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!