Baoying & Dafeng (Clay's visit)

After hitting up Qufu, Clay and I headed down to Baoying, a district belonging to the greater Yangzhou district. Baoying is in central Jiangsu province, on the Grand Canal (still in use, not as grand these days) North of the Yangzi River. This is the poorer, less developed, much more rural part of Jiangsu province. We went to Baoying to visit Jefferson (real name Wu Meng) one of David's students, but a guy I got to know because of his stellar attendance at English corner and great enthusiasm for learning English. I took Clay to visit him for many reasons. Jefferson lives in the country, as do half of the people in China, so it's good to see that. Chinese people (or all that I've met) are some of the most hospitable and caring people I have ever visited. Very cold, reserved, and sometimes off-putting in public, once you get inside their circle, the Chinese are wonderful, if not occasionally quirky, hosts.

Trying to get to Baoying reminded me again of how much Chinese I have to learn. We had some McDonald's with Kerrin and Ashley in Xuzhou, because we had to switch from train to bus there anyways. I had a blast sharing stories with them, as they were headed home in a few days. I'm not sure if Clay got tired of the crazy Chinese stories or not, but sadly, that's about all we wanted to talk about. We got to the right bus station; but the ticket buying did not go smoothly at all. After three non-sensical exchanges (for the teller and me both) I headed over to the customer service window, trying not to hold up the line. There, it seemed like I was able to buy the tickets, but there was some complication in buying them. There was a key word, lukou, that seemed to very important to the woman helping us. Turns out it means highway exit, which I should have figured out (lu means street, kou means opening), but eventually someone in line who spoke English helped us out. It turns out that the big thing was that the bus didn't go into Baoying, but just dropped us off on the side of the road near the exit...yet another Chinese traveling adventure.

Our time in Baoying, after walking off the highway and meeting Jefferson and his dad by the toll booth, was great. Jefferson has worked very hard at improving his English, and he was a great host. He showed us around the area near his house, as well as walked us into the small town near his village, which was very interesting. We checked out the meat/seafood market, which slightly trails American grocery stores in cleanliness and selection. When walking around the small town, we noticed a group gathered in front of a store. It was a big traveling promotion for selling refrigerators (*note-the Chinese stimulus package includes rebates for appliance purchases by rural residents). What makes this mentionable is that just as we approached, we noticed something very out of place in rural Jiangsu province (or China in general): a Thai ladyboy came out to sing a song or two. Now, transexual Asians have never really convinced me to buy home appliances, but apparently it's worth trying in China.

Next on my trip with Clay was Dafeng, the hometown of Zhao Min, one of three senior English majors with whom I have made very good friends. Zhao Min is a lot of fun, mostly because she's a "traditional" Chinese girl (her words, not mine) so it's pretty easy to shock and embarrass her with certain comments. Jefferson's family showed us off with a quick but plentiful meal that almost made us late for our bus. Zhao Min met us right at the bus station, and her sister drove us to their house in her new Honda Civic. It was decked out in major Hello Kitty style on the inside. Zhao Min's sister's financial success is a story of how many of the free market reforms have allowed all sorts of people to get rich in China. Her sister dropped out of school after junior high, but put in long hours, worked diligently, and now is very successful selling large manufacturing equipment to factories and farmers. Visiting Zhao Min's house was very nice, we stayed in her parents room (which is air conditioned) just like we did at Jefferson's. We had a good time walking around the village and seeing some of the peanut and soybean fields which her mother and father still farm. Her parents also run a small hardware store...which was quite a juxtaposition to the big box mammoths back home like Home Depot and Lowe's. We had delicious frog legs (cajun style...but I bet they call it something else in Chinese) as well as astoundingly good crawfish. Clay said he was reminded of some crawfish boils he's attended down in Houston. Like I mentioned at the top, I can't say enough for the wonderful hospitality we received from my students and their families during Clay's visit.