Moments

Class

Occasionally a class invites us for a night out with them. These evenings are usually a lot of fun but a wee bit taxing; consisting of a big banquet dinner with scary entrees of fish heads and pigs feet and then usually followed by forced performances at a nearby KTV--the karaoke bars found on nearly every corner in Wuhan. All sorts of hilarity ensue--but unfortunately it is usually caused by breakdowns in communication which, though they make for good stories, can get old after a while.

I was expecting one of these nights when one of my Masters classes invited me to meet them in the classroom last Sunday night. I've really enjoyed working with these students because they are not far from me in age and we can share cultures as peers together. Approaching the classroom, I was greeted by Winfred, who I always think reminds me of the owl in Winnie the Pooh, who greeted me and ran ahead into the classroom, shutting the door behind him. Hmmmm.

When I got to the door, it swung open from the inside as Elton John's Step Into Christmas began to blast from the speakers. Stunned, I walked forward into a room filled with balloons, Christmas lights, a fully decorated Christmas tree, and gift bags of oranges, candy and chocolate. A powerpoint slideshow was showing glowing photos of Christmas lights and snow covered houses. Before I knew it, a Santa hat was on my head and I was ushered to the seat of honor.

The next hour was a complete Christmas program. A host of ceremonies introduced student acts, and they performed skits of a family shopping for presents, of a Christmas morning looking for Santa's gifts, and of an 'election' with Santa campaigning for president! Carols were sung, gifts were shared, games were played, and I was blown away.

The most wonderful thing about all this is knowing that my students got together, recognized that I would be 'missing' the most important holiday of my culture, and decided to create a Christmas for me here. The kindness of this is overwhelming. I'm really blessed.


Dinner

Another tradition is our annual Christmas dinner with the English department. The Dean of the department takes the foreign teachers out for a banquet style dinner. We are joined by our coteachers (each of us has a Chinese teacher from the English department who serves as a liason for us--letting us know about our schedules, meetings, requirements etc...) and any others from the department who are invited. Again, these types of gatherings are fun but can be exhausting. The banquet culture involves lots of 'toasting' and it's always a little overwhelming for me.

This year, it was an incredible relief to have a like-minded/kindred spirit friend there, Katera, to exchange shocked glances and kick each other under the table when we needed to say "did he REALLY just say that?" or "I CAN NOT believe this is happening right now." It made the evening 5 times more fun.

But nothing, nothing, NOTHING in my experiences of Chinese banquet dinners will ever top what happened towards the end of the meal. As usual, our hosts and coteachers began insisting on "performances," which is...well...it would take another post to describe...we'll leave as this: when meeting with any group of people over here, it is usual and even expected that you will be forced to play monkey with a song, poem, dance...something. It's usually a song.

Anway, the performances were demanded and we all took our awkward turns at singing a Christmas carol or whatever. Katera pulled out a song from her time in Africa, I sang my version of my ringtone (which is a popular Chinese pop song--in Chinese--so I only put phonetic sounds to the tune), and Jesse sang a carol. Somehow, the singing kept going, and the evening evolved into a singalong with everyone at the table--including songs from John Denver (a usual choice. Country Roads is taught to all high schoolers here), and THE BEATLES--seriously, we sang Hey Jude, Yesterday, Yellow Submarine and many many more.

It was just one of those times when you must stop, look around, and say to yourself, "I am sitting at a banquet table...in China...at Christmas....with the whole room, Chinese and Americans, singing Beatles songs." Seriously, this is quite a life we lead.

Street

This has less to do with Christmas, but it was lovely. Walking to class a few days ago, I noticed a couple in the distance walking towards me. They were walking close side by side, hands in pockets, eyes focused straight ahead or on the ground. Their faces were locked in grim distraction--her lips were pursed together in a tight angry line and he had the defeated look of a guy who knows he's not gonna win, and is a little annoyed about it.

As they walked briskly, something in her thoughts made her roll her eyes as she ever so slightly shook her head to herself. The tightly closed lips relaxed a little. Still without looking at him or changing her brisk pace, she raised one eyebrow and made a short comment. I didn't hear and wouldn't have understood it anyway--but I'm pretty sure that it was ironic. There was the tiniest bemused smile in the corner of her mouth--the side that faced away from him...

The silence fell back over them as they continued their walk--but his face and countanance were amazing to watch. The subtle transformation of a guy stuck in the doghouse into a guy whose been let off the hook. He never lifted his eyes from the ground a few yards ahead of him, but his shoulders and neck got straighter and higher. And his face melted into peace. It did. It melted into peace. All those muscles of anger and tightness dissolved as his smile began to spread. He didn't look at her or do anything to let her know that he was smiling, they just kept walking in silence...but it was a moment. Grace had just passed between the two of them. They were going to be ok.