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)

Math exam every wednesday

There is a weekly math exam on Wednesdays. The teacher some time allows me to leave school or change room, (from 3:20pm to 5:20pm)
The exam takes place is the classroom, students remain seated in the usual way, and the "monitor" (equivalent of head boy, "délégué") takes the teachers table on the stage. The teacher can leave the classroom without a shadow of a doubt any student would dear to cheat!!!
It is considered a shame to cheat here. I am sitting a the back of the classroom; smiling; just picturing what French student would make of this juicy opportunity... !

J+35 Cosplay!

Yesterday, my father proudly showed me the wine he had made himself! As you can see on one of the pictures, which corresponds to the restaurant kitchen. Of course the "degustation" was an event!

There is a very very big trend amongst Chinese teenagers at the moment: it is called cosplay.
Never heard of it?? Yep... Pretty much like me before I settled down here!
Girls in school talk about it ALL the time!
Two days ago, a classmate described her outfit to me, I answered "it sounds beautiful, I really ought to try one"
The next day, I had a packet waiting for me on my desk in class "this is my cosplay outfit! Try it on and take some pictures!"
I must warn you, I am totally aware of how wrong it looks on me, but please believe me, it REALLY looks cool on Asian girls!!! However I haven't got any
pictures of them, so you will have to content yourself of my own photo...

This morning, I didn't go to school, because my parents were informed that I had to join a "foreign volunteer team to go and clean the mountain"
You are probably wondering what on earth this means!!!
In fact, we had to clime up the mountain, with plastic gloves and spades and pick up the litter.
This was organized by a local newspaper, a lot of photographers kept taking shots of us bending down, and "improving the environment"

Portrait of my dear Chinese sister...

I have now a pretty clear idea of who Tang Runhan really is, since I have shared her life for more than a month now.
I don't even know how to start. She is one very special girl.
There is a childish and naive side to her (she is 16years old, so one year younger than me but Chinese teenagers tend to be a little more infantile), yet, she is one of the most mature girls I have ever met.
She comes up with very profound and philosophical thoughts, her point of view on daily topics is always fascinating.
She is totally open minded, very honest, outgoing and very very patient with me (she makes huge efforts to speak as slowly and clearly as possible). She has a strong character, and stands firmly by her opinions however she always pays a lot of attention and listens carefully to what others think and have to say.
She is willing to learn from everyone, is very curious about everything that surrounds her, she's a smart cookie and likes understanding the reasons and explanations behind everything.
I would give her my bare heart, she has my absolute confidence.
My dear sister also happens to be a bit of a dreamer... This can be amusing to witness, but, occasionally, it gets slightly scary; let me explain.
When we ride our bicycles to school, it is not uncommon for me to remark she is staring at the clouds...while cycling !!! Now, for those who don't know, driving in china is WILD.

"In China, drivers drive on the right side of the road as in America. They also drive on the left side of the road as in England
Sidewalks are for motorcycles and small cars. Roads are for ...pedestrians!
Look both ways before crossing a one-way street. (friendly advice)
Most people that give directions haven't a clue where the place is but will happily direct you to it"

Most of the time, (being 100% focused), I am terrified, but here she goes, smiling, innocently gazing at the sky.
Ohhhh if only you knew how frightening that can be!
She misses narrowly to get knocked down maybe 20times/day, every single time, I practically have a heart attack!
I truly admire her. She's a very hardworking student, and humble.
Extremely generous, altruist, she's always very concerned about other peoples comfort more than her own.
She makes me laugh, we have established a very intimate relation, we have our own way of communicating, some codes that no one else can understand, our private jokes, and already some wonderful common memories to relate to !
Her laugh and her smile is one of the most heart-warming thing I have here.
Above all, she is, (seriously) the MOST graceful, elegant Chinese person I have seen eating. You probably don't know much about the Chinese way of eating. I will describe it in a few words: very noisy, there is no shame here to raise your bowl/plate and stick your face into it, in order to gobble up more food; no one cares if you have sauce all over your face, of if you spit out a bone while chatting with someone.
My sister, eats like a queen, a real princess. To tell the truth, I thought I ate in a rather elegant way, but my standards are quite low compared with hers!

We understand each other.
I realize how very lucky I am to have found such a good friend, a sister, family, I will doubtlessly stay close with for the rest of my life.

J+33 photos

I haven't got enough time to write a lot today, but I promise to post a long text next time!
One of the pictures is an article about an ideal way to educate children in china, and family rules. My Chinese father gave it to my sister and wants her to hang it up above her desk.
The other pictures are some views of nanjing.

J+31 Boy-Girl relations in Chinese high schools

I am really fascinated by the Boy/Girl relations here.
As you may already know, it isn't allowed for students in high school to date, or have any feelings for a particular person ...this may disturb their studies.
But after many conversations with my school mates, I realized they all have what they consider as a "boyfriend/girlfriend". Let me explain how it happens:
One of my classmates came to me, telling me she liked a boy in another class, I told her to go and chat with him, she was too shy; I gave her a hand. And after a few discussions, they finally ask each other: "can I be your favorite girl/boy? Or do you already have one?"
If the other agrees, they are officially "brother, sister", they sometime call themselves names like "uncle, aunt, mum, dad...", it's affectionate.
If that step has been taken, they can have lunch together, and have long long discussions, about their likes, their dislikes, just smiling at each other is sometimes enough, and if they really hit it off during that discussion, hell...who knows? they might even walk next to each other from the canteen to the classroom!!!
It's very different because of how discrete they have to be to avoid any trouble, but also because chinese people attach great value to others emotions and feelings.
I find it rather beautiful, and unfamiliar to watch these boys asking "how are your feelings today?" and listening with passion to the answer for 30minutes!

They told me love, if it comes too early, is "puppy love". They also said it does happen sometimes; and they can't help it... But this is when the teachers and parents Intervene: if there is a doubt whether a boy and girl love each other, the teacher picks up the phone, and discusses an appropriate punishment. (of course, the boy and the girl are immediately separated, it becomes very tricky for them to see each other)

J+28 still discovering!!!

This week, I experienced for the first time the flag raising ceremony (升旗仪式): it happens every Monday morning and lasts about 15 minutes.
All the students gather (in very straight lines) on the sports stadium while the headmaster and a volunteer student make a speech. Taking account of chinas situation, it was about Japan this Monday. Although I couldn't understand clearly the words this 17year old girl was shouting in the microphone, her passion and conviction made the content of her talk obvious.
Afterwards, we all sang guó gē (国歌), the national anthem. (of which I almost know the words by heart; this impresses a lot of people here!)

The reason why I can not post more regularly is quite simple: no Internet !
To tell the truth, it is a real struggle to rush out to an internet cafe; I have no time at all!
I am currently changing home, but there seem to be a misunderstanding: it turns out to be a temporary arrangement! (just the time to re-paint the flat, and we will move back again)