Highs / Lows

What an up and down day it has been.

Highs:
1. Lunch with Chinese friend who liked the quiche I made :)
2. The sun was out.
3. Students who rocked their spoken exam (an impromptu speech topic from semester)
4. I took a shower, felt fresh, and had good hair.
5. Receiving three Christmas cards in the mail.

Lows:
1. Students who only realized there was a back side to the test when the time was up...
2. Being called by Ctrip agent who told me my Visa card was rejected after the ticket was already confirmed... "Have the block lifted on your credit card in the next 20 minutes or else..." (She didn't finish the threat.)
3. Student who cried after her spoken exam. (She did well on the exam; I'm a little bit at a loss with how to help this student.)
4. Not being interested in anything. Feeling particularly lethargic, cold, and alone.

5 High's, 4 Low's; I'll take it.

Student Gifts.

Students give some very interesting gifts to their foreign teacher for Christmas. Last year, the highlights of the gifts were a huge, overstuffed bear and some plastic high-heeled boots stuffed with orgami paper stars. This year, the highlights are as follows:

This gift was from a sophomore class. The gift itself is excellent in practicality. It's a box of Dove Chocolates, an apple (peace) and a silver drink container that will keep your tea or coffee hot.
This Michael Jackson pen holder was a gift from an individual student. She watched very expectantly as I opened it, and gave me a big smile when I pulled it out of the box. Yeah, I have no words to describe my thoughts on this one.

This gift came as a set. It looks like a little animal purse, but it's actually a carrier for an electric water heater bag to keep your hands warm. I have yet to use the "carrier."
And of course, this is the most common gift to give in China, the apple. In Chinese, the apple is called "ping guo" 苹果 which has a similar first character as the word for peace "ping an" 平安。In Chinese, the word for Christmas Eve is also "ping an ye" (Peaceful night). So, when people give you an apple on Christmas Eve, they are wishing you to have peace in the New Year.

Christmas Day Happiness!

Our team hung out for about 10 hours yesterday, enjoying the company and the Christmas spirit. Above photo represents some of the activities of the day; drinks, snacks, games, and chilling.

Caroline is loving her "Eat, Pray, Love" DVD. She also had some other goodness inside the metallic red bag.



Sporting some earrings and also a brown polka dot scarf (both presents from team-mates.) I love that they got me cutesy accessories! I also received yummy chocolate and room parfum diffuser. Very excited to put all gifts to good use!

Amber got some coloring books and other goodies.
Jenn got a Starbucks mug with yummy mixes and candy stuffed inside.

Christmas Happenings!

A "party" in China is often a long performance lasting two hours. I guess the party elements include balloons, loud music, and some humorous performances. Some team-mates and I attended one such Christmas "party" this past week on campus.
One humorous act was 2 girls doing synchronized yoga. Does yoga as a performance number seem odd to anyone else? Well, I couldn't stop laughing.

Luckily, there were four of us foreign teachers at the performance so we tried to see the positive side of sitting through a two hour party that was largely in Chinese and sometimes just down-right silly. :()

One of the workers to welcome the guests to the Christmas party.

One class of sophomore students that I teach performed a Chinese song to open the Christmas "party." The class monitor acted as their choir director. Pretty cute!

Some students displaying their Christmas decorations that we made last week-end at another (different) party. Students also made Christmas cookies at that party.

Another Christmas program at the orphanage where we volunteer. They are acting out the nativity scene.

We sat with these two little kids during the Christmas program at the orphanage. I think they were a little overwhelmed but also really happy to join the excitement and get out of their room if only for an hour or so.
To get to the orphanage center last night, we rode my friend Amber's electric bike. It was quite a task to go over muddy, slippery roads in the dark. The feeling was very comparable to riding in a sleigh. So, it was quite appropriate that on Christmas Eve, we took the "sleigh" to visit the kids.
Merry Christmas family and friends!

Random post about Rats

Today with team-mates Wes and Avery, we walked down a great little street with lots of fun shops to buy clothes, baby toys, purses, hats, etc. In the middle of the walking street, there were also some small "kiosks" I guess you could say.I looked over at one kiosk to see two big dead rats sitting on top of some vials inside of a big red bucket. Interested?
Wes said the man was selling very lethal rat poison...(clearly). The vials were the poison; the rats were the proof of its potency. Did I mention that these rats were big? So big, I had to look carefully to see if they were rats or rabbits. Gross!

While we're on the subject of rats, this past week in office time, we also discussed the rat problem in the student's dormitory. The students said they see the rats at night, looking them in the eye. They said the rats climb up their bunk-beds and then sky-dive jump from the top bunk to the floor; these are not ordinary rats we are talking about. This is not the occasional mouse in the house problem.
Together, we brainstormed some ideas to solve the rat problem in the dorms: 1. Getting a cat (but it's forbidden by the school, and it seems rats aren't scared of cats here.) 2. Buying a dead, fried rat and setting it out at night as a threat to the other rats (students said the rats would just eat the dead fried rat). 3. Keeping a rat in a cage to warn the other rats that come in to run away or it will also be held captive.
We decided number three was the only realistic option.

I remember my first year of teaching, I had a student absent from class because "a rat bit his finger during the night" the class monitor told me.
"Yeah right" I thought to myself, "I've heard 'em all." But sure enough, the next week the student was in class with a big white bandaged finger. Yikes!

Christmas Party 101

This past Saturday, I had a Christmas party for one class of sophomore students. The result was a success thanks to divine help and joy from above. Because there are 36 students in the class and what feels like only 36 square feet in my living room, I had the class divide into two groups for the party. The first group came at 4:00 and left at about 5:45. The second group came at 6:30 and left at about 8:30.
Here was the line-up for the party:
1. Giving the guests drinks (tea, milk, or sprite.)
2. Passing around peanut blossom cookies.
3. Giving the brief introduction of some of the symbols related to Christmas and why these symbols are important.
4. Teaching them 2 Christmas carols.
5. Having a white elephant gift exchange with the small presents that each student had brought.
Highlights from the party?
1. Most definitely when the second group of students asked if they could look in my fridge, then started pulling out items and asking me what they were.
2. Sharing about the Star of David and the reason we give gifts at Christmas time.
3. Singing silent night with the students.
4. The students helping to clean up after the party.
(One students' contribution to the white elephant gift exchange. He does calligraphy and made this scroll. Guess who got this present in the exchange? Unfortunately for me, the words are from the Buddhist holy book; slight conflict of interest.)

(Another student's white elephant gift; she received this pen and some chocolate.)

Photos from week

(It's not every year I have a silver tinsel tree. A couple of friends helped me to decorate it.)

(More KTV or karaoke with students)


(Some dishes at a local restaurant. Notice the variety of vegetables and the oil pooling at the bottom.)

(Freshman students practicing an English song for the upcoming Christmas "party" at school.)

(Students heading to class in the English building.)

Literature

Sometimes, I just want to stay in, open a good book, play some classical music and sip peppermint tea. Today is one of those days. How ironic that the plans for the day are quite the opposite of anything I might consider relaxing.

But, allow me to dally in memory lane for a bit longer. I remember the first stirrings of my interest in Literature. It began when we had English class in High School. We were required to read short stories such as "A Rose for Emily" and Kate Chopin's "The Awakening." These small nuggets of beautiful prose simply transformed my humdrum world of cheerleading, cool jeans, and homework.Both my English teachers in High School had a gift of bringing the novel or short story to life by including interesting pictures, background information or activities. I remember when we studied "Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes," our entire class learned how to make paper cranes, and then we sent more than thousands of them to the memorial for Sadako in Japan. Or, how we were forced to write poems or answer deep essay questions on the exam.

Fast forward about 2 years to the University of Sioux Falls where literature yet again stepped up a notch in worth. By this time, I was an English major and also in the English club. One of our professors had an idea to hold a reading of Beowulf on a Saturday morning. The event was called "Beowulf and bagels." The activity? Enjoy freshly made bagels and read out loud in turns the entire work of Beowulf. One professor even dressed up in warrior clothing of the time, complete with brown, animal fur tunic, a long-pole like spear and a broad shield. It felt like a scene right out of Braveheart only instead of fighting with weapons, he was using the passion to dredge through Beowulf. I'll never forget the sun room in Jordan hall, the brown-paper bags stuffed with bagels, and the participants taking turns to read chunks from this ancient work of literature. To see the passion and the gleam in the eyes of my professors showed me that literature truly transcends the distance between mind and soul and links them inexplainably together.

And now today, as I long to stay in with a good book, I go out and face the world. But in the breaks in between class, I pick up my book of choice for the day and read, "Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested" (Francis Bacon). Today I guess I have quite an appetite.

Haiku's written on peaceful Sunday afternoon

(The following haiku's reflect neighborhood life here in Hengyang.)

When outside comes in

peaceful, vivid voices move

like flowing curtains.

Greedy fireworks explode

in the dark outside my window

I awake, alone.

Smoke from the East & West

hazing up the crowded streets

nothing is untouched.

He weevils to and fro

his arms and legs smothered

The little emperor rules.

Grandma’s with no teeth

smile chasing after chickens

Grandpas look away.

Scouring through rubbish

finding treasure or at least

the next meal.

Random Photos

(Students enjoying a rousing game of skip-bo. It was no small task explaining this game 2 them.)

(My team-mate's wishes for a giant stuffed bunny came true on her Birthday this year!)

(Sticks of rabbit meat. . . not too bad; a little fatty. I prefer a leaner cut of rabbit.)

(A photo of me teaching...lest people think I just bum around all day.)