Merry Christmas (12-26)

Christmas has come and gone, and it was good. A lot of students sent text messages or qq messages (China’s answer to Facebook, which is blocked). Other students said “Merry Christmas.” A few students gave me gifts. I found it nice that they made the effort to acknowledge our foreigners’ holiday that is not their special day. A tradition in China is to give apples on Christmas Eve, as apples represent peace and safety. This is a little different from what I was told last year: that the Chinese word for “apple” is similar to the word for “silent,” and Christmas Eve is called “Silent Night.” It’s “peace” that the word is similar to. I also received several apples. After Kasey’s lecture on Wednesday, they had students stand up and say something nice to her as a gift to her. Then they showed a video of fake job interviews that turned out to be for the job of being a mother. After that, they asked Sean and me to say a few words about the meaning of Christmas.

I prepared a PowerPoint about Christmas for my classes, and they all enjoyed that. In my informal evaluation, “culture” was one of the topics mentioned as being most helpful to the students. This would refer to the holiday PowerPoints; so it was nice to know that they found them helpful.

On Christmas day, the Foreign Affairs Office had their lunch banquet for us foreign teachers. It was the usual 23 courses—some new and some old favorites. Special this time were French fries served with bacon on top, fried chicken that was surprisingly delicious, and mashed potatoes Chinese style with bits of pickles mixed in and gravy over them. It’s nice of them to have special Western foods for us. Many toasts were made for a good new year. 

We were each given a special gift: a framed, silk embroidered picture of pandas.

In the evening, we foreign teachers had a private dinner in my apartment. Paul and I did the planning, and Hannah and I did the shopping. 

Like at Thanksgiving, most foods were purchased ready to eat. At Paul’s request, we had lots of meat—duck and two kinds of pork. He cooked carrots, and I cooked mushrooms—Thai style with three kinds of mushrooms for good luck. We also had bread, cheese, mashed potatoes, gingerbread cookies and cream puffs. Dale brought a bunch of fruits and cakes to give as gifts, and we ate some of the cakes, too. Yienfanh joined us and gave us candy—jelly bellies and chocolate—from the U.S. I served chocolate from the U.S., too. Hannah, Vivian and Hannah’s friend Kathy from out town also joined us, arriving with scarves for each of us and candy for all. So it was quite a meal. While eating the desserts, we watched “Elf.” It was an enjoyable evening eating and hanging out together. Since it was Kasey’s and Sean’s first Christmas away from home, I was especially glad we did it.

In the past two weeks, I attended and enjoyed the student shows of the computer science department, combined history and tourism departments, and the education department. 

The history and tourism show had more skits than most of the shows, which seemed appropriate. They were fun even though I couldn’t understand the dialogue, as many were a little humorous. It was also fun to listen to the students respond with enthusiasm when something happened or when their friends appeared on stage. 

The education department’s show was described to me as a gymnastic contest and was held on the sports field. 

Whole classes performed routines and marched in and out in sync. Teachers served as judges. It was fun to watch their precision and see their costumes. 

Facial stickers were common features.

This was also a time for live classical music. Xavi, my former teacher student, invited me to the annual concert given by the younger—under 40— teachers. He was accompanying a few of them. The concert was a nice mixture of vocal and instrumental performances. Afterwards, I was invited to go on stage for the group photo. 

Xavi also asked to have a photo with me.

Last Friday Sean, Paul, and I went to an orchestra concert in Chengdu. One of Paul’s friends plays the bass in the orchestra. We rode into the city with Sigve and then had dinner with him and his daughter at an Italian restaurant. 

I had eggplant parmigiano that was quite delicious. This was my first Italian food since coming to China almost two years ago.

The concert was wonderful. According to Paul’s friend, the violin soloist was one of the best in China. He was truly magnificent. It was just nice to be at a live concert again.

Then on Sunday, Hannah, Sean, Ian, and I met Paul in the city. We met at a new mall near Chunxi Road that was still being constructed when I was there with April last year. The top of the building has a small park area with grass and cute sculptures and a few restaurants. 

We had lunch at Let’s Burger, which has an interesting variety of burgers. I chose a rice burger with cod. The burger was sticky rice patties instead of a bun. These reminded me of the grilled sticky rice patties I like in Thailand. I topped it off with a milkshake. Although the food was good, it is quite expensive; my meal was 140 yuan/$23. So it’s not a place I’ll be frequenting, but it was fun to try it.

The theme of the mall was The Little Prince. On the top, there was a room with quotes from the book, and there were a few statues of The Little Prince. 

The Christmas tree was a Little Prince theme. There were sheep around the tree for the upcoming Year of the Sheep/Ram. Paul said that the theme changes frequently.

After eating, we walked around the new shopping area behind the mall and along Chunxi Road. We found several other Christmas trees around the area and enjoyed the fox characters.

The surprise of the week was that my package from the U.S. arrived just three weeks after it was mailed. Kasey saw it at the post office when she picked up her package and let me know that it was there. The school hadn’t received notification yet. So I may not have known about it if Kasey hadn’t seen it. That made me wonder if last year’s package was sitting in the local post office for weeks before they notified the school “again” but the school had not received anything.

I attended the last yoga class of the semester on Monday. Since no one else attended, I had a private class with Kelsey, whose English name I learned that night. She spoke English most of the time, and I taught her the names of a few body parts. It was nice that she is now comfortable enough with me to use the English she knows.

The metro construction is now visible. They’ve put net viewing “windows” so that we can now see the construction.

Show Time (12-12)

It’s the end of the semester and year. So it’s time for the students’ end-of-the-year/New Year shows. Since April and I went to several last year and enjoyed them, I’ve been looking forward to the shows. We’ve seen student groups practicing nightly for over a month. So far, I’ve been to three shows.

The first show was on Monday and was put on by the National Flag Association, the translation given by Hannah. I think it may be the group that raises the flag each morning among other things. Students were from a number of departments. One of the performances was a fashion show. 

Others were various dancing groups.

Next was the Chinese Literature Department. I saw only the last third of that one because my lecture was that night. But I was happy to see a couple of the dances with students in costumes, as I enjoy those.

Thursday was the Foreign Language Department’s show. 

We foreign teachers were asked to perform. We did a routine with “Singing in the Rain.” Paul and Dale sang and performed while the rest of us were their backup. Like the students, we’d been rehearsing four or five times a week for a month. It went well, but we’re all glad it’s over. 

Other performances included yoga, 

a Tibetan dance, 

modern dances, 

a couple skits, 

and a scene of a play in English.

Last week I decided to have my teeth cleaned at a local hospital instead of going to the clinic in Chengdu that Peace Corps uses. I’ve walked past the hospital and seen people in the dental chairs many times. I had Yang write a note for me so they would understand what I wanted. It worked out well. The young man spoke a little English; so getting started was easy. He cleaned my teeth and then told me that I had a hole. I had three choices for filling the hole: 80 yuan/$13, 100 yuan/$17, or 200 yuan/$33. I chose the best and most expensive. It took about 10 minutes to complete the process. He didn’t do much drilling and used a topical liquid to numb the nearby gum. Cost for cleaning: 100 yuan/$17. After I paid and he wrote the information in his book, he asked for a photo with me. I had to laugh.

Last Saturday’s good deed/adventure was to see a race car. Fat Cat, one of the girls in the automotive service class had asked if I would go to see her racing car. I thought she was talking about remote control racing cars. When I met her on Saturday, she took me to the automotive service department’s building and showed me the used Japanese racing car that had been donated to the department. She was quite excited. About fifteen students and a teacher were examining the car. Photos were taken. Then it was time to take it apart. Fat Cat left my side then to participate. She was very excited. They were taking the car apart to see how it was put together because they will be building a racing car themselves. When I left, she went with me to show me the classrooms. Although I have no interest in this subject, it was nice to share her enthusiasm and nice that she wanted to share it with me.

While I watched, a boy from Sean’s class chatted with me. One of his questions was “Do you think China can overtake America’s economy?” I said I don’t know and asked what he thought. He said he thinks it is possible. The next day I saw an article stating that China is now the number one economy in the world, having surpassed the U.S. by about half a percent.

The yellow-leafed gingko trees on the hill near the library are a popular spot for photos these days. When I was there taking a few photos, a group of girls decided that I needed to be in their photos.

Thanksgiving Weekend (12-1)

Thanksgiving weekend turned out to be a busy one this year. Shortly after Kasey arrived, she asked if we did something for Thanksgiving. I figured that this was important to her and we should have a dinner. A couple weeks later at a group dinner, she asked again. Then I knew it was really important; so we started to talk about it. We invited Dale to share the expense so we could treat our British friends to the American holiday dinner. I invited Yienfanh, since he is the other American in the area. We also invited Hannah. So it was an international celebration. Sean was especially excited to have his first (in his life) Thanksgiving dinner in China. 

The menu was roasted chicken, corn on the cob, mashed potatoes, rolls, a squash dish, cream puffs, and chocolate. Other than the squash dish that I prepared, everything was purchased ready to eat.

When I was at Carrefour to purchase a few things, I walked past the cooked birds and decided impulsively to purchase two ducks to go along with the chicken I would buy at the local market. The woman asked with hand motions if I wanted them cut. That’s a deal, as I wouldn’t have to deal with doing that myself. When she was cutting the first duck, I looked across and thought the meat didn’t look cooked; so I said I wanted only one. The other woman showed me that the neck and head had already been cut off; so I was stuck buying two ducks. They put the pieces into two bags and then packaged them together in one big bag. I could see something white on top and wondered what that was. When they brought the bag to me, the white thing looked like Beijing duck crepes. Using my dictionary, I asked if it was cooked. The woman said “yes,” and mimicked eating. So I realized that I had unknowingly purchased Beijing duck, not roasted duck. I also learned that the cost was twice what I had expected, as the price was per half kilo, not per bird as it is in the market. Oh, well. I decided that I would pay the extra cost since it was my error.

Later I went to the market to buy the roasted chickens. The birds are hung in a glass case with a sign that has two prices. The man asked something that I didn’t understand; so I repeated that I wanted two. The woman took out two birds and pulled them apart into small pieces. When I got home and unwrapped them, I realized that the chickens were ducks. I hadn’t looked carefully at the birds she took out of the display case. So the menu was altered. But it worked out just fine.

We had an enjoyable time together. Hannah brought her roommate, Vivian. The squash dish (squash and onion stir fried with oyster sauce) was popular. All the duck was eaten as were half of the corn and potatoes.

Since there was another bag of duck from Carrefour and we had corn and potatoes, I decided to make duck noodle soup and invite Yang and Michelle to have Thanksgiving leftover lunch with us Americans on Friday. They were delighted; so I was really glad I’d thought to do that.

When I opened the extra bag of duck, I quickly realized that it was the extra pieces—bones, head, neck. So it went into the freezer, and I made the soup with the extra pieces from the roasted ducks. It turned out very well, and we had a pleasant lunch together.

This was the first time I’ve done Thanksgiving abroad. It was fun to plan and prepare the meals. I’m glad Kasey suggested it.

On the weekend, Paul and Hannah planned a trip to Xiling Snow Mountain. Sean, Ian, and I joined them. It was really great to have Hannah with us, as she made the hotel reservations and took care of dealing with people—buying tickets, negotiating prices, reading menus so we could order. We could have gotten along without her, but she made it much easier for us. And it was nice for me to have another woman along. And we all enjoy her company. So it was a good group.

Saturday morning we left the building at 6:15. We met Hannah at the entrance and took a trishaw to the bus station. We were lucky to get a big one with two benches in the back; so we could all fit into it. From Wenjiang, we went to Dayi, which took about 40 minutes. There we got the bus to Xiling, which took another hour and forty-five minutes. When we arrived, Hannah arranged for a van to take us to the front side of the mountain after taking us to the hotel to check in. She had been concerned about the quality of the hotel, but it was quite nice.

The ride to the front side took 45 minutes, and we arrived at about 11:00. The plan was to walk to the top, which we had been told would take about seven hours, and then take the cable car down. I was a little concerned because I know I’m a slower walker than others. The path is easy to walk on and doesn’t have many stairs, which was nice. 

It goes along a river that has many small waterfalls. 

Some of the river areas are quite lush with plants and moss on the rocks. 

It was lovely. After a couple hours, some people told Hannah that there isn’t a cable car down the mountain from the front side. You have to walk more to get to the cable car down from the back side. And it would be dark when we got to the top. 

So we decided to walk to the big waterfall and then turn around. We saw a few groups that were planning to sleep on the mountaintop and then go across to the back side in the morning. The trip up took three hours, and we returned to the bottom in two hours. Paul thinks we walked 14 kilometers/ 8.7 miles—a good walk for the day.

In addition to the scenery, another highlight of the walk was the monkeys. We saw small groups in a few places and enjoyed watching them gather as they became aware of people walking in the area. Potential food sources. A few were a little aggressive, but most kept their distance.

The plan for Sunday was to walk up to the middle of the back side and then take the cable car to the top where there is snow. This walk was more challenging than Saturday’s walk, as it was the Chinese continuous stairs most of the way up. It took three hours to get to the top, a distance of 3500 meters/ 2 miles. 

At the top we took the free bus to another mountain where you get the cable cars to the top of the highest mountain. When we got in line, a woman was telling people to stay in that area because the line would take 3-4 hours and we’d only be on the top for a very short time because we’d have to get in line to come down. We weren’t sure if her information was accurate or if she was promoting spending money in the tourist village there. After waiting in line for almost an hour, we met some students who were leaving. They’d given up waiting, as they’d been in line for two hours and were not yet at the building. 

So we decided that the woman was correct and stopped waiting. After walking around the tourist village, we noticed that the line had moved only about 50 meters in 45 minutes.

The tourist village is nice, and it’s a beautiful setting. However, I had no interest in spending time there. 

There are several places to eat, a hot air balloon that goes up and down, several activities only one of which was working that day. It would be a fun place for families with children and will be more fun when there’s snow.

We took the cable car down to the bottom and Hannah negotiated a van to drive us back to Wenjiang. Once back, we had dinner together—hot pot—before returning to our rooms. It was really good to get out with everyone and to be out in nature most of the weekend.

In all of my classes, I presented a brief Power Point about Thanksgiving and Holiday—Thanksgiving and Christmas—foods. Students loved that. On Thursday, my class shouted out “Happy Thanksgiving” when I arrived. I was really touched, especially since it was 8:40 and I hadn’t thought about Thanksgiving yet and was really surprised. Zoe sent me a nice message that was also touching:

          Thank you for being in my life, you are the first foreign teacher during my learning career, you are always so kind and friendly, you taught me a lot during the last year, I am really appreciate your help .

          In China, there are more and more people like to celebrate Thanksgiving Day, and so do I.

          At this time, I want to say "Thank you".

          I hope you will be happy everyday. And keep healthy. Best wishes for you.

I am not sure whether you Americans will write a letter like this, since you are far away from your hometown, I hope you can feel the warmth from one of your friends me-Zoe^_^

          Thanks again!

Bennie also gave me a note thanking me for accompanying her down the walk in her life and being her best friend.

There was a board displaying “Thanks Day.” I don’t know what it was about, but there were notes hanging above it and around it that I think were notes students wrote about what they are thankful for.