Dukan Recipe – Sautéed Veggies with Beef

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When I was in Hong Kong last week I found organic coconut oil on sale. I’ve been doing a lot of research on the Paleo diet for while I’m in Consolidation. I have no plans on ever eating wheat again. EVER. So i think Paleo will work well for me. One of the oils you find in Paleo recipes is coconut oil. It is zero carbs, but a bit high in fat. I typically won’t eat something if the fat is more than 9 grams. This coconut oil is 14 grams of fat per Tablespoon.

So, this is technically NOT a Dukan recipe, but it is a good fat, and if you’re using very lean beef, it should be fine. This is definitely Atkins, low carb and Paleo friendly.

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Sautéed Veggies with Beef
Serves 1
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 14 minutes

Ingredients:
6 oz very lean beef, cut into 1″ chunks
1 Tbs organic coconut oil
1/2 large onion, cut in large chunks
2 tsp soy sauce
**To make this Whole30 compliant use Coconut Aminos**
1/2 tsp fresh ginger, diced
1/2 cup mushrooms, cut in chunks
Handful of fresh spinach leaves

Melt 3/4 Tbs coconut oil over medium high heat and brown the meat. I can’t describe the amazing aroma this created in my small kitchen 🙂

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Remove beef and drain… Set aside.

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Melt 1/4 Tbs coconut oil over medium heat and sauté the onions and ginger for 2 minutes.

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Add the mushrooms and sauté for an additional minute. Add soy sauce. Stirring frequently.

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Add the beef back into the pan, stir. Cook 1 more minute.

Add spinach on top…

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Give a good stir, cover 1 minute and Serve!

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This was super easy to make and it was yummy!

Enjoy 😀

Dukan – Day 226 – Whoosh

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Monday was a PP Day 🙂

And God said, “Sandi needs a break today” and so it was….
Daily weight loss: 1.1 lb/0.50 kg
Total weight loss: 81.4 lb/37.01 kg

I needed that whoosh! Even with that whoosh I only lost a pound this week, but I’m going with it! I think I’ll do another PP Day today to keep the ketones up and hopefully lose 2 pounds this week. The original goal was to be at 165 by April 15th… That ain’t going to happen since that’s 8 pounds away and the 15th is 2 weeks away and this week I’m taking a 4 hour train ride each way to Wenzhou and then flying to Guangzhou next Monday for a week (with a train ride into Hong Kong). But, that’s OK, because even if I lose 2 lbs a week, that’ll be 85 pounds down in less than 8 months and that’s a pretty awesome accomplishment!

Knee update: I got a brace last night and feel 100% better… like its stabilized. I also got treated with Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and have a plaster patch on with TCM stuff on it now. I’ll see the TCM doc today for a manipulation/massage/acupuncture. I had a total and complete melt down about the knee yesterday. My friend Julia reminded me that it’s OK to have melt downs and I’m sure there was way more going on, and the knee was a good excuse to work through it. I’ve accepted that I’m not going to run until the end of the week and then give it a try… With the brace. I think it’s totally hysterical and ironic that I am so bummed about having to take 5 days off from running. 8 months ago I couldn’t climb 2 flights of stairs without stopping to catch my breath. Now I run 30 minutes and I’m not out of breath!

And lastly, I took a muscle relaxant and anti-inflammatory pill last night and went to bed at 911pm (I’m a number freak, lol)… Anyway, I got a call at 1001 saying A was having mild contractions, I told her hubby to keep an eye on them, but for them to try and get rest. I got a call at 1033 saying they were very strong and every 4 minutes, I say get in taxi, lol. I get a call at 1046 that they are in taxi, I tell them I’m walking to work (I’m shocked that I’m up and alert and dressed and walking the 1 mile to work without swaying!). I get to hospital at 1101 and she’s upstairs and apparently 4 cms and already in the water birth tub. She’s behaving like she’s going to have a baby any minute… And at 1142 she did. Baby T came peacefully into her daddy’s hands in the water. I kept the vultures, errr other staff away from suctioning, stimulating or otherwise interrupting the beauty of normal birth and this baby just opened her eyes, looked at mommy and daddy and took a little nap… It was amazing to watch. She was totally unaffected by her very fast labor! What a beautiful transition to be part of. I delayed cord clamping by nearly 10 minutes. I love showing my staff here that the baby needs to be with mommy and daddy and not with them. Baby T never cried, just pinked up beautifully and rested on her mommy’s chest in the warm water of the birth tub.
I was home just over 2 hours after I left… 🙂

Ciao!

Baby T enjoying her gentle water birth at 3 minutes old.

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Having one of THOSE days!

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I have no idea why the fact that I can’t run for a few days/a week, who knows… would effect me the way that it is. I feel like a train wreck today. I’m weepy… which is ridiculous, well, maybe not ridiculous, but it’s ridiculous given that I’m AT WORK.

My amazing personal assistant, Kitty, was able to chat up the CEO long enough for me to dab my tears and pull my silly self together for an impromptu meeting in my office about my tummy tuck… LOL. (More on that later… it’ll be a whole post later this week after my consult.) He was very concerned that I had my leg propped up and wanted to know what was going on, so Kitty translated. He made phone calls (always animated) and set up a healing massage with a TCM doctor and they’ve already mapped out where I can get a brace to support my unstable knee and someone will get it for me. It took every ounce of strength to not burst into tears while he was in my office. I guess you could add guilt to the pile of emotions… as I really don’t like living here, but I do like my job AND the support from everyone is always just simply amazing.

And just when you REALLY, REALLY need the support, you open a blog post that is exactly what you need to hear or think or feel. First the pic from the Feel Good Tribe who reblogged a post from another blog I follow Marc and Angel

And the number one way to Nurture Your Happiness on the list…

“Act like today is already an awesome day. – Do so, and it will be. Research shows that although we think that we act because of the way we feel, in fact we often feel because of the way we act. A great attitude always leads to great experiences.”

So, I’ve changed my desktop wallpaper to the above picture and written the message on a Post-It and attached that to my monitor and I’m going to make this my mantra for the day. I’m going to spend my lunch time meditating on it and pulling my self together… keep your fingers crossed for me! 🙂

Dukan – Day 225 – Bummed Knee & Aussie Football

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Saturday was a PV day 🙂

Daily weight loss: 0
Total weight loss: 80.3 lbs/36.51 kg

Well at least I stayed the same. LOL – Trying very hard to keep my humor about all of this!

I had a fantastic Saturday… worked half a day and taught an awesome childbirth education class on nutrition and pregnancy and breastfeeding. Childbirth education really is my forte… I love it and wish I could do it full-time.

Then Vivien, Reena and I headed out for The Vineyard to watch my very first Australian Football League game. I am apparently a Geelong Cat fan 😀 They lost, but it was a tight game and very exciting to watch. And I have to say much more physical than American football… WITHOUT all of the equipment! AND they don’t stop for anything… including INJURIES! They just keep going. It was a lot of fun to watch and I’m looking forward to the next match on Easter Monday!

While watching the game I simply crossed my right leg over my left and rested the heel of my right foot on the area just above my left knee. And when I put my right foot back down I had the most incredible pain in my left knee! So I stood up… no problem there, and then I sat back down and screamed out in pain… I can’t SIT down and put weight on that knee while sitting… I have to stretch it out and use my right knee and the heel of my left foot to sit. I can straight leg lift it, no pain, I can walk on it, no pain, but I can’t bend it to sit 😦 I’ve self diagnosed myself with Runner’s knee and will heed the advise given in the article. I am beyond bummed… I was suppose to run last night after I got back from the football game. I am bordering on obsessed about when I’ll be able to run again… as in how many days will I rest it before I run again, and do I even do my walks? I’m getting ready for work right now and I’m planning on walking to work (1 mile)… I’ve never gone to work any other way in the 6 months I’ve lived here… I’ve actually walked to work every day for over 6 months… I’ll see how that goes… there are taxis if I need to hop in one.

Food for the day:
Breakfast: 2 tea eggs
Lunch: 100% beef burger and a side salad
Dinner: Chicken wings w/ hot sauce not dipped in anything for breading… the chef at The Vineyard makes these special just for me 🙂

Exercise prior to knee failing me: 3.5 mile round-trip walk to see K and H and get some baby snuggle time in.

I hope everyone else has had a fabulous weekend thus far!

Ciao!

1st quarter update on Bucket List/Goals for 2012

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Sitting on the plane, thought I’d do a quarterly update 🙂

Bucket List 2012

1. Reach Dukan “True Weight” of 165 – Getting SO close!
2. Reach “My True Weight” of 155
3. Nurture relationships – DOING
4. Fix my tummy 🙂 – consult April 6
5. Run 5k without stopping – I’ve done this twice in the past week! Signed up for my first 5K for June 9th in Ocala
6. Enjoy my job more – DOING
7. Accomplish teaching the 6 IPSG’s to the staff – DONE
8. Accomplish 100% compliance on at least 4 of the IPSG’s! – This one is a toughie!
9. Accomplish teaching the 13 JCI Standards to the staff – First class in 2 weeks
10. Visit the Philippines
11. Visit Singapore
12. Visit Thailand… Again
13. Continue my daily random acts of kindness, blog it – trying… Sometimes it’s just a smile or a nod
14. Blog everyday, can be challenging if VPN goes out – I’ve posted more blogs than days of the year, so far!
15. Get rid of all the “stuff” I don’t need… In my storage unit AND in my flat! – Gave away more than 10 bags of stuff from my storage unit when I was home in January AND threw out 6 bags of stuff. Reduced my stuff in my China flat from 9 boxes to 3 boxes!
16. Live as green as possible – Hard to do in China, but I walk EVERYWHERE! The only exception is if I am going to train station or airport. I even walk to and from my friend K’s house a couple times a week (3.57 miles each way!)
17. Start an indoor herb garden
18. Run 10k without stopping!
19. Read 100 books – I’ve read 6, on my 7th, most have been on iBooks.
20. Start yoga classes by March 1st – difficult in Hangzhou, doing wii yoga, took class that kicked my ass, but was fun, in Hong Kong. Will go back to studio in a month on my next visa run.
21. Take yoga at least once per week – Doing it on wii, 30 mins/3 times a week
22. Run at least 3 times a week – I’m running 2 days on and 1 day off, so definitely meeting this goal
23.save 25% of my annual income… This will be challenging given my propensity for travel 🙂 I accomplished this with my February pay and my March pay
24. Travel coach 🙂 – Yup! I’m actually sitting on my 9th flight of the year, in coach… Although I did get a free upgrade on 2 flight segments going home in January… And I used my British Air miles to fly back to China from Miami in February… Only had to pay taxes 🙂
25. Plan a 50th birthday cruise for my mates and aim to get at least 100 people to go! – Cruise planned… Not sure of the numbers
26. Get another tattoo.
27. Attend a rock concert
28. Paint 2 big canvases and complete my little canvas series
29. Surprise someone I love by giving her the series (I’m pretty sure she doesn’t read my blog… But she’d totally guess it was her, if she did)
30. Start my own blog site with help from Charlotte, one of my Dukan buddies.
31. Try not to send emails or make phones calls on the nights I take sleep medicine 😀 – So far, so good
32. Celebrate a holiday that I don’t usually celebrate!
33. Figure out how to set up my wii again… I love the yoga and the boxing – DONE
34. Take 2 backpacking trips 1 down, one to go
35. See more of China since I live here! – been to Taizhou, Wuzhen and I’m going to Guangzhou next week!
36. Take an overnight train in China… – DONE – IT WAS HELL!
37. Open up my heart and take some chances – Yeah, not in China, this one will have to wait, unless someone amazing pops up.
38. At least 80% of my quotes of the day will be by women I respect – most of my quotes have been by women 🙂
39. Send in my absentee ballot for the Presidential election
40. Drink 1.5 liters of water per day – DOING
41. Weigh myself every day – DOING
42. Get a minimum of a 30 minute walk in per day – DOING
43. Take my bran every single day – DOING
44. Pray and meditate for good health each day, purposefully – DOING
45. Pray for the health of those I love, purposefully – DOING
46. Continue reading john shore.com and Pastor Bob every time thy post a blog… Their wisdom fills me up. – DOING
47. Don’t make excuses – I haven’t allowed myself… I’m really proud of thus far meeting this goal
48. Work on being less angry – Um, I AM working on this
49. Just for today, I will refrain from improving anybody but myself. – DOING

Dukan in Hong Kong

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Thursday was a PP Day 🙂
I’m up 200 grams today and I have NO BLOODY IDEA how that can be!
I did the following:
Walked all over the city at a brisk pace = 5.21 miles
I pooped 🙂
I RAN UPHILL and the down = 2.58 miles
I did KYA Ashtanga yoga (KYA is Kick Your Ass, name of the class, and it did!) = 90 minutes

I ate:
Breakfast- 4 slices oven roasted turkey and a small chunk of low fat (6%) cheese
Lunch – same as above
Dinner – street pork, two pieces of he crispy skin (could not resist) and NOTHING ELSE
Snack – pot of fat free Greek yogurt with 2 T bran and a Splenda
Drank- 1 coffee and 3.5 liters of water

I’m a bit disappointed…. Which is out of character for me 😦 That’s a net gain of 300 grams for 2 days.

I had a really good day though and a massage in the middle of all the exercise, and the best news is that I’m still able to move this morning! I was a bit worried after the yoga.

Here’s some pics if my day!

Ciao!

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My running route uphill!!!

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Travel – Update on Sex Trade & Other Curious Happenings on Wednesday

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First up… Wednesday was a travel day and thus a PV day. I brought my scale with me, but not my spreadsheet, I’m up 100 grams from yesterday morning’s weigh in.

So I had a very interesting day after reaching the airport. A shout out to KaKa, my driver, for getting me there with lots of time to spare! And yes, that’s his name… It’s China.

I want to start by saying that I’ve read the Celestine Prophecy 3 times over the years. It is one of those books that makes you think. The first insight in the book is: 1 We are discovering again that we live in a deeply mysterious world, full of sudden coincidences and synchronistic encounters that seem destined.
Destined being the key word here. The book goes on to say that there really aren’t coincidences… We are destined to interact… Sometimes it’s a smile and wink or a nod, sometimes it’s the passing of a note with encouragement, sometimes it’s a look of understanding and sometimes it can be negative and we must look within ourselves to change our behaviors.

I had ALL of this happen to me in the Hangzhou Airport, on the plane and on the transfer bus at the Hong Kong Airport.

The Sex Trade:
As I spoke of in yesterday’s blog, it is apparently alive, well and open if you just take the time to see and hear. I was sitting on the seats behind the 2 men in yesterday’s picture. I overheard the old white guy speaking roughly and disrespectfully to the young Asian man, almost like reprimanding a child. The sentence “you’ll speak to them when and if I say so” sent chills up my spine 😦 The body language spoke volumes and you could tell these 2 men were not partners in a mutually satisfying relationship. There have been 3 articles, in the news that I read, in the past week. I encourage you to read the stories and be more aware of this frightening issue!
Jessie Foster
change.org
WHAT I DID: The old man told the young Asian man he was using the toilet. I turned slightly and gave the young man a paper with the info for Free the Slaves on it. I then told him he could call or text anyone he wanted on my iPhone and I would keep an eye out for the bastard he was with. He made a 34 second call, I think he was speaking Thai. I PRAY this young man finds a way out. I PRAY the bastard doesn’t find the paper with the web address on it. I DID NOT say a word to the old bastard (sorry… That’s the nicest word I can come up with for my blog). I didn’t say anything because I didn’t want any abuse to befall the young man. Our flights boarded at the same time and I gave him a look of what I pray was HOPE… And then burst into tears when they were out of sight.

The Not-So-Stupid Guy:
So, interesting flight. Sat next to a young Chinese couple who held hands and were easy 2 hour flight mates. UNTIL WE LANDED… And by that I mean the male half of the couple took his seat belt off the nanosecond the wheels hit the ground and stood up and opened the overhead. While we’re still going a couple of hundred MPH! WTF!?!? So I yelled at him. LOUDLY! I said, “Are you fucking stupid? Sit down… NOW!” and he did. He then apologized. And I softened. The flight attendant, who was enroute to tell him (I’m sure much nicer than me) to sit down, thanked me warmly.
Then the young man proceeds to tell me sorry again, and that this was the first time they ever flew, they just got married, and he wanted to call the parents to tell them they were safe. Now I feel like an ass. Kind of. I apologize for calling him stupid and explain that it is unsafe to take off the seat belt until the plane has stopped at the gate. I tell him unsafe for him and for me, if he were to fall he could hurt me (I was making a point, not being egotistical). He agreed with my reasoning. I apologized AGAIN and so did he and then he gave me a hug. Like a “I need my mommy” hug, which made me feel like an even bigger loser for calling him stupid. And just so you know, most people in China won’t hug you unless they’ve known you long time. So that was kind of cool.
LESSON LEARNED: Words can be forgiven, but not forgotten… Once they come out of your big mouth, you can’t take them back! I’m going to work on that.

The Man Sitting in Front of Me:
So on the flight there was a man in the seat in front of me who I had more compassion for than you could know. He was a very big guy, very obese, and I was him just 7 months ago. He got up to go to the back of the plane and I noticed he was using the seatbelt extender… I rode back to Abu Dhabi in August so amazingly uncomfortable because I refused to ask for an extender. I was there (it’s hard getting through writing this post without crying), sir, I know the feeling, the looks, the shittiness of it all. I hope you know that my smile was genuine and there was no judgement or pity there… Because I was there… Just a mere 7 months ago. I sat there trying to figure out how to reach out to you without embarrassing you or me (I’m sure you heard me yell at the kid who stood up… I don’t always say the right things). As we were standing and waiting to disembark the plane I decided to simply give you this blog address (I pray you are reading this). As we got on the transfer bus I reached out… Which is difficult, even for me and gave him a paper with my blog address and simply said, “this is my blog address, visit my blog, it could change your life”. I think at first he wanted to hand it back, but stuck it in his shirt pocket. I smiled and that was that.
NOTE TO GENTLEMAN FROM 38C:
If you have any questions, you can email me privately at sandiblankenshiprm@gmail.com. I’d love to hear from you! Or feel free to respond here on the blog. I hope you know that I gave you that paper with a pure heart.
LESSON LEARNED: Put on your big girl panties and make a difference in someone’s life… Paying it forward is the best feeling in the world.

So that all happened inside 3.5 hours 😀 I then took the shuttle bus to the Best Western Causeway Bay where I’m in a tiny hotel room on the top floor (37th!) and have a stunning view. Now I’m off to the Immigration Office to renew my visa.

Ciao!

Edited February 24, 2014: Interesting and thought provoking blog post on the sex trade industry: The Scourge of Child Trafficking.

Travel – Flying’ to Hong Kong & Sex Trade

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Sitting at the airport in Hangzhou thinking about a few things.
First, how fortunate I am to be able to freely travel wherever I want FREELY (you’ll see why I emphasize that shortly)
This is my 8th flight since January 1. and I’ve literally been around the world.
Hong Kong to Hangzhou- Jan 2
Hangzhou to Osaka – Jan 16
Osaka to Seattle
Seattle to NYC
NYC to Ft Lauderdale
Then
Miami to London Feb 7
London to Shanghai
And now
Hangzhou to Hong Kong
Crazy 🙂

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Now about the sex trade… There have been 3 stories in the last couple of days. News stories bring awareness. I was sitting behind the old white guy and the Asian guy in pink shirt just now, waiting for my flight. The old white guy was speaking in English very disrespectfully to the young Asian guy. I suspect the young guy is more than likely a victim of the sex trade. What would you do if you saw this? BE HONEST and put yourself in my place. I’ll tell you what I did after I get some responses.

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Ciao!

Dukan – Days 219 & 220 – Dukan Recipe Cuban Flank Steak

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Monday was a PP day 🙂
Tuesday was a PV day 🙂

Monday:
Daily Weight Loss: 0.4 lb/0.2 kg
Total Weight Loss: 81.2 lb/36.91 kg
Tuesday: No change – same, same

Tuesday food (since I have no recollection of yesterday… LOL, I DO know it was PP)
Breakfast: 2 Tea Eggs
Lunch: Green leafy salad and tin of tuna
Dinner: Cuban Flank Steak… recipe below.

I have to say, this is YUMMY!!! And if you leave out the mushrooms and only add onions, it’s a PP meal.

I got the recipe idea from although I didn’t use flank steak and mine come cut in chunks already, which is how I have to eat them, given I don’t have an oven or a grill.

Serves 1

8 oz. of Top Round, flank steak or in my case Chinese Beef Top – Cubed
Marinade:
Juice of 1 large Lime
1/8 cup of Olive Oil
1 tsp Cumin
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1 tsp garlic powder
1 Tbsp Soy Sauce
**To make this Whole30 compliant use Coconut Aminos**
1/2 tsp favorite hot sauce or chili powder… I used Daddy Mac’s Awesome Sauce (my son-in-law makes this with his home grown habanero peppers!)

With dinner:
1/2 Large onion chopped in chunks
And if a PV day, handful of mushrooms

Prep time: 2 minutes
Put meat in bowl or zip top baggie.
Put the rest of the marinade ingredients in there.

I thought about this marinating in my fridge ALL.DAY.LONG!

Shake, shake, shake and put in the fridge for 8 or more hours.

Cook time 11 minutes
Remove marinated meat from fridge.

When I took the lid off… yum… the smell was incredible!

Put 1 Tbsp Olive Oil in skillet or wok.
Heat to Medium-High.
Put the meat in and cook for 5 minutes.

Turn meat over.
Put the onions in and cook for 3 minutes.

Notice that lime is still in there 🙂

Toss the mushrooms in, if you’re making it a PV dinner, and cook for 3 minutes. I used Enoki mushrooms which are kind of like al dente pasta when cooked… sorta. And they basically have NO CARBS!!!

Plate and Enjoy!

My pics may not be stunning or artistic, but you can tell this food is GOOD!

I’m off to Hong Kong for 3 days tomorrow (Weds – Friday) to renew my visa and get a little R & R. I’ll try to keep you updated from there!

p.s. C25K is moving right along… I am running 2 nights on, 1 night off and not having any problems with it… I’m enjoying it! 😀

Ciao!

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This is an American teacher working here in China… just a glimpse of what I deal with on a daily basis… LOL

ebrock36's avatarimsorrygodsaythatagain

It’s here, what you’ve all been waiting for, and I couldn’t be more excited to share my laughter with you. The test was similar to the first and they’re always allowed to use their books, but no cell phones or dictionaries this time. If they were paying attention in class and taking notes (which I tell them to write in their workbooks) they should have every answer and explanation. Let’s begin, shall we.

 

Instructions: Write your name and class number at the top of this paper. Do not write your student number. (Please keep in mind I thoroughly explained how important it is to read all instructions before writing anything down. This was part of their test.)

Student: Chinese name (in Chinese characters, of course, which I can’t read….they all choose an English name specifically for this class) and 201020076 (her student number) (*Sigh* “Here we go!”)

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