A trip to the mountain

Toward the end of my time in rural China, I went to this Buddhist temple with Joe and Nancy.  To get there we rode on little motor bikes to a lake.  It was my first time riding on a motor bike with more than two people on it.  That was exciting.  At the lake we hiked down to these boats.  The lake was so still and peaceful and this giant mountain rose in the distance.  The hike up the mountain to the temple was beautiful, bamboo forests and lots of stairs.  I've been to temples before, but this was a different trip for me, because I was with practicing Buddhists.  They wanted  the Buddhist monk to tell my fortune and they wanted me to participate in some of their practices, but I politely declined.  Honestly being in rural China opened my eyes to the idolatry.  Seeing people bow down to idols and offer things is quite a shock.  People also would pay money to have these idols that were being paraded around the town come into their homes for a moment.  Seeing this darkness saddened my heart.

Nancy's Family

My assistant's family were the nicest people.  Her mother loved to play mahjong.  She left Nancy when she was 8 to go work in a factory to help support the family.  This is quite common for alot of Chines families.  Parents leave their children to be raised by grandparents to earn money for the family.   I actually played mahjong for money for the first time and lost.  First time I played a game for money.  Probably the last time I'll play.  Her mom was so sweet.  She said to consider her family my family.  She gave me a red envelope, too.  Only older people can give younger people red envelopes I found out.  

Her grandfather (mother's father) was/is an incredible man.  Before communism took over his family were wealthy farmers, but after communism their land was taken away from them and they were forced to farm on poor land.  The other people mistreated her grandfather and his family.  One day her grandfather was carrying a large bucket of fertilizer across an old bridge to his land when in the middle of the bridge it broke and he fell.  Another villager saw this and ran to get his wife.  They looked for his body at the bottom of the valley, but could not find it.  They found him standing on the other side of the valley, perfectly fine with no fertilizer on him, only a little dazed.  After that everyone in the town treated his family much better, because they believed God had saved him.  Her grandfather lives like a pioneer.  He showed me his gun, that he made himself, that he hunts with. He killed a rabbit and cooked me the best rabbit dish I've ever had.  His brother, Nancy's great uncle, was a kun fu master and could heal peoples bones.  When he died his art and knowledge died with him.  You can see a picture of him and her grandmother.  It is traditional to have pictures of dead family members in your home in a place of honor or an altar like place.

New Year's Day

On New Year's Day all the men in the town walk around and say happy new year to each other.  Special snacks and drinks are waiting for people who stop by.  People also pass out cigarettes.  Nancy encouraged me to walk around the town.  I had a collection of Chinese cigarettes by the end that I gave to her brother.  It was a nice way to start the day off.

Later we walked thirty minutes in the snow to her grandfather's house.  On the way we passed these women dressed in red, banging on drums and fireworks were going off.  These women marched all day into every house to play the drums.  People would pay them money for coming into their homes.

When we made it to her grandfather's house we continued to walk into all the homes of the rice farmers, wishing them a happy new year.  I was so happy people had food and warm drinks.  After all the walking in the cold it was nice to sit down in peoples' homes and rest and visit.  When I walked out of one home this cow gave a giant moo at me.  It was very funny.

Free Range Animals

In rural China I saw a lot of free range animals.  Ducks, chickens, goats.   I saw my first animal be killed, too.  It was a duck or goose.  I was really surprised how the animal was killed, because I thought they would chop its head off, but no.  They let it bleed to death.  It was quite shocking to me.  I kept staring at the animal as it slowly died.  The family that was going to eat it kept looking at me.  Very interesting experience. 

Making Dumplings

I watched and helped make dumplings.  This is a different style of dumplings.  Instead of using rice or wheat flour to wrap your meat and vegetables or sugar in you use a taro root and flour base.  They were tasty.  One tradition I noticed was before each meal fireworks are lit.  

The Village

This was my first trip to rural China.  It was an experience of a lifetime.  Honestly the most amazing and humbling experience of my life.  I was the first foreigner in this village.  Within a 10 mile radius 3 different dialects were spoken.  The people are rice farmers.  

I stayed with my assistant's family in a newer building.  There was no heat and inside you could see your breath.  They left doors and windows open, too, making it even colder.  Animals, people and babies wandered in and out freely.  All cooking was done with a fire stove.  I literally felt I had walked back in time. 

Sardines

For Chinese New Year I traveled to Jiang xhi province with my assistance to visit her home town and family.  To get there we hired a driver.  It was a 10 hour drive.  It was quite comical and uncomfortable.  I guess it is the Chinese way not to tell you everything.  The driver told my assistant that the van would have seven people in it.  At the last minute people kept piling in.  Literally!  We had 11 people squished into a seven person van.  The picture is of me the driver and the van.  When the 11th person had squeezed in I couldn't help, but let out a big old whoop and start laughing, because it was too hilarious.

Chines New Year Activities

My assistant is head of the Chinese teachers and she put together a day of celebrating for the students.  Students taking Chinese classes performed songs, skits, and dances in Chinese.  The school was set up with different traditional Chinese activities for students to try.  In my room I hosted Chinese musical chairs.  Basically instead of music you bang on a drum.  It was fun.  The most popular room was where you could make dumplings and tonggua.  I had some and they were yummy.

Chinese New Year

Well I'm finally going to catch up with some amazing stuff that has happened.  For Chinese New Year the Chinese school staff took us out to a Korean restaurant.  The food was very spicy.  The staff had prepared some Chinese songs to sing for us.  The singing was beautiful.  I love how the Chinese love to sing.