School Christmas Party

Zhu as Santa with Rose and Janet at the Christmas Party.

Tonight was the much anticipated, occasionally dreaded and guaranteed to be out of the ordinary, school Christmas party.

Originally Janet and I were set to be the king and queen in a play that was a Chinese take on Cinderella with lots of dancing added in. Luckily for us, the school vetoed the large budget needed for the party and the play and we were saved the embarrassment of presiding over the court of Christmasland.

The students and teachers really worked hard to decorate the room and organize the party. It was going to be quite unlike any Christmas party I had ever attended before. The schedule called for a myriad of dances interspersed with a number of different games.

The evening opened up with Zhu (who was quite a good sport about it), dressed as a Chinese Santa Claus, entering the room and approaching the stage surrounded by ten dancing fairies. After that, it was down to business as everyone sang Jingle Bells (called Jingo Bells for some reason) followed by a Latin dance. Then it was time for a game, my first real duties of the evening. We were having a "balloon sandwich" race where two students stood back-to-back with a balloon in between and tried to race across the room. I called for volunteers from the crowd of nearly three hundred students gathered to watch and it was off to the races. We did six rounds and the winners from each round received special prizes.

Following the balloon game, was Janet's game - pin the red nose on Rudolph. We blindfolded student volunteers who then attempted to place the nose on a large drawing of the most famous reindeer of all. Next was the Christmas event Janet and I had both been eagerly looking forward to - the Indian/Pakistani dance. The girls twirled and danced around the room as their anklets and bracelets jingled. While the dance was a tough act to follow, the show must go on so we played another game or two until the hosting responsibilities finally returned to me.

My next charge was teaching the students a dance; the Snowflake Waltz to be more specific. Two girls and one of my students acting as a translator had been trying to teach me the dance for the past few nights so I would know what was going on. Being naturally gifted with two left feet (not too mention large enough to easily crush the feet of any dance partner), it took a while for me to get the five basic movements down. Luckily, my two assistants handled the dance demonstration and I just had to explain the steps in English.

Later, as the party winded down, it was time for a photographic assault by students all wanting to pose for Christmas pictures with the foreigners. In the end, we managed to escape fully intact, although it was a Christmas party unlike any I have previously experienced. The students all seemed to have a great time, so I'd say the party was a good success. One student told me, "I have been at this school for three years and this was the best Christmas party ever!"

Posing with the Indian/Pakistani dancers.