On Christmas Eve, our program held a Christmas Eve party/banquet at the Shenzhen Guest House in Dongmen sponsored by the Shenzhen Public Education Bureau. The Bureau paid for the party as well as our rooms. The party lasted lasted a couple hours and was centered around dinner and a few musical/art performances. The dinner was a little disappointing as the vegetarian options were slim (lazy-Susan style). The performances were a mixture of Chinese and American teacher acts. The best performance I thought was the one by the little Chinese girl who sang Scarborough Fair acappella (last pic). Her English was great but you could tell she had this thing memorized and in typical Chinese fashion, even though she could sing this song in perfect English, in no way would you be able to have a conversation with her in English. We were provided with a gift bag containing candy and little Christmas decorations. The banquet room was decorated nicely in a Christmas theme. After the banquet, most of us just hung around the hotel or the nearby shopping area for the night. It was a fun night and a nice gesture on behalf of the Bureau.
The next day (Christmas Day), my contact teacher was nice enough to invite me (and my friend, Laila) to a Chinese Christmas dinner at a local restaurant where we had some vegetarian dishes (in addition to meat dishes) such as tofu, spicy green beans, and shredded potatoes. Afterward, Laila and I went out for a little bit with the intent to watch a few of our colleagues play a gig but we found out it was canceled after arriving. Oh well, but it was a nice weekend.
how very nice of them to have a christmas party --very nice. the lady looks like she is dancing. nice dress. the little girl is cute.politically i wish the world could just get along...we all have so much to offer each other. cultural things are wonderful and should be shared.very nice- dad and i were in a chinese restaurant at their new year and the waitress said she hoped that we did not mind but loud music and firecrackers and a dragon would come in to bless the restaurant and sure enough it all happened. they then took pics on a stage of the owners with the elderly parents who owned the restaurant. i loved being part of all of this. this is what you may see at the tail end of you vacation when you come back into china. i think though we were at the restaurant on first night of the new year.
ReplyDeleteNice. Glad you are treated well! Sounds like you've made some good friends.
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