Not Your Normal Christmas

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.

Teaching Christmas

This year Chip and I have had the amazing opportunity to "teach Christmas" to students who know very little about the holiday. We have taught Christmas in our Western culture classes, read the Christmas story from The Word with interested students, watched The Nativity movie with a small group of students, had Christmas parties for both the sophomore and junior classes (photos below), and have been blessed to have deeper conversations with students individually on the topics of Christmas and religion.


Sophomore Christmas Party. Making snowflakes, singing carols, etc!

The Christmas story as enacted by Sophomore English majors.
Baby Jesus is a teddy bear.

Juniors Christmas Open House in our apartment. Cookies and card-making.

Christmas cards posted on our door. Take a peak inside of the cards:

Dear Mallary,
I love your smile, always be happy and smiling.

Dear Chip,
You are so cute. I love U very much. Merry Christmas

Dear Chip and Mallary,
I'm so happy to be your student. Every time I see Mallary, I'll feel happy and excited. It's a great pity that Chip doesn't teach me. But I've heard that you are charming and lovely, and all the students like you. You are happiest couple I've ever know. I hope your marriage can last forever and be happy forever. At last, I want to say, Merry Christmas.

To Mallary,
You are so charming everyday.

To Chip and Mallary,
You are so cute. I love you two.

Street Food Qufu Style

This is my friend, the sweet potato (di gua) lady. I eat a sweet potato about five days a week after yoga. They are warm on wintery days and always delicious. When I walk up I always say, "Wo yao xiao de" which means, "I want a small one" because otherwise she will try to sell me a huge one. This week when I walked up she shook her head and said "xiao de, xiao de" as if to say, "Don't even say it, foreigner, I know what you want."

Handmade Noodles. Chip loves 'em. Check it out.




Pizza Bread! Well, there's no sauce, cheese, or your average toppings, but something about it looks like pizza to us, and it tastes a tad Italian.


Fried Potato Sandwich--Alison, our teammate, eating fresh-made bread filled with shredded potatoes. We ate this a lot when we first got to Qufu. It's deserves to be on the list of favorites, but right now, we are taking a break from daily fried potato sandwiches.

Below is a video of one of my favorite non-Chinese tasting street foods. Chip and I like to call it a "crunch wrap supreme." It is a thin bread with egg (or "bu yao jidan" for those adverse to eggs) with cilantro, green onions, bean paste, chili peppers, and something crunchy.
Almost Mexican, right?



...and there are many more kinds of street food. We just aren't brave enough to try them.

Chip's Chewable: Jesus to become neighbor with Confucius as Qufu plans for church

Chew on this:  "JINAN, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- The hometown of China's great philosopher, Confucius, in east China's Shandong Province, is scheduled to build its first large Christian church." 
(Please click on the link to read the entire article)

UPDATE:  Check out this article for the latest news about the new church in Qufu
http://asiancorrespondent.com/44578/church-plan-in-hometown-of-confucius-draws-protest/ 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/religion/8228243/Chinese-church-plan-at-birthplace-Confucius-sparks-protests.html

Chip's Chewables: Value of a Chinese College Degree: $44?

Chew on this...

"American college students facing the misery of an anemic post-graduation job market have company in an unlikely-seeming place: China.

Despite entering a robust economy that seemed to weather the financial crisis as if were it a middling squall, China’s college graduates on average make only 300 yuan, or roughly $44, more per month than the average Chinese migrant worker, according to statistics cited over the weekend by a top Chinese labor researcher and reported today by the Beijing Times. "

(please click on the link to read the entire article) 

Anything to Stay Warm

When in China, do as the Chinese do!

Bike handle covers: At first glance, these hand warmers on bikers look quite ridiculous. But if you are cold enough, you'll try anything.
Day 1 with handle covers, and I'm loving it.
No more breeze up my sleeves.

Masks: Great for blocking out some pollution, reducing the spreading of germs, and for our purposes, keeping our faces warm as we bike to class.

Pass the Pigs

One night Chip taught some students how to play the classic game "Pass the Pigs" in our dining room while I taught other students "Killer UNO" in the living room. They'd played card games before, but throwing rubber pigs for points was new and fun. It was probably one of my most favorite nights hanging out with students in Qufu. Their smiles and laughter brought Chip and I so much joy!