Chinese New Year Part 1

I'm honestly not sure where to begin. Let's see, I guess there's the whole no heat during the freezing winter or how about no indoor plumbing? Maybe the fact that there were no private showers? I'm guessing now I have everyone's attention...
Overall my holiday was an awesome experience. I've been living in China for about half a year now but sometimes it still feels like I get a tourist's view of the life here. I teach English, so I'm constantly surrounded by English and fellow westerners. Also most of my friends are westerners and sometimes it's amazing how long I can go speaking to only them.
Yet that's not what I'm necessarily looking for. Sure, it's necessary to stay sane, but I'm in China and that's what I want to experience. With all that said, I got that experience during the month of February. I left Yantai on January 27th with no particular plan in mind. I knew I was going to be staying with a student who also became my friend, but I knew very little about where she was from.

Her house, and entire village for that matter, was not what I was expecting. People seemed to lead a very simple life, which at times was refreshing. Then there were the times I just wanted to eat anything that didn’t have msg, wanted to have heat so I didn’t have to wear two pairs of thermals at all times, wanted to hear a conversation in English, etc.

Her family was awesome. Despite the fact my Chinese is extremely limited and her family spoke no English, we got along really well. Many afternoons I’d go “visiting” with the mom. Here’s a typical day during the month… wake up about 7:30. Wash face, brush teeth, eat a meal (notice how I didn’t say breakfast), go for a walk (this was my necessary time with just me and my mp3 player), lounge until lunch, go visit one of the neighbors and talk at least 2 hours while constantly being offered tea and sunflower seeds, visit someone else, return for dinner, talk while drinking tea and eating sunflower seeds, wash face, brush teeth, bed.

I did learn an incredible amount of cultural information though. For example, fireworks continue throughout the night and day for about a week or two surrounding the actual New Year. (This is also much more dangerous than would be allowed in the US, or maybe my opinion is just biased due to the fact I came close to getting hit by one.) On the New Year morning, the family eats jiao zi (dumplings). Afterwards, the adults go from house to house wishing everyone a happy New Year. In the days after the New Year there are certain days one can’t wash clothes, hair, or shower. There’s a day to visit the graves of the family ancestors. Showers aren’t necessary but about once a week (this differs from my personal opinion), and everywhere you go people will give you something to eat – even if you’re not hungry. It’s very welcoming to have people pushing food on me but after a while, no means no.

There’s also a big difference in conversation. In China many conversations focus on money. People liked to ask how much I made, how much I paid for things, how much something would cost in the US, how much I think they paid for something. All of these questions made me feel slightly uncomfortable. Even if I were the poorest person in the world, in their eyes I would always be rich simply because I’m American. Usually I would deal with questions I didn’t want to answer by either saying I didn’t remember or pretending to not understand what they were asking.

At this point there are still a billion things I could tell about my break but I don’t feel like writing anymore. I’ll guess I’ll just sum up by saying I had a good break. Everyone was extremely nice, despite the cultural differences that sometimes made me want to pull my hair out and if I had to do it again, I would. Now some pictures to reward those who read the whole thing, or skimmed to the end...

Here's me with the family... (Me, Fei, Mom, Dad, Didi) (Laolao, Laoye)

Me and Laolao, Fei's grandmother. She was one of my favorites...

Didi (Hanhan), Mom, Fei...

*Due to the exceptionally slow upload time right now, more pictures to come later.