Teacher's Day Gifts (and a back-handed compliment)

Happy Teachers Day!

Every year on September 10th and a few days previous, flower vendors fill the campus hawking all sorts of bouquets and plants, some in ornate pots with scrolling Chinese characters, some filled with intricately twisted bamboo, and even some with little bonsai trees. Students flood the booths, buying the flowers for their teachers.

As an interesting side note, one student told me that students must buy flowers for their teachers, partly to give them face. Most of the Chinese teachers commute to our campus since it is far away from downtown. The university provides teacher buses which run from different sections of downtown to the campus and back. The students told me that they don't want their teacher to have less flowers than the other teachers while traveling back on the teacher bus, because it would cause them to lose face. Interesting, huh?

I do not ride the teacher bus (unless I want to go downtown for free!!) Also, I have all new students this year, most of whom I haven't met yet. So, I wasn't really expecting to recieve any Teacher's Day gifts this year. Well, surprise surprise, I recieved a few, which I will share with you now.

First...

A ping-pong paddle!

 

This is where the back-handed compliment comes in. One of my sophomores from last year, Casey, gave me this gift during my office hours yesterday. Last semester, on occasion, I would join some of my sophomores to play ping-pong, and Casey usually came along. He's very skilled at the game. Me... not so much. When he gave this to me in the library, he said, "Sarah, you are not so great at ping-pong,  but I think maybe it is because you have a really bad paddle. Maybe this one will make you better."

Thank you...

Really, it was so sweet, and I am bad at ping-pong. This is a traditional Chinese paddle which must be held differently than we are used to in the States. So, maybe this will help to improve my game. :)

How to properly hold a ping-pong paddle

Other gifts received:

Moon cakes!

The Mid-Autumn Festival is rapidly approaching, so moon cakes are everywhere!

A diary:

 

Side note: I love Chinese journals. The pages are beautiful and interesting. This journal is more like a locked diary. It has a combination lock on the side, and includes a little pen. The student who gave this to me said that she wants me to have a place to write all of my thoughts, but keep them secret if I want to.

One of the beautiful pages inside:

This year, I bought some flowers for my Chinese tutor. She was so excited! Her dream is to be a teacher one day, and she told me that she was overjoyed to receive her first teacher's gift. I am so so so blessed to have her as my tutor, and my language skills are improving speedily. She is also hilarious!! We have so much fun while studying.

My beautiful tutor!