It’s PARTY Time!!! (sort of)

So I have now attended my first school banquet! This banquet was held on September 9^th, in honor of China’s Teacher’s Day holiday. So despite not yet having had a single class, I got to go to the banquet and got flowers (although I could have done without those, they are a pain to drag around, and the smell makes me sneeze) Anyways, the banquet is held every year, and most of the teachers seem to attend, as it is a free meal! This year they changed the location of the banquet from the place it was normally held, to a place I am surprisingly familiar with (considering I have only been in Shenzhen for two weeks at this point), the hotel CTLC stays in! Oh yay! (sarcasm intended)

So we get there and are placed at a table in the first row from the head table, which I think is a pretty nice position. We then get served the food, Chinese (aka family) style, and are also given miniscule glasses of red wine, and shot glass for bai jiu (pronounced bye joe) which is type of clear grain alcohol, that is usually over 50% alcohol by volume [illegal in a couple of states] At banquets it is not uncommon for people (usually only men) to get really drunk, as they usually most drink every time someone toasts, or it is considered disrespectful. We had been warned prior to not get too drunk at the banquets, and demure, using the excuse that we are foreign, and not used to the alcohol. Although, I wasn’t really that worried, as you can substitute wine for the bai jiu, and my tolerance is pretty high.

During the banquet we also went up to give the headmaster his gifts that we brought from our home countries. (a sign of respect in China) I brought a small white bust of Thomas Jefferson from UVA, as it figured it had something to do with me, and something to do with America. Catherine and I also gave Tiffany the gifts we brought for her. I gave her some chocolates, and a University of Virginia pen, that I thought would be useful for her.

During the banquet, we got to chat some with the teachers near us, as they all taught English, and drank some wine for the numerous toasts. At one point I did a shot of bai jiu, sadly in front of the vice-headmaster, and this apparently made him worried for me, or so he told be later that night. Although, to be honest, I think he should have been more worried for himself, as he had trouble opening a car door! As we were waiting for the bus back to the school he offered to give us a ride home, which was really lucky, and even more fortunately, he had a driver for his car, as he was pretty drunk, but really nice! Overall the banquet was interesting and enjoyable, but I’m happy they are not all that frequent, as they are a little stressful, since I’m not sure of all the proper manners.

My table at the Teacher's Day Banquet