David's Big Adventure in China

December 24, 2007
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from China! I went to a Christmas party hosted by the school on Saturday night for all the foreign students and foreign teachers. In all there were about 10 countries represented including Viet Nam, Laos, China, Thailand, France, Canada, USA, Australia, and Switzerland. There was singing and performances in English, French, Chinese, Vietnamese, Laos and maybe one or two more that I missed. Some of the performances would have had Simon from Idol rolling his eyes and lofting zingers but there were a couple that were quite good. There was a Vietnamese kid that could dance like Michael Jackson and some of the Vietnamese girls did an Indian dance (yes, India, the neighboring country to China). On Sunday night I went to a Christmas party hosted by some of my students and they also had some performances but only Chinese and English were used. One of my students gave me a can of beer shortly after I arrived and of course we toasted with the words “gan bei” which means bottoms up. There is no minimum drinking age here so the kids can drink whenever and wherever they want. They even sell beer in one of the school cafeterias.

Tonight is Christmas Eve here and I had my normal classes today (see the pic – click on “pictures” under “my links” on the right side). For my class this evening I treated them to some typical American food and sang them a couple Christmas songs (White Christmas and Rudolph). We had PB&J sandwiches (creamy Skippy), Pringles, peanut M&M’s, chocolate chip cookies, Cheerios, Coke and Sprite. They seemed to really enjoy it. I don’t have any classes on Tuesdays so I won’t have to go to class on Christmas day but I’ll be busy preparing a final lesson and preparing a final exam. Last week in my classes I read the poem “Twas the Night Before Christmas” and explained all the parts that were difficult for them.

Well that’s it for this abbreviated Christmas edition. “Happy Christmas to all and to all a good night!”

Well here in China “it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas”. There are Christmas decorations and trees in many places, parties being planned and Christmas songs in English being played in the stores. The only things missing are days off and religious symbols. Fortunately the weather has not been Christmas like. It has been very nice the past week with highs in the low 70’s and low’s in the low 40’s. It was colder a couple weeks ago with lows in the upper 30’s and highs in the upper 50’s. Even when it gets down to the low 40’s many students leave their windows open. Sometimes the classroom windows are left open and one morning I was teaching in a classroom that was 55 degrees. I had on several layers of clothes, my jacket and by the end of the class I was wearing my gloves. I have now experienced a 40 degree variance in classroom temps from the sweltering 95 degree room in Zhuhai in June to the chilly 55 here.

Here are some odds and ends about living here. There are a lot of good local fresh fruits here and they are pretty cheap. The other day I bought 3 oranges, an apple and 3 bananas for about $.65. The oranges here are especially delicious and I eat fresh fruit pretty much every day. I went to a restaurant with some Chinese friends the other day and we had donkey meat which is apparently a local specialty. I don’t recommend it….lol……the taste was not particularly enticing. One thing that seems a bit strange is that license plates on cars have English letters and numbers except for the first character which is a Chinese character that designates the province. I heard on the news the other day that the price for getting a license plate for a new vehicle in Shanghai has reached the price of $7400! Yes, that’s right 7400 U.S. dollars for the privilege of driving a car in Shanghai. They are limiting the number of new plates issued and auction the new plates. It’s the only city in China that does that. I decided to give the local dental care a try and went to get my teeth cleaned recently. It cost me about $18 for the cleaning and I haven’t had any problems. I really can’t tell how good a job they did but it didn’t seem as thorough as what you get in the states.

It’s nice to be in a country where the people really like Americans and respect our political system. There were a couple recent occasions where an old man on the bus started a conversation with me (mostly in Chinese but they did speak a bit of English). They were very friendly towards me and appreciate the things America has done to help China. The biggest thing they appreciate is that we kicked Japan’s butt and helped get the Japanese out of China after they had invaded China during WWII. Most Chinese people hate the Japanese. Last week was the 70th anniversary of something known as the “Nanking Massacre” or “Rape of Nanking”. The Japanese invaded what was then the capital of Northern China (now known as Nanjing) and after overwhelming the Chinese army proceeded to rape tens of thousands of women and children and killed at least 150,000 civilians. Japan has continued to dispute these facts and has never apologized for any brutality. There was a commemorative display in the lobby of the main classroom building on the day of the anniversary with pictures of mass graves, etc.

Well the semester is winding down and I’m busy getting ready for final exams. My last class is on January 4 then after I turn in grades I’ll be on break for almost 7 weeks! I have been having some fun on the weekends and seeing some sights. I have posted some new pics for your enjoyment showing how I spend some of my free time. I will probably get one more post in before I go home for a visit. My schedule for my visit home is January 11-14 in Indiana, 15-17 in Reno, 18-21 in Atlanta, 22-24 in Tampa, and 25-28 in Indiana.