We spent our last day in China visiting the Jade Buddha Temple in Shanghai. I
haven't been there in many years, in fact not since before the original temple was destroyed in the 1900's (it was rebuilt in 1928), yet just stepping into the main courtyard was like stepping back in time for me.
Have you heard the legend of how tea drinking was discovered? Supposedly a few leaves from a tea plant fell into a Chinese emperor's pot of boiling water, and he decided to give it a taste. Who knows if that is actually true, but it shows that there is a long history of drinking tea in China and when we visited I couldn’t wait to learn more about it. Oh, and in Chinese the word for tea is “cha.”
What I really wanted to do when we were in China was attend a tea ceremony. You can drink tea just about anywhere, but I wanted to learn about each tea and really appreciate it. Luckily, in Shanghai we found a great one that was well worth it!
Happy New Year! What, you think I'm crazy because it's way after January 1st? Well, I'm not talking about the end of the western calendar year kind of new year, I'm talking about the Chinese New Year!
You see, in the western world, we go by a different calendar than the Eastern world. We consider this year to be 2008, but in China they go by the lunar calendar on which the year is 4706.
Hello class! Please take your seats. I have a question for you. What did you eat for lunch today? Chances are some of you had a sandwich. A sandwich is a perfect lunch food because you can make it ahead of time, add many different types of ingredients to it, and eat it without any utensils.
Did you know there was actually a time when people didn't eat sandwiches? It's hard to imagine, but it's true! Of course bread, meats and cheese have been staples of the human diet for many thousands of years, and it's very likely that people ate them together, but putting your favorite ingredients between two slices of bread wasn't something that was commonly done until the late 1700's.
I've spent the past few entries telling you about various quirks of past presidents and, for the most part, I made being the president sound very fun. There are even perks that I didn't mention, such as private planes, various houses around the U.S., and the fact that you never have to do your own laundry. But still, being president it's not all fun and free stuff. In fact it can be one of the most dangerous jobs in the world.
I just got this great campaign poster in the mail. It wasn't signed, and there was no name on the envelope, so I think it was probably made by one of the other presidential candidates that I met recently. (They can't tell anyone they're voting for me because their supporters might get mad.)
I think it's one of the best posters I've ever seen! The picture of me on the flag is awesome, and really catches my good side. In fact I think I'm going to make this design my official Ramses for President Flag!
I guess there is something called a Primary going on here in NH and all
these other people running for president are showing up on my turf.
Apparently, as the only MCFC candidate, I don't have to
worry about this primary thing.
I'm thinking that maybe we will avoid all this voting stuff, because I'm
pretty sure once all of the other presidential candidates meet me they'll just give up.
If Ramses were to be elected President of the United States, he would definitely be the first ram to ever hold the position, but he would not be the first ram to reside at the White House. Ever since George Washington, who had a pet parrot, presidents have shared the place with their favorite animals.
You might think it would be strange to have a president like Ramses who is obsessed with his cape. While it certainly would be strange to have Ramses as president, it would not necessarily be because of his cape fixation. You see there have been past presidents who were also obsessed with their favorite clothing.
One such leader was Chester A. Arthur, the twenty-first President. It wasn't capes he was obsessed with but rather fashion in general, and pants in particular. He had over eighty pairs of pants and would change the ones he was wearing many times a day.
©2008 Moo-Cow Fan Club LLC.
