Wo ai nin zhong guo

Saturday was the 8th annual tourism festival in Yichang.  We were invited to go to the festival by the Yichang Foreign Affairs office, so we loaded onto a bus with foreigners from all different countries...America, Britain, France, Norway, Romania, Australia, and Japan...and of course China.  We spoke in five different languages yesterday, even if it was just a few words in each.  After an hour long bus ride, we went to a show/performance in front of the Three Gorges Dam.  Almost all of the songs were specifically written for the event about the dam.  We were seated relatively close to the front, while all of the Chinese people with us had to go and sit in the back...we were supposed to be "special guests."  Apparently, special guests is way of saying, "we're going to put you in these seats so that all the photographers and news crews can harass you."  So many people were shoving cameras in our faces, it was ridiculous.  Katie counted once and said that in one minute, six people took pictures of us.  And it was like that for almost the entire 2 1/2 hours.  The performances were...interesting.  And loud.  Some of the singers were obviously just doing the lip sync along to a CD thing.  Some of them were famous people.  One of the last songs was sung by someone we think was famous, and the words we understood were "wo ai nin zhong guo"... "i love you, China."  To better describe our time, I'll show some pictures.

Police officers marching to the performance

This is the man who was sitting in front of us posing with a dolphin mascot.  This is about 15 seconds after he was hitting the dolphin on the head with a toy inflatable hammer.  Yes, he's an adult, but he was acting more like a six year old.

Cool colored smoke and confetti

Some drummers during the opening performance

You can see this large drum hanging over the stage in the colored smoke picture.  Later in the show, the drum was lowered to be level and a man came out of it and started dancing.

We have some videos of some of the performances that I am trying to upload to the internet, but as of now, it's not working.  Perhaps in the future.  After the show, we went to dinner with the Foreign Affairs Office, and then to a fireworks show at the river.  The fireworks were incredible.  The Chinese invented fireworks, so they really know how to do it right.  Our only complaint was that our seats were right at the front which happened to be right next to the speakers that were blasting Chinese operatic music so loud that we had to shove toilet paper in our ears.  But, the fireworks were like I've never seen in America...it was sublime.

Beyond the tourism festival, we don't have much to say.  We have settled into a routine of going to class, spending time with friends, and eating at the same restaurants.  Our students continue to amaze us with how happy and willing they are to spend time with us.  One girl approached me the other day out of nowhere, saying that she wasn't my student but she wished she was and wanted to be my friend.  Later that day she sent me a text message that said, "Hi, I am Snowy.so happy to meet you today .you are really friendly and beautiful.I like talking with people and making friends.I also want to have insights into your culture.I beleive we can bridge the gap between the granite and form unforgettale friendship."  We're so lucky to be here with such fantastic people.

This week we are off from school, because Wednesday is Chinese National Day.  Some Friends of ours from another city are in Yichang with us and tomorrow we will leave for a 3-day cruise through the Three Gorges.  I'm certain we will be posting pictures of this in the near future.

Mooncakes and Tea Leaves

Today marks two weeks of being in China. With the exception of some seemingly irreconcilable culinary differences between China and us (mostly me), we are settling in and living comfortably here in Yichang. One piece of good news is that we have managed to find a few american foods: oreos, skippy peanut butter, lays potato chips, and some coffee for Zack. We exaggerate, of course, but here are some pictures related to our eating experiences:

It's not that Zack was so hungry he had to eat a grasshopper...it's just that it was the biggest grasshopper we'd ever seen.

Today, in an attempt to buy chicken to make chicken noodle soup, we ended up with a frozen cornish hen...head, beak, toes, and all. Zack is teaching little Corny to perch on his finger.

In case you were wondering, the soup was delicious. After two weeks, we have begun almost all of our classes. Our schedules are final, as far as we know. Zack has 16 hours -- five video-audio classes and two listening classes. Elizabeth has 14 hours -- three audio-video classes, two listening classes, and two American film and music classes. We both have Thursday off, which is excellent. For the most part, our students are the sweetest and funniest people. Most of them, especially the freshmen, are so excited to have American teachers that they can't seem to take their eyes off of us. Both Zack and I have had to spend time after our classes while our students take pictures of and with us. We are constantly hearing things like, "I am so happy to have you as my teacher" and "I am so excited to have foreign friends" and "You are a beautiful teacher." They also open up to us quite readily. When we ask them to tell us something about themselves, instead of saying "my favorite color is blue" they give a speech about their hopes and dreams and are always offering to be our guides should we ever choose to come to their hometown. One thing we are doing with all of our classes is inviting them to come over to our apartment. When we suggest this in class, the students all beam and start whispering excitedly to each other. We have had a few troubles with our classes, but only in terms of broken computers or technical misunderstandings; the students are all awesome. We have heard so many times in the past week from our students, "I want to have foreign friends. Maybe I can be your Chinese friend."

This is one of the groups that came over to our apartment. We have had four groups so far; 24 people. Every time a group comes over, we serve them peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and play the Un-game. The un-game is just that...not a game. It is actually just a deck of cards with conversational questions, which we play as a way to get to know people. In this picture, everyone is saying "qie zi" (chee-ay zuh) which means eggplant. (Their version of saying, "cheese!")

After just two weeks of school, our first break is this weekend. Sunday is mid-autumn festival, so we have Monday off. It will be nice to have a short break; we hope we can spend some of the time getting to know some of our students better. As far as we can tell, mid-autumn festival is just a day when they look at the moon, spend time with family, and eat mooncakes. Zack and I were each presented with a box of mooncakes from our school. They were described to us as fig newtons...which was true in appearance, but far from true in taste. I guess the more weird things we eat, the more we learn about China. We didn't know until we got to class today, but today was Teachers' Day! I actually didn't find out immediately because my students either forgot or they just don't like me...Zack came to find me during the break between classes to show me the cards that his students hand-made for him. Throughout the rest of the day, we both received about a dozen "happy teachers' day" text messages from our students. Even so, by the end of the day I was feeling a little jealous of Zack because of all the cards his students made him. However, we had a group of students come this evening and as they walked in the door they presented me with a large stuffed animal dog. I was delighted, and now Zack is the jealous one.

Teachers' Day gift and a box of Mid-Autumn Festival mooncakes.

The best way for us to describe our experiences here is that we are excited. We love the people here and are so glad that we are able to get to know them as the opportunities present themselves.