Chris and I were paired up with the Pung family. Mrs. Pung walked us through the village in pure darkness to their home. Upon arrival, Mr. Pung was anxiously awaiting on their doorstep, greeting us. We were ushered to the living area where they had Chinese tea, strawberries and apples waiting – a very pleasant and grateful gesture. Before leaving the community centre, I was a bit nervous about the home stay as I was not sure how we were going to communicate with the family but after settling in and with our dictionary in hand, we were able to get through our stay with a breeze. It really is amazing what a smile, some simple everyday words in the local tongue and creative gestures can do in the form of communication. Shortly after arriving, Mrs. Pung began to set the table for dinner and boy was dinner ever delicious – a home cooked meal is exactly what we needed. We had 10 different dishes that night which ranged from deep fried lotus root, plant leaves deep fried in batter, finely shredded potatoe, chicken and cashew nuts, beef and vegetables, fried bean sprouts and much much more. And how can we forget the rice wine and beer. Boy do the Chinese ever love to “gumbay” (equivalent to our “bottoms up”). We enjoyed the evening with Jess, Nancy, our bus driver and their guest family and spent the night laughing, eating, translating and of course gumbaying.
After dinner and our guests had left the Pung home, Chris and I stayed up with the Pungs and chit chatted with them. Mr. Pung was very curious as to not only where we were from but where our respective parents were from. He kept laughing and giving us a thumbs up. His chuckled laugh is something I will not forget as it was so genuine and unique. Around 10:30pm we were ushered to our room (which is where Mr. and Mrs. Pung normally slept). The beds were hard as rock and made of straw with a sheet to cover it. No mattress, no nothing. It was hard to imagine how they slept on this type of bed day in and day out after such long days of work in the farm but it just goes to show that comfort is not necessarily something they want or require, this is a way of life for them. We went to bed exhausted from the day’s activities and looking forward to our 2nd day in the village.
The next morning we were awoken by Mrs. Pung at 8 am when breakfast was ready. We had noodle soup with bean sprouts for breakfast before being taken to the community centre where we met the Mayor of Buyang. Here he went through some of the history of this village and explained some of the laws governing the area. It was quite informative and was a nice introduction about where we were staying. After the mayor’s speech, we all made our way to the primary school which was something I was very much looking forward to. Children here ranged from pre school level (ages 3-4) to primary levels (ages 5-6). We wandered through the classes meeting the children, seeing their artwork on the walls and trying to talk to them. Most of them were very shy but there were one or two exuberant ones who were willing to try and talk to you and take pictures. Chris and I were shocked that the pre school students were being taught Mathematics at such a young age. We were able to look through their Math books where sure enough they were learning how to add and subtract and the even more surprising part about it was that the children were just sitting there doing the Math in their heads. They didn’t use their fingers or need objects to do the addition and subtraction. Quite a task at ages 3-4 as in Canada I don’t recall learning Math until Grades 2 or 3. Our last visit to one of the classes consisted of the students performing acts of dance and song for us. We also played a few games with this last group of students. Musical chairs was definitely a favorite and the few from our group that went up to play had to sing a song if they were left standing when the music stopped. Now that’s what you call entertainment. My favorites would have to be big Chris performing “I’m a little teapot” and my Chunger singing and dancing (enthusiastically might I add) to “You are my sunshine”. Seeing the kid’s faces when our group members lost and had to sing was priceless. They had huge smiles on their faces and would clap enthusiastically. The best part was that when the children were left standing, they too would stand up in front of us and sing us a song as well. So brave at such a young age. We also got to play the “Friendship Game” where our group was lined up along one side of the class sitting on a bench and the kids were sitting across from us on their chairs. The purpose of the game was to walk across to the other group, find a new friend, perform the “act” of becoming friends (which consisted of standing up, saluting, shaking hands, smiling, clapping, twirling around hand in hand in a circle and waving goodbye) and then sit in that person’s seat. Then that person that was chosen as a friend had to go back to the other side and do the same thing. By the end of it, we were all on the other side where the kids were and they were sitting where we had been. It was a great game with lots of smiles, laughs and cheers. It definitely helped the kids to relax and feel comfortable with us. This part of the village stay was definitely a highlight for me. Seeing how happy the kids were to have visitors and seeing their bright faces when we would clap and cheer them on after a song or dance was precious. It was also great to see that the village did have a school for their pre school aged children as the older children had to travel to a different village to go to school. The children were not only able to learn and interact but it also gave both parents time to do their work in the village and make some money for the family. A part of this trip that I will definitely look back on as a highlight.
After saying our goodbyes to the children, we made our way a little bit further up the road where we were able to visit the old peoples’ home in the village. The home was for those senior citizens who were alone and did not have a spouse or children to look after them. The home was in relatively good condition and we were surprised at the facilities. They had exercise equipment outside in the park area, an actual exercise room inside the home, a kitchen and a sitting area. We unfortunately were not able to meet too many of the seniors as it appeared they had just had their lunch and perhaps were taking a nap but we did get to see one or two wandering through the grounds. It was great again to see that the village was able to provide such a service to its residents and the fact that it was just a few steps away from the pre-school was ironic. Here you had, the young learning the basics to start life and not very far away, the old trying to cope with the effects of a long and hard working life. Young and old, beginning and ending, it all ends up coming around in a full circle.
We ended our village stay with more food and more gumbay as we enjoyed lunch with the guest families before departing back to Tai’an in preparation for yet another overnight train to our next stop: Nanjing.
1 comment:
that must of been so cool!
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