It's Tuesday today and we are in the middle of the Chinese Dragon Boat Festival. This means that there are no classes Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Sean and I opted not to travel and instead have been staying busy on campus. On Monday we went downtown to buy some gifts for friends, family and weddings since we are going home soon. Today I have been busy trip planning and cooking and tomorrow I will probably head to the library to finish up some grading, exam writing and lesson planning.
Awhile back I had asked our Chinese friend Steve and his family to come over for dinner since they have had all of us teachers over multiple times. We promised them American food and they wanted to come over to watch us make it (Spring, Steve's wife, specifically requested the stuffed mushrooms that Sean made at Thanksgiving). Sean came over to help cook and I did most of the baking. With Spring and Steve's help we made stuffed mushrooms, cornbread, tuna noodle casserole and truffle brownies. While their middle school child, Michael, played on the computer, the rest of us had a good time cooking and chatting. Spring had brought some plants (mugwort and calamus I think) which she attached to the outside of my door specifically for Dragon Boat Festival that she said would ward away evil spirits.
Dinner was great; attitudes towards the cornbread were iffy but the mushrooms and the casserole were devoured immediately. After dinner Sean, Steve, Michael and I played games. We taught them how to play Uno, Scrabble Slam and Five Crowns and had a blast. Michael is very competitive and Steve gets overly excited during games (especially learning new ones) so it was pretty entertaining. However, the biggest entertainment of the evening for me was Spring who is an absolute riot. Spring can't speak much English but that doesn't stop her from trying to communicate with us in Chinese nonstop. Mostly she wanted to talk to me about 'qi' ("life force" - pronounced 'chee') and bodily aches and pains.
After dinner she said she had a backache and when I offered her aspirin she was horrified and adamantly commanded me to stop taking pills myself. The rest of the evening she offered me practical tips on how to stay healthy and have better 'qi' in more natural and traditional ways. These tips involved drinking lots of tea with very hot water, staying away from the air conditioners and fans (Spring refused to let us play cards with the air or the fan on), getting massages (she can recommend a few good masseuses who can definitely improve my 'qi') and inreasing circulation while decreasing tension by smacking/slapping different parts of my body with my hands and any other object readily available. She didn't want to play any games so while the rest of us were playing cards, Spring was walking around while repeatedly hitting herself (as an act of self-massage), chatting on the computer or giving me different massages. Steve and Michael didn't even bat an eye or give her a second look - this was Spring being completely herself and I was fascinated.
Spring isn't the only Chinese person to do this kind of self-massage by hitting or slapping. You can see many older Chinese people doing similar movements in the park in the morning or while working out - it's completely normal and good for your 'qi.' Overall the night was a success and everyone went home happy and full - and hopefully with better 'qi' and less evil spirits as well! Happy Dragon Boat Festival everyone!
Unless those plants have kept out the mosquitoes, you can go ahead and throw them behind the bushes with the rest of the useless weeds.