Day 15 - Trip to the countryside

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Ni hao followers!

The online blog has unfortunately not gone to plan because my precious laptop has broken (Dad, we are going to the shop first thing Saturday morning, ok?). I was quite upset about it, however my room mate said I'm "less boring with out it" haha. In a strange sort of way I'm glad it is gone because I've been able to spend more time out and about. I have been keeping a paper journal to record all my adventures, so don't think you are getting rid of me that easily! I'll upload it online when I am home.

I'm sitting on a dodgy computer in the University campus just now. I feel like that woman out "Murder She Wrote" (is that what it was called?) punching down hard on the keys and making a very loud noise. I thought China was supposed to be up to date with technology? I am in this building for my morning classes so I have been able to quickly check emails during break times. I only found out a few days ago that we are supposed to pay, ooops! A Chinese girl chased me and she tried to explain this to me - we got there in the end!

Any way..... I'm trying to keep out of the sun just now. It's about 30 degrees today so I need to cool down. It's a hard life! I thought I would write to wish every one a happy Easter and tell every one to keep me some crème eggs! It would be tragic if I came home and they were all off the shelf, so stock up! I also thought I would write to tell you about my Easter celebrations in China. I think it is fair to say that I have never experienced an Easter like it in my life!

On Saturday we left Beijing Normal University for an overnight trip to the countryside. The only thing we knew was: we would be staying with families and that we would be coming back the next morning. It really was a bit of a mystery! I think there was a reason for that....

After an hour and a half in the bus we arrived in Yin Shan Ta Lin. We were split up into groups (about 25 people in each group) and introduced to our family. I was staying with Mr and Mrs Mo, so they came along to greet us and led the way to their house. I thought I had a strong understanding of poverty before I came to China but this significantly changed the minute I set foot off the bus. It was a massive culture shock. On the way to Mr and Mrs Mo’s house we walked past hundreds of chickens, dirty streams of water and there was sewage absolutely everywhere.

Mr and Mrs Mo's house was quite big. I'm not really sure why they had such a big house - perhaps they built it? They were paid to have us and they were also given money to feed us. We were shown to our bedrooms: two large rooms with a giant long bed and a double bed in each. The sleeping arrangements meant that 11 girls had to go in the long bed and 3 in the double bed. Remember the children's song "there was ten in a bed and the little one said...."?! There were no mattresses, just a solid base, smelly blankets and beanbag pillows. We really had to rough it up! I heard that one of the boys found a cockroach under his bed (you should be proud of me Mum!). Mr and Mrs Mo were really happy to have us staying; I can still picture the wee smiles on their faces! You don't often see a smiling Chinese person!

After we claimed our blanket we were served lunch. They put out lots of different dishes and basically told to eat up! I put my chopsticks in a bowl and pulled out a chicken’s foot, no joke! We found the chickens head in another bowl. The villagers produce a lot of their own food. I noticed lots of dogs running about outside, I hope they were just for pets! We quickly discovered that western toilets do not exist in the countryside. Mr and Mrs Mo's "bathroom' included a squat toilet with a shower hose right next to it. I will leave it to your imagination rather than showing any photos!

After lunch we all went to Pagoda Forest and climbed the Silver Mountain. It was so beautiful and nice to get away from the village smell.

The village had an outdoor gym, which is just really bizarre. We all went for a "work out" haha. I keep on having these moments in China when I stop what I'm doing, look around and think "what on earth is going on?". The outdoor gym with chickens running about was one of those moments! We found the village shop, which was really just a man's house. It sold loads of random things and had shelves of sanitary towels (it's like that in every shop in China, quite strange). I asked for a bottle of Coke, the shopkeeper cleaned the thick dust of a bottle to reveal the label. It looked like it had been sitting for years; I wouldn't have guessed it was a bottle of coke.

In the evening we had a campfire and local villagers decided to join. We celebrated with a few Janjing beers and danced around the campfire. It was such a great night, I even saw Mr Mo break a few moves! We were all indoors by 10pm, which was our curfew. I heard that they turn off all the village lights then.

I hardly slept but it was ok because we were leaving early in the morning. I brought a box of mini chocolate eggs with me (well prepared!) to say thank you to my family. I got one our student volunteers to translate a message to Mrs Mo. I explained what Easter is and how we celebrate it in the UK. Mrs Mo thanked me and said she was not prepared for such a gift, then ran away to the kitchen and came back with two boiled eggs! She explained (through the translator) that the shape of the egg symbolises eternity and long lasting love. She wished me a good, happy life and hoped that I meet a good man. One of the eggs was me and the other my future husband. It was really clear that the village life is much more focused on family values and relationships. It is so different from the city where every thing is about getting a good education and a well-paid job. On the bus ride back I noticed that there was lots of shops selling head stones and flower garlands for graves. It was like a completely different world.

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Comments

[Andrea Elaine Jones]

Wowser, jealous
Hey Kay. It sounds like you're having an amazing, possibly life changing experience out there. I'm so jealous but happy for you that you're able to experience a different culture so vividly first hand. There'd maybe some hardcore backpackers who would have seen similar but most wouldn't and I'm sure most tourists wouldn't have a clue. Sounds fab, truly wish I was there. Looking forward to you coming back, I would like to book a coffee date with you and your photo album. Love andrea xox.