Chinese National Day, Mudanjiang, and Two Weddings

So it’s been awhile but you’ll have to excuse me, I had a week off school for Chinese National Day and I’m just now getting back into the swing of things. So without further adieu, a quick update on what has been going on here in Heilongjiang Province.

After bumming around on the first weekend of break, a bunch of us foreigners headed to Shan’s wedding for an awesome time. The venue was huge, the ceremony was fairly short and sweet, and the food was pretty, pretty good. I will say though, if it wasn’t for us foreigners staying late, playing music, and having a rowdy time, the wedding would have been over in two hours easily. Chinese weddings tend to be earlier in the day, and don’t last long; show up, watch the ceremony, eat, and bail. But Shan’s was an exception and after we danced to a few songs (Kurtis did the Soulja boy dance…) we headed to Orange Bar to continue the festivities.

Wayne (legally certified) Performs the English Segment of the Ceremony

Chowin’ Down

During the week we took a trip to the local bowling alley, which is funny because I seem to go bowling much more often when I am outside of the U.S. (went twice in two weeks in Utrecht). The stars aligned during the tenth frame of our last game, I bowled a nice ball right down the middle for a 9, and then missed the spare. But! It turns out all I needed to beat Dean was 9 pins, and victory was sweet.

Sweet, Sweet Victory

Outside the Bowling Alley

Then it was off to Mudanjiang, an 8 hour train ride away, for Canadian John’s wedding. We headed over to Saertu (yet another part of town in Daqing), hopped on our train, and off we were.

Daqing Railway Station, in Saertu

We arrived in Mudanjiang Wednesday evening and got some food, but we called it a night rather early because we had to be up in the morning for the hour and a half bus ride to the small town where the wedding was held. Australian John came down with some sort of stomach bug so I lost my roommate. So to avoid paying for a full room by myself, I was able to ruin a potentially romantic getaway for Kurtis and Susan.

Of Course Kurtis Has His Buckeyes Gear

John’s wedding was a lot smaller but I really enjoyed the authenticity and it was an amazing experience to see life in small town China. Us guys hung around and had a few drinks but we could only prolong the inevitable, we were back in Mudanjiang in the early afternoon.

John and Crystal Getting Slayed by Confetti

We bummed around Mudanjiang for awhile, checking out the markets and the main square which was pretty cool. I definitely didn’t get as many “Hellloooooo”s or “Laowai”s as in Daqing which was nice, and I enjoyed the awesome nighttime atmosphere. We ate “pancakes” at a nice restaurant that was surprisingly cheap (pancakes aka crepes that you put meat and veggies in, more like soft tacos?) and the next morning we were heading back to Daqing.

Mudanjiang in the Day...

...and Night

View from the Balcony of John’s Wedding

Mudanjiang Market Street

Scenic Countryside, Nice to See Some Hills! (Daqing is as Flat as Nebraska)

And finally we were back home, I really enjoyed the holiday and the chance to see Chinese and Western culture meet. It was great to get out of Daqing for a bit, not that it’s bad here but I imagine my travel opportunities will diminish now that I’m in school until January without any big breaks. Before classes started again on Tuesday, Kurtis, Susan, and I went back to our newly found Leg-O’-Lamb restaurant and here is a glimpse of the epicness.

MMmmmMMMmmmm!

A few quick funny teaching stories:

At one of my kindergartens I was helping all the kids move their little plastic chairs into a semi-circle in order to begin class and I gently nudged one little rascal in the right direction when all of a sudden he turned around with the most furious 3-5 year old face I have ever seen. He then proceeded to shake his finger at me and scold me in Chinese before finally taking his seat. In a state of awe I looked over at my assistant teacher who was just as shocked as I was and asked her to translate what my student had said.
“I am NOT playing with YOU tomorrow! I’m so MAD at YOU Foreign Teacher!!!”
We couldn’t help but start laughing and I had to collect myself before the lesson!

In one of my “Shen Tong” classes I have a little girl named Mary. Mary is a very peculiar little girl, or curious if you want to call it that, but I called her up with another boy to act out a conversation I had taught that day. Hello, how are you, I’m fine thanks etc. Simple stuff. When all of a sudden Mary puts her arms around this unfortunate little boy’s neck and proceeded to kiss him on the cheek and start mauling him (for lack of a better word). I ran over to break it up but she seriously had a vice grip on this kid! I finally pulled them apart and I had to hold Mary in the air and carry her back to her desk and physically put her into it before she would cut it out! Every class I have to watch out for Mary, because not only does she do this to other little boys but every once in awhile she goes for me as well. I’m pretty sure one of the assistants who was observing my class got a picture, so I’ll try to track that down.

Once again, TIC!