Events

It was Blair's 55th Birthday today! We had arranged to go for dinner at the East Lake Restaurant. There was Blair, Andrew, Cameroon Mike, Polly, Alice and me! Dinner was great with a lot of laughs and a bit of sport. Expected when Blair and Andrew are together!

After dinner I suggested we go to the Salsa Bar. Blair had said earlier he didn't want to go because it is too loud. After a couple of bottles of beer he was all for it!

We all headed to the Salsa bar except for Polly. We danced and drank until 1 am when we made the chilly departure to leave.

Tucked in bed by 1.30 am. Another great night had!

Well this is what the Chinese call it but we would know it as Chinese New Year. The Chinese love festivals and one of their most popular festivals is the Spring Festival.

This year the Chinese New Year falls on the 26 January 2009. It will be the year of the Ox. Chinese New Year starts on the first day of the first month in the lunar calendar. Many people take a week off work. This is China's biggest holiday.

Since boxing day the stores have been transformed and in the supermarkets there are great displays of food and gift items.

Just near the checkouts are huge piles of cartons of items ready to be put on shelves - as soon as the shelves are cleared, they are filled up again.

This week is my last week of classes. I have been showing DVD's and playing Music.

Because they are my last classes I have not used the DVD'ss or music as I would normally do in English class, but there is Chinese subtitles and English dialogue on the DVD's and the music is the music that they like and I provide the lyrics.

There are some sad farewells too. I have some great students and I will miss them. But as I tell them they are only a text message or SMS away.

New Years eve was celebrated with dinner at the Ramada. We enjoyed a great meal and camaraderie at the Ramada with some foreign friends. Some of us returned to the campus and others (A, B & B) went on to continue the celebrations at the Salsa Bar where we also meet up with some Chinese friends.

It was great. Blair decided that drinking was better than dancing. The rest of us had a boogie or two. Andrew loves to dance. He has taken professional dancing lessons. This is how he meet his wife.

The Salsa Bar has recently opened. It was cool! It cost the boys Y30 each to get in but with that they got 4 free beers. It was loud! It also had a suspended dance floor. We had heaps of fun. I became everyone's wife or girlfriend to get rid of Chinese men. We got home at about 2.30 ish.

I have spent almost 10 months trying to locate a bar. Finally there is one in Tai'an. The dance floor is suspended and you bounce whether you like it or not. The music is way too loud or maybe I am just getting old!

The National Day of China is held on October 1st each year. The PRC had its beginnings on October 1st, 1949 and is celebrated with a holiday of one week. I love they way the Chinese celebrate occasions on a weekly basis not just a day off as we do in Oz. The students go home and the campus is very quiet.

Normally I would travel but it is the last week Barbara is in Tai'an so I chose to hang around here to spend some time with Barbara before she leaves.

National Day is celebrated throughout mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau with a number of government sponsored festivities. There are lots of fireworks!

The school has given us no information about the festivities.