Mid-Autumn Day Festival

First of all, karaoke in China rules. We went to a karaoke (KTV) place downtown on Thursday night. There was about 15 of us and they put us in a room. We did it for about 2 hours. Here is a list of some of the songs we sang: "Killer Queen", "Dancing Queen", "Bohemian Rhapsody", "I Wanna Dance With Somebody", "Hungry Like The Wolf", "Girl, You'll Be A Woman Soon", "Lyin' Eyes"...anyway, it was awesome.

This last Sunday was one of the biggest holidays in China's calendar, The Mid-Autumn Day Festival. From what I gather, it is a time to celebrate family, harvest, and each other. One big there is this desert type of cookie that is really hard to describe called a mooncake that is associated with the holiday. It's mighty tasty.

Anyway, Kara, Alissa, and Willie's school had asked them to go to this dinner party to represent their school in celebration of Mid-Autumn day. Their school had also requested that they bring another guy and girl to perform something "American." I don't want to ruin the story by saying what we did, but, needless to say we did not practice that much.

None of us really knew what the itinerary for our trip was. We learned the day of the dinner party that 1. This dinner party is open to the public, 2. It is next to a Buddhist temple (which was definitely a pleasant surprise), 3. It is 45 minutes outside of the city and we will get there by shuttle. Once we get there they lead us up this hill to a Buddhist temple and shrine which we explore for about 30 minutes. One of the monks explains the meaning behind Mid-Autumn Day (it was in Chinese, so I'm not really sure if this is what she actually explained.) While we are exploring tons of Chinese are taking pictures of us. Some secretly and others asking if they can. A couple news reporters talked to us about Mid-Autumn Day and why we decided to come to China to become teachers.

After the Buddhist temple, we make our way back down the hill to the dinner party, which is right on the lake. There was a full moon and eventually all the lamps around the area are lit up. With all the traditional Chinese music in the background, it was definitely a sight to behold.

Eventually the entertainment begins. There are three separate acts from Beijing Opera that includes music played by many traditional Chinese instruments. There was one guy who sang whose veins and eyes seemed to be bulging out from his head and he looked straight ahead the entire time. Whatever he was singing about it must have been very serious. We are the 6th or so act of the night. Then there was a 10 year old girl who played a stringed instruments that is laid horizonatally on its side and is played by being picked. Not sure what it's called...

So after all these amazing singers and musicians perform. They call the Meiguoren (Americans) on stage to perform. We all stand facing the crowd of Chinese that have gathered around to see the Americans make fools of themselves. We line up on stage and music comes on. "Achey Breaky Heart" plays as we begin line dancing. That's right. After all these great musicians presented their art to us, we line danced (and not even that well). Anyway, during the performance, little girls came up to give us apples and flowers. We got a good crowd response, but I for one, felt a little foolish.

A news reporter asked me, "Why did you choose this song and dance?"
I gave the best answer I could.
"It's music and dancing that was created in America. Plus it's an easy dance most people can do."
"Is it popular in certain regions."
"Yea, the Southern United States."
haha

- Josh