I think erkuai is similar to Japanese mochi.

I had a Japanese-American girl friend and the family tradition was to make mochi for the New Year. My part was to get to Mom's house early pound for hours. I didn't see the rice cooked just joined brother and brother-in-laws in the heavy work.

Try this site; janmstore.com/mochitsuki.html

They had enough equipment so two batches could be going at once. The cooked rice was put in to scooped out logs, and the mallets were big and heavy. They also made it a competition. Great family fun!

I got my Kindle Touch in early December. It works great!

If you use your Amazon account to buy it, tell them it is a gift and the will send it UNREGISTERED. You need to buy it and send it to someone who will remail it to you. If it is registered and stolen, it has been set to one click pay so a lot of stuff, MP3s, will be downloaded at your expense.

I had a little trouble registering my Touch in KM. I found the touch keypad difficult to use. I went to a restaurant and tried for an hour until a Chinese guy, who had never seen a Kindle, decided to help. He kept touching the touch screen :-)

I have Kindle for PC on two computers as well. Once you buy content you and use it on all your Kindle devices.

I have played around making eBooks for the Kindle. This is pretty easy to do. Key is to use Calibre. I convert from Word .docx to RTF then to MOBI. Calibre handles the conversions well.

Sounds like a plan. Anyone gonna open and show the games?

Any assumption about food hygiene in China, or anywhere for that matter, is foolish. Ascribing cleanliness to a cultural, or ethnic, group defies common sense. Humans tend to act as individuals, especially when no one is looking, so saving a bit of money is usually the motivating factor.

Halal (the word means "legal") dietary laws generally refer the way animals are slaughtered and exclude certain animals.

Confusing Halal, or Kosher, with hygiene and sanitation will not protect you from getting terribly sick. Gutter oil use is some thing good Chinese do to save money.

Honestly, if concerns about food safety really bother you, China would be a very uncomfortable place to live. China's population didn't get to 1.3 billion people on gutter oil and fake eggs.

It seems to me the school is authorized to hire foreign teachers.

As part of the authorization, the school must post a bond and undergo training. I have been told the training is comprehensive would cover the visa process and taxation.

It is illegal to work on a tourist visa. Ultimately, you will incur the consequences of working illegally and failure to pay income taxes and any other charges arising from your employment. It school's illegal action is not your concern however, it does not protect you from Chinese law. The school screws up, it is always your fault.

Three years ago, some, in Kunming, were required to return to their home country to get a Z visa. Not sure if that is still the case. Shandong, being closer to Beijing, is going to more closely follow the central government rules.

Be very careful, without the Z visa, residence permit and authorization to work, you are exposed to a lot of pain. Check the many many sources for information on the internet. One of the better ones: middlekingdomlife.com