We were leaving for Yangzhou today! My mom had a bunch of cousins there, so we would be visiting more relatives there for three days. One of our aunts would be coming with us, and we left early in the morning for the train station. We would be traveling by high-speed train, and the trip would only take a little more than an hour.
The ride there was awesome. Things outside our window moved by us so quickly and our speed was over 300 km/hr. Talk about high-speed! I probably spent half the ride staring out the window in a daze...technology nowadays is insane. After an hour, we had arrived at Zhe Jiang station, where our uncle was waiting to take us to Yangzhou. This was another uncle we hadn't seen since we were tiny little trolls, so he was shocked at how different we looked.
Driving to my uncle's apartment in Yangzhou took around half an hour. We crossed over this gigantic bridge that was actually two bridges connected together over the Yangtze River. My aunt was buying groceries at the marketplace, so we picked her up on our way back. We also bought a pack of bottled water, because Jason and I aren't used to drinking boiling hot water in the summertime; we drink cold water all year round, and a lot of it, which is very uncommon here. Most people drink tea and hot water instead and very little of it. They wanted to accommodate us better, so everywhere we went, our hosts bought us bottled water. I feel guilty, but I'm used to drinking water 24/7. And it'd be splendid if some of the water wasn't scalding hot.
Our uncle pulled into this large apartment complex with all of the buildings packed super close to one another. We got out of the car and walked up seven narrow flights of stairs (they didn't have any elevators in the buildings, which I found very concerning since my relatives were elderly- some are over 80!). Their apartment is quite large, with two floors and many bedrooms (enough so that we each could have our own room in which to sleep!). My aunt and uncle lived there with our grandfather's younger brother, who we just addressed as "grandpa". He's one of the sweetest people I've met- I had a great time talking with him about family affairs and future plans after we arrived there.
We got settled in while our aunt and uncle cooked lunch. I had some great conversations with grandpa and showed him photos of my parents, college, and high school. We ate a delicious meal in their large dining room that consisted of many local dishes and tastes. You certainly can't eat sweet, rice-filled lotus root in places in America. One common theme throughout my entire China trip was that my relatives ceaselessly coaxed us to "eat more, eat more". No matter how much you politely or adamantly refuse, they will always continue to try and get you to obey. My advice? Just accept that inevitable truth and pick your battles wisely!
After our meal, my Shanghai aunt talked with my uncle and grandpa, while I chatted with my Yangzhou aunt in the kitchen as she washed dishes. She teaches English at the nearby university and I love hearing about Chinese students around my age, so we had plenty to talk about. My uncle is a physical education teacher at the same university, and he also coaches two college basketball teams. He's super cool and friendly; his only flaw is that he smokes a lot. I don't hold it against him, since it's so incredibly common among the men and women here. However, when we're all sitting together in the apartment and he's smoking, I feel really uncomfortable about the amount of secondhand smoke everyone else and I are getting. I guess I shouldn't complain since I don't live with any smokers on a daily basis and therefore don't get a lot of exposure at all...it's just a constant concern of mine.
Once the dishes from lunch had been cleaned and stored, we left to go to a famous garden here called Ge Park/Garden (个园). It's one of the four famous Chinese gardens, along with one in Beijing that I've gone to, and two others. The garden was beautiful and was known for the various bamboo species that were grown there. Bamboo was everywhere, but there was also beautiful, traditional Chinese scenery. These gardens are entirely man-made, but they look extremely natural and harmonious with the surrounding environment. There are rock sculptures everywhere, small ponds with colorful fish inside, elegant little pagodas or temples, and vegetation like bamboo, ginkgo trees, etc.
The rock sculptures were large and small; some were massive maze-like walls, and you could crawl inside and find little pathways going up or down. Jason and I liked exploring the rocks best, and we went everywhere inside the rock mazes while our relatives stood on the outside talking about their childhood days. The only complaint we had was of the hundreds of little children clogging the place; once one of these school groups descended upon the area you were in, you'd be trapped in an awful, loud, chaotic sea of children. Ick.
Once we walked into the traditional Chinese buildings, we saw the furniture, architecture, and art from thousands of years ago. My uncle turned into our own personal tour guide, explaining to us all of the functions for these tools and objects, as well as the logic behind them. We then left the actual park area and strolled around the traditional, old streets that surrounded it. Booths on either side sold little snacks, drinks, trinkets and gifts, treats, and much more. My aunt and uncle bought us this crispy sliced, barbecue-flavored potato on a stick; it was really cool how they cut it, because the whole potato spiral was connected. I definitely don't have those skills with a knife.
We also bought some milk tea and watched these old men make these hard candy treats that resembled animals. It was amazing; while the candy was still liquid, they made dogs, pigs, dragons, and more and then fanned it and pressed down in a few key areas...then, they'd press a stick on it and voila! An intricate lollipop of sorts!
There was a river at the end of the street that was apparently man-made (this river and the Great Wall are apparently the 2 most important creations by man in that time period...however, my uncle explained that the Great Wall didn't actually serve to keep enemies out and it really didn't do too much. On the other hand, this river has been a source of transportation and a trade route for thousands of years. We watched a bunch of dogs play by the side and fetch balls thrown into the water. There was this precious little puppy that I couldn't resist petting. Too many cute pups here!
We finished up and went back to the apartment, where we ate another lovely homemade dinner. Another two of my uncles (gotta love having huge families on both of my parent's sides) joined us for dinner since they lived close by. My uncle took us out to play badminton after we had finished and he had shared a smoke with the uncles. Along with ping pong, Asians adore badminton. Like my uncle said, these two sports suit Asians well, because most of us are petite and short, without a ton of arm or leg strength. Those virtually weightless ping long balls and birdies are perfect...lol!
His son (our cousin) is in his twenties and is a beast at badminton...he is known all throughout Yangzhou and Hangzhou (where he is working now) for badminton, it helped him get into a really good university, and he's at least the third best in Yangzhou, according to my uncle. WELL. I'm only slightly impressed...dang.
We drove out to the sketchiest gym I've ever seen. It looked like a factory in the middle of construction- the outside was littered with metal appliances, wood planks, and whatnot, and there was absolutely no indication that a badminton court was remotely near. We walked into this dark garage-looking place, and turned to go up a set of stairs. Once we were on the second floor, everything changed and we were suddenly in a badminton gym! It was brightly lit, with a desk up front and 11 new-looking courts behind it, with players using the majority of the courts. Interesting...
My aunt and uncle greeted the person at the desk and got us an empty court. We walked over, got ready, and my uncle taught us the basics of badminton since we were complete beginners compared to the players whipping birdies around us. Once Jason and I started playing, we slowly got the hang of it and had a lot of fun even though we still sucked at times. It was hard, because we were so accustomed to tennis that we used the same strokes that we would for a tennis ball on a birdie.
We played for a few hours until closing time, and also watched the pros there play each other (skill level; ASIAN.) on another court. It turns out that the owner of the badminton place was my aunt's sister's son (a distant cousin of ours)...we were all family here apparently! Go figure.
Once we got home, we had some watermelon and got ready for bed. A very fun day with more of our generous, kind-hearted relatives....I'm definitely feeling the love over here!
