I've got friends in low places...

Last week our students had military training, which means that we had yet another week off of school. Instead of sticking around Huanghsi with nothing to do, Camille and I took a spontaneous trip to Guangzhou to visit our friends, Crista and Dan, from back home. Crista went to grad school with Camille and me, and was one of my teaching partners. They have been living here since January and we have been trying for ten months to visit them, so we were very excited for the opportunity. Plus,  it is already quite cold in Huangshi...I'm talking jackets and boots already, but it was nice and warm down south!

Camille and I with Crista and another friend, Claire, on the way to see the river at night.

Most of the buildings on the river light up at night. This tower is one of the things Guangzhou is famous for. 

Our hosts, Dan and Crista.

In front of the tower.

Getting legit pedicures...we can't get these in Huangshi!

We also went to Macao for a day. It is even further south and is known as the Vegas of China. It has several replicas of hotels and figures from Las Vegas, as well as the largest hotel in the world, The Venetian.

We got McDonalds!! In America, I never eat McDonalds, but in China it is such a treat and comfort of home! I ordered a cup of water with my food and they gave me this little baby cup. You can't really tell how small it is in this picture, but I promise you, it was smaller than my hand! Notice how high the straw comes out!

Cool alleyway leading to St. Paul's ruins.

A stand of dried meat. There were tons of these along the alleyway. 

St. Paul's Ruins.

Birdcages in the tree at the park.

More birdcages at the park. 

This was Dan's reenactment of some Chinese tourists, who were taking pictures like this as we were walking by. I failed to get a picture of the real deal, so I made Dan reenact it for us!

Crista holding on for dear life on the crazy bus ride....

to the beach! This was my first time to see the beach in China and the first time to put my feet in the South China Sea.

Playing in the park. Many parks in China have equipment like this for people to use for exercise or for play! This one was a battle of who was stronger....I obviously lost!

This one is supposed to massage your back. 

We passed this couple getting professional pictures taken of them. Couples in China like to wear matching shirts/matching clothes. We see this all the time! I'm so glad we snapped some pictures of this priceless moment!

Oh the train ride back...Camille and I could only get a seat ticket for an overnight train ride from Guangzhou to Wuhan, which was about 11 hours long. In China, the train stations sell out of bed and seat tickets, so they then begin selling standing room tickets. This picture doesn't even begin to describe the chaos and crowdedness of that train car!! It was insane, they never even turned off the lights! It was interesting to do it once, but I doubt I will ever do it again!

This adorable boy came over to watch some videos and play some games with us on Camille's ipad. He made for some good entertainment for the long train ride! 

This was such a fun trip and such a great time catching up with friends! Camille and I loved being around fellow Louisianians again! Thanks so much, Crista and Dan, for hosting us!

Badminton and Brownies!

As I told you in my previous post, last week was a holiday and I had the entire week off of school! During the holiday, one of the English teachers from school invited Camille and I to climb a mountain with her and play badminton at the top. 

Of course we said yes...

I am playing badminton with our new friend from school. Her English name is Betty. I haven't played badminton since junior high so I was not nearly as good as all of the Chinese people. Badminton is right up there with ping pong in China! They love it and they are realllyyyy good!

Camille and Betty practicing their skills. 

This badminton court is tucked away down a beaten path, about half way up the mountain we were climbing. 

These lovely close ups of the two of us were taken by another teacher, Mr. Xie, who was playing badminton with his family during the holiday. There was a lot of picture taking going on this day, mostly of us. They shared their pictures with us and I tried to find some of the less embarrassing action shots to post!

Mr. Xie playing with Betty's niece. 

Betty and one of her former students, who is now in university but was home for the holiday. High school teachers in China move through the grades with their students. They start together in Grade 1 and then onto Grade 2 and finally Grade 3. After 3 years together with the same kids, they form deep relationships with some students!

After badminton, we continued to hike. This is the temple near the top of the mountain.

Inside the temple.

There were dragons located all along this rock wall. 

The dragons led to this cave. 

A view of part of Huangshi from the top. Huangshi is surrounded by mountains, but this is the first time I have climbed one!

Another view of the city.

Our group: some teachers from school, family members, and former students!

This is a picture of the temple we were at, taken from below. It looks like is part of the mountain! 

Later the same day, we had a few friends over to our home to teach them how to make brownies! We had made brownies for Wu Xia's birthday dinner earlier this year and her friends loved them! It was so much fun to share western things with them. They don't have things like measuring cups or measuring spoons or baking powder or vanilla extract in China. It was quite a challenge to explain what these things are and where you can get them. We brought ours from America, but anything can be ordered online nowadays! 

This was the best idea ever...they did all of the baking, Camille and I just told them the steps, and then I got to eat brownies! 

The plates are the finished brownies, I promise, you just can't see them! 

Enjoying the finished product! 

What a great way to end the holiday week! Now its back to work! Only not really...I went to work for one week and now I have a holiday again! My students will have military training so I have most of the week off. Camille and I are going to take a quick trip to Guangzhou so I'll put a post of the trip as soon as I can!

Chinese Holiday Season

Last week there were two holidays in China that happen to coincide this year because of the lunar calendar! This means we had the entire week off of school. The first holiday was Mid-Autumn Festival on September 30 and the second was National Day, which is always on October 1. The festival always takes place during the autumn solstice. It is also known as Chinese Lantern Festival or Moon cake Festival. It is a lunar harvest festival that includes eating moon cakes, family gatherings, and matchmaking! As one of Camille's students on QQ told her, "the Mid Autumn festival is the cowherd and the weaver girl meet festival, dating appointment of festival, why don't you find a boyfriend? Oh oh, China also has many excellent boys ah ~ you are so beautiful, should have good people chase you."   

About to eat my moon cake, given to me as a gift from Diana. This is a small one.  

They are usually stamped with the chinese character of the kind of flavor it is on the inside. There are many kinds including: egg, beef, lotus, sesame paste, red bean paste, and fruit. 

The inside of a moon cake. This one was lotus paste and an egg yolk. 

Also, our wonderful friends, Paul and Erin came to spend a few days with us during the holiday, because they now live in Wuhan. After Camille, Erin and I ate a moon cake, Paul told us that moon cakes are extremely bad for you and a ton of calories. I didn't really believe him at first, because Chinese people don't really like sweets so I assumed nothing could be as bad as our American desserts. We looked on the internet and this was the astonishing find...

One Moon Cake

790-1200 calories 

Protein:  5-12g

Carbs: 60-90g

Fats:  30-45g

 That is insane! I'm glad I only ate one really small one! 

DRAGON FRUIT

Apparently it is also common to give dragon fruit as a gift during the festival. When I first moved to China a year ago, I was surprised to see all of the different types of fruit and vegetables that I had never seen in Louisiana. Dragon fruit is one of those. It is so strange looking, but quite beautiful. 

The inside is white with small black seeds. It has a similar texture to watermelon.

Yummy dragon fruit! It made a nice edition to our breakfast!

ACUPUNCTURE

Our good friend, Dawn, went to school for massage therapy. Part of her study included acupuncture. Over the holiday, Dawn decided that she should give Paul acupuncture. Did I mention this all took place at our apartment?

Dawn preparing her needles. 

Getting ready for his first acupuncture experience. 

Dawn wanted to show us how it was done on herself first. The needle is in her hand.

Dawn putting the needle in Paul's hand. The needle goes into the pressure point in between your thumb and forefinger. Paul said it was just a strange feeling in his hand muscle and he liked it, so Dawn put another needle in his leg!

This would be MY hand! After seeing Paul do it, I thought it would be a good idea to try it too! Dawn told me she didn't think foreign girls liked acupuncture, that something about us was different and I probably wouldn't like it. Being stubborn as I am, I ensured her that I was not afraid of needles, I could take it! Unfortunately, there is no video of my reaction, but it was hilarious! As soon as the needle touched my muscle, I started screaming! Thats my left hand in the picture trying to stop Dawn from putting the needle in further! It did hurt, but mostly it just felt strange to have something sharply poking your pressure point. Once the needle was in all the way, it wasn't so bad. Most likely, I won't be trying this again! 

Camille decided to give it a go after me. The first attempt in her hand didn't work out so well. Dawn said she didn't have enough muscle in her hand for the needle to stand up! haha Sorry Cam!

So Dawn put a needle in her arm instead! Camille was way less of a weeny than me and didn't scream when the needle went in! But, then Dawn twisted the needle, which was in the pressure point of her arm and that caused a pretty funny reaction. I do have videos, but sadly I cannot get them to load onto the blog! Just imagine...

And then it was Erin's turn. She had a similar reaction to me when Dawn used her hand. 

Later that night, we finished off Paul and Erin's holiday trip to Huangshi with Ktv with the new foreign teachers, Brad and Dana, and a few students. Nothing like karaoke to celebrate the holiday season! I feel very Chinese and acclimated to the culture writing this post full of moon cakes, dragon fruit, acupuncture, and karaoke!