In the U.S. we are giving up cursive writing in the school but here the people are being encouraged to embrace their unique national language. One way is to take classes in Chinese character calligraphy. Penny was raised in a small town so did not have the opportunity to learn it as a child so she decided to take a class offered in Kunshan. I joined her last night for her last class. It is very rigid in technique but very artistic in the product. You sit using the exact same keyboard typing position I spent years nagging little six graders about. I could do that part. I could even hold the brush correctly but I sucked at mastering the brush strokes. To me it seemed almost mathematical with the art part blooming way after mastery.
I spent 3 years in China and never tried "milk tea" it just sounded gross and had a grayish color and had weird slimy black balls floating around you sucked up through your fat straw. Last month, when I took Zac, Katrina and the girls out for supper at Pho #1, they asked for bubble tea and were so excited when they had it. I finally got the guts to try it. Pretty darn good except it pissed me off that I was too stupid to try it earlier. In China they were usually sold from really small stalls in thin plastic cups with plastic seals and big fat straws. Last night we went to a really fancy Milk tea bar - "Gong Cha" sort of like a Milk Tea Starbucks with cushy chairs and wifi. Really delicious and I got a strange pleasure out of chewing the gummy tapioca balls.
Tomorrow we finish packing up Penny's apartment and going to her parents house in a town outside of Hangzhou.
