Mid-Autumn Festival

This past week we did not have school on Thursday for the Mid- Autumn Festival which is regarded as the second most important festival in China after the Chinese New Year. It is celebrated on the 15th day of the eighth month according to Chinese Lunar calendar, which is the exact midst of autumn. The festival is an evening celebration when families gather together to light lanterns, eat moon cakes and appreciate the round moon. At night, the moon appears to be at its roundest and brightest, an auspicious symbol of abundance, harmony and luck. The full moon is also a symbol for family reunion, which is why that day is also known as the Festival of Reunion. Those who cannot return home watch the bright moon and feel deep longing for their loved ones.

Anyway, the moon was beautiful and Thursday was great. Friday teachers and students felt odd because the day felt like a Monday and a Friday!  Holidays here are much like home as far as the quietness of the city.  Many shops close and there are less cars on the street.  As with many holidays here there are peculiar ways of awarding vacation days by the government.  For this festival most workers had Thursday, Friday and Saturday off but were back to work on Sunday.  As I went for a run before 7am this morning I was shocked to see kids in uniforms going to school and the traffic packed like a weekday.  Shocked until I remembered what a day off must cost this economy from the governments perspective.  So there is a chinese vacation for the second biggest holiday, three days off and then back to work for 6 in a row!

Full Time Ayi

We knew when we found out that we were expecting that finding the perfect Ayi was very important.  I may be what you call ‘particular’ when it comes to certain matters in my life and I feel that the care provided for my child will be no exception.  There was a couple that worked at our school that were leaving Shanghai for Moscow last spring with their 6-year-old daughter.  Their Ayi had been with them since their daughter was born and they were looking for a couple to ‘adopt’ their Ayi who had grown to be a part of their family.  When I approached them they were relieved to hear that we were looking.  We met Xiao Ma (Shao-Ma) and we had a good feeling, so we decided to hire her.  The only catch was that she would be full time from August because she didn’t want there to be a gap in paychecks.  So when we arrived back here on August 5^th she had already put in 40ish hours of work. 

We noticed that there were a few items that weren’t ours in the apartment, some books, some kitchen items and other random things.  I assumed that Xiao Ma’s previous family just asked her to bring them over and that they were things they didn’t want to take to Russia with them.  Then our friend Adriana arrived back from the states and asked for her stuff that we stored for her over the summer….. ooops. I found Adriana’s sports bras, work out clothes, handbags, blenders, diabetic medication, doggy door, doggy door screws, and dozens of other items put away in our apartment.  I found more stuff this week! 

There is defiantly an adjustment period with anything new and we are figuring each other out.  She has been making dinner a few times a week and has taught Matt how to make Kung Pao Chicken.  Next is dumplings or at least that what I hope he learns next.

Our apartment is very clean and to be honest I am a little worried about our relationship when we no longer have full time help.  I have no idea how to start the washing machine for instance.  I haven’t washed a dish since we have been back here.  I know what you are thinking… I don’t have real problems.  Maybe not, but do you see how this could BECOME a problem when we don’t have Xiao Ma around?  Now you understand.  In the meantime, I will enjoy my first world problem and stop complaining about our full time maid.

Ikea

This week we sent Xiao Ma to Ikea, Ikea is not my favorite place to go as it is the one of the only places you can go in the city that feels like you are in a city of 24 million people.  Thank God for Xiao Ma!

Here is a good article about Ikea in China;

http://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1300942/ikea-last-cracks-china-market-success-has-meant-adapting-local-ways

Last Names

These are the last names of my grade 11 students.  I think you would be shocked to have a class of last names like this if you were teaching in Stratton or Topeka.

AKKARAT      ANDERSSON      CARAMASCHI      CHANG      CHOI      CHU      HOANG      HSU      KORHONEN      LAM      MA      MATTHEWS      MIURA      PARK      PARK      PARK      SHAN      SZE      TSAI      YANG      YEH      ZHU

No Smiths or Jones....and I didn't mistakenly write Park 3 times.  There are three Parks.  Its a super popular Korean name.  

Hunger

So Matt mentions to me that he 'just forgot to eat lunch' one day this week.  I stared at him blankly for a few seconds feeling like I can no longer relate to this man.  "Are you kidding?" I asked.  "No", he said and started to tell me about how busy he was.  I tried to imagine for a moment the last time I 'forgot' to eat.  When I get hungry which is almost all of the time these days it is all consuming.  It goes from hungry to nausea quickly but before that, my brain gets involved and I can't carry on adult conversations.  I make grunting noises and have no ability to engage in interactions with anyone else, if someone is not providing me with food they are deemed useless and I cannot generate my usual pleasantries.  If it gets really bad I will physically redirect anyone that is in my way.  So, if I 'forgot' to eat a meal someone would have kindly reminded me.  

I am excited to relate to the non-pregnant population again someday soon.