Suzhou

Last weekend I embarked on another adventure, but don't worry, I had a good idea of where I was going and what I would be doing. A few weeks earlier one of my students, Ben (or Yao Chen for those keeping score in Chinese) asked if I would like to visit his home if he went home for a weekend. I of course said yes; as Yao Chen is a guy and thus there is no miscommunication about 'relationship' expectations. Because he was busy with classes and I only work three days a week, he asked me to buy the tickets. I got the tickets for the right train (which is no small accomplishment, as you can't purchase them by pointing), but was surprised when we boarded the first class car. It was only five or six extra yuan, so I considered it a successful Chinese purchase.
The visit was an absolute pleasure. His apartment was very nice, exceptionally clean, and pretty modern. It consisted of a kitchen, combined living/dining room, his bedroom (full of Japanimation posters...like any Asian teenagers room should be), and his parents' room-with a porch for drying clothes. 'Goodbye' was all that I got in English from either of his parents, but all their body language and translated words were very gracious. Most of the weekend was spent going to the main attractions of Suzhou with Yao Chen. We went to Tiger Hill (hu qiu) an ancient emperor's garden and tomb with a really tall, beautiful pagoda temple. It even has this odd lean much like the tower of Piza (although not as dramatic). We also hit up the Humble Administrator's Garden (zhuozheng yuan), which was gorgeous and essentially what you think of when picturing a Chinese garden. We went to another garden and a Buddhist temple as well, which were both neat, but did lack in differentiation from previous gardens and temples.
There were two really neat and unique things which I was able to do on the trip. The first was to see the house in which Yao Chen grew up. As I said, his family's current apartment is very nice and modern. His dad is an engineer and his mom works in a department store, he has a laptop, so I think they are pretty wealthy for China. But, as he explained, his parents had to save a lot for the new apartment and his college fund. Well, they certainly didn't waste money on a house. Actually I think that the term 'collection of rooms would be much more appropriate. These rooms were within a two to three story structure (yes the number of levels varied around the building). There were many sets of rooms on each floor, connected by open air hallways, where the 'kitchens' were located. I write 'kitchen' because it consisted of no more than a wok or two and some baskets/shelves with food and pots and pans. The building surrounded a courtyard, where Yao Chen played as a child, which also included a well. This is where Yao Chen got his water when he was young; but (as the goldfish I saw indicated) the current residents now just buy water in five gallon containers (still no running water). Obviously, this sort of place was very different, primitive, and almost shocking for me. It's even crazier to think that someone who grew up here now plays W.O.W. on his laptop and has a camera phone. It really is representative of the type of change which China has seen over the last decade.
The second cool thing was to attend Yao Chen's grandmother's 70th birthday. Once again, being white and speaking English was my ticket to an amazing feast. As expected, none of his relatives spoke English, so I used the little Chinese I knew as best I could...even getting quite the response from his grandmother with my attempt at happy birthday. It really was pretty interesting seeing all the non-verbal communication of three generations of a family. And, in case you wondered, they do the cake, candles, and singing 'Happy Birthday' thing here too. They even make a wish before blowing out the candles.
One last anecdote from my trip to Suzhou is seen in the picture below. My Grammie (who lives in Hastings, NE) and Big XII football fans will be glad to know that the Huskers' logo has made its way to the Yangzi River Delta here in China. I could not resist having Yao Chen take a picture with such odd piece of apparel. How this shirt made its way to the shop I passed is a question with no less than a million plausible answers.