getting-in-the-christmas-spirit extravaganza

Last Saturday night, I invited all of my students over for a pre-Christmas celebration. Several of the other foreign teachers here, all of whom are very religious, hold Christmas dinners and discussions in their homes, but I really wanted to give my students a taste of the magic which builds up throughout December. They kept telling me that they wanted to experience a "real" Christmas, and for me, half the magic is in the preparations and the build-up, so here are a few photos from my attempt to give my students a cultural peek at Christmas-time: http://uva.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2069312&l=f42da&id=1511004

Several of my senior boys were determined to dig up a tree for me, saying that a fake tree meant a fake christmas, and that they wanted me to have a real one. Normally I sort of agree with them, but I really love the fake tree that I found at a small store across town, and I think it turned out beautifully. I am a little worried that I'll wake up on Christmas morning and find a tree leaning against my front door... We decorated, made and frosted cookies, listened to christmas music (thanks Mom and Adrienne for the great Christmas mixes!!) and generally had a smashing good time. The students had fun, but it really meant the world to me because it finally felt like christmas in my home away from home.

All over the city, stores and restuarants and hotels are dressing up for Christmas and it is a bizarre feeling to be a Westerner wandering around the city right now. Many of the laoban (store owners) don't even know the word Christmas if I ask them about it, though it festoons their shop windows. When I went shopping for some decorations, I was barely noticed among the hordes of people pushing into the few stalls which had holiday decorations. A welcome, if surprising, experience.

On Thursday night the English department will be hosting an enormous Christmas 'party' for the University -- from what I can gather, party, in this situation, means a large and probably lengthy performance. I'm supposed to be singing Silent Night, but I have no idea what other representations of Christmas there will be. Maybe I should give a mini-lecture on Chanukkah, though I think it would burst their bubble a bit. Sunday night I'll be gathering with the other volunteers in Lanzhou for a salsa-licious Christmas eve, then spending the morning of with Ben and three of our closest Chinese friends. Yes of course there will be stockings. Pancakes too.

With all this, what about school you might ask? Well, I'm working on putting together exams, which I'll be giving during Christmas week. This week we're wrapping up course material and reviewing. I can't believe the semester is practically over! I've learned so much, and hopefully I'll be going into the next semester prepared to offer the students more predictable schedules and rubrics, but overall, I think I've hit on some routines that really work well, and I believe that gotten at least something from my lessons and the mad-cap role-plays we often get caught up in. Next semester I know I'll be teaching British literature to the junior english majors, and I'll be thesis advising 5 or 6 of the seniors which is supposed to be quite time consuming. I'll continue teaching listening and speaking, though I don't know yet if it will be with my sophomores or if I'll get a crack at the freshmen. It will be a much more demanding semester all together, but now that I've had my first few months of trial-by-fire, I'll be ready for it (I hope).