Banquet Time!

So this week is a major Chinese holiday, Mid Autumn Festival. Which I find funny because first, it is still summer, and second, here in Wenzhou it's about 100 degrees. But that's fine. I'll take the days off, no problem :)

The only bad thing is that they make up days off here. So I don't have work Friday, but will teach Friday's class Sunday. I know right? The Chinese need to take their relaxing more seriously.

These are moon cakes. They are the food of the Mid Autumn Festival. I've had a few. They put all sorts of stuff in them, some have jelly, some have nuts. To me it seems like it's really up to whoever about what goes in them.

Last night our school had a big banquet for three holidays: Teacher's Day, (last week) Mid Autumn, (this week) and National Day (first week of October). Shelly met me by the school cafeteria and we went to the party which was were we normally eat, on the teacher's floor of the building.

Me and Shelly :)

Place card. Stuff like this always makes me laugh. Seeing all the Chinese and then bam-my name.

I was asked to introduce myself and perform after eating, so I rattled off the few Chinese phrases I've picked up.  Ni hao! Wo jiao Victoria, wo shi Mei Guo ren. (Hi, my name is Victoria, I am an American.) Which they loved. Anytime I try to say anything in Chinese they tell me I'm amazing haa. I don't know what I am going to do when I get back home and people aren't constantly complimenting me.....hee hee

And after that I had some other teachers come up and I showed them the Cha-Cha slide. They thought that was pretty great, too. 

Here's some of the food. That stringy stuff is some kind of fish. It was pretty good. And there are moon pies in the middle of the table. In China, the bowl is where you put the food you want, and the plate is where you put like shells, seeds, fat, bones, the stuff you don't eat.

This is a video of a music teacher playing an instrument that's popular here. I love the sound of it.

They also had door prizes throughout the night, and every teacher got a swag bag. Mine had a set of towels, a gift card, and soap and toothpaste. More toothpaste than I will ever need. One less thing to buy I guess!

After the party, there was an after party with all the big wigs of the school, like the dean, board members, superintendent, Shelly, Shelly's husband, (who is one of three vice principals) and a few other teachers. They spent the rest of the night toasting me with Australian wine and we had a great time speaking in Chinglish :) (Chinese/English)

So successful first banquet. It was a lot of fun, and I think the teachers are getting used to me and opening up more. One man said: "You are so free going!" Why yes, yes I am :)