A never-ending circus

(Picture of us making dumplings and having a grand old time for the photographers).

(A few of the journalists for whom the school staged the festivities, in which we were the main attraction).

(Wearing the clothes they brought for us and posing for the camera people. Most of the clothing didn't fit over our big American hips).


There is a disclaimer to this blog entry: my teammates and I didn't see this coming.

Our team leader, Joelle, is away in Thailand. The rest of us, six in all, are still here. So we were told that we would be celebrating the Chinese New Year this morning by eating dumplings in Joelle's apartment and decorating her apartment with eight to ten school officials. Oh, okay, we thought. It's not the most interesting way to spend our morning, but we'll survive.

We got up early and cleaned Joelle's apartment. Then the FAO office people from our university came with the "officials." The eight to ten "officials" were actually eight to ten members of the media-- journalists, photographers, and TV cameramen. We were a little shocked, but decided to go with the flow, like we do pretty much everyday. We didn't mind if a few of these people were taking pictures, etc. of us while we made dumplings. It was like Chinese Martha Stewart Celebrates the Lunar New Year in the Far East.

For two hours they positioned us to take pictures and film us making dumplings and smiling for what seemed forever. Oh, and we did all these things while dressed in special traditional Chinese clothes they happened to bring for us. Then they filmed Jodi rearranging my silk shirt. Then they filmed us putting traditional papercuttings on the windows. Then they filmed us putting red banners around the door frame. Then they filmed us singing. Then they filmed me dancing. It went on and on like this all morning.

They finally left once the dumplings were boiled. So we sat down as a team to eat these dumplings, wondering what had just happened and how it had happened.

And the media, whom we thought must be local, turned out halfway to be true. A local TV crew and newspaper reporter were there, but so were national media outlets--like Xinhua News Agency (the equivalent to the AP in America) and China Radio International (the equivalent to the BBC). Thrown into this mix was also a man who was the district mayor or something.

I have come to the conclusion that most everything in China is just a show, and I'm more convinced of this every day. So I apologize to the Chinese people who may perhaps see our faces on television or some random billboard somewhere. We certainly aren't celebrities or particularly glamorous looking people. We just happen to be friendly foreigners in a place most foreigners don't go, so it's a great PR opportunity for some officials here.

Oh, well! I guess that was my 15 minutes of fame. And I hope your weekend is slightly less exciting than ours!