Ned and I just got back from a 4 day weekend celebrating the mid autumn festival. It is 1 of 2 big festivals in china. The other big festival is the spring festival. My student "rita" wei, wei, invited us to her home 2 hours north. She also invited another student of mine, "phyliss" fei lin, whose family is too far away for her to visit. We took a bus to get there, driven by her cousin, who saved us seats up front. When we arrived her mother greeted us, and we went out to eat hot pot, and mongolian wine.
I am learning that everyone in Inner Mongolian says they're Chinese, but they're really Mongolian. They have Mongolian heritage, but speak Chinese.
The family's apartment is very big by chinese standards, but only has 2 bedrooms. The grandma and little brother share one room, and the mother gave her bedroom to us, and kicked her 14 year old son out to sleep at the neighbors, so she could sleep in the room with the grandma. Wei wei and phyliss slept on the couch. Uncles and aunts arrived and we ate 3 big big meals every day. A mongolian aunt from the seaside came with 2 coolers full of fresh shrimp and crabs, and some were still alive. I picked apart crabs and shrimp for the first time ever. We also drank mongolian milk tea, met all the friends and extended relatives, and we had our first public bath. It was a little strange showering naked with 2 of my students, but it's normal in china, and I got a rub down, where a lady scrubbed my skin really hard and all the dirt and dead skin came off. I felt like a new woman afterward!
On sunday for the festival, we ate traditional dumplings that the mom and aunt made stuffed with cilantro and pork, and then strolled the streets looking at the moon, and when we got home we all ate moon cakes, which are round and filled with fruit or sweet bean paste or nuts. Ned drank a lot of beer, and mongolian wine (really strong) and all of the male relatives started calling him "big brother." The told us we were now a part of their family, and they gave me a Mongolian knife with a handle in the shape of a horse's head. I bought the grandma, mother and wei wei all painted mongolian bracelets I found at a Mongolian shop.
It was a wonderful weekend, and I hope we have more to come.
I am learning that everyone in Inner Mongolian says they're Chinese, but they're really Mongolian. They have Mongolian heritage, but speak Chinese.
The family's apartment is very big by chinese standards, but only has 2 bedrooms. The grandma and little brother share one room, and the mother gave her bedroom to us, and kicked her 14 year old son out to sleep at the neighbors, so she could sleep in the room with the grandma. Wei wei and phyliss slept on the couch. Uncles and aunts arrived and we ate 3 big big meals every day. A mongolian aunt from the seaside came with 2 coolers full of fresh shrimp and crabs, and some were still alive. I picked apart crabs and shrimp for the first time ever. We also drank mongolian milk tea, met all the friends and extended relatives, and we had our first public bath. It was a little strange showering naked with 2 of my students, but it's normal in china, and I got a rub down, where a lady scrubbed my skin really hard and all the dirt and dead skin came off. I felt like a new woman afterward!
On sunday for the festival, we ate traditional dumplings that the mom and aunt made stuffed with cilantro and pork, and then strolled the streets looking at the moon, and when we got home we all ate moon cakes, which are round and filled with fruit or sweet bean paste or nuts. Ned drank a lot of beer, and mongolian wine (really strong) and all of the male relatives started calling him "big brother." The told us we were now a part of their family, and they gave me a Mongolian knife with a handle in the shape of a horse's head. I bought the grandma, mother and wei wei all painted mongolian bracelets I found at a Mongolian shop.
It was a wonderful weekend, and I hope we have more to come.
2 comments:
I think they miss you so much!
I think they must miss you so much!
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