Chinese New Year

We had a very nice Chinese New Year season this year. One reason for this was our strategically planned grocery shopping to avoid the chaos of last year! I am happy to say that we didn't spend too much time in line at the grocery store.

Although the rest of the town still seems to be on holiday (as I type, there are still fireworks going off at all times of day and night!), Tim and Milan are back at school today after our very relaxing vacation in Subic Bay, Philippines. We stayed with our friends who moved there last year, and have new benchmark for family vacations - after three years of traveling with Milan, I had no idea vacation and travel could be relaxing. Pictures are up on Flickr.

Before vacation, we enjoyed some nice New Year events and dinners with friends in town. The weekend before vacation we went to the neighborhood community center to learn how to make traditional Chinese New Year 汤圆 tāngyuán. They are glutinous rice flour balls filled with sweet black sesame paste.

Tim learning how to make the rice balls

There were many teachers from our school and other foreigners from the community there. Tim's rice balls were voted "best in show"!

Tim and his very proud teacher

After all of the dough and filling were used, the balls were cooked in the kitchen and brought back out for us all to enjoy.

Just smile and chew :)

Bowl of rice balls

Now that Chinese New Year is over, we have the long haul of school until Spring Break in April! Luckily my friend Susannah is coming to visit this month to break up the routine.

Happy Year of the Rabbit to you all!
兔年快乐!

Student of the Month

Milan was awarded student of the month for his Early Years class yesterday!

Here is what his teacher said on the certificate:

This student demonstrates advanced language skills...

[I think that means he talks alot]

...and spends his time explaining information to his classmates so they understand...

[I think that means he is bossy]

...He enjoys working with his classmates and has improved dramatically with his sharing skills and taking turns. Keep up the great work Milan!

Here he is doing a happy dance after his very serious moment on the stage in front of the whole school!

Unfortunately our little talker is sick today with a fever. Keep your fingers crossed that he will be better before our trip to the Philippines for Chinese New Year vacation on Saturday!

Routine

Pre-schoolers love routine, right? We have a very established routine when I pick Milan up from school after lunch.

Milan's best friend William is also a half-day student. When William's mom and I both arrive in the cafeteria the two boys go running to hide behind the bushes. We act surprised when they jump out and scare us, and they both go running to William's parked car at the school gate.

Milan and William run everywhere, all the time

Allyson and I are informed that we are not allowed to ride in the car and we must walk "all the way home" (about 1 block to our apartment building). William and Milan pile into the front seat and wave out the window as the driver takes them around the corner to our apartment.


By the time Allyson and I arrive at the corner, they are blocking the sidewalk! How will we get past these troublesome trucks?!


"You have to say the secret password", they tell us!

"What is the secret password", we ask?

"Sing the A-B-C song!"

So we sing the song and they run to the steps, letting us pass.

Then William and Milan play a game they invented called "Lolly" that requires throwing clumps of dirt and weeds into the ditch next to our building. I don't really understand this game, but they play it while Allyson and I chat for awhile. Then Milan and I go into our building to go home and William and Allyson get in the car and go home.

Routine. Gotta love it.

Do You Are Who?

I have had problems getting motivated to study Chinese since we returned from summer break. Tim and I speak a level of Chinese that definitely makes things easier - getting around, taxi directions, ordering food (ESPECIALLY ordering food, very important), friendly chit chat. But we have become lazy and haven't tried to learn much of anything new this year. It doesn't help that we know we are leaving China in June.

So this school year I decided to purchase and learn how to play the Chinese 2-stringed violin called the èrhú 二胡 (pronounced "are who"). It is still relevant to being in China, I will practice my Chinese by meeting with a teacher every week, and if I am going to have this instrument hanging on my wall I should at least learn how to play a few songs.

It took a few weeks of asking in the nearby music store and talking to Chinese friends before I was finally introduced to an èrhú teacher who is willing to work with this strange American student (that's me). I am almost certain that I am her only adult student, and definitely her only non-Chinese student. She is a 30-something, hip, friendly, very patient music teacher at a nearby high school and teaches èrhú on the weekends. One of her students was the Provincial èrhú champion recently. He is 8 or 9 years old. Here is a video of him playing in October last year. Is it just me, or does he channel Jimmy Hendrix at the end of the song?!? Awesome!

And then there is me. First my teacher helped me buy my instrument. I have had 4 or 5 lessons since then. The first lesson just about killed me as I tried to learn how to hold the bow. The hair of the bow runs in-between the two strings, so you need to push or pull the hair to play each string.

Playing on the A string

Playing on the D string

Once I got comfortable with the bow my brain exploded trying to learn how to read the music. Chinese music is written in numeric musical notation, which is to say they use numbers to represent do-re-mi to write the music.

Warning: musician-speak follows, skip this part if you aren't interested in music theory
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Here is one of my beginner èrhú exercises:


See where is says 1=D (1 5)? 1=D means D is "do", so the piece is the key of D Major. The (1 5) tells you that the lower string on the instrument (D) is do and the high string (A) is sol or 5 in the scale. This is pretty easy on the violin/èrhú - D major, F# and C#, easy. I played in this key for the first couple months and got my brain used to reading this music.

Then I had to learn "sol-re" or the key of G Major, and my head exploded again.

Now 1=G, so G is "do". The (5 2) tells you that the open D string is sol (the dot below it means it is the octave below) and open A string is re or 2. Play F# and C natural to make it a Major scale. Thank goodness I remember my music theory. It has been easier than I thought to switch between reading D Major and G Major. Don't even ask me how they do minor keys because I haven't gotten there yet. I have resisted the temptation to try playing staff music with the èrhú or playing èrhú music on the violin. For now I am keeping the two separate in my brain and it works.

As for rhythm, it is similar to using notes on a staff. A number without any lines under it is a quarter note. A number with a line under it is a eighth note. Two lines make it a sixteenth note. A number with a dash next to it is a half note. A zero is a rest. Characters directly above the numbers are fingerings written in Chinese. Measures are separated by vertical lines.

(End of Chinese Music Theory Lesson)
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Learning a new instrument has changed the way I am teaching violin to my two students. I found myself doing the same things they do - not practicing the long repetitive boring exercises, complaining about sore fingers and tired arms, I hate playing fourth finger and prefer to play on the A string. Ha ha! I am learning how to do vibrato on the èrhú while I am teaching my older student vibrato on the violin. It has made me a much more sympathetic violin teacher, and I am trying to make their lessons more fun and interesting.

I can almost play one nice song now and I am building some serious callouses on my fingertips. Progress.