The Last Week

So it's down to my last week in this incredible country. It's hard to believe that I have been here this long already! On one hand, it feels like I just got here, and on the other hand when I think back to all the memories and growth over the semester it feels like I have been here forever! Like I told my mom, I sometimes feel like I was born and raised here! Well this is not the time or the post to begin some of my reflections on this semester as a whole. So let me update you on some of the events of the last couple of weeks:

Thanksgiving Weekend was one of the funnest weekends in the whole semester. While some of us originally had doubted that we would do anything that could substitute for our American expectations of the holiday, we were wrong. The night before Thanksgiving we planned a camping trip on a nearby island with some guys from the team and also some of our Chinese friends. The idea of "camping" seemed foreign to them, so we weren't sure how the whole thing was gonna work out! (One friend had to look the word up in his dictionary!) Nevertheless, they seemed excited and so we decided to meet after dinner to catch the barge to the island. Although we had told everyone to bring blankets, sheets, sleeping bags, etc., this exhortation seemed to fall on deaf ears. All of friends had full backpacks--but they were full of extra clothes, food, and other things! This left us on one of the coldest nights of the year so far all huddled up on the too blankets Park and I had brought...trying to get sleep! As an avid camper I thought I had made all kinds of fires, but this night proved very different. The only wood around was bamboo we gathered in the nearby forest. As we started to build the fire we realized it burned very quickly and as every single stalk of bamboo would heat up it would pop sending sparks and ashes flying into the group! Maybe this is why my friend Leo said, "Fires are not romantic in China, they are violent!" Violent bamboo fires aside, the best part of the night was teaching the guys one of the gems of American culture--THE SMORE. I had managed to find all of the required supplies at the campus supermarket and we were so excited to share this part our country. In a very Sandlot-style explanation, we went through the steps one by one to our wide-eyed friends. After I finished with the model I handed it to Leo. After he took a bite, we all waited for the reply...with a blank stare he said, "I'm just confused!" The confusion soon surpassed and the culinary mission was a success as we ate all the materials rather quickly.

Thanksgiving day was very fun. The whole gathered for a party at the CSP office where we had a potluck dinner of our favorite Chinese dishes and even a couple Western ones-- cheeseburgers, KFC chicken, and apple pies! The whole place was decorated(ish) for Thanksgiving and Christmas and we used our paintings from Chinese watercolor class as placemats. It was a great night that really felt like family--it felt like Thanksgiving was supposed to. After we ate, we drank hot chocolate and milk tea and watched a Christmas movie while some danced to "Baby It's Cold Outside." I thought I would definitely miss out what was going on in America during Thanksgiving but this night reminded me that we can make anything "ours" wherever we are. It will truly be a remembered Holiday.

On another note, I am almost addicted to 斗地租--this awesome Chinese poker game invented in the 50's with strong communist overtones. It literally means "fight the landlord." We have made a vow to play every night before we leave!