Thanksgiving in China

This past week we continued to put in time at school. Adan is still working hard with the girl's volleyball team and Pazi has been asked to help with some of the scenery for the school's Christmas program, The Nutcracker Suite. With such commotion, before we knew it Thanksgiving was upon us.

Now, it is important to share that we celebrated Thanksgiving dinner on Saturday afternoon. Logistically it was the best idea considering we do not get time off for this American holiday. This gave us a few extra days to find all the necessary ingredients for our potluck dish. Each family was to bring one item to share with others.

We decided to sign up for bringing a dessert dish several weeks back. Because very few people have ovens here in China it seemed like a difficult task to bring anything initially. However, Adan got to thinking about his mother's delicious Pistachio Salad and thought it just might be doable. Sure enough, after consulting with her about the recipe, Adan and Pazi were able to locate all the ingredients.

Diverse Celebration
Finally when the day of the dinner came it was more than we imagined. The feast we shared with friends and co-workers was enormous. The dishes showed a true multi-cultural flair as turkey sat next to fried wonton. In fact, Adan even ate most of his plate with chopsticks! We say most of the meal because mashed potatoes and gravy are hard to pick up with chopsticks.

After everyone had two or three servings of food, we had the honor of having first a Chinese guitarist play music for us. Then some of the QSI staff shared their talents with their traditional Thanksgiving tunes. Following this many of the staff requested Christmas carols so several people joined in to sing songs like "Jingle Bells" and "We Wish You a Merry Christmas."

It was a very eventful day. We enjoyed the company and the great food. It made the thought of missing Thanksgiving at home a little more bearable, even if we did miss out on sweet potatoes and tamales!

This is what one of our plates looked like for Thanksgiving dinner.

School Daze

We had another week packed full of work-related activities. Monday through Wednesday were classes as usual. Then on Thursday and Friday we had parent-teacher conferences. We were a little unsure of what to expect from our international students' families but things worked out well. Pazi held eight parent-teacher conferences while Adan had five meetings.

It was interesting to see the customs of certain families during conferences. A number of teachers that have been with QSI for several years received gifts from parents at the conferences. Sometimes it was flowers and other times it was food. Two teachers even received fruit baskets worth at least $100 dollars from a very nice Korean family that was moving to New Zealand. It seemed that these gifts were generous "thank yous" for the effort put forth to help their son and daughter learn English.

Volleyball Anyone?If we haven't shared this previously, the assistant director of our school approached Adan about coaching volleyball for the school. It turns out that our school has never had a true sports team in the three year history of the school. Our main director, along with the assistant director, have made it a priority this year for QSI Dongguan to field both boys and girls athletics.

Shortly after agreeing to coach, Adan found out that very few matches could be scheduled because the season for other schools was winding down. The QSI Shekou school invited Dongguan to play in a mini tournament they were putting together. The only problem was that since the event was so close in time, the Dongguan team would only have three practices before the tournament! Since the exposure for the girls to competitive play was so vital Adan and the assistant director agreed to travel to Shekou to play a sister QSI school.

Luckily for Adan, he was able to recruit another teacher to help assist him. The other coach was Mr. Rhine from California. It just so happened that he also played college volleyball. It was a huge advantage for both Adan and the girls. Having Coach Rhine's expertise helped tremendously in the early goings. And since there was only time for three practices the team needed to work fast.

The team is extremely young and lacking experience. In fact, there are three middle schoolers on the "secondary" team. That means we have three thirteen year-olds mixed in with several fourteen and fifteen year-olds. We only have two students seventeen or older nearing graduation. All the girls have played recreational volleyball, but practically all of them have no formal experience playing competitively. This also made the task an uphill battle. However, Adan and Coach Rhine wanted to make it a fun experience for the girls to be introduced to a great sport.

Showdown in Shekou
So the historic first match in QSI Dongguan history took place this past weekend. Saturday morning at 7:30am, Adan and Pazi, Coach Rhine, and eight members of our team set out for Shekou. The traffic was smooth and we arrived at the QSI school just before 9:00am. The girls were given brand new team uniforms so they quickly rushed to the changing room to get ready.

After dressing, the girls came out to see the Shekou squads. Literally the girls' mouths dropped. What we saw several girls working on very sophisticated volleyball drills of passing, setting, spiking and overhand serving. In the group were four ladies at or near six feet in height. It was obvious to tell that these girls had experience playing the game.

Now something important to keep in mind is that the Shekou school is much larger than the Dongguan school. Their school has over 700 students as compared to 180 students in Dongguan. This equates into enough players for three volleyball teams! The coach for Shekou helped us out by dividing his best players to compete in pairs on all three of his teams. This was done to help even out the level of play for each team.

Our girls ended up playing three matches in total. Unfortunately, we did not win any of them. However, we were proud of the fact that they did not back down to a team far superior in size, skill, and experience. In fact, we scored twenty points in one game, had several serving aces, rallied six different times, and had two girls actually spike the ball (flat-footed but they scored points). On the flip side, there is definitely room for improvement. We need to continue improving on passing, setting and all out aggressiveness.

We hope to play another international school in the near future. There are at least two schools that we know of that have volleyball teams so it is very likely. Coach Adan and Coach Rhine will continue to work with the girls. Future entries will give updates on how the team is doing.

Hangin' Out in Hong Kong

Wow how time is just flying by! We can't believe it has already been two weeks since our last entry. This past week was unique because we took a small 'work vacation.' Yes you read right. Our school had a short work week so that we could attend a professional development workshop in Shekou, Shenzhen (basically Hong Kong). Since our development days were scheduled for Monday and Tuesday of this past week, we decided to leave Friday night and spend some extra time hanging out. Below is a condensed recap.

We arrived in Shekou late Friday night so we did not do much. The real reason for getting to Shekou early was so that we could wake up Saturday morning and catch the first ferry to Hong Kong Island. This would ensure us a full day of exploring the ever-hectic sights and sounds of Hong Kong. This is how we traveled to Hong Kong during our last visit and it worked out so well we decided to do it again.

Saturday morning came and after catching the first ferry we were in Hong Kong by 8:30am. Pazi was craving her KFC biscuits so we set out in search of a KFC restaurant. It may seem like an insignificant thing to most, but when in China there is no such warm and fluffy delicacies so we take advantage of the opportunity. However this particular morning we must have found just the right part of town for avoiding any type of fast food restaurant. We searched for about an hour and found not one McDonald's, KFC, or any other food joint.

After searching to no avail we finally ran into a shopping mall and decided to grab something there. We ended up going to the Cafe de Coral. This Hong Kong cafe/diner restaurant serves a mix between Chinese and western meals. We had eaten there before some we settled on the meals there. Just to give you an idea of the dishes. Pazi had a breaded fish filet and scrambled eggs with toast, and Adan had sausage (it was really just a hot dog)and scrambled eggs with toast. Both meals came with Hong Kong style milk tea.

The Peak
With food in our system we decided to go to the one place that we missed last time we where in Hong Kong--Victoria Peak. This tourist attraction also known simply as 'The Peak,' is the highest point for viewing the beautiful skyline of Hong Kong Central and Kowloon. To reach the top one must take the Peak Tram. This funicular railway system was established back in 1888 and through the years the refined tourist venue has seen incredible growth in popularity. It is estimated that some 7 million tourists visit the Peak every year!

Since so many people desire to see views from the Peak, we decided to go early to beat the rush. We were very lucky for as soon as we arrived, two double decker tour guide buses pulled up to drop off a few hundred vacationers. With the crowds behind us for the most part we spent only twenty minutes waiting before we were on our way up the mountain. It became apparent with the immense lines we saw building up that the wait could easily be an hour!

Once we got to the top Pazi wanted to view Hong Kong from the Sky Terrace. We paid an extra $3.50 so that we could go to the viewing deck at the rooftop. The fee was well worth it. We spent almost an hour taking in the breathtaking sights of Hong Kong. The panoramic views of Hong Kong Central and Kowloon separated by Victoria Harbour were incredible. The dense amount of 'real estate' packed into such a small location was unreal. This is definitely a spot that we would recommend to other hoping to visit Hong Kong.

Seeing the Scenic Stanley
After having a great time at the Peak, we met up with some other teachers from our school and took the bus over to Stanley for lunch. Stanley is a small town on a peninsula located on the southeastern part of Hong Kong Island. This popular area is close to the famous Repulse Bay with its popular beaches. We couldn't help but feel reminded or Maui with the awesome views of the sea and lush green mountainsides. There is also a very famous shopping market in Stanley. But our experience here is that the sellers are not very motivated to negotiate so we took it easy by having a delicious meal and taking in the scenery instead.

We ate at a nice little Thai restaurant. Then we walked the streets of Stanley watching the boats in the water and the people shopping in the markets. It was just a time of relaxation. However, soon enough it was time to get back to the ferry station so that we would not miss our boat. It ended up being a very eventful day full of good times.

The Rest of Our Time
The professional development sessions in Shekou gave us a lot of information to aid us in teaching our students. We had a speaker share with us a number of concepts and ideas pertaining to assessment. The breakout sessions had us working together with others teaching the same discipline. For example, Pazi met with other pre-school teachers and discussed teaching strategies, resources, and much more. Adan split time with intensive English teachers and athletic directors for other schools.

It looks like Adan will be coaching volleyball so he needed to meet with the coaches and directors to discuss scheduling and tournaments. We'll keep you posted on how this turns out. QSI Dongguan has never really implemented sanctioned sports so this should be interesting!

Next week is parent/teacher conferences so much of our time has been focused on getting prepared for them. It is our first experience doing this in an international setting so we are not quite sure what to expect, and thus have spent extra time getting organized. We'll make sure to keep you informed about other happenings as they occur and a new entry will be available next weekend too.

Halloween in China

Boy it was a rough week for us here in Dongguan. It started with Pazi catching a cold some time on Monday. By late afternoon the next day she had lost her voice. She felt it was a bug that her pre-schoolers had pasted on to her. This was probably the case as many of her students had a cough and sniffles.

As for Adan, by Wednesday night he too had caught the same illness. He managed to make it through the school day Thursday and then muster up enough energy to work the school carnival that same night. By Friday morning he was unable to speak just as Pazi was a few days earlier. Even though he was not able to communicate verbally he felt fine to go to work.

By Sunday morning (China time) both Pazi and Adan were recovered. It took some healing time but they managed to regain their health and are now as good as new.

QSI Costume Carnival
Here in China Halloween is not a celebrated or practiced holiday. The events of trick or treat, haunted houses, and costume parties simply do not exist. It appears that this is a practice of Westerners. But because our school takes every opportunity to expose our students to Western culture, the school holds a Halloween celebration of sorts.

Instead of having a full out Halloween school day, our director approved a modified celebration. Her practice is to allow positive and non-violent costumes and decorations. In her words she prefers to see "story tale characters" and "super heroes" not "ghosts or goblins." Also, so as to maintain classroom structure, the entire school orchestrates a carnival of contests and games complete with prizes and raffles.

It was up to each teacher dress up in a costume or mask and to decide on at least one activity to coordinate for the kids. Pazi and the other pre-school teacher Miss Dasha chose to do a painting booth where the students could draw and paint fall pictures. They called their activity "Autumn Paint." Pazi also wore her cat mask that she bought while in visiting Guangzhou the week prior. (See picture below with her and Miss Sunna our Chinese friend from school.)

Adan with the help of his assistant teacher Mr. Bill, did bowling. It was a hit but it was exhausting for the two men to be human pin machines. Just as fast as the pins were put up, the children knocked them right down. What was interesting about this activity was that about one-third of the kids ten years old and under had no idea how to bowl. Some of them got creative and tried to kick the bowling ball to knock down the pins! You might have guessed already, but the picture at the top of the blog entry is Mr. Bill in his witch's hat and Adan wearing his Peking Opera mask.

All in all, the carnival was a hit. The turn out was huge. Several children brought both their moms and dads to the event. There was easily 250-300 people in attendance. Everyone appeared to be enjoying themselves, and our director, Dr. Hall said this was by far the best event she had been a part of in a number of years.