Every year, the students get two days off of studying to compete in a schoolwide athletic competition. Since there are over 2,000 students, only the best get to compete. The others write essays. We, as the foreign teachers, read and gave points for good English essays.
The Opening Ceremony for Sports Day began with a parade
Several of my students were flag-bearers.
Our neighbor's Grandmother (奶奶) and baby, who has learned to wave at the foreign teachers everytime she sees us now!
The four of us with some of our competitors, the other teachers who ran against us in the teacher relay.
Team Red.
The foreign teachers ran a relay race against the other teachers at Xiuning. Of course, we knew we would finish last. So we cheated. Zoe cut across the field. If you watch the video closely, you can see her cut. When she handed the baton to me, we played leap frog for a moment. Then, I ran to the end.
Today, we had a most unusual but pleasant experience, considering we are in the modest town of Xiuning. Gerald Chan, the head-honcho of the foundation that sponsors Yale-China's program at Xiuning Middle School, invited some 100 business men and women (from everywhere, but many from Shanghai and Beijing) to discover some natural wonders of Anhui province.
There was a model of the resort's intended extensions beyond just the hotel buildings. It looks like a huge project, with a big pool, spa rooms, horseback riding, and other things I'm sure we didn't catch. The lady to the left is Corinne, our liaison from Mr. Chan's Shanghai office. She was really helpful and just fun to talk to as she was closer to our age than most of the people we usually come in contact with.
We were first invited to a nice lunch at the hotel. It was staffed by at least 20 people. It was strange to be so well waited upon after a month and a half of Xiuning lifestyle. It was a reminder of what Western lifestyle is like.
Our table with Mr. Cai, the head of one of Mr. Chan's Mainland China organizations.
Grand piano!? Yamaha--not bad. I think someone needs to play it... once she's cut her nails!
For Sam J... who loves everything decorative but kind of a waste of money...
After lunch, we took at 40-minute shuttle to the edge of a lake. These gondolier-like rowers took us across the lake. Our gondolier was nice considering how many people squeezed into his small boat!
Zoe didn't know we were taking a picture...
The concert stage at the destination! Everything that was built here seemed to be very thoughtful of the natural surroundings. It appeared that whoever designed the walkways, seating area, and stage was conscious of the wildlife.
The ensemble played several famous pieces, including arrangements from famous works such as...
(Chopin Nocturne, Op. 9 No. 2)
We climbed up to a ridge, which probably wasn't meant to be climbed upon, considering we all got thrashed by rose thorns in our makeshift two-feet wide "trail." Many were skeptical that in my skirt and heels I could climb the steep, dirt trail. But the view seemed worth the risk. Turns out, with a Michael to make sure you don't fall, it works out fine.
This is the shot of the lake in the background from the same ridge. I couldn't wear one of the provided hats... it was just too... much like a
A pretty natural wonder!
Another group photo in front of the lake before we left the concert venue.
When we returned, it was nightfall. The sun sets very quickly here. We had an outdoor dinner with live jazz. It was such a wonderful revisit to all the jazz I had ever listened to or studied. I had never seen Chinese people play jazz before, so this was interesting. They were good. They were a band from Shanghai...
We had Huo Guo (火锅), or hot pot, for dinner. It was wonderful! We had dumplings and my favorite, 年糕!
Gerald Chan is the gentleman standing next to me, and the man behind him is Kyle, Yale '85! He was the first Chinese student admitted to Yale since the Cultural Revolution. While no Harvard-Yale rivalry arose between the five of us and Mr. Chan, we joked a little at the end of our evening about Ivy League plight these days.
Tomorrow, we return to the hotel to grab some neverending lunch. Then, we'll get a tour of the resort grounds and hopefully some of the private cottages and suites. It seems like a great place to host friends and family!
I'll leave you with a teeny bit of fireworks, which concluded our evening. (Sam J, you must think of theme music from Indiana Jones in order to watch this. It's too boring without music synced to it.)
Here are some pictures of where we live and teach.
These are the stairs leading up to our houses and classrooms.
The upstairs rooms are Michael and Brendan's Gao 2 classrooms. The downstairs rooms are Zoe and mine.
This is the courtyard between the boys and girls' houses. As you can see, we hang our clothes on the clothesline with our other neighbors, who are also teachers.
The far green door is the door to our apartment. The window in the middle is my window. Though you can't see it here, there are bars on the window.
Big Bear and Big Squeakers
Our horribly messy living room.
Our horribly messy kitchen.
My door. My room My room. The back corner leads to my bathroom.
Disney Corner! The Toy Story picture is actually a 3D holographic puzzle. It was fun to put together!
That's all for now. The owner of the foundation that funds our Yale-China program here at Xiuning is helping to host a concert tomorrow at a resort hotel. There will apparently be a jazz band and good food. We're all very excited!
Michael's birthday was last week. We had some ingredients to make a Mexican-style dinner, so ironically Michael slaved all day in the kitchen to make a most delicious meal for all of us. They were quesadillas with chicken fajita filling. It was really wonderful since I hadn't had cheese in over a month! With cake mix that Michael's parents sent, Brendan made chocolate cupcakes, with his own improvised chocolate frosting. We also had some white wine from Chile, which tasted pretty good as a dessert wine paired with the frosting.
Michael cooking... Cupcakes! Oh and Brendan, too...
For 国庆节, the Chinese National Holiday, we had four days off. It would have been eight days, but we already had that H1N1 week off. It was very festive all around town with red lanterns and huge balloons marking the major 60th anniversary of modern China. We also celebrated the Mid-Autumn Festival (中秋节), of course, with moon cakes and gazing up at the moon.
The town square in Xiuning was adorned with many Chinese National Holiday paraphernalia, like the giant 60.
Also in the town square, there was an outdoor photo gallery of the scenic and truly rural places in Xiuning County. They were very beautiful, and they captured what I thought was the "hidden treasures" of what is often cast aside as just a poor farmer's land.
Moon cakes were so plentiful during Mid-Autumn Festival that our local bread shop had tables outside the store to sell them.
