Guo nien hao, friends! That means Happy Spring Festival. I have this week off, for the new year holiday. Saturday was New Year’s Eve… it was one of the most spectacular events I’ve seen. We really should party like the Chinese do in Canada. Fireworks started at about 7:00 am, and pretty much didn’t stop until the next morning. They’re still going off, to be honest. Sounds like Baghdad, circa March 2003. People just set them off on street corners and have a ball. Was gonna buy some, but didn’t think it’d be worth it to spend the money. I took a ton of pictures, which I’ll put up on my flickr account.
Most of the foreign teachers got together that night to celebrate. Went out for dinner with some friends, then everybody met at a bar near Renmin Square, where the municipal government is. Around midnight, there was an amazing show above the government building. After, we went to karaoke until about 4:30 am. A very fun new year’s.
As for teaching, my final exams went well. All but one of my kids passed. It was sort of awkward telling one girl’s father that I wanted to hold her back. I just let my Chinese colleague Victoria do the talking, but I didn’t really need to understand Chinese to know this guy was a real asshole. He berated the kid right there in the school and said she’d never study English again… thought he was going to beat her, to be honest. But the concept of saving face is very strong in China, and parents just want their kids to advance to the next level and couldn’t give a damn if they’re ready or not.
I only have two classes left, next Monday and Tuesday. It’s quite sad, because I’ve become quite attached to most of my students. They never cease to make me laugh. The other day, I was teaching idioms, and I told them to write a dialogue with a partner using three. I got some hilarious, but correct, uses for phrases like “break a leg,” and “keep your eye on the ball.”
I’ve done a lot of hiking here. There are many roads that wind through the mountains with views of the sea. It’s extremely beautiful. We’re going to take a short one today, around 11:30. And I’ve bought a bus ticket to go to Dandong on Wednesday and Thursday with some folks. If you never hear from me again, I fell off a bridge and the North Koreans took me hostage. I’m probably worth a few sacks of rice or plutonium if you want to negotiate my release.
There’s another fireworks display tonight in Xinghai Park, so I think that’s the plan for this evening. I’m really sad that I only have nine days left here. I’ve barely begun to see this country, but I’m going to make the most of the time I have left here. I plan to take some Mandarin lessons when I get back to T.O., which shouldn’t be too hard to do. I just want to be able to have some simple conversations. The four tones are the hardest part, I’ve found.
Anyways, that’s it for now. I will try to update again near the end of the week. Take care, everyone!
-Stephen
