Daye

Last year Beth, Brad, and Dawson went to our friend Peach's house for Spring Festival. I was in America, so I couldn't join them. So this year I had a little free time before jetting off to America, so off to Peach's house! Peach lives in a town called Daye (Dahyeh). We first took a bus to Wuhan (boooo) to meet her mom for lunch since her mom work's there during the week. Of course it was pouring rain in Wuhan and so cold. Long jeans and tennis shoes proved not to be the best choice as they were both soaking wet. Meeting Peach's mom was quite awkward and not what I imagined. She didn't know quite what to do with me at first since I don't really speak Chinese.

Anyway, we had lunch and froze our way to the next bus. Wuhan to Daye is about a 2 hour bus ride, but for us it was longer since it was raining.

We arrived at her house and I met her two brothers, sister-in-law, and cute little 5-month-old nephew (pics later). We made jiaozi (dumplings), and well, that's not my gift, then had dinner. So many people in a small apartment...Peach and I shared a bed with her mom to my surprise. The next day we didn't do much because it was still raining. Since Peach is the only person in her family that speaks English I played with the baby alot and watched a lot of Chinese TV in between eating and her mom insisting that I sit by the heat lamp at all times. That night we played cards and the loser had to do whatever the winner said. It was a pretty mild game as my worst punishment was singing "My Heart Will Go On." Guess that's relative.

Sunday I learned how to play mahjong which proved quite challenging at first since Peach didn't know how to play and I was learning in Chinese. I ended up winning several rounds on my own and was declared "lihai" (clever). I tried learning to knit but wasn't quite as lihai with that one. I'll keep working on it. As we were going to a park it started to snow! The park was beautiful with the snow falling. (Snow isn't so glorious when you're slipping in it!) That night Peach's mom busted out home karaoke with microphones and everything which really cracked me up. There were only 2 English songs, one of which was Scarborough Fair which I hardly knew, so I was mostly off the hook.

Throughout my stay I realized several things, but mostly that I'm a spoiled American at heart. Even though my apartment here is no Hilton, it's still fairly Westernized. I dealt with the squatty all weekend and wore the same 3 layers of clothes everyday. I was a guest so Peach insisted that I take a shower, though I noticed no one else did. They do miracles with a pan of hot water. I'm spoiled by taking taxis all the time, whereas most Chinese walk or cram on buses, yes, even in the rain and snow! Then there's the whole miracle of the split-pant baby. It was so funny watching them all care for the baby and fuss over him. They seriously held him over the trashcan anytime they thought he might have to go. And he was bundled up in 6 layers to where he couldn't even put his hand in his mouth.

Overall is was a good weekend. I was definitely ready for my own house by then end of it, and swearing I should learn Chinese. The Daye local dialect is completely different from Mandarin (what I claim to be learning) so it would have been lost on me anyway. It sounds like a tribal language! I'm amazed at communication here...that the written language is the same but every area has it's own dialect, yet everyone is supposed to know Mandarin too!

This concludes the first part of the Daye adventure. Stay tuned for the journey home!