新年快乐

Xin nian kuai le, or Happy New Year! I can tell you most assuredly that at the beginning of 2008 I would have called you crazy if you told me that I would be in China one year later. But life takes its turns, and I am here. As the holidays in the States are winding down, things are just gearing up here. Spring Festival, or Chinese New Year is the largest holiday of the year in China. It is January 26th on the Roman calendar, (obviously it is the first day of the first month on the Chinese lunar calendar). As expected, the holiday season passed here with significantly less activity than back home. Thanksgiving was pretty good, as I mentioned earlier in my blog, but the lack of turkey was disappointing.

I actually spent a good part of Christmas day listening to my students answer 3 to 4 minutes of questions each, as I gave the final exam to two of my classes. I gave a PowerPoint presentation to one of my classes and read them The Night Before Christmas. I did the same thing at the class I taught for the employees at the manufacturing company. This allowed me to get into the spirit a little bit, but it was also the first Christmas I have worked in my life. In the evening I went to a Christmas 'party' held by Super Education, the language training company for which I have done the small part time job. Now, I put 'party' in quotes because it (like other Chinese parties I have attended) would be much better described as a badly planned talent show. There is no concept of mingling or chatting. There is always some sort of performance on the stage, singing, speeches, a raffle, quiz questions, musical performances, break dancing, etc. As if this isn't enough, there is also some sort of soundtrack playing in the background; causing both the 'performers' and anyone trying to hold a conversation to shout. Needless to say I really missed some quiet Christmas carols and my moms ham balls and cucumber sandwiches.

The next big day was rockin' new year's eve, which wasn't all that rockin' in Changzhou. But, luckily for me, the foreign language department was hosting a new year's eve banquet. Now, because Spring Festival is a family holiday, this banquet is the big banquet of the year for the department. Danthemanstan and I were the only foreign teachers attending, apparently not everyone shares my motto that any free meal is a good one. The banquet was at a very nice hotel in town and the food was delicious. I think the best thing about the food at these banquets is the mystery of what it is. Danthemanstan and I asked about every dish, and apparently we are much more concerned about what we put into our mouths than the Chinese people. There were more than a few times that we would have to ask two or three people to find out what the dish was. We both received gifts when we arrived, a very nice set of the famous Changzhou combs. It was really nice of the department to give us gifts, but it did mean we weren't eligible for the raffle, which went on throughout the dinner and provided plenty of entertainment. The rest of dinner consisted of incessant toasting. As soon as one group of higher ups finished toasting the table, another group would come by. All in all, I felt like I was at a Catholic church service with all the rising and sitting. After dinner, we walked up the street to a KTV (karaoke television), which is a karaoke bar. So Danthemanstan and I chilled with Steve in the corner, drank some beers, and chewed on some sugar cane. The party sort of died down and there are only so many karaoke performances of Chinese pop songs that any human can endure, so we left around 10:30. So, no countdown of the clock in Times Square for me, but even more disappointing was that I didn't get to sing Auld Lang Syne.