Thanksgiving in Jinan

Our Chinese students have a basic understanding of Thanksgiving.   Even so, we augmented their knowledge with more holiday "tidbits."  We used Thanksgiving as a topic for discussion and for writing.  In writing we assigned them to write a "formal" letter of appreciation to someone.  For oral English, we created a scene and placed them around "our" American dinner table.  We explained that before we eat the meal we each share a thought about something for which we are grateful.  They discussed with each other the blessings in their life.  Most of them mentioned their family and friends.  Some actually acknowledged thankfulness to God.  For the most part, we would say that these young people are no different than those in the United States or anywhere else.
 

Thanksgiving flowers for Professor Pace

When Nancy started her presentation on Thanksgiving, she turned her back to the class.  The students presented her with a handmade "paper bouquet" and card to say thanks for teaching them and wishing her a Happy Thanksgiving.  She was really surprised!

This week we were invited to lunch by a businessman, Jacky, who has been attending both Nancy’s and my classes the last few weeks.  (Sometimes he comes to several classes a week so he often gets a "repeat" lesson.  We tell him that he is going to get bored with the same material, but he keeps coming!)  He received permission from the university to attend English classes in order to improve his skills.  He wanted to express his gratitude by taking us out to eat.  On Wednesday we walked together to a very nice restaurant not far from campus and met one of his colleagues there.  Both of these men are outstanding people and very successful in their professions.  Our lunch probably “broke the bank” we’re sure.  Anyway, we learned that both of these men graduated from Shandong University;  Jacky with his MBA and Rick with a degree in English.  (Rick graduated in 2002)  We asked Rick if he had any foreign teachers from BYU.  He said yes, and in fact he had Fred and Millie for two years.  He said he enjoyed these BYU teachers very much.

 

 Jacky, Nancy, Stan and Rick at the restaurant.

 

  The food was very good and very traditional.  The fish and shrimp we ate were alive in the tanks when we arrived.  No question, the food was fresh.  One interesting dish is considered a delicacy.  It was sea cucumber soup.  The taste wasn't really an issue but the texture....well, that was the challenge.

 This is a good picture of the food.

 

Some of our dishes were:  fried shrimp, flat fish, "salad wraps" - they call them a Chinese pancake, but they look like flour tortillas to us -, Kong Pao chicken, mushroom salad, shredded potatoes, etc.  Like always, there is too much food.  We can't figure out where that saying came from, "....eat your dinner.  Think of the starving children in China."  It was probably very true during the Cultural Revolution but not any more.

 

It was a delight spending time with Jacky and Rick.  They both commute to Jinan each week from Weifang, about 1 hour to the East, and go home to their families on the weekend.  They work for a very large multi-national heavy industry corporation with interests in Europe and the US.  The business language spoken is English, thus their interest in meeting with us.  Jacky will be traveling to California for business reasons for two months in February.  He is looking forward to the California weather.  Both of them are married and have at least one child.  Rick has two because his wife delivered twins, a girl and a boy.  (One way around the 1 child policy).    Jacky has a little boy, whom they named Jerry.  He and his wife are very happy with the recent change in Chinese policy allowing more than one child per couple.  He stated that they already have that "on the schedule."

 

They have invited us to come to Waifang and visit them there.  They want to show us around and introduce us to their families and friends.  We hope we can do this, possibly in the Spring, during a very popular Kite Festival.  The couple we replaced here in Jinan, attended last year and thought it was something we should not miss.  That now is also "on the schedule."

 

We were invited to tour the museum housed at the Central Campus of Shandong University last Tuesday afternoon.  We joined a number of foreign teachers on the 27th floor of the main university building.  It was an impressive museum, though not large.  It's collection included many ancient artifacts from archeological digs in the local area.  There were a few examples of what are called "oracle bones."  These bones were written on anciently and are the best example of Chinese characters and their origins.

 

 This is an "Oracle Bone."

 

Ancient set of bell-like musical instruments.

  Shandong University Museum.

 

On Thanksgiving day we taught our classes and in the evening we were invited to attend a dinner for all foreign teachers at the university.  About 25-30 of us gathered at the Central Campus Teacher Cafeteria for the event.  Someone was able to find two small turkeys, but no one has an oven big enough to cook them.  The university agreed to cook them in their commercial ovens in the cafeteria.  It was a nice event and we did not leave hungry .  We had most of the traditional foods and the university also

provided some typical Chinese dishes.

 

BYU teacher, Zina Cox, cutting the turkey.  Notice our Chinese guests.  They like Thanksgiving too.

 

After the event, we decided to just walk home, which is about 1 1/2 miles.  The lady to the left in the above picture is Mary and she happens to live in the same apartment complex as we do.  She has been with the university for many years and has some interesting stories to tell, including how the relationship started between BYU China Teachers Program and Shandong University.  Russell M. Nelson, a heart surgeon in Utah and church member, was in Jinan many years ago.  Since Shandong University has a medical campus, Dr. Nelson would occasionally come to China in a teaching capacity.  At one point he performed successful surgery on a well-known opera star.  Eventually Dr. Nelson, as an LDS church leader, was able to formulate a plan to have BYU send retired couples to teach English in China.  Mary knows Elder Nelson personally and even met with him in SLC when she came to do further training at the University of Utah medical school for several months. 

 

 Simon, Kathy Hong and their son, Hansen, at the Hanlin Hotel. 

 

Kathy and Simon are Canadian citizens and their son is a US citizen.  Kathy  and Simon were both born in China and Kathy was raised in Jinan.  They have returned after years in Canada and the US.  When we attended the musical performance  last week, Kathy's mom was the opera singer.  Kathy joined the LDS church in Canada and is allowed to meet with our group since she is not a Chinese national any longer.  Interestingly, she was raised by relatives until age 12 since her mom was too busy as an opera singer.

 

  

 Nancy and Lily, the Chinese young adult, who

 befriended BYU teachers last year. 

 

Lily joined us after church services so she could taste American food.   This is only 1/2 of the food for our Thanksgiving celebration on Sunday,  December 1.  We opted for chicken since turkeys are too big for our small ovens.   We also had sweet potatoes and apples, mashed sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing, homemade rolls, several salads and pumpkin, banana cream and apple pie  We truly had a feast.  Several people commented that our potlucks after church and the conversation are a highlight of the week, especially when we are separated from our families during the holidays.   Lulu, a medical student from South Africa, also brought a fellow classmate from Durban, South Africa, who is from the Zulu tribe.  We are enjoying our international UN!!

 

 

The Hanlin Hotel where we meet for church and where 5 BYU teachers live in their apartment "suites". 

 

 

 

The lobby of the Hanlin Hotel has a Christmas tree.  One of the BYU teachers said the Chinese don't really know how to decorate one, however.  There were various "sparse Charlie Brown" trees scattered on hotel floors.  Some of the stores have Christmas stockings and ornaments available, but no one has found any candy canes!

 

 

Sometimes we just laugh at our trickle of water in the apartment.  We know if the washer is filling or the toilet has been flushed that there will not be any quantity of water for several minutes.  However, sometimes there no logical reason for the lack of water pressure.

The Chinese are very good about keeping the streets clean and the leaves picked up.  Nancy often sees "sweepers" out by 6 am when it is so dark we wonder how they can see the leaves at all.  They have unusual "brooms".  Some are made out of strips of plastic bags, some out of rags and some out of twigs from a bush.  We have only seen a few leaf blowers being used.