Staff Party

Our staff had a Mid-Autumn celebration dinner Friday night. School will be closed on Monday as people celebrate with their families. I cannot believe how many moon cakes I've seen in the past two weeks. They are everywhere and people are buying tons of them. After dinner we played some American style party games like Catch Phrase/Catergories and People Bingo where you find people in the group who can sign a space on your paper for certain things they've done. I got to sign for a lot of the chinese staff on the space that says "can make lasagne", something I don't think any of them have ever done, and they could sign for me for all kinds of things I haven't done here. The funny thing to me was the prizes. There were typical Western and Chinese style prizes. The Western ones were coffee, cookies, and tea cups. The Chinese gifts were very practical - cooking oil and large bags of rice. It was explained to me that during the years of rationing these items they became very meaningful gifts and it has just stuck. Toilet paper and milk are also appreciated gifts. They also recited a fun Chinese poem that everyone knew and joined in on and taught the children a little song and dance. It reminded me very much of staff Christmas parties back home. Abbey was thrilled that she received a whole shopping bag full of goodies - chocolate squares being the highlight. The children shredded wrapping paper while the adults chatted. Two of my co-workers are from England and it's been fun getting to know them and learning from their experiences while living here.
FYI, a friend just explained to me the significance of a circle in Chinese culture and how it represents your whole family and life coming together. The moon is significant in this way with it's circular shape. I love moon gates and the entrance for the new school in the orphanage is a big red moon shaped arch.