Teacher's Day Weekend Activities

Sunday in China was Teacher's Day. It is day when all are to honor teachers across the nation. For the historically informed the dubious nature of the holiday is obvious. Because I was told that the discussion of the events of 1960-1970 will be censored I can not get into specifics here. Consult your history books please. Here at LuHe we celebrated the day in style.

In class on Friday the students all wished me a happy teacher’s day and acted especially good for me. The teachers were invited to a function at the school that evening. We were told there would be fruit and carrot cake. It seemed informal enough. Wrong.

We went to Wagner Hall (a glorified gymnasium) where there were tables lined up along the east and west wall and at those tables were 100 teachers and grapes galore. It was a real reception. They had several speakers and a special translator for us. The speakers were followed by a special (extremely tame) entertainment session. The Korean teachers sang a Korean song, the dance teacher did an interpretive dance to mark the day, the eldest teachers put on a ballroom dancing exhibition (ballroom dance is a common hobby among the aged here). Then came the karaoke. The science department sang, the headmaster sang and then they poked and prodded until the la wei sang (la wei is the term for foreigner and one of the few words I know and can pick out of a conversation, its cool that I know when people are talking about me on the subway or in the bank). Many of you know that I have a real weakness for karaoke so you will also know that it took very little coaxing for me to sing. Bryne and I sang Love Me Tender. We were awful but they loved us for attempting it. Our horrible performance was followed by a music teacher playing a traditional Chinese instrument. It was kind of like a 5 string guitar held upright and played with 5 finger picks. It was incredibly amazing. It was by far the highlight of the evening. After her came the accordion player (not as good), and then disco. They played one song and immediately everyone formed a conga line and marched around the room. As quickly as the dancing had started it ended and everyone returned to their seats. They closed with the performance of an old song that I was told was a tribute to Mao. All in all it was a strange evening but extremely satisfying despite the lack of the promised carrot cake.

That evening a few of us went out and continued our karaoke antics at a bar here in town. We were the only customers and ended up singing 10 songs, a veritable concert of humiliation had there been anyone else in the bar.

The next day there was a knock on my door. It was one of the Chinese English teachers. She said she was here to pick me up to go to the farm with her mother. I was confused but complied because I was told that invitations to outings are rare and should not be refused if you ever want to receive one again. So me, the teacher, and her mom went to "the farm". It was cool. I thought of Garry Seltzer as we walked through the acres and acres of grapes, peaches, sunflowers, pears, and peanuts. I even ate the lotus. They had a small pond so the mother and I harvested a lotus pod, opened it and ate the seeds inside. It was a lot like a peanut and if I ever get my computer to comply you can see the pictures.

After the farm the three of us headed back to their house where the mother proceeded to cook me a feast for lunch. It was a very traditional Chinese household. The mother lives with the daughter and the daughter's husband. The three of them together. It is common so I guess mothers in law and sons in law have a VERY different relationship here, or else it is hell for both. On the menu were dumplings, pumpkin porridge, and stir fry vegetables. I was told that the more I ate the more likely I was to be invited back so I loosened my belt, took a deep breath, and packed it away almost to the point of illness. It was delicious.

That night all the teachers were treated to a special performance by the Chinese National Opera. I don't know how familiar any of you are with Beijing Opera, I know I knew nothing of it before I came, but its very interesting. There is extensive makeup and face paint and elaborate costumes to denote each character. There is something like 20 main archetypal figures in Beijing Opera. The music is generally not pleasant to the western ear. Lots of high, shrill singing accompanied by loud bangs that occur at seemingly random intervals. It is very hard to really convey the musical chaos that occurs. The banging and piercing sounds were contrasted by singing solos in a very high pitch that were accompanied by beautiful string music. The costumes, acrobatics, and face paint were amazing though and worth putting up with the music.

Today I lesson planned most of the day and really reflected on what it means to be a teacher in China. I have it good here. Most of the Chinese teachers can barely eek out a living and work much longer hours than I. The conditions are rough for them but they do a great job despite all that. Hats off to them. Happy Teachers Day.