Rainy day in China

It was rainy and cold on Saturday, rainy and cold on Sunday, and rainy and colder today.  Today was my worse day in China.  I did enjoy my time in the classroom and before that I watched some of the NCAA basketball tournament.  Rainy cold weather in China is just like rainy and cold weather in Peoria, nothing to be excited over.  The heat is off in the buildings so that makes it even better.
I did learn about food and ate the Yang Yu Ca Ca in the cafeteria tonight.  It is basically hash browns, China style.   Tomorrow I meet with Dr. Du and his family to show them the Tumble Books.  I think this resource will help many students here.  I am also going to research on the of the foods a student talked about, Nian Gao.  I think this is some type of Chinese fruit cake thing that people make and can leave it around for months.  I am very interested in finding out about this.  It is cooked rice that is force into a machine that is similar to what we use when filling a sausage.  The rice is cut in to little rice ingots and then dried, after the rice is dry it is put back into water, and you can keep it for 6 months or more.  I am very curious about this. If I can learn how to make this I sure to be a big hit at the next family get together.  Researching this will give me something to do besides complain about the weather.  The one thing I do like about my classes is being able to explain some things in Chinese.  Students were doing their lessons on the black board and could go up and write words in Chinese and suggest they explain what this means as part of the lesson plan.  Sometimes I am not correct but I am always very close.