Crescent Rolls

My family gets together for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter each year and each time my mom is in charge of making crescent rolls.  Those holidays are the only time that we get to eat them so, for me, they are also a special part of the holidays and since my mom isn't over here I've been trying to carry on the tradition.  I think I got pretty close this time!

a white christmas eve

If you know me, you know I love snow!  That might even be a slight understatement.  As a little kid, I think I would start praying at least a month in advance for a white Christmas so anytime it actually worked out I was super excited.  Being the first snow of the year, and being on Christmas eve, I naturally had to go out and enjoy it.  Check out the pics...

The entrance to my apartment looking down
out of my bedroom window

ZZ students having a snowball fight

An old man playing the erhu alone in the snow.
It was very beautiful and sad at the same time.
Almost like a scene from a movie.

Angie's Wedding

This wedding was definitely the most interesting one I've been to over here so far.  Those of us who went left school a little early to insure we arrived at the restaurant on time, only to sit and wait for at least 45 min.  As the token Americans, we were given a seat of honor up front to better see the festivities, or possibly for the guests to better see us... hmm....  The bride was wearing a white dress, instead of the traditional red that is worn here, but she did have red gloves, tights, and shoes

There was a ceremony, it seemed more like a roast of the bride, groom, and groom's family than anything else.  I doubt the bride's family was there, but that's often how it works over here.  The grooms parents were dressed like ancient warriors and had paint on their faces.  A man in a red jacket spoke a lot, they bowed to each other three times, and they also linked arms while drinking a sip of wine from a glass.  I could not understand much of what was going on, I just clapped when everyone else did.  The bride came over and asked if a couple people from our table would speak, so after having a couple minutes to think one of the other Americans got up and said a couple sentences.  Then finally it was time for the feast.

Waitresses brought dish after dish to the tables that filled the dining hall.  Vegetables, meats, soups, bread.  The most interesting things on our table were squid, slices of pig's ear, donkey meat, and a dish made from mixing flour with duck's blood and cooking it (I think).  I tried some of each, some were much better than others and we also had some fairly normal food too.  We ate our fill and there was plenty left over.  Good times.

Wedding Invitations

In the US, or at the very least among Caucasians in the US, wedding invitations are sent out several months before the wedding.  One website I just visited recommends sending them out three months before the big date... that's a whole quarter of a year in advance!  Then there is the RSVP which we are supposed to send back several weeks to a month a head of time so that head counts can be given to caterers and that sort of thing.  It is considered a common courtesy so that people can schedule and plan.  It doesn't quite work that way over here.

Today, a former student walked into our office with a couple invitations and bags filled with sunflower seeds and candy.  She told us she was getting married and wanted us to come to her wedding.  Then she told us it is tomorrow at noon.  Say what?  Doesn't she know tomorrow is Tuesday?  and that we have classes to teach and work to do?  Then as she leaves, she says, "See you tomorrow!" like it is a done deal and our presence at the restaurant is a sure thing without really confirming who will go.  Seem strange?  Well it's not uncommon over here; it's perfectly acceptable (although I think for the other weddings I've been to we've at least had a couple days notice).  It just makes me laugh.  Not much is so set in stone that a person's schedule can't be changed around (even if they have prior engagements) and most will understand that something came up and just go with the flow.  In American culture, we might see it as an inconvenience, not an honor. 

Will I go to the wedding?  Yes.  Was I a little annoyed to find out it is tomorrow?  Yes.  Will I enjoy myself while I'm there anyways?  I think so.

Decorating the school

Thanksgiving has passed and it's time to starting getting in the mood for Christmas!  This past Friday night, most of the students and teachers gathered up on the 4th floor to decorate our classrooms, hallway, and office.  One room was devoted to making paper chains and Christmas signs, another room was for making snow flakes, other students were given tasks of hang Christmas lights (off the radiator pipes) and setting up Christmas trees.  My roommates made small cut out sugar cookies that the students could frost and eat and of course we had Christmas music playing in the hall for all to enjoy.  The students got really into once they figured out what was going on.  It was for the most part a great success; except for the part where we forgot that even though snow is white, over here white is the color of death so the room with snowflakes hanging from the ceiling reminds the students of a funeral... oops (we weren't reminded of this until afterwards).  My favorite by far is the paper chain that zigzags the whole length of the hallway!

Building projects

Besides teaching classes and hanging out with students, there are other day-to-day responsibilities that we need to take care of around here.  To help lighten some of Chris' load, I was put in charge of overseeing some small building projects that we've been needing to get done.  He and I met with the builder, which is a general term meaning he is also the plumber, electrician, carpenter/cabinet maker, tile layer and whatever else might be needed, to go over what needed to be done in three of our apartments.  After the initial meeting, I took over most of the dealings; going to the builders' market and checking the builder's work when he finished. 

If you know me at all, you could probably guess that I enjoy going to the builders' market.  We call it our Home Depot, but it's nothing like the stores in the US.  First off, it is not one store, it is a lot of small individually owned shops in that are along several little streets in one area sort of a much more compact version of buildings in an industrial park.  It's definitely not one stop shopping at this place, you have to trek from one shop to the next, across the road, and down the side streets looking for the best price or seeking out the item you desire.

Working with the builder is one area where cultural differences come out.  The way they do things around here often seems to be just adding more patches to the problem that happened because it wasn't done "right" in the first place rather than providing a more long term solution.  I think it is more normal for a person to just tell the builder a very general idea of what they want done, he will do it whichever way seems best and then whatever price he tells them at the end is what they pay, possibly after some negotiating.  Since we are working with a budget and have some differing ideas of how to best fix a problem it causes frustrations on both sides. 

An example of this happened last year; the weight of the "glug-glug" water dispenser on my kitchen counter over time caused it to settle lower than the other areas.  I had a backsplash that was glued both onto the counter and onto the wall tile behind it.  In some areas the backsplash stuck to the wall and not the countertop creating a gap, in other areas the backsplash stuck to the countertop and pulled the wall tile down with it.  The builder came and instead of leveling out my countertop, which he deemed too difficult, he removed the wall tile and the backsplash and then made the tile slope to match my countertop and then reattached my backsplash.  Not only was my countertop crooked, now the wall tile matched it.

Do we try to accept the lower quality fix or go against the cultural norm and force our way?  Is there a happy medium?  Probably, but it can be very difficult to find.  Either way it is still fun to wander around the builders' market and be involved in building projects.

More Thanksgiving pictures

Baking party!

Getting some help with the crescent rolls.  :)

Yummy!  I forgot and only measured out about
half of the amount of yeast needed and had to
try and add some more in after the dough was
mixed.  A little denser than normal, but they
tasted good.

After baking Settlers party.  Actually, waiting-for-the-rolls-to-
rise-a-second-time-and-then-bake party.

 

The bird's in the oven!  It's not so easy to find turkey here.

Apple, pecan, and of course pumpkin!

After dinner entertainment... watching veggie tales silly songs

Thanksgiving celebrations

Living overseas, especially in a part of the world that is very different from western culture, we often have to celebrate our holidays in a much different way.  This especially holds true for Thanksgiving, which is a thoroughly American holiday. 

Over here, we celebrate it twice which is our normal practice when it comes to sharing our customs with the students.  Things still operate pretty much as any normal day, we still have classes on both Thursday and Friday so there's no Black Friday shopping madness for us (not that they even know what that is or have big sales to go along with it). 

Our first celebration is with all the students on Friday night.  We all go out to a Muslim restaurant (because some of our students and staff are Muslim and therefore cannot eat at any place that serves pork) and eat a large dinner that has no resemblance to what we would typically eat in the US.  During the meal, we share with our students the history behind the holiday and just have fun.  Once everyone has had their fill then the real fun begins.  I am not sure when this tradition started, but the teachers then have to give a performance which is followed in turn by both of the grades sharing their own performances and giving gifts to each teacher. 

Saturday we had a baking party at C&D's apartment in preparation for our American only meal on Sunday.  I attempted crescent rolls again, this time I didn't realize I had only put in half of the amount of yeast the recipe called for until I was almost done kneading the dough.  The rolls were still yummy, but a little denser than the way they are supposed to turn out.  We started in the afternoon and after everyone else was done baking by the time mine were on their second round of rising so to pass the time we played a game of Settlers, ate dinner (I think I had most of them baked by this point), and then watched a Bollywood movie called "The Three Idiots."  We had a blast and had "aal iz well" stuck in our heads for several days.

Sunday we gathered for a short meeting then started heating and preparing for the feast.  We found one of the few turkeys in the country and had some items from the US specifically designated for the day such as cranberry sauce, stuffing (from a box... I know...), pumpkin pie filling and a bag of pecans to make some pies.  Locally we are able to get potatoes, sweet potatoes, green beans and things like that to round out the side dishes.

All in all, even with the events of Thursday overshadowing things a little, we had a great Thanksgiving weekend!

Some of the girls

The boys

Fruit salad... sprinkles make everything better, right?

The staff singing "If you're thankful and you know it"
just replace "happy" with "thankful" and you'll get the gist

Grade 2 singing

The guys are "rapping" a comedic story.
The one on the left is holding a type of percussion instrument
which when translated means "fast boards" that he is keeping
rhythm with the "rapped" words.  Apparently this a traditional
form of entertainment.  Who knew they also invented rap
music?

Grade 1 singing the chorus of "You raise me up" about 8 times
in a row