Bringing in the New Year, Bochi Mountain and Public Showers

HAPPY NEW YEAR! Xin Nian quai le! (shin knee-on qwai la) 2014 was a great year and there were a lot of changes for the McQuivey household, a lot of adventures that were had. We are equally excited for 2015 and the more adventures in store for us and new friends that we meet.

As I put this all together today I realize that this past week was busy and full of fun experiences.

For New Years we had a Taco Night! It's a highlight for us to have tacos, they are not quite like the tacos from the states, but we love 'em all the same!

Bringing in the New Year in China with Tacos!

Also, to bring in the New Year the middle school, that our friend Qun works at, asked the boys to be part of their New Years celebration program. All the classes got up and sang and danced and performed skits. It was entertaining. We got front row seats! Here are some pictures from it. We did not get pictures of the boys since Jami and I had to leave and go to work. BUT we were promised pictures and a video...so when we get them we will post.

This is Stephanie and Hannah (2 of the 40 or so kids we named in this school after family and friends. Most of you have a name sake!). They are in Qun's class and were part of a couple of the performances.

Some dancing and singing

This is a ceremony for the kids going to the Communist party. It's hard to explain but it's the equivalent of when our High Schools kids join the ROTC.

Some more dancing and singing

Some teachers really hamming it up. They were great!

AND....some teachers performing Oppan Grangnam Style! It was funny and well done.

We found a new place in Huai'an this week. It's a Mountain! We have been here since August and just found it! It is a man made mountain but it was way cool. Jami says it's her new favorite place. Elijah and Everest were down with a cold so only Jami, Ethan and I went.

Jami and Ethan with Bochi Mountain in the background

Jami at the top of Bochi Mountain with a cool piece of art

Me at the top of Bochi Mountain

Ethan at the top with another piece of art

From the top looking down. It's a huge crater like area that is really peaceful

A big statue type thing within the crater of Bochi Mountain

Another angle of the inside of the crater

For the New years in the Kindergarten class we teach all the parents came and there was a little show put on for the Local News crew (a different one than the one before). They sang a Happy New Years song, did some crafts and we made some dumplings for lunch. When we get the link from this news feature we will post it on here or Facebook.

The Kindergarten class and their parents getting ready for the show!

6 little piggies performing a song

Singing Happy New Year....in English. They did really good and most were belting out the words great!

 

There are no more pictures for this entry...due to the sensitive nature AND that it's Illegal in China to have a camera in the public shower!

So…..Bruce has been asking us for several months to go to the public shower with him. We finally scheduled a time to go and went! Everest and I were all for it. Jami, Elijah and Ethan were hesitant. ETHAN really didn’t want to go. He ended up going with us though. The shower is for all ages. There were old and young ones in there. There were kids younger than our boys in there. Eric, Bruce’s son, is almost 3 and there were maybe a couple more kids his age. Jami, however, had a six year old boy in her side.

So, first we walked into the lobby to pick up some keys, turn in our shoes and put on some sandals.

Second, we went upstairs to the locker room. There’s a side for men and a side for women. In the men’s side there are other guys there sitting and talking completely naked…not a care in the world. There are also some other guys there dressed in tux’s, they are the helpers. They open and shut our lockers and give us towels and directions.

In the Ladies side there is a warm room where ladies (dressed) are being given foot massages. In the women’s locker room I, Jami, got undressed and walked through another door to the shower.

Third:

Men’s side: We walked through the towel room getting a small hand towel and enter the bathing room. In the bathing room there are 2 “tubs” they are big swimming pools really that are about 2-3 feet deep. They are HOT! It feels like a Sauna BUT it’s not a Sauna. There is a Sauna room that we went into for about 5 minutes for that is all you can really stand, it’s so hot.

Women’s side: We don’t get the pools. We have the sauna though. Chinese believe the pools are bad for the health of the women. HOGWASH!! However, I did enjoy myself in the sauna for 35 minutes. I even talked to some ladies. It felt so weird to not feel weird. There I was, naked as the day I was born, sitting next to two other naked Jay-birds who barely spoke English and it was fun. We did have a fun conversation…from what we understood. I felt like I should’ve been self-conscious but, hey, everyone was doing it!

Fourth, we can choose to get a service, which Jami, Elijah and I did. We went to an area (again, there’s a male and a female side) that has 10 or so massage tables and they are covered in plastic. They wash off the table, made the bed really warm and then… we got to lay down… (I repeat NOT TOGETHER girls side and boys side)….oh, and did we mention we are completely naked? We have to get completely naked in the locker room. Anyway, we laid down face up, a guy or gal soaps you down from head to toe. (S)He then rinses you off and THEN (s)he gets this glove that feels like 120 grain sandpaper and begins to sand us down! It’s weird, it hurts but it doesn’t. After (s)he’s done with the front you turn over and (s)he does the same to the back. While on our stomachs (s)he pointed out all of the dead skin that (s)he “sanded” off of us. It was gross, there was a lot. After sanding (s)he washed our hair and pointed us to the shower area….again Guy and girls are separated!!!

Fifth. We go to the shower area, there are two sections. One with full on showers and soap. The second is an area with lower counters with big mirrors (like your mirrors in a home bathroom) and faucets under each mirror that have a shower hose/end so that you can sit (each as a stone cylinder seat) and shave or wash instead of going to the shower. Also, there are buckets that we can fill and dump over our head. In addition there are disposable shavers and tooth brushes that we can use.

In all a great experience and something that we will do again. Next time we will get the extra service package which apparently includes a body salt scrub and lotioning. We also had another 1^st….Elijah shaved for the 1^st time! Our little boy is growing up. Jami has been begging him to shave his ridiculous mexi-stash for a long time.