I want totalk about Christmas, even though it wasn't particularly amazing or astounding. Nor was it very Chinese. My school took us out to a wonderful dinner and a concert. Mr. Gao (the vp) chose an amazing selection of food, and we ate until we were uncomfortably full. Then Teresa, Michaela, Marilyne and myself were whisked away to a concert. The concert was very nice, but honestly I was too busy fawning over the little darling sitting next to me. He was afraid of him at first, when he finally noticed me. But by the end he was tugging on my shiny dress and smiling at me. Although he was less than pleased when I took his photo. His grandmother had the greatest smile and the most patience.
This little guy was so quiet during the first half of the concert, traditional Chinese music. The second half he started to get antsy wiggling around as opera singers were singing. I was starting to get antsy to, I am not a huge opera fan. Although the diva they had singing was amusing to watch. Her first dress had her cleavage almost popping out. The final number "Silent Night" was very sweet, and the little guy was kicking the seat in front of him. The concert was lovely, after that I went to a party set up by Maureen and Roo. PJ Pijiu. Drinking Pijiu (beer) in our PJs! It was intensely amusing!! I embarrassingly enough got tipsy off of the two Chinese beers I drank, probably because I had also had wine at dinner. Then had an interesting conversation with a street vendor who made delicious fried rice. The next evening was the White Elephant gift exchange. Highlights were the butt harness to lift your butt and make it look bigger, the poop candle (that I found at a stationary store), two poop mugs and some sleeve covers. Sleeve covers are a bizarrely Chinese concept but make sense. When you are working and don't want to get your sleeves dirty you put covers over your sleeves. Then the Chinese go and make them in strange bright colors that clash with whatever you are wearing. We then went to roller skating, which was way more dangerous than I was prepared for. The people roller skated like they drive, no lanes, no fast or slow and not braking very often if at all. Maureen and I left when a fight broke out on stage. As we walked through the throngs of people and I do mean throngs. We were left musing at all the people wearing masks on Christmas Eve, and why Christmas Eve was the time to go out! All in all Christmas was pretty good. Including a miracle for my friend who got her wallet, passport and purse found and returned to her. For a price... ah China...
New Years was a much more awesome story. Teresa, Thomas, Marilyne and I all sang a song and danced in the New Years Eve Concert held on the 30th of December. The other teachers went all out, they had costumes, fog machines and blaring music. The evening was very fun, and Teresa got thrown up on, luckily after she changed out of her "Minority Costume." These outfits we were lent were supposedly traditional "Minority" costumes. I don't know which Chinese Minority wears leopard print cowboy hats... but Thomas rocked it.
We sang "Kangding Qingge" a famous song that everyone in China knows. Thomas juggled fruit, and we did a little dance. Everyone was cheering and clapping along. It was a fantastic experience. High on our success, Teresa changed her clothes and we went to KTV with some of Marilyne's French friends who live and work in Wuhan. Which is the town where the French companies go for business. We sang tons of songs and left around 2am. All in all a great evening.
On the 31st, I went to Marilyne's house. She had a small party, with a lot of wine. Really good wine. Some quiche and homemade Sangria! There was English, French, Japanese and Chinese all being spoken simultaneously. I left a bit before Midnight to meet some other WTers on BuXingJie (Walking Street). We heralded in the New Year walking down BuXingJie looking at all the lanterns flying in the sky, and the sparklers people were waving around. Every foreigner in Changsha was out, but the crowds were positively tiny compared to Christmas eve. Some more drunken fried rice and then home to sleep. Today I packed up for Thailand. I leave tomorrow 1 week in Guangzhou and 2 weeks in Thailand!
Happy New Year!
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| Some of the lights in Martyrs Park, preparation for Chinese New Years! |
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