To See Yellow In White - Day 5

STEPS
Time to be
time to do
that's all I want
Father, You did grant

I do not know where this is leading to
One thing for sure though,
I'm having so much fun in the process.

A little at a time,
Allotted two hours per week with Miss Fann.
Another lesson in faith and obedience,
bless her Lord, for her patience.

As If Someone Is Interested - Cleaning Up a Sea Cucumber

Clean Cut up Sea Cucumber

As a child, I've seen snakes hanged, skinned and cleaned up. A prey too soon, with those that had fallen prey to it, still intact.  I've watched our cook go through all the necessary procedures of feeding a chick to it becoming a delicacy on the dining table.

To share a childhood secret, I had seriously wondered if I'd ever pluck up courage to hold the chicken still, tilting its head, showing a part of the neck plucked of feathers with my left hand, wielding a knife with my right hand.  Reminiscing now, I am thankful that my father never imposed that I  should learn how to get the life out of a chicken if I want to enjoy fried chicken in the future.  I am thankful that he simply encouraged me to watch and learn.

In short, don't worry about what you would see in the following photos.  To rate how high your standard of decency is, here's a clue. It feels like a soft slippery bar of soap in your hands. It is easier to clean than fresh fish,  slit it open lengthwise,  no foul smell, just the feel of seaweeds and sand on your fingers.  Enjoy!

ready to be cleaned

no choice as to size

How offensive can it get?
Simply push the seaweeds off in running water
with both thumbs.

Use a brush to rid of these white stuff in the crevices.

This is how clean it can get.

What's Cooking - Rice Noodle with Squash & Ground Pork

I was craving for fried rice noodle on my way home from class at 10:00 pm tonight

so I dropped by Taiwan Sugar, a grocery store, for frozen ground pork,

and went to the organic store beside it for the rice noodle and onions. 

I thought I've got everything until I caught sight of this lone squash by the doorway.

You should have seen me walking all the way home,

carrying a thankful smile at the thought of having things at my fingertips

even at this hour of the night.

There are only two things in my mind, squash rice noodle and squash rice noodle

as I took the elevator up.  Here it is. A proof of what was an imagination an hour ago.

Rice Noodle with Squash & Ground Pork

I put the frozen ground meat into a heated pot to defrost and cook.   Added two sliced onions to the oil that comes out of the meat.

    Added soy sauce to taste, let simmer and set aside.

Soaked the rice noodle in drinking water to soften.

Sliced half of the squash into thin pieces for lesser time to cook.

 In another pan, I heated  the chopped garlic in olive oil and added the thinly sliced squash.

                    Covered the pan and continued cooking for a while before adding 3 Tbsps. water.

                                                                  See photos 1 & 2

Photo 1

Photo 2

 To tell you the truth, reality slowly crept in as I put the drained rice noodle on top of the garlic heated in olive oil as in (Photo 1).  For sure I was in panic mode when I added this cooked squash on top because my logical mind meant to put the cooked ground meat at the bottom of the pan and layer the drained rice noodle on top to absorb whatever liquid the ground pork and onion mixture got, As in (Photo3) & (Photo4).

pretty mistake

Photo 3

Photo 4

 With all the necessary ingredients in its proper place, covered the pan to continue cooking and adjusted the heat to low.  Tossed and mixed evenly as you see on the top photo.


In retrospect, I have to admit that the whole process was not clear in my imagination.  This was another one of my spur of the moment attacks.  I am now having another thankful smile for my ever appreciative family.
It is in moments like this that I do not have to worry about time limits, grades and score.


There might be some ideas that come to mind as you read this blog.  Please feel free to share.
I still have a lot to learn about posting, organizing my thoughts and using the right words for clarity but I am not the kind to wait till I learned the whole thing because I know it is impossible to learn if I do not get myself exposed and be vulnerable.

To See Yellow In White

This is a collage of my second and third lessons with Miss Fann, the first being an hour-and-a-half
spent in admiring different photos of oil paintings which she has bookmarked to show me.  I told her that the only thing I do with a pen is to write words if not draw boxes, layers and layers of boxes like this:

      Always fascinated by stairways or steps, windows, walls and pathways, which looks so easy
with just lines, I am never one that can ever make my pencil do what my eyes see or my eyes just cannot see
what it needs to convey my hand to do. Thus, ending up with a piece of paper filled up with one box after another piling on top of each other and be lost in thought.

       I don't dare voice my doubt when  I picked out a photo of a white stairway on the left and a white wall on its right for I know that a good teacher can get me to where she wants me to be because I am willing to let her lead me in this new journey. With this, my lesson in Trust.

Lesson 2
      She made me observe the lines and to my excitement,
I can see the straight lines and the slants that brought about the thickness and the surface of the steps. Now there is something else better to fill my paper than the layers of boxes.  I am thankful to have found someone to guide me along at making and doing something in which there are a number of steps. This day I applied Attentiveness.

Lesson 3
      Miss Fann asked me what colors I see on the wall in the picture.  I know it is white, and if there is something darker, maybe gray.  She asked me if I see yellow.  I told her the truth, I don't even see a gray, it was just a wild guess.  I don't see any yellow in it at all.  She pointed to the steps. In doubt, I asked her if it could be a tinge of blue.  She nodded,but to be honest, I didn't worry about not seeing  yellow, as she mixed the two colors white and yellow in the palette. She then made me try the different "butter spreaders" a name  I made up to a Chinese term that I cannot memorize. The time will come when I shall eventually learn its terms.  I filled up the wall part on my canvass and wished that I had more time to go on.

      I stopped being a student for the day, because it was time for me to go to my class and meet my students.  This time I can share with them my experiences with Honesty, Truthfulness and Total Submission and the joy that I am rewarded with when the teacher awakened my own expectations.

What Do You Want To Say?

A tired man:    At what time does your last film begin?


Mrs. W:   I'm sorry, you got the wrong number.


The tired man:   Oh, it began 30 minutes ago? Okay. Thank You.


Mrs. W. told Mr. W. about the weird phone call.


Mr. W:   That man must be happy. His wife wanted to go to the cinema but he wanted to stay at home.

Me: Tell me what it was about.

Student A: The man who called the cinema where his wife wanted to go to must be feeling tired.

Me: Try again. Does the wife want to go to a place or does she want to do something?

Student A: The man who called must be feeling tired because his wife wanted to go to the cinema.

Me: The man who called must be feeling tired because his wife wanted to go to the cinema must be feeling tired.

Student A: What's the difference? I am using a relative clause.

Why Wouldn't I?

One of the twins, KChung & KChuen: "Teacher, guess who I am."

Both are standing in front of my desk by now, coming over from their respective seats.

Me: "Let me see," moving my occipitofrontalis & corrugator supercilii muscles.

"You are KChung," eyeing one and "You are KChuen" looking at the other.
KChung & KChuen: In chorus, " How do you know?"

Find the Sounds

This is our conversation with 4-year-old Tanya  when she started to cough while reading:

                                            Me:            Jesus please heal Tanya's cough.

                                             Tanya:       Who are you talking to?

          Me:            Jesus

           Tanya:      Who is he? (No gender classification            

                                                     in spoken Mandarin.)

          Me:            A friend.

           Tanya:      Where is he?

          Me:           Here. ( placing my hand on my chest.)

          Tanya:       Can I see Him?

        Me:            No,

                   

                            (trying to make things easier,)

                                                                                                     

                           Can you see the wind?

         Tanya:      Yes! I saw the typhoon. 

                 

                           ( Pointing to the air conditioner)

                 

                             I can see the air conditioner.

                                           Me:           Okay, let's continue reading...what

                                                               sounds can you find in this particular word?"