Monopoly and matriculation

Two fun and eventful happenings here in Changzhou on which to report. Last night, Steve, one of the English professors at the university hosted me, David, Bryan, and Clark (three of the other foreign teachers) to his home for dinner. It was delicious, amazing, delicious, plentiful, and delicious. His wife, Spring, is an excellent cook, if my description of the food did not make clear. We had noodles with vegetables, fried peanuts, steamed lima beans with pork, chicken and peanuts in a wonderful sauce (which is hard to explain because it was a new flavor for me), scrambled eggs with vegetables, shrimp and eggplant, and egg drop soup. Steve and Spring have an 11 year old son, Michael, who was quite entertaining, if sometimes a little shy with his English. But about halfway through dinner, he got up from the table to start counting the monopoly money. They received the game as a gift from a past foreign teacher, and not only does Michael really like it, he was pretty darn good at it as well. We didn't finish the game, but declared him the winner as there was little chance anyone could outdo his pile of cash and numerous hotel rents. I can't say enough to express how kind it was of Steve and Spring to host us, the food kept coming and the beer and tea never stopped flowing.
This morning was the matriculation ceremony for all of the freshmen. It was a very interesting experience. At all of the public universities, all of the freshmen go through military training for at least the first two weeks of school, (it's just the two weeks here). Thus, all of the students wear matching fatigues at the matriculation ceremony. So, a few thousand Chinese students were all crammed into the gym wearing matching uniforms. They did so with great order and maintained unbelievable quiet while filing in and out of the gym. I didn't get too much out of the ceremony, as it was almost all in Chinese. One speech was enjoyable though, as Bryan gave a short welcome speech in English on behalf of all the foreign teachers. Some people are sure to be proud back in Norman, as he wore his OU Sooners tie. One of the most striking things to me at the ceremony was seeing all of the students, seated on the floor and up in the balconies, all with black hair. I know this is normal of all Asians, but because they were all wearing matching uniforms, it really stuck out. It would be hard to replicate such a seen at a college in the US, and was much different than the fairly diverse student body I experienced at TU. Regardless, it was a very nice ceremony, and got me in the mood for my first day of class. Both of the pictures are from the matriculation ceremony.