Real Chinese dance?

The principle of the chinese school and the pupils of my dance class can't tell which is which. It can be very frustrating. When they don't know the beauty of classical Chinese dance, when they think dance is all about twisting and posing... (it made me speechless...) I think the principle only think the "Han" ethnic dance is the only Chinese folk dance...(ok...I won't wast my time explaining...)

Another problem with this school is that the Chinese dance class only runs 1.30 hour every week. I guess these people are not serious about the class. But the principle also asked me to prepare dances for their Christmas party and Chinese New Year events... How can I get those kids organised with only 1.30 hour class per week, not even mention there's a huge age gap between the students. Older girls will have to be taught in a different manner than the younger ones.

They don't know what I can offer to them. They don't know quality is more important than quantity. I don't want to produce "many" crappy dances, I want to make good quality dances! Another issue with my students is that they neither have dance shoes to perform nor the demi-point shoes for class practices. When I asked the principle about suggesting the parents to buy dance shoes, she started telling me that some parents won't buy it because younger kids grow up fast that the shoes won't last long! (don't know what to say...) And older ones...don't know what they think. There are 3 sisters in my class, and the principle said that their parents might not be happy with the costs because it's times 3 for 3 people. (ok...I don't know what to say. Is $20 per person too much?!)

Time will prove everything. I'll do my job and as the rest of it...let others to decide...

Dance Teacher

I gave my first Chinese dance class yesterday afternoon at a local Chinese Language School. There were 8 girls who were either born in here or grew up in here since they were little. Class was taught in English and a bit of Chinese for the dance terminology. These kids are nice but the age gap between they are from 6-18 ! And the little ones doesn't like to be separated from the older ones, so it's a bit difficult to teach everyone.

I have to say I was quite disappointed when I saw the class room, it was dirty carpets with other desks and chairs around, of course there was no barres. Some of the girls were wearing jeans, they don't have dancing shoes only sneakers! So I asked them to take of the shoes... Well, can be worst then this I guess. Found out by talking over the phone with the principle, they are going to have a performance for the Christmas. I don't know must of the details, but I know they used to perform for the city council because the mayor is a Chinese descendant, and there's a Chinese garden in town. That's where they will be performing I guess. So counting down I'll have 5 weeks to get these girls organised! I'll try to choreography two different dances, one for older girls another one for little ones.

So far I've got an idea for the older girls, I think they'll be lovely with fans. As for the little ones I'll have to think about something easy!

Exam and Dieting

I'm doing this to make myself happier. There is no "healthy-looking" dancer; there is only "skinny-looking" dancer. Can't fight with my dream so I have to lose weight.

I can do it!

My goal is to lose 3kg per month until the weights reduced to 47kg. My current weight is 55kg(160cm).

A week later...

I have to say it's not easy to lose weight during the exam, I was sitting in front of the computer all day- studying and studying... While studying you feel like to eat! What a horrible desire! It's definitely hard to keep your weight during the exam. Anyways, I'm keeping my dieting record from now...

Fri 23-Oct-09
Weight	Breakfast	Lunch	Dinner
54.1 (-0.9)	- porridge with raisins & walnuts - homemade oats & whole meal square(petit) - green tea	- rice porridge with spinach small bunch & a few fermented black beans - kiwi fruit x1 - orange x1 - green tea	- mashed potato, boiled cabbages, peas& spinach with 1piece lamb chop - homemade oats & whole meal square(petit) - orange x1

Argh...these forms are nightmares!! I'm going to type them up somehow.

Lose weight, lose weight! Anyone wanna join me?

Bitchy

Boys and girls are very bitchy in the ballet world. I hate that!

Inspiration of the week- Berber

exotique!

Berber women


Berber man


I wish my wedding could be this beautiful.






Let me know if I'm using your photos. I'll take them off.

In a bad mood

Skip this post if you don't want to see the f-word.

Fucking stupid french lecturer, in fact, he's not even a proper lecturer. He just a fucking PHD student studying in his fucking first language in NZ. A fucked up french guy who doesn't have any resopnsibility for his students. A fucking hippy-head! Stop fucking flapping around like a fucking all talks no works capoeira person.(not hard-working capoeira people here.)

Fucking stupid french tutor, in fact, she can't even be a tutor.(so what she's french?) She just a fucking hopeless bitch wasting my time listen to her whining. A fucked up french girl who has no clue what is called "teaching." A fucking arrogant bitch! Stop fucking whinning, you get paid for tutorial then do it properly!

NB
No affence to french people. I only hate these two.

無力感…

開學三週了，每個課程的份量也漸漸的加重，尤其是我的主修-法文。這學期我沒那麼幸運分配到好的教授加上新來的tutor又爛，所以這學期的法文要靠自己。真的是很心酸，大學裡怎麼沒個像樣的師資?!

週末在讀書，我這讀文學院的人跟醫學院的一樣認真，男朋友沒在陪的，陪的是電腦…
讀了好久，感到好無力…過去在跳舞時候認識的朋友們都已經出社會工作了，而我跟他們是整個相反，我先上社會大學再當回鍋學生…再一年我就要滿25，心理上其實很矛盾也很害怕…一年一年的長大，而我的夢想能夠及時達成嗎?

25歲是很多人預設完成夢想的目標，我大一才開始半年…在台灣的不讀完，跑來讀國外讀不好讀的，我真的是自討苦吃! 每個人生階段都不容易! 加加油! 我千萬不可以放棄，雖然這年紀對某些舞蹈事業是太遲了，但至少我還是可以朝不同的舞蹈事業邁進!

Never give up!

what university has taught me...

University taught us how to be independent.

Remember when we were little we always do everything with friends. But at university you do things on your own. When you're on your own, you don't have to wait for others. You get lunch without waiting for others, have lunch without waiting for others to finish, go home studying or studying at the library without interruption from your friends.

You do whatever you want.

Being independent is very important, as important as being self-discipline. Though some people prefer studying in pairs, but for me it's better off by myself in most of cases. Never be afraid to be left alone. To become an artist, one of the tasks is to know how to get along with yourself.

Super Easy Taiwanese Delight (recipe)

You didn't get it wrong. It is "Taiwanese delight." It has a very similar texture to Turkish delight but with less sweetness. I remembered when I was a little girl, I always beg my mum to buy me some Taiwanese delight if we go to a bakery(une boulangerie). This traditional Taiwanese sweets were very common, but not sure if it's still as popular as it used to be? It comes with only one flavour- banana(banane).



Taiwanese Delight (香蕉飴)
Original recipe from 周老師的美食教室

Ingredients:

Tapioca flour...............................180g
Corn starch....................................20g
Sugar.............................................120g
Cold water....................................200g
Boiling water................................280g ~ 350g


Banana essence............................ 1/4 tsp(as required)
Food colouring.............................. 1-2 drops (optional)
Microwaved, tapioca flour.......... some




Instructions:

Prepare some tapioca flour(enough to cover the dish but not too much) on a flat dish(I used a pie dish), microwave it for 1-2 minutes. Microwaved tapioca flour lost its smell.

1)Combine first 5 ingredients together in a pot and mix well, make sure there's no lumpy bits in the mixture. Cook the mixture at low heat and stir constantly, meanwhile boil some water.

2) Stir constantly and be careful not to burn the bottom. Add boiling water into the mixture and keep stiring.


3) Keep stiring and add banana essence and food colouring.


4) Once it's cooked, pour it over onto the microwaved tapioca flour. Leave it to cool down completely.


5) Cover both sides with tapioca flour.


6) Cut into pieces with a pair of scissors. Cover all edges with tapioca flour. Eat fresh.


Enjoy.

Milky Mantou (鮮奶饅頭) - Bread maker Recipe

Mantou, Taiwanese people eat it as breakfast or as snacks. There are many different choices for a Taiwanese style breakfast, but I especially missed those handmade mantous with firm texture and slight sweetness of milk!

Original recipe were found at 周老師的美食教室 in traditional Chinese.

Milky Mantou (鮮奶饅頭)

Makes 7

Ingredients:
milk....................................150g
yeast..................................1/2 Tbsp
plain flour..........................300g
sugar..................................3Tbsp
oil........................................1 Tbsp
Some flour for kneading

Instruction:
1. Put yeast, sugar, flour, milk and oil in the bread maker in order.
2. Select "dough" menu. My bread maker takes 2.30 hrs for dough function.
3. Shaping: see below picture to shape the dough.

1)A 300g dough.
2)Divide the dough into even halves.
3)Roll them out into a flat, thin rectangular shape.
4)Place the other dough onto another.
5)Roll up the dough as shown in the picture.
6)Use knife to cut up 8 bits. Put the two end bits together, just roll up as a round-shaped mantou. So in total makes 7 mantous.
7)Your mantou should have the spiral layers on both sides.

4. Before steaming. Leave the mantous at a warm place for 40 minutes to raise. (I leave them in oven at very low heat.)
5. Use cold water to start steaming, each mantou should takes about 7-8 minutes to steam. Line a piece of baking paper under each mantou to stop it from sticking onto the steamer.
6. Place the steamed mantou on a dry, clean tea towel. Eat fresh.

Enjoy.