Wild Weekend

The rainy season has begun.  They warned me about it but I wasn't sure quite what to expect.  Since Friday, it has not stopped raining.  It's not just "rain" but torrents of hard, heavy, street flooding, shoe soaking, blowing rain that is constant.  The people just seem to take it in stride.  I, on the other hand, had a little trouble adapting to being wet from the belly down because my small umbrella only covered my head and shoulders.  Saturday after a long car ride back from Hangzhou where I was taken on a boat ride and toured several things I had already seen (once again in the POURING rain) I got back to Dong Yang to find that I needed to move quickly from the house where I had been staying to a new hotel.  After juggling the suit cases (three in a tiny car) and getting settled, I met a friend from my first school for dinner.  We ate and stayed in a luxurious hotel in the newer hip part of the city where we could walk to cool places to watch the World Cup and have some drinks. (Once again...all in torrential downpours of rain)  This hotel is most likely one of the finest I have ever seen anywhere.  I decided, since I have not spent any money yet on this trip, to get a suite for the night just for fun.  It was a huge 3 room suite, 1 full bath, 1 half (both stunning and all marble) gigantic master bedroom with flat screen, huge living room with big screen, a view of their version of Central Parka and the river, and more amenities than I can describe in one post.  The cost??  A whopping 1000 Chinese Yuan.  That equals right at $150.  I couldn't believe it.  Well worth it!  The next morning, and ALL day Sunday (in the pounding rains) I was treated to a walking tour of the oldest historic district in the city.  It's well over 1000 years old and beautiful.  I'm sure on a sunny day it would have been spectacular.  We saw a museum and then went to Wood Carving City.  It's the biggest mall filled with ONLY local wood carved pieces.  Some small, some furniture, some statues- anything you can think of.  We had FOUR HOURS to roam the place because they insisted that I pick out something to buy as another gift.  I didn't find anything I loved, so I settled for a few little things they thought I couldn't live without.  The whole gift giving culture here is unbelievable.  They give and give over and over.  For them, too much is STILL not enough.  Dinner was " a surprise" for me.  Well, during my trip, I have learned to be very leery of "surprises."  Surprise meat.  Surprise dinner.  Surprise schedule changes.  None of them has been very easy.  But I took this one like a man and agreed to follow along and not ask any questions.  They had rented a room in a Karaoke dinner house.  Karaoke is SO popular that 18 year old kids KILL to get their first chance to go since the legal age is 18.  They can drink when they are 12, but driving and Karaoke are 18.  It was a riot.  Several people I have met at the school and all the principals attended.  15 around one table sharing 18 different dishes.  All the weird stuff I have already had, new weird stuff, and some outstanding new things were on the menu.  They made it very clear at the onset that their goal was to get me drunk.  This is a custom about which I have been warned MANY times.  They had brought my favorite wine and tried VERY HARD to toast me until I was under the table.  They underestimated my stamina as well as my wit.  I got the hang of the whole toasting thing and started hammering them as fast as I could.  The Principal left early, and two of his colleagues were close behind because they had had enough.  Score one for the American teacher!  They may think twice before trying THAT again!   But it was a wonderful evening and a great way to end a very long day.  It's Monday now and I only have 3 days of teaching left.  The play that I have put together for the 5th grade English kids is on Thursday.  More tours on Friday/Saturday, to Shanghai to fly home Sunday morning.  Off to work....