Holiday Treats

Happy New Year: here's to making 2012 truly great!

In this entry, I'll try to get you caught up on holiday happenings and other adventures in December besides the holiday extravaganza concert and Trevor's quest for hardware parts. One of my hopes for 2012 is that I'll keep up with blogging in a little more timely manner. :)

Thursdays in December became my fabric market day. The bus from our home to fabric market takes about an hour, but from my Tuesday/Thursday job at a Chinese kindergarten, the bus ride is only about twenty minutes. The fabric market is a must-see in Wuhan: there are countless stalls each containing dozens of fabric bolts. The best part is that each stall offers something different than the next. (I think my mom would love it!). The main fabric-selling part is at least two floors tall and also contains booths that offer ribbon, buttons, fur, thread and zippers. Part of the fun is just looking at all the possibilities and part of the other fun is bargaining for a great price. Here's an example of one such booth:






My good friend Anna went with or met me there each Thursday. Thanks to her great Chinese speaking skills, I was able to get some beautiful turquoise fabric at a great price (though it looks more blue in the photo) and ordered a traditional Chinese jacket made at Anna's favorite tailor. The tailor shop takes all kinds of measurements and makes a sketch so that you truly get a custom-made garment. It typically takes about a week for the shop to make things so between the jacket and a winter coat I ordered on separate trips, I ended up going to the fabric market four times in December.

Here I am with the pink and brown winter coat I had made. I picked out everything about the coat from the super-warm lining to the hidden zipper and toggle buttons to the two pink buttons on the cuffs. It was a lot of fun finding the materials for it, then showing the tailor exactly what I envisioned.

The other great thing about this photo is the bike. After too many weeks of walking 15 minutes to the international school, I finally decided it was high time to purchase a bike. It wasn't as expensive as I had originally thought, and it has turned out to be one of our best China purchases. I found out that it is not too easy to find a good bike helmet for a reasonable price in Wuhan, but luckily the same bike shop had a pink one they sold me for a good price. Now the commute is cut to just around five minutes. Plus, the school has a covered area where I can lock up the bike. As you can see, Trevor doesn't mind having a bike either. Although since it's a bit small on him, he says he feels like a triceratops riding it!

Christmas Eve was a special, event-filled day. In the morning, I had one of my English tutoring students come over to our apartment to help me build a gingerbread house (a dear, thoughtful friend from the U.S. sent me a kit and all the needed ingredients in the mail). My student had only seen things like this in pictures so it was an extra-special time for her. We also made some peanut butter cookies--her first baking experience, too. It was funny to find out that she LOVES the taste of butter!

Then, Saturday afternoon last-minute gift shopping and wrapping time quickly turned into Saturday evening Christmas diner at Aloha. Just like Aloha's anniversary dinner a few months ago, my friend Melodie and I again played some violin duets for the crowd there enjoying a special holiday dinner. This time, though, we were joined by our friend Nathan on his guitar. It was really fun playing all sorts of Christmas pieces together. Trevor came for the delicious dinner and sat with our good friends Stephen and Anna. Late that night I put the final touches on the gingerbread house (and yep, that's the Chinese jacket I had made at the fabric market):

On Christmas day we enjoyed a wonderful, touching time at fellowship, plus delicious comfort foods during lunch and dinner with dear friends. Though we really missed spending this special day with family and friends, we felt so grateful for the warm company of friends here in Wuhan. (A delicious pumpkin pie always helps with the holiday spirit, too.):

Finally, as a preview to my next post about the final days at my Chinese kindergarten job, take a guess in the comments section about what you think this student asked for (and got!) from Santa:

Answer coming later this week, along with several adorable photos. Until then, have a great start to the new year~

Christmas Concert

Faithful readers, forgive us—December was a blur, and we are finally getting caught up on blogging.

On December 16, the Foreign Affairs Office of Hubei Province put on a Christmas concert for ‘foreign experts.’ Trevor’s school kindly arranged for tickets and transportation. When we arrived at the Wuhan Conservatory of Music that night, our jaws dropped. We had no idea there were so many foreigners in Wuhan. It felt strange and oddly comforting to see all these other Western faces, some familiar and many unfamiliar.

We had excellent seats—right near the edge of the balcony. Based on what we saw for Jianghan University’s tenth anniversary performance, we had a feeling this concert would be similarly over-the-top. We were surely not disappointed. As you read about the notable acts, insert the musical punctuation of popping balloons—both between and during performances. J

First, a guzheng ensemble played a beautiful, picturesque piece about rafting down a Chinese river. The guzheng is a traditional Chinese instrument whose sound has really caught my ear every time I’ve heard it. An ensemble of them sounds even better. What caught my eye, though, were the gorgeous white dresses all the female musicians wore. Unlike the somber black of Western orchestras, I thought to myself, ‘now if I learn how to play the guzheng, I could join a group like this and have a reason to wear my wedding dress again!’ (Fat chance…the guzheng looks like a really complicated instrument to play.) As soon as the enthusiastic applause died down, each of the girls picked up their instrument and carried it off stage. Talk about a strong group of musicians!

Next a soprano whooshed onto the stage with a dress train big enough to practically dust the whole stage floor in one turn. She sang an aria in Italian from Gounod’s Romeo and  Juliet. Her voice was well-trained and the performance was well-polished…so we wondered, why turn on the two bubble machines within the first minute of the piece? Later on during her song, the fog machines noisily turned on.  Of course, there were at least three balloons on the stage behind her that popped unexpectedly while she was singing.

The fog machine was used again a few acts later with the Wuhan Acrobatics Group. These agile young ladies skillfully performed with their diabolos (Chinese yo-yo’s) in a well-choreographed routine that thrilled the audience. Most amusing to me were their hats which looked like red and yellow octopuses.

When it comes to a performance, how long is too long? That question came to mind about fifteen minutes into the Peking Opera act. While the actors and musicians were well-rehearsed, Trevor and I kept looking at each other with silent messages of ‘when will this ever end?!?’ By this point in the concert, we both had in our earplugs to reduce the volume somewhat. The musical ensemble for the group included several traditional instruments that are just a little too loud and high-pitched for our taste. (I seriously cannot imagine being one of the musicians in an opera troupe like this—not only is it very loud but the musical narration seemed to repeat ad naseum). 

From what we could gather the plot of this opera scene involved two warring lords and their armies strutting about and looking generally mean/surprised/strong/proud. The two main actors had headpieces so big they barely fit through the stage door. The most fashionable of the two had very long and dramatic feathers (three or four feet in length!) attached to his headpiece—where in the world did they find those?  I also noticed that they both wore shoes with at least three inch platforms. I had to wonder if either has ever broken his ankle while dancing and jumping in those shoes.

The accompanying army actors showed their prowess with fake sword fights for about twenty minutes until suddenly they started doing amazing jumps,  spins and cartwheels in the air (landing a little too close for comfort near the orchestra, I might add). Near the end, they were catapulting themselves over a fabric ‘wall’ that was at least four feet high. All in all, the costumes and showmanship were high-class, but at some point, the ‘wow’ factor turned into ‘when will this be over?’ factor. On the bright side, this Peking opera performance didn’t involve any high-pitched nasally singing. Maybe the concert organizers knew Westerners weren’t such big fans of this sound (and for this we are grateful!).

Well, you’d think after such a long act there would be an intermission, or at least some small stretch break. Not a chance! The acts just kept coming, with blazing fast stage crew works in between each one.

A gifted piano student played Argentine Dance Melodies by Ginastera. Following this were two acrobats at whose flexibility and balancing prowess we didn’t know whether to cringe or applaud. They contorted themselves and their stacks of bowls into several different impressive positions (we were pretty convinced the bowls were glued together). While both girls in the act were petite, I had special sympathy for the ‘supportive’ one. She had to hold up the other girl using her head, stomach, leg, etc. and it did not look comfortable:

There were a few more acts after this which involved the fog and bubble machines, plus a few more balloon pops. The grand finale was the Youth Orchestra of Wuhan Conservatory of Music. In short, they were awesome! These young musicians played so well.  The ensemble was comprised mainly of Chinese instruments, though there were a few Western ones, including cellos, basses and timpani. Everyone we talked to after the concert felt like the conductor had a wonderful rapport with his orchestra and with the audience. Thankfully, he had selected rousing, enjoyable pieces to end this marathon concert.

 

Merry Christmas from China!

Merry Christmas!

Or, rather, Merry Christmas Eve!

Christmas music (in English and Chinese, e.g. "Jingles Bells" or "Ding Ding Dong" in Chinese) has been sounding from PA systems and speakers in stores and coffee shops, and rosy-cheeked Santa faces (too much baijiu?) are appearing around here. Still it just doesn't have the same feel of Christmas as it did in the States. Granted, the lack of snow has a lot to do with that.

However, the reason for the season - the birth of Christ - isn't bound to a certain decoration scheme, language, or atmospheric phenomenon, so we are able to celebrate Christmas here as well as anywhere. That's the wonder of portable joy :)

Since it would be impractical to send all of you a Christmas gift - and just too late to try to do so anyway - you'll have to settle instead for this story. Which has absolutely nothing to do with Christmas. But hopefully will be enjoyable...

So, I've been helping a local restaurant with some fix-it projects, as well as a sound-absorption project/remodeling job in their party room. They already had the sound-absorption panels - I just needed to install them. After getting some information and advice as to placing the panels, I took copious measurements, created a plan of attack, and wrote up a parts list. List in hand I went to B&Q in Hankou, something of a Home Depot equivalent, or so I thought. Out of the page of parts that I needed, I only came back with a handful of items. Dis-a-ppointing.

Still, not too dismayed I headed to some of the little hole-in-the-wall hardware stores nearby. To facilitate my shopping, I had uploaded pictures of braided steel cable, eye-bolts, nuts, washers, toggle nuts, cable clamps, turnbuckles, etc. onto my iPod so that I could merely point to the picture in combination with my broken Chinese: 你有没有这样的东西？(Do you have this kind of stuff?); 我要大／小一点的。(I want a larger/smaller one.); 可以给我一张发票吗？(Can you give me an official receipt?).

Linguistically, my plan was a complete success. Between the iPod and the magical phrases above I was quickly and effectively able to ascertain...that none of those stores had what I was looking for. So, on a tip from a veteran Wuhan expat, I headed over to what I will call "hardware street," which is conveniently near a part of Hanyang that I am already familiar with.

After arriving at hardware street, I started at one end and meandered down to the other scoping out potential shops that would have what I was looking for. There were shops selling flooring, kitchen appliances, plumbing supplies, electrical supplies, lumber, and everything in between. One shop at the beginning of the street, and one shop at the end looked especially promising. iPod in hand I entered the closest shop and asked about the steel cable. "Do you have this?" I asked. "Yes!" was the reply. Even though I couldn't see said cable anywhere, I was just enthused that it existed! Meanwhile, the shopkeeper made a phone call, and upon completing it we proceeded to both stand there awkwardly for a minute or so - apparently we were waiting for something. Then, the shopkeeper motioned for me to go out front and told me to "get on." I hadn't been paying attention what was happening outside the shop, so I wasn't clear about who of the several people out there had just arrived, and who had been standing around already. After glancing from face to face looking for a flash of recognition, a man on a scooter beckoned me over and motioned for me to climb on the back.
[Note the preceding dialog has been translated into English for your convenience. An actual transcript of the conversation is available upon request].

Now, as we were flying back down hardware street, dodging vans and pedestrians, the though occurred to me that not only had I never been this place before, but I also had no idea who this scooter person was, or why I was on his scooter in the first place. Perhaps I should ask where we're going, I thought, even though I probably wouldn't understand the answer. Thankfully, we soon arrived at the first shop that I had spotted, which obviously had steel cable in stock. Working through my list I was able to find about half of what I was looking for - much to the entertainment of the original shopkeeper, the man with the scooter, and some slightly irritable older gentleman who was also called in to help me and who took my money.

Two hours later I was back home, and thoroughly exhausted. However, there is an amazing sense of accomplishment from facing a situation laden with so many question marks, and deciding to just "go and do" (one of my mottos since arriving in China). The sense of accomplishment is probably akin to what a small child feels when he can walk for the first time - it involves a lot of falling down, yes, but it also involves the ability to interact with his world in a way previously impossible. It was also a nice way to break down some of those mental images of an "untouchable China" where no one can understand or communicate with me - a China behind glass, if you will, visible but inaccessible.

Anyway, Merry Christmas, and if you find your self in Home Depot in the near future, be thankful...and pick up a box of toggle nuts and eye bolts for me, will ya? :)

Mmm...Tastes Like America

Because the Colonel and his chicken just isn't enough to count as Thanksgiving dinner, we made it to the (world-famous) Aloha Diner for some *real* Thanksgiving food:

• Turkey (good luck finding that anywhere else here)
• Ham
• Stuffing
• Sweet Potato Souffle
• Steamed Veggies w/ Cheese Sauce
• Cranberry Sauce (not from a can)
• Mashed Potatoes and Gravy
• And all you could eat of the above once you were done with the first round
• And some Pumpkin Pie - how could I forget!

Great Food, Goofy Zhong'er

Close-up of the Goods

Ahh...bliss (don't worry, she didn't actually shove it up her nose)

Happy Laowai!