Friday, December 30, 2005
'Tis the Season...
Shengdan Kauila (Merry Christmas) everyone!
It was just Christmas time in Shaoxing, and did we ever have a hootenanny of a time. On Christmas Eve, Bryan and I traveled to Shangyu (a town about forty minutes away where Bryan teaches three days a week), to have dinner at the home of one of his fellow teachers. We arrived in Shangyu in mid-afternoon and took the opportunity to do a little clothes shopping. Unfortunately all the clothes here are too small for me. I tried on a couple XXXL jackets and the sleeves d
idn't even come close to my wrists. I am just the wrong body size for Asia. After shopping, we met up with two other teachers, Dewey and Eida, and we went to have our hair washed. The salon in Shangyu was even better than in Shaoxing. Besides the hair wash, we also got longer massages and a face wash. The only bad part was the way they styled my hair after it was washed. You can probably see for yourself from the photo. I look like I stuck my head in a wind tunnel.
After trying to fix my hair, we picked up some fruit and flowers and headed to Ms. Foo's (our hostess) house. You may remember that it was Dewey and Ms. Foo who took us out for some sightseeing and lunch earlier in the semester (See Lounging at Lanting). She invited us and about eight other people over for supper. It was, as usual, a fantastic meal with more food than we could possibly eat (and as usual we were encouraged to try and finish it). We had the basics: chicken, pork, duck, beef, as well as turtle, shrimp and crab. There were probably a total of about twenty dishes served. It is amazing how they can cook so much food at the same time, especially considering that most kitchens only have two gas burners and no oven.
After dinner, Mr. Foo (actually his name isn’t Mr. Foo. He is Ms. Foo’s husband, but women keep their surnames after marriage. So he would have a different last name, but I don’t know it. Anyways, Mr. Foo) broke out the microphones and it was time for Christmas songs and Chinese opera. Bryan and I tried to sing a few Christmas favorites but neither of us are very good singers, and together we are even worse. So no one was too impressed. Following the singing, it was time for ballroom dancing. Waltzing is huge here for some reason. 
A few weeks ago, Bryan and I stumbled into a dark little ballroom hidden on a Shaoxing side street, and we found probably two hundred people waltzing in a great circle around the dance floor. It was pretty surprising, especially considering it was 2 o’clock on a Monday afternoon. Anyways, the night ended shortly after 10 pm, and Ms. Foo drove us the thirty minutes back to Shaoxing.
When we got home, I got a text message (that’s right, I finally got a cell phone) from some students who were at the Soho Club (our cowboy bar). They asked us to join them, so we caught a cab over. We spent the next two hours dancing like fools with them. It was a good time and fun to get to know them better. They are not our students but older ones who have assisted us in various tasks. At 12:30 am, the students went back to their dorms and Bryan and I went to our favorite bar to meet up with the few other foreigners celebrating Christmas here. The night was a good mix of East and West.
The next morning, Christmas morning, I had a marathon phone conversation with the family (about two hours), then Bryan and I went to a Christmas lunch put on by one of the other foreign teachers here, Georgina (an Aussie). Unfortunately, I think the turtle I ate the night before wasn’t agreeing with me so I went home and slept for a few hours.
In the evening, Bryan and I joined our downstairs neighbors, Uffe and Camilla Most (from Denmark) for dinner. The dinner party included their two little girls as well as two students who are friends of the family. We had the best Western meal in China so far that night. We ate beef tenderloin, which Uffe had cut and aged himself, along 
with a butter garlic sauce with onions and mushrooms. I ate two and half. The main course was followed by Danish pancakes (kind of like crepes) and ginger crisps, as well as German Christmas cake. It was an amazing meal.
Afterwards, Uffe and Camilla played a few Christmas carols for us. Uffe is a music professor and Camilla teaches music (piano and violin) to children. It finally felt like Christmas when I listened to “Silent Night” (my favorite) performed live on the piano (Uffe) and violin (Camilla). It was a wonderful night and nice to spend it with some children as well. They always make Christmas seem more special. I went to bed early that night because the next morning I began giving final exams.
Xing Nian Kuaile! Happy New Years!
This past Saturday, New Year’s Eve, Bryan and I, accompanied by our friend Shirley (who is another teacher at Shangyu) went to Hangzhou for the day. We left at 8 am and spent more than 12 hours trekking around the city, never letting the rain and cold slow us down for a minute. The trip started out with a stop at the silk market to pick up a few essential textiles then we went to eat. I’m sorry to say it, Mom, but I may have developed an MSG addiction here. It’s in all the food and if I don’t get some by noon I start to get a little shaky and a little irritable. I also think I am addicted to rice. I have to have it at least once every couple of days.
After brunch, we headed for a five-story tall electronics market, where I was able to get a new memory card for my camera. Then it was a cold,
wet walk to Shirley’s old college where we met up with her cousin and her former classmate. I don’t remember exactly how it happened, but we ended up at a Math Department End-of-the-Year party at the student union, and I wound up singing “Take me to your heart” (a really bad English song that is super popular here) for them. It was not good, and Bryan can attest that it was just as painful to watch.
From the college, we caught a cab to Carrefours, a supermarket with a great “International” aisle. This is where we go to buy oven-baked (instead of steamed) bread, as well as a few essentials like olives and cheese (“Land O Lakes” from Minnesota even!). Loaded with all our treasures we made the twenty-five minute walk to the train station where we purchased tickets on the earliest possible train, which unfortunately wasn’t until 8:30 pm, two and a half hours later.
Undaunted, we caught a cab to a touristy part of town where we knew of a good Irish pub that served great club sandwiches. (Hangzhou is much more international than Shaoxing). Sadly, when we arrived we found that the restaurant had moved to another location. This may have fazed me a couple of months ago, but not now. Everything here is always changing. Stores are always opening or closing or renovating. And if they are not doing one of these things, then they rearrange their layout and inventory, making it 
impossible to find anything. I think it all comes from their Buddhist history and a belief that all things are impermanent. So as a reminder they constantly change everything. Honestly buildings go up and come down in a matter of days here, and trees appear mysteriously at night. I really can’t explain it.
Anyways, we went to a nice Chinese restaurant that Shirley suggested and she ordered a wonderful meal for us. However, after all the walking through wet streets I nearly fell asleep when we finally found a warm place to sit. After dinner, we went back to the train station and caught our train home. We arrived around 10 pm (because our train was about thirty minutes late), and said goodbye to Shirley who was continuing on to Shangyu.
After a brief stop at home to drop off our loot, we headed out to the foreigner’s hangout on bar street to ring in the New Year with a couple of other people who also don’t belong here. The rest of the details of this night are inconsequential, suffice it to say I had a good time and made many new friends.
I hope you also enjoyed the holidays. I miss you all and wish you the best in the New Year.
It was just Christmas time in Shaoxing, and did we ever have a hootenanny of a time. On Christmas Eve, Bryan and I traveled to Shangyu (a town about forty minutes away where Bryan teaches three days a week), to have dinner at the home of one of his fellow teachers. We arrived in Shangyu in mid-afternoon and took the opportunity to do a little clothes shopping. Unfortunately all the clothes here are too small for me. I tried on a couple XXXL jackets and the sleeves d
idn't even come close to my wrists. I am just the wrong body size for Asia. After shopping, we met up with two other teachers, Dewey and Eida, and we went to have our hair washed. The salon in Shangyu was even better than in Shaoxing. Besides the hair wash, we also got longer massages and a face wash. The only bad part was the way they styled my hair after it was washed. You can probably see for yourself from the photo. I look like I stuck my head in a wind tunnel.
After trying to fix my hair, we picked up some fruit and flowers and headed to Ms. Foo's (our hostess) house. You may remember that it was Dewey and Ms. Foo who took us out for some sightseeing and lunch earlier in the semester (See Lounging at Lanting). She invited us and about eight other people over for supper. It was, as usual, a fantastic meal with more food than we could possibly eat (and as usual we were encouraged to try and finish it). We had the basics: chicken, pork, duck, beef, as well as turtle, shrimp and crab. There were probably a total of about twenty dishes served. It is amazing how they can cook so much food at the same time, especially considering that most kitchens only have two gas burners and no oven.
After dinner, Mr. Foo (actually his name isn’t Mr. Foo. He is Ms. Foo’s husband, but women keep their surnames after marriage. So he would have a different last name, but I don’t know it. Anyways, Mr. Foo) broke out the microphones and it was time for Christmas songs and Chinese opera. Bryan and I tried to sing a few Christmas favorites but neither of us are very good singers, and together we are even worse. So no one was too impressed. Following the singing, it was time for ballroom dancing. Waltzing is huge here for some reason. 
A few weeks ago, Bryan and I stumbled into a dark little ballroom hidden on a Shaoxing side street, and we found probably two hundred people waltzing in a great circle around the dance floor. It was pretty surprising, especially considering it was 2 o’clock on a Monday afternoon. Anyways, the night ended shortly after 10 pm, and Ms. Foo drove us the thirty minutes back to Shaoxing.
When we got home, I got a text message (that’s right, I finally got a cell phone) from some students who were at the Soho Club (our cowboy bar). They asked us to join them, so we caught a cab over. We spent the next two hours dancing like fools with them. It was a good time and fun to get to know them better. They are not our students but older ones who have assisted us in various tasks. At 12:30 am, the students went back to their dorms and Bryan and I went to our favorite bar to meet up with the few other foreigners celebrating Christmas here. The night was a good mix of East and West.The next morning, Christmas morning, I had a marathon phone conversation with the family (about two hours), then Bryan and I went to a Christmas lunch put on by one of the other foreign teachers here, Georgina (an Aussie). Unfortunately, I think the turtle I ate the night before wasn’t agreeing with me so I went home and slept for a few hours.
In the evening, Bryan and I joined our downstairs neighbors, Uffe and Camilla Most (from Denmark) for dinner. The dinner party included their two little girls as well as two students who are friends of the family. We had the best Western meal in China so far that night. We ate beef tenderloin, which Uffe had cut and aged himself, along 
with a butter garlic sauce with onions and mushrooms. I ate two and half. The main course was followed by Danish pancakes (kind of like crepes) and ginger crisps, as well as German Christmas cake. It was an amazing meal.
Afterwards, Uffe and Camilla played a few Christmas carols for us. Uffe is a music professor and Camilla teaches music (piano and violin) to children. It finally felt like Christmas when I listened to “Silent Night” (my favorite) performed live on the piano (Uffe) and violin (Camilla). It was a wonderful night and nice to spend it with some children as well. They always make Christmas seem more special. I went to bed early that night because the next morning I began giving final exams.Xing Nian Kuaile! Happy New Years!
This past Saturday, New Year’s Eve, Bryan and I, accompanied by our friend Shirley (who is another teacher at Shangyu) went to Hangzhou for the day. We left at 8 am and spent more than 12 hours trekking around the city, never letting the rain and cold slow us down for a minute. The trip started out with a stop at the silk market to pick up a few essential textiles then we went to eat. I’m sorry to say it, Mom, but I may have developed an MSG addiction here. It’s in all the food and if I don’t get some by noon I start to get a little shaky and a little irritable. I also think I am addicted to rice. I have to have it at least once every couple of days.After brunch, we headed for a five-story tall electronics market, where I was able to get a new memory card for my camera. Then it was a cold,
wet walk to Shirley’s old college where we met up with her cousin and her former classmate. I don’t remember exactly how it happened, but we ended up at a Math Department End-of-the-Year party at the student union, and I wound up singing “Take me to your heart” (a really bad English song that is super popular here) for them. It was not good, and Bryan can attest that it was just as painful to watch.
From the college, we caught a cab to Carrefours, a supermarket with a great “International” aisle. This is where we go to buy oven-baked (instead of steamed) bread, as well as a few essentials like olives and cheese (“Land O Lakes” from Minnesota even!). Loaded with all our treasures we made the twenty-five minute walk to the train station where we purchased tickets on the earliest possible train, which unfortunately wasn’t until 8:30 pm, two and a half hours later.
Undaunted, we caught a cab to a touristy part of town where we knew of a good Irish pub that served great club sandwiches. (Hangzhou is much more international than Shaoxing). Sadly, when we arrived we found that the restaurant had moved to another location. This may have fazed me a couple of months ago, but not now. Everything here is always changing. Stores are always opening or closing or renovating. And if they are not doing one of these things, then they rearrange their layout and inventory, making it 
impossible to find anything. I think it all comes from their Buddhist history and a belief that all things are impermanent. So as a reminder they constantly change everything. Honestly buildings go up and come down in a matter of days here, and trees appear mysteriously at night. I really can’t explain it.
Anyways, we went to a nice Chinese restaurant that Shirley suggested and she ordered a wonderful meal for us. However, after all the walking through wet streets I nearly fell asleep when we finally found a warm place to sit. After dinner, we went back to the train station and caught our train home. We arrived around 10 pm (because our train was about thirty minutes late), and said goodbye to Shirley who was continuing on to Shangyu.After a brief stop at home to drop off our loot, we headed out to the foreigner’s hangout on bar street to ring in the New Year with a couple of other people who also don’t belong here. The rest of the details of this night are inconsequential, suffice it to say I had a good time and made many new friends.
I hope you also enjoyed the holidays. I miss you all and wish you the best in the New Year.
