Various Chinese Chirstmas Celebrations

First of all, more Chinese celebrate (or at least acknowledge) Christmas than one would imagine. By the end of the week I thought it kind of sad that they celebrate a Western holiday that really doesn't have any meaning to them. Infiltration of Western culture, blah, blah, blah.

All the Drake people (including foreign and Chinese friends) had our own Christmas celebration. A wine and cheese party! My lips and teeth got so stained from the wine it was repulsive. We had a white elephant gift exchange and I ended up getting some tea (my second choice to a bottle of wine). Good times had by all!

On Tuesday evening we went to the Christmas Banquet for Foreigners held by the municipal government. There were about 200 or so foreigners there with Chinese friends. Our Australian friend, Francis, was chosen to make a speech on the behalf of all foreigners of the city. He was "a bit tossed" (as he put it) before giving the speech. The most hilarious part of the speech was, "Sure, Shijiazhuang doesn't have the modernity of Hong Kong, the shopping of Shanghai, or the beauty of Guangzhuo, but..." and at that point I just started cracking up. Francis is one of the most obnoxious (but hilarious) people I've ever met and I have no idea why they picked him to give a speech. Anyway, they had a wonderful buffet and there were more than a few familiar faces. Megan and I also performed "Last Christmas" for the entire banquet...seemed like a crowd favorite from the foreigners' point of view! Afterwards, a bunch of us went out together.

Well, as I mentioned in an earlier post, I have been planning on performing at Christmas parties here in China for almost two months, and it finally came to pass. I practiced a couple of times with a British teacher named Rick. We practiced "Save Tonight" by Eagle Eyed Cherry, "Well Respected Man" by The Kinks, "All My Loving" by The Beatles, "I Want to Hold Your Hand" by The Beatles, "Man On The Moon" by R.E.M., and "All Rise" by Blue (a British boy band). We performed two nights. The first night was at just one hotel but the second night was at two hotels. We performed on four separate stages (each hotel had an upstairs an downstairs party, the upstairs parties were for the richer folks). We played guitar and sang to the first 5 songs on repeat (with a couple of solo ones by Rick that I added some flare to) for about an hour. Then we sang "Save Tonight" and "All Rise" on stage with the actual music as background. Not only did we dance like retards and make complete fools of ourselves (as we were paid to do), but we were dressed in jeans, frilly silk shirts, and cowboy hats. The only two gay cowboys in China that I know of, haha. So after our final performance last night, Jake, Lan (Jake's boss who set up the shows), Rick, the host from our last show, his girlfriend, and I went out to a restaurant. They served some of the best shrimp I have ever eaten. Jake, Lan, and I slammed beers (Rick, having puked "through his nose" the night before, was refraining from such shenanigans) and we all had a great time. Then I met up with Angela and we had a beer together at our famed McDonald's/Foreigner Bar. What an amazing Christmas...celebrated in a way that I will never ever celebrate the same way again. Pictures will be posted soon enough.

Despite not being religious at all, it was quite an awesome week to celebrate the birth of our Lord. Haaaaaaaaah.

Updates

Here are some stories I have from the past couple weeks:

- A week or two ago I purchased some items at a convenience store. The clerk gave me my change but then he also handed me two sticks of Double Mint gum. Being thoroughly confused, I looked at him and then counted my change to make sure I had the right amount. I was missing wu jiao (essentially, fifty cents). Apparently, they did not have any wu jiaos so the clerk thought a proper replacement would be two sticks of gum. As soon as I realized this I started cracking up and left the store. I asked someone about this and they said it's a fairly regular occurrence: "If they don't have the proper amount of change, they will fish around for something to give you instead." I then lost my two sticks of gum in a bet later that night. True Romance came out in 1993, not 1994...damn it.

- The other night a group of us was eating dinner at a restaurant that we frequent. The patrons in a private room off to the side were getting particularly rowdy. As we stole glances into the room we saw the lights turning on and off, girls hanging off of guys, and dancing. Two girls would leave the room every 15-20 minutes to go to the restroom together and each time they came out they would be drunker than they were before. Each time they came out they hung off of each other a bit more and lost their step a little more. Finally, one guy in the room ran out of the room with his hand over his mouth. Rather than running towards the bathroom, he ran towards the stairs, held down his puke for a split second and then spewed it across the floor, and then again by the stairs...then I think he left (on a sidenote, the wait staff didn't decide to clean up the mess for another 10 or 15 minutes...maybe they were drawing straws?). As girls continued to leave the room we were patiently watching and praying that one of them would slip in the puke. Only after it was cleaned up (with a broom no less!) one of the girls in stilettos slipped and fell. I couldn't contain myself and burst out laughing. Having been thoroughly embarrassed the girl was helped up by her friends and they continued their drunken trek to the restroom. Before coming back into the party room. The girl who slipped and fell turned to our table and screamed (in a thick Chinese accent) "Fuck youuu!!!"

- We get a month and a half off for travel starting January 3rd. This is the plan so far: Angela and I are going to pick up Jon and Terri in Beijing on the 5th. We will return to Shijiazhuang until the evening of the 8th when we will go back to Beijing, spend the night there, and fly to Shanghai the morning of the 9th. In Shanghai we will be meeting with our friends Kara, Willie, Bjorn, and Hanne which is going to be amazing. We will be Shanghai until about the 15th when we will return to Beijing and have one or two days to sight see before we see Jon and Terri off again. Then Angela and I will meet our friend, Daniel (who now works in the North), in Harbin, which is known as Ice City. Harbin is in the most northern reaches of China and the temperatures are supposed to be as low as -20 or -30 degrees F. It's most famous for it's architecture (heavy Russian influence) and ice festival which essentially occurs the entire month of January. On the way back from Harbin we will hit two capital cities (can't remember their names at the moment). Then Angela will head back to Shijiazhuang to get pack up because she leaves the country January 30th. Then I will head to Luoyang, Xi'an (terra cotta warriors), and then meet Billie in Chengdu. The last part is heavily tentative but after all that I will be returning to Shijiazhuang mid-February. If this all works out...it's going to be a miracle.

- Weight. Unlike it is in the West, people more openly talk about others' weight problems. It is just not a taboo thing here like it is in America, especially when talking about womens' weight. Many of the Drake girls have gone shopping for clothes and some of them have been told they are too big or fat but store clerks (when clearly, they are not at all). My tutor told me that in high school (and even now to a lesser extent) his friends make fun of him for being "fat", but in fact he's just got some chub. They actually tell him the reason he doesn't have a girlfriend is because he's "fat." I asked, "Doesn't it make you feel bad when your friends call you fat?" He said, "No, I know they are just kidding." But obviously he has taken it personally because I see him exercise outside for the sole reason that his friends DO call him fat. Even while I was giving my final examinations this week many girls mentioned that they like to eat and that is why they are so fat, when really I wouldn't consider any of them fat. I feel like it's a huge self-image issue, but they approach really lightheartedly which makes me think it's definitely a bigger issue than they let on. Also, today during my final examination, I asked one girl to describe her father (What's you Dad like? Want to meet that Dad! haha) and the first thing she said was that he is "kind of fat." I then replied, "You must really love your father."

I'm a Man! I'm 40!

I know that it's a different culture, and every culture has different perceptions, customs, and values concerning masculinity/femininity/gender, but some here are just ridiculous!

For example, we regularly eat in restaurants next to obnoxious and loud tables of drunk businessmen. The other night we were sitting next to a table of older businessmen who drinking out of a huge jug of baijiu. All their faces were red and they were getting increasingly loud. All of a sudden one of them started yelling at another and pounding his fist on the table. I asked a Chinese girl we were with what he was yelling about and she said that he was telling the other one he had to drink more. And from what I understood, for no particular reason either. This dispute was so intense that another one of the men had to separate them and console he each one separately to calm them down. After a while things settled down again.

Drinking and smoking are basically rites of passage for men here. The more you drink the more of a man you will be. They are worse than frat boys...well...sometimes. Smoking is also perceived to be a masculine activity (although some women smoke, not nearly as many).

Another thing men do is at the gym, they will take off their shirts in front of everyone and check themselves out in the mirror. I suppose this happens in America, but this happens here when they make sure other men are around to watch them. The same thing happens when they decide to show everyone how much weight they can lift. They will wait until the gym is busy and there are a lot of other people around to max out.

I told my Chinese friend, Jake, that I had started taking yoga classes. He said, "That is so gay! Only women take yoga classes." From what I have seen thus far, that may be true, but then I asked, "What's more gay: Flexing your muscles, half naked, in front of a mirror with a bunch of other guys or being in a yoga class with a room full of women?" He really didn't know what to say to that.

The Chinese also have traditional views on masculine and feminine roles within a relationship. And by "traditional", I mean that they are still oppressive towards women. Here's a quick example:

The other day one of my students came to my office hours because she wanted help studying for her Oral English examination. This examination is huge because passing it gives the student a sort of certification which allows them more leeway when applying for jobs. My student brought into a practice book that had sample questions and answers. She wanted to go over the "Gender" section and these are literally some direct quotes from that section:

"Women have more emotional natures. Some women are very sensitive and narrow-minded."

"Most women have to choose between a successful career and a happy life. As a result most women lose enthusiasm for work once they get married, and take up full responsibility for housework and children, while their husbands pursue careers."

No joke. I was laughing out loud and my student was bewildered as to why I found it so hilarious. I tried to explain it to her as best I could, but she was of the opinion that men and women still have firmly established roles in society and in relationships.

There was also a drawing she had to describe. The drawing was a split between showing a woman stressed out at work and then showing the same woman stressed out at home trying to do housework and take care of the children. The drawing was called "The Double Burden." After laughing, I asked, "Can't the husband help with housework and taking care of the children?" She said that although that is mostly considered the work of the woman, that her parents both shared housework duties, but that that is a bit of an anomaly in China.

Also, concerning relationships. I regularly see student couples fight in public anywhere in campus. Usually, the girl will be crying, yelling, and/or hitting the boy on the shoulders or chest, and the boy, straight faced, will either be standing still or will be attempting to pass the girl. Since girls and boys aren't allowed to visit each other's dormitories, many scenes like this which would normally take place in private quarters take place in public. On the other hand, you can also see couples making out in more "private" corners of the campus.

Like I said before, I know it's a different culture, but some of their views on gender just seem a bit...outdated?...and hilarious.

Sorry to drop a mini-sociological report on you, I just find it interesting!


On a completely different note, many of my students have been getting sick (it's that time of year). If a student is sick, one of their friends usually speaks up for them in class and says, "(Insert name here) has a cold, he/she went to the hospital." At first I thought that "hospital" just meant the school doctor, but this kept on happening. So one day I asked, "When you say hospital, do you mean the actual hospital or the school health center?" Whoever I asked then acknowledged that it was indeed the hospital. So apparently Chinese like to go to the hospital for colds and headaches. Now I think it's just their excuse for skipping class. Pretty dramatic excuse, I should say.