Chinese weddings and other updates

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Hi everyone-- sorry I haven't updated in so long. We're on the last day of our 2 week vacation, and boy have we been lazy!
Also, for all of those who received an e-mail about the blog update- hi. Most of you I added to our mailing list posted comments on here. Others were added by Michael (a lot of them were lifeguards that he worked with I think?). You'll only receive an e-mail when we update the blog; you won't receive spam from the website or anything like that.

Anyways, I have so much to update about! First of all, yesterday Michael and I went to our first Chinese wedding (one of our Chinese coworkers). It was really different from an American wedding! First we got in a bus with some of the guests. All of the important guests (like family members and what not) were in like 6 or 7 black cars with pink balloons on them. It almost looked like a funeral precession, but with happy streamers and decorations on the cars. :P We first went to the couples apartment to take a look around and said hello to the bride and groom. Then we packed back into the bus and went to the ceremony/reception hall. The wedding started at like 10 AM. The hall looked like something out of a Vegas wedding place. Balloons, cheap decorations and sparkly stuff everywhere. Anyways, take a look at the pictures/video and you'll get an idea of what I'm talking about. When we first got into the hall we had to give our money gift to this guy sitting at a desk, and he had us sign our names and write how much money we gave them in the book, lol. Traditionally, they do this so that when they are invited to a wedding of the gift giver (or even that persons children's or relative's wedding) they know how much to give. We sat at a table near the front of the stage with all the other teachers that we work with. They had a singer and at one point the guy doing all the announcements about was going on (kind of like the minister of the wedding but he sounded and acted more like a games how host) made Michael go up on stage and give the singer flowers, it was really weird and Michael like turned completely red, haha. When the bride and groom finally got on the stage they greeted their parents and did this tradition where they repeatedly say "ba" to their parents (the number 8 which is a lucky number in Chinese). Then the parents of the bride and the groom handed them red envelopes with a lot of money in it. Then the parents gave a speech, the bride and groom gave one too. While they exchanged rings and watches (I don't know what that's all about) other family members came up on the stage and gave speeches too. A lot of them mentioned us repeatedly, saying "thank you americans for coming to the wedding, rich and fortunes to you and your country". Michael, Mary, Eva (2 of our co workers) and I were the only white people there-- so we were like the freak sideshow entertainment of the wedding, haha. At one point the speaker (game show host guy) threw a pack of cigarettes at us? I still don't know what that was about , lol. Anyways, during the ceremony TONS of food was served and everyone just ate while the whole thing was going on. Then about 2 hours after it started, it was over. Everyone left, done. All in all, it was a good cultural experience.

I have so much to update you all on, but I think I should make a separate post for it. I will try to update on or before our next day off (Wednesday).

We miss everyone a ton!


Oh, and make sure to watch the videos 😊

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Photos

Bride and groom
This is when we went to the couple's apartment first. We were there for all of 5 minutes.

Bride and grooms car
I only got a picture of the bride and groom's car, but there were 7 identical cars behind this one.

The stage
This is were the ceremony took place.

The hall
Here's the hall, decorations, and runway for the couple.

The couple on the stage
Joy (the name of the girl) was so nervous!

Michael and I
Taking a picture by the runway :)

The end of the wedding
Us with the couple when we were leaving the hall. Joy changed into her traditional red Chinese wedding dress right before it was over.

Comments

[jack]

wondering
I am wondering how much money gift you gave to the guy sitting the table.100 yuan or 200 yuan something?

[Juli Watt]

Schweet!, you two look awesome. Interesting wedding :) Love ya both..Keep writing!!! been missing this ! Love ya , Mom

[Rhea]

Lovely Wedding
Geneva and Mike - so glad you had a good time at the wedding and captured some excellent pictures. I like the idea of the "Money log book." It sounds better than our tradition to a certain degree of keeping all of these cards separate. However, you know me...I love to hoard cards for whatever reason. I look forward to seeing more updates this week. Keep up the good work in China. You have the adventure of a lifetime! Love, Mom