Saturday, January 31, 2004
Year of the Monkey, Baby!
I was really excited about being in China for Spring Festival, the lunar New Year. Everyone I knew, though, told me that if I really wanted to experience Spring Festival, I should go to Beijing, or at least Shanghai, because "Shantou is boring." They may have had a point, but this is my home in China, and I wanted to see how things were done here.
Well, things were pretty quiet. My friends and students weren't lying to me when they said there wouldn't be a whole lot going on. Spring Festival is a time for visiting with family for Shantou residents - and since I don't have any family here, I had a pretty quiet vacation.
That's not to say it was bad, though! I spent a lot of time relaxing, which I really needed after the winter vacation classes ended, and I got out and did some fun stuff, too.
January 21, New Year's Eve
Anna, the kitten giver, decided that I needed to experience Shantou sights and Shantou food. She came to my house around 1:30 p.m. with a map and we came up with a plan that would involve the least amount of travel but the most value for our yuan. (She came up with the plan, really. I couldn't read the map.)
Our first stop was the Old City; Shantou is a reasonably young city, having been established as a Special Economic Zone about 30 or so years ago (please don't quote me on this - I can't get a firm date out of anyone about this, so I'm giving it my best estimate). The Old City was, well, old - at about 100 years old, it's young for China, mind you, but old to locals.
We walked around, looking at old buildings, visiting a very old temple, watching people, and enjoying the atmosphere of a sunny, exciting day. People were actually bustling! Young and old, male and female - everyone was busy with last minute preparations for their festival celebrations. We stopped to eat at a very popular restaurant that served all sorts of Shantou snacks - everything was delicious! I can't tell you what I ate, though, because Anna didn't know how to tell me what everything was in English...
We wandered around some more, and visited the church where Anna goes to sing every week (though it's not her home congregation). We took a terrifying ride from the Old City to Anna's high school in a motorized tricycle - Anna was so scared she made him stop a few blocks early and we walked the rest of the way!
She showed me her school, which was closed for the holiday - we just walked around the grounds for about five minutes, then left again. We then wandered through some alleys and laneways and narrow streets until we reached the walking street. We did a little window shopping there (by this time it was nearly 6 p.m.), then Julian met me to take me out to dinner with his family. Anna says there are still many more sights she wants to show me, and a lot more food I need to try - I have no objection to either of these things!
Dinner with Julian and his family was fun and relaxing. Julian, his wife, daughter, and parents and I went to a local seafood restaurant for dinner. Julian was the only one who could speak English, but we all managed to communicate and have a good time. His daughter, who is almost three years old, is quite adorable. She was a little shy at first, but by the end of the evening she was giving me candy and inviting me back to her house for tea and a DVD. She called me "foreign auntie," which cracked everybody up.
The meal itself was unusual for me, but very tasty. We had mussels served with garlic and vermicelli to start - I'm not a big fan of mussels, but these were delightful. We also had what Julian told me were snails - some served in soup, others on a plate. I couldn't eat a lot of them, but they were tasty. (When we were leaving the restaurant, Julian showed me what we had eaten - not snails, but some sort of crazy-looking clam with a foot-long "tongue" protruding from the shell!) The other unusual dish we had was a fish that looked a lot like some kind of sting ray, except that both its eyes were on the same side of its head. I can't think of the name right now, and I'm too lazy to go look it up - but if anyone knows what I'm talking about, I'd appreciate it if you could share your knowledge!
After dinner, I went back to Julian's house for tea. Julian played some of his daughter's English DVDs, and I took some pictures as she danced and sang. I didn't stay too long, as it was getting late and the little girl needed to get to bed - and so did I, for that matter! (Aside: Julian's daughter has no English name, and no one told me her Chinese name - I'm not trying to be rude by calling her "little girl" or "Julian's daughter." Same deal with "Julian's wife" and "Julian's parents.") It was a quiet evening, but it really meant a lot to me to have been invited, first of all, but also welcomed into this family at this time of year.
January 22, New Year's Day
I did nothing all day - and it was wonderful.
January 23, Second Day of Spring Festival
Nancy, the training co-ordinator at Kodak, invited me to have lunch with her family on the second day of Spring Festival. She and her husband (whose name was not mentioned) prepared a fantastic meal of shrimp, mussels, snails, and dumplings, while I played with Sarah, their seven-year-old daughter. (We also had beer - Nancy's husband was quite amazed that I could drink at all, as are most men in China. I was good, though! Besides, Sarah had asked me not to get drunk, and I could hardly ignore her wishes!)
After lunch, daughter and husband went for a nap, while Nancy and I stayed in the living room, talking about all sorts of things, including books and music. (I don't get to have these kinds of conversations with a lot of Chinese people, sadly, because our tastes and backgrounds are often too different - we usually don't know the same authors or musicians.)
We talked about Sarah a lot - she's 7, an only child (typical in China), and very bright. Her English is very good, especially for someone her age, and she's not afraid of foreigners, which is excellent. When she was awake, Sarah was very entertaining, dancing, singing, showing me pictures, giving me things, and generally being cute!
I had the same warm feeling of welcome being with Nancy and her family that I did when I was with Julian and his family. While Julian and his family are all locals, though, Nancy is from a province north of Beijing - she not only knows about being away from family, she knows about being an outsider in Shantou and how lonely that can get. I was moved beyond words at her generosity and friendship.
January 24
The weather this year was pretty nasty - cold, rainy, and generally inclement - so there weren't a lot of the typical Spring Festival activities held in the city this year. However, there was some fun stuff going on, and on Saturday, Sophia and I spent the day taking some of it in!
Sophia came over at about 10:30 a.m. By the time we got on a bus that wasn't overflowing with people, it was about 11 by the time we got on the road. Our first stop - The Old City! We didn't spend nearly as much time there as Anna and I had, since I had just been there and since Sophia didn't really know her way around. We spent most of our time at Zhongshan Park.
I've never been to this park before, but it's massive. It was also crowded! We wandered around there much as we had in the old city: taking pictures and watching people. There were plenty of things there for people to do - amusement park rides, petting zoo, paddle boats, a rockery, a bamboo maze - as well as several performances for Spring Festival. At the main entrance to the park (there are three), we watched some musicians and drummers in traditional dress play traditional music on traditional instruments. These traditions were not from Guangdong province, Sophia was quick to tell me - however, she was unable to tell me just what province they were traditional to. We also watched some pretty funky tightrope artists, riding motorcycles and unicycles, and doing fan dances on (and suspended from) a wire suspended above the lake.
Sadly, these were the only performances going on when we were there. Well, that's not 100% true - we did see a few minutes of a skit being performed in local dialect, a couple of dance numbers by a teenage dance troupe, and what appeared to be a dance competition, but these weren't exactly what we'd hoped to watch. Sophia was outraged that these performances were going on instead of the "Chinese cultural performances" the brochure had promised us.
As we were about to leave the park, I had a call from Calley saying she was in Shantou and wanted to meet up with us - we finally tracked her down at the main gate (she'd gone to the wrong park first, then the wrong gate at the right park), and the three of us walked around and ended up shopping on the walking street. We each had some necklaces made by a man who writes on grains of rice - very cool. By 6 p.m., I was hungry, Sophia's family was trying to track her down, and Calley needed to catch a bus back to Chaozhou, so we had a quick snack at KFC and went our separate ways.
January 25
Another day of nothing! Woo!
January 26
Prep day... same old, same old.
January 27
Back to the grind...
As for the blog, I think I'm officially all caught up! I can now return to documenting the mundane details of my everyday life in Shantou! ;)
zA
Well, things were pretty quiet. My friends and students weren't lying to me when they said there wouldn't be a whole lot going on. Spring Festival is a time for visiting with family for Shantou residents - and since I don't have any family here, I had a pretty quiet vacation.
That's not to say it was bad, though! I spent a lot of time relaxing, which I really needed after the winter vacation classes ended, and I got out and did some fun stuff, too.
January 21, New Year's Eve
Anna, the kitten giver, decided that I needed to experience Shantou sights and Shantou food. She came to my house around 1:30 p.m. with a map and we came up with a plan that would involve the least amount of travel but the most value for our yuan. (She came up with the plan, really. I couldn't read the map.)
Our first stop was the Old City; Shantou is a reasonably young city, having been established as a Special Economic Zone about 30 or so years ago (please don't quote me on this - I can't get a firm date out of anyone about this, so I'm giving it my best estimate). The Old City was, well, old - at about 100 years old, it's young for China, mind you, but old to locals.
We walked around, looking at old buildings, visiting a very old temple, watching people, and enjoying the atmosphere of a sunny, exciting day. People were actually bustling! Young and old, male and female - everyone was busy with last minute preparations for their festival celebrations. We stopped to eat at a very popular restaurant that served all sorts of Shantou snacks - everything was delicious! I can't tell you what I ate, though, because Anna didn't know how to tell me what everything was in English...
We wandered around some more, and visited the church where Anna goes to sing every week (though it's not her home congregation). We took a terrifying ride from the Old City to Anna's high school in a motorized tricycle - Anna was so scared she made him stop a few blocks early and we walked the rest of the way!
She showed me her school, which was closed for the holiday - we just walked around the grounds for about five minutes, then left again. We then wandered through some alleys and laneways and narrow streets until we reached the walking street. We did a little window shopping there (by this time it was nearly 6 p.m.), then Julian met me to take me out to dinner with his family. Anna says there are still many more sights she wants to show me, and a lot more food I need to try - I have no objection to either of these things!
Dinner with Julian and his family was fun and relaxing. Julian, his wife, daughter, and parents and I went to a local seafood restaurant for dinner. Julian was the only one who could speak English, but we all managed to communicate and have a good time. His daughter, who is almost three years old, is quite adorable. She was a little shy at first, but by the end of the evening she was giving me candy and inviting me back to her house for tea and a DVD. She called me "foreign auntie," which cracked everybody up.
The meal itself was unusual for me, but very tasty. We had mussels served with garlic and vermicelli to start - I'm not a big fan of mussels, but these were delightful. We also had what Julian told me were snails - some served in soup, others on a plate. I couldn't eat a lot of them, but they were tasty. (When we were leaving the restaurant, Julian showed me what we had eaten - not snails, but some sort of crazy-looking clam with a foot-long "tongue" protruding from the shell!) The other unusual dish we had was a fish that looked a lot like some kind of sting ray, except that both its eyes were on the same side of its head. I can't think of the name right now, and I'm too lazy to go look it up - but if anyone knows what I'm talking about, I'd appreciate it if you could share your knowledge!
After dinner, I went back to Julian's house for tea. Julian played some of his daughter's English DVDs, and I took some pictures as she danced and sang. I didn't stay too long, as it was getting late and the little girl needed to get to bed - and so did I, for that matter! (Aside: Julian's daughter has no English name, and no one told me her Chinese name - I'm not trying to be rude by calling her "little girl" or "Julian's daughter." Same deal with "Julian's wife" and "Julian's parents.") It was a quiet evening, but it really meant a lot to me to have been invited, first of all, but also welcomed into this family at this time of year.
January 22, New Year's Day
I did nothing all day - and it was wonderful.
January 23, Second Day of Spring Festival
Nancy, the training co-ordinator at Kodak, invited me to have lunch with her family on the second day of Spring Festival. She and her husband (whose name was not mentioned) prepared a fantastic meal of shrimp, mussels, snails, and dumplings, while I played with Sarah, their seven-year-old daughter. (We also had beer - Nancy's husband was quite amazed that I could drink at all, as are most men in China. I was good, though! Besides, Sarah had asked me not to get drunk, and I could hardly ignore her wishes!)
After lunch, daughter and husband went for a nap, while Nancy and I stayed in the living room, talking about all sorts of things, including books and music. (I don't get to have these kinds of conversations with a lot of Chinese people, sadly, because our tastes and backgrounds are often too different - we usually don't know the same authors or musicians.)
We talked about Sarah a lot - she's 7, an only child (typical in China), and very bright. Her English is very good, especially for someone her age, and she's not afraid of foreigners, which is excellent. When she was awake, Sarah was very entertaining, dancing, singing, showing me pictures, giving me things, and generally being cute!
I had the same warm feeling of welcome being with Nancy and her family that I did when I was with Julian and his family. While Julian and his family are all locals, though, Nancy is from a province north of Beijing - she not only knows about being away from family, she knows about being an outsider in Shantou and how lonely that can get. I was moved beyond words at her generosity and friendship.
January 24
The weather this year was pretty nasty - cold, rainy, and generally inclement - so there weren't a lot of the typical Spring Festival activities held in the city this year. However, there was some fun stuff going on, and on Saturday, Sophia and I spent the day taking some of it in!
Sophia came over at about 10:30 a.m. By the time we got on a bus that wasn't overflowing with people, it was about 11 by the time we got on the road. Our first stop - The Old City! We didn't spend nearly as much time there as Anna and I had, since I had just been there and since Sophia didn't really know her way around. We spent most of our time at Zhongshan Park.
I've never been to this park before, but it's massive. It was also crowded! We wandered around there much as we had in the old city: taking pictures and watching people. There were plenty of things there for people to do - amusement park rides, petting zoo, paddle boats, a rockery, a bamboo maze - as well as several performances for Spring Festival. At the main entrance to the park (there are three), we watched some musicians and drummers in traditional dress play traditional music on traditional instruments. These traditions were not from Guangdong province, Sophia was quick to tell me - however, she was unable to tell me just what province they were traditional to. We also watched some pretty funky tightrope artists, riding motorcycles and unicycles, and doing fan dances on (and suspended from) a wire suspended above the lake.
Sadly, these were the only performances going on when we were there. Well, that's not 100% true - we did see a few minutes of a skit being performed in local dialect, a couple of dance numbers by a teenage dance troupe, and what appeared to be a dance competition, but these weren't exactly what we'd hoped to watch. Sophia was outraged that these performances were going on instead of the "Chinese cultural performances" the brochure had promised us.
As we were about to leave the park, I had a call from Calley saying she was in Shantou and wanted to meet up with us - we finally tracked her down at the main gate (she'd gone to the wrong park first, then the wrong gate at the right park), and the three of us walked around and ended up shopping on the walking street. We each had some necklaces made by a man who writes on grains of rice - very cool. By 6 p.m., I was hungry, Sophia's family was trying to track her down, and Calley needed to catch a bus back to Chaozhou, so we had a quick snack at KFC and went our separate ways.
January 25
Another day of nothing! Woo!
January 26
Prep day... same old, same old.
January 27
Back to the grind...
As for the blog, I think I'm officially all caught up! I can now return to documenting the mundane details of my everyday life in Shantou! ;)
Wednesday, January 28, 2004
Heading on in to Spring Festival...
Now that I've finally got the Christmas post up, I'd like to account for the time spent between January 1 and Spring Festival (January 21).
January 2
Denice and I went to Chaozhou for one evening class. First, though, we took the toilet factory tour. You already know about that.
The last teacher's class was hell - basically, I went to Chaozhou for an hour of pettiness and rude behaviour from my students. I don't want to rehash it all here, because I've come to realize that this group of people and I have different expectations of what the class should be, and if we're going to "get along" in the future, I have to stop caring so much about what they learn and how they act towards me. The class is just a formality; most of them don't want to be there in the first place. If I teach them again next term, I'll have to readjust my methods and my attitude. (It's frustrating, but it's the "Chinese way.")
After class, still feeling pretty pissy about the whole thing, I went out for a walk with Calley. We headed up to the Wall, had some BBQ, and just hung out for a while. That definitely left me in better spirits!
January 4
Anna, the student who gave me little Xena, gave me a New Year's present. (I guess she felt badly about the loss of Xena, and thought I needed another companion.) For a while this gift's name was Ophelia, but a few days later he became Stewie!
Stewie is all white, very active, and quite healthy, I'm happy to report. He can be either affectionate and cuddly or a white terror (my hands are proof of this - I'm trying to break him of his nasty hand-attacking-when-frisky habit).
The first 48 hours with the little darling were hell. All he did was hide and cry. The cries weren't pathetic little mews - they were full-out howls of indignation. He didn't eat or drink during this time (at least not that I saw). Fortunately, he decided to settle in, and seems to be doing quite well. He's still pretty vocal sometimes - in fact, he's yelling at me as I'm typing. (I was pretty tense for the first week or so, but as he continues to grow and strengthen, I feel more confident that he's in good health. Of course, now I have to think about what will happen when it's time for me to return to Canada...)
January 8
Earlier in the week, I was asked to help Nancy, the training co-ordinator at Kodak, edit a presentation she was preparing. Turns out she was going to be the emcee at a concert presented by the Vienna Mozart Philharmonic; she thanked me for my efforts by giving me two tickets to the concert!
I cajoled Julian into coming with me, and we had a thoroughly nice time. The music was beautiful. The musicians dressed in period costume for the first half of the evening - how the women moved around in those dresses is beyond me, and I can only imagine how hot it gets under those wigs!
The audience, however, was the worst I've ever had the misfortune to be a part of. People were talking (not whispering, but talking at full volume), kids were running around, cell phones were going off - it was incredibly rude and very distracting. The only time the audience paid attention is when the orchestra played traditional Chinese songs - then they were riveted, clapping along to the music (at one point, the conductor turned and conducted them!).
I was quite taken with the kids who were dancing. The little girl two rows in front of me was dancing to Mozart with Chinese dance steps - it was adorable. When she and a little boy a few seats down heard the first strains of the Chinese song, they went nuts, flailing their arms, shaking their heads, and jumping up and down. I was worried once or twice that they were going to take headers into the next row, but they kept it under control!
After the concert, Julian and I went across the street to the "Feel Fun Pub" for a beer and a snack. We had a great, honest conversation about a lot of stuff; no one flew off the handle (read: I didn't fly off the handle), and both our working and personal relationships have improved by leaps and bounds since.
Winter Vacation Classes: January 10 to 19
As I believe I have mentioned, winter vacation classes kept me insanely busy. When I wasn't teaching, I was either preparing to teach or travelling to and from Chaozhou. In brief:
January 10: Up at 6 to catch the 7:30 bus to Chaozhou. Taught in the morning, had lunch, taught in the afternoon, then home to Shantou.
January 11: Prep day.
January 12: Same as Saturday, with an evening class in Shantou thrown in.
January 13: Morning class in Shantou, staff meeting in the afternoon.
January 14: Morning class and night class in Shantou, prep in between.
January 15: 7:30 bus to Chaozhou, morning and afternoon class. Spent the night at the hotel, preparing for Friday and Saturday classes. (Denice went back to Shantou, as she was heading home to Ottawa for a three-week vacation on January 17.)
January 16: Morning and afternoon classes in Chaozhou. Dinner and shopping with Calley in the evening - I bought some very cool Chinese stuff.
January 17: Morning class, then back to Shantou. Prep all afternoon, then taught a two-hour night class (filling in for Denice, teaching high school students who are preparing for a university entrance exam).
January 18: Two-hour class in the morning; lunch at school, where I helped Julian transcribe video clips; two-hour afternoon class with the students I taught on Saturday night (very dedicated young women!); home for a quick supper; then, back to school for another two-hour class.
January 19: Two-hour afternoon class... then, holidays!
January 20: Slept late, then spent the day doing whatever I felt like doing - which usually was a whole lot of nothing! I did not crack open a school book until January 26, the night before I went back to work.
Next time, on "Jen in China" - Spring Festival!
zA
January 2
Denice and I went to Chaozhou for one evening class. First, though, we took the toilet factory tour. You already know about that.
The last teacher's class was hell - basically, I went to Chaozhou for an hour of pettiness and rude behaviour from my students. I don't want to rehash it all here, because I've come to realize that this group of people and I have different expectations of what the class should be, and if we're going to "get along" in the future, I have to stop caring so much about what they learn and how they act towards me. The class is just a formality; most of them don't want to be there in the first place. If I teach them again next term, I'll have to readjust my methods and my attitude. (It's frustrating, but it's the "Chinese way.")
After class, still feeling pretty pissy about the whole thing, I went out for a walk with Calley. We headed up to the Wall, had some BBQ, and just hung out for a while. That definitely left me in better spirits!
January 4
Anna, the student who gave me little Xena, gave me a New Year's present. (I guess she felt badly about the loss of Xena, and thought I needed another companion.) For a while this gift's name was Ophelia, but a few days later he became Stewie!
Stewie is all white, very active, and quite healthy, I'm happy to report. He can be either affectionate and cuddly or a white terror (my hands are proof of this - I'm trying to break him of his nasty hand-attacking-when-frisky habit).
The first 48 hours with the little darling were hell. All he did was hide and cry. The cries weren't pathetic little mews - they were full-out howls of indignation. He didn't eat or drink during this time (at least not that I saw). Fortunately, he decided to settle in, and seems to be doing quite well. He's still pretty vocal sometimes - in fact, he's yelling at me as I'm typing. (I was pretty tense for the first week or so, but as he continues to grow and strengthen, I feel more confident that he's in good health. Of course, now I have to think about what will happen when it's time for me to return to Canada...)
January 8
Earlier in the week, I was asked to help Nancy, the training co-ordinator at Kodak, edit a presentation she was preparing. Turns out she was going to be the emcee at a concert presented by the Vienna Mozart Philharmonic; she thanked me for my efforts by giving me two tickets to the concert!
I cajoled Julian into coming with me, and we had a thoroughly nice time. The music was beautiful. The musicians dressed in period costume for the first half of the evening - how the women moved around in those dresses is beyond me, and I can only imagine how hot it gets under those wigs!
The audience, however, was the worst I've ever had the misfortune to be a part of. People were talking (not whispering, but talking at full volume), kids were running around, cell phones were going off - it was incredibly rude and very distracting. The only time the audience paid attention is when the orchestra played traditional Chinese songs - then they were riveted, clapping along to the music (at one point, the conductor turned and conducted them!).
I was quite taken with the kids who were dancing. The little girl two rows in front of me was dancing to Mozart with Chinese dance steps - it was adorable. When she and a little boy a few seats down heard the first strains of the Chinese song, they went nuts, flailing their arms, shaking their heads, and jumping up and down. I was worried once or twice that they were going to take headers into the next row, but they kept it under control!
After the concert, Julian and I went across the street to the "Feel Fun Pub" for a beer and a snack. We had a great, honest conversation about a lot of stuff; no one flew off the handle (read: I didn't fly off the handle), and both our working and personal relationships have improved by leaps and bounds since.
Winter Vacation Classes: January 10 to 19
As I believe I have mentioned, winter vacation classes kept me insanely busy. When I wasn't teaching, I was either preparing to teach or travelling to and from Chaozhou. In brief:
January 10: Up at 6 to catch the 7:30 bus to Chaozhou. Taught in the morning, had lunch, taught in the afternoon, then home to Shantou.
January 11: Prep day.
January 12: Same as Saturday, with an evening class in Shantou thrown in.
January 13: Morning class in Shantou, staff meeting in the afternoon.
January 14: Morning class and night class in Shantou, prep in between.
January 15: 7:30 bus to Chaozhou, morning and afternoon class. Spent the night at the hotel, preparing for Friday and Saturday classes. (Denice went back to Shantou, as she was heading home to Ottawa for a three-week vacation on January 17.)
January 16: Morning and afternoon classes in Chaozhou. Dinner and shopping with Calley in the evening - I bought some very cool Chinese stuff.
January 17: Morning class, then back to Shantou. Prep all afternoon, then taught a two-hour night class (filling in for Denice, teaching high school students who are preparing for a university entrance exam).
January 18: Two-hour class in the morning; lunch at school, where I helped Julian transcribe video clips; two-hour afternoon class with the students I taught on Saturday night (very dedicated young women!); home for a quick supper; then, back to school for another two-hour class.
January 19: Two-hour afternoon class... then, holidays!
January 20: Slept late, then spent the day doing whatever I felt like doing - which usually was a whole lot of nothing! I did not crack open a school book until January 26, the night before I went back to work.
Next time, on "Jen in China" - Spring Festival!
Tuesday, January 27, 2004
Finally! The Christmas Post!
Well, now that Spring Festival is over, I figured it was time to get the Christmas post up. This means, of course, that the Spring Festival post will be up in another month or so... ;)
Christmas in China
It was an interesting holiday season for me this year. Let me tell you about it.
It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas
Pre-holiday madness wasn't nearly as mad here as it can be in Canada. It started later, for one thing - early to mid-December (a more respectable time, in my humble opinion.) A few stores had decorations up and Christmas-type stuff for sale, but I rarely heard a Christmas tune or saw a plastic Santa until December 20 or so.
Restaurants were a little more enthusiastic than the stores - it seemed like one day it was a normal everyday kind of day, then suddenly, garland and Santa hats everywhere. Some places were a little over-the-top, but I suppose that comes with the season.
The coolest thing I saw by far was the Christmas cards. All of them had something that popped up or was cut out or that played music, and most had a combination of English and Chinese on them. Many students made their own, and they all had the same theme - nothing simple for these kids! Some of the funniest cards had Christmas messages with very gory Halloween images! (I bought a few, and was given a few by students.) Other cards came in mobile form, some very simple, others quite elaborate. I both bought and was given some of those, as well. The ones I bought will make great cards for next year!
Christmas Eve
Christmas Eve started like any other day (like it tends to in Canada, at least for me). I gave oral exams at Polytechnic in the morning, did some lesson prep in the afternoon, and then some last-minute errands and shopping (again, just like in Canada!).
For dinner, I tried to go to one of the two restaurants we go to that have "western"-style food and, more importantly, English on the menus, but it was having some sort of fancy, expensive, Christmas Eve buffet. So, I tried Hayley Cafe, a place just across the street that we frequent regularly - I went in, sat down, and was handed a special menu... Same deal as the last place: special, expensive Christmas Eve dinner, that we had neither the time nor the funds for. So... Denice and I went to KFC.
KFC was packed, as was usual for that time of night. While Denice waited for the food, I tried to find a table - and found Santa while I was at it! Before he could continue handing out balloons to children, I cajoled him into posing for a photo with me.
This was the one place we heard Christmas carols - and to the delight of our "fans" (the usual crowd of people who watch us eat), Denice and I sang along. We stuffed our faces with fries and fatty chicken, then headed off to class.
Class was uneventful, and barely worth mentioning. But I will anyway, if only to say that my students wanted to take me to a disco after class, but I had already been invited elsewhere with some of the Powerhouse staff.
After class, Julian took Denice, Evin, and I to the Meritus Hotel for a Christmas Eve party. It was surreal. After climbing a long, elegant staircase, we walked into a huge ballroom. Strobe lights, swirling smoke from a smoke machine, pounding techno music, and wildly dancing guests met us at the door. Most guests had noisemakers and Christmas hats, and most of them were drunk. We were ushered to a table, where we ate stale breadsticks and peanuts, and ordered beer from the "Disco Party Drink Menu." It was too loud to talk in there, so we mostly just watched people - the techno music was stopped for a while for performances by singers, dancers, and a really bad rock band (it was difficult to watch these performances, because the smoke machine was left on, covering the stage and floor with thick smoke). At midnight, they interrupted the dancing for the Christmas Countdown.
It was like New Year's Eve in North America! Balloons dropped (and were promptly stomped on), people kissed and hugged each other and went nuts with their noisemakers... It was something else, and a very enthusiastic beginning to a holiday that's not officially celebrated in China.
After a little more dancing, the house lights came up for the seemingly endless door prize draws. This went on for a really long time... Denice won a dinner for two at the hotel's buffet (which is apparently quite wonderful), and I was thrilled that I understood the numbers being called! One of the hotel big-wigs spotted us in the crowd, and graciously called out the remaining numbers in English for us. Denice and I spoke with him afterwards - turns out he's originally from Hong Kong, but has been living in Calgary for years. (His family is still there, and he'll be returning when he gets a transfer.) As soon as the prizes were awarded, the place cleared out. It was amazing - by the time the four of us got our coats on, the place was practically empty. We walked home, grabbed some street barbecue (not nearly as good as our usual BBQ place in Chaozhou), and headed home.
In what can only be described as a Christmas miracle, the package my parents sent for Christmas arrived on Christmas Eve! My ever-thoughtful family had included a stocking for Denice in the box, so we opened all of our gifts before we went to bed, throwing wrapping paper around the living room to make it feel more festive. I finally went to sleep around 2 a.m.
Christmas Day
Since we had already opened our presents, there was no need to get up early. :) When I did get up, I packed and waited for my pre-arranged phone call from home. I spoke to my Mom, Dad, and youngest sister for about half an hour, then rushed to get to the bus on time.
I still have the ticket stub for my Christmas Day journey to Chaozhou. The ride was as bumpy as ever, but otherwise uneventful.
School was mayhem, as usual. The kids were clamouring around us screaming "Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas!" and thrusting cards and gifts in our hands. It was very sweet, but overwhelming.
My gift to my students was an oral exam. (I find it odd that 7-year-old kids are given exams at all, but it's a different system here!) Each of my Grade 1 classes has 48 students - in order to make sure I saw them all in the 40-minute period, I had them come to a separate room with me in groups of eight for five minutes at a time, while the other students watched a Dr. Seuss video in the classroom. There really wasn't enough time to do a proper test with that many students in such a short time, but I did what I could - I'd made some collages with images from the units they studied over the course of the term, and had them describe what they saw.
The only room available to us was the ping-pong room - you can imagine what happened every time a new group arrived! (By the second class I clued in and hid all of the ping-pong equipment.) The first few groups were well-behaved and we whizzed through the test without incident. The last two, though, were hellions who would not listen, screamed in my face, and generally drove me nuts. We struggled through the test, and I escorted them back to their classroom. Their teacher could tell that I was a little angry and unnerved, and so I told her what had happened. Just before the bell rang, we tried to take a class photo (if you've been to the photo album you've seen how successful that was), I said good-bye, and then it hit me: It's Christmas Day. I shouldn't be trying to test screaming maniacs. I should be at home with my family, eating too much food and playing silly card games. For the first time all season, I teared up... and once I started, I couldn't stop.
I locked myself in the ping-pong room between classes to try to pull myself together, and the second class' exams went fine. (Their teacher had seen me crying, and I suspect she put the fear of God into them before they came to me.)
After the class photo, I noticed that many of the hellions from the first class were in the teacher's office being disciplined. I knew it was because of what I had told the teacher, and I felt incredibly guilty for "tattling" and for losing my temper. When the teacher who was lecturing them saw me, she dragged them all out into the hall and made them apologize to me one-by-one - and the tears started all over again. Sigh.
Back at the hotel, Denice was curled up in bed, having had an experience similar to mine. We had planned to go somewhere for dinner rather than eat the usual meal we have delivered on Thursday nights, but she wasn't budging and the food order had already been cancelled. I was starving, and Denice decided she would rather sleep and cry than eat, so I went out by myself to a little restaurant up the street - it has private booths and English on the menu, so I figured it was my best bet. (I was a little disappointed in Denice - I was having the same feelings of loneliness and homesickness, but I thought that we at least had each other for support and commiseration. I quickly realized, though, that as different people we react to situations differently, so I thought it best to give her her space.)
I wrote in my journal for a while, and ate a dinner of "spaghetti" and seafood salad. As I was finishing up, Denice either decided that she couldn't sleep or was hungry after all and joined me. She seemed to have perked up a little, and we had a pleasant evening before heading back to school for our night classes.
Our students, the Chengnan teachers, were also having a Christmas oral exam. Denice and I held our classes together, and everyone performed a dialogue based on the units they'd been studying. They all did well, but were a little disappointed that we decided against having a Christmas party that evening. Some of the teachers gave Denice and I some Chinese souvenirs as Christmas presents, which was lovely - it was especially lovely for me, because the gift givers were all Denice's students, not mine! (Some of my summer students also dropped off some presents for us, which was incredibly sweet and thoughtful.)
Our meager Christmas dinner had worn off by the time class was over, so Calley took Denice and I out for a snack of peanut noodles and beef ball soup - a cheap and delicious snack! The restaurant was just across the street from Calley's house, so after we'd eaten she took us to meet her mother and brother. We drank some Gungfu tea, chatted a bit (with Calley acting as translator), then headed back to the hotel. I tried calling home from a pay-phone, but I didn't have the proper phone card. I retired to the hotel, and got some sleep. (The other Christmas miracle that we were blessed with was quiet from the kareoke lounges!)
Boxing Day
Boxing Day was another day of oral exams and class-photo mayhem. Our Saturday class was cancelled, so when we finished regular classes we hopped on the bus and came home. Evin and I had discussed going out for drinks when I got home, but alas, I caught a Christmas Cold and just wasn't feeling up to it. I spent the evening on the couch, watching movies.
December 27 - Staff Dinner and Gift Exchange
A few weeks before Christmas, Denice proposed that the staff have a "Secret Santa" gift exchange and dinner together instead of a giant school Christmas party. Since the memories of the stress and madness of the Halloween party were still relatively fresh for all of us, we enthusiastically agreed.
Johnny took us all out for Hot Pot (the same restaurant we went to for my welcome dinner back in June). The room was packed - in addition to the existing staff, Annie and Amy (our former receptionists) and Annie's boyfriend Andy joined us, too. It was a raucous affair, with lots of food, drink, and conversation. I had drawn Johnny's name; Denice, bless her, found a candle holder with elephants that she thought he would love, and he did! Tina gave me a very cool stripy scarf (you can see it in many of my current photos).
Denice and Evin had class that night, so they had to leave as soon as dinner was over; the rest of us followed them soon after. Since I was still feeling under the weather, I spent another evening on the couch, then went to bed early.
December 28 - The Powerhouse Christmas Party
I know I just said that we weren't going to have a Christmas party at the school, and technically, we didn't. What we did do was adjourn our regular Sunday classes a little early and bring everyone together for some games and mingling. I didn't have any classes that day, but went anyway to give some gifts to my New Parade class - it's a good thing I did, because Evin forgot his class had been moved from the afternoon to the morning, and there were a bunch of teacher-less students and irate parents milling about the school!
I covered for him, playing games with the kids 'until he got there. Once he did, I gave anyone who was in the school a candy cane (Mom had sent a box specifically for me to share with my students), gave my students their gifts, milled around aimlessly for a while, and sat in on Denice's class as she taught her high school students "White Christmas" (the Bony M version, no less!).
When the bell rang to announce the break, mayhem broke out. (Again, if you've looked at the photo album recently you'll know what I mean.) There were people everywhere! Two stereos were blaring two sets of Christmas carols at full volume, kids of all ages were torn between scrambling for the candy Denice was tossing into the air and fighting their way to be in front of the various cameras flashing all over the school... it was chaotic, but hilarious. Though it didn't involve nearly as much preparation or clean-up as the Halloween party, it was just as much fun.
December 31 - New Year's Eve
By New Year's Eve, even with a few days off (with the exception of my Monday/Wednesday night adult class), I was still feeling pretty sick with my cold. I'd had word that a bunch of the foreigners were going out on the town, but I really wasn't feeling up to it, especially after teaching until 10 p.m. I called up my younger sister around 11:30 p.m. and rang in the New Year on the phone with her. To be honest, I preferred it that way - I've never been a huge fan of the New Year's Eve bash (though I have enjoyed a few!), so it was nice to relax and talk to someone near to my heart to start 2004.
In summary...
Thus ends the story of my Christmas in China. Now that I'm finally done with this post, I feel silly for having left it so long. I'm sure I'm leaving some stuff out - if you have any questions or notice any glaring omissions, please drop me a note or add a comment and I'll do my best to fill in the blanks.
Next time: Spring Festival! (And everything else in between!)
zA
Christmas in China
It was an interesting holiday season for me this year. Let me tell you about it.
It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas
Pre-holiday madness wasn't nearly as mad here as it can be in Canada. It started later, for one thing - early to mid-December (a more respectable time, in my humble opinion.) A few stores had decorations up and Christmas-type stuff for sale, but I rarely heard a Christmas tune or saw a plastic Santa until December 20 or so.
Restaurants were a little more enthusiastic than the stores - it seemed like one day it was a normal everyday kind of day, then suddenly, garland and Santa hats everywhere. Some places were a little over-the-top, but I suppose that comes with the season.
The coolest thing I saw by far was the Christmas cards. All of them had something that popped up or was cut out or that played music, and most had a combination of English and Chinese on them. Many students made their own, and they all had the same theme - nothing simple for these kids! Some of the funniest cards had Christmas messages with very gory Halloween images! (I bought a few, and was given a few by students.) Other cards came in mobile form, some very simple, others quite elaborate. I both bought and was given some of those, as well. The ones I bought will make great cards for next year!
Christmas Eve
Christmas Eve started like any other day (like it tends to in Canada, at least for me). I gave oral exams at Polytechnic in the morning, did some lesson prep in the afternoon, and then some last-minute errands and shopping (again, just like in Canada!).
For dinner, I tried to go to one of the two restaurants we go to that have "western"-style food and, more importantly, English on the menus, but it was having some sort of fancy, expensive, Christmas Eve buffet. So, I tried Hayley Cafe, a place just across the street that we frequent regularly - I went in, sat down, and was handed a special menu... Same deal as the last place: special, expensive Christmas Eve dinner, that we had neither the time nor the funds for. So... Denice and I went to KFC.
KFC was packed, as was usual for that time of night. While Denice waited for the food, I tried to find a table - and found Santa while I was at it! Before he could continue handing out balloons to children, I cajoled him into posing for a photo with me.
This was the one place we heard Christmas carols - and to the delight of our "fans" (the usual crowd of people who watch us eat), Denice and I sang along. We stuffed our faces with fries and fatty chicken, then headed off to class.
Class was uneventful, and barely worth mentioning. But I will anyway, if only to say that my students wanted to take me to a disco after class, but I had already been invited elsewhere with some of the Powerhouse staff.
After class, Julian took Denice, Evin, and I to the Meritus Hotel for a Christmas Eve party. It was surreal. After climbing a long, elegant staircase, we walked into a huge ballroom. Strobe lights, swirling smoke from a smoke machine, pounding techno music, and wildly dancing guests met us at the door. Most guests had noisemakers and Christmas hats, and most of them were drunk. We were ushered to a table, where we ate stale breadsticks and peanuts, and ordered beer from the "Disco Party Drink Menu." It was too loud to talk in there, so we mostly just watched people - the techno music was stopped for a while for performances by singers, dancers, and a really bad rock band (it was difficult to watch these performances, because the smoke machine was left on, covering the stage and floor with thick smoke). At midnight, they interrupted the dancing for the Christmas Countdown.
It was like New Year's Eve in North America! Balloons dropped (and were promptly stomped on), people kissed and hugged each other and went nuts with their noisemakers... It was something else, and a very enthusiastic beginning to a holiday that's not officially celebrated in China.
After a little more dancing, the house lights came up for the seemingly endless door prize draws. This went on for a really long time... Denice won a dinner for two at the hotel's buffet (which is apparently quite wonderful), and I was thrilled that I understood the numbers being called! One of the hotel big-wigs spotted us in the crowd, and graciously called out the remaining numbers in English for us. Denice and I spoke with him afterwards - turns out he's originally from Hong Kong, but has been living in Calgary for years. (His family is still there, and he'll be returning when he gets a transfer.) As soon as the prizes were awarded, the place cleared out. It was amazing - by the time the four of us got our coats on, the place was practically empty. We walked home, grabbed some street barbecue (not nearly as good as our usual BBQ place in Chaozhou), and headed home.
In what can only be described as a Christmas miracle, the package my parents sent for Christmas arrived on Christmas Eve! My ever-thoughtful family had included a stocking for Denice in the box, so we opened all of our gifts before we went to bed, throwing wrapping paper around the living room to make it feel more festive. I finally went to sleep around 2 a.m.
Christmas Day
Since we had already opened our presents, there was no need to get up early. :) When I did get up, I packed and waited for my pre-arranged phone call from home. I spoke to my Mom, Dad, and youngest sister for about half an hour, then rushed to get to the bus on time.
I still have the ticket stub for my Christmas Day journey to Chaozhou. The ride was as bumpy as ever, but otherwise uneventful.
School was mayhem, as usual. The kids were clamouring around us screaming "Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas!" and thrusting cards and gifts in our hands. It was very sweet, but overwhelming.
My gift to my students was an oral exam. (I find it odd that 7-year-old kids are given exams at all, but it's a different system here!) Each of my Grade 1 classes has 48 students - in order to make sure I saw them all in the 40-minute period, I had them come to a separate room with me in groups of eight for five minutes at a time, while the other students watched a Dr. Seuss video in the classroom. There really wasn't enough time to do a proper test with that many students in such a short time, but I did what I could - I'd made some collages with images from the units they studied over the course of the term, and had them describe what they saw.
The only room available to us was the ping-pong room - you can imagine what happened every time a new group arrived! (By the second class I clued in and hid all of the ping-pong equipment.) The first few groups were well-behaved and we whizzed through the test without incident. The last two, though, were hellions who would not listen, screamed in my face, and generally drove me nuts. We struggled through the test, and I escorted them back to their classroom. Their teacher could tell that I was a little angry and unnerved, and so I told her what had happened. Just before the bell rang, we tried to take a class photo (if you've been to the photo album you've seen how successful that was), I said good-bye, and then it hit me: It's Christmas Day. I shouldn't be trying to test screaming maniacs. I should be at home with my family, eating too much food and playing silly card games. For the first time all season, I teared up... and once I started, I couldn't stop.
I locked myself in the ping-pong room between classes to try to pull myself together, and the second class' exams went fine. (Their teacher had seen me crying, and I suspect she put the fear of God into them before they came to me.)
After the class photo, I noticed that many of the hellions from the first class were in the teacher's office being disciplined. I knew it was because of what I had told the teacher, and I felt incredibly guilty for "tattling" and for losing my temper. When the teacher who was lecturing them saw me, she dragged them all out into the hall and made them apologize to me one-by-one - and the tears started all over again. Sigh.
Back at the hotel, Denice was curled up in bed, having had an experience similar to mine. We had planned to go somewhere for dinner rather than eat the usual meal we have delivered on Thursday nights, but she wasn't budging and the food order had already been cancelled. I was starving, and Denice decided she would rather sleep and cry than eat, so I went out by myself to a little restaurant up the street - it has private booths and English on the menu, so I figured it was my best bet. (I was a little disappointed in Denice - I was having the same feelings of loneliness and homesickness, but I thought that we at least had each other for support and commiseration. I quickly realized, though, that as different people we react to situations differently, so I thought it best to give her her space.)
I wrote in my journal for a while, and ate a dinner of "spaghetti" and seafood salad. As I was finishing up, Denice either decided that she couldn't sleep or was hungry after all and joined me. She seemed to have perked up a little, and we had a pleasant evening before heading back to school for our night classes.
Our students, the Chengnan teachers, were also having a Christmas oral exam. Denice and I held our classes together, and everyone performed a dialogue based on the units they'd been studying. They all did well, but were a little disappointed that we decided against having a Christmas party that evening. Some of the teachers gave Denice and I some Chinese souvenirs as Christmas presents, which was lovely - it was especially lovely for me, because the gift givers were all Denice's students, not mine! (Some of my summer students also dropped off some presents for us, which was incredibly sweet and thoughtful.)
Our meager Christmas dinner had worn off by the time class was over, so Calley took Denice and I out for a snack of peanut noodles and beef ball soup - a cheap and delicious snack! The restaurant was just across the street from Calley's house, so after we'd eaten she took us to meet her mother and brother. We drank some Gungfu tea, chatted a bit (with Calley acting as translator), then headed back to the hotel. I tried calling home from a pay-phone, but I didn't have the proper phone card. I retired to the hotel, and got some sleep. (The other Christmas miracle that we were blessed with was quiet from the kareoke lounges!)
Boxing Day
Boxing Day was another day of oral exams and class-photo mayhem. Our Saturday class was cancelled, so when we finished regular classes we hopped on the bus and came home. Evin and I had discussed going out for drinks when I got home, but alas, I caught a Christmas Cold and just wasn't feeling up to it. I spent the evening on the couch, watching movies.
December 27 - Staff Dinner and Gift Exchange
A few weeks before Christmas, Denice proposed that the staff have a "Secret Santa" gift exchange and dinner together instead of a giant school Christmas party. Since the memories of the stress and madness of the Halloween party were still relatively fresh for all of us, we enthusiastically agreed.
Johnny took us all out for Hot Pot (the same restaurant we went to for my welcome dinner back in June). The room was packed - in addition to the existing staff, Annie and Amy (our former receptionists) and Annie's boyfriend Andy joined us, too. It was a raucous affair, with lots of food, drink, and conversation. I had drawn Johnny's name; Denice, bless her, found a candle holder with elephants that she thought he would love, and he did! Tina gave me a very cool stripy scarf (you can see it in many of my current photos).
Denice and Evin had class that night, so they had to leave as soon as dinner was over; the rest of us followed them soon after. Since I was still feeling under the weather, I spent another evening on the couch, then went to bed early.
December 28 - The Powerhouse Christmas Party
I know I just said that we weren't going to have a Christmas party at the school, and technically, we didn't. What we did do was adjourn our regular Sunday classes a little early and bring everyone together for some games and mingling. I didn't have any classes that day, but went anyway to give some gifts to my New Parade class - it's a good thing I did, because Evin forgot his class had been moved from the afternoon to the morning, and there were a bunch of teacher-less students and irate parents milling about the school!
I covered for him, playing games with the kids 'until he got there. Once he did, I gave anyone who was in the school a candy cane (Mom had sent a box specifically for me to share with my students), gave my students their gifts, milled around aimlessly for a while, and sat in on Denice's class as she taught her high school students "White Christmas" (the Bony M version, no less!).
When the bell rang to announce the break, mayhem broke out. (Again, if you've looked at the photo album recently you'll know what I mean.) There were people everywhere! Two stereos were blaring two sets of Christmas carols at full volume, kids of all ages were torn between scrambling for the candy Denice was tossing into the air and fighting their way to be in front of the various cameras flashing all over the school... it was chaotic, but hilarious. Though it didn't involve nearly as much preparation or clean-up as the Halloween party, it was just as much fun.
December 31 - New Year's Eve
By New Year's Eve, even with a few days off (with the exception of my Monday/Wednesday night adult class), I was still feeling pretty sick with my cold. I'd had word that a bunch of the foreigners were going out on the town, but I really wasn't feeling up to it, especially after teaching until 10 p.m. I called up my younger sister around 11:30 p.m. and rang in the New Year on the phone with her. To be honest, I preferred it that way - I've never been a huge fan of the New Year's Eve bash (though I have enjoyed a few!), so it was nice to relax and talk to someone near to my heart to start 2004.
In summary...
Thus ends the story of my Christmas in China. Now that I'm finally done with this post, I feel silly for having left it so long. I'm sure I'm leaving some stuff out - if you have any questions or notice any glaring omissions, please drop me a note or add a comment and I'll do my best to fill in the blanks.
Next time: Spring Festival! (And everything else in between!)
Tuesday, January 20, 2004
Happy Chinese New Year!
Long time no blog. Wow. And even now, this is going to be a quick post.
Winter vacation classes are over, thank goodness. I worked 8 out of the last 9 days; as of 6 p.m. yesterday, I am officially on holidays. I have about 6 days off for Spring Festival. Today I am going to do absolutely nothing. Tomorrow I will be with a student all day, and I have plans here and there for the rest of the week - I'm hoping to take in some of the Year of the Monkey celebrations. I will also use this time to update my blog, respond to email, and do whatever else I feel like doing!
Hope all is well with you - talk to you soon!
zA
Long time no blog. Wow. And even now, this is going to be a quick post.
Winter vacation classes are over, thank goodness. I worked 8 out of the last 9 days; as of 6 p.m. yesterday, I am officially on holidays. I have about 6 days off for Spring Festival. Today I am going to do absolutely nothing. Tomorrow I will be with a student all day, and I have plans here and there for the rest of the week - I'm hoping to take in some of the Year of the Monkey celebrations. I will also use this time to update my blog, respond to email, and do whatever else I feel like doing!
Hope all is well with you - talk to you soon!
Saturday, January 03, 2004
I did something this week that I never thought I'd do: I toured a toilet factory.
The mother of one of my Grade 1 students in Chaozhou asked Denice and I if we would like to see her ceramics factory, where the primary product is toilets (Western and Eastern). We took her up and on gracious offer, and met her yesterday. She picked us up at our hotel, drove us out, showed us around, took us out for dinner, then dropped us off, all in less than three hours.
The factory was actually quite interesting. She showed us everything, from big vats of clay to the finished product. There were many levels, but no elevators - the coolest thing we saw was a man carrying two halves of a toilet down the stairs. He had them tied to a long bamboo pole, which he had balanced on his shoulders. Amazing. We also had a lot of fun taking goofy pictures of us sitting on toilets - those will be up soon!
Our hostess didn't speak any English, but Calley came with us to take the tour and translate. Calley later told us that this lovely woman, who has two young sons (my student, who is eight, and his six-year-old brother), had been widowed three years before; she now runs the factory on her own. When we left, she gave Denice and I each two ceramic toilet ashtrays; this morning, she came by the hotel and gave us an array of ceramic figurines from her friend's factory. They vary from comical to adorable to very cool - I just wonder how I'm going to get them all home in one piece!
The teachers' class was a horrible affair, but I don't want to talk about it - I'm in a good mood and I don't want to spoil it!
Now I'm enjoying a few days off, in theory. I have to sit in on a class tomorrow night and attend a meeting on Monday, so I can't really go anywhere exciting, but I'm hoping I can do some travelling during Spring Festival. Perhaps by the end of the week I'll have my Christmas post done...
zA
The mother of one of my Grade 1 students in Chaozhou asked Denice and I if we would like to see her ceramics factory, where the primary product is toilets (Western and Eastern). We took her up and on gracious offer, and met her yesterday. She picked us up at our hotel, drove us out, showed us around, took us out for dinner, then dropped us off, all in less than three hours.
The factory was actually quite interesting. She showed us everything, from big vats of clay to the finished product. There were many levels, but no elevators - the coolest thing we saw was a man carrying two halves of a toilet down the stairs. He had them tied to a long bamboo pole, which he had balanced on his shoulders. Amazing. We also had a lot of fun taking goofy pictures of us sitting on toilets - those will be up soon!
Our hostess didn't speak any English, but Calley came with us to take the tour and translate. Calley later told us that this lovely woman, who has two young sons (my student, who is eight, and his six-year-old brother), had been widowed three years before; she now runs the factory on her own. When we left, she gave Denice and I each two ceramic toilet ashtrays; this morning, she came by the hotel and gave us an array of ceramic figurines from her friend's factory. They vary from comical to adorable to very cool - I just wonder how I'm going to get them all home in one piece!
The teachers' class was a horrible affair, but I don't want to talk about it - I'm in a good mood and I don't want to spoil it!
Now I'm enjoying a few days off, in theory. I have to sit in on a class tomorrow night and attend a meeting on Monday, so I can't really go anywhere exciting, but I'm hoping I can do some travelling during Spring Festival. Perhaps by the end of the week I'll have my Christmas post done...
