It’s been almost a month since our last blog update, so I do feel guilty for not updating as much as I should. Even still, I feel like there isn’t much to say. Our first vacation started yesterday — Chinese national day and Mid-Autumn Festival combine to give us a weeklong break. Before the break, we had both begun our classes and met almost all of our new students.
In the 4 weeks we’ve been here, we have had the chance to reconnect with many of our old friends whom we spent a lot of time with last year. A few of them are really showing some promise and we have very high hopes for them. We are currently in the process of trying to schedule regular times to be with them to encourage their growth. We have met several new students but haven’t had much time to establish friendships with them. Soon we will be spending more and more time with them and we will undoubtedly be busier than we can manage in no time.
So, we are taking advantage of our holiday and resting for a few days. Chinese National Day was October 1st...it’s comparable to the American fourth of July. In 1949, the People’s Republic of China was founded, when the communist army defeated the Japanese who were controlling China at the time. Our students, and all Chinese, are very very proud of their country and its independence from foreign control, so this holiday is very important to them. What’s more, this year is the 60 year anniversary, so it makes it all the more special. There has been no shortage of firecrackers going off, especially in the mornings. The second holiday is Mid-Autumn Festival, October 3rd. As far as we can tell, this is like a harvest festival that celebrates the moon...Chinese people will eat “moon cakes” and try to catch a glimpse of the moon that night. (This is not always an easy task, as our area of China is nearly always cloudy.) As for moon cakes, I am one who will abstain this year...most foreigners find them disgusting. There are different types of moon cakes, but the most common kind is a pastry filled with lotus root and the yolk of a hard-boiled egg. For Chinese people, these are both times to celebrate, but for foreigners like us, it is a time to travel! We plan to rest for the first few days of our break, and then travel for a few days. I’m sure after we return, I will have pictures to share, but as of now, I am unable to put pictures up because of the internet restrictions in China. Hopefully next week I can find away around this unfortunate censorship situation. Instead, I will simply offer a link to a picture of a moon cake to tide you over:
http://www.snpfood.com/images/01_2005/mooncake.jpg
