Just a "smattering" of things..

Below is a photo journey of some things that have happened since I arrived in late August.

Teacher's Day

For Teacher's Day, my university's foreign affairs office gave me these beautiful flowers.

Mid-Autumn Festival

In September, China celebrates a national holiday called the Mid-Autumn Festival or Moon Festival. Our school gave us moon cakes (see above) to celebrate. For more information regarding the history of the holiday, please see my co-worker, Lucy's blog. I was not yet teaching, but her students told her the history. 

www.lucypyeatt.blogspot.com/2008/09/happy-mid-autumn-festival.html

A New Do

I went to a local, reputable salon to get a perm. Only instead of the curly perm I used to get as a child, I got one to straighten my hair this time. With the HIGH humidity of late summer here and my thick head of hair, straightening it on a semi-permanent basis (at least until the perm wears off) was one of the best ideas ever! A team of guys worked on it for hours. They applied the perming solution twice, washing and straightening it with a straight iron in between applications to make sure it was super straight. Here the main man (on the right) is checking the elasticity of it (I have NO idea why!! they just kept tugging on pieces to check if it was "done"). He signed off on each step before his subordinates could continue.

Getting hair washed involves lying down as pictured here.

When it came time for the final blow dry, two guys tackled the job. I have really thick hair and they were eager to complete the job! Lucy was with me, and we both laughed when the blow drying came at me from all directions.

The final product and the team that got me there!

Birthday Manicure

It is quite common here to have intricate designs painted on top of nail polish. I decided to partake in this for my birthday. It was fascinating to watch the skill of the lady painting them and fun to have them thus painted..for a while anyway. :-)