Ping guo3 vs. ping an ye4

So I will share with you a little bit of Chinese and also how it relates to Christmas.  About a week ago one of my Chinese co-workers was asking what some of the traditions in America are for the holiday season.  I proceeded to explain what most people do but at the same time let her know that Americans come from all over so it does vary by family and background.  She understood but was still wanting more of an answer and told me that I had left something out.  Next she asks about giving apples on Christmas Eve to friends. She understood this is what happens in America and I kind of laughed and said I had never heard of such a tradition.  She goes on to explain that is what happens here in China.  This conversation was a few days before Christmas Eve and so I was definitely curious how big this apple tradition would be. 

The day before Christmas Eve a lot more apple vendors started appearing along the street.  It is very common to sell items (fruits, vegetables, street food, etc.) from a cart along the street and it is perfectly safe to eat these items.  Not only were there more apples but I even saw special boxes to put your apple inside, and even apples with Chinese characters written on them.  Most likely the characters written on the apples were wishing the friend happy holidays.  So it is very common to give good friends an apple on Christmas Eve in China.  I think a big reason this does happen because of these two different words: ping guo3 (apple) and ping an ye4 (Christmas Eve).  The part that is underlined comes from the same character in Mandarin. I have written the words in Pinyin which is the transcribing of Mandarin pronunciations of Chinese characters into the Latin alphabet.  I will go into greater details of how this helps later but for now a short little introduction showing why it is common to give apples in China for Christmas Eve (at least in Mandarin speaking locations.)  Simply put the word apple and Christmas Eve sound really similar to each other.

  

I ended up getting one apple from a class of mine that I had on Christmas Eve.  No fancy box but a nice big red apple.  Besides apples China doesn’t really celebrate Christmas.  Sure this whole entire month Christmas music and Christmas decorations have been up at most of the stores.  Besides that though not much else happened.  I had to work both days because it is simply a normal day for most people.  Actually on Christmas Eve at my school we had a Christmas party for some of the students.  They had to buy a ticket and it simply was different Christmas activities such as caroling, Christmas arts and crafts, and painting.  I have an evening class on that night at a local business so I was late for the Christmas party for the kids but that actually was better.  That meant I could go into any of the classrooms and I wasn’t in charge of any of them and simple was able to bounce around to see the different activities.  Besides the Christmas party on the weekend before Christmas we had the students write on little Christmas cards which we hung on a tree in the lobby of the school and also gave them all a small gift.

 

After work the other foreign teachers and I went out to dinner.  No real Christmas dinner but at the same time what is truly Christmas dinner?  I think it does vary from family to family and isn’t particular like on Thanksgiving.  We ended up getting some goose, fried rice, and various other Chinese dishes.  It was pretty good.  Then later that night we did a white elephant gift exchange and so we all ended up with some present. I received some decorative chopsticks that were bought up in Beijing.

 

Whether it be apples, egg nog, tamales, gingerbread, or any other special food for the holidays hopefully it was a good time had by all.  Also not too much longer for a new year.  New Year’s Day is a national holiday in China so I will have that day off but right back to work with weekend classes starting on Friday this weekend.  Not much of a break and so nothing major planned.  Below are some of the funnier cards that some students wrote. I will write later.             

Christmas Tree in front of a mall 

Tree decorated with lights at apartment complex

“Shhhh. . . I want to hear the English!”

Let me set the setting for when this was spoken.  A few weeks ago I went to dinner with one of my Chinese teachers and we went to the place conveniently located by the school because we had a short break before teaching a class later that night.  So this restaurant is cafeteria style where you walk down a line choosing which items you want and then at the end you pay for the items you do get.  At this point in time my Chinese was bare minimum where I could hardly say that one please.  So going through the line I simply point and get a few things.  Then it comes to choosing a bread that I want and so I simply point and the server asked me in Chinese do I want the “meat filled one or the vegetable filled one.”  I look at my Chinese teacher and she tells me what was said in English and so I respond to her in English in order to get the one I want.  At the time I don’t notice but the manager is standing behind the servers watching us intently.  After paying and sitting down my Chinese teacher pointed out that the manager was ignoring other customers trying to ask questions about the food and told them “shhh. . . I want to hear the English!”

That isn’t the only time when I had the attention of a lot of people and it’s not in the classroom.  Last week I went and purchased a new phone.  There is a bigger electronic store close to my apartment and so I walked over and found a phone that I want.  By this time I know how to say I want to buy this one please, but not much higher vocabulary dealing with electronics.  So the sales associates has me follow him to the register where I pay for the phone and then back to where the phone is located in the shop.  At this point in time about four other sales associates come up and start trying to talk to me.  I know very basic phrases and none of them know English and so one of them does pull out a phone to translate.  I am waiting for paperwork to sign and then they take out my phone and put a protective screen over it and put it in the case.  It is a little bit of time and while they are getting this done about four or five customers come up and join in on the translated, broken English, broken Chinese conversations.  Eventually with phone in hand I leave saying goodbye to the crowd of people.

 

Having been in different countries I have become used to being a foreigner and standing out, but here in China it seems like I get more stares and attention.  In Korea they were used to seeing foreigners around and even in Yemen it isn’t as bad as here.  I am in a “smaller” (small for China standards) town so that might have a lot to do with the attention.  I have lost count of how many times I have seen people taking pictures of me.  They are trying to hide it but it is obvious what they are doing.  Even one of my students in a company that I teach at the first day was trying to sneakily take a picture I called him out on it, and he put his phone away quickly and was embarrassed.  I go about my day normal and if they are staring and they catch my eyes then I give a smile but for the most part I ignore the attention. 

One benefit of this is I can practice Chinese with lots of people.  I have already started classes and I feel like I have picked up a lot.  Of course not knowing any of the language and then being surrounded by it, the learning curve at first will be high.  In fact after posting this I will be studying some more.  The next few weeks are normal work weeks with no such thing as time off for the holidays.  Time off will come at a later time.  Now that I have figured out how to navigate around the “Great Wall of China” (blocked sites) I will post more often than once a month. Upcoming posts will include stuff about my new job, sites, food, and other random things.  My Chinese book is calling my name so I will write later.