On Christmas Eve we ate a dinner of only red and green food (a family tradition of one of our teammates), a tradition I would like to adopt. Then we went to the Three-Self (government run) church in Qufu for the Christmas Eve service. While we don't understand the language, we recognized Silent Night all 5+ times they played it. The service was delightful, lots of singing and dancing--women in red sweaters with green fans, then women in green sweaters with red fans, then dancing with candles, pink and yellow scarves, you know, what you'd expect on Christmas, right? Then three men dressed in terrible Santa suits threw peanuts into the crowd, and we all got apples as we left.
Students have also given us many apples for Christmas (and they are surprised when we tell them this really isn't an American tradition), so Chip has been baking all sorts of apple treats--apple fritters, apple muffins, apple sauce, and apple pancakes. . . so far. There are still more apples in our kitchen.
On Christmas morning, Chip and I opened some packages from home, then talked to our families on Skype. Then we had brunch and exchanged gifts with our teammates. We watched, "Miracle on 34th Street" and then went out for pizza (we really wanted something Western).
On Christmas evening, we were invited to a Freshmen Christmas party. This was a strange experience on many levels--we don't teach freshmen so we didn't know most people there, and we were the guests of honor. They gave us warm milk tea when we arrived, later candy canes, had arranged translators for us, and expected us to give a performance. Chip and I sang "Jingle Bells." We also got photos taken with several non-English speaking students, and I think our phone numbers got passed around. How did we become celebrities?
On the 26th, we had a Foreign Teacher's Christmas Gift Exchange and potluck. This included our four ELIC teachers, six American teachers from Skidmore College, a French teacher, and a Russian teacher and her son.
I thought Christmas would be a difficult time to be far from home, but I have really enjoyed our community of teammates, students, and fellow teachers. In fact, I am sad to see the Christmas season ending. Maybe I'll leave my tree up awhile longer.
This has truly been a blessed Christmas.
So glad to see your Christmas from afar was awesome! I love that they treat the two of you so well....well deserved I would say. The food choices are interesting, I would like the noodles too, Chip! The sweet potatoes are so good for you Mallary....good they bake them and sell them right off the street! That sounds like New York City to me! Happy New Year from home!
ReplyDeleteWow - I just read these past three posts and can't wait to talk with you guys. I'm so sorry we missed skype time together. It was a little complicated being at Josh's parents house. When can we talk?!
ReplyDeleteCandace
Hey Guys...
ReplyDeleteI've been thinking of you a number of different times over Christmas, wondering how you would celebrate in China.
I love these stories...the awkwardness of you and Chip "performing" Jingle Bells is hilarious to me. We miss you guys.