A Collection of Short Stories from ChinaThe catOur hotel has 3 little furry residents that sometimes hang out in the drained pool outside our dining rooms. The other day at dinner, we heard a little “meow”. At first we thought it was coming through the window from the outside, but soon realized that it came from behind the air conditioner. There are a few types of air conditioners here, but most of the ones in the dining rooms are free standing towers. So Gary, trying to be funny, peeked behind the air conditioner , then turned around and hissed to surprise everyone. Well instead of surprising all of us, he shocked the cat to death, which took off around the room. Everyone jumped up and started yelling. One of the college students with us, who clearly didn’t get the warning from his travel nurse to not touch wild animals, grabbed the kitten and consequently got scratched. The servers, all in matching light pink silk tops started screaming and frantically trying to catch the cat. The cat flew into the attached bathroom and 3 servers ran in behind him and closed the door. They were in there for a good 10 minutes and we were all waiting to see what the servers in China might do to a wild cat in the dining room. We heard a lot of banging and crashing coming through the door. Soon, they emerged with the little guy, soaking wet, wrapped in a towel (we think he jumped or was placed in the toilet) and they went and threw him in the drained pool. It was all pretty exciting. JThe rainFriday morning we woke up to rain in HuoZhou! We have only seen bits of rain but nothing like this; the streets were flooding, the hotel was leaking from every little hole possible and all the usual dirt turned to mud. We found out soon that our plans to visit some cave homes and a remote village had been cancelled because of muddy conditions so we went back to bed and bummed around all morning. Finding out our plans had been cancelled, our Chinese friend Helen called and invited Gary and I and our two other coteachers to her house for lunch. She rounded up one of her neighbors with a car and came to the hotel to pick us up. It was pouring at this point and we ran to the car and squeezed in, getting completely soaked. We went to the grocery store to buy the food for the lunch that we learned we were going to help make. We got chicken legs, potatoes, green onions and some fruit. We got to Helen’s house and she of course lived on the top floor, which was 6 flights up. We have walked a LOT of stairs in this country. We helped peel and cut potatoes and then pretty much let her do the rest. We didn’t trust ourselves with the enormous meat cleaver. The result was a really yummy stew type dish, complete with noodles that her neighbor downstairs made for her. She has two kids who were running around like crazy during the lunch preparation. In China, babies don’t wear diapers or pants. So we watched the little guy running around and squatting occasionally and we were just waiting for an accident on the floor! She sent the kids downstairs to a neighbor’s house when it was time to eat and the food was wonderful. She also brought out a bottle of Remy Martin wine that she had been given by her sister in law many years ago. We toasted again and again to “friends forever!” We have been so overwhelmed by the generosity of our Chinese friends. After lunch, we watched Helen’s wedding video, and that was a cultural experience! We decided to walk home because the rain had turned into just a sprinkle. I must’ve gotten some soap in my flip flop at some point because every step I took, I had suds come out of my shoe. By the time we got back to the hotel, I had a very soapy foot!Hong TongSaturday we had a really fun, packed day of sight-seeing in the city of Hong Tong about 90 minutes from HuoZhou. We first took the bus to the Flying Rainbow Pagoda, a Chinese antiquities historical site built in 147 AD (I think!). We got there around 9am and thank the lord above, it was cool out! We haven’t had a cool day yet in China! The pagoda was named the Rainbow Pagoda because it was beautifully painted with really amazing colors and details. It also towered above us so high that it was hard to get a picture in the never-ending Chinese fog. There was also a temple that was taken care of by the monks. It was a really wonderful place to start the day. After that, we went to see a giant Locust tree in the city of Hong Tong. The tree represents migration throughout China and the “roots” of China where every Chinese person can come and find their family name written on a stone in the large park full of green gardens and paths. It was a lovely place to walk around and enjoy. There’s not much for green plants in the city so it was nice for a change. Gary and I found a man that will write you a poem based on your Chinese name. Gary was sort of given a Chinese nickname at dinner one night when he dropped a glass and broke it. The name is “Sui Sui Ping Yo” and it essentially means “grace”. He used that name to make the poem. Since I don’t have a Chinese name yet, he gave me a name that complemented Gary’s (since he assumed we were a couple, as everyone in China has). It was almost hypnotic watching the man write out the poem in Chinese calligraphy. Our translator Yan told us everything it meant and the themes running through were happiness for ourselves and our families, success, and luck in life. Thanks Chinese man, we’ll take it! After we left the park, we went to a brand-spanking new hotel in Hong Tong. It was SOOOO nice. We were totally spoiled to a very fancy lunch (which for me meant mostly inedible J ) and amazing accommodations. They also had the best bathroom I’ve used yet in China! There was a “throne”, toilet paper on a holder, soap AND a dry hand towel. It was bliss! To end our day, we were taken to an old Chinese prison (but thankfully they didn’t leave any of us there). Picture a Chinese Alcatrez-type experience. If I remember correctly, the prison was built somewhere around the 1700s and closed just 20 short years ago. It was a very interesting cultural thing to see and I’m glad they thought to include that in the trip. When we got back we were sent off to homes of our Chinese friends to help make a Chinese dinner. We got to make dumplings with a woman who we met during our teaching. She and her family were so gracious and we had a great time spent with great company. These times will surely be the highlight of our trip.Sunday mountain fundaySince today is Sunday, we of course were loaded up on the bus to hike yet another mountain. We were told this one was “not so strenuous”. Well after an hour hiking straight up we respectfully disagreed. The hike was gorgeous and the exercise was much needed. We hiked up to a pagoda, took a break, and then higher up to a temple. Gary and I decided that if we had to hike 2 hours up a mountain to go to church, chances are we wouldn’t make it very often. Like the other mountains we’ve climbed, the view was breathtaking and the air was scrumptious to breathe. We’ll miss our mountain Sundays…maybe JThanks for checking in, miss you all!
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