Santa Ross at the party I missed.... [First published Dec. 18, 2014] First, a follow up and correction of sorts to my last post about giving apples to the teacher at Christmas. I didn't know what I was talking about -- turns out people give apples to lots of people on Christmas Eve, not just teachers, and this is because: the word "苹果 (píngguŏ) apple" has a similar pronunciation to the word "平安夜 (Ping’ānyè) Christmas Eve". Hence the apple has taken on the symbolism of good luck and a happy future.
The apples here are positively delicious, by the way. We got so many apples that our apartment is pleasantly apple-scented. But unfortunately, all the apples I got did not prevent me from coming down with the 'flu at the worst possible time; Christmas night, the day before an extremely busy and important day of teaching. Earlier this year I kept on teaching through a bad cold and a bout of laryngitis, but fever is a symptom that I cannot overcome; I just have to go back to bed until it's over. So I missed out on a Christmas party with some middle school kids that I was really looking forward to, and on my last lessons with the group of doctors that it has been my pleasure to teach for the last three months. Now and in future posts, I think I'll refer to this group of people as "The Doctors" to make it clear I'm talking about a specific group of doctors...
The apples here are positively delicious, by the way. We got so many apples that our apartment is pleasantly apple-scented. But unfortunately, all the apples I got did not prevent me from coming down with the 'flu at the worst possible time; Christmas night, the day before an extremely busy and important day of teaching. Earlier this year I kept on teaching through a bad cold and a bout of laryngitis, but fever is a symptom that I cannot overcome; I just have to go back to bed until it's over. So I missed out on a Christmas party with some middle school kids that I was really looking forward to, and on my last lessons with the group of doctors that it has been my pleasure to teach for the last three months. Now and in future posts, I think I'll refer to this group of people as "The Doctors" to make it clear I'm talking about a specific group of doctors...
Department Christmas party But, on the positive side of things -- the friendship shown to Ross and me by all my colleagues and my students has been utterly heart-warming and overwhelming. For example, The Doctors told me that the custom here in China is to eat dumplings when setting out from home on a journey, and to eat noodles upon returning. So a group of them -- all busy specialists at the top of their profession in this city, mark you -- are coming to our apartment before we leave for Canada to make dumplings for and with us. Can you imagine?
The kind words and the respect shown to me as a teacher and the friendly gestures toward Ross and me as foreign sojourners in China at Christmas-time are more than I can take on board. The fact that our Christmas dinner was a bowl of won ton soup in the dining hall -- because I didn't have the energy to cook anything -- that doesn't matter in the least in terms of how special this Christmas has been. I really need a day of quiet reflection to rest and take it all in. Laundry and soup and Kindle and bathrobe and my last packet of Neo-Citran.
And of course lots of our Canadian friends remembered us on Facebook; in fact, I failed in my intention to send a lot of emails and greetings to lots of people at Christmastime. Thank you to everybody and sorry I've been such a poor correspondent. My schedule lightens up considerably after this week so I'll have one less excuse.
The kind words and the respect shown to me as a teacher and the friendly gestures toward Ross and me as foreign sojourners in China at Christmas-time are more than I can take on board. The fact that our Christmas dinner was a bowl of won ton soup in the dining hall -- because I didn't have the energy to cook anything -- that doesn't matter in the least in terms of how special this Christmas has been. I really need a day of quiet reflection to rest and take it all in. Laundry and soup and Kindle and bathrobe and my last packet of Neo-Citran.
And of course lots of our Canadian friends remembered us on Facebook; in fact, I failed in my intention to send a lot of emails and greetings to lots of people at Christmastime. Thank you to everybody and sorry I've been such a poor correspondent. My schedule lightens up considerably after this week so I'll have one less excuse.
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