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Published: November 7th 2008
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Fish
A really big fish I had expected Halloween to pass by without notice here in China, but in fact it turned out to be one of the most festive holidays I’ve had in my adult life. My students had just finished their midterm exams, and were disappointed because the two day sports event that the school was supposed to have was cancelled due to bad weather. As a result, I was given permission to have parties in all of my classes on Halloween day. The kids loved it! We learned the words “vampire”, “werewolf”, “witch”, and “monster”, learned a rhyme about trick-or-treating, and drew Jack-o-lanterns. Of course, the kids got some candy at the end of the class as well. There are a few students in my first grade class who always behave very badly, but I was surprised to find that they (two of them, at least) became very focused indeed when asked to draw and color in a pumpkin. My favorite part of the whole class was getting to interact with those students without having to try and get them to do work.
It’s worth noting that my first graders were perhaps too fond of the part of the class where they
Grade four Halloween party
... my lazy costume was a paper crown. I'm a queen! The kids are eagerly waving pumpkins in my general direction. got to act like werewolves… they’re still letting out the occasional wolf howl a week later!
Teaching was followed by what can only be described as a wild party back at the foreign experts’ building. You can’t buy tacky pre-made Halloween costumes here like you can in the States, but the costumes that some of the people came in showed real ingenuity. Poster board was the most heavily used material. We had a cupid, a candle, a baby, the floor, and a host of others. I was a zombie. I managed to fall asleep before beer pong or bar hopping in Hankou, mostly because getting up at 5 AM every morning to prepare stuff for my classes absolutely kills me in the evening. Anyway, the party was good while I lasted, and from what I’ve heard I think I was around for the most fun part.
On Saturday I went out for tea with one of the other teachers. In Hankou there is a street that is nothing but tea rooms on one side, and tea shops on the other. It’s amazing, and I’m practically salivating at the thought of returning sometime soon. One thing that struck me
as especially cool was that a lot of the tea-shops had pue-ehr bricks that had been pressed into different shapes, such as rabbits, and old style Chinese coins. Every time I’d tried Pue-ehr in the US, it had given me a dirt and mildew kind of impression, while somehow still being oddly pleasant. Pue-ehr in China is much better. It still has an earthy taste, but in a way that reminds me of how a spring day smells. Jasmine pearls are more disappointing -- they’re less expensive by far than they are at home, but they don’t taste any better. That’s not to say that I don’t like them, but I have an unfair expectation that all Chinese tea must be spectacular.
One of the teachers at the school brought her nine year old daughter to China with her, and she’s attending our school as an exchange student, and living in the foreign experts building with the rest of us. I ended up going to an aquarium with them on Sunday. It was definitely a kids day out. The aquarium, while nice, wasn’t in anyway uniquely Chinese, or different from the kinds of aquariums that one might find in
My desk
... yes, it's a mess New York or Maine. There was a tunnel through one of the tanks, that you could walk through and see turtles swimming right over you. There were also penguins, a few depressing looking seals, and some ginourmous fish. I liked the turtles best. I don’t think I’ve ever appreciated just how adorable turtles are. We also took a trip to Mr. Mai’s, which is a local coffee shop that is geared towards foreigners, and Chinese who want to talk to foreigners as a way to improve their English. The owners are from Louisiana, and take the time to personally welcome every new guest. It seems like a nice place to hang out, even if I get the sense that the westerness of the place is mostly a way to lure in foreigners, in order to have the foreigners lure in a huge Chinese clientele. I’m considering going again tomorrow.
What else? There’s a place by the school that does nice manicures for the equivalent of three US dollars. While I never cared much for that kind of thing in the US, it’s a nice way to spend my lunch break once and awhile, since I can easily afford it
here.
On Wednesday the first grade had an open day for the parents, who showed up to watch me teach my class, and take lots and lots of pictures of their children with me. I enjoyed it at the time because the parents seemed to be getting very into it, but my co-teacher didn’t think that it went well because the little boy who enjoys hitting people was in a particularly violent, people-hitting mood that day. However, she told me today that we passed the parent test, so all is well.
The only other thing worth noting is that Wuhan is freezing at the moment, and I’m not enjoying it, because it’s not even remotely the kind of weather that I packed for. However, the convenience stores here sell coffee flavored gum, and that’s awesome. I think I over-use adverbs.
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Bruce
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Halloween in Wuhan sounds like buckets of fun! Thanks for the pix...they really complete the 'picture'.