xiao cooked the chicken, made a green salad, blueberry muffins, and steamed rice. Did I mention that we are spoiled? I have been "outsourced" and I am very happy about this. When Abi and Tim come home I can visit with them without being preoccupied with preparing dinner. Love that!!! As of tonight we have hired Xiao Zhang permanently and hope she will stay with us for the time we are in Shanghai. She was very happy to know that she has long term employment. Her smile was priceless.

Chinese Proverb for today: The eyes are wide but the stomach is narrow. Think about this as you see some of the meals that we have been eating. You will see why we need to go swimming!!

Black Bean Pasta

Cashew Chicken with rice

Lasagna

Chicken with red chili sauce

Chicken Parmigiana