A Touch of Holland

China doesn't do anything small when it comes to holidays and celebrations...they certainly put us Westerners to shame.

The event?

International Day.

Mexico, Italy, India, France, USA, Mongolia, Brazil, and more!

I'm sorry to say this is how USA was dressed. 

It's a big thing here.

We started hearing about it two months after I arrived. It sounded fun. Past teachers tried to make it sound daunting and horrifying. They didn't know this about me: I love celebrations, themes, and dressing up! Something that gets me out of the mundane? Count me in! 





They were right though, this was a BIG deal. I was thrilled when I learned we got to pick our country. 









It took me .0002 seconds - THE NETHERLANDS!

I got on the computer and Binged some images you can't Google without a VPN so we Bing here folks from my hometown and the Netherlands. 

After printing off packets for my PTA to share with parents, meeting with the International Day committee, and a bunch of texts back and forth with tons of translation help from WeChat and Sara there was a plan!
















The one thing I didn't like - they wanted me to assign parents to a group. My Western mentality was ready for WW3 to break out if parents were put in the wrong group. The PTA's response? "Parents should feel honored you are asking them to help in a group!" Umm...if you say so.

They even created a power point!

You guys, it was incredible. THIS happened:

Sara suggested I ask one mom to work on making the large windmill. NEVER would I have imagined she would work so hard! I almost felt bad for asking after I saw how much work she put into it! 

Our classroom was the talk of our grade and it's all thanks to my co-teacher and my parents. I was out all week with bronchitis and a couple other infections. They did EVERYTHING! Even so, when I thanked them, they said "Oh, it's all because of your ideas! You showed us what to do and we just did it!" Seriously, they are too kind and I may be forever ruined for being spoiled with such an incredible co-teacher and parents for my first year teaching.

Have you heard of Taobao? Probably not. The best way to describe it is it's a Chinese version of Amazon but better and bigger. China also has Amazon, but Taobao is cheaper and has anything imaginable. When I first moved here Sara said I could even find my husband on there! I've yet to see the rewards of that but I also haven't looked..

This girl cried the first THREE months of school!
The child, not me. Well, mainly her at least.

Taobao is often filled with fake and cheaply made goods. Depending on what you purchase, you have to be careful. It also has quality goods on there for pennies - or so it would seem. We ordered 150 pairs of wooden shoes. My request was lost in translation and we also got 300 mini-colored wooden shoe magnets. 

                    

If you're not convinced yet that China goes all out on these events, here's one more thing: Costumes. 

Each classroom needed to dress in the outfits for their country. 

Dutch costumes. 

Some of the parents needed assistance figuring out all the pieces! 



Here's the thing about Taobao - it's complicated for a foreigner. There's ways for us to use it, but let's just say that's closer to the bottom of my "things to learn while in China" list. Thankfully, my co-teacher is Shanghainese and could shop all day long every day. Shanghainese women are known for shopping. The challenge is in the translation. It took three weeks to finally find Dutch costumes on Taobao. But we found them!

Turns out another class in the Chinese part of the school was also the Netherlands. They somehow found the correct hat for boys. They didn't have translation issues to work with, okay?!

It think we did alright! 

It was a packed house! This gal was loving it, but sad I had to sit most of the time. The moms and grandmas kept telling me to drink more water. It's the cure for all here.







The excitement of the costumes and all the visitors made for group photos nearly impossible. At least the outtakes are funny!

At the end of the two hour event, the parents cleaned up and moved some of the decor to our hallway. I'm not concerning myself with how much Sara and I will have to take down in a month. For now, I'll have A Touch of Holland each time I enter our building - and so will everyone else! 

I have missed going home for Tulip Time over the last couple years, so it seemed He saw fit in bringing Tulip Time to my little preschool classroom in Shanghai!