J+40 mid Autumn Festival

Mid autumn Festival (中秋节)
For those who don't know, the mid autumn Festival, which falls on Sunday this year is a traditional Chinese holiday that originates from the worship of the Moon.
As its name suggests, the day falls in the middle of the fall season and symbolizes harvest and family reunion.
The festival, celebrated on the 15th day of the eighth month in the Chinese calendar, has no fixed date in the western calendar but the day always coincides with a fool moon. It is also known as a moon Festival.
(you can spot the fool moon on one of the pictures if you pay attention, in the background behind my sister and I)

To celebrate this festival, people here eat Moon Cake (月饼), I have also posted a picture.
Moon cakes are round pastries that are about an inch in height. Inside, they are filled with lotus seeds, ham, dried flower petals and salted ducks egg yolk . Their surface is patterned with clouds
(云),the moon (月) and the rabbit (兔子).
The custom of eating moon cakes dates back to thousands of years ago!

I received some moon cakes from my school mates. I arrived in the morning, and found a packet under my desk, with a note: "dear justine, this is a moon cake, my only one. I want you to have it. I hope you enjoy it."


This morning, we had breakfast all together, my parents, sister, brother and I in a very good restaurant.
And I spent the rest of the day with my sister, walking around. She really enjoyed it , since it is the only day she is allowed to go out, and not to study. The rest of the "holiday time", (8days) she will stay in her bedroom all day long, and go out to eat.
We also watched a very popular Chinese movie (Taiwanese...), Called "you are the apple of my eye" (那些年，我们一起追的女孩, Chinese name), a very nice love story, I recommend it!
In the evening, we all gathered in the restaurant, to have a big dinner, with the family and the staff. My sister and I took a evening walk, we starred at the moon and had very long and interesting conversations.

I also posted a picture of the black board in my classroom, decorated for the occasion! (initially, I had written some sentences in Chinese too, but the teacher told me: "your handwriting isn't good enough to stay on the black board. I can't allow it. You understand?" I just said "of course, ok" and smiled. She added "it's a bit like primary school handwriting, you need practice". So I was told to write mid autumn Festival in French, for my contribution to this collective "chef d'oeuvre")

You can also see a picture of the preparation of the school ceremony, (the end of the construction work). All the teachers had to wear grey suits, unfortunately we weren't able to attend the ceremony because we had to go home.

Tomorrow, I will try and find a place where they are willing to show me how they make moon cakes! (I tried today, but they were all too busy)