Pancakes for Two

I apologize for having so many posts about food, but when you're in a strange country, it's one of those things that affects you everyday. There are adventures in eating new things, and amazing comforts in eating familiar things. Thanks to a gift basket full of goodies from my teammates that included baking powder, I now have all the ingredients needed to make pancakes. And so that's exactly what I did this morning- and they were glorious! I am not lying when I say that these were the most perfect pancakes I have ever made- in America or in China. Golden brown, fluffy, and delicious! The only thing missing was the syrup, but I have a recipe for that too-just didn't have the time today. But pancakes were fun for another reason- I had an audience. A new cat has been coming around the past couple of days, and this one is different- still meowing, but at least he's a little more social. He likes to jump in my windowsill and rub on the screens. It was all I could do not to give him some of my flapjacks. I don't want to create a monster.

So instead, I just named him Pancake.

Can you blame him? Look at that thing!

My little pancakes- all 4 of them!

In other news, my freshmen classes started this week. Teaching them is a little different, because they aren't really sure how to act, their English is not so good, and most of them have never had a foreign teacher before. The one class definitely clapped for me the other day, simply because I walked into the room. Also, most of them are now calling me Shamblee, since that is how I was introduced to them at their English club meeting. It's pretty cute.
Next week we all have off for the National Holiday. Upcoming events: Sports Day (I'm doing shotput-HA!) and the Langfang Hot Air Balloon & Fruit Picking Festival. Always an adventure! OHH, China!