So after experiencing the hustle and rush of the 成都人 Chengduren, the impressive amount of cars, busses and motorcycles filling the dirty and crowded streets and buildings all trying to beat each other out in height, it was time for some contrast. So that's what I got when my hostfamily took me on a 3 days trip to the countryside, about 4 hours away from my beloved Chinese home. The had planned to show me their roots and visit family they haven't been seeing in years.
First up was my hostmom's family, who lives in a very small town just 1,5 hours away from Chengdu and whose house entrance you would both never find when looking by yourself and never be able to enter with a wider waistline. It was sort of the experience I was looking for the whole time while sitting in my very comfortable, upper class home. The whole family lives together on very little space in the back of their own shoe store. So Saturday we just arrived in time for lunch and were greeted extremely welcoming by everybody. The delicious food was gobbled up in no time and while the family spent some time relaxing in and around the store on the extremely dusty road, our Filippina Ayi aka housekeeper went out to explore and find some good countryside deals. Ha, and we didn't have to look for long. At the countryside I guess I for about 99% of the people I was the very first foreigner to be seen in person, so their interest in talking and staring at me was pretty high. Which is helpful when looking for deals - people hand you free samples aka cake ;-) and they are more likely to lower the price of clothes you might like. After taking a picture of you wearing it. Well, if I get ¥20 less for one pic, I say we have a deal!
So after spending a leisuring afternoon in my hostmom's hometown (village might be more appropriate here) the whole family gathered about 30 minutes away to have a dinner, oh what am I saying, a real feast, to celebrate their reunion at a beautiful restaurant next to an even more beautiful park. While we waited outside sipping tea for the last cousin of 4th grade to join, the kids and I kept staring at the seafood waiting patiently in their tanks to be chosen by customers to be eaten. Good that they had no idea...
So when dinnertime arrived, 3 huge tables were filled by all sorts of relatives and Waigong, my hostmom's dad, made an announcement and gave the 'allowance' to dig in. I think he himself consumed more alcohol than food that evening and was in good company with that by most of his relatives. See, when Chinese people cheer to each other, they go around and cheer everybody seperately, each time with a filled glass. So with about 35 people in a room, you can imagine how many times they 'ganbei!'-ed each other and how much alcohol can be found in their blood system afterwards. I can say the food was great though!
After the last glasses had clung, people slowly started to get restless and eventually headed back home in a big bulk. But my journey didn't end there yet. Together with John, Becky and the kids (not to forget our driver) we started our 3 hours drive to John's hometown to visit his family. The roads were extremely curvy and badly maintained, so while Rex was sleeping tightly on my lap, I was busy keeping him from sliding down the carseat and also keeping me up there.
So when we finally arrived at around 11.30pm, and the only thing I wanted was to take a nice warm shower and fall into a cozy hotel bed, the only thing my hostfamily wanted in the middle of the night were street side cooked noodles. In the middle of the night. But they were not the only ones, many locals were doing the exact same thing and , again, had there entertainment for the day seeing me slurping down a bowl of steaming noodles. Our driver joined our late night meal after rushing out to come back with some firery hot beef kebabs. Exactly what my European digestive system wants half an hour before bedtime.
The next day in the morning we eventually headed about 5 minutes out of town to a place where time really passes slower and people still make their living by either working hard on contruction or selling their own vegetables and fruits grown in the back of their houses. It was so pieceful and idyllic, it really felt like vacation to me. And the air with the small hint of cow dung reminded me so much of home. I did enjoy myself out there, no question. John's family, as well as Becky's is extremely lovely and welcoming, greeting us with plates filled with freshly prepared fruits and serving up a huge countryside lunch and dinner for us. The dishes were darn good, and the fact that the vegetables came right from the backyard made the green beans, potatoes and tomatoes taste so much better.
I was truly impressed by how close the whole family is even though they see each other so rarely. Everyone was great with the kids, especially with 9 months old Xiao Mantou, my hostdad's nephew. And to see how the elderly are treated with so much respect and help from everyone, I was sort of ashamed thinking back to Germany where we have no problem hiring caregivers or even put the elderly in a care home so others will have to do the sometimes " unpleasant" job. This would never happen here, seriously. I was also immediately included into their clan. The sweetest thing ever was when great-grandma noticed that I loved one of her dishes especially and when it was time to say goodbye she made sure I was hooked up with 2 huge bowls full of this fatty meat sticky rice. I was truly touched what effort she did for me, who she just new for like a day. But family is family here!

Yes, you read right. Actually, there were three of those little fellows on my stick. So if I tell you that after I took care of those crispy and excellent seasoned guys there was none left on a stick, what do you think happened to 'em? Oh yes, folk, I DID GOBBLE THEM UP! And let me tell you, they were delicious. Who would have guessed that I would ever have the gutts to try scorpion and even more love it in the end?! Nobody, huh! But my crazy food experience didn't stop there quite yet, as I got treated by my favorite Nainai (Chinese grandma) to another stick which held 3 pupaes (yes, I never heard of this animal before - you might want to set up a google search for this one), that were crunchy on the outside and chewy on the inside. Yes, it doesn't look very appealing, but just like the scorpions, those fried little animals also tasted great. Still now, almost a week after putting those things in my mouth, I cannot believe I actually ate it.
It all started on a lazy Saturday morning. It was my weekend off and I knew that my hostmom took this day off of work, too, to do something fun with the kids. So while everyone was sort of waiting for taitai (that's how we call the mother in the house here) to get up, we were all lounging in the living room, various electronic devices were in use, and for sure the TV blurred in the background. Only until they started presenting the current Chengdu International Food & Tourism Festival. Suddenly that big screen had everyone's attention. Pictures of great snacks and authentic Chinese provincial foods was shown, stalls got presented by this silly reporter I was jealous of bc he got a free sample at every stall. And man, did that food look good! Sure enough Rex, my hostkid, got hooked the most by this stall selling all sorts of weird fried animals on sticks and immediately started begging to go try it. Nainai, experienced as always, only kept adding more great stories to this festival, that even after my hostmom disagreed to go, Rex, Nainai, the cousin on holiday and I hopped on the next bus, metro and another bus to go have fun and try some delicious eats. You cannot imagine the size of this festival area. Huge space, covered with both tons of stalls and tons of people ready to eat. Prices were cheap and everyone was digging in. From fried ice cream on a stick, over stinky tofu, pineapple sticky rice, caramelized rice balls on a stick all the way to meat in every possible preparation way. Did I mention how much Chinese people love meat and eat it basically with every meal. Yes, breakfast, lunch and dinner. Now we can talk about high cholesterol! But I have to admit, if our cook would prepare goat meat like those people at the 'spanish' stall at the festival did, I would totally join my family eating it 24/7. This was probably the most flavorful and best prepared meat I ever had. Hands down.
So you can imagine how filled we all were when it was time to start our 1,5 hour journey home. Filled and happy. Perfect combination!

We are in the middle of the Chinese National Holiday right now, which started last Monday and includes the whole week plus next Monday. As with kids, holidays mean no school, Rex and Amy are home all day long. Though I'm not with them all day, as my contract only allows me to work up to 5 hours a day. But those 5 hours a day with 2 pretty energetic kids are challenging. But as you all now, I like challenges ;-) so we spent our mornings so far riding our bikes (which I've never seen them do so far in the last 1,5 months), coloring, making crafts, cooking and baking, going shopping,.. I try to keep them busy and away from the opportunity to start some sort of violent game. Which they only try too often! Monday was actually my highlight of the week so far. When I was out shopping last Sunday I stopped by at Chengdu's only IKEA to check out what the Chinese branch had to offer (result: the same! This unfortunately including the prices, too). Strolling through the store, I came up some watercolors. WATERCOLORS! I literally searched the whole city for watercolors over the last weeks without success. Neither the big department stores nor the small specialty shops carry them. They seem to just be non-existent in China. It does take a Swedish furniture shop to introduce them. Really exited both for my success and for my kids who could finally try out watercolors, they were no were close to a dissapointment Monday morning. You should think growing up in China's upper class surrounded by anything a kid could want or need (materialwise!), my kids would only show little interest in this drawing process. But you can't believe which joy I had watching both Amy and Rex being super excited about dipping the brush into the water and eventually getting some color on their paper plate fishes. They were so amazed and into it, it really touched my heart. Sometimes, true and honest fascination of a kid is all it needs to make my day. Thank you, IKEA and thank you watercolors! I owe you something for that! Maybe I'll come back and try your Köttbullar soon. But make sure there are 15 on my plate! ;-) (in memory of Bastian Pastevka)
So I have to tell you that something happened today which has so far never occured here during my 1,5 months stay here. Have a seat people, this one will knock you down....I am home ALONE. ONLY ME. ALL BY MYSELF. I forgot how good it felt to be surrounded by silence and only the noises I produce or want to surround myself with (music or the TV -Chef who's cooking up some serious tacos on FoodNetworkAsia). Hach, I could really get used to this again. But in 1 hour the latest this dream like atmosphere will puff up, when the house will be filled with the sound of bone chopping and slipper clacking on the marble floor again.
But I used my time being unwatched wisely. Just after everyone left I did something really naughty, so you better don't dare to tell anyone.
- I through my underwear in the washing mashine -
I know, such a naughty Ronja. But after weeks of handwashing them out there over a sink that was literally made only for people under 1,50m of height, you have no idea how good it felt to take clean underwear out of a washing mashine again. So literally, seeing my clean underwear today totally made my day. Yes, I still can appreciate the little things in life, folks! Think about it next time you take your fresh smelling undies out of the mashine...