Well here we are. It is already January 6th, 2008, a solid two weeks since I have returned to the USA. For a few weeks now I have done nothing much, but listing to "Tommy" by the Who at this moment has somehow changed my thoughts. I am now ready to write about some things I skipped over this Semester and the epic voyage/end of the year trip. Alright, here we go:
I'll start off with 中秋节(Zhongqiu jie or the Mid-Autumn Festival). The Mid-Autumn Festival is a holiday that involves the whole family going out under the moon, eating moon cakes, and celebrating the end of the summer harvest season. Leading up to 中秋节 moon cakes started turning up in the grocery store on campus and shops starting selling them. Moon cakes are not just made in one variety; there are actually lots of variations and in different areas of Southeast Asia you can find different kinds. A moon cake, or at least the ones that I had, had the substance of a small cake with a unique filling. The week of the Festival my Arts and Culture professor gave us a bunch of varieties to try out. I tried one that had Peking Duck inside it, another with a big egg inside. Our program went to 圆明园 (Yuan Ming Gardens) close to Beida to see a lantern show and eat moon cakes under the stars and bright moon. Walking around lakes and gardens, we saw lots of families walking around the area gazing at the large lantern displays. Some were huge sprawling scenes depicting old tales and myths. The pathways throughout the park were lined with endless rows of lanterns. Interspersed along the paths were rows of red lanterns coming at us as we walked forward. Lanterns were everywhere. It was a pretty incredible sight.
Later on in the Semester Charlie and I went along with 绿色生命 (Green Life) to the Natural History Museum. There were about 8 kids from the club that came and we were the only two foreigners. They weren't too chatty so we didn't talk too much. It was still an interesting trip though. The museum looked as if it hadn't been touched in three decades. The exhibitions were sorely in need of renovation. In the reptile exhibit we spotted a boy of about 5 years old giving a tour to a group of people. I think he was being fed the information about the plants and animals through a hidden microphone. It was ridiculous how many facts he knew about the exhibit. Anyway, the real highlight of the museum had to be the Human Body Exhibit. As we walked in we were greeted with various body parts pickled in jars. It was rather disturbing but had a sort of comedic effect at the same time. Later on we saw a head split in two parts filled with phamaldahide. Later on we saw fetuses pickled in jars and entire bodies stuffed into glass containers. One particularly disturbing one was a man with a burlap bag over his head. Needless to say I had nightmares for days after this sighting. I had second thoughts on whether I should have exposed myself to such a terrible thing.
Another thing I forgot to write about is the karaoke (or Ka-La-OK as the Chinese pronounce it) experience. Ka-La-OK is quite the popular endeavor for a late night out on the town with the pengyous (friends) so I went to the karaoke bars a few times during my time in China. 17 Miles was the closest to campus so that was where I went. One time I went to KTV (the major chain of karaoke bars in China which Charlie explained to me). Another perk of 17 Miles in particular was the 80% discount. A friend of the program, actually one of the Chinese kids on the program staff had a discount card that we borrowed when we went. The place consisted of a bunch of private rooms of various sizes and luxuries. We always went to one which had free access to a buffet room. Inside on a touch screen console we could select the songs we wanted and they would go automatically to a playlist. Another thing the room had was different percussion instruments, so people that weren't singing were beating drums, bongos, and shakers. One of my favorite parts of the KTV experience was the music videos. In place of a majority of the videos were homemade equestrian tapes showing middle aged women rub horses. Others showed scantily clad women walk along the beach. One of the most disturbing videos I can remember was the one for "The Thong Song". The video consisted of little kids running through sprinklers. What could KTV have been thinking when they produced this video? We can only hope they didn't understand the lyrics. At the time I admit it was pretty hilarious.
Lastly before I get to the epic trip, which I'll post next, I never got to write about my teaching job. During the fall semester I had the opportunity to teach once a week to a first grade class. Each week I prepared for my lesson before class and then biked over to the school. The school was actually close by in a neighborhood just behind the university. I tried to start out each class with a game so that all of the kids could ease into the class. Throughout the semester, I taught them how to play Simon Says, sing Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes, how to play Duck Duck Goose, and Telephone, among others. As I got to know the kids better they seemed to like me more and by the end of my time there all of the kids were sad to see me go. I learned a lot from teaching in English to Chinese kids. Ha, I had a lot more patients at the end compared to when I first started. I learned to mix in explanations in Chinese so that they could understand the English grammar. It was interesting teaching English because it made me realize how difficult the English language is for foreigners. Chinese is really the opposite of English, instead of complicated grammar structures, Chinese doesn't use much grammar but does have a lot of words with multiple meanings. The kids were great and I got a lot of laughs from them. One day a kid came up to me and said "My name is Panda. What is yours?" It was hilarious just hearing what they had to say in class everyday.
UPDATE: So, all of my pictures from the Semester and The Great Voyage/End of the Program Trip are up on the my pictures link. Soon or when I find some time in the next few weeks I will try to put up some captions so you know what is in the picture. Another quick thing, this page will soon be transforming into a Germany blog since I will be studying in München, Deutschland from March through July 2008. More is on the way...
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