A parade of holidays and the mid-week update

I just got back from having a massage and it was absolutely fabulous! I have had a massage in the states before once and I was not that thrilled. This was way more fun and it felt great. My friend Sophie, who is French and is my partner in Chinese class, took me. She has this book of coupons she bought that she has to use up by the end of November, so we used those. She has lived here for almost 2 years now because her husband is here on work. The spa was in Tianfu mall, by my house. We walk in and you take off all your clothes and put on these little disposable paper underwear and a robe and little flip flops. Sophie and I were together in the same room. You take off your clothes and they do a lighter rub down with lotion all over. Really all over, even your butt and stomach. Then you go into the shower and rinse off. Then you come back and they do a more intense massage with oil and focus more on your back. Then you sit up and they rub this thick lotion on your back and put saran wrap over it and you go sit in the steam room for a while. When you can't sit in there any longer you get out and rinse off and then you are done. It took a little more than an hour and a half and afterwards I felt wonderful, relaxed and fresh and clean and soft. I probably won't go back, but it was really nice to be pampered for an afternoon.
In other news, Monday was Chongyang jie, or double ninth festival. It occurs on the ninth day of the ninth moon. The number nine in Chinese is pronounced "jiu" and sounds alot like the word for "a very long time". The number nine is also associated with the yang, meaning masculine or positive. People eat special tower-like cakes (the word for cake "gao" is also similar to the word for height) and climb mountains to hope for accession and forward progress in the coming year. In 1989 it was also dedicated by the government as Senior's Day and many people will spend this day with their grandparents and bring them presents. More importantly for me, Monday was also Li Juan's birthday. She turned 28 and we had a bunch of her friends over to the house for a party. They made alot of food and she asked Laura and I to make spaghetti, which went over well but we made WAY too much. Li Juan was also hosting a Japanese student at the time who didn't speak any Chinese or English, but came to the party with a interpreter who is a Japanese major at ChuanDa. I never rally figured out why he was here, but he was only visiting for a few days and then he was going back home. After dinner and cake Li Juan wanted us to go with the Japanese guy and his interpreter to see some of the well-known places in Chengdu. We all went to JingLi street, which is the street in the temple where there was all the touristy stuff, and to Chingqi Lu, which is the shopping street. I had never been to either of the places at night, so it was pretty cool to see all the lights. Everything has flashing neon lights and it's pretty impressive when you get them going all together. Monday was also my first day of cooking class. We all took a taxi together because not everyone knew how to get there and arrived at the school early to try get out coats and go over some final things before we began class. Our teacher is one of only two chefs in Sichuan with the title "dashi" or great chef. Surprisingly, he is also really, really nice and friendly. I can understand most of what he says, except for the cooking terms, and I like him alot. The first day we just talked about Sichuan Cuisine and how it was different from other types of Chinese cuisine and different from Western cuisine. We also talked about the kitchen, common flavors, and common techniques. Then we learned how to sharpen our knives. Tuesday was our second class and we worked on knife skills for the whole two hours. There are all sorts of different ways to cut things, in strips, in chunks, in diamonds, in flowers, etc. I had always been pretty bad at precision cutting, but after they taught me the techniques I actually did pretty well. The pictures are of me in my chef outfit that I have to wear to class with my cleaver (pretty professional, huh?) and of the courtyard of our school, which is really nice and picturesque. In this courtyard is where they have whet stones for sharpening knives. They have about 15 or 20 3 foot tall by 1 foot long by 4 inches wide stones sticking up out of the ground in a row for sharpening knives. I'll try to take more pictures, but I feel kind of stupid taking pictures in class.
Tuesday, of course, was also Halloween. HAPPY HALLOWEEN!! We didn't do anything exciting because we were a little adventured out and just wanted to relax a little. I went to the store and bought every kind of Chinese candy I could find so we could all try and I went over to Matt's house dressed as the Statue of Liberty. I was the only one dressed up, but that was OK. Ben, Deborah, and some of the Sichuan students were there too and we just watched a movie. We watched Silent Hill which is a terrible movie and should never be watched. The acting and the plot are both horrible and it is not scary at all. But we had a good time anyways and I can now truthfully say that, although there were some pretty tasty Chinese candies, none of them compare to US candy, especially from the Confectionery. That is probably a good thing though because Laura has decided to not eat sugar until Thanksgiving and I told her I would do it with her. This way I won't be tempted. If either of us quits, we have to buy the other a Starbucks coffee, which is pretty expensive. We are also going to buy ourselves Starbucks if we make it all the way, it is just a matter of who buys it. I think it's a good prize because I have not been to a coffee shop yet except to buy beans and I miss it.
Halloween night was beautiful and I got to see the moon and a few stars as I was riding home, which is rare. This was followed by a beautiful, clear, cool, sunny day. I hope it lasts. It's finally starting to feel a little cooler and I like that too.
Other than that the week is flying by as usual. They still won't give me my second place medal because my Chinese language school organizer (I just call here banggongshi de laoshi, or office teacher) wants to have some sort of separate award ceremony so they can take pictures or something. I'm not really sure, but I'm sure it'll turn up sometime and I'll let you know when it does.