A Day in Xitang
On June 2nd 2008 I woke up in my relatively soft bed hoping today would be a good day. In part just because no one likes bad days, but also because June 2nd was my birthday; I turned 22 that day. I sat up, rubbed my eyes, and let out a yawn. As I slowly got up I heard a soft “happy birthday!” come from my roommate Matt. It was a pleasant surprise that brought a smile to my face. With my newly acquired smile, I continued to get ready for the events to come. I was feverishly trying to get my untamed morning hair to stay put with water and hairspray when I heard a knock. I answered the door to find Grace holding a little baggie as she wished me a happy birthday as well. I accepted the bag, and opened it to find wonderful treats and new watch…now I won’t be tempted to buy the “Rolexes” from the Chinese vendors on the streets. This made my already cheesy smile bigger, and then we headed off to breakfast to fill our bellies for the long day. The schedule was to drive to Jiashan where we would visit with our host students, then drive to another town, Xitang, where we would tour the place and have dinner there.
I couldn’t tell you much about the 50 mile drive from Shanghai to Jiashan because, as usual, I fell asleep. So, when I woke up we were already at the high school, which was much bigger than mine. As we walked around I couldn’t help but think the size of this place was more like a small campus. They had dorms for students who lived too far away, multiple buildings for classes, and even a telescope! Afterwards, we got to meet the students whose houses we would be staying at for the next two nights. Matt and I would be staying with Billy. He is a first year student at the high school and is 17 years old. Billy wants to be a film director or go into journalism. After talking for about an hour we had to get going to our next destination, Xitang, but I could tell we were going to have a lot of fun staying with Billy.
The first thing we did when we got to Xitang was take a tour of the place. Xitang is a very traditional-looking town that has roots dating back to the Spring and Autumn Period (770 BC – 476 BC). The town is located in a spot where nine rivers converge, and as a result there are about 104 bridges there. It is also well known for its many lanes, most of these are very skinny. The narrowest lane there was about 2.5 feet wide, providing just enough space for one person to walk through. Xitang was a very beautiful place, but like most things I have seen in China, the beauty masks a dirty side. As I walked along the corridors of the town, I would smell odors that would make my nose cringe, and I would see things that would make me wince. It reminds me a lot of something out of a National Geographic.
After our tour of the place, we had dinner in a local restaurant. We had six other guests join us for dinner that night, making eighteen people total. As you can imagine, there was a lot of food that night. In the middle of dinner, we had some unexpected guests give us a visit. Some people having dinner in the next room came over to toast and introduce themselves. In China it is only polite to do the same, so some people from our group returned the gesture. However, it didn’t end there. This process of toasting repeated several more times. As the dinner started to wind down, everyone sang happy birthday to me in English, then our guests sang happy birthday to me in Chinese, and after that some students sang again but in Spanish! Each time I replied with a thank you in the corresponding language. It didn’t end there, though. After the singing was done, I was presented with a huge cake that was very beautiful and delicious, and there was a very unique candle that looked like a flower blooming when lit. It was a wonderful surprise considering I wasn’t expecting anything like that at all.
After our bellies were full, we walked through the town again. It was dark out, and colorful lights were everywhere making the town look very pretty. On our way out of the town we passed by a tea shop. By the end of the evening, everyone from our group had some sort of tea paraphernalia…I believe Pam’s love for tea pots has rubbed off on us! The good day I had hoped for was way beyond my expectations, and it was a great way to spend my birthday!