Happy Shanghaiversary!

One year ago today, Chris and I made Shanghai our Eastern home.  What a fast, exciting year it has been! It seems like yesterday I was freaking out over not having Internet access at home. 

Here are a few of the highlights of the past year!

June/July

Chris and I got settled in Shanghai.  While he was getting used to his new job, I earned my TEFOL certificate and took plenty of field trips around my new city!

August

I made my first Chinese road trip to Hangzhou.  I also prepared for my first year of teaching in China!  Chris and I also celebrated our 11-year wedding anniversary!

September

I started teaching in Chinese schools.  We also celebrated the Mid Autumn festival by eating moon cakes!

October

We took the bullet train to Suzhou to celebrate National Day.  I also taught the kiddos all about Halloween!

November

We made our first trip to the Great Wall, the Forbidden City, and the Summer Palace.  At school the fourth graders held their trash bag fashion show, and learned about Thanksgiving.  We also celebrated Thanksgiving with new friends.

December

We celebrated Christmas for the entire month by frequenting different holiday markets!  My 6th grade students rocked their version of "Little Red Rididng Hood, and Santa Claus visited my students.

January

We had a great time ringing in the New Year with friends.  I also enjoyed being a Tai Tai during the first half of my winter break.

February

Mom and Dad made their inaugural visit to Shanghai, and we celebrated Chinese New Year!

March

The kiddos learned all about St. Patrick’s day and Easter.  We also had a hairy time at De Refter

April

We headed to Sanya for Qingming, and enjoyed our first F1 race.  At the end of the month, we spent a couple of days in Xi’An. 

May

In May, we embraced our inner artists, ate our weight in bbq, rocked out to the Backstreet Boys, looked for a new place to live, and celebrated my birthday.

June

This month we celebrated Dragonboat Festival; I finished my first year of teaching abroad, and welcomed a friend home from Malaysia.

I can easily say that this year has been one of the most exciting I have experienced.  I can’t wait to see what next year has in store.  One thing I can say is we will be having more fun in our current apartment.  We don’t have to move!!!!!  Stay tuned for more adventures!

Dragon Boat Festival (Duanwu)

About 2300 years ago, there was a poet and statesman named Qu Yuan.  Qu didn’t want to see his country be conquered by the Qin dynasty.  As a result, he was slandered by an aristocrat, and was exiled to the Chinese countryside by King Qingxiang.  While he was there, Qu became extremely depressed and wrote love poems for his country. Qu was especially distressed after learning his capital had been captured by the Qin.  Sadly, he committed suicide in the Miluo River on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month.   

Qu’s friends and neighbors were greatly upset by his passing.  Legend states that they would drop bamboo wrapped rice dumplings in the river, so the fish would not eat his body.  They also rowed dragon boats on the river to look for his body, and to scare the fish away. 

Today, Chinese folks commemorate Qu's death by celebrating Duanwu, aka Dragon Boat festival.  On the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, people eat zongzi (glutinous rice dumplings) and race dragon boats.

Chris and I decided to celebrate Dragon Boat festival by heading out to Yu Gardens.  I wanted to see what these zongzi are all about!

Happy Dragon Boat Festival!

Chris gets a picture with a statue of the poet Qu.

When we arrived at Yu Gardens, we encountered all kinds of dragon boat goodies.

According to Chinese folklore, children are supposed to wear these perfumed pouches during Dragonboat Festival for protection from evil spirits.

Chinese hairpins are so pretty!

We were getting hungry, so we hit the street food area in search of zongzi.  

Vendors prepped all sorts of street food goodies.
My favorite was guangshijiuxiangbing, a fried pancake with greens in the middle!

Chris liked them also!

I was getting full after the pancake, but I needed to try the zongzi.

Zongzi usually contain rice and egg, pork, or sweet red beans.  

The number one rule for zongzi is don't eat the bamboo leaves. 

The vendor removes the bamboo leaves from the steamy dumpling.

The dumpling was a bit much.  I definitely preferred the guangshijiuxiangbing.

To quote Chris, this stuff has the consistency of thick fried oatmeal and the density of lead.  However, he did like the egg in the center.  This dumpling would definitely keep the fish full!

Unfortunately, this was the closest we came to watching the boat races.

After a day of carbs, carbs, and more carbs I went home and took a long nap!  Thank goodness for three-day holidays!