New Years with Students

Our school was closed from noon on the 31st until 7pm on the 1st for the Western New Year. So some Grade 3 girls wanted to spend yesterday afternoon with us. It was really sweet that they wanted to spend their very little free time with us. They took us to lunch and ordered some really delicious food. Then we walked along a new street for us that had many wedding shops with dresses and flowers on display. We also passed a couple pet stores with mainly fish and some turtles inside. During Chinese New Year, the people put banners of wishes for good fortune and happiness on their doorways, so when we saw a man painting banners, we stopped and had some made for us.

While we waited for them to dry, we went across the street to a photo shop and took about 35-40 pictures with many students. Apparently the thing to do on your day off is go take a bunch of pictures of yourself. Sara and I always have fun with this. We pick the crazy backgrounds and make funny faces while the Chinese people try to look their best and pick very beautiful backgrounds! To each his own! After that, we picked up our banners, stopped for some pastries and a small dinner snack, and walked home through the park. It was a wonderful day, and today we received a note from the students expressing their thanks for spending time with them. The note was so touching!

“Dear Sara and Ann, Thank you for your enthusiasm to our invitation and patience to our influent speaking. You've given us fresh air and happiness as we're students of Senior 3 whose lives are simple and full of pressure. Though you may leave here after several months, we feel it still very nice in our memory. We hope our friendship will last forever. Enjoy yourselves in China! All the best! Yours, Sandy and Sanny”

It's really touching to know that just by spending an afternoon with them, we made such a strong and lasting impression. We think they could spend their time doing anything they could want to do, and they chose to spend it with us, which was possibly the highlight of their year.

To the Country

On December 30th, Mr. Liu, principal at the junior school, took the four of us, Herbert, and Lisa to the country. We originally thought we were going to see a flower garden, but ended up driving partway up the same mountain we had already climbed. It has been very dry here, so there were no flowers to see in the country. Very disappointing. They ended up taking us all over the country to different scenic places, and finally out to eat at a restaurant famous for chicken. The Chinese KFC if you will... it was actually quite good... until I looked over and saw Herbert eating a chicken head! WHAT!?! He tried to get Brandon to eat one, but he couldn't do it.

New Years Party

Our school had a performance party on Saturday the 29th. Ten classes from Grade 2 performed and were judged. Also, five other groups performed for fun. Since it was classes from Grade 2, they were all Sara and my students. Four classes were mine, and six were hers. It was really fun to see our students doing something creative because they are not usually encouraged to be creative. They made up skits, sang songs, and danced. There was also a variety of group sizes. The five other groups included some Grade 3 students singing solos, Stephen and some students did a wushu performance (part of which I know!), and Sara played her flute! In all, it was very exciting and I filled up both of my memory cards taking videos. I requested a copy of the full video, so I hope I am able to get it!

Christmas Eve in Zhao Qing

The four of us XinXing-ers went to Zhao Qing for Christmas Eve to get away from our small town. We wanted to eat some good food and do some shopping, and that's exactly what we did! We ate at McD's twice and Pizza Hut once! Between stops for food, we walked and shopped all day long. Each of us had one or two things we really wanted to find and we were all successful! Add some great food, and it was a Christmas Eve to remember.

Dongzhi

Dongzhi is another Chinese holiday. It took place on December 22 this year. It can't be that big though, because no one told us about it until the day before! The only thing I know about it is that it has something to do with winter solstice, and they eat these crazy things called zongzi. I have pictures on snapfish, so you can see it taken apart step by step. It's basically sticky rice wrapped in bamboo leaves and shaped into triangles. It looks cool, but it's not so tasty.

Christmas Parties

We had two parties at our apartment. One for the students, one for teachers. The first was for our students on Friday. We had about 23 show up and we had a great time! It lasted about two hours. We made wreath cookies which they loved after they tried them. It was great to watch them picking tiny pieces unsure of whether they wanted to try them! Then we played a game where they had to make smaller words from big words like: snowflake, ornament, etc. Finally, they found the stamps that Sara's mom brought us and had a blast stamping away on construction paper. They either made something for us, or had us write something meaningful for them to keep. It was a really fun time, and I'm sure they will never forget it.
The second party was for the teachers on Sunday. Seven teachers came along with Brandon, Caroline, Miss Chen, and Ou Ou. We started out by playing Christmas Bingo. Brandon told the story and when he said a word that matched the picture, they put a colored square on the paper. Everyone got a Bingo or two and won a prize. We gave away calendars, cds, and the pot holders I brought from Aunt Lottie. They really seemed to like all of the gifts! Then we made more wreath cookies which they also enjoyed. Then we played the same word game (the students were better than the teachers!). After that, we ate the cake that Violet sent over. It was delicious as usual! I think they all had a really great time, too. I know we did!

Guangzhou

Sara and I went to Guangzhou with our friend Miss Chen and her 12 year old daughter Ou Ou yesterday. Miss Chen is the piano teacher in town and she doesn't speak much English. But now she is trying harder because she wants to talk to us more. The whole trip she was sending text messages to Cathy asking her questions and how to say things in English. They were going to Guangzhou for Ou Ou's piano lesson. Her mom teaches her, but she also goes to a special school to learn more. During her piano lesson, we were able to walk around and do some shopping. The only thing we found to buy was books though. Then we had lunch with Miss Chen's friend, Simon. Simon is from Guangzhou, but studied in America for many years, so his English is better than anyone else we have met here – except maybe Sally. Also it was interesting to hear what he had to say about the way of life in China vs. America. Then, before heading home, we went to a mall to walk around, and to a grocery store where we got some things we can't get in XinXing. Then we ate at KFC and left. It was a long day, but we always enjoy getting out to different cities – especially with a tour guide!

Zhao Qing

Yesterday, Brandon and I went to Zhao Qing in the afternoon to meet Mark and get some packages from him. It was pretty uneventful except for one story I must share.
Brandon, I, and Mark's friend Julie were standing in a parking lot waiting as Mark got on his bus to go back to Hong Kong. There was a lady with a tin cup trying to get money from us since we were the only white people there which means we must have money. Brandon kept telling her that she could give him money! Then she left us alone, but she sent her little boy over with the cup. He must have been around 6 years old. He just stood next to Brandon and held the cup up as high as he could reach (about mid chest) and just waited. We all just tried to ignore him and kept talking. Then Brandon started absently playing with the boys hair like he was a dog! It was so hilarious! Finally he couldn't stand looking at the boys face because his nose was running and his face was quite dirty. So he asked me for the tissues I had just gotten at the restaurant. I gave them to him, and he wiped the boys face! I couldn't stop laughing! Then he put the rest of the tissues into the boys cup and the boy walked away! He didn't even seem to care that Julie was giving him a dollar!

Puppies and Chickens

After we made jiaozi, we went out for the afternoon with Mark and his good friend Mr. Chen. Mr. Chen wanted to give us a tour of his home and business. First, we stopped at a school next to his home which he gives money to. The school was quite small, but nice. While we were there, a funeral procession went by. It was very interesting to see what they do in the villages for a funeral. They set off firecrackers every 30 feet or so, and also had a couple of instruments playing. The women all carried white fans which they held in front of their faces.
Then we walked across the street to Mr. Chen's home. He has a very large home. Especially by Chinese standards. I think the house had 7 bedrooms and close to that many bathrooms. He also had 3 big dogs that we played with for a little while. We see many dogs, but don't dare touch them for fear of diseases, but we knew these dogs were well cared for. You can see pictures of some of the house on snapfish.
After touring the house, we thought we were going to Mr. Chen's chicken farm. We'd been looking forward to it all day. Well, we didn't. We stopped to see a reservoir which wasn't all that exciting when you were expecting to see chickens.
Finally, we went to see the chicken farm!!! We drove into the parking area and there we saw a bunch of puppies!!! They were adorable and only a couple weeks old. There were 8 puppies in all, and we couldn't put them down. Suddenly we didn't care about chickens. When they finally wrestled the puppies away from us, we went into the incubation building. Mr. Chen's chicken farm is the 2nd largest in XinXing. He sells 30,000 chickens a day which means he has to hatch at least that many! We saw rooms filled with eggs and some with newly hatched eggs and baby chicks. This was almost as exciting as the puppies! :) Then we came to a place with a bunch of eggs sitting out. They were bigger, oblong eggs, which means they are twins! They discard these eggs because there either they will be smaller, or they will not survive. We wanted to go see the chickens, but we were not allowed to get too close because they did not want to contaminate the rooms.... hmmm... I won't say it.
Then we went back to play with the puppies for a little while and then it was finally time for dinner. Yes, we had chicken! :) We also had some of the eggs with two yokes. Have you ever eaten a fried egg with two yokes? I have! We had dinner at a restaurant where the room we ate in turned into a KTV room. They expected us to sing after that! Well, I was feeling exhausted and very dirty by that time, so I was not in the mood to sing any songs. Thankfully they didn't make us stay very long.

Jiaozi and Friends

Yesterday was another wonderful day in XinXing. It began with a trip to the market with Sally and Belinder to pick up supplies for making jiaozi (dumplings filled with pork, ham, carrot, and mushrooms). They used our kitchen to chop everything into tiny bits and mixed it all together. Then we set to the task of stuffing many many dumplings. It took a long time, but it was so much fun! We talked about lots of different things along with learning some Chinese words such as "kuai luo" which means "chopstick fell"! We said this every time a chopstick fell on the floor! It was confusing at first because it sounds like "kuai le" which means "happy". I wondered why Ale was happy that Sara's chopstick fell on the floor... Anyway, when the dumplings were filled, we cooked them and had lunch. It was delicious! If only I had the motivation to do that much work for one meal more... :) There are many more pictures on Snapfish too.