« class party & britt's glasses | Main | pizza hut! »
November 08, 2005
a weekend in the village
We spent the weekend in a little village near Baiyangdian Lake (3 hours southwest of Tianjin) in Hebei Province with one of Britt's students. He invited us to visit his hometown and meet his family. The town has 2 major industries: corn and down. Corn lines the streets, corn husks, corn cobs, corn laying out on any flat surface to dry in the sun, corn corn corn, everywhere. And if it's not corn, then it's duck down processing factories, coat and quilt manufacturers and feathers everywhere. There were dogs everywhere, some cute, some ratty, some shaggy, some friendly... all shapes and sizes and lots of saggy nippled dogs who obviously just contributed to the ever-growing dog population.
His family's home was a traditional style farm house. When you walk in, you're greeted by a painted wall. Each family has its own welcoming decoration. This house happened to be a character of good fortune and happiness to all who enter. The main room consisted of 2 beds, one of which was a "fire bed" made of cement. The smoke from the fire pit stove in the next room billowed through the bed and kept the main room nice and cozy. Most often, everyone crowded on the fire bed to keep warm. All of the houses are along the river bank, so the outhouse was suspended 20ft above the bank, with 2 shabby slats of wood to balance your feet on while you did your business. One wrong move and... well... yeah.
Ma (mother) and Ba (father) prepared a great feast for our arrival: dumplings, tofu, mushrooms, steamed bread and white rice wine. Apparently, it's also Chinese tradition to eat until you physically cannot consume another single morsel... and then eat some more. While we were there, we also had noodles, wontons, fish, chicken necks, shrimp... all of which Ma and Ba cooked from scratch in their little kitchen, while heating the fire bed. Perhaps they eat and cook so much just to keep the house warm?
We were visited (no joking) by about 80 villagers, all curious to meet the MeiGuoRen (Americans) and we exchanged hello's and ni hao's with all of the giddy children. Oddly enough, everyone that entered the little house was either an uncle, aunt, big brother, little brother, sister, etc. so it seemed like a big family reunion. Patrick told us this was absolutey the happiest day of his family's life. His father even sang traditional style opera for us, something he had never shared before that night. 
Ba took us all out on his fishing boat one morning. The fog was so thick, it blanketed the already mysterious landscape with even more magic. We meandered through the 20ft tall reeds and every now and then a pagoda would appear in the distance, almost floating behind the lotus fields. It was cold and rainy... but absolutely beautiful.
We also visited his uncle's down refining factory and another uncle's down product manufacturing company. They measured us and presented us with custom fitted down vests! We were literally treated like royalty, with traditions and customs ONLY found in China.
Shower time: ma and patrick walked us down the main street to the public showers... ahhhh! hot water and a brief moment of much appreciated privacy! Britt and I had our very own private shower, otherwise, we each would have had to follow our gender specific path to the public showers and subject ourselves to some hard core naked stares. Not that I'm shy, but I'm sure I would have had 100 little eyeballs inspecting every follicle on this City Girl body by the time I was re-clothed. As it is, when we came out of the shower, we were greeted by a group of people anxiously waiting to see the freshly bathed MeiGuoRens!
It was really cool to experience the inside life of a small farm village, but I have to say, I'm truly a city girl at heart. On the way back to Tianjin, I noticed my smile grew bigger and bigger, knowing we were back in the hustle & bustle of downtown. Cars honking, vendors yelling, people everywhere... even the smog had a sweeter smell than I had remembered only a few days prior.
Posted by daiseykat at November 8, 2005 04:04 AM
Comments
Amazing, you really took me there.
Posted by: Mom at November 8, 2005 05:55 AM
What a wonderful experience for you. To experience rual Chinese culture. I can only imagine the shock and awe you gave those people. It makes us all that much more connected in this beautiful world. Hopefully you will be able to return the favor and invite your friend (Patrick?) to Jacksonville so he can experience your people. I love your girl and miss you so much. I cannot wait for your return.
love you
brandi
Posted by: Brandi at November 10, 2005 04:57 AM