Family Weekend

What a great weekend! We spent friday evening-sunday afternoon with Uncle Roy, his Chinese worker/friend Robert, and Carey (my cousin Kelly's new hubby, for those on Matthew's side of the family :) ). It was so much fun, and it was so great to see them! I wish I could post pictures. They will be on Facebook sometime in the next week or so. As soon as I can find a way, I'll post them here.

Friday we spent the day at home... cleaning a bit, doing some laundry, relaxing. We knew we were going to have a really busy weekend. Friday night once they arrived from the airport, we met them at their hotel. They stayed at the nicest hotel in Fuyang... it also happens to be the hotel with the sushi restaurant in it, and the Music House is located on the back of the building. Anyway, we went to dinner at a local restaurant. We had a great time! Lots of chatting, catching up, talking about China, and EATING (and a little Chinese liquor). At about 9:30, when we left, we realized the restaurant was empty. We had been in a private room with a big round table. Outside the room, the place was locked up. They had to open a gate and let us out the back way into an alley. At least they didn't rush us!!

Saturday morning we met them at the hotel again and we were off for a day of driving and shopping. We drove for hours through the mountains and small towns in Zhejiang. We got a taste of what it's like to drive on your own... lots of stopping and asking for directions! We first stopped in Zhuji, a city that has more freshwater pearls than almost anywhere else in the world! We saw lots of pearl farms on the way. We walked into a huge building and we were greated with shop after shop filled with pearls. Black pearls, pink pearls, white pearls. Round pearls, flat pearls... big pearls, small pearls, PEARLS!!! Many of them were sold in strings that weren't made into anything yet. You could buy a string and they would make a necklace right there. We spent a lot of time and money there, but came away with some great treasures. It's fun to go when all the men have women they need to buy for *wink*

After that, we drove to YiWu to visit Yiwu International Trade City. It's a HUGE place filled with toys, electronics, home decorations, etc. There are buildings everywhere. I think they mostly sell wholesale to businesses. There were many foreigners there buying things in the booths. We wandered and looked at all the various toys, gadgets, and art. Most of them don't sell just one of anything, so we didn't really spend money.. we just looked, which was interesting too. One floor was almost ALL Christmas decorations. YAY!!! I may not see Bronner's this year, but at least I saw hundreds of Santas anyway!

When we returned home, we went to dinner at a BBQ place Matthew loves. We got a table outside and got food on skewers, traditional Chinese dishes, some beers, and Chinese liquer. Beef, Chicken, peppers.... good skewers.. The wierdest one? GOAT TESTICLES. Yeah... there were definitely many jokes made. They didn't TASTE bad... just really spongy. I ate one segment of one and that was enough for me.

Could any trip to Fuyang be complete without a visit to "The House"? I think not. We walked back along the river and went to the Music House. Dice was played, beers and Jack Daniels for the guys, Vodka and tonic and beer for the lady. We watched some live music and had lots of laughs. Maybe a little TOO many... but a fun experience nonetheless! The only thing missing from the House was OTHER FOREIGNERS! What's up with that? None! My guess is that it was a holiday weekend and they were all travelling.. or maybe since most people had friday off, they all spent a little too much time there on Friday, and weren't up to another night in a row :)

Sunday morning after coffee was drunk and sunglasses were donned, we piled back into the jeep for a trip to Longmen. Longmen is a village about 45 minutes from Fuyang. What an amazing city. It's a preserved, traditional Chinese city. According to the pamphlets (I LOVE PAMPHLETS)there are about 7000 people living there. They are mostly all decendants of Sun Quan, a warlord during the Three Kingdoms period. Over 90% of the people living in Longmen have the surname Sun. Anyway, the city was full of winding streets and alleyways. The ground was "paved" in stones. There were small shops and homes everywhere. It was such an interesting place. There were lots of pet dogs running around, and they all looked pretty much alike. Same litters maybe? Anyway, we saw some amazing old buildings, bridges, and woodwork. It's definitely been one of my favorite places in China so far.

We drove back to Fuyang and ate lunch at KFC... gotta try it! Afterwards, we went to our school and apartment for a little show-and-tell. I'm happy to say that they were pleasantly surprised by both. The school is new, HUGE, and really nice. It was fun to show it off. Our office was even unlocked, so they met one of the Chinese English teachers, Annie, and saw our workspace. At about 3:00, it was time for them to leave. We said our goodbyes, recieved some genuine American gum (WOOT WOOT!) and watched them go.

All in all, it was a wonderful, wonderful weekend. Thank you, Aunt Sherry, for sending the Mac n' cheese and taco seasoning. If I said that we didn't eat some that very night for dinner, I'd be lying :) Thank you also to Aunt Sherry and Kelly for parting with their hubbies and sharing them with us. And to Uncle Roy, Carey, and Robert for a great weekend full of new experiences, great laughs, and great conversation. The homesickness is starting to wear off, but I still miss home and family very much. It was so nice to see some!!!

Today is back to real life (crazy how this is real life now). Today is Children's Day. Oddly, that means the kids still have to be in school... but there is a show tonight put on by the students. Singing and dancing! I'm excited to see it. These kids are amazing. They make me smile just thinking about them. Who'da thunk?

Have a great monday. This was quite long.... but necessary! It gave you a small look at what things were like on our visit... but some things will always remain our little secret.. *evil laugh*