The Season of Giving

It's been a while since I've posted anything but I've been really busy lately. Classes are ending tomorrow! Which means last week was finals week and grades were due this week. We did have to teach one more lesson after finals but I got to teach my students about Christmas. Even though I've been so busy, these last couple of weeks have been the best weeks I've had since I've been here.

Last week began with one of my classes giving me flowers and a Christmas card that they all signed. After that, the gifts just kept coming. A student brought me a popular snack from his hometown, another student brought me a huge bag of oranges and apples. It is a tradition in China to give an apple to someone for Christmas because the character for peace is similar to the one for apple. So I've been getting a lot of apples from my students. Two other boys who aren't even my students brought me a huge bunch of bananas, a couple maps of China, and a calligraphy painting. My students are some of the most giving people I've met and they are definitely celebrating the season of giving.

Last Friday, our building started decorating for Christmas. There was a competition between our building and the other foreign teacher building for best Christmas decor. We didn't win but we definitely had fun decorating. I even had some of my students help out and make some snowflakes. Our theme was the "12 Days of Christmas" so we did win for the best music, best cow, and best incorporation of Chinese decor as you can see in the pictures. I'm getting to know the people in my building a lot better and they're awesome. We have dinner parties and movie nights and we'll celebrate Christmas together this year.

On Saturday, one of my favorite students, Grace, invited me over to her dorm. Her and her 7, yes, 7, roommates had fruit and cake and drinks for me and we hung out for a while in their dorm. Eight girls have to share 4 small desks, one bathroom with one shower and one eastern toilet (that is very similar to a public bathroom in China which is not a good thing). They keep all of their things in big cupboards in the hallway and they sleep in a back room with bunk beds. Later that day we went to a movie the students were showing on campus. We watched New Moon or as the movie said, Luna Nueva. It apparently isn't illegal to watch bootleg copies of movies here. Then we went to eat dumplings after the movie. It was a great day with my students. They are so much fun.

The next day I had more students come over. The two boys that brought me fruit and maps took me out to lunch. We had peanuts, spicy chicken, spicy tofu (which was amazing), and they ordered each of us a HUGE bowl of noodles. It was so much food but so delicious.
Sunday night was the formal Christmas banquet for the foreign faculty. It was not the best food but we had some great entertainment by some of the foreign teachers.
This week I've received more Christmas cards than I have in my life. I had my students make Christmas cards in class this week and many of them have decided to give the cards to me. Some of them are very kind, some of them are little weird, some are funny. Here are some of my favorites...
"Like baby happy everyday"
"Earn much money! Marry a good handsome man."
"I like your source."
"I wish you more young more beautiful."
"Keep your children's heart like the snowman small."
"Let my best wishes into a sear fall on your pillow! Hope teacher always happy no worries!"
An angry snowman that says, "I'm single."


To top off my week of receiving so many gifts, one of my students gave me the strangest "gift" I have ever received. In class, I had my students choose a tradition they would like if they celebrated Christmas. One student volunteered to stand up and share his tradition. He said, "I would have a big meal and I would have a turkey, like this..." He unzipped his backpack and pulled out a whole, cooked chicken and gave it to me. What do you do with a whole chicken with the legs still attached?! Give it to someone else and let them figure it out.