December activities

Just like it was at home, December has been a crazy month of trying to keep up with all the to do lists to make the holidays happen.  Alex had a Winter Concert on the last day of school, Mark had a week long conference in New Orleans, and Alex has been off school since the 15th.  It’s been a long month.

In the beginning of December we were interviewed for the local Haining paper. It was very strange because to us, we’re just another family, but here there aren’t many foreign families at all and I’m pretty sure we might be the only American family.  I don’t really know what it says, or how accurate any of our “quotes” are, but it was well received by locals, so they at least didn’t make us look like jerks. The translated version is at least fun to read  as a challenge to yourself. We’ve gotten some interesting reactions and made some new friends because of this article so it’s got its perks.  Haining Paper

 

Alex’s Winter concert at school required that he dress in a suit, so he got to have a new black suit, he was so excited about it because he says it makes him feel rich. The buttons on the suit are fake diamonds.

 

His class sang Jingle bells- they got one short song. They did well though, and it was fun getting to see his class all together.

I didn’t get much of a chance to take pictures of his school (because I had to try to get the best seat I could). But I did take some from the indoor walkway between buildings.

We were invited to the Haining Government’s foreigner’s Christmas Party at the Langham Hotel. It happens every year and there is a blend of foreigners and local government and political leaders invited.  The food was wonderful, a terrific variety of Chinese and western foods.  We met some new friends and got to enjoy a fairly fancy night out. While we were waiting in line for food, a gentleman and his friend insisted that we go ahead of them. They were talking about Alex, which is pretty normal for us here, and then they flagged a lady down to tell us that they recognized us from the newspaper article and felt like they knew us.   A little while later, the gentleman came over with the Dean of our university to translate for him, he wanted to toast with us which is a Chinese custom. We toasted and thanked him and exchanged business cards.  The next day I was talking with someone in my office, and they explained to me that the man was the head of the Chinese Communist Party here in Haining and is more powerful than the mayor.  Not a bad person to have on your side!

I decided I should showcase some of Alex’s pictures too, since he took it all very seriously.