Fu'Jian Part 2

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The new year consists of 5 days of events. In Joe's hometown, you usually did something different each day. On day 4, I believe, we went off to more parties. These were special parties in celebration of people's birthdays who were turning 50, 60, 70, 80, etc. Birthdays are different here. After the New Year, you add one more year to your age. And when you are born, you are automatically 1. So we are 24 here, but 22 in the US. Anyways, I guess actual birth dates aren't celebrated in excess.

So on the 4th day, we went to another relative of Joe's who was turning 60. The lunch was crazy, and we weren't ready for it at all. There were around 20-30 people at the party, 5 people per table. The family hosting the party greeted us with several packages of cigarettes. They put 2 bottles of red wine on the table, along with expensive baijo, a case of beer, and softdrinks for the women. Not too many women drank in Fu'Jian (besides Ely). The hosts love to see you get drunk and happy. Aaron tried his best, but noon just isn't the best time to be downing brews.

On to the meal. Everything is planned out in advance. There were 5 tables, and 18 courses of food. After plowing through the 7th dish, Joe's wife told us there were about 10 more, which we weren't expecting. So we unbuttoned the pants and fought through it. The first dishes were appetizers, like pig's feet, chicken feet, fatty pork, etc. Then, soups started coming. All types of soup. There was a brothy pork soup, several seafood soups, some chicken broth soups, and the famous Fu'Jian noodle soups (which, by the way is only in Fu'Jian, and the recipe is guarded closely, because there is apparently no intra-provincal sharing of recipes 😊. Their were several noodle dishes that came out as well. Beef noodles, then a seafood noodle. The meal climaxed with the softshell turtle in broth. Imagine a turtle in the middle of a broth. What do you do? The person sitting next to me grabbed the shell and started chowing down on it! Crazy. Ely and I acted as interested as we could while eating turtle. We mostly went for the broth, but did try a little of the cute little turtle's torso. After turtle, crab was served. Has anyone ever tried the brains of a crab? It is orange, pasty, and reminiscent of seafood sweet potato. In our opinion, it was too much work for the meat. We quickly lost interest. After the crab, their was a salty fish served. Fish is not filleted here. Oh no, it is cooked in its entirety to supposedly keep the flavors in the fish. And chicken and pork aren't de-boned for the same reason. You always need to watch out for bones, or take the chance of breaking a tooth or a lodge to the esophagus. Anyways, They prepare the fish with a sweet ginger sauce, which is quite delicious. For some reason, the children really enjoy fish eyes. Not us! It is really intimidating when these exotic foods are served prepared the way they are. Their is no real classy way to eat shelled turtle, unfilleted fish, and shelled crab. Our lack of proper chopstick technique further exaggerated us looking ridiculous. Oh well, we are tourists for all they know.

After the last meats, deserts were served. They like to use red bean and rice combinations. Also a sweep pineapple and date?? soup was served. During the whole meal, there were a lot of gambays of beer, baijoe, and wine. Wine isn't sipped here like the States. People don't discuss the hints of mulberry, asparagus, and cheese they decipher after drinking a vintage Bordeaux. Oh no, wine is simply a quicker route to the happy tipsyness they seek. And baijoe is an even quicker route, for the more formidable foes.

At around 2 PM we left his relatives. We were physically exhausted. Has anyone ran a marathon? I think the feeling is similar. We had to fight through every kind of emotion. Exhaustion, uneasiness (for fear of vomitting), embarrassment (for lack of chopstick technique), happiness (after the forced drinking we were subjected to). We felt them all. It was a great experience and furthered our feelings that the Chinese culture is a sincerely generous and welcoming. The meal was not cheap, nor could the preparation have been easy. How lucky we were to have experienced something so special. After the meal, Joe told us that we were lucky enough to attend a similar party for supper. What? Who is he to ask Ely and I to run back to back marathons? This takes conditioning. We should have been chugging water and eating cabbage for the past 30 days. Doesn't he realize that for the last week we have been eating like bears going into hibernation for the cold winter months?

So we went home and paced around to speed up the metabolism, hoping to clear some room in our already bloated stomachs. We attended the next party at around 6 PM. Once again, cartons of cigarettes, expensive baijoe, cases of beer, wine, and soft drinks were placed on each table. Just about the same courses were served, but there was definitely more drinking by our Chinese counterparts. Joe took Ely and I around to each table to "Cheers" and say happy new year. We filled up our 6 ounce glasses and downed the beers. My biggest fear for the night was finishing a gambay, and following it up with heaving, out of the lack of capacity in my stomach for more liquids or foods. Luckily, a Chinese man, who either ate or drank to much, broke the ice with a incredible vomit. He simply turned his head away from the table and puked right in the middle of the party. We both saw it happen as if it were a scene in a movie which was slowed down to further dramatize the effect. To the Chinese, it didn't seem like this was a big deal. People laughed for a minute or so and then carried on with their drinking or the food. IT was hilarious. The women preparing the food quickly covered the puke in a cat litter substance and then swept it up. No harm done. The hosts get very happy if you get tipsy. The foolish wonders of alcohol I guess.


That pretty much sums up our trip. It was ended with another crazy bus ride, which was once again oversold and crowded. To be expected from a Black Market bus. We got back into Suzhou and weren't excited to start teaching again. A 2 week paid vacation after only working for a month is quite spectacular, but definitely didn't help us to be motivated and eccentric teachers. This teaching thing is something we will have to work on. We are Finance majors, not teachers. We like to be taught new things, not the other way around. Our frame of mind will definitely need to be adjusted. If not, hopefully we can enjoy the culture, the people, and the scenery.

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