Headed into the mountains about 2 and a half hours outside of Hangzhou and ended up in this tiny little village in a valley of sorts. Although still a village, this couldn't have been anymore different than the previous village I visited. The people here were rich and all had HUGE houses. Like 4 stories huge. It was really quite impressive. Apparently the people here grow and sell walnuts, which is a lucrative business in China it turns out. Anyway, we stayed with these really great families, and I actually got a room to myself. An entire room! It was intense!
Friday night, they cooked for us, and after a delicious dinner including bamboo shoots from the backyard, we all went outside to play with the kids from the village. These kids were so cute and so happy to have us there, so it was fantastic. All were under the age of 12-ish, because after that age, kids go to boarding school and/or have to study all day long for the gaozhong(the intense state-run testing system to determine what colleges kids can get into...think the ACT/SAT but instead of testing your thinking ability, it tests raw knowledge of subject matter.) so they're not around much. We played hide and seek all night long, and after an hour or so, collapsed into bed.
Saturday, we woke up early and went on a hike after breakfast. The hike was rather fun, winding through bamboo covered mountains and valleys punctuated by winding rivers. Before returning to the village, we explored a dam on one of the rivers. After the hike, I was really struck by the amount of actual planning and construction that China puts into creating the scenery. It seemed that every hillside was cleared at least partially of the trees to allow for foot traffick and the path of every river seemed meticulously controlled for maximum usage. Really strange.
That night, the village threw a party in our honor. We met in the "town square" where several groups of women from the village performed choreographed dances and played instruments. A couple of women even did a line dance to an American country song. That part was extremely surreal. After several hours of festivities, we all went to sleep because we were waking up early the next morning to go to church.
Sunday morning, most of us headed to the local church. When I go to foreign countries, I always make it a point to go to a church service, because I think religion is so indicative of the culture. If you want to have any grasp at all on the situation of the locals, I feel like a church service is a must. I'd already been to a Buddhist shrine in my first village, so luckily, on this visit, we all headed to a local Christian church. Once we arrived, everyone seemed to stare and us, but unsurprisingly, they were very hospitable...offering us all Bibles to read (in Chinese, of course) and cups of hot tea. Overall, I had a great time translating familiar Bible verses in my head while attempting to understand the preacher. The church service wasn't actually that much different from one at home. The preacher seemed a bit "fire and brimstone," but besides that, I was pretty comfortable. Wish I could say the same for everyone else, though. The Chinese roomates/teachers all seemed extremely uncomfortable with the situation, and after 5 minutes or so, most had left to walk back to the village. I'm not really sure how I felt about that...we were invited to the church and everyone was extremely hospitable, so it seemed like even if you didn't necessarily believe in this, you could at least sit for a bit and watch. But oh well...I guess it might just be another cultural thing I won't understand for awhile. Regardless, I had a fun time learning about Chinese Christianity. By the way, the Chinese translation of the Bible was hilariously literal. Think Genesis..."God said LIGHT!, so LIGHT! Now do not have dark"
After church, a couple of us decided to go hiking on our own up a nearby mountain. The mountain was beautiful climbing up, and though a bit steep at times, it was manageable. Getting down was another matter. We tried walking down the way we came but soon realized this would be impossible. Walking up a muddy mountain is surprisingly easier than walking down it. So we slid down. On our buts. At high velocity. I can easily say it was the most outright fun thing I've done in China so far. We were basically pinballs on the way down, ricochetting between bamboo stalks, brambles, and each other. Once at the bottom, we all stood up and started jogging, but couldnt stop. The hill was still steep, so I managed to grab onto a passing bamboo stalk and stopped myself from flying into the forest. It was absolutely great.
Once we got back and cleaned off our pants, we had lunch and then departed for Hangzhou. A few hours later, we got back, but on the bus ride back I got to finish reading my book, The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway. Easily one of my favorite books now...I can't believe I haven't read it before. I also bought a new CD, "The Hazards of Love" by the Decemberists, so I'm pretty set right now. Little homework this week and possibly heading to Shanghai on Thursday, so all is well in China.
P.S. Here's a link to a friend's online photo album. It's got some really great China pictures on it, so have a look. I've been to most of the places she's been too: http://picasaweb.google.com/lubyx010
