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Published: November 1st 2011
Twas the night before Halloween…and we’re celebrating our own Chinese version of it tonight. It’s a little strange not seeing Halloween decorations everywhere, but Halloween really isn’t popular here. It made it difficult to plan a Halloween party. We went to the store to find costumes and decorations, but they only had one tiny section of products. Well, not a section, a shelf. It was such a sad representation of Halloween, I who am used to whole stores dedicated to the holiday. They had different colored hair wigs, some masks, pirate hats and capes. That was all. No orange and black streamers, no ready to wear costumes (if you want a costume you have to find the separate pieces to put it together), and no Halloween packaged candy. I looked online for some easy to make Halloween treats and was able to find the ingredients for some things, but the choices again are limited. Another big difference: China does not have big, orange pumpkins for making Jack-o-lanterns. We’re stuck with making them with the small, green ones. One thing China does have an abundance of is American films, so we’re watching a scary movie. Kind of ironic that I’ve never been
to a Halloween party at home, so my first experience is with the Chinese version of one. We invited our Chinese friends to celebrate with us, so I hope they enjoy it.
Besides planning the party, the last two weeks haven’t been very eventful. Case in point: yesterday, Carey and I watched eight hours of How I Met Your Mother and then watched a movie. I feel a little better about this because earlier that day I had helped a girl with her English. Mubin introduced me to his friend Chen Jiaying. She is taking the IELTS which tests her English ability in order to study in England, and she wanted someone to practice her English with. We went to a café and just chatted for an hour and a half. We talked about where I had traveled in China, other places I should visit, and differences between the US and Chinese cultures. I really enjoyed it, and hopefully gained a new friend. We’re going to meet again, and she promised to talk with me in Chinese next time so I can practice.
Last weekend there was a fireworks show for the World Leisure Expo in Hangzhou, so
Miss Li got us tickets to go see it. One thing that’s weird, you needed to buy tickets to see fireworks. In the States, those are free. But the show was amazing! It was by the canal, with the fireworks set off from five barges in the middle of the canal. There were seats lined up along the edge of the water, and we had a front and center view. It was a forty minute show, and was easily the best one I have ever seen. It just kept going on and on! Since there were five boats spaced out in a line, my whole periphery view was fireworks. At one point, they even had fireworks showering down from the underside of the nearby bridge. I guess it makes sense because China invented the firework, so they should be pros by now.
We have midterms coming up next week, so I’ve been trying to study more. We have covered 27 chapters and learned over 700 new words already, so I really need to review. I’m most worried about our oral test. One of the sections is picking a topic and saying at least 25 sentences about it. Now, I
would struggle with this in English, so I really need to practice in Chinese. We have a practice for this on Monday talking about a place in Hangzhou—how to get there, what is it, what I do there, etc. I’m having a hard time finding a place that I could talk about for even 15 sentences. I guess I better start brainstorming.
Happy Halloween everybody!
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yamin
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