Thanksgiving in Langfang

A Fall Scene

A Turkey Hat for Jimmy

   This was my first thanksgiving in China and it really was special!  For me, Thanksgiving was a four day celebration.  The morning started out boring enough.  I wasn’t planning on doing anything this Thanksgiving other than preparing some lesson plans.  All of a suddenly I get a text from one of my friends telling me not to do anything or go anywhere for lunch.  I had no idea what would happen next.  At around 12:30 pm I get a knock on the door.  Three of my friends (whom I like to refer to as the “Langfang Angels”) burst into the room shouting, “Happy Thanksgiving!”  They had food in hand and I quickly gathered some seats and rearranged the tables for my guest.  We ate homemade fish soup 鱼汤 (yú tāng), cola Chicken wings 可乐鸡翅 (kělè jīchì), Chinese bread 馒头 (mántou), and some fresh vegetables.  It was quite delicious.  My friends stayed for most of the afternoon chatting and playing badminton.  It was fun.

"The Langfang Angels"

 That Thanksgiving evening I had been invited by my good friend, DC, to come have Thanksgiving dinner at his apartment.  I hopped on my bike and made the trek over in his direction.  We had a traditional Chinese dish called “hot pot” 火锅 (huǒguō).  Hot pot is just as the name implies: It’s a bowling pot of soup that sits on a hot plate to keep it cooking.  There is an assortment of uncooked vegetables and meats placed around the table that the partakers get to dunk into the hot pot.  It’s a dinner where the partakers have to cook their food before they eat.  It is both fun and delicious. 

Typical Hot Pot
(However, this was not ours because I forgot to bring my camera.)

I should mention that before I trekked over to DC’s place he actually trekked over to my place.  Jaime had been away for the week in Tianjin and had arrived back in Langfang late on Thanksgiving Day with one of the other Tianjin teachers.  DC had invited them both to join us for dinner but Jaime and Beth were just too tired after their trip.  That’s when DC made a surprise visit to our apartments to give Jaime and Beth a freshly cooked chicken so that they could have something to eat for dinner.

Thanksgiving Day was fantastic.  But, the holiday was not over just with Thursday.  As the weekend rolled on the other IECS teachers rolled into Langfang.  We had nineteen total people dispersed in our four tiny apartments but it worked out well.  The guys stayed with me, the girls with Jamie, and the couples stayed in Luke and Shannon’s place.  We turned the empty forth apartment into a meeting room and dining hall.  It was cramped but we made it work.  Each of us had our responsibilities to fulfill and our captains of the kitchen set us to the task.  The cooks got busy in the kitchen and the grunts got busy preparing the place.  The cooks prepared quite the feast.  We had mashed potatoes, gravy, deviled eggs, green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole, fruit salad, cranberry sauce, biscuits, pumpkin pie with homemade whipped cream, apple pie, ice cream, cookies, muffins, and deep fried chicken.  The chicken was my contribution to the meal.  I went down to the local bazaar and ordered up 13 deep fried Cornish hens from a local vendor.  Everything was absolutely delicious!

Thanksgiving Dinner in Langfang

 We even honored the American Thanksgiving tradition of playing football!  All of the IECS teachers gather on school’s soccer field for a “serious” game.  We even had a few Chinese friends come join the game but mostly the students just stood at the sidelines at watched the crazy Americans.  I can’t really say who one because I’m not sure we ever really did keep score but I do know that both side did well.  We had eleven players for both teams and it was constantly a mad dash of confusion!  There were a couple of nice pass that resulted in some much sought after earned yardage.  However, the play of the game was when Katie Mac and Lacy tackled Josh to the ground.  I was pretty sure we were playing touch football and not tackle but I wasn’t saying anything… They might tackle me next! Ha, ha. 

"Are you ready for some football?!"

Team Photo Time!

 This Thanksgiving was one of the best Thanksgivings I’ve ever had.  The only thing that was missing was my family.  It’s just not Thanksgiving without family.  However, I’m very thankful this year knowing that they are back in the USA sending me all their love and support.  I love you all and miss you all.  Happy Thanksgiving!! ^_^ 

Jaime is singing into her chicken leg... ;)

Okay, at least one of those cheerleaders is a faker.

师徒 (shī tú) "Master and Apprentice"

The Tai Chi Fight Club

For the past month I’ve been diligently attending a nightly Tai Chi 太极 (tàijí) class.  The master has been very kind with teaching me the movements involved in the art.  The old master cannot speak English but he has found a way to communicate that doesn’t involve any verbal ques.  Rather, he shows by example.  He starts by demonstrating how the move can be applied in martial combat.  Often this involves him demonstrating the move on me so I’m fairly used to getting beat up by an old man.  Then he lets me practice the move.  If my position is wrong than he will correct my stance or show me how to do the move again.  Sometimes I need him to show me the move a couple of times before I’ll get it.  I’m glad he has a lot of patience when it comes to dealing with me.  After this past month I've actually mastered the basic 24.  I was so happy!

Two weeks ago the master approached me with an invitation to join the Tai Chi group not as a simple student but as an apprentice.  I wasn’t sure what this meant so I turned to my good friend DC for help.  DC explained it in the following way:

In Chinese culture the role of a master is very important.  Masters are considered role models for the community and mentors for the younger generations.  They are the elders, imbued with wisdom and virtue from both education and experience.  Much has changed in China since the ancient days but the traditions of the Tai Chi 太极 (tàijí) masters remain the same.  They still honor the relationship between a master and his apprentice.  The principle difference between a student 学生 (xuéshēng) and an apprentice 徒弟 (túdì) is their relation with their teacher.  In China a normal teacher is just called a teacher 老师 (lǎoshī) but there is a special type of teacher called a master 師父 (shīfu) who is recognized as being highly proficient in a particular art.  A student is someone who is simply learning something from a teacher and there are no ties outside of the education that bind them together.  An apprentice, on the other hand, is a member of a family where the master is the father and the other apprentices are the sibglings.  Becoming an apprentice is very much like being adopted.  There is an official certificate, then an initiation ceremony, and a big fellowship meal with the other members of your new family. 

Upon learning this information I felt highly honored by the invitation.  There were no obligations for the master to accept me into this his Tai Chi family but I could tell that he wanted me to belong.  I’m pretty sure he likes me.  He even said that I’m one of the most diligent students he’s ever had in his 20 years of teaching.  I was much honored.  I accepted the invitation and the master began preparations for the ceremony.  I had the double benefit of actually being initiated alongside my good friend DC.  DC has been taking the class with me and he’s actually the one who introduced me to the class in the first place.  In a single moment in the ceremony Dc and I were transformed from friends into brothers.  It was really something special.

The ceremony was held in an upscale restaurant that is fairly close to Langfang Teacher’s University.  There were 22 people in attendance, which even including the master’s master.  There were speeches in Chinese, toasts all around, good food, and plenty of merriment.  Several of the people there spoke English and I was glad for their company.  The rest of the time I simply tried my best to interpret the conversations that were going on in Chinese.  I’m very thankful that the people attending are willing to use charades to get across their points… sometimes to an almost comical effect.  The Chinese people do love to laugh and act silly.  I even pulled out my survival Chinese book and we were having a good laugh at my attempting a conversation in Chinese.

The food was amazing.  We had roast duck, roast pork, fish, fresh vegetables, cooked mushrooms, noodles, and plenty of soup.  I ate my fill of the green beans and roast pork. I really liked that roast pork!

The time finally came for the initiation part of the ceremony.  Tradition states that all apprentices should present a monetary gift to the master in a red envelope.  The master was very worried that asking me to honor this Chinese tradition might be considered an insult due to my being from a western culture.  I assured him that I would be happy to honor this tradition and he was very pleased.  We signed a special red paper then I presented the master with both the paper and my envelope.  I bowed and then he presented me with a legal certificate showing that I was now his apprentice.  It was official.  I could now call this man my master.

It should be stated that "master" really isn’t a very good term to describe this kind old man.  The word 師父 (shīfu) is literally translated “teacher father.”  In the eyes of the Chinese government and the Chinese people I’m practically this man’s son now.  His biological daughter even calls me brother 哥哥 (Gēgē).  It’s a huge privilege.  It reminds me a lot of the people back home in Linwood.  How I would playfully call some of my elders at home “uncle” or “aunt.”  There is something universal about the desire for a close family, as if all of humankind longs for some great adoption when we can embrace each other as brothers and sisters.  Regardless, I’m thankful for my new Chinese family.  Perhaps one day I will be able to introduce my teacher father to my biologically father back home.  I think they would like each other very much.

The Master - Don't trust the smile... he can still beat you up with ease.

The master's master is telling me that one day I should teach Tai Chi to Americans.

DC and I are listening to the master.

Bowing before the master's master.

Getting our papers signed.

Dinner is served!

"Cheers!" 干杯 (ganbei)

I really enjoyed that pork!

The New Apprentices

My New Chinese Family

My Certificate

Teaching the Blind

Me and the Kids

 

I’ve had the privilege these past two weeks of being able to help teach at a new school.  My good friend, DC (“Buddy”), invited me to co-teach his class at a special school in the southern side of Langfang.  The school is an institute that focuses on helping children with special needs.  They work to educate children with autism, downs syndrome, and other disabilities.  My friend, DC, is a volunteer at the school and he teaches two classes of children with blindness.  There are nine children in each of his classes and their ages range from 6-10.  These children are simply amazing.

The School

DC has been working diligently this term to help these kids learn English.  They can recite poetry and even sing songs.  I asked them if they knew any English songs and they started singing, “There was a farmer who had a dog and Bingo was his name, oh.”

My New Friends

 On the first day of class we played games together, we sang songs, and we worked on learning some new words like “mouse” and “monkey.”  The kids were really shy when they met me for the first time.  They did not want to speak and they seemed unsure of themselves.  Shyness seems to be the norm when it comes to a foreigner teaching any new class in China.  However, I’m used to the silence and I can handle it with ease.  DC brought a globe with him, which I used as an ice breaker.  I used the globe to explain about how the earth is round and how I come from the other side.  I let each of the children feel the globe and then I helped them walk their hands from China to America so they could feel the distance.  That thought it was very strange that I come from the opposite side of the round planet.  I also taught the children the word for friend and shook their hands so they could understand a common American greeting.  They really warmed up to me after this point.

The Rock Reads: "To Love all People is to Know Truth"

On the second day the kids were over their shyness.   They were asking me all sorts of questions.  They wanted to know what I ate in America and what I thought of Chinese food.  I told them that I like Chinese food very much and that made them all very happy.  I taught them about Thanksgiving and we even learned a poem about being thankful.  We also sang, “If you’re happy and you know it.”  The kids helped me come up with another verse that even included some Chinese words.  It went, “If you want your team to win shout 加油 (Jiāyóu)!”

The Kids are Hard at Study

 Sometimes it’s hard to teach without getting tears in my eyes.  I was teaching the kids a poem about thanksgiving and in the poem there is a line about how the stars glow at night.  It struck me at that moment that none of these children will ever know what a starry night sky looks like.  However, blindness doesn’t stop these kids from being amazing.  They can hear extremely well.  They know when I enter their noisy classroom simply by the soft sound of my shoes on the floor.  They can skim through books in brail at lightning speed and even punch out their own sheets with a needle and rule.  The best part about these kids is their love.  They love having DC and I as their teachers.  There is nothing better than seeing their faces light up with the biggest smile simply by hearing my voice say, “Hello.”  

The Principles of Truth and Love

I really appreciate DC for inviting me to teach with him.  DC has been a good friend to me here in China and he has a good heart that desires to help others.  It’s encouraging to find a kindred spirit in this land who desires to help make the world a better place.  DC told me today that the highest principle of mankind is the pursuit of truth and love.  I could not agree more.