Dragon Boat Festival

We've had a three-day weekend for Dragon Boat Festival, and it has been nice. Most students didn't go home, so we were able to spend time with them a bit. Matt and one of his good friends went out and had a GREAT time on Wednesday night. And I was able to catch up with a student from my old school, as well as have some of my current students over to eat zongzi (the traditional Chinese food for this holiday).

As we were eating zongzi and watermelon, we were making quite a mess, so I went to grab some napkins out of my cabinet. (These were some of the napkins sent from America with pretty designs on them.) You would have thought that I had given them the most amazing gift of all time. They refused to use the napkins until I promised to give them a clean one to take with them and keep! They were so excited about the first napkins I gave them, that I also handed out Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas napkins. These girls were squealing with each new napkin I pulled out of the cabinet! It was hilarious!

Last Week

These days, we rarely carry around the camera anymore. But last week, I tried to keep it in my bag to get some pics of life. Here are the results...

On Sunday afternoon, some American friends came over to help teach our students some American kids games (you know, Duck, Duck, Goose; Freeze Tag; Hot Potato; etc). The students also taught us some Chinese games.





Hanging out in the Student Dorms.


Matt got a suit made (About $50 total!) for my sister's wedding. The ones he has in America are all too big now.


At the students' tug-of-war match.

The Chairman

In China, the word for cat is "mao," which sounds like "meow." Makes sense, huh? What's funny, though, is that it also sounds like the name of China's famous Chairman Mao.

So... last night, we found a super-friendly stray cat playing around our house, and we went outside to feed and play with her. Of course, she needed a name. And what better than "The Chairman," of course. Since she is a girl, we call her Ms. Chairman to her face. (Chairwoman just doesn't have the same ring.)

Anyway, here are some pics of The Chairman. We're hoping she comes around again tonight and every night! We really miss having pets around.

A Little Japanese Lesson with Chinese Friends

Making Sushi

Chinese Opera

Chinese Opera is a huge part of Chinese culture. In my opinion, some of it, like Beijing opera, is truly intolerable with ridiculously high-pitched, nasal shrieks making up the singing. However, we found out yesterday that a Shaanxi Opera (a different kind of Chinese opera) was being performed at our school last night, and that it was free! So, we got tickets and headed over.

Matt has been wanting to see a Chinese opera for some time and thought he would really like it; I, on the other hand, had my doubts. Surprisingly, the opposite was true. He was bored out of his mind, and I actually enjoyed it. Of course, we had very little idea of what was actually happening since it was all in Chinese, but the acting and singing were good. Just very different from anything we're used to!

In any case, here are some video and photos from the performance. (Sorry about the poor video quality.)

Happy Mother's Day!

To two great moms...
We wish you both a very happy mother's day! Thanks for all your thoughts, words and actions that continually show us how much you love and support us! We miss you and look forward to seeing you very soon!

Chinese Medicine

Traditional Chinese medicine has been around for thousands of years. While I don't buy into all this "chi" stuff, there are some aspects of Chinese medicine that seem great. The herbal meds have far fewer side effects than Western medicine, a massage can do anyone some good, and Matt has experienced the goodness of acupuncture first hand.

However... There are times when you hear some of these things and just laugh. For example, you shouldn't drink cold drinks because they give you indigestion--even water. Also, women shouldn't bathe for about a month after childbirth, because most people don't have heated water. And, again, basically anything cold is bad.

This week, I was explaining to a student how some exercises and activities, like snow-skiing, would be a bad idea for me because I have bad knees. I just happened to be wearing shorts while having this conversation, and the student looked at me as if I was completely ignorant. "Amy, you definitely shouldn't wear shorts if you have bad knees!" Feeling like a scolded child but trying not to laugh, I asked her why. She told me that even if it's not cold outside, the exposure to the wind will only make my knees worse. I was thinking, "Seriously?!" And looked around to the other students for some help. Amazingly, they all nodded their heads in agreement with the first girl.

It's a funny place... I won't even begin to talk about the strange looks and comments I get for wearing flip-flops!