I woke up at 8.30 so i could make sure the students were ok in the morning and left Chris asleep, they were up at 7 and offered to take me for breakfast so I went with them to our little local place for some tasty XiaoLongBao, my favorite!
went back at 9.30 to make sure Chris was ready for 10.30 to mean Elaine, my Chinese teacher, who would take us to the wedding and look after us!
Made it to my office at 10.30 and met Elaine and she drove us the 10 minute walk along with 2 other English teachers to the big international hotel in Lingxi where the wedding was to be held.
Walking in a member of staff from the hotel rushed up to us and asked if we needed any help and seemed surprised when we said we were there for the wedding.
As we were herded left into a massive room past endless pictures of the couple pasted over various scenic and romantic backdrops we saw all the guests giving small red envelopes to a small team of people staffing a small desk, I can't fully explain what was going on but it was something along the lines of presents for the couple. People put money into the envelope but each envelope is recorded along with who gave how much and in return big boxes of 10 packs of cigarettes are given, depending on how much you had given. People then took these cigarettes and gave the packs out individually to people they knew, friends etc, we got given some by a random stranger just because we were white!
Elaine also explained that the money is almost considered a loan as the couple will have to repay the money, partly through the cigarettes, partly through favours (unless already owed a favour obviously) or through paying back at their wedding, or their children's! The money is intended to help pay for the wedding and such, but who knows!
The wedding is based on a Buddhist wedding and starts early in the morning, the groom will at one point arrive at the brides house but will find all the doors closed and guarded by members of the bride's family and friends who will then set the groom challenges he must complete to open the doors and search the house for his wife! The challenges may be questions about her, or their past, or physical challenges like doing so many press-ups or even giving them money! Crazy!
After this is completed then they arrive at their version of a reception, and this is where we came in!
The room for the reception was huge with maybe 50 tables and a central aisle down to a stage at the end of the room and we sat down in the corner on a large table but soon got moved to a better seat next to the aisle so we could see better what was going on, and the couple would walk right past our table, very kind of them!
We were sat with a few children, mike and a load of girls, two of which were under 30! Haha.
We were at the end near a small gazebo type tent erected over the isle nearest the door. At the other end of the aisle was a big stage with speakers and covered in flowers and a huge projector showing a slideshow of romantic pictures of the couple and short videos of them along with various wedding related images.
We were told that the wedding was actually even bigger and there was a whole separate room for friends who would actually miss the ceremony here and we were in the privileged few who got to sit in and see it live, well, the privileged couple of hundred anyway!
Elaine also explained that the grooms father was the head of the Cangnan county branch of the post office, a high up government position, and so was very, very wealthy, and it was him who was footing the bill for this.
The ceremony began with a man on stage introducing the proceedings and Elaine quietly explained that he was a Wenzhou TV celebrity from the state television network who had agreed to host the wedding, for an unnamed fee. After a few minutes of introduction the groom walked down to the small gazebo near our table, soon after the bride joined him wearing a beautiful white dress, and she was only 26!
With various bowing and hugging the bride and groom were 'introduced' to each other's parents and there was a small ceremony joining them in marriage.
The couple then walked down the aisle to the stage with fireworks exploding each side and being handed flowers and presents while the western bridal chorus played on the stereo.
The couple gave some speeches and linked arms a drank from cups at the same time, very traditional, and also had a very western wedding cake which they ceremonially cut, before feeding each other some cake. This interesting mix of east and west went on for another 5 – 10 minutes bringing the total to around 20 minutes or so before they walked back down the aisle and out into the hotel, the ceremony over and the meal could begin.
Since Linxi is near the sea the meal had a lot of seafood, I tried everything I was given and some was actually very good but the start was prawns in their shell (which I had no idea how to remove, especially with chopsticks) and crab again, in its shell. Then followed an embarrassing lesson on how to feed myself which resulted in me giving up and eating things already cut into edible sizes!
The lobster was very tasty, as was the rare fish we were served. I also tried some meatballs wrapped in a moss/algae/seaweed type thing which grows only in Outer Mongolia and so was apparently exceptionally rare and expensive. I must admit that I did try the sharks fin soup and unfortunately it was very tasty, possibly my favourite thing I ate, Chris however was not a fan, I'm not sure if that was from his conscience or the taste though…
Each table was given two bottles of wine but on our table everyone was either too young or driving and so responsibility for that fell down to me and Chris to sample them, an expensive French red wine chosen especially which was very tasty but Chris and I were careful to show a good image of foreigners and not let the country down any more than we already are!
After the meal I got chatting with the girls on our table who turned out to be quite good at English and were amused by my awful attempts at Chinese conversation although Elaine was jokingly put out by me talking to other people and not her!
After the compressed ceremony and the meal people started to drift off home and so we did too, we were dropped back at the school at 3.30 and had no plans until 6 when the students from the day before had invited us to see their show, so I decided to get a quick nap.
Had a really busy weekend kicking off a crazy busy week and have not had time to update you all. Hope I get a chance to tomorrow! Sorry!
The next morning we were meeting some of my students at 7 so even on Sunday morning we had to be up at 6.30! Susan my student came to meet us at our house and dragged us out of the door and out to the front of school where the bus was waiting.
We and 50 students piled onto the coach and the teachers got into a car and we agreed to meet them at the beach. After an hour or so drive we arrived at the beach and it was nice and warm.
We unloaded the bus and went down onto the beach and whilst I started taking some pictures and doing a little rock climbing on some big boulders on the beach Chris started playing some volleyball with the students.
After a while they drifted off to paddle in the sea and mess around on the beach. The beach was quiet so early in the morning but still a little touristy, a section had 8 or so dune buggies to rent for £10 a half hour as well as peddles, water bikes, an inflatable ball to walk on water a few other things as well as a couple of food stalls and umbrella rental women.
I walked down to the sea to paddle and took my camera in for a walk in the sea and to try and take some wave action photos, another student really liked photography so we compared cameras and notes and both tried to take the best action shots!
After a bit I needed some suntan cream and started back up the beach, I met Chris after his volleyball and we both said that it was getting crazy hot, and since the last few days had been rain it was a surprise! We looked at our watch and realised it was only half past 9 in the morning and it was already at least 28 with very high humidity.
As the day went on and we messed around on the beach I met two more of my classes also on the beach and so took some cool photos with them! Some came out really cool and as it approached 11 the students were getting hungry and we decided to start to set up camp, the beach was getting a bit busier but as we walked away from the shops to have our bbq the people just dropped off, they all sat together near the shops and restaurant section and the swimming area and left the rest of the beach (bar that small 100m section) basically empty!
We setup our bbqs and all started trying to light them, the chinese way involves a lot of meths and a lighter with as little coal as possible but chris used his firelighting skills to get ours up and away as fast possible and we were the first to get cooking.
We bbqed chicken with various sauces and then some other foods including some seafood for the others as well as some baked sweet potatoes. The teachers then invited us to go for a meal with them in a local restaurant but we were full from the bbq so declied (possibly a slightly rude thing to do) and decided to stay with the students and play on the beach.
Chris used his Poncho to make a small sunshade with some driftwood and other beach rubbish which the students found funny until it was ready, then 6 of them crammed into into it with us using umbrellas for the sides.
After lunch (and in the head of the day) we just relaxed on the beach chatting with students and playing on the beach, I walked down the beach to the sea again and paddled some more and chris tried to get a little nap.
I put on factor 30 suncream 5 times and stayed in our makeshift shade as much as I could but still felt a little red by the end of the afternoon.
We left the beach around 3 and went back to the school for a much needed shower and a rest before teaching again on the Monday.
Got some great pictures and had a great time on my first local beach trip, I would like to go back and try out those dune buggies next time, but I will learn my lesson and get in early because at midday it is just too hot!
The next morning the tops of my feet and the backs of my legs were sunburnt but not too bad, and my shoulders were a little tender but luckily my face escaped unscathed (unlike chris!).
This week was pretty tough and what with becoming recording artists and all we didn't get that much time off. We did manage to spend some time getting hold of some english language books that we gave as presents, Lust for Life for one of my students, A *shudder* justin beiber book for Cady, and the lastest Harry Potter for Rabbit, Wendy (now know as crazy) and Lyn, or possibly lin, or ling, but who has now asked to change her name to Y4! and shes not the crazy one!
Saturday morning I got up and went to my Chinese lesson early and spent 3 hours or so with Elaine trying to get some more chinese in and talking about England and life, she is great and we have fun in the lessons so it doesn't matter if half the time was us chatting in English!
Chris said in passing that a woman that works for the school was quite pretty so I am learning how to flirt with her on his behalf, how to say my friend thinks you are cute in chinese, hahaha.
After my lesson I met up with Chris and we went to get some food in the place over the road, unfortunately it was half past 12 by the time we arrived and so there was not much left, and some of what was tasted a bit dodgy. Learning no lessons at all from Chris's sickness last weekend we ate it anyway and felt a bit funny for a few hours afterwards, no lasting effects though this time, thank god!
Oceane, one of my students, texted me to ask if i wanted to see a show on Saturday evening, I accepted without really asking what it is and made plans to meet up later.
After eating we met Rabbit Crazy and Y4 outside the school and chatted for half an hour or so, it came up that we had a present for them and also that Rabbit was going to her drawing class in town. I managed to get us an invitation to see the studio she takes classes in for later that afternoon. I grabbed a quick nap and then Crazy and Y4 came to pick us up from our house. We gave them the Harry Potter book to much screaming and happiness which was cool.
We got a taxi together into town and went down a backstreet to a small art studio, opposite a massive internet cafe full of expensive computers with Chinese students playing online games, a massive market over here at the moment!
In the studio we saw Rabbit's paintings, of an Apple and a great picture of a man's face and then saw some of the other artists work, we also got our photo taken by the teacher, a photo of him with some foreigners will probably be up with all the others later on! Took a few pictures of their artwork in the studio too.
Crazy and Y4 then went to put their washing on and left us with rabbit, we walked around town a bit and looked in a few small shops while waiting for them, when they had finished it was time for us to go back to the school to meet Oceane to go to see a show at a nearby school to ours.
When we mentioned that we were going to see this show the the students we were with suddenly decided they wanted to go too and so we grabbed a taxi to the school, but not our school, directly to the school the show was in! I made some quick calls and managed to arrange to meet my students outside the other school. It turns out it was the school that the students who came to the show in our school last week came from, this school also doesn't have any foreign teachers!
As I was making my calls the girls decided to play a joke on me and ran off with Chris, I walked after them for a bit before meeting some other students and giving up the chase, they went for a meal and I waited talking with my students. After a while Oceane arrived with her friend tequila and I went in with them, Chris and the other students followed in afterwards and we all met inside.
It turns out that this school is a private school with a much higher fee (ours is £500 a term, a relative bargain) and this was very apparent in their stage and their setup, many more chairs and amazing big stage with big light rigs on three sides and a thousand or so chairs in front, most of these chairs were full of students but since we were only hoping to slip in unnoticed to this mother's day celebration and stand in secret at the back. Unfortunately a few students noticed us and so started taking subtle pictures on their phones, before long a student asked for a photo with me (Chris cleverly kept his head down) and then more students joined in with group photos and much laughing and before I knew what was happening I was surrounded by 30 or so students asking me questions, asking for my phone number, where I'm from etc etc etc. It was pretty funny though.
After a while Oceane rushed into the crowd and grabbed me and as I made my excuses to leave the told me that the leader of the school had found out that we were here and hiding at the back and had found us some seats. As Oceane took us more and more forward until we eventually arrived right at the front, apparently as soon as he found out about us he kicked 5 people out of their seats for us and our 'interpreters' (students). There was us and then right in front a table, and then the front of the stage, and behind us more than 1500 students, madness!
We watched the performances and they were very good, helped by the much more professional sound/lighting setup and the amazing wooden schooner backdrop. Frank, one of my students, was singing a song again and we watched that and were very impressed, and then some of my other students formed a girl group and all danced together doing some very exotic dance moves. There was also a good rendition of a Michael Jackson song and a kung fu dance acrobatics show in military fatigues, with students dancing to Living on a Prayer, the techno dance remix! Crazy!
In between every 5 or so acts there was a ceremony were 50 or so students lined up and were given an award and an envelope with some money in for the students, if students do bad they get fined, if they do well they are rewarded, but it is strange to see it all done in actual money, and so openly in front of the other students. As I was sat in the very front during these 5 minute presentations I amused myself by making eye contact with one or more students receiving an award just when they noticed foreigners and then trying to keep their attention and have some fun by making them laugh. I managed to make a few smile and one chuckle but then I found a short cute girl with a bob haircut and managed to make her continually laugh through the presentation, result!
As the evening drew into the night and with an early start the next morning we made our excuses around 11, but not before Chris got some good pictures!
Also the last 3 days have been rainy, just constant showers, I love the rain but it hasn't helped Chris 's mood at all!
Chris had a nasty night of being sick and a couple of groggy sleep deprived days but is nearly back to his usual slightly grumpy self!
Taught the young children last night and they were bahaving badly as usual, in the end I kicked one out of the class for 5 minutes while Chris spoke to him, after that it was much better.
A teacher from another school has found us a possible small job for this evening, will give it a go and see what happens, will let you know if it works out, but does mean we loose another evening! Turning into Chinese workaholics like everyone else out here!!
