This almost turned out to be the first quiet week in China, almost. This week, lying between mid autumn festival (when I travelled to Turpan) and National Day (when I travelled to Xi'an) was fairly standard. With one major exception; the foreigners banquet. So today I'm going to write about that evening in Urumqi as well as clear up some stereotypes associated with China.

Mr. Tian, in his typical vague speeches, first alerted us to the foreigners banquet soon after we arrived. To be honest I'd forgot about it, until he brought it up again. Now the banquet is held by the Changji Education Board (the sort of local council) for all 'foreign experts'. Now while I'm certainly foreign, I'm not sure I quite qualify as an expert. Still, I was invited, so I went. The banquet itself was in a hall in a fancy hotel in Urumqi, just about 100 or so people went. All of us from Fukang were put on a table together with some Koreans who were working at a local factory. Now they were definitly foreign experts. As was the Volkswagon representative I met who had set up and run a car factory in Urumqi. Wow, I was feeling quite out of place. 

The evening began and we all sat down. It was obvious some foreigners there hadn't seen a non-asian face in a while, lots of stares bounced around the room. The hosts of the evening came out, one of which spoke with his eyebrows. So the event turned out to be some sort of award ceremony, highlighting the benefits of foreigners to Xinjiang. Three people were nominated, a physics professor from Turkmenistan, A scientist from Kazakhstan and another man, I forgot what he did. Anyway, the scientist won. Now I would normally find this talk on cucumbers facinating, the import and export numbers from Xinjiang to Kazakhstan were truly astonding. However as the lady was Uighur she made the speech, naturally, in Uighur. Meaning it was translated twice, into Chinese and English. There is nothing like a 20 minute speech becoming an hour, for which 40 minutes you have no idea what is being said. Anyway, I was a foreign expert so I could handle it. After the speeches from various Party officials (and of cource cucumber lady) were over I was ready for food. I had been told so much about the amazing food that was about to come. Yet, nothing ever came. We'd find out after that due to a cut down on 'wastage' they decided to not feed any of us anything but fruit. This lead to the classic line of "I don't wear a suit just to eat fruit" from our South African counterpart; Stephanous. 

There are a huge amount of stereotypes surrounding China, some of which have been proved true and others not so much. I thought I'd clear a few up from my own experiences. 

1. Chinese students enjoy maths. TRUE. I think its fair to say maths isn't the most popular subject back in the UK, while I continued it longer than most I wouldn't say I love maths. Yet when I play the favourites game here I find a little over half the class say Maths is their favourite subject. Now I'm not sure if this popularity is due to cultural reasons, teaching styles or something else. Whatever the reason, its very alien to me!

2. Chinese students all want to learn. FALSE. Chinese 15 year olds are just that, 15 year olds. That means they will punch, kick, giggle, whisper and all the rest of it given the chance. The only real difference between China and England is that instead of paper airplanes they make cranes and flowers. Also sleeping and doing work for other lessons is quite common. Kids are kids, all over the World. 

3. Chinese food is different in China. DEFINITLY TRUE. There isn't lemon chicken here. There isn't sizzling beef. There isn't even sweet and sour. Now while I'd like to tell what there is here in China, I'm not really at that stage. The way me and Alex eat is to go to a resturant, identify the type of meat in a meal (we know those few characters) and see what we get. I've had some of the best meals of my life here that I know I'll never, ever have again. There is one resturant me and Alex frequent alot; the 10 yuan place. Its quite close to us and all meals are 10 yuan, which is brilliant for our wage. They also have a menu on the wall, so we can point and sit down. Now I've ordered the same thing several times and it always changes. That might be because of the classic 'Chieses food is so varied' or it might be that they serve the foreigners anything. Either way it is 10 yuan, who can complain? 

4. The Chinese are a reserved people. PARTLY FALSE. In China social interaction is defined by the concept of 'face'. Now face is quite hard concept to understand for a foreigner (I'm resigned to the fact that I'll never fully understand it). But really it is just like a points system. You 'gain face' by toasting peoples drink lower than theres, buying other people anything and everything and making sure other people sit further away from the door than you. You 'lose face' by doing the opposite, as well as getting drunk (although you can never refuse a drink, or you are weak). Its all really quite confusing to be honest. Anyway I mention all this as the face concept really dictates how reserved you are. Chinese people won't talk to you in a street in case they loose face. However once you get to know someone people are much quicker to get a lot closer. I don't Chinese people are more reserved they are just more conscience of their social status and what that means.

Well I think that about covers it for now. As I say, most of this week was spent living, with little crazy stories. Also this week a lot of time was devoted to getting ready for Xi'an! And saving money up for that trip...So on that note I'll end this blog post.

Stephen 

P.s. The photo is from sports day. All the students replicated the Beijing opening ceremony and walked around the track saluting the leaders of the school. When my classes came around I stood just before the leaders and tried to make them laugh as they marched. I got some! I love the picture, there is just so much china in that one image. The beautiful scenery, the factory and mass group tai chi. Fukang is a dramatic place, with the Tian Shan mountains constantly looming overhead. Anyway, until next time!