Spring Festival: From North to South and Somewhere Inbetween, Pt 2

Jian Li: After Singapore, Steph headed to Thailand and Jess and I headed back to China because my friend Bella invited us to spend Spring Festival with her family. Her family lives in a small country town called Jian Li. Both of her parents are from here and most of their family still lives here. Her dad has 5 siblings and her mom has 3, and she has several cousins. She also has a younger brother who I think is 19. Before I go on, I should tell you more about Bella. She is 21, and a junior in university and is majoring in English I believe. I met her through my friend Ivy, who was her English teacher two years ago. I met many of Ivy's students at a dinner one time, and continued to talk with them via QQ (Chinese instant messenger). I talked with Bella the most, invited her to go shopping one time, and then invited her to the big Christmas party last year. Her university is about an hour or two bus ride away so I invited her to spend the night at my place and then join us for chrch the next day. Several times after she stayed at my place on Saturday nights so she could join us on Sunday. She is is very laid back and has a good sense of humor, which is why we get along so well.  Last year she told me if I stayed in China for another year, she wanted to invite me to her home for Spring Festival. She's also friends with Jess and Jess had no plans for the festival so that's how we ended up in Jian Li.

At a photo booth at the mall :)

We got to Jian Li on the 7th and left on the 11th. New Year's Eve was on the 9th, which is the big celebration day. We were the first foreigners many in get family (and the small town) had seen, and we were considered the guests of honor, so we were treated very well. Always given something to eat and drink, alwats given a seat, even the grandma got up out of her chair and insisted we sit. It was a bit uncomfortable me at times because I don't like special treatment, but I didn't want to be rude and offend anybody.   We had dinner at several different family members homes. (Bella's parents are building a new home, and actually work in a different city far away, so we were all staying at one of her uncles home.)  

1st meal. Attempting to gut the eel.Thankfully nobody but Jess and Bella's little cousin were watching....

The eel.  Small, but fierce. If you look close you can see their deep fried fangs.

Bella's uncle, cousin's daughter, Jess, and Bella. There were no pictures with everyone's eyes open...

At the aunt's shao kao stand with her mom and brother.

Ganbei-ing the groom and wishing him happiness

With the groom and his buddies

majiang with a magic majiang table

Homes in the country are completely different than anything you could imagine. They are very simple. Very little decorations. Made out of brick or cement. Several homes are two homes connected with a courtyard. To get from room to room you go walk down the hallway which is actually more like a balcony. Dining rooms/living rooms are big open spaces that look like a garage or storage space. Very simple furniture. The kitchen sometimes is in a completely different part of house, kind of more a back patio/porch. It felt like I had been sent back 50-100 years.  Most families do have tv, a computer, and high speed Internet. I absolutely loved the countryside. I loved the set up of the houses, the laid back atmosphere, the simple-ness of things, and the contentment of it all, especially among the older people. The only thing I was not a big fan of was the cold. It was really cold when we were there and they don't have indoor heat. They do have what we called "magic tables" which are small tables with a blanket put over top and underneath the table is a bird cage looking thing with heat lamps inside. It does help to keep you warm, but they are a bit small and it wasn't always comfortable sitting on a small hard chair.

Bella's aunt's garden

Outside Bella's aunt and uncle's house: front door

Outside Bella's aunt and uncle's house: back door

On the way to Grandma's house

Buying fireworks for later

The firework store

Grandparents' and uncle's home. A little bit like a duplex.

Bella's grandma in the kitchen

Bella's grandma in the courtyard, preparing dinner.

The hallway from the living room to the bathroom

buying more fireworks for later

Bella and I attempted to make a snowman, but the snow wasn't good packing snow.....

On New Year's Eve, fireworks started at 7:30 in the morning. According to tradition, they shoot off fireworks/firecrackers before eating. Many many years ago, tradition has it that a monster was terrorizing the people. They shot off the fireworks and wore red to scare away the monster. This is why they still do this today and wear red on New Years. We had a big meal for lunch, and then after lunch we went with her family to their ancestors cemetery. The cemetery was in the middle of a rice field just behind some of the homes. A little ways away in another part of the field was another family's cemetery. Here the men in the family shoot off more fireworks/crackers, and light incense at the graves. This is to scare away bad things and the incense is considered food.  I didn't get the chance to ask Bella if they really believe this, or do it for traditions sake. She did say she didn't know if this tradition would still be around in 40 or 50 years.

Bella's dad is in the blue jacket

The men of Bella's family lighting firecrackers and incense.

Bella's Grandma's grave

For dinner we ate leftovers, and then Bella and her family had to do something at her aunts store, so Jess and I sat around the magic table watching the Big Bang theory on the computer.
At about 11:30, Bella came back, and at about 11:40 the fireworks began. Holy cow, were the fireworks awesome.  It was like the grand finale of the 4th of July x10, and all around the town. We went up to the 3rd floor balcony to watch and then lit of some of our own. At midnight it was even more intense. It was so much fun!!!!
The next day we got up early to go greet the elder members of the family and say "gei ni, bai nian" (wish them a good new year). We walked around to several different houses. This is a tradition that the men usually do too so we saw a big group of them walking from house to house also, lighting firecrackers.
We had a really early lunch at yet another uncles house, then played some majiang and went to ktv (karaoke). Dinner was at another uncles house.

Delicious dinner

Bella's aunt, the chef. We stayed at her house.

Bella and her mom.

The next day we headed back to the train station. I was headed to Taishan to visit another friend who recently moved there, and Jess headed back to wuhan. Spending time with Bella's family was amazing. It was really neat to see a different part of the Chinese culture. They were all so nice and treated us really well. We were treated to many delicious meals and I tried many new foods I never would have tried before, including small eel, which you eat by biting behind the head, separating it in two and taking out the middle part which you don't eat before eating the rest of it (minus the head). Didn't taste too bad, but was a lot of work for a small amount of food, and the spine was a bit crunchy....
The whole experience was wonderful am I'm so thankful for the opportunity. It is something I will definitely remember forever.

Taishan: Taishan is in Guangdong province, which is in the south and near to Hong Kong. My friend Wing moved here in June for work and since I was going to Hong Kong anyways, I decided to go to visit her before HK. I spent two nights/ one day there. It is a small city of only 1 million people. Very clean, not much pollution or traffic. I got to try some of the local food, we had breakfast at a 5 star hotel, and lunch the next day at a 3 star hotel. We also had Japanese sushi for dinner.  We rented a side by side 2 person bike to go around a lake, and watched a movie in the theater. The weather was beautiful, in the high 60s and we walked almost everywhere. It was a nice short visit.

Our bike

Hong Kong: Next stop was Hong Kong for about 4 days for the FoC Retreat.  It was wonderful seeing everyone from Wuhan again and seeing new and old friends from the other cities.  I had a mini Luther/MLC/Festival Foods reunion with Erica Babinec and Breanna Bader. We had mini-seminars for three days, finishing the retreat with a worsh-p service and then dinner at a restaurant called Fat Angelo's for a delicious 5 course meal. I didn't do much sight-seeing since this was my third year, but spent lots of time just hanging out with fellow FoCers.  

Every year, the boys grow ridiculous facial hair. This year, the girls wanted part of the action.

Hot Stuff.

Guilin: Last stop before Wuhan was Guilin for a couple days with Brian, David, Andy, Nathan, Sarah, and Kelsey. The entire time we were there it was cold and rainy so we didn't do too much exploring, but it was still a good time. First day there was to explore and buy David birthday presents for the next day (he got there a little later than us). The next day was a boat tour on the Li River from Guilin to  Yangshou. Really pretty, but really cold.  It was a 6 hour tour I think, I can't remember, but lunch was included so that was nice :)  After we landed in Yangshou, we were free to walk around, so we checked out the little shops nearby with the two brothers from Switzerland we met. We had dinner there and then headed back to Guilin by bus. It only took about an hour and a half, so not bad at all.  When we got back we had birthday cake, David opened his presents, and then we headed out to a little Irish pub for drinks. We met up with our Swiss friends and went to a club for some dancing to finish off the night.

The following day was another rainy day and we didn't feel like doing anything before we went to the train station so we just hung out at the hostel and watched Les Miserables. Good movie. Intense movie. "Thankfully" we had a mouse help ease the intensity of the movie by its sneaky appearances. The hostel had three cats so every time we saw the mouse Brian would go get the cats. There was one epic cat/mouse chase but usually the mouse just hid in the corner til the cat got bored and walked away.

It was just a bit chilly......

River boat gang.

Boys went to play at the arcade, we went walking :)

Our Swiss friends hanging out at the Irish Pub

So, there you go. A brief summary of my winter holiday :) I'm already two weeks into the second semester. Classes are going well so far.  I teach English Communication Skills (Public Speaking) and English Speaking.  Studies have started up again. It's been nice to see friends again and get back into the routine of things.  Still thinking about what to do next year. I'm getting close to a decision, just need a little more time. 
Hoping all is well with all of you! Shoot me an email sometime and let me know how your life is going. Or even better, let's Skype! I miss seeing your face :) 


Until next time.....HIS will be done.