Day 185 unexpected gifts

We had the month of February off and were released to travel if we chose to; and as you know, I went back to the States for a whirlwind trip to catch up with friends and family.  Here in Beijing, February is the start of the Chinese New Year,  which is also known as the Spring Festival celebration.  It has a rich history, dating back over 4000 years, and basically the whole country shuts down for the first two weeks of the month.  The Spring Festival celebration is a time for families to come together for a reunion, and to feast at the table.  In the week prior, families begin to do a thorough cleaning of their home in the anticipation of company.  The home is stocked with groceries to last the month, and there are some traditions about the food that is served.  The meals always include fish of some sort, as this is very important.  Having fish expresses the Chinese people's hope for a wealthy year.  Traditional dumplings are also served, and one makes sure they are stocked up on rice.  If they allow their rice barrels to become empty, it is believed that they will not have enough to eat in the coming year.  Got it; lots of fish, and lots of rice :)  Oh, and you are not to take any medicine of any kind on the first day of the Chinese New Year, or you will suffer and need medicine for the whole rest of the year.  Sometimes the Chinese are so silly :)

Outside of the 'spring cleaning' chores, kids love the spring festival. This is when they are taken out to purchase all new clothes.  In addition, as they visit all of the relatives, the children are given little red envelopes that contain money.  In talking with my students, many of them made out like fat rats in the $$ department!  The kids also like being off school for a month, but not surprisingly, they still continue in their academic studies.  We had to develop month long lesson plans for 'self-study' while they were 'off school' (in name only, that is).  When I handed students their packets and went over their requirements, they said, "Is this all we have to do???"  Man, they are little worker bees! 

The stores are FILLED with red decorations for the new
year.  Red lanterns are hanging EVERYWHERE.  This
Chinese lunar year is the year of the sheep.

Red is a significant color in China, and it is tied to a legend relative to the Spring Festival.  The story goes that a 'nian' (a strong monster) was very fierce and cruel. At the start of the Chinese New Year, he would come out at night and feast on one of every kind of animal, including one human being each and every night.  The story goes that this 'nian' was fearful of the color red and flashes of light and loud noise.  Well, the Chinese DO LOVE their fireworks!  To this day, during the Chinese New Year, red is the symbolic color, and they shoot off fireworks, thousands of them, every night in the month of February.

I must admit I was more than a little perturbed when a few days after returning to Beijing from my month long vacation, I was unable to get some much needed sleep due to the nearly five hours of continuous fireworks that were set off all over the city.  I had sparks and ash flying by my bedroom window- some must have been shot off the apartment roof!  I was none too pleased.  I learned at school the following day that it was the Red Lantern Festival, signifying the end of the month long celebrations. Seriously folks, millions of $RMB's were lighting up the night sky- such a waste to me.

One of the unexpected 'gifts' was coming
home to a shower that had collapsed.  My
jet lagged brain just could not deal with it.
The suction cups would not stick- no matter
how much licking, pushing, or swearing I did :/

After three days of bare a$$ mopping my

entire bathroom down after a shower, I had to 

do something.  Mrs. Fix It ingenuity used

some sticky hooks with a couple of my 

laundry hooks that I use to dry my underoos.

So far, it's worked like a charm :)

I was hoping that spring would be well on its way by
the time we got back March 1st.  It wasn't meant to be-
it's still cold- and we still have 'Beijing haze' out the window.

When I left work one day that first week back, the
AQI had just topped 403.  Some time that night it
hit 501; I've never seen it that high.

Thankfully the wind picked up (though it was
still a bitter cold wind) and it cleared out the pollution.
In a matter of hours it dropped to the 40's and by the
time I walked to work, the AQI was down to 26.
The wind is our friend in Beijing ;)

 

Though the air was still cold, if you could get out
of the wind, you could now feel the warmth of the
sun.  After being in the Keys for two weeks, I
already missed putting my face to the sun.  I was
shocked when I walked home one afternoon to
see the trees in my apartment complex in full
bloom.  What?!  As I got closer, I saw that the silk
flower fairies struck again- zip tying flowering
branches to the bare trees.  It's the Chinese Way-
silk flowers in trees. Don't that beat all. So, so silly.

Though the air is still quite cold, the late afternoon
sun brings all of the grandparents out into the
courtyard, walking their grandbabies while they
visit with each other.  The cold air worries me
a bit because the government shuts off the heat
in just 10 days.  You read that right- the government
controls the heat; it's only on from Nov. 15- March 15.
I may be pulling out my down comforter again!

One of the reasons for the lack of blog posts (other than my personal
computer got a wicked virus and crapped out), our VPN service has
been sketchy at best.  Many days, for most of the day, we had no
internet service at all.  Well, I stand corrected.  We had access to
most China websites, but I can't read Mandarin. So, no VPN means
no Google, no Gmail, no blogspot.com, no facebook, no Pandora,
no You Tube, and most other Western web vices. Stupid Great
China Firewall.  We were told their efforts at blocking websites
were amped up leading to the first of the year.  We were hoping it
would all be sorted out by the time we got back March 1st.
For the most part, things are much improved now. Very nice gift :)

Speaking of gifts, on our first week back to work we received an email to come to the secretary's office to pick up our gift.  Really?  I thought maybe it was some more office supplies for the start of the second semester, though they gave us an armload at the first of the year, and a personal budget of another 3000RMB for 'classroom decorations'.  I was shocked to walk in Dawna's office to see she was buried in cases of fruit!  Every teacher (70+ in all) got this beautiful box of fresh fruit and nuts

 AND an entire case of apples- HUGE apples, 36 of them to be exact.  It took me three days to lug all my fruit home back to my apartment.  I spent the first weekend making crockpots of applesauce which now fill my wee little freezer.  Not only do they pay us handsomely, they give us GIFTS!!! (Remember the comforter set, laundry soap and shower kit we got earlier?)  My goodness, our U.S. government should take a lesson from the Chinese.  They recognize that being a teacher is a 'very important and respected job', and they want to keep their teachers happy.  Geeeesh, we were lucky to get a slice of cold pizza after a full day and evening of parent teacher conferences back home.

I must say, I am glad our gift did not include the beaten,
flattened, dried ducks I saw at the grocery store that week.  Ewww.
Really, now, what in the hell are you supposed to do with THAT?!
Well, I take that back, my dog Simon would LOVE it.

Another unexpected gift (NO, I have not received
any care packages yet- hint! hint! wink! wink!)
that boggles my mind is how, in a city of 22 million
people, packages are laid on the sidewalks of busy streets
for the owners to come pick them up.  It's an 'on your
honor' system, and the Chinese are honorable in that
regard.  Packages do not get stolen.  Sadly, my friend
Stephanie never got her Christmas package from me as it was
 stolen right off her own front porch back home.  Not so in China.

Another quick story to share, which really came as a gift to me, was on my walks home from school my first week back, I noticed something I had never really realized.  Every day, dozens of Chinese parents walk their kids to school, and they are at the gate waiting for them at day's end (for those that live close by, that is, many of our students board in dorms here during the week and go home on the weekends).  What I noticed by about the fourth day, was this same father waiting for his teenage daughter.  When she came around the security gate, he would always greet her with Mandarin pleasantries, and he would take her back pack from her shoulders and carry it for her.  As I looked around, I noticed many fathers and grandfathers doing the same.  Well, this particular father and daughter and I were all walking the same direction.  It turns out they live in my apartment complex, (which only houses 10,000+ people, by the way) so as we walked I asked him if he spoke English.  He said, "a little".  His daughter chimed in and said she would translate for me, if need be.  So I told him that I liked that he took his daughter's back pack each day.  She translated, and he gave me a quizzical look.  I went on to say that I liked the lessons he was teaching his daughter about how a man should treat a woman.  The daughter giggled, became very shy, and didn't want to translate that one.  So I said, it is important for young girls to expect their boyfriends to treat them kindly and with respect, and he was setting the right example for her when she began to date.  She translated that one, and he thanked me.  Then the two of them chittered in Mandarin, and her father became quite animated. Both of them were laughing, so I asked what was so funny, and she said, "My father reminded me that I am not allowed to date until I am 18!"  That is another Chinese custom I have most recently learned about, but I'll save that one for another blog.

 In the meantime, I couldn't help but smile when

I went grocery shopping that weekend, and I saw this

 husband carrying his wife's purse.  I now see this kind 

gesture in nearly every couple I pass by. 

What a nice gift; the gift that keeps on giving :)

 G'nite y'all!