Xitang
Last weekend I went on a little journey to the little watertown, Xitang,(ok only 500,000 people) about 1.5 hours driving west of Shanghai. It's really only about 50KM, but traffic, oh, the traffic.... The town is where a portion of Mission Impossible 3 was filmed. My trip again was with my Chinese family, this time it was 7 plus me. Since there aren't any seatbelt laws, except for the driver and front passenger, we decided to cram everyone into my van, so off we went Saturday after lunch to Xitang.

The family photo

Young couples holding hands in public, this is a new thing in China. The 20 somethings are quite progressive, it'll be interesting to see how the next 10 years goes.

The map of Xitang

I finally have been able to get a portion of my Chinese family to take an American photo. We hug and smile!


My bed at the guest house we stayed. Ohh, how my back hurt the next day! But such a fun experience, I didn't mind.A little shopping, what cute shoes!And fun clothes, the shoulder wraps on hanging on the far wall were 30cny, $4USDTime for teaAnd Chinese Poker, argghh, I cannot hold 27 cards in my hand at one time!

This cat had the neatest eyes!And quite mischievious trying to get a fish hanging to dry.What is this? I think it's dried ginger....Those green wrapped things have rice and pork in them. They're good.Maybe it was in our dinner somewhere...The boats on the river... How beautiful

It rained really hard on Sunday and people were still working and washing their mops in the river. The big birds were taking a bath. I think they were some sort of crow.

Umm, I'm in love. this little girl was so cute, I couldn't resist.These are little candle boats that you buy, make wish, each color has a meaning and then float it on the river.A little music? OK, we couldn't play but this instrument was gorgeous!And I bought a new hat!But she could play music wonderfully.

And finally, a few translation issues...

Valentine's Day in China!

So let me start this journal entry with I love my family and friends! 6500 miles away from home and this was one of the most memorable Valentine's Day ever! My amazing husband coordinated with one of my HP Boise friends living in Shanghai; Ben and his wife Elaine, to make sure I received flowers. I have no idea how long Odis had been planning this so let me back up a little.

Last Sunday night Ben and Elaine came over for homemade chicken enchiladas, and ohh, they were soooo goood!!! Ben asked me if I was going to be in the office this week, which didn't seem at all odd to ask since my physical office time in Shanghai can be intermittent lately working with the US and India over the phone. Then again on Thursday Ben asked me what time I was going to be in the office on Friday? If I remember correctly I answered, "Yes, I'll be in, probably around noon."

Then Friday came around and I got really busy trying to plan the move back to the US. I had to run a couple of errands, then coordinate an apartment cleaning (that's another separate story) and at some point try to grab a bit to eat. So basically, I completely forgot about going into to work to meet Ben. As Zhang and I were driving back from an errand to eat lunch he received a phone call and it became quickly obvious, even in Chinese, that I was the topic of conversation since I heard "Becky" continually. Once he hung up the mobile phone, he said to me in really broken English, "Ben's driver, Elaine gave flowers to Ben's driver at HP..." OK, so I'm puzzled... I thought someone had died because Chinese don't really give flowers to each other except at funerals. But I couldn't figure out how my name was involved. The I realized Valentine's Day was close and I started to put the puzzle together. I asked Zhang, "Are the flowers were for me?" He said, "Yes, Darrell." The lesson here is, drivers in Shanghai are like secretaries in the US, they know everything so be careful if you want to keep a secret;-) Although personally, this make the surprise even better.

I finally made it to work at about 1:30 and I sent Ben a text message and 10 minutes later I was personally delivered flowers and a card all the way from Idaho! Wow, they are just beautiful.

19 red roses and 6 pink gladiolus

And a beautiful poem
Odis, I love you more and more everyday and I can't wait to kiss and hug you! I am truly blessed having you part of my life.

Love,

Becky

Qian Dao Hu (1000 Island Lake) – Day 1

Thursday, January 29

Let me first start with the preface that I have never traveled with a Chinese family and been exposed to so much Chinese family life. The rules of a Chinese family are very different from an American family and it’s very difficult to explain. But to my Chinese family reading this (Jerry, I’m sure you’re translating…), I hope that everyone had as much fun and guanxi as I did. It is a memory that I treasure, hold close to my heart and will take with me when I leave China If I didn’t quite follow “Chinese rules” it’s because I don’t know them or understand them well enough. I tried my best and I’m sure you can appreciate that I’ve been trying hard to learn several 1000 years of culture in 7 months. Catching up is not easy for an old Mei Guo Ren in such a short period of time. Lessons are always welcome.

Thursday morning, 9:00am I was picked up in the van by Zhang, and uncle, his wife, and daughter. We met up with the other vehicle just across the Lupu Bridge and we were off. After a 4.5 hour drive south west we arrived about 1:30 at the hotel. I hadn’t realized it, but Zhang Yue hadn’t been outside of Shanghai so this was big experience for her and she was very excited. Anyone who has kids... "Are we there yet?" She has my headphones on listening to American Rock and Roll. She has a bit of her father in her... I'm such a bad influence, The Eagles, ACDC, Billy Joel, Red Hot Chili Peppers, quite the variety.

We walked to lunch at restaurant around the corner in a shopping plaza. I found out, similar to in the US, there are different ethnic foods by location and apparently, my Chinese family wasn’t entirely fond of the meal. Personally I though it was fine but I’m only an infant at 7 months old in China.
We then drove to Santan Island and went for a walk. It was raining so umbrellas were the necessity of the day. We saw birds, snakes statues and just spent time walking and talking. We must have walked 3 miles. Zhang Yue and I raced each other too.

Walking across the bridge. A boat dock and plenty of room to hold tourists. It was offseason and rainy so crowds weren't a problem.
We ate dinner at a small local restaurant. Fish was their specialty, and my Chinese family seemed less than enthused with the taste. I have to admit, this dinner was OK, and it was food and I was hungary. I did learn, that like everything else it China, even a meal can be negotiated. Instead of 580CNY we paid 500CNY for the meal.

After we arrived back at our hotel I was informed that I would be taught how to play Chinese poker. So six of us met up in an Uncle’s room and I began learning this complex game. Each person is dealt 26 cards and you’re expected to hold them all your hand and keep track of the various combinations. The object of the game is to get rid of your cards via poker hands, and you play in teams. Jerry explained the game to me more than once and periodically I would hear one of my team mates tell Jerry something. Then Jerry would translate, “you played the wrong card”. OK, so I’m no good at that came, don’t think the’ll be asking me to play again…. I tried really hard, don't give up on me!