Happy Teachers Day!
 
Let me tell you, The Chinese sure no how to treat their teachers.  First off, we get a whole day dedicated to us, and its a real holiday (on par with Labor day) not some crappy Hallmark holiday like Secretaries Day.  We get the day off, a big formal assembly (which is really boring), and lots of little present from the students.  During the presentation Michelle and I sang a song, Total Eclipse of the Heart.  Let me tell you, we were awful, but everybody loved it.  They were waving their hands in the air as if they just didn't care.  Again, it was only because all the other acts were very boring (well not all.  This one girl did this traditional dance called a peacock dance, and that was pretty cool).
 
Because of Teachers Day, I have been to many Banquets.  I will tell you of Chinese dining etiquite.  First off, the food all comes out whenever its done, in stages.  Note this is not the same as 'course', which implies a specific order.  This is random.  So you begin eating.  In fancy banquets order is important.  First the most important host begins, then the most important guest, then second most important host, etc.  In our case the most important was the principal of Nanfang, and the second most important was a visiting principal from Denmark named Hanson (tell you more about him later).  
 
Another very important part of formal dining is toasting (gom bei), or to put it a different way, drinking.  The Chinese are a very heavy drinking people.  Somebody gets up and gives a toast and everybody drinks.  It is polite to drink as much as the toast giver (usually the entire glass).  And I tell you, the principal of Nanfang and the principal of the Middle school were just pounding them down.  I cheated when I could but they often caught me and said "bottom, bottom!" which I think is the only English they know.  So you eat the food, which is delishious but ineveitably hot and spicy.  And you think "Ok, mouth is on fire, must cool it down by A) drinking scalding hot tea B) drinking beer and increasing enebriation C) eating slightly less spicy food."  The correct answer is D) keep a ridiculous amount of white rice on hand.
 
This Hanson was a very interesting fellow.  He apperently was in China (his 28th trip since 1966) for a educators conference, in which he was one of only 2 westerners invited.  He met Violet, the principal of the Foreign language school, who invited him to Nanfang for Teachers day.  Hanson had many witty observations and remarks about things throughout the evening, and because he was such a bigwig he wasn't afraid of offending anyone at the table.
 
Oh!  I had my first Chinese dish that you would find in America, sweet and sour pork.  It was very good, but unlike in America the pork still had the bone on it.
 
I've been sick this week, having lost my voice after the first week of teaching which transformed into a runny nose and flemmy cough.  I now own all seven Police Academy movies (Christian, Eric- I don't want to even hear that they made more movies, cuz I don't accept them).  Haven't gotten any mail yet, and my parents sent stuff about a month ago.  Takes friggin forever (I've heard a month and a half).
 
Random Observations- I find I now think about things happening to me as if I was writing a blog entry.  There are standard prices for illegal pirated movies, but not for most legal commercial goods.  Beer is cheaper than water.  When people ask you "where are you from" they don't want to hear Minneapolis or even Chicago, they just want to hear America.  The names 'Kelly' and 'Bush' apperently sound hilarious to Chinese children.
 
-TWN-