Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Happy New Year!

Now that we have our hearing back and have gotten our nerves back under control from being scared by the barrage of fireworks, it's time to talk Chinese New Year!

Xīn nián kuài lè!! ("Shin nien quiy luh") Happy New Year! It's the most magical time of year to be in china because you get to witness the biggest celebration of ever. To the typical Shanghai resident, this would include several days off to travel back to your hometown (since most of the people in Shanghai are from other parts of China), delicious seasonal treats, pay bonuses, and FIREWORKS!! To us music teacher types, CNY signifies crunch time for a thrown-together performance in order to be included in a giant school-wide celebration run by the Mandarin staff. After all, we just finished our winter performances. What else are we going to do with two weeks of class?

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Jessi's task for the performance was simple enough. We wouldn't want to put any pressure on the new teacher from the States. All she had to do was DESIGN AND CHOREOGRAPH THE GRAND FINALE!! Welcome to China, newbie! She was given two giant dragons that each required nine people to operate and three lion dance costumes that each require two people to operate. She teamed up with our friend John, the P.E. teacher, and together, they knocked out the most important and iconic part of the show! The kids were on top of their game and successfully maneuvered the intricate costumes on and off the stage to the delight of the crowd. As always, I was blown away, and Jessi was just glad to be done.

Picture proof:
Third graders singing.

Small children looking cute.

Chinese acrobats (not students).

Jessi and her Chinese drumline. With kids from Denmark and Norway. 


Kids with the dragon.

Lions.

He was told to look ferocious. 


Confetti of course!

Lower school Mandarin teachers. 


My part of the performance was to coordinate with Tracey, the high school band teacher, to teach and perform Feng Yang Ge, a standard crowd pleaser for CNY. The song was easy and some of the kids had performed it in the past, so we decided to have them memorize it and surround the audience for a more memorable performance. We also added six Chinese drums and a gong on stage as the center piece to really drive home the theme. The kids did great and the bosses were very pleased with the performance! Success!!

Thank goodness those two weeks are over. Time for more fireworks and Cambodia! Did I mention lately that our jobs are amazing!

Ps. A side note about firework...
On any random street in Shanghai during CNY you will be able to see a show almost equivalent to an American city's fireworks display, but without safety standards. We were in our new favorite hangout playing cards when a local man decided to light off a group of shells. The street was about 4 meters, sorry, 12 feet across, and there were cars and pedestrians everywhere. As he lit it and walked away, the block of fireworks fell over and pointed itself into a small closet of a convenience store. The first shell blasted into the shop and narrowly missed four customers. They casually walked out as the shell exploded in a burst of blue and purple! The next man tried to redirect the fireworks again, but instead pointed it directly at us! Thankfully we were behind glass. The shell hit the window of the cafe hard and exploded in red. The man tried again to redirect the still exploding fireworks, but pointed it straight down the street at a taxi and a police car! The rest of the shells (5 or so) nailed the taxi and exploded somewhere down the street. When all was said and done, the street was filled with smoke, and the cars and pedestrians, including the cop, simply went about their business. Amazing! I will definitely be living out some childhood dreams next year during CNY.

Anyone want to join?

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