Mooncakes, Teachers, Freshmen, Oh My!

Monday, September 8 was Mid-Autumn Festival in China, also known as Mooncake Festival.  It is a festival to celebrate the harvest, celebrated on the night of the full moon between September and October.  It is a time to gather with family and friends to eat mooncakes and watch the moon together.  Last year I ate more mooncakes than this year, but it is still a fun tradition.  Mooncakes come in all sizes with many different fillings.  Some taste better than others.  If you are fortunate enough to get mooncakes as a gift (which is usually pretty expensive) you are sure to find one you like.

 



Naomi and Eva displaying our giftbox of mooncakes from the Foreign Affairs Office last year.

Mooncakes filled with chocolate (or sometimes red bean paste!), apricot and mango.

Mooncake filled with an egg!  An acquired taste, but not so bad.

VaNeda with her gift box this year.

Three BIG mooncakes!

As big as my face!

Homemade mooncakes are a treat as well.  This one was filled
with fruit, sunflower seeds and sesame seeds.

Mid-Autumn Festival makes me think of the movie An American Tail and the song "Somewhere Out There" when Fievel sings to his family on the other side of the ocean, knowing they are looking at the same moon.


Wednesday, September 10 was Teacher's Day.

It was fun to get text messages from students.  My Benbu class (on the campus where I live) was kind enough to bring flowers to me.

K and M

My Sophomore Class 4 brought me a photo album because they remembered during my introduction on the first day I mentioned I like to take pictures.  So thoughtful!

The Freshmen arrived on campus the first week of September.  Before they start classes, they all participate in military training for 2 weeks (some campuses train them for 4 weeks).  Military training consists of a lot of marching, formations, more marching and some yelling and patriotic music (no weapons are involved).  It is always quite a sight to see all of the Freshmen gathered together on the track.

 

Our Freshmen receive matching athletic suits to be worn during training, and then they wear them for future events during their time at college, like Sports Day in the spring.  Other campuses provide military uniforms.  We took a tour of the Sheng Le campus, one of two campuses where our other team in the city teaches, and observed their Freshman training.

Hohhot City Team Fall 2014
(Not pictured: Lisa and the girls)

Exploring the Sheng Le campus

Odds and Ends:

Parents waiting outside the kindergarten next door.  6pm pickup!

Always fun to see my students on campus.

One of many beautiful plantings on campus.

One of the Chinese teachers in our English Department (front row, far left)
had some friends over to her new apartment for lunch.
She is a dear friend with a joyful spirit and generous heart.

Dinner outing after International Fellowship.
Tastes like America!