I was already awake, but still in bed, when I got a call from my principal this morning inviting us to go eat. We made our winding way through the town to the other side, past a little temple, to an "Old People's Activity Center". We were fed a nice vegan meal--we were told in honor of Confucius' birthday.
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| Stone lion outside the back entrance to the center. |
This cat was the most friendly cat I've met in China. She slunk under our stools and rubbed up against us asking to be pet.
We realized when we returned to school that the center was having a ceremony today in honor of Confucius' birthday, held at the school.
The school's marching band and drumming dancers also participated.
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| Bugles! We've been hearing them practice all week. We just didn't know what for! |
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| Don't these uniforms make the girls look like army nurses? |
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| Only girls do the dancing drums. |
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| About 20 girls drum together, synchronized by one girl with a whistle and cymbals. |
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| There was a lot of bowing three times. |
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| The traditional Chinese equivalent of an orchestra--complete with drums, dulcimer, Pipa, Erhu, and flutes. |
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After their part of the ceremony was over, the girls wanted us to go back to the center with them to eat
(their payment for performing, I guess). |
So we spent about an hour talking to these sweet, question-filled, exuberant girls. I haven't walked arm-in-arm with a whole row of girls in a very long time!
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