Education

There is a new colleague at work who came from China. I am very impressed that he was graduated from Tsinghua University, the no. 1 university in China, and a very down-to-earth person.

It reminds me a girl that I worked with more than 10 years ago. She also came from China and a university graduate. She told me that every Chinese carries a booklet in which it records where this individual graduated, where they worked, where they live and so forth. This record is pretty much open to the public and specially important to the educated class. Any bad record in this booklet will affect them in the rest of their lives seriously.

When it came to university graduates in China, they are the best of the best. Unlike any college students or university graduates in other countries, these elites 100% know what they are doing. I personally had this experience.

One of our piano teachers, Mrs Cheng Mei Ling, came from China. She stopped teaching because she had serious back problem. I remembered the time not long before she stopped teaching us that she couldn't sit down even a minute because her back hurt so much. I still love her and miss her after all these years. In those 3 years that she taught us, she memorized every piano piece and played the song in front of us just by closing her eyes. None of our other piano teachers could do this. I don't mean to be disrespectful. But she was exceptional and extraordinary.

Think about this. If every person in any country can take the education as seriously as these people, this world would be a better place to live.

Sneeze

Weather is changing. A lot of you may sneeze quite a bit.

However, in the Chinese culture, sneezing is not a good sign. Most of the time, the Chinese says, "Maybe somebody is talking behind my back."

When somebody sneezes, American always say, "God Bless You." In Chinese, we always say, "Dai Gui Lai Si." It means that bad luck is gone and good stuffs should be coming.

If you think the things that I told you in the above are so superstitutious. Wait till you hear this. That may give you a laugh for the day.

My father's cousin's family has this rule in their house. If any one of them sneezes before their heading out of the house, they will turn around and get back into the house. No matter, it's a family gathering, funeral, wedding receiption and so forth, they will not attend just because of a sneeze.

Isn't that crazy or what? Believe it or not, hope this gives you a big smile.

Women's Health

One of the prescriptions my accupunture doctor gave me containing fructus amomi, zingiber, cortex cinnamomi, rotundus, radix glycyrrhizae and other herbs. (This is just for your reference. Always consult your doctor before taking any prescriptions.)

Although my aunt living in Rochester and my uncle living in Hong Kong have been practised Chinese medication for so many years, I had never tried it until about 2 years ago.

I diagnosed the carpel tunnel syndrome that my family doctor, whom is an American, referred me to an accupunture doctor for the treatment. Since my family doctor is the only doctor that I can trust after moving over here, I listened to her advice and went.

Forunately, my accupunture doctor talks to me in our mother language. I always feel very comfortable to ask her any medical problem. I used to visit lady's room and have menstrual cramps quite often. So, she prescribed me some Chinese herbal medicine which only last about 1 week to a month. Believe it or not, all these symptoms were gone. That made me having more confidence in the Chinese medication.

I remembered that there was about a month in which I had problems to walk after getting up every morning. I was referred to the peodiatrist. And the appointment had to be scheduled a month ahead of time. Before going there, I happened to talk to my accupunture doctor. The first thing she told me, "It is not your feet's problem. It's your back problem." About another month later, I diagnosed arthritis on my back.

I am not complaining about the health issues. What I want to bring the message to you is that if you think regular medication does not work, give it a try to some alternative medication. China has a lot of hospitals practising both western and Chinese medication. They want to take the advantages of both to help the patients to recover completely and healthily.

Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival

This is the mini Chinese moon cake. The regular size is about 3 times of the size of this one, which will be about the size of your palm. It always comes with 4 of them in one box. I know that I can't finish the whole box. And I am so glad that I saw my Chinese store having the mini size and sold one at a time instead of a box.

Different bakery has different design of the moon cake.

The stuffing of traditional moon cake is the mashed lotus seed which has the similar flavor and texture of the stuffing of Shoofly pie.

The common package of a moon cake. Mostly, they are packed in a tin box. In the last decades, there were a lot of twists on the stuffing and looks of moon cakes. It could be mashed sweet red bean, green beans, ice-cream and so forth.

This is a mold for making moon cake. Chinese pastry chef always prepares the stuffing ahead of time and let it cool down. Then, they will wrap a piece of pastry, which is very similar to certain pie crust texture, around the stuffing. Put it into the mold and flaten it out. Then, it becomes the moon cake. All they need to do is to bake it.

Today is the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival which is my all-time favorite festival next to Christmas. I bought the Chinese moon cakes last week so that I can celebrate it later tonight.

Like the Chinese New Year, this festival is all about family gathering. When we were kids, my parents always took us to somewhere with the lanterns to celebrate. One year, we went to a beach. That was the most memorable one. I still remembered the sea of candles that lighted up the whole beach. It was gorgeous. I hope next year or so, I can go back home to celebrate it with my family.

There were a lot of legends about the origin of this festival. One of them was about a lady, called "Chang'e" taking a kind of medicine which made her to raise to the moon.

But in the Yuan dynasty, people wanted to overthrow the Mongols. By stuffing a message into the moon cake and pass around.

Nowadays, Mid-Autumn festival becomes one of the most money-spending festivals. People buy moon cakes for their family and friends. Moon cake is a very big market for businesses. For children, they always make sure that parents get them plenty of candles and lanterns.

Face Reading

Last time, I shared with you a little bit of fortune telling that I learned when I was a teenager.

This is another interesting one.

Have you ever seen any person when they smile, there is a depression of the skin on the upper cheek bone area? Some people just have it on one side of their face. Some have it on both sides. To a lot of Chinese, it means that this person is not easy to get along.

Is that true? I really don't know because I don't have any friend or family having that.

Anyway, it's another funny Chinese "belief" to share with you.

Gap between Your 2 Front Teeth

Before I share this interesting Chinese "belief" with you. I want to make sure that I am not saying anything against anybody else.

My hubby was watching the NFL this past Sunday. There was a new host. The first thing I noticed of him was the gap between his 2 front teeth. That reminded me what my cousin told my sister several years ago.

My uncle is a Chinese fortune teller. He can tell the "future" of people by looking at their faces and the lines on their palms. So, his son learns quite a bit from him. When my sister first had her 2 new front teeth coming out, there was a big gap between them. So, my counsin teased her that she would be very mean to her spouse. I don't know why I still remembered this when it happened more than 20 years ago. She didn't take it seriously. However, she thought that it was pretty funny and told everybody else she knew.

Is that really true? I really don't know. But I think that you would love to learn about this crazy "belief" of the Chinese.

Unbeatable Luck of Pregnant Women

Did you see "Deal or No Deal" last night? They got the first million-dollar winner.

My hubby didn't watch this show for quite a while. When he changed to that channel last night and I first saw that contestant, I told him right away, "She may win this game." Now, I have never seen any preview or anything. It was just the 6th sense told me that.

During the first commercial, I told my husband, "The Chinese always say that not to gamble with the pregnant women. They will win all the money because of the luck the babies bring." He didn't believe it until the end of the show.

You may think that I am so superstitutious. But it happens all the time.

Sorry, "Deal or No Deal", I wish I told any one of your producers earlier, even though the show is called the "Million Dollar Mission".