Teacher’s Day: banquet on basketball court 教师节: 篮球场上的盛宴
2006 marks China’s 22nd Teachers’ Day. It is also my 12nd AND probably my most unforgetable one.
What I mean by" most unforgetbale" is that I experienced the most unique banquet here in Honghe No.1 high school. As usual, the teachers and staff could possibly recieve some good wishes or hand-made cards from sudents like everywhere else. And in typical fashion, we attended a celebration where schoolheads delivered some speeches and organised some programmes. That was nothing special and I expected that something different should happen here. This is Yunnan after all , and this is my first Teachers’ Day spent in a place which is famed for its richest minority cultures in China.
Sure enough, I saw a most spectacular teachers’ banquet in my life . When arriving at the site,we shanghai teachers were all awed and very very excited to see such a huge feast. It involved so many activities such as countless toasts and cheers plus dances and songs. Oh, I forgot to mention that the banquet was held on a basketball court. There were 50 tables in all， which were lined in order like a chessboard. Needless to say, the court was packed to the brim, for all the teachers and staff including the retirees and their kids plus some big guns from town. This was our own fetival, anyway.
Adotted on the aisles between the tables were the rice high piled in the bamboo-weaved baskets. We had 8-9 dishes per table plus baijiu and eveyone beamed. It was not only a physical feast but more like a feast for our eyes at that point. So without any imposed hints, Me and the other shanghai teachers understandingly fished out our digicams.
The most fun part was when some local teachers approched and sang us their folksongs . The voice was really touching and the liric was that moving. We were not so much intoxicated by the wonderful music as the irresistable hospitality.
