National Teachers Day

Today was national teachers day in China which is apparently a really big deal! 2 days ago the headmaster and both principals took us hiking at this BEAUTIFUL tropical chinese oasis. It was so pretty, it looked like something out of a movie. The stone pathway and stairs that winded their way elegantly up a mountain next to a stream. There was also a little restaurant/cafe place about halfway up the mountain. It was just so cool, the atmosphere was unreal! It was just set back in the trees a little and had a awning that was held up by bamboo poles. The tables were quaint with candles in the middle and small bamboo stools to sit on. There were lanterns along the sides (it was sunset when we went, so it got dark rather quickly.) There was also another place where you crossed a bridge and the trees cleared and there was a gorgeous lake that reflected the few lights that were on the mountain. A tall pagoda stood at the summit which made the end of the hike worth it to get to the top and see such a different building architecturaly. We also had an awesome view of the city. The ambiance of it all was so enchanting, and it was only a 20 min bus ride away. Jenna and I want to go there more often, and hopefully in the day so we can take pictures. Anyway, that was a fun activity to do with the headmaster and principal, then we went out to dinner to a really nice restaurant. I cant remember the name of the style of restaurant but they are at every formal dining place i have been so far. It is where you all sit at a round table, and there is a smaller round thing in the middle that spins and is raised up a bit. that is what they put all the food on, and you just spin it and take what you want. We had some delicious dumplings, flat bread, pita-type sandwhiches, chow mein, sauteed green beans, and asparagus. They also brought out pork ribs but I explained to the headmaster I didnt like meat but she insisted that we try it because it had a "very unique flavor that is very famous in Guangzhou" so she gave me a small piece. I ate it, and it was fine but I was glad she didnt give me the entire thing. Anyway that food was quite good. Then last night, we went out for dinner again to a different place. This time when we first walked in the restaurant there was big tanks with tons of different fish, shrimp, crabs, turtles, frogs etc. We went upstairs and the first thing they brought out was a large bowl that looked like it was full of chicken broth. So one of the chinese teachers put some broth in all of our cups. I tried a few mouthfulls but didnt like it at all. It tasted like dirty water with a hint of meat. It also tasted quite strongly of iron which was strange. (remember this bowl of broth, ill get to it later in my story...) so i pushed my cup aside and hoped for something better...unfortunately it didnt come. The next dishes were shrimp which would have been fine, had they not been whole shrimp that were completely whole. (Eyes, feelers, legs and all.) The next was a plate that had chunks of chicken and chunks of beef. They looked like they had a really good glaze on them so i tried a piece but it was so wiggly I couldnt even pretend to like it. A few minutes later when the plate came around again i noticed the chicken head sitting on the plate looking up at me. it had been cut in half so if you turned it over on one side you could see the chicken brain, the nasal pasage, eye socket etc...yum! so i definately had to pass on that, and my appetite was dwindling although I had been starving at the beginning of dinner. The next dish was a whole fish. Yes, a large fish that was completely whole, the only thing they had done after cooking was slit open the belly so if you wanted to eat the organs, they were fresh and readily accessible. The next dish was oysters. Then chicken feet. Then scallops and mushrooms. and towards the end of the meal after eating a lot of green beans that came with one of the dishes and drinking coke, Jenna thought, well maybe that chicken broth will be ok if we put it on rice...So we stood up to spoon some in to a bowl, and there in the bottom of the broth bowl was a black bird. Just hanging out in the bottom of this bowl. and we had just drank his hot juices!!! We started laughing so hard I had tears streaming down my face and obviously any desire I had previously to eat anything was absolutely absent. It was hilarious that we thought there would be normal chicken broth there. Of course it was something weird, and of course we tried it (and hated it by the way...) before knowing it was just hot water they had poured over a dead birds body. So that was a really interesting outing. Also, the restaurant was really crowded and the big tables full of people would walk around and toast us all. So when it came to be our turn, we got up with our coke and orange soda in our glasses and toasted a bunch of drunk chinese people who just wanted to celebrate teachers. It was pretty funny!
That was last night, so today for teachers day we went to a performance at the town square building that was for all the teachers put on by students and the school board for the town of Guzhen. The major part of the get together was for the children to dance. I have never been to a stranger dance concert! They had the most bizarre costumes, and music, and dance moves, i just couldnt believe my eyes. For example, in one dance there was about 8 of the kids wearing full lime green spandex suits and had a big plastic dark green thing strapped to their back that resembled a piece of lettuce. There was also an angel, 2 fairy's, a boy in a trash bag (he was a cloud) another boy in a superhero/vampire costume, and 3 main girls, one of the main girls was wearing a red and gold hoop skirt and red tree branches strapped to her back, another was wearing a yellow ruffly dress that had a looooong train and a candlestick on top of her head, and the 3rd girl was wearing a green mini dress with a big green bowl thing on her head. they danced around for a billion years to weird music and bizarre sound effects. I couldnt believe it! there was another dance that about 6 boys did that was a breakdancing number to the mario game theme song!!!! it was so crazy. anyway, that was funny and then we went to get our hair washed. It was a pretty good day, and fun that we didnt have to teach and got to do some other things instead.
I am leaving in the morning for Hangzhou, it is a 19 hour train ride north of where I am now. So that will be an interesting experience, 19 hours sitting on a train! I am very excited though, it is only about an hour away from Shanghai, so maybe we will be able to go there for a day. The main reason we are going to Hangzhou is because there is a lake there called West Lake. I think I told you about it, it is where monks and emperors would go as a retreat. It is supposed to be a very tranquil environment, and very beautiful. I am prepared to take a lot of pictures! When we go on vacation like this (like when we went to Xi'an and Kaiyin) I only took the backpack dad let me borrow. So I feel like I am just backpacking through China and it really is so fun! I better get to bed, I have a long 2 days of traveling ahead of me.