Mid-Autumn Festival

Well, it is a little embarrassing that we haven't updated our blog since September 9th.  It isn't that we haven't been doing anything.  It's more that we have been so involved in teaching classes that we have given that our full concentration rather than the blog.

We spent a beautiful Saturday indoors, yesterday, correcting 150+ writing papers about "Your Best Life Event"!  It has given us some insights into the lives of our students.  They have written about volunteering for several weeks at a rural primary school in China, about their conversion to Christianity, about being beaten by their father and how they both changed for the better, about meeting their girlfriend or boyfriend and about the importance of their family.

Generally the students are diligent about their studies and are very interested in American culture.  Many want to come to the US for further education.  They want to make sure they are prepared for that experience.  They want to know what topics or questions are considered rude and about  table manners!

It has been interesting trying to figure out the school calendar.  Is there one??  After the first week of classes there was a mid-autumn festival for three days.  That meant that we did not have class on a Thursday or Friday.  However, the Friday classes had to be made up on Sunday!  Then this week is a National Holiday so we have class on Monday and don't return to class until Tuesday of the following week.  Classes on Wednesday were the only ones that had to be made up Sunday.  We also found out recently that after this holiday, the classes in the afternoon start a half hour earlier!! We just hope we show up to the class at the correct day, correct time and correct place!!

 

 Teaching has been quite an adjustment for Nancy.  Having over 200+ students is a challenge for preparation and trying to get acquainted.   The classes are two hour blocks that meet once a week.  It has been hard to determine who is actually on the roster as many students are adding and dropping classes each week.  Stan has just had 3 writing classes so he has worked at developing lesson plans.  The freshmen return to class tomorrow so he will now have 3 oral classes added to his teaching schedule.  The freshman students have been in military training for 3 weeks.  They are marching, etc. from dawn until dusk!  We understand there is no real further military obligation other than the freshman training.  It is mainly to build leadership skills and character.  Some girls said they lost 12 pounds from all the exercise!

These are photos of the Freshmen students in the midst

 of their 3-week "military" training.  

The mid-autumn festival (September 19-21) celebrates the full moon and equinox and has only officially been a holiday since 2008.  It is a time for family to gather and eat "delicious food" and have Moon Cakes.  However, many of the SDU students live too far from their home town to really make the trip.  Lily, featured in our first blog post, went to her home which is about 2 hours away by train.  However, the trains are so crowded she expected to stand the entire time.

 

This young couple was preparing to launch a lantern into the sky during the festival.  We watched them write messages on it, ("I love you" in English), lite it and send it skyward.  

The Moon Cake packaging is quite elaborate.  We are sure

 the gift box is 10-20X the cost of the actual contents.

 

 This is one version of the traditional "Moon Cake."  It is a very dense pastry and has an estimated calorie count of 1000 for each cake.  They are a little like our traditional Fruit Cake - traditional but no one really likes them that well.  We thought they were OK but "nothing to write home about."

 

 

As we were walking around near our campus during the Mid-Autumn Festival, we saw this local vendor selling popcorn.  Stan couldn't pass up the opportunity and had to have his picture taken with his new friend. 

Prior to the festival we were invited to an official Chinese banquet to welcome foreign teachers on our campus.  It was hosted by the vice dean of the School of Foreign Languages and Literature.  Those attending included teachers from Korea, US, Japan, Russia, and France.  The table was at least 20 feet in diameter rotating with a lazy susan. The evening featured 37 food dishes.  One was a small full fish from the mouth of the Yellow River and was wrapped in a "tortilla".  We really liked a dish with green beans and walnuts and some dumplings.  There were many toasts and entertainment.  The vice dean insisted that the foreign teachers sing, dance, recite poetry: in other words we were the entertainment!  Stan sang "Grandma's Feather Bed" and I mouthed the words!

This was quite an unique event

During the festival holiday, we took a break from preparing lessons and went for a day's outing to the Red Leaf Valley, about twenty miles south of Jinan.  Other BYU teachers went with us and we stood up on a city bus for 1 1/2 hours to get to our destination.  The valley is known for its brilliant fall colors, but it was too early in the season.  At least we know how to get there now and it was very peaceful scene compared to the crowded city!

 

Red Leaf Valley is still Green Leaf Valley

As of Tuesday we head for the China Silk Road.  BYU has a Chinese tour agent and he arranges tours for BYU teachers during holidays.  We will be essentially flying 3,000 miles to northwestern Xinjiang Province, home of the Ughurs.  We fly back home from Xian where the Terra-Cotta Warriors were found.  Besides airplane flights, camel rides, and bus rides, we will be traveling on an overnight sleeper train.  This will likely be another unique China experience!  Look for further blog posts when we return.