Last night I had an *awesome* time playing badminton with my friend Sarah, who lives about 45 minutes from me. Not only did we play badminton, we also watched a chick flick on an
actual TV (my first time in China!), ate leftover Halloween chocolates sent by her awesome friends back home, and ate California dried fruit (again, sent from home). It was a nice, relaxing night free from the stresses of lesson planning.
In other news, today a red pen exploded all over my hands in class. I spent fifteen minutes scrubbing my hands but all ten fingers are still bright red. LOL. The students seem to get a kick out of it, at least. ;)
And two nights ago I was invited (last-minute style, of course... since this is China) to a dinner. Unbeknownst to me it was actually a dinner with all my school's leaders, including the headmaster, the vice-headmaster, the school's
owner (it's a private school), the owner's brother and friends, and several other teachers from my school. We ate at a really fancy hotel -- in our own private ensuite dining room with its own personal kitchen.
At first, I was kind of worried that the dinner was in my honour. Last week I was really upset about being told I was a hassle for asking the school to fix the
heater and
hot water in my apartment. It was a big ordeal that involved me crying and almost angrily shouting at my liaison over the phone. So I was a bit nervous about being taken out to dinner, since I didn't know if the school was trying to "save face" about last week's situation. (It didn't help that the first thing my headmaster asks me is: "You like Jing Yan, right?") However, it turned out that we were celebrating the accomplishments of two English teachers at my school, who recently won 1st place at national teaching competitions. :)
That night I had the most delicious food I've tasted so far in China... and, thanks to the "toasting" culture here, we all got a little tipsy. It's custom here to make a toast to everyone at the table. Let me briefly explain the culture of "Gan Bei", or
toasting. The most important person at the dinner usually begins the toasting, going around the table to make simple conversation and to thank you for coming. This short encounter ends with a "cheers".
When you see someone approaching with a wine glass in hand, it's because you're about to be "toasted" to. The person will say, "
Wo ting ni" (I toast you). You must stand. They will say something in Chinese, raise their glass, and the two of you clink your wine glasses together. Usually you'll want to have your glass a little lower than the other person's, since it symbolises
humility and
respect. You then down the ENTIRE glass, raise your glass to the other person (who does the same to you) and look him/her in the eye, and then sit down. When all the important people are once again sitting down, you may stand up and make your own rounds at the table, toasting to people. You'll get bonus points if you try to compliment the person in Chinese.
If everyone is toasting each other, you can well imagine how many glasses of wine you end up drinking by the night's end. It was unreal. There were about 14 of us at the table, and some people toasted more than once. My face started to get a bit hot at one point, and the teacher sitting next to me leaned over and whispered
I feel dizzy!
My headmaster, the sweetest lady ever, was visibly intoxicated and running around trying to grab back her purse from the owner's brother... which ended in a tug of war. It was hilarious. And then everyone wanted to take photos to commemorate the evening.
It felt good to be included in such an important event, despite not understanding everything that was said at the dinner table. I did my best to immerse myself in the Chinese culture and to speak as much Chinese as I could, grinning whenever someone poked fun at my efforts (in a nice way). I hope I impressed the higher-ups. Anyway, long story short- I had a fun night, despite coming home a bit inebriated and still needing to finish a lesson plan due at midnight. Haha. Ohhhh China. So unpredictable.
And then today a teacher tells me that my picture is up on the school's website. Sure enough, I ask someone what the school's internet address is... and there I am standing with the school leaders. See below. :)
^
link to school's website
