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Published: March 2nd 2009
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Lantern Festival is the last day of the Chinese New Year celebrations. For us it was a better night that new year's eve! New years is family time. People stay in their homes; only going outside for a few minutes at a time to set off fireworks. Lantern Festival is all about being out in the street with your friends and family. We went with three members of Brad's adult class to 'Government Square' to watch the official firework show. The streets were completely rammed with people all walking in the same direction, just like after a football match (or how I imagine it to be after a football match). The fireworks lasted for ages and were the best we've ever seen. There were some that exploded in the shape of hearts, smiley faces and Olympic rings in the sky. Then we headed to the Museum Square where there were masses of huge lantern displays. Lots of dragons, birds, Chinese flags and all sorts.
The best thing about lantern festival was the lanterns themselves. They're little hot air balloons. You light a mini bonfire, wait for the balloon to inflate then launch it into the sky (see
video, above). By the end of the evening the sky was filled with them. It was really really beautiful. But we did have to keep checking above our heads as they had a tendency to catch fire and come crashing down to the ground in unexpected places.
Partly because of this fire hazard (and also because of the massive drought in northern China) the government made it rain the day before Lantern Festival. Yes it's true. The authorities fired shells and rockets containing 'cloud-seeding chemicals' (China Daily, 2009) into the sky. It's just balmy. We didn't know that it was man-made until a few days later. Looking back we should have realised. The rain was so sudden and heavy- after months without a drop. Tristan had to get a taxi home from school; it was too wet to cycle. It's rained a couple of times since that day but nobody ever seems to know (in fact I don't think the Chinese people really care) if it's human-induced or not. See this website http://science.howstuffworks.com/cloud-seeding1.htm for further reading on cloud seeding and a great animation of 'how cloud seeding works'.
This week we've been promoting our
school around Zibo. The spring term is about to start so we have to try to recruit new students. This mainly involves handing out flyers at state schools around the city. It's incredible how many schools there are per square mile here. I guess it's because nobody lives in houses here- just small flats- so it's a lot more crowded than home. Schools here are balmy. They start really early in the morning and don't finish until after five. Many of them play music (from Chinese chart hits to English nursery rhymes) as the students leave. At the primary schools half a dozen monitors wearing red sashes come out first and then each class files out one by one marching with a kid at the front carrying the flag for their class. So cute. Tristan has also been teaching some promotion classes in which the public can come into the school to see some teaching before they sign up. I spent this weekend handing out flyers at Wal Mart.
Last week we had a 'parent meeting' in every lesson we taught because it was the last week of term. This involved extra prep because the parents were
invited in to the class for the last half hour of each lesson to hear about what the students have learnt and watch a demo class. This was a big deal for us being brand new teachers but we soon realised that the parents only actually hear what the CTs choose to translate. We went out for a second time with some of the students from my advanced English class. We went to a Chinese hotpot restaurant and they gave us thank you presents! Afterwards we went to a (games) arcade. This is against my morals but it was actually a lot of fun. Mostly because there was a drumming game where you drum along to God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen (they have no idea what's a Christmas song and what isn't- this week i heard someones phone ringing jingle bells) and score points for accuracy.
We're getting to grips with some odd goings on in China and slowly becoming desensitised to them. The babies don't wear nappies. Pampers and Huggies are expensive but instead of using re-usable cloth ones like we did back on the day, they make the kids wear trousers with great big slits
in the bum. It's incredible because the weather's still freezing here. The babies are wrapped up in loads of layers but then their little bum cheeks (sometimes a willy too) are just open to the elements. Thus they can go to the toilet in the street whenever they want. I'd love to show you a photo but I think it's a bit too intrusive. We struggle with waste disposal in our apartment complex. We were shocked when we first arrived here that there's no waste collection and that we just dump our rubbish in a pile that gets burned every now and again. But we've come to realise that the the name of the game in Zibo is re-
use. As soon as we dump our rubbish a person appears and goes through it looking for anything that can be salvaged and sold on. I'm not talking about glass bottles but bits of dirty plastic wrapping. They pop it into their little trailers and head off to find someone to sell it to. So there's not a lot left to be burnt. Stuff like this reminds us that this is a developing country.
Since Brad and Frauke left
On the train to Jinan
This is a 1st class train coach. It's like sitting on a sofa. Sadly the journey was only one hour- we could have stayed on all day. we've spent more time at 'The Bar' where foreigners in the city meet up (it plays The Beatles, there are various world flags on the walls and they sell Old Speckled Hen and Abbot Ale). We're really making the effort because we're now the only foreigners at our school. We've met our first foreigner who isn't an English teacher, he's known as 'the German businessman'. There are four great fun American girls that teach at the university here (their uni in Pennsylvania is twinned with Zibo). They actually call me 'girl' (as in 'Hey gurl!'= 'Hello Charlie').
We start our serious big new timetables this week so will be working hard to make our first lessons of the term really good. Most of the students only speak to foreigners for one or two hours a week in our lessons so it's important to get rid of bad pronunciation habits that they learn from Chinese English teachers. It's our job to get them to speak more naturally. Ask anyone in china 'how are you?' and ninety five percent of them will answer 'I'm fine thanks, how are you?' without even thinking about their actual feelings at that time.
In Linzi with Meloday
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2336967&id=61402404&l=f5437 click the link for more photos of this trip It's as automatic as the answer to 'what's your name?' or 'how old are you?'. One of the CTs at our school is really into learning slang and colloquial English phrases. We'll hear him saying things like 'thanks a million' and 'lets grab a cab' and we find ourselves trying to explain where phrases like 'nose to the grindstone' come from and the difference between 'a fancy car', 'fancy dress' and 'I fancy you'.
We've been on a trip to Linzi, another district of Zibo with Meloday, one of our CTs. The main attraction is a really spooky museum of horse skeletons. Some ancient leader on this area requested he be buried alongside hundreds of horses. So it's quite a weird sight. There are at least another two districts of interest that we hope to visit over the next month or so. This city's so huge that really they are day trips because some take over an hour to travel to.
I'll write again when I have more news............... x x x
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Grandma
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Happy March
Just seen Bonnie in herb garden coffee shop today so we had a natter. your blog is great (as ever). I didn't know about the rain but have read about it in several papers since. had a great time at Tim's party-sure you'll have heard all about it. spring weather in the air today- snowdrops, daffs, crocus all looking good. keep well both of you and continue enjoying Zibo. lots of lovexx