Two Gifts in Two Days

It's a half week this week... at school, and perhaps for the whole country. October 1st is the national independence day, and so we have no classes on Thursday or Friday. Actually, we were supposed to not have class all of next week too, but H1N1 scares continue, and the university's vacation was cut short (by an entire week!) to prevent people from leaving town (and thus, getting on trains or planes filled with sick people). If that kind of announcement went out at UCLA... there would probably have been a riot. But out here... 没办法. (méi bàn fǎ is loosely translated, "Oh well, what can you do...")

But, so far this week has also been a week of gifts! On Monday, every student was given... a thermometer. First, we were infrared gunned at the school gate - if you have a fever, you're in big trouble. We have learned that biking for ten minutes... does not significantly raise your body temperature. So, in arriving to school, we realized that we neither had fevers... nor did we get any significant amount of cardio-aerobic activity while biking to school.

Every student now has a thermometer; every morning, we've been instructed to take our temperatures and notify the school authorities if we have a temperature over 37° C.



Ahh, but Tuesday was another day of gifts! This coming Saturday (October 3rd) is the mid-autumn festival (中秋节 = zhōng qiū jié). While there is a lot of history and stories behind the occasion, one of the highlights is the mooncake (月饼 = yuè bǐng). Because this is the the time during Autumn when the moon will be at its fullest and roundest... it is the tradition here to eat mooncakes! Every student was given a gift bag filled with mooncakes!



Back in the States, mooncakes had pretty much 1 kind, 1 flavor. But out here, there are mooncakes aplenty, with different sizes and flavors (but all the same shape). We're excited to try the different ones out there. I'm going to look for a coffee-flavored mooncake.

Our teacher also noted that 中秋节 is a time not just to eat mooncakes, but to eat all sorts of "round foods" - like grapes, apples, etc. Actually, I think that this is kind of a cute (perhaps, quaint?) tradition... that it's customary during a certain time of the year to eat foods that are a certain shape. We don't really have those types of traditions in the States; in fact, most folks in the States might think something like this is kind of hokey.

So... this week we have so far seen two gifts in two days. I wonder what tomorrow will bring...