It is Saturday morning...Tim is on a conference call, Tucker and Abi are sleeping and I am attempting to make cinnamon rolls for breakfast. The dough is rising in the "incubator" that I created in our laundry room. I have never had much success with anything that requires yeast so I am giving this project a 50/50 chance.

The past week has zipped by very fast with everyone at school and work. Tim is getting ready for a big meeting that will be hosted in Shanghai.....Tucker is designing a really sleek looking sled thingy at work....Abi is building a miniature Ford Theater, doing homework, rearranging her bedroom (third time in three weeks), and helping couch the Middle School volleyball team....

Big news for Tim.....he got his China drivers licence yesterday!!! I am not sure if I am happy about this or not....but...I think I might get mine too...just for fun! We are hoping that Tim can drive our car on Sundays when Jan has the day off. Our car company may not like this idea so it is still a bit "iffy". Tim had to make two trips (about 1.5 hours one way) to the licence office. Yesterday was his second trip and he had to take a written test.....100 questions...and had to get 95 correct.

Here are couple of my favorite questions from the exam:

Driving on a road covered with ice or snow, try your best not to turn the steering wheel lest the vehicle should_____.
A. skid
B. slide
C. slip

The correct answer is A.


I. When another vehicle suddenly overtakes and takes your lane, you had better_____?
A. stop at once
B. signal it with light to give way
C. try your best to keep to the right and give way to it.

The correct answer is C.

This explains a lot....it appears more responsibility rests on the person to get out of the way then on the person that is "getting in your space".


II. If the vehicle ahead won't slow down and let you overtake, you should______?
A. follow it closely
B. stop overtaking or change to another lane
C. sound the horn continuously and overtake it anyway.

The correct answer is of course B.

However...I think most of the drivers behave more in the order of C.

III. When passing a zebra crossing_____.
A. vehicles must slow down or stop to avoid the pedestrians.
B. vehicles should closely follow the vehicle ahead and pass quickly.
C. pedestrians must avoid the vehicles.

The correct answer is A.

I have never seen this happen!!! The true answer is C.

Fireworks continued all last week with the final "blast" on Thursday which is the Lantern Festival. Today we are going to Yu Garden to look at the Lantern display....thought we would wait for the "crowd" to dissipate.

I am back to Chinese lessons, quilting class, and general adventure in Shanghai. My quilting students started sewing this week and will have their quilt tops finished by Monday. My Chinese teacher came back from Spring Festival (Chinese New Year) and told me she is leaving to take a different job!!! I think this is a sign!!! I am not sure I can start again with teacher #6. My lesson this week was "how to order home delivery from McDonald's". The kids were pretty excited about this because they wanted to do this last week but did not know the right words...Now they can master this task! Life is Good!

My friend Shelly is thinking about teaching cooking classes in Shanghai and she invited us to her house so she could "practice". It was great fun and the food was wonderful!

Chef Shelly with her students....notice all the students wore black shirts....this was not planned...we thought it was very funny!!

Shelly in action! Watch the fingers!

The rest of my week has been quilting....I have several UFO's (unfinished objects) that I am determined to finish before I start any more.....And...I really want to start some more so this is highly motivating! Yesterday I finished the "flip flop" quilt...this was my first attempt at "hand quilting"....I am not a fan of this very slow process!!!

Flip Flop Quilt