Shell in China

But, I am getting ahead of myself.

On Saturday of Easter weekend we invited several of my second-year students over to dye eggs. (Many of Thad’s students are out of town this week taking exams to continue their education. Basically, they are trying to get into bigger and better schools so that they can earn a bachelor’s degree instead of just a teaching certificate.) Erin, Hannah, Ronia and Rose all came over to enjoy their first-ever egg-coloring experience. (Again, the Easter Bunny’s box that arrived last week made this possible as it included the necessary PAAS dye kit and cute little cups for the coloring to go inside.)

First though, to color eggs, it is best to start with white eggs. (It’s hard to make brown blue, just ask the 80’s group Roxette- “What in the world can make a brown-eyed girl turn blue?”) The problem here is that where we live, we rarely see white eggs. I don’t care either way, so I have never really thought about it, but it became an issue on Friday. I needed a good two dozen white, or at least light, eggs and all there was to be found was dark brown. (Why are all of our eggs white in America???) Thad and I started by going to the small veggie market that is close to campus where they had eggs in abundance, but all of the wrong hue. Then it was into town to the Wuzhou and round-about grocery stores, again with no luck. Our last resort was the big market in town. As we headed up the street to get there we came upon what can only be described as an Easter miracle. (Okay, that may be pushing it a bit, but hey, it was almost Easter and eggs are what I was in need of!) On the corner we see not one, not two, but at least five different women selling eggs from baskets (that looked curiously like Easter egg baskets to me!) and most of their eggs were VERY light in color! What more could I ask?!? (This was a whole new kind of "Easter egg hunt!")

After quickly scurrying over to the woman who looked like she had the most light eggs, I told her that I needed twenty-four of them. She looked at me like I was crazy, but little did she know it was going to get crazier. I not only needed two dozen, but then I proceeded to pick through her wares to find the lightest of the group. She held the bag while I sorted. I knew what I was doing but I am pretty sure she had no clue and I didn’t figure it would make much of a difference if I told her I was going to make them funny colors. Once I had my eggs securely in plastic bags, (secure maybe isn’t the right word as more than one egg has met its demise coming home crammed next to other eggs in a little plastic baggy) I then wanted to buy an egg carton from her. She had these cardboard egg carriers stacked near her basket, so I asked Thad to grab one and I asked her how much it was to buy. Again I got the crazy look! She rushed over to the other women selling and after a minute of pointing and talking she came back and said three mao. That is roughly four cents in USD. Haha! Four cents! I don’t think I have ever bought anything for four cents. I spent the ride home bragging about my great bargain to Thad. Hey, I may never again have the opportunity to purchase something for a mere four cents!

Thad and I got ready early by making all 14 colors (did we have 14 as kids?!?!), boiling water for the clingy things and moving the coffee table to make enough room for everyone to dye.

The girls showed up at 1PM and the coloring commenced! At first they just looked at us like we were weird, but after we each started dunking eggs, the girls really got into the action. They were doing multi-colored eggs, using the wax crayon, adding stickers, etc. I think they had a great time. Erin planned to take one egg that came out neon pink to her mom and try to convince her it came from a funny looking chicken she saw in town! I can’t wait to hear how that story goes over.

When the eggs were dyed and in the (4-cent!) egg carton the girls were ready to head home. Now, Thad and I have NO use for two dozen funnily colored eggs, so we made the girls take the eggs with them. As they walked out the door with their eggs they were laughing about how odd people were going to think they were! Thad and I watched out the window as they made their way from campus to the dorms, getting stopped ever few steps for someone new to admire their egg artwork.

Dying eggs with the girls was a great way to celebrate the weekend. It was no cute springy new dress and purse or ham dinner with the family, but it was fun to share a bit of our holiday culture with the students. We can tell them constantly about things in America, but to actually let them play along was a lot of fun! (Which means a big shout-out goes to the Easter Bunny on your side of the ocean!!!)

I hope you all had a “Hoppy” Easter!