Family in China

Most of you probably know about the one child policy in China. Because of the growing population, families are only allowed to have one child. However, there are some exceptions. 1) If you are a minority- not Han Chinese 2) If you live in the country-side 3) If you are rich enough to pay for a second child 4) If you hide your second child from the government-not the best way, but it's better than aborting the child.

Because of this, most Chinese my age don't have many cousins. They probably have a few aunts and uncles, but each one probably only has one child. They are shocked to hear that I have 18 cousins and flabbergasted when I tell them my mom has 100! They also don't have many or any siblings, but for some reason they always talk about their brother and/or sister. Hmm... how does that work?

It's their cousins! Family here is very close. Everyone lives in the same town, probably in the same area, maybe even the same house. (Although as always, there are many exceptions). Being in Bella's hometown, I got to see first hand how close family is here. We went to so many relatives homes and by the end of the three days I felt like her cousins were my cousins. We were in the country, but the homes were still right next to each other. Children walk easily from home to home. Your cousin lives 4 minutes away walking. At one place we were at the grandparents lived in one part of the house, the uncle and his family lived in the other part (I'll show a picture).

I think it's amazing how close Chinese are to their family. They help each other with no question, they work together, they have each others' back. Most can't fathom the idea of nursing homes. You just don't do that.

Sorry, these pictures aren't in a very good order, hard to organize sometimes.

Hallway outside

This is their bathroom. A bit different than yours, huh?

Bella's brother with two of their cousins

I realize that I already uploaded this one, but I like it so here it is again. :)

apparently I like this one too.. second time for this one as well

Doesn't matter how simple the kitchen is, it can still produce amazing food!

Bella's Grandma's super simple kitchen.

A New Year in China!

Her Grandma and Grandpa's house

 I wish I could bring you all here. It's a step into the past (sort of) as a Chinese village (of about a million??maybe less, maybe more, not sure) celebrates the Chinese lunar new year. I celebrated last year with my parents and a friend's family, but this year is same same, but so very different!

Nicole and I are at a friend's (Bella)home this year in a small town called Jianli. I would compare it to a farming community in America. We took a train to the city then a taxi (we hired him as a driver, not the same as a real taxi) to Bella's hometown. All we knew coming into this was 1)11 people would be staying in the home we would be at and 2) bring warm clothes, it might snow. Boy, was the "bring warm clothes" good advice!

We arrived at her uncles home shortly after twelve. We were immediately greeted by her uncle and cousin. They showed us our room. They gave us a private room to sleep in! Then we were introduced to the "magic table". You see, it is quite cold here.. About 30(or even less) and they don't have any heat. I don't either, but I have air conditioners that blow heat. They don't even have that. So it's cold!! This magic table is a table frame with a heater under it they put a blanket over the frame. Then the top of the table over that. People can sit around the table, cover up with the blanket, and stay quite warm! You see these tables all over and people crowd around them like the watering hole.  After three days of being here, I really appreciated this "magic table".

That night we went to a wedding feast. However, it wasn't a normal wedding feast, it was sort of like the bachelor party, but not even a party, just a meal. It was just for the groom and his family and friends. We came, we ate, we left. Well; sorta. We also got our pictures taken with the groom and many others. We may have been the first foreigners that many of them have seen, so we were quite popular. There is a tradition to go to the groom and say nice things to him. If he is happy with these compliments, he will give you a red envelope. This envelope contains money. We both did it and both got 10rmb (about $1.75). Doesn't seem like much, but that can buy you two meals!

That night we came home and played mahjong with Bella and her brother. The mahjong table turns into one of those magic tables!

That's all I'll write today. I'll try to add some pictures and explain things via that. Celebrating here was probably one of my highlights (and lowlights because of the cold) of my time in China. I learned so much about the Chinese culture by being out here. I saw the differences between city life and country life in China. There is a huge difference! 

Courtyard inside of the house- I'm looking down from the second story

Walking up to the house (it snowed that night! it was so pretty- first snow of the year)

This is Nicole in the "hallway" to the right and down, that's the courtyard. Two families live here. The grandparents and one of the uncles with his two kids and wife.

Back in Wuhan

The first half of our trip is over. Now we are back in Wuhan for 2 days. Yesterday my friend, Linda, picked us up from the airport, took us home to drop off our luggage, and then off to her Grandma's home. She invited us all to spend New Years Eve with her family.

My parents learned a lot about Chinese culture. For example, most Chinese like to have fresh air, even when that air is 30 degrees. Last night we had the heater on and the window wide open. They didn't want it to get stuffy in there. We kept our jackets on too, which is normal.

Here is part of the group around the table.

Chinese also make many many different dishes. The food doesn't stop! We had no problems filling up! I think they wanted us to eat even more, but we couldn't stuff down anymore food.

Here is the whole family except Linda's grandpa who is already sleeping.

 My mom also got to use her first squatty potty. She had some difficulties, but with practice, I think she could be ok. Tomorrow we will be on a train for 15 hours so she will get another chance to try it, this time while the train is moving. :)

The time in Wuhan has been unique. There is no traffic and no people. Since it's Chinese New Year everyone is at home with their family. The streets are silent, but the air is full of the sounds of firecrackers and fireworks. Last night I saw an amazing fireworks show just outside my window. Literally from the ground below my apartment building.

Tomorrow... on to Guilin!