World China Yunnan Lijiang

Su Family Trip to the Americas & Village

Jon's parents' visit - Yunnan, China Dec 1, 2008

MOM VISITING

After hearing so much about our experience in the village, Jon's mom decided, bravely, to visit us in the village despite her fear of the pit toilet - her biggest concern.

She flew to Kunming and then to Lijiang. Our whole family, except for Nathan because he was punished for bad behavior, went from the village to the county then after a 3 hour ride, arrived in Lijiang to pick up Jon's mom. It has been almost 3 months since Olivia & Joani have left the village and none of us have left the county.

EATING AT KFC!

Because it was late, we stayed a night in Lijiang to enjoy the Old City of Lijiang, the most famous tourist town in Yunnan. The first thing we did was go to KFC for a chicken hamburger. The kids have been dreaming of a hamburger for a long time. Finally after three months they all had their own. This made Nathan's punishment even worse, but Jon's mom was kind enough to save a hamburger to bring back to the village for him.

After the satisfying meal at KFC, we went to eat hot pot and Jon's mom couldn't resist the inviting smell of the roasted suckling pig, which we ordered it again after the first dish was eaten cleaned. At night we took in the night scenery of the Lijiang Old City and even sat in a tea store drinking Pu'er tea for more than an hour learning more about the finer aspects of drinking Pu'er tea, the most famous tea in Yunnan. Afterwards, we prepared to sleep. We were all excited about the inn room we had that "came with an indoor bathroom"! And most of us took a nice hot shower that night.

Early morning, we all woke up for the sunrise and saw the famous Jade Dragon Snow Mountain in the background. After one last satisfying meal in KFC, we took a local bus for the 3 hours ride back to the county. Jon's mom grabbed on to the seat handle tightly as the ride took us over deep river valleys and windy mountainous passes. In the county, we bought some provisions and then took another ride to the village.

MOM IN THE VILLAGE

It was fun showing mom where we live, the toilet pit, the children's schools, the solar shower in the police station where we shower, the kitchen/dining room, the outdoor trough where we brush our teeth and wash our faces. After dinner, as usual, we took the horse for an evening ride towards another village. Mom came with us but am afraid to ride on the horse due to her bad back. She also was here during the Yi New Year, seeing 3 pigs slaughtered and dissected in front of her throughout the day. She also tried her hand at getting the pine nuts out of the pine cones, crushing soy beans in the stone bowls, and picking firewoods on the mountain slopes. She also sat in watching us teach English and got interested in learning Phonics herself. When she learned that I planned to take a class picture for the 9th graders as a graduating gift, she offered to pay for the printing of the pictures.

In preparation for her arrival, we bought some of the finest organic pork, chicken, and fish in the village for meals. For the first time in 3 months, we had meat every day! Having eaten all the possible things in the village, there was still one thing she hasn't enjoyed, which was the supposely fresh mountian free roaming lamb meat. As lamb meat are not usually sold at the village market, so we had to "order" a whole sheep that lived about 4 hours away. When the sheep arrived we all fell in love with it because it look so cute and innocent. We all took pictures with it and hugged it, then we watched it been slaughtered...

That night we eat most of the entrails which is hard to keep for long. It was fun roasting the kidneys, stomach, intestines over pit fire while reading Narnia. The ribs and legs were the first parts which we saved half in the village and the other half we planned to bring back to Kunming to eat when Jon's father arrive a week later.

At first my mom seemed able to cope with the village living. However, after few days, she got a cough from Joani and then living in the village became more of a burden, a prison. She was able to hang on for the next 7 days then we all took off to Kunming for a little break to civilization to prepare the arrival of Jon's father.

DAD ARRIVED IN KUNMING

When Jon's father arrived, he got lots of warm hugs from the grandchildren at the airport. Since he only stayed 4 days in Kunming, we just spend time near our apartment in Kunming, mostly doing some shopping and lots of eating! It was quite a contrast to eat in some of the finer restruants in Kunming as compared to our pit fire dining room. The children were dying for Sashimi and they rationed the precious pieces between each of them. Olivia and grandfather's birthdays are closed to each other and they celebrated it together over dinner.

One afternoon we took a trip to a nearby lake where seagulls from Siberia comes here every winter to be sheltered from the cold. It was fun feeding the birds bread and enjoying the beautiful scenery over hot tea.

LEAVING KUNMING BACK TO VILLAGE

After Jon's parents left, we prepared to go back to the village. It was hard on Annie to leave Kunming mostly because she enjoys the friendship and support she had there. During the 10 days in Kunming, she took 2 days off for herself to re-connect with friends.

The children also enjoyed having warm indoor bathroom and shower and they were torned a bit. However, the day we arrived in the village and saw the beautiful sceneries, the friends that we have come to know over the last 3 months, we all seemed to forget that we even left. The village felt like home. As we walked in the village, we know every single faces and they all know us. That's special and that's something we could never get in Kunming.