Village Outside Shanghai 上海外面的农村

(look at how empty the sky is! I have become so used to the sky being filled with highrises! left to right: Ms. Huang, Clara, Jesus, and Alida in front of the little path leading to the nong-swin [rural town])
(examining the traditional style wood carving in the village's streets)

(a 弄 [nong, fourth tone] or an alleyway in the village)

(Zongzi a dumpling wrapped in leaves, we saw many little stores like this one)(a view of the village down the canal taken from a bridge)

侬吼(nong-hou, hello in Shanghai dialect, as opposed to nee-hao)! I have been having a stupendous time in Shanghai. I have definitely experienced different things here this time than I did last time! (At the time of writing, still in Shanghai).
On Saturday night (our Swiss AFS'er friend) Alida Kropf was told by her host mom that she could invite three people to go to the countryside with her on Sunday. Clara (Italy), Jesus (Ameria) and I were all invited. Let me say a few things about this astounding woman that is Alida's host mother: she speaks German, and English (fluently, she sounds American!). She is learning French now. She also grew up in China during the Cultural Revolution (one of my favorite parts of history). Even though I had not met her yet I was very anxious to!

The next day at 9:30am (there abouts) we arrived at Alida's compound all a little unsure of what we were going to see and do in the coming hours of the day! Alida's mom met us after we came in and asked if we had eaten breakfast. Jesus and I lied out of courteously (it turned out to be a smart thing because our lunch was gigantic and delicious). We found ourselves piling into a small car and we were off into the outskirts of Shanghai!

I think everyone hit it off really well with Alida's mom right away! She was very cultured, and her sense of humor was just like ours. Chinese people have a different sense of humor than westerners (I have found).

First place we stopped in was a housing development near Shanghai's biggest lake (I have forgotten the name sadly) that Ms. Huang's friend wanted to show her. The houses here were all very very very nice for Chinese standards. But they were not unlike American cookie-cutter houses you see popping up in Temecula and Riverside. However since I am used to Chinese housing and the way the middleclass here lives it was a bit of a shock! The houses actually had ovens and dryers!

The next part of our excursion took place in the little village a little ways away. It is located on a small tributary or some kind of creek that probably connects to the nearby big lake. I was so excited when I got out of the car, at first the cold didn't bother me. The little village looked so untouched and picturesque! There were small bridges crossing over the canal that ran through the part of the little settlement that we were about to venture into.

As I walked down the alleyways (弄堂nong-tahng) I noticed that the buildings were usually not seperated, and if they were it was usually for access to a small courtyard or a bridge. Since it was early afternoon the streets were quiet. A few wandering old people passed us by, their caps were knitted and looked warm. I liked looking at the decorations that people had long ago hung up on their doorways, for marriage, for the new year etc. It was really interesting to see what the locals put outside their doors. Pots, pans, chickens, bikes, fruit crates, an old (probably still in-use) grey sofa. The outiside of most of the buildings were painted white, except for the brick facade of the post office.

All of us seemed to be a bit entranced. I know why Ms. Huang likes this place so much. It is the sort of place that people imagine China to be, but these days cannot find. Because most places like this have become tourist traps. Ms. Huang told us about the daily life of the village, what people probably do, that every house on the water has a little dock, what the specialty of the village is etc.

Soon we found out that the village wasn't as "untouched" as we thought. Ms. Huang's favorite restaurant is on the touristy street, which compared to some other places isn't that touristy. Just raised prices and more people walking the streets (I can't tell whether the people are locals or tourists). The restaurant was nice, right on the water, and our table was situated next to an air-conditioner that was on the hot setting.

What was served for lunch:
little fried fish (you eat them whole, like potato chips)
fish soup with tofu
egg plant slices in a syrupy sweet sauce
rice

I asked Ms. Huang about the Cultural Revolution when we started to eat. She grew up during this time in China, somewhere outside Bejining in a small village. The place where she grew up is no longer outside Beijing. During the Cultural Revolution her parents were both sent off to the countryside to be re-educated, however they were sent off at different times so she always had a parent at home.

She explained that school was only for half the day, and once a week they had a class period dedicated to criticizing their teacher. I asked her if she could recall any criticisms. Once a student had criticized the teacher for beating her son. They also could recite many of Mao's quotations "backwards and forwards". Ms. Huang smiled and said that growing up during that time was enjoyable because they could play so much after school.

"But what did you do for fun?" we all asked. She told us that when the willow blossoms were in bloom everyone would light them on fire to watch the strange blue flame that it would give off. Jump rope was common, as well as a certain kind of top that one had to whip in order for it to spin. She and her friends would go to the irrigation ditches behind the Summer Palace in Beijing to catch the shrimp that hid between the rocks. "If you didn't know how to catch shrimp, you would have never had it. You couldn't buy it."she said. Things were much cheaper back then as well, she remembers because she did the bookkeeping for her housekeeper. Two bunches of vegetables only cost 2 fen, but that doesn't mean things were readily available all the time.

To make extra money she and her classmates would sell leftover newspapers because the paper was so precious. Also they dry out their leftover orange peels and sell them. The orange peels were more valuable because in Chinese medicine they are considered to have a medicinal quality.

After finishing lunch, Ms. Huang stayed at the restaurant and worked on her French homework. The weather outside was awful! We were freezing cold, but it woke us up from our post-meal daze. Our bargaining skills were honed within two hours, and now I can say that I know how to bargain. Be stubborn, then walk away. I bought some peanut candy made locally in the village, and a brown earthenware teapot.

On the way home we listened to some Pink Martini, provided by Ms. Huang's iPod. It was a good day.