Thursday, May 04, 2006

Good Luck

Our office at school is right next to the grade 9 students. This is the highest grade at Fuhsing and by far the most pressure-filled. They arrive at 7am and don't leave the school until 9pm (six days a week). I often wonder how they do it: I mean, it's not even a choice that they make! The big tests are coming up soon, and the teachers are starting to panic. There are a lot of things riding on the scores, including good high schools for the students, rewards for teachers and bragging rights for parents. Anyway, I was intrigued last week to take part in a good luck ceremony for the students. They had all the classes gather in the gym along with grade 7 and 8 students. The younger students officially wished the test-takers good luck by presenting them with...
A dumpling and a cake.
My boss explained that they say "Gao, Bao, something something" meaning cake, dumpling, good luck. Supposedly it rhymes, and that's how the tradition started. I don't think the grade 9's were thinking about luck, though- they were just stuffing in the food!


On another note, we leave for Hong Kong tomorrow!!!! Wow! It came really quickly, and just at the right time. Although everything is fine, there are definately some crazy stressors in my life and I could use a weekend away!

What are you going to do now?
I'm going to Disneyland!

Posted by Kathleen @ 7:03 PM