Gone shopping... or gone crazy?

Culture Shock... Size Twelve

We, here in China, are in the mist of the Spring Festival (New Year) celebration.
It started on February 2nd and lasts until the 17th.

I was given the gift of returning home to my flat mate's home village to join her family for a few days.
Now I fancy myself a little experienced in travel and new cultures but this trip was a jaw dropper. It opened my eyes a little wider to how terribly sheltered my life is.

We started late afternoon in the city of Changsha, on the local city bus that took us to the inter-city bus. In about two hours we were in the community of Zhu Zhou (sounds like Jew Joe) where Leman's mother lives. We hailed a cab from there and within about ten minutes we were stuck on the road... hung up on a rock near the edge of the road. It took only 15 minutes or so to free us and we carried on another 5 minutes only to disembark at the side of a very dark road. We started down a lane in pitch blackness, Leman holding my arm to keep me upright (in fact to keep me from falling off the lane and into the pond)

Her mom's home was a welcome sight and I was more than a little surprised to walk into a large room with a cement floor, the room temperature of which was the same as outside. I might just say it was on the lower side of minus. In fact you could see your breath... if only there had been more light.

They had been patiently awaiting us and the dinner was long since ready.
Someone brought in a small table (about one meter square) from another room, followed by a large round table top that they placed on the top of the small table... this extended the table to fit about ten of us, rather close and personal.

The dinning room and small square table... and the red door is the fridge.

The round table top is just to the right against the wall... and Chairman Mao, a feature of every home, hung on the wall.

Next came a liberal sprinkling of water so when they put on the plastic bag covering, it stayed in place (I mean it didn't blow away in the breeze)
Food came pouring out of the kitchen and onto the table and people came from another room and filled the stools. Leman told me what was in each dish, just to help with my diet and my heart... there were some dishes I would want to be avoiding. I might mention here that there was a single bulb that hung from the ceiling to light the room and it was not hanging over the table... it was good to be able to identify the dishes from where they were placed on the table because everything looked quite unfamiliar and pretty much the same.

And so dinner began with much animated conversation and laughter. Leman's mother reached into a dish that I would have avoided at all cost... I won't say what it was to protect the sensitive heart of my niece Victoria, and placed two helpings into my dish. Leman, not missing a beat, firmly grasped my arm and smiling sweetly said "that is a gesture of love and welcome". She was really saying, just eat it or you will offend my mother.
What a test. I passed on some level.
I wasn't quite ready for the activity that accompanied the fish bones, pork bones, nut shells, or anything else that you might not want to be swallowing. You simply turn your head and spit them over your shoulder, or beside or between your thighs... yup. Sweeping up after dinner is most necessary.

Shortly after dinner, Leman left to visit her boyfriend's family, leaving me freezing and tired in a house where nobody spoke english. I had figured out the toilet facilities but not the water source. Toilet was down the "hall" from the kitchen, and across form the chickens... They draw their water from a well but I'm still not sure from where. I retired to my bed without my normal "routine" hoping to warm up.

Shower on the left, toilet on the right... the rooms are the same but for the footprints on the floor of the toilet.

Chickens live in the structure in the middle, though a bit dark in this photo.

Part of the reason for the chill - the square at the the bottom of the door is the chicken door

I retired to my bed without my normal "routine" hoping to warm up.
So the bed... made of three or four inch diameter logs... sliced in half, rounded side up... covered in a thick pad like affair... about as comfortable as you are imagining. And the worst was with the temperature below freezing, the cold came up between the logs so it was impossible for me to get warm the whole night long.

My bed, on the left, looks innocent enough...

Front of the house in daylight, note the non-stop ma jaing game

to be continued...

My Apartment

(First, a little note - I've figured out how to go back and add photos to previous posts, and have added a few precious babe shots to the last one, and will try to add some apartment photos to this one too.)

Well my apartment here is quite spacious by Chinese standards. It's a pink, 17 floor apartment and we are on the 12th floor. And they have an elevator, two in fact.

It has two bedrooms. I have the larger and my flat mate, and her various sweet girlfriends occupy the other. I have only had to share my bed twice to date, quite luck, really.
One wall of my room is a curtain that divides it from a glassed in porch where we hang the laundry. I can hardly wait for weather warm enough to open those windows. My window faces west and I'm thinking that is the direction for my prayers... the shortest distance to the Holy Land. There is a closet like structure that we share to hang our clothes and above my bed... a heater!! It makes all the difference between life and freezing. i put it on before undressing or dressing and other times when the shivering is just too much.My bed has no bamboo mat like last year but I have to say the softness (or should I say hardness) is about the same. Some would call it extra firm. But it is a queen size so I'm not cramped. I have two weighty quilts for the chill of night that are so heavy it's a real effort just to turn over. Sure am glad I have them... them and my two pairs of jammies that I wear at the same time. And Nonie, it took a week until I remembered the hot water bottles! For those who don't know, you can make yourself a hot water bottle from an empty water or pop bottle. It feels real good against a shivering body.

The living room/dining room area is large with some pretend leather furniture and an actual table and chairs that we never use. All our meals are eaten on the coffee table in front of the TV... sound familiar to anyone?

And yes, a TV. There is an english language station with international news that seems mostly about China... but that's great cause that's what I'm here for. I might also say the TV is not on all the time, but when it is, I nearly rupture my eardrums as I strive so hard to hear any chinese sounds that I can make into a word. I know one day it will happen. I'm starting to hear words in conversations around me... but really, how useful is hearing "OK, OK?"

We have a walk in, back out kitchen but have been known to have two people productively cooking in it. There are some really grim areas in it that even I won't venture to scrub... I just keep the cupboard doors closed. There is a gas stove, one burner works... and that makes one wok just the right amount of pots. Since this is cold weather time, I hardly ever see any bugs... another perk I'd say.

Our final room, the bathroom, so glad we have one and with a toilet bowl, not a squat toilet... joy upon joy. We have a hot water when we turn on the tank and for me I keep it always at least warm, cause with this cold, I can't manage freezing water too. The floor doesn't slope to the drain, but how many do, really? and the toilet flushes most of the time as long as you don't put anything in it but liquid. The floor feels like an ice rink so we need wear plastic shoes when we shower but other than that, it fits all our needs.