Happy Moon Festival!

Monday was the Chinese Moon Festival, also known as the Mid Autumn Festival. It is celebrated with family returning from all over China, eating, fireworks (of course), and the sharing of moon cakes.

Moon cakes have the equivalent status as fruit cake in the States. Although there are many varieties, they are usually a sweet bread with a chewy center, often made of red bean paste, fruit, or egg yolk. Everyone hands them around but I'm not sure how many people eat them! Foreigners in particular are generally not the most fond of them.

Much to my surprise, when I was up at school yesterday, the local school we share a campus with said they had a gift for us. Nathan and I had taught a three week drama class over the summer, and I have helped out in some other classes.

Because they know that foreigners often don't care for Moon Cakes, they were very considerate and came up with their own idea of a gift, staying in the genera of food. Cheese! Five pounds of Cheddar.

From Sept 2011

One might think this is a strange gift, but at nearly 14 USD a pound for your normal grocery cheese, I was very excited about this gift! It was very thoughtful of them (actually most Chinese don't particularly care for cheese, especially strong flavoured ones) and we are very thankful. We now have a freezer full of yummy goodness for months to come!