It has been some time since I last sat down at the computer. Christmas has come and gone, so have Taalan's and Tim's birthdays, and the return of Ao Min, (Macau). We had a busy month, full of celebrations and good times.
Taalan's birthday was overshadowed with the third annual Christmas Eve party put on at a very lovely hotel in Xiangtan. Altogether 8 went from our University: our family; Ian, the other foreign teacher; Mr. Tang; Mrs. Huang; and Ruihong. There was a huge buffet dinner, with over 15 various breads and pastries, about 8 vegetarian dishes and probably 20 different meat and fish dishes. We had been told that it was a Christmas party for foreign teachers in Xiangtan. However there were about 300 Chinese and only 5 other foreigners -- a family with a young boy, 5, and a girl, 2, from Georgia; and another man from the Electrical University, named Michael McGinnis. We had been trying to get hold of Michael since arriving here because we had been told he was a fellow world citizen, and also from Calgary, my home town.
We had a good time with lots to eat. There was entertainment after dinner, as well as a raffle, which netted our group two umbrellas; Tariqa won one and Mr. Tang another. Ruihong won the balloon-popping contest. She had balloons tied around her ankles, which she then had to protect while popping the other people's balloons. There ended up being only her and a young man. She told us afterwards that he was her student and didn't dare pop her balloons! She was given a carton of cigarettes for winning the contest. After the entertainment there was to be a masked ball, but we all declined to attend.
Christmas morning dawned bright and warmer. The local children soon appeared at our doors and stayed until 3:30. We spent the morning cleaning the house. Taalan and Tariqa had 2 Christmas presents to open, given to them by the school and the department of education. Taalan then had a birthday party with about 18 kids showing up. (His birthday is December 24.) The school bought him a cake, one of the few locally-made items that are expensive to buy. I had priced them and at 70 yuan for a cake had decided that he didn't need one and could make do with the last of the brownie mix. The children played pin the nose on Rudolph, and blew up balloons. There was a lot of noise and confusion. Luckily Mr. Tang stayed and translated the game rules to the children. We even had another guest show up in the midst of the party. After the children had gone home we talked with him for an hour and then Tim had to go to the bus station to pick up a Japanese friend, Hiro, coming in from Macau. We were in contact with Hiro by cell phone. He was on the bus from Changsha, after flying in from Hong Kong. Unfortunately the bus did not go to the normal train station as expected; 8 phone calls and an hour and a half later, Ruihong bailed us out, again, by picking him up at the hotel where he was, and then picking Tim up at the bus station. I meanwhile took the children to our university's Christmas party, where the other three showed up a little later. The party was sponsored by the foreign language department.
The Christmas party was pretty wild. Desks were set up in a large semi-circle. Students from different departments were seated around the circle. Questions were then asked in English. The group that blew their whistles first and/or loudest got a chance to answer the question. There was small prize given for each correct answer. Apparently the different departments were competing against each other. Sometimes they were required to sing a song in English or to guess phrases that were acted out. The students really got excited and enjoyed themselves. Tim was asked to sing, and Taalan and Tariqa and I were coerced into playing the balloon popping game. It really is a lot of fun. Everyone has three or four balloons tied onto their ankles. You then try to pop other people's balloons while protecting yours. Taalan ended up with the most balloons when the time limit was over. We were playing with all the other teachers from the Foreign Language department. We decided to retire after the balloon popping; the children went to bed while we stayed up and talked to Hiro until midnight. Hiro stayed for two days, but he could not handle the cold due to some old medical problems. We offered him a set of long underwear, but he decided to head south instead. Everyone was saying, "It never gets this cold here."
During the next week we went to dinner at a Chinese teacher's home in downtown Xiangtan. His English name is Craig and he befriended us after he had heard me give a teaching demonstration. He is a middle school teacher right now, and once worked as a tour guide in Beijing. We had a lovely dinner with his wife and 4-year old son. Craig told us that his wife felt that she was not able to be hospitable enough because we only ate vegetables, and you always show your hospitality by feeding the guests lots of meat, chicken, or fish. After dinner Tim and Craig took the children onto the balcony and lit some sparklers and other fireworks.
On New Year's Eve we made our first foray away from Xiangtan on our own. We took the bus to Changsha, to visit a family that we had met in September. They had two red- headed daughters, ages 5 and 9. It soon became obvious that we were still pretty helpless. We went up to the bus window to ask for tickets to Changsha and were motioned somewhere else, but we were sure that we needed to be at that window. As we stood consulting on whether to try it again, a young woman came up to us and started talking to us in English. She then proceeded to help us buy the tickets (it was the right window after all), find the fast bus for us, and see us off. Apparently in the local dialect, Changsha is pronounced Shangsha. I don't know where the ticket lady thought we wanted to go but it obviously wasn't Changsha. We arrived safely there about an hour later, and then tried to follow our friend's instructions. They were quite simple. Take bus 103 or 336 to the zoo. They lived across the street behind the big metal gates. Taalan has gotten very good with numbers so he rattled off the bus number we needed, and people pointed us to the queue of buses. We walked up and down, but didn't see 336 or 103 on any bus. We finally were put onto bus 7. After finding zoo in our little phrase book we heaved a sigh of relief when a man confirmed that we were on the bus to the zoo. After 40 minutes the bus stopped at another bus and train terminal and everyone had to get off. Apparently this was where our friends thought we would be arriving because there we found the appropriate bus, and 30 minutes later we found ourselves at their university. After a pleasant three hours we decided we needed to leave to get back to outer bus station before the last bus left at 6:30. Luckily a young man from our university was also on the bus and recognized Tim, so we joined forces. It was the first trip to Changsha for both of us. As we arrived at the second station an hour later; we had 12 minutes to catch the last bus to Xiangtan. Our friend asked the questions and we got in the fastest ticket line. Without his Chinese and our ticket line, neither of us would have made the bus. With seconds to spare we climbed aboard the slow bus; two more people were let on after us, then the rest were turned away.
We arrived back at 7:45 on New Year's eve, to crowds of people and cars milling all over the streets. It is the first time I have seen a bus driver get angry in China. After being cut off too many times to count, two motorcycles decided to start their engines and attempt to cut in. On actually popped a wheelie and hit the side of the bus. The assistant driver had her arm and head out the window and she started banging on the side of the bus and she and the driver both swore at them. Back at the college it was just as wild. People were setting off fireworks all over and everyone was out. There was a big party in the students' canteen with games and wall-to-wall people. Taalan got some buddies together to play balloon volleyball. You could only use your head or blow to get the balloon over the net. The score was to five and Taalan's team actually won. Tariqa got a prize for jumping through a hoop onto a gym mat. They counted in English to three and the other little girl didn't know she was supposed to jump on three. People had apples tied to a stick with a two-foot long string. You had to hold the stick behind you back and then try to bite the apple without using your hand. There was also a race where you were given a bamboo pole with piece of string tied to the end. A short stick was tied to the end of the string, and you had to jiggle the stick down into the top of a container and pick up the container. The container had a hole in the lid that the stick would fit into but would jam across when you lifted the container. The first one over the line with the container was the winner. It was great fun and took a lot of skill too. After spending an hour letting the children play we went home and watched the TV. The celebrations were spectacular. Both children stayed up until midnight, but two minutes after Tariqa was out. Taalan and Tim went outside to see the local fireworks, which continued non-stop until 1:00 am. After that, the barrage eased a little, but continued sporadically throughout that wild night. There was no official fireworks display; none was needed. It seemed like the entire village was on the street, happily firing away. All of the shop vendors had stacks of fireworks for sale, and they were sold. What a way to welcome in the new year! Happy New Millennium!
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