Holidays and Food

We are in the middle of two holiday weeks. Last week we celebrated Mid-Autumn Festival (Moon Festival) on Thursday and next week we will celebrate National Day. 

For Mid-Autumn Festival (which I realize isn't in the middle of Autumn, at least by Western standards. Something to do with the lunar calendar...) we had Thursday off and took advantage of an odd day off mid-week. Eric used his time to work ahead in his AP class and I caught up with friends. I think I got the better deal. Here is how I spent my afternoon and evening!

L-R Bethany, Josalyn, Kim, and Michelle

The next day we had a professional development day at school. The students enjoyed another day off and we went to work and learned about a new testing program we are going to use later this Fall. The best way to make a fun day like that bearable is by going to lunch with co-workers. So that is what we did. We went to an Yi minority restaurant not far from our campus. Eric and I had never been there before, but we went with a couple people who had. This was key because they knew all the best dishes to order. One of the delicacies we enjoyed were fried grasshoppers. Yum yum.

Grasshoppers served with peanuts

Yum

Actually, they don't taste bad, in fact, they taste like nothing. Crunchy nothing.

Sunday afternoon we had another new food experience when we went to a north-eastern Chinese restaurant after Fellowship with a few friends. We enjoyed sweetened sweet potatoes- they had melted sugar poured on them and the trick is to quickly take your portion off the pile and dip it in cold water before the whole mountain of sweet potatoes cools down and hardens into a big block.

Trying to get a piece off the pile

Dip it in the water

We were back at work this week, but have next Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday off for National Day holiday. Like Mid-Autumn Festival, Eric and I will be celebrating a little differently. I am going to Sanya on Hainan Island on the South China Sea for four days with some friends. Eric is staying in Kunming and will be attempting to get a little ahead in his school work (to say that Eric is busy these days is an understatement!)I am thankful to have an amazing husband who lets me play while he works and doesn't hold it against me. :)