School lunches in China

I love reading the elementary school lunch menu my youngest brings home.

We packed school lunches in the past, but because bread, cheese, peanut butter, and the other mainstays of packed lunches are uncommon and expensive here, we now buy school lunches. My youngest has to pre-choose Western Menu or Asian menu for each day of the month.

One interesting thing is that in this area of China (Guangzhou) soup is necessary for a meal to be complete. Soup is served with every lunch option. Also--Lotus is water lily. It actually tastes pretty good.

She attends an international school.

Here are a few examples of meals from the Asian menu:

1. Lotus Root soup, Grilled chicken breast with Ginger and Lemon, Thai Fried Rice, Spinach
2. Sea Weed with Egg Soup, Chicken Satay, Vegetable Udon Noodles, Bok Choy and Black Mushroom
3. Steamed Rice in Lotus Leave [sic], Winter Melon Soup, Stir Fried Bean Sprouts.
4. Lotus Root Soup, Char Kway Teow (Malaysian Fried Noodles), Spring Roll, Chinese Cabbage
5. Water Cress Soup, Beef w/Broccoli, Spring Onion Chinese Pancake, Cauliflower

These dishes also looked interesting: Chicken and Bean Sprout Soup, Braised Tofu.

Here are a few meals from the American menu:

1. Cream Mushroom Soup, Grilled Duck Breast, Hash Brown, Broccoli and Sweet Corn
2. Grilled polenta, pumpkin soup, Mexican fajita, Fish fingers, Snow peas and Cherry tomato
3. Russian Soup, Sauteed Beef Cubes, Crispy Potato Ball, Ratatouille
4. Broccoli Soup, Mixed Peppers w/Beef Potatoes, Rissoles, Mixed Diced Veggies w/Butter
5. French Onion Soup, Roast Pork, Loin Pasta w/Garlic Ratatouille

This sounds good to me: Pan-fried Fish fillet with Tomato.

Finding Story

Sometimes my stories find me. The characters appear and want me to tell their story.

Other times I need to find the story.

This semester at Vermont College of Fine Arts I’m in a program with a special picture book emphasis. This means I will write and turn in A LOT of picture books! I will turn in between four and five picture books this month.

Stories come from lots of places. Some come in dreams. Some are found in real life: an object, a comment, a situation. Others appear halfway between conscious and subconscious thought--early morning is a prime time to access this part of the brain. So is meditation.

Picture books are so different than novels and because of this my discovery of story and characters is different. With novels, I start with characters in a situation and they create the story as they make choices. With a picture book I have to find an idea or a place or a character and know more before I begin writing.

Catching a story is like finding butterflies. A butterfly might appear, just like some stories appear. These stories are gifts. But most of the time we need to go and look for the butterfly or if we really want lots of butterflies around we can plant a garden that invites butterflies to not only visit, but live near us. In a similar way we look for stories. Finding stories can be hard. Sometimes we might look and not find anything. Or we look and look and finally sit down and start typing in hopes some sort of story will emerge.

I am trying something different. After I returned from Vermont I knew I needed to find more stories. Now almost every day I create my own writing prompt. Somewhere, anywhere--perhaps in my mind or outside during a walk--I find an idea or an object and I write some words of a picture book. I don’t worry about writing great words or a great story. I don’t worry about writing a complete story. I just write--something, from any idea. These partial stories are a fertile garden, a garden for finding butterflies. I’ve developed some of what I’ve written into picture books. Reading through what I’ve written also triggers story ideas. In essence I’m creating a place where my stories can live.

Committing myself to writing an aspect of a story almost every day is a way of playing. Playing with words. Playing with ideas. Playing with stories. As I play I find stories with meaning and stories that are fun to write.

I want to write one more story to turn in with my first packet to Uma. (Uma Krishnaswami writes such marvelous books. You are missing out if you've not experienced her stories.)

I need to go play in my story garden. Maybe my next butterfly will be huge and colorful, resting on a flower waiting to be caught, or maybe it will be small, fluttering anxiously from flower to flower, almost out of reach.

I won’t know what story I’ll find until I enter the garden.

Photos from my trip to Northern China

I uploaded some photos from my trip to Beijing, the Great Wall and Xi'an to my flickr. You can see them here.

I'll post a few of my favorites below.




















These two pictures were taken at the Great Wall at Ju Yong Guan near Badaling

The following picture is a detail of the roof at the Lama Temple in Beijing.
















Fried Scorpions, anyone? What about silk worm larva? And more delicacies?
I wasn't brave enough to chomp into one of these. And yes, you eat the whole thing!
















The Temple of Heaven. The first photo is a detail of roof tiles and the next picture is taken from a sacrificial mound looking toward the northern part of the temple complex.


























This next photo was taken at the Ming tombs. It is the top of an outdoor balustrade.


















The following pictures were taken in/near Xi'an.The first photo was taken on the Goose Pagoda grounds in Xi'an. The next photo is of of bricks that are part of the huge, absolutely huge, ancient wall of Xi'an. They are signed. If a brick broke the maker would be executed. Now that is extreme quality control! (I think if you click on the photo it will be larger.) The last picture is a closeup of some of the Terra Cotta Warriors.












































The train ride to Xi'an was quite interesting. We took the night train. There is no privacy because there are no doors to the sleeping compartments--luckily there were 6 of us and 6 bunks arranged 3 high on a side are in one compartment, or we'd have had to share with strangers. The squat toilets open to the track which flies by underneath.

I also enjoyed the Beijing Capital Museum. I'd suggest visiting this museum to anyone who visits Beijing.

Bookstores are wonderful places

I love visiting bookstores in every country where I live. A bookstore (Eymundsson's) in Iceland was convenient for me--it was downtown, just a short walk from my home. There was a coffee shop upstairs. Here in China there are many bookstores. Of interest--most books in the US are printed in the region where I live. The bookstores tend to be either small or tinier than one could imagine.

A tiny book store which is about 4 feet wide and 6 feet deep.













I've seen smaller stores here in Guangzhou.
I'm also amazed when I see a bike loaded up with books and magazines. I've even seen bikes used as movable newstands.

I visited a large bookstore when I was in Beijing. Of course I wandered over to the children’s section, which is comparatively small compared to children's sections in US stores, and spent a long time looking at all the titles. There are several children’s books from the US that are translated into Chinese. I didn’t find the Chinese young adult section, even though I’ve seen one in a much smaller bookstore. I exercised little constraint and bought 9 picture books.



















These are dual language books (Chinese and English) and are traditional tales. The cost was reasonable, about $3 for each 46 to 64 page long paperback picture book. (About 6 by 9 inches.) I was excited to find Chang’e Flying to the Moon. There are several versions of the story: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chang%27e. The book I bought is closest to version 1, with some notable differences.

I always like to buy a few picture books in each country. These books tend to be folktales. Since a picture book I’m working on is an adaptation of an American tale (a story I’ve always wished was available in a picture book) I’ve been paying more attention to how writers adapt stories, how they stay true to the story while making it accessible to young children. I adapted this story and two other picture books for my workshop at Vermont College Residency later this month.

This next semester I am taking the picture book concentration. The picture book program is by application (and is also open to non-students for a semester certificate).
Because I will focus on picture books, I will let my latest novel sit and keep my first novel (which is also calling me) company. I finished my first draft of River last semester and over my semester break I cut chapters, divided chapters, moved chapters and did other necessary structural revisions. I'd love to work on it, but letting it rest will allow me to see it with fresh eyes.

I love picture books which is why I wanted to want to explore and learn about the craft of this wonderful genre of children’s books. Because I was accepted to the picture program I already know who my advisor is.

I get to work with Uma Krishnaswami!!!!

She blogs here and Cynthia Leitich Smith (who also teaches at Vermont) has an interview with her here. I am very excited to work with Uma.

I fly to Vermont next week.
I've already made arrangements to buy several books from The Flying Pig Bookstore when they visit campus.
Did I ever mention I love bookstores.