the luck of the irish.

I get really into American holidays since living here in China. I guess it makes me feel like I'm not soooo far away after all. Today I made sure all the other American teachers were wearing green, and I threatened to pinch all my students (although I'm not sure they really understood, which is usually the case with most of my jokes:)

Well, here's how we celebrated St. Patrick's Day here in the far east...

I made green banana bread last night so it would be ready to eat this morning, which I realize looks a little disgusting in the picture, but I can assure you that it was insanely delicious.

These girlies came over after dinner and watched us bake. They kept doing this cute sigh and saying things like "I had a dream about this, and it is coming true." They are cute freshman who miss their moms and liked being in a kitchen, although I'm still not sure if they understood exactly what we were doing.

Ta-Da!
Here's the finished product.
It looks strangely similar to mint chocolate chip ice cream.
(Sidenote: I like how these baking posts make me look domestic.)

Tonight at dinner I explained to my student/Chinese teacher, Tian Wei, how we celebrate St. Patrick's Day in America (mostly drinking beer and wearing green). So as to be expected, he insisted we split a beer to celebrate. And since the cafeteria didn't have any cups, of course we just pulled out a couple of plastic bowls. It's not everyday you get to drink beer out of a bowl in a Chinese college cafeteria to celebrate an Irish holiday.

Gan bei!

These girls, Kendra (on the left) and Cynthia (on the right), also joined us for dinner tonight. My favorite part of the dinner (after toasting with Tian Wei of course) was when Cynthia looked at me as I was eating and said, "You don't seem to care about getting fat" (aparently because I was eating "sweet snacks" as she called them, and she was sure they would make her fat). Now, I'm choosing to take this as a compliment. She could have said "You don't seem to care that you're fat." I guess I'll think twice the next time I pop some "sweet snacks" into my mouth.

Happy St. Patrick's Day from China-land.

Make green banana bread, toast to your friends, and don't reach for that sweet food without considering whether or not it will make you fat.