Sad Dumplings...

We learned the art of dumpling making at a local Chongqing restaurant!  You pat the dough in flour, flatten it out, and roll it into a thin circle with a rolling pin.  Then fill it with the meat or veggies and squish the edges together to close it up.  Sounds easy, right?  Well, let's just say that somewhere between filling it up and squishing it together, I had issues.  Some others had problems with the rolling part and their dumplings turned out too doughy and thick after being boiled, but not I.  I had problems with the squishing.  Since I wasn't terrible at the rolling part, I decided to take that strength and transfer it into the squishing part by rolling the edges together, then just pressing really hard to make it stick.  And it worked!!  Didn't look very appetizing, but it worked!  The professional ones in the soup they brought out later tasted better, too...  But we won't tell anyone that.
After that, though, the students of CTBU hosted a party for us!  They called it "English Corner" and put on performances that included dancing, singing, various talent shows, and games.  And everyone was really, really good!  There was a girl who loved to sing Lady Gaga, so we gave her the name "Gaga!"   And yes, you have to shout it every time you see her.
One of the games we played was to run around in a circle until someone called out a number.  The goal was to stop and hug that number of people and whomever was not in a group hug was out.  That one was not my strong-suit.  I excelled at the one where you had to pick up ping pong balls with chopsticks out of one box and run over to your partner to drop it in their box before time runs out.  I tied for first place with 9 out of 10 balls in one minute!
In a show of thanks, the guys of our program (there's 11 of them and only 5 girls) decided to do a dance routine they made up earlier that day and then teach the popular moves to the students.  These included "Stanky Leg," "The Bernie," "The Macarena," and "Soulja Boy."  The Chinese students were kind enough to show us part of their culture and sure enough we showed them ours, as sad as it is...  But they loved it!  Especially Soulja Boy.  A few girls did nothing but that the whole time!
It was a grand 'ol time between all of us and definitely brought us closer.  Even with my illness and a mosquito bite the size of my face, this night DEFINITELY made the entire trip worth it!