It's the National Holiday, Let's Get Married

October 1 was the start of the week long National Holiday. All of China has a week to travel, visit family and just celebrate China for being China (because it's wonderful and deserves to be celebrated!). For Carly and I (who have neither travel funds nor family nearby) , this week was a chance to wind down from the craziness of the past month and a half. We got to sleep in (it had been way too long since the last time that I got to sleep in until 11:30) , hang out and just enjoy the little slice of China that we have been placed in.

Since moving here, we haven't really had a chance to see much of the area around Lin'an. We have places that we go and routes that we know but we haven't had a chance to really stray from those. So, we decided to explore a little bit.

In China, on days off, everyone hikes. All of the mountains are packed with people (most of whom are more interested in the pictures they take of them looking at the flowers and leaves along the trail than in the actual trail itself). So, we hiked. A friend of ours, who works in the community around our apartment, took us for a day hike up Gongchen Mountain to see a memorial pagoda and it was wonderful.

Another thing that people do on their breaks is cook. They take the time to make the things that they wouldn't make regularly because it just takes too long. For example, dumplings. This past week, Carly and I were invited to our friend's house to learn how to make dumplings with her family. Needless to say, we were not very helpful. Quite a few of the dumplings fell apart when we tried to boil them and with each one that opened, the family turned, looked at us and said "its ok. you will just practice more." However, the ones that did make it through the cooking process were delicious. Unfortunately, part of the deal that we made when we went to her house was that we would eat until all the dumplings were gone. By the time that I had eaten about 20 dumplings, I felt like I had actually become a dumpling.

Another favorite holiday activity is learning about the history of China. People go to museums, they visit monuments and they tour ancient cities. So, we did too.

Shaoxing is two hours from Lin'an by car. Unfortunately, we do not have a car so after 2 hours on a bus (which actually turned into three because of the rainy weather), 40 minutes on another bus and a 10 minute walk we arrived in the ancient village of Shaoxing (we actually had arrived in Shaoxing after the first bus ride, the rest of the time was spent getting to this specific village). This village is the home a very famous Chinese thinker, Lu Xun (or at least I think that was his name, our friend told us his name multiple times but I kept forgetting and, after I had asked her about seven times, it seemed rude to ask again). This village was a lot like a combination of Plymouth Plantation and Venice. Everything had been preserved from the ancient village. You could tour old houses and go through museums but some of the streets were waterways and you sat in a long narrow boat with a man at one end steering and paddling (unfortunately, our guide refused to sing). During this magical boat ride, you could get off the boat and explore the part of the town where you had landed. We took the boat tour around dinner time, so, in the middle of the tour, we stopped for dinner. While we were eating, our friend saw a sign and said "hey, c-o-c-o. Isn't that the milk tea shop you guys have been looking for?" YES. IT ABSOLUTELY IS. (In Xiamen, the best, best, best milk tea store was Coco's. They are seriously so good. And they are a chain, so they should be everywhere, right? Wrong. Coco's is like the Arby's of America - there are a bunch in some places and other places there are just none (I assume Arby's is similar because I have seen commercials for it but I have never actually seen one in real life) -and we had been looking everywhere for a Coco's since we arrived. We have asked everyone but there just isn't one in Lin'an and it's very sad.) When we got back in the boat, with our delicious milk teas, it was starting to get dark and the whole village was lit up with red lanterns and Christmas-like lights. We were just drinking our milk teas and looking at the lit up village and it was perfect.

Unfortunately, the break is quickly to coming an end and we are finding ourselves filling the last few days with lesson planning, errand running (the Wal Mart in China is always crowded but during the holiday, it's worse than the malls in America two hours before they close on Christmas Eve) and whining about having to go back to work. The end of this holiday isn't all bad though! With the end of the holiday comes the final days of the wedding season that the holiday brings. (Chinese weddings are beautiful occasions but at one point during the ceremony, they light off fireworks and there have been so many weddings this week that there has been a seemingly endless stream of fireworks going off during all hours of the day. Some of the weddings will only light one or two but some of them will do an entire display that can be heard in every corner of Lin'an and when you aren't expecting it, it can be terrifying.) I am a big fan of true love and weddings and all that stuff but I am very much ready for the fireworks to stop. Also, with the end of this break, Carly and I are looking forward to our next break in February (because it's a month long! Woohoo!) And, as much as I hate to admit it, I have found myself starting to miss all the little grade 2 faces that I, for some inexplicable reason, have come to love. So, yes, we are sad that this break is ending (and I am dreading Wednesday night when I have to start setting my alarm for 6 am again) but we are so excited for all of the things that come with this break ending: seeing our students again, planning our trips in February and no more sudden, aggressive firework shows.

(Side note: sometimes I forget just how little my kids are. (They are 8 in Chinese years, 7 in American years.) When they are sitting in their little chairs with their arms folded on the desks and their sweater vests and suit jackets (and iwatches), they look like they are just very tiny adults (and most of them think that's exactly what they are). Then on the last day before I break, I watched them leaving school, carrying bags with their Superman and Hello Kitty blankets and pillows that they use for nap time and holding their parents hand as they head home and I realize just how young they are. I also see just how incredible they are. It is incredible that, not only are they capable of being in school from 7:30 to 7:30 but also that they are having conversations wth me in a language that is not their own. They always say that part of culture shock is the inadequacy you feel when you realize that a 4 year old can speak the local language better than you can. For me, the shock has come from realizing that by the time my students are my age (assuming they continue studying the way that they have been) they will be fluent in Chinese and practically fluent in English, two of the worlds biggest languages. They will be unstoppable. They will be able to go or do or work wherever they want. They make me feel inadequate but I'm so impressed by them that I don't even care.)