On the 8th and 9th we heard many firecrackers in the mornings because there were weddings those days. The 8th is considered a good day for a wedding because in Chinese eight sounds like wealth. Nine sounds like long so the 9th is also considered a good day for marriages. A Chinese would not get married on the 4th because it is considered unlucky. Four sounds like death in Chinese. The Friday before was a national holiday so there were also quite a few weddings then.
On the wedding morning the groom goes to the bride’s home and carries her back to his home (actually he piggybacks her out to the car and drives). Her feet aren’t allowed to touch the ground between her home and his. They set off firecrackers when they go to the bride’s home and maybe when they get to the groom’s home. Weddings used to be at the groom’s home and were very small but now often the marriage takes place at the restaurant where they hold the reception.
Red is the colour for marriages. Both families decorate their homes in red and the bride is often married in red. Pictures are taken in the weeks before the wedding and for the pictures the bride often wears the typical white western wedding dress.
A wonderful thing happened this week. We found the foreign bookstore in Nanjing. I bought four paperbacks.
Tuesday we went out for Mexican food and Friday to Poppa John’s Pizza (American ingredients and American prices).
Saturday I was the deputy chairman for a model UN conference. It was interesting. I have never had anything to do with MUN before.
The Chinese government blocked out youtube starting in March and this week they blocked Blogspot, so if this gets posted it will be because of one of my children did the posting for me.
Here are a couple of pictures of the campus that we teach at:
The hill behind the Campus
A square in the middle of the building
The view from the bus stop Rocks with uneven surfaces are considered attractive in China.
1 comment:
Anne & Bob;
Joan phoned us and told us about Anne being ill. I hope you will get this message, between the govt blocking, and our computer being down for three weeks, we might not be able to communicate. I will send a message via your email also.
Tell Anne we sure hope everything is all right. We will be so happy to see you when you arrive home.The thought of anything happening anywhere other than home is scary, but I am sure Anne is being well looked after. Take care.
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