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| Earthquake alarm system located in an ancient Han Dynasty palace. |
Karaoke here is called KTV: no one calls it karaoke. Plenty of people will ask you if you like singing or simply say "let's go to KTV!". The idea of karaoke here is completely different compared to what we think of it back in the West: as we normally queue up in a busy bar with a drink in our hand (or heavily intoxicated more like it) and muster the courage to sing in front of all these drunken strangers while our friends giggle and cheer us on, the Chinese people go to KTV to rent a private room where they can sing - usually stone sober - with a friend or a big group of friends. KTVs open at 1pm and close around 2am, and many of my friends prefer going in the afternoon or early evening. I have not once drank any alcoholic beverages whilst singing in KTV because none of my friends do. It's more of a hobby and entertainment for the whole family: one time we had a few children of my friends tagging along and no one thought it weird bringing along three 3 to 5 year olds to sing karaoke on a Saturday night at 10pm.
It's funny how the Chinese people consider themselves a very shy nation but yet they go and sing their hearts out on a leisurely Saturday afternoon in front of their friends. It's a habit I enjoy now, though at first it was a bit strange: standing there in a room with a little private stage, being expected to break into a song and no liquid courage to be seen anywhere..
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| Oh yes, I'm loving KTV! |
I've mentioned me trying Chinese medicine before and the past weeks I've explored a bit further. Over a year ago I was rock climbing in New Zealand and managed to twist my knee badly, which resulted in the ligaments of my right knee being torn; horrible inflammation and swelling immediately occurring. It was very bad and I could barely walk the first weeks after the incident. I had intensive physiotherapy for my knee for the following six months, but the problem has never really left me. Now as I arrived to China everything went swimmingly at first, but climbing plenty of stairs up and down and sitting on these horribly low chairs all day (we don't seem to have any chairs for adults anywhere) has aggravated the pain in my knee. I talked to my friend, who is the kindergarten doctor, and she took me to a specialist in the local hospital where I received acupuncture.
Now I must mention that I've experienced acupuncture before and I'm not afraid of pain or needles, but the acupuncture treatment I received here for my knee was purely agony. The doctor told me the idea was to puncture my knee area with a few needles to release pressure, after which I received infrared treatment. The first treatment didn't do much, but as I was adamant that Chinese medicine, especially acupuncture, would be my remedy. So I decided to stick to it. The second treatment was as painful as the first one and unfortunately this time around it left my knee feeling worse than ever before! Regular walking was painful, I developed pain in areas where I hadn't felt it before around my knee and I started to limp, which drew me to the conclusion that Chinese acupuncture is not for me at this stage. Alternative treatment to follow!
I must admit I'm sad that acupuncture didn't work for my knee: in my mind's eye I saw it as the answer to all my pain and tribulation. Oh well.. Back to my Western physiotherapist's recommended fitness program. When I join a gym here I will surely have more cultural novelties to experience! I've heard that many Chinese people work out, so I'll be interested to see if their fitness regime is similar to ours in the West.
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| Talking of health, how do you like this smoggy view? Can't believe we're all breathing in this horrid pollution day after day.. Although this was the worst I've seen it so far. |
I'm hoping to get my knee functioning properly for the most important thing in the Chinese calendar: the Spring Festival! We know it as Chinese New Year and it is by far the most celebrated time of the year. The festivities are being planned months before the actual date and many schools - like ours - will hold their own Spring Festival event. Our training center has invited all the children with their parents to join the festivities, so we have rented a big hotel where we will have many performances: singing, dancing, different plays, food, and what-else, I am to find out!
As I first came to China and started working here, they obviously told me about the important time of the year approaching. They asked me if I would want to be a part of the festival program and as I'm always ready to throw myself out there, I said "yes, of course!". So they decided I shall sing a song. In Chinese! I am hence performing a very old, traditional Chinese song called Mò lì huā (translated: Jasmine flower). It's a bit of a challenge, but I'm half way learning the lyrics now and I got almost three weeks time left 'til the performance.
If Celine Dion - who performed the same song in 2013 for a Chinese audience - can learn half the lyrics, then I can learn the entire song! I've warned my colleagues that I won't be singing quite as high and well as her though.. But they think I have a lovely singing voice! Well, Chinese flattery is such a heart warming thing, I don't care if it's a lie :)
As for the Spring Festival itself, icing on the cake is not only being a part of the party and admittedly one of the starlets - as all eyes WILL be on me, the White girl - but also that the school offered to buy me a dress for the performance. ANY dress I wanted! So as I have learned to enjoy so many Chinese things already, it was clear from the beginning that I will wear a traditional Chinese dynasty dress. I've seen so many beautiful pictures of the old dresses during Han or Tan dynasties, and decided that I want something that I might never get a chance to wear ever again. So today I pranced to a tailor and showed her a picture of what I wanted: the results shall be available for viewing in a week :)
Spring Festival has all the girls planning for their dresses, and most will be wearing something Western it seems. Looks like traditional Chinese style it's not "cool", because most of the girls want to wear something "fashionable", which means modern Western style. I on the other hand can't wait to put on my Han dynasty dress and sing a song in Chinese!
And this is exactly what I love about traveling: how else would one ever get to experience such a thing? Exciting times. I can't wait :)
Zài jiàn for now!
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| One of the entrances to a Han Dynasty temple. |
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