Fabulous Feasts

Imagine you just arrived in a country where you don’t speak the language and are just being familiarized with the culture.  Imagine being thrust into five non-stop  days of delicious food, family gatherings, and fireworks.  Imagine the discovery, the potential awkwardness, and the learing curve.

After one week of language training and a homestay with an incredibly kind and generous host family, China entered its two weeks of New Year’s celebrations.  Now, this is no celebration for the faint-hearted.  This is a marathon of vacation days packed with family gatherings and incessant eating.

Wednesday morning I was laying on my bed reading when my host dad pops his head in the door and enthusiastically says “Let’s go!”.  I was a bit surprised to find out that right that minutes the whole family was packing into the car to head over to my host mom’s family’s apartment for lunch.  Promptly upon entering the home I was taken by the arm and introduced to all the family, then seated in front of the table where we would be having a kingly banquet.  There was no taste bud left unsatisfied as I sampled the 22 dishes (including chicken, to duck, rabbit, pork, carrots, cabbage, tofu, yogurt, soup, rice, etc) that were paraded before us.  To the right is a picture midway through the meal with several dished yet to arrive.  Notice the skill with which I use my chopsticks (a skill that is improving daily)!

The comical part of the afternoon surfaced when I met the children of the family.  There were two little girls there, probably 4 and 6.  Their family thought it was funny that the girls were being shy and  awkward around me, not really sure how to act.  Just before my family left I was surprised attacked by an impromptu photo shoot.  The girls’ parents thought it would be funny to have their pictures taken with me, so all of a sudden the little girls are shoved in my direction and a bunch of the adults start taking pictures (I’m sure it was discussed by the adults, which went completely over my head).  After they snapped a couple of pictures of the girls standing shyly next to me the adults joined in on the fun and jumped in as well.  After about five minutes the photo shoot ended and I was whisked away to the family car once again.  For your enjoyment I’ve included one of the many pictures that were taken that afternoon.