Celebrating Chinese Style

So last Friday came and I was for sure ready for a break, work has been rather stressful recently. I was ready to travel to my friends house in the province of AnHui to a large city called HeFei. We had tickets for the 5:15 train, I left work at 3:30, got on a bus at 4:00 J Well, at 4:45 we realized we were going to be late so we got off of the bus and tried to get a taxi, well at 4:45 it’s the taxi change time.  To make a long story short we jumped on some mo-peds, 3 people on each scooter racing through crazy traffic, I’m not kidding when I say we nearly hit 5 cars. NO JOKE.. actually my friend was carrying my bag in his hand and my bag got stuck in-between the bus and our bodies 3 times. : - ) Oh how I love china! We got to the train station at 5:00 and had to literally RUN/SPRINT to make our train. Image seeing a white girl run through a train station where people are trying to take her picture, as if I was a movie star. Oh it was great !

So HeFei, it isa large city, however, there are NO foreigners, LITERALLY. I stay with my friends family, My friend works at Mr. Mais. Mr. Mais is a coffee house that has the same values as most of usJ Also, my friends mom is a “SisteR” it’s a great feeling staying with someone who knows HIM. A lot of times I stay with Chinese families there are Buda’s or different offering/sacrificial things set up. Staying with this family is so comfortable as verses like James and Matthew are printed on the wall. I call them my Chinese family, love them.  This past summer I went to visit them for the first time, while I was there we went to a small town called NanGang where their uncle is. The uncle was in the end stages of building a KTV (karaoke) and mahjong building :- ) The KTV was set to open October 1^st, the family asked if I would come back to be there for the opening, of course I said “YES”

Okay so September 30^th is Mid-Autumn festival, October first is National day (equivalent to our July 4^th) . I arrived in HeFei on September 30^th, September 29^th we went to NanGang, and here is where the fun begins! I will just list a few highlights and then show the pictures below : -)

-       24 hour KTV

o   As par tof the opening festivities we lit fireworks and firecrackers, holy smokes it was soo loud and it continued forever, lets just say my Dad literally would of had a heart attack!

o   So actually the KTV place was open when I got there, I was just helpful in attracting more costumers : -) Oh the joys of being a foreigner

o   Oh and the KTV place is not only a karaoke place but also a Mahjong room : - ) Many rooms with mahjong tables, SOO fun. I learned how to play the local mahjong!

-       Riding on top of a truck trough crazy village traffic

o   So the guys had no time to translate the local language into standard Chinese… they just said “we are going, want to come?” Next thing I knew I was on top of the truck holding on as “uncle” was zipping through village traffic, which is faster than big cities

o   And then we ended up at a crash site, where one of the family members had driven their car off the road: -) We were going to help them! At this time we were literally in the middle of a village, for real! There was an older couple walking by the car and saw me. I stood up and the man (at least 55 years old) go scared ran to one of my friends and hugged him. Hahahaha, I’ve never had that affect on anyone over the age of 5 !

-       Being the only foreigner

o   While at one of the many meals I was sitting at my table and every 2-3 minutes another person would come over to “cheers” me!

-       Getting to refuse all the cigarettes

o   Man I was so thankful to be a girl J because I am a female I am able to kindly refuse all of the cigarettes that were offered to me. Unfortunately my friend who is a male, could not do the same thing.

o   One of the most funny things was watching him make some terrible face as he HAD to put the cigarette in his mouth, as soon as the giver of the cigarette walked away he would stick his tongue out like a little kid!! Haha it was soo funny:-) 

-       Eating Pigs feet

o   Oh man I ate Pigs feet, what else can be said.. IT was pretty FATTY! And many people said “Pigs feet is good for your skin, girls must eat this”

On the train TO HeFei

Random funny sign!

KTV room! (the small room) They are NO JOKE when it comes to KTV!

The amazing wall hanging picture we bought to give as a gift to celebrate the opening of the KTV.. Oh PS this lights up, got to love it!

Awesome Scaffolding!

Cha... AKA TEA! Which flavor would you like?

The Boys, aka my brothers!

Come on, lets have some fun! (ps check out the sky its totally, ALMOST< blue! )

The chinese words say "Every-time we are together we always have fun!" (or at least that is the gist!)

My friends Little Brother

FOr real little brother, that means his parents probably paid a good amount of money to keep their second child : - )His mom is the "SISTER" and his Brother works at the coffee shop here in Wuhan

This is my REAL younger brother!

In the process of eating this thing.. ITs a lot of work for a little meat!

I was supposed to eat that orange stuff and the membrane looking stuff (I did : - )

My friends Mom also the "Sister"

What have a gotten myself into?

I kind of like this picture... The debree from the explosives : -)

:-)

Oh boy, its going to be a loud one..

hahah the left overs!

pigs feet picture one!

Pigs Feet picture two,,, don't forget this is good for your skin!

I tore this fish up! NO JOKE!

Forgot to tell you that on the way home the train was soo packed that we had to buy standing tickets, oh and we couldn't get on the fast train so we had to take the slow train which took 5 hours : - (

My Good friend Chris, he works at the coffee shop and I stayed with his family!

-->