TRAVEL SLEEPOVER, CHINESE STYLE

When I first planned the trip to China there was one destination on the tour itinerary I wasn't too sure about.  The sixteen people in my tour group were to spend the night in the home of a farmer.  I wondered where would we be sleeping?  Would it be on a mat on the floor, all of us in the same room?  Would the bathroom facility be a hole in the back yard?  I was a bit apprehensive not knowing what to expect. 

On the day my tour group was going to be spending the night in the farmer's home our group made a stop in downtown Xian at a grocery/department store.  We were told to buy snacks for the next day's six hour bus ride through the countryside. There would be no place to stop and eat in route as it would be all rural farmlands.  We would just be making a few quick pitstops at gas stations for toilet breaks. 

The grocery/department store we stopped at in Xian was four stories and reminded me of a super Walmart and Costco rolled into one.  My husband and I and the couple traveling with us went inside.  We picked out several different snacks that we thought might be good, guessing since we couldn't read the labels. 

We decided it would be nice for each couple to bring a bottle of wine to the farmer's home to drink with dinner that night.  Of course we didn't know one Chinese bottle of wine from the next so we just guessed.  The exchange rate was so good that the various wines only cost $3-$4 U.S.  And most of them had a small corkscrew attached to them too.  We each picked a different wine - Great Wall and Dynasty - both dark reds.

THE NEXT DAY

The farmer's home was in the Hu Xian Farmer's Painting Village, located in the country about a half hour's ride outside of Xian.  In route there we were told who would be staying together in each home.  My husband and I and our friends would be sharing a home.  The arrangement worked out to four people per home.  Then we were each given two pieces of paper.  One sheet had English to Chinese phrases and the other had Chinese to English phrases.  All we had to do was point to the phrase we wanted to tell our hosts and they did the same thing for what they wanted to tell us.  This was to be how we would communicate with our host and hostess for the next eighteen hours since they spoke no English and we spoke no Chinese.  This was going to be a night to remember for sure!  I was so glad we bought those bottles of wine.

As we drove through the small village of Hu Xian I knew we were in the country where tourists don't usually venture.  All the signs on stores and buildings were in Chinese only, unlike downtown Xian where you could see English translations underneath the Chinese words on billboards and signs on stores.

The bus stopped outside a small community of homes.  The "Mama" of the home where my husband and I and our friends would be staying met us as we got off the bus.  Her warm smile welcomed us as we greeted her with "Ni hao".  We grabbed our small overnight bags (our larger bags went on ahead to our next destination) and proceeded to follow our "Mama" to her home, as we walked through the small community.

Mama's home was two stories with two bedrooms and one bathroom on the second floor.  We were surprised to see that our friends and us each had our own bedroom.  The bathroom was a rectangular cement room with a sink, Western toilet, a drain in the floor and a shower head coming out of the wall.  Downstairs was a small livingroom with four more bedrooms, and a tiny dining room.  Behind the house were several three-sided rooms (open in the front) used for cooking, laundry, storage, etc.  These rooms were detached from the main house with a walkway between them.  Mama's kitchen had a long counter for preparing the meal, and set up on the walkway was a one-burner charcoal cooker.

Mama's teenage son and teenage daughter joined us in the livingroom while Mama served us hot tea.  We presented them with gifts we had brought from home. They spoke a little English so we were able to communicate somewhat.  We enjoyed looking at family photo albums they showed us.  The elderly grandmother of the house briefly came out of her room to smile and see us too.  We were able to take pictures of her before she retreated back to her room.

The children left to go see friends when Mama was going to make dinner.  With our phrase sheets we were able to point to the phrase asking Mama if we could help her make dinner.  She smiled yes and motioned for us to follow her out back.  We opened our bottles of wine and joined Mama outside.  Each of us was given a chance to roll out dough and cut it into strips of noodles.  We also took

turns stir-frying vegetables on the one burner stove.  Mama's daughter returned home bringing her teenage cousin with her who spoke some English so we could talk with her a little.  The two girls took us back into the house to get seated for dinner.

Mama made us a delicious selection of dishes all cooked on her one-burner stove.  She refused our invitation to sit and eat with us though.  Instead, the two teenage girls ate with us, giggling at times like typical teenagers.

After dinner we were taken to the village square.  Every evening the people of this small Hu Xian community gather together.  The men sit on benches to watch the women and children dance to music played on boomboxes.  The villagers seemed very happy and excited to have us join them.  The women and children grabbed our hands and took us into the center of the square to begin dancing.  I learned how to do the Chinese version of line dancing as well as the Chinese fan dance with huge colorful fans.  I also had a very long bright red sash tied around my waist for another traditional dance.  The children loved joining hands with us and forming a large circle to dance round and round and round.

The evening was hot and muggy and I felt like I was getting quite a vigourous aerobic workout.  There seemed to be no end to the stamina of these women and children.  No wonder no one here was fat!  After one hour of dancing we bid our goodbyes to the villagers and followed our Mama back home.

We had been told by our guide not to shower at our host's home because they had very little hot water.  I washed my face quickly with cold water and dried it with my t-shirt, since the only towel was a threadbare skimpy hand towel hanging next to the sink and I opted not to use it.

I put my nightgown on my sweaty body and lay down on a very firm-as-a-board bed.  A small window in the corner of the room was the only ventilation.  I dozed off and on while I tossed and turned all night.

About 4:00 a.m. I heard a chopping noise coming through my bedroom window from outside.  I listened for more than an hour.  Unable to sleep any longer I got up and so did my husband.  Our friends in the bedroom next door were also awake.  We wondered what kind of breakfast Mama would be serving us.  My girlfriend said it probably wasn't a good thing when you could hear your breakfast being chopped. 

When we went downstairs Mama was busy cooking various dishes in her outside kitchen.  We said goodbye to her teenage daughter before she left for school, then Mama ushered us to the dining room table as she began placing dish after dish before us.  I found it difficult to eat stir-fried vegetables for breakfast and I had no idea what several of the dishes were.  The fresh eggs Mama had made were quite good though, as well as a few other dishes.  The four of us seated around the table were in desperate need of coffee, however, all we had to drink was very weak hot herbal tea.  Not quite the caffeine jolt we craved!

Mama once again entered the room carrying bowls of something hot.  She set a bowl down in front of each of us and said "Congi."  I looked down at a huge bowl of thick yellow liquid and thought, "Oh no, I just can't do it."  My girlfriend looked down and proclaimed, "I'm going to be sick!"  My husband is always willing to try anything, so he proceeded to eat his, telling us it wasn't that bad.  I tasted mine, and, yes, it was that bad.

Mama returned to see how we were doing.  When she saw that my husband's bowl was empty she offered him more, but he quickly gestured no more.  I rubbed my stomach too as I pointed to the sentence on my phrase sheet that said, "Your food is delicious but I am full."  Mama seemed pleased as she smiled at us.

The "Papa" of the house came to join us for breakfast before he left for work.  We each pointed to different sentences on our phrase sheets complimenting Papa on his family, home, and country.  Suddenly Mama appeared carrying a mixing-bowl sized portion of steaming Congi and set it before Papa, who was seated at the table between my girlfriend and myself.  Papa proceeded to raise the bowl to his mouth and began slurping the slimy, yellow soup.  It was all I could do not to jump up and dash from the room.  When he finally finished his soup he bid us farewell and left for work.

When breakfast was done and the table cleared, Mama took us outside to meet up with the rest of our group.  We each hugged her goodbye, then our guide took us on a walking tour of the old village, the new village, and a visit to a famous Chinese artist's studio for a demonstration of his techniques.    

When the walking tour was done we bid farewell to the Hu Xian village, bringing away special memories.  An experience that I had been apprehensive about during the planning stages turned out to be a most memorable travel experience.