China

I decided, that due to the Olympic Games taking place in Beijing, China, we would skip ahead a bit in our countries and cultures lessons to China. We have been learning little bits, but today we read the best book. It is called "The Great Wall", by Elizabeth Mann. I don't think it was even on our list in the curriculum. It really gave a great overview of the history of China, the emperors, the wars, Ghengis Khan, etc. There is also some great artwork in the book. I noticed on the back of the book there are others: "The Brooklyn Bridge", "The Great Pyramid", "The Panama Canal", "The Roman Colleseum", and "Machu Picchu". I have not yet checked to see if any of these are at the library, but I hope so. There are a few that we can use in our studies of future countries.

In continuing our tradition of eating our way around the world we are having a Chinese dinner tonight. I am sure it is not very authentic, but it is easy and will give them an introduction. I am not a big eater of Chinese food myself, so I had to pick stuff that I knew would get eaten. The menu is: Chicken Fried Rice (Chicken Helper from Betty Crocker), Lo Mein (Asian Sides, Teryiaki Noodles from Knorr), and Chicken Won Ton Soup (Campbell's). We probably should be having some stir fry vegetables or something, but we're not.

Next week we are travelling to India. I am not at all familiar with Indian cuisine. Anyone who has any suggestions, please comment.