Suzhou and School: December 2007 Archives
Merry Christmas y'all!
Why is it that during the holidays when you are supposed to relax and catch up on everything, you end up doing way too much and running yourself ragged...all to head back to work dizzy and heavier? One of the millions of conundrums of our culture and society, I suppose.
The last week has been quite eventful. So there are a lot of pics, so this blog will be more like a picture book instead of a novel.
It all got kicked off with a party at Val's on Friday, Dec 21st. To the potluck I brought some mashed potatoes and brussel sprouts...yes, my two xmas favorites.
But the following night was when the fun really began. And where there is fun, there is David. We had another wine tasting, and this time May and I brought Gina. She fell in love with David just as I had on my first meeting with him.
So we decided to invite him out to a foreigner bar after the wine tasting.
The night is a big foggy after this point, but I do know I played a few games of pool against the Chinese snooker champion. And during one of the games I actually sunk two balls against him! Meanwhile, as I attempted to line up a bank shot to the corner pocket with what looked like four cue balls, Gina proceeded to make friends with the entire bar and invite them all to the next day's event...gingerbread making!
That's Chinese food on those plates if you were wondering.
Although I can imagine that learning how to make, cut, bake and decorate gingerbread cookies as an adult would make me a bit more particular about it, I can guarantee I would not have been half as meticulous as the Chinese friends we brought over to join us. But, this attitude paid off for them...their cookies were by far the best looking.
Mine and Gina's, on the other hand, looked remarkably similar to how mine looked when I was 5.
As much as one of the last things I wanted to do was eat unidentifiable foods with my bosses on Christmas eve, that was the next event of the holidays for me. I tried frog. It was good. And while attempting to be a good sport, I probably also tried a few things of which I hope never to find the origin of.
As anyone who has ever attending a social for work can understand, it is an absolute god-send to find someone who not only thinks the same as you, but also has the same sense of humor. Travis is my guy for that here at SFLS. He teaches the university level physics, chemistry and biology. So I am his little apprentice as well as his cynical buddy and gangsta hommie. Somehow we got a hold of this pink dog at dinner and were in hysterics for almost an hour about nothing in particular - just potty humor and other lower class humor regarding this poor dog. Here, we are trying hard to look serious for the camera for two seconds.
Then before I knew it, Christmas morning came. And Santa... the a-hole... didn't come to my house!?!? After chatting with my family on the phone, eating a box of cookies, and catching up on some email, I sent off with Gina to check out a local park. On the way, I stumbled across this. Mmmmm, Christmas breakfast straight out of the most polluted river I have ever seen.
Gina and I spent our morning hiking around Tian Ping Hill. It has a park and a bunch of Maple trees that are just losing their last leaves right now.
The signs were Christmas colours. But that didn't seem to help with our inability to read them.
Not even a half hour into the visit, this weird Chinese guy proceeded to try to make friends with us. He didn't speak a word of English and at first we saw it as a great opportunity to practice our Chinese. But about twenty minutes into it I started getting annoyed. However, that was after he inspected Gina from her big feet to fingers that for some unknown reason didn't match his as well as mine did...he also inspected her blue eyes and red hair.
Why is it that during the holidays when you are supposed to relax and catch up on everything, you end up doing way too much and running yourself ragged...all to head back to work dizzy and heavier? One of the millions of conundrums of our culture and society, I suppose.
The last week has been quite eventful. So there are a lot of pics, so this blog will be more like a picture book instead of a novel.
It all got kicked off with a party at Val's on Friday, Dec 21st. To the potluck I brought some mashed potatoes and brussel sprouts...yes, my two xmas favorites.
But the following night was when the fun really began. And where there is fun, there is David. We had another wine tasting, and this time May and I brought Gina. She fell in love with David just as I had on my first meeting with him.So we decided to invite him out to a foreigner bar after the wine tasting.The night is a big foggy after this point, but I do know I played a few games of pool against the Chinese snooker champion. And during one of the games I actually sunk two balls against him! Meanwhile, as I attempted to line up a bank shot to the corner pocket with what looked like four cue balls, Gina proceeded to make friends with the entire bar and invite them all to the next day's event...gingerbread making!
That's Chinese food on those plates if you were wondering.
Although I can imagine that learning how to make, cut, bake and decorate gingerbread cookies as an adult would make me a bit more particular about it, I can guarantee I would not have been half as meticulous as the Chinese friends we brought over to join us. But, this attitude paid off for them...their cookies were by far the best looking.
Mine and Gina's, on the other hand, looked remarkably similar to how mine looked when I was 5.
As much as one of the last things I wanted to do was eat unidentifiable foods with my bosses on Christmas eve, that was the next event of the holidays for me. I tried frog. It was good. And while attempting to be a good sport, I probably also tried a few things of which I hope never to find the origin of.As anyone who has ever attending a social for work can understand, it is an absolute god-send to find someone who not only thinks the same as you, but also has the same sense of humor. Travis is my guy for that here at SFLS. He teaches the university level physics, chemistry and biology. So I am his little apprentice as well as his cynical buddy and gangsta hommie. Somehow we got a hold of this pink dog at dinner and were in hysterics for almost an hour about nothing in particular - just potty humor and other lower class humor regarding this poor dog. Here, we are trying hard to look serious for the camera for two seconds.Then before I knew it, Christmas morning came. And Santa... the a-hole... didn't come to my house!?!? After chatting with my family on the phone, eating a box of cookies, and catching up on some email, I sent off with Gina to check out a local park. On the way, I stumbled across this. Mmmmm, Christmas breakfast straight out of the most polluted river I have ever seen.Gina and I spent our morning hiking around Tian Ping Hill. It has a park and a bunch of Maple trees that are just losing their last leaves right now. The signs were Christmas colours. But that didn't seem to help with our inability to read them.Not even a half hour into the visit, this weird Chinese guy proceeded to try to make friends with us. He didn't speak a word of English and at first we saw it as a great opportunity to practice our Chinese. But about twenty minutes into it I started getting annoyed. However, that was after he inspected Gina from her big feet to fingers that for some unknown reason didn't match his as well as mine did...he also inspected her blue eyes and red hair.
After he wore out his welcome and we managed to get rid of him, we hiked down the mountain peacefully alone and passed a few cool Buddhist monuments for praying.
From Tian Ping Hill we went to the most Western place we could find in Suzhou....Starbucks... and drank Baileys and coffee for a few hours. Christmas music was playing and we shared with each other some cool Christmas stories and family traditions. And although it was nice, i think it was a bit depressing for both of us. I learned It is better to do things as different from home as possible on days like xmas when you are away from home...otherwise you risk missing everyone too much!
I headed back to the school for the evening as I had been invited to 3 of my classes "Christmas" parties. Basically it was just an excuse for them to get out of night classes and eat a bunch of candy. There was very little Christmassy about any of it due in part to the blind leading the blind, but it was still fun.
I headed back to the school for the evening as I had been invited to 3 of my classes "Christmas" parties. Basically it was just an excuse for them to get out of night classes and eat a bunch of candy. There was very little Christmassy about any of it due in part to the blind leading the blind, but it was still fun.They're really into performing here...even if you suck...so I got to
grind my teeth through more than one unbearable show. Pretty funny too
though.
I kinda felt like a parent because when the kids I taught were performing I thought they were amazing. But when kids I don't teach were performing, I was like, 'lame!'. But honestly, this dance my grade 11's did was not only good, but so racy it wouldn't have been allowed in Canadian high schools
Hope you are all having a great Holiday. It is back to work for me. Although I feel slightly vindicated because I am showing my kids movies all week.
I kinda felt like a parent because when the kids I taught were performing I thought they were amazing. But when kids I don't teach were performing, I was like, 'lame!'. But honestly, this dance my grade 11's did was not only good, but so racy it wouldn't have been allowed in Canadian high schools
Hope you are all having a great Holiday. It is back to work for me. Although I feel slightly vindicated because I am showing my kids movies all week.
