60th Anniversary (6-22)

June 16^th was the university’s 60^th anniversary. 

New for the anniversary.

To celebrate the event, there were a number of special activities. One was painting the manhole covers on the sidewalks. Some of the designs were quite original and very well done. Walking around to see them was fun. 

Another special activity was redoing the departmental decorated chalkboards outside the teaching buildings so that they featured 60^th anniversary designs. 

The Foreign Language Department had one in several languages and one in English; whereas in the past both boards have been in English.

And of course there were shows. Each department had to have a small show. I was invited to the one for the English Department. Since it was a last-minute invitation, I was the only foreign teacher there and was happy to represent us all. The show itself wasn’t especially great, but students appreciated my being there. 

I also went to the Education Department’s show. During our office hours’ discussion, Jar mentioned that she had to go to it to be a reviewer. So Phoebe, Snoopy, Victoria and I also went. That show was better; so I enjoyed being there.

The big production was the show for the whole university in the evening. The whole student body was in the sports field for the event. 

At 11:00 on the 16^th, the other foreign teachers and I received notification that the president wanted us to perform that night. When I received the message, I said “no” because the time was too short, and it felt too much like demanding a show from the “foreign performing monkeys,” a phrase we use on such occasions when we are expected to perform only because we’re foreign. I knew Paul would be willing to do something, as he likes to perform and know a lot of songs he can sing without preparation. So Paul, Dale, Julie, and Sam did a repeat of “Singing in the Rain” with another song that Julie and Sam know. It worked out fine for them. Four people—two men and two women—was the perfect group. I would have been an extra and would have felt in the way. 

And I was happy to sit in the audience to enjoy the show and take photos. So it worked out well in the end.

Last weekend was the Dragon Boat Festival holiday—Saturday to Monday. Saturday night Hannah invited me to have dinner with her and Johnny. William, my student who hangs out with Hannah, also joined us. Johnny cooked meat and potatoes, and Hannah cooked fish soup and carrots. She also had bread and bleu cheese, which was a surprise she purchased for me. It was a real treat, as I hadn’t had bleu cheese for years.

She had purchased a lot of zongzi, the pyramid-shaped sticky rice cooked in banana leaf that is the traditional food for this holiday. She had four kinds: wheat, red bean, bacon and corn, and green tea. I liked the green tea one but couldn’t finish it because I’d eaten too much other food.

Sunday I took Yang, Michelle, Hannah, and Peggie for the dim sum lunch at the Shangri La Hotel in Chengdu. I’d had it last semester with Xiaoyu and decided to take my four Chinese women friends there as a special treat. 

It’s an all-you-can-eat buffet in which you choose items from the menu and they are prepared for you. We had a good time chatting and eating. We consumed 27 different dishes, some of which were ordered twice. 

Michelle had her father bring her son so I could meet him. He’s four and wasn’t interested in meeting us, but we enjoyed seeing him. Her father took group photos of in the luxurious setting.

Yang and Michelle gave me a gift—four rhinestone brooches. Michelle said that Yang had picked them out, and Yang was quite excited about them. They’re lovely and are a fun reminder of them. 

Peggie gave me a set of special bookmarks featuring Chinese opera characters. Hannah gave me a planner with large boxes for each day of the month so I can write in it for a year, and when it’s finished I’ll have to write to her to get a new one. Sweet thought.

The next anniversary event was on Monday, the last day of the three-day holiday weekend—guest lecturers that the teachers had to attend. They weren’t happy about being told to come in on their holiday. I had seen a poster for an afternoon lecture about foreign language teaching; so Paul and I went with Hannah. The guest speakers were alumni of the university and/or former teachers or administrators. Most of them spoke in Chinese, and Hannah interpreted for us. One spoke in English. Later I learned that there are also guest lectures on the next two weekends.

One day last week Paul, Kasey, Sam, Hannah and I went for dinner together to an all-you-can-eat individual hot pot restaurant, which is nice because everyone can have the soup they want and choose what they want to eat. It’s the only time we’ve had a group dinner this semester.