Qingyuan

The hardest part of living in China so far has been meeting people. As I mentioned in my previous post, I work in a office where I am the only person who has not born in mainland China and speaks a grand total of about 10 Chinese words. This makes relating to my co-workers difficult. Add to that, that while they work from 9-6, I usually work from 1-10, part of which happens at a school. The school does have expat teachers, but I never get to see them because by the time I arrive (at 5pm) they have all left. I have always had great difficulty in making friends, and my current situation and work-life balance (or unbalance) is making things worse.

Because of my living and working situation, it was suggested that I join an expat online community. Maybe this way I could meet other expats living in Shenzhen. So I did. I joined a network called "Internations."

I find it particularly difficult to fill out online profiles. I never feel quite comfortable putting any kind of personal information on website that automatically shares it with complete strangers (which is only compounded when said strangers are online and thus completely obscure). But I did it anyway. I was desperate just to talk to someone, anyone, and this seemed like the best way (and the only way) to find said person. A couple of days later, I got a message from R. He said that he was also fairly new to the area and looking to meet people. Sounded harmless so we agreed to meet for lunch.

Turns out R was in Shenzhen for an internship and only had about two weeks left in town. We chatted while eating with our chopsticks. He mentioned he was going to rafting over the weekend (it was a long weekend). I mentioned that sounded like fun.

A couple of hours later I get a text. R is inviting me to join him for the weekend. He has asked his friend (with whose family we'd be staying if that is ok, and the friend has apparently agreed). I have to work on Sat morning, but according to R that shouldn't be a problem. What the heck? I agree.

So after my Sat morning meetings (which actually ran closer to 1pm), we are off. R's friend is J, a very nice Chinese guy who speaks pretty good English. He drives a bright orange BYD (stands for "Build Your Dreams" it's a Chinese car company), there are no seat belts in the back seat (where R and I are sitting), J assures us he is a very safe driver and we have nothing to worry about. The drive is non-eventful, I have my laptop out most of the three hour drive and am busy editing essays. I barely have a chance to look out the window.

We arrive in Qingyuan. We are greeted by J's cousin B, we will be staying at his house. B is married with a young son. We walk up to his apartment (he lives on the seventh floor and their is no elevator) and are greeted by his wife. I should probably mention that B and his wife do not speak English. We are shown to our rooms (I am apparently taking over B's parents room, which makes me a little uncomfortable but am assured that this is no problem because they can stay at another son's house). Ok. We eat dinner and are off to see J's other cousin, who has just bought a new apt in the city center.

Another set of stairs, J's cousin lives on the 9th floor. As soon as we arrive it starts to pour. J's cousin speaks some English but seems very shy and doesn't say much. After the rain, J tells us we are going out for tea. On our walk to the restaurant, I learn that this cousin used to teach English, but that she now feels that her English is quite poor, because she stopped teaching over 5 years ago. We arrive at the restaurant, someone clears a table at the sight of me and R (we are very obviously the only foreigners there, there was a lot of staring). As soon as we sit down, J's cousins start to order food. We eat, drink and laugh and soon realize it has gotten late. We all say goodbye and head back to B's.

The following morning we head out to go rafting. We arrive and see that instead of rafting, we will actually be "drifting." Ok, I think. This will be a nice relaxing ride down the river. I was wrong. We are bussed up to the "loading site" where we are instructed to put on life jackets and helmets. Two people per inflatable boat, so R and I share a boat. We board and are on our way. Down a set of man made rapids! Thus the helmet, and let me tell you, we NEEDED that helmet. After the first set of rapids I had to tie my shoes to my life jacket so that they wouldn't fall off and disappear into the questionable water. I have to admit though, it was a fun ride. After every set of rapids there was like a waiting pool where people would splash each other with bowl and other household utensils. All good fun. By the end, we were soaking wet and smiling.

After showering in the local locker room, we went for lunch. After lunch we went to Felai temple. To get there we boarded a tiny little boat and sailed down the Bei Jiang river. This is an old Buddhist temple that used to be up on the mountains, but about 50 years ago the Chinese government decided that made it too hard to get to for tourists, so they transplanted the whole thing down to the riverbed. While I can't imagine moving an entire temple just for the sake of tourists, I have to say I'm glad they did. The view of temple along the river is stunning and the temple itself is decorated with all kinds of gold and stone that just takes your breath away.

The day ended with our little boat heading back to the city during the sun set. It was beautiful. The sun turned a bright red and against the water and the trees. I closed my eyes and reminded myself that these are the moments worth remembering, this is why I travel, this is why I came to China.

The next morning, we woke up early to head to Guangzhou. We needed to visit yet another of J's cousins. This cousin's wife had just had a baby boy (three days earlier). I was a bit uncomfortable to just show up at their house, but they were very hospitable and even showed us the baby (who was sleeping). We then went to lunch, had tea, were given tea to take home and eventually made it back to Shenzhen.