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Published: December 20th 2006
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Winter Wonderland
This 'Santa's Village' is across the street from my host family's neighborhood. Wen Lei and i stopped by to check it out one day when we were out shopping. Yesterday, Christmas was celebrated at Real Life English, Chinese-style. Our ordinary Friday night English Corner is typically held from 7-9 PM and the topic is selected by the teacher in charge that evening. The event is free and is meant to draw in people from the street or friends of registered students as a way to check us out. Last night, the theme was "Christmas" and it was mandatory for all teachers to attend, which meant that I had to come in on my day off (boo). However, the event was a huge success and lots of fun.
The night began with a brief introduction of Christmas by the evening's host, Ben, (my buddy; the guy who was assigned to mentor me during my first few weeks as teacher and who has become a psuedo big brother to me). "Santa" even made an appearance (played by another teacher, Jon). Santa then proceeded to explain the significance of Christmas, insomuch as the birth of Jesus was glossed over and then pretty much discarded for the remainder of the evening.
After the introduction, the students were set loose to wander around the various workshops that were being held. They included cookie
Nativity Scene
Notice how everyone is WHITE...I guess there are no Chinese plastic baby Jesuses lying about. decorating, a cookie eating contest, ornament making, chinese carols and singing carols in english. Ben and I were put in charge of the English carol corner, due to our superior musical skills (well, his anyway; he was in a professional rock band in Australia and plays a mean guitar. Sometimes the teachers will venture out to an Irish pub called "Durty Nellie's" which features live music, and he will pick up a guitar and jam with the band). Anyway, I digress. We had a grand time singing "Silent Night", "The First Noel", "Deck the Halls" and others. Our section was a huge hit.
After the various workshops, we reconvened in the main lecture hall for a special musical treat-- a quartet headed by yours truly! As I mentioned in my previous blog, I've been put in charge of the musical section of our visit to the migrant children's school on Christmas Eve, and our quartet had a sort of dress rehearsal last night. We received a huge round of applause; hopefully, they all meant it! We then led everyone in singing "Jingle Bells" and "Silent Night". It
was a great night; over 200 students came.
Before the Christmas corner, I spent most of yesterday wandering around the Tiananmen Square area with my friend, David, in search of digital pianos. There is a huge street by the name of Liu Li Cheng which is well-known for musical instruments and scrolls. I am happy to report that I have been successful in my search and will hopefully be brining home my new baby sometime after Christmas!! (After which I will most definitely post pictures).
Being the adventuresome lass I am, and with a willing comrade (oh gosh, that term 'comrade' just slipped out on its own; perhaps my brother is right and I really am becoming ingrained in Chinese politics...), I decided to explore the hutongs that surrounded the music street. Hutongs are old neighborhoods in beijing that truly capture the nature of the old culture. They are simple stone buildings that surround inner courtyards; often there is no heat and only one or two rooms have roofs. They are often in disrepair, unfortunately, and many have been torn down to make way for new luxury apartments. In fact, as David and I walked through these hutongs,
we could see huge new construction projects blocking the skyline behind the neighborhoods. We wandered around at our leisure, and eventually came upon a man who invited us into his home. He wanted us to look at his paintings (which were not very good, to be honest) and when we took our leave, insisted upon giving us 2 postcards and a free book! He was searching his meager belongings for something else to give us when we finally just had to walk away. He refused to take back the book and followed us out, asking if we wanted tea. It was unbelievable. I can't even imagine someone in America inviting a complete stranger into their home and letting them walk away with a gift.
David and I were just discussing how happy we were to get away from the CBD (central business district) and see the 'real' China when we turned the corner in the hutong and came upon a Walmart supercenter. It was absolutely unreal. As I've said before, China truly is a melting pot of old and new. Here we are, in an old neighborhood; I'm imagining the Cultural Revolution, the Revolution of 1911, the Opium Wars,
Kraft Singles in China!
I just had to include this shot because my cousin works for Kraft in Chicago. and even farther back in Chinese history, and then we come upon one of the greatest eyesores in American culture smack dab in the middle of it all. I shouldn't even be surprised anymore.
A fun fact: I've always been fascinated (ok, that may be a stretch; more like amused by) pirates and everything to do with piracy (as in yarrr, matey, not illegal downloads). I was excited to note that pirates are everywhere in beijing: on t-shirts, on hats, many of the teachers dressed as pirates for Halloween, etc. Only recently did I realize why this was so. The standard Chinese dialect (as approved by the government) is 'putonghua' or Mandarin. It is primarily spoken in the North, and the provinces around beijing are thought to have the best putonghua accents. The Beijing accent is quite throaty and many words in Mandarin are slightly altered to end with an 'er' sound. However, when put into pirate context, it sounds more like 'arrrrrr'. It's a total play on words! Pirates say 'arrrr' and beijingers say 'errrrr'. It was just too funny to keep to myself.
There is talk about traveling up to Harbin for the famous ice festival.
I am considering going, just for the experience, but as someone who detests the cold, it may not be the brightest of ideas. I will keep you all posted.
That's all for now. Please feel free to comment on my blog via this webpage or via email: merritt.wilsongmail.com
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