A Visit to Chengdu

Sometimes, when you live in China and you have Chinese friends, you think to yourself, "Hey, I'll go visit my friends. It'll be fun and easy and a lot like visiting my friends in America." 

You'll be right about the "fun" part...but wrong about anything else. 

If any of you remember, one of the big draws for me in coming to China was a group of four darling Chinese girls I met two summers ago in America. We hung out, went places together, had meals together, and were good friends. But now it was my turn to visit them in their homeland--Chengdu, Sichuan province, China. The land of pandas, spicy food, red dirt, and great clumps of deliciously green trees. 

Natalie, my teammate, has been my faithful companion on this Spring Festival excursion. After a few days frittering around in Beijing (where we successfully navigated the subway system and never got lost--BOOYAH) we headed down south to Chengdu to spend 5 1/2 days with three out of four of my Chinese friends. 

My first friend--our hostess for the trip--picked us up at the airport upon arrival and suddenly...we were off. 

We quickly learned a few things about Chinese hospitality that I will now share with you so that you will be informed when you, too, visit a Chinese friend: 

1) You will try a lot of new food. This might include pig brain, pig nose, rabbit, and spicy bean curd noodles. 

2) The question "Do you like fish?" is a loaded question. Yes, I like fish. No, I don't like fighting with the bones. 

3) The Chinese mattress is excellent for the back, but not excellent for giant mama hips (like mine). A Chinese mattress is essentially a 1 inch thick pad over the wooden bedframe. Expect to sleep on this or just a box spring. 

4) You should be practiced at the squatty potty before attempting to use it for a week. 

5) You will be busy. The whole time. Apparently it's important to remain entertained.

6) You will also always be fed. If you happen to mention that you maybe like any kind of food, expect it for breakfast in the morning. Your Chinese friends are excellent listeners. They will also get you lots of snacks. I like...most...snacks. 

7) There will be a lot of walking and stair-climbing. Living in China is not for wussies. 

8) If you visit their hometown, expect to meet everyone they know. Also expect to take pictures with all of those people. A few times. Later, they will show these pictures to all their other friends because it's awesome that the Americans came to visit. 

9) You won't know what's going on until it happens. They will know what is going on, however, and that's what's important. 

10) On that note, plans will change without you having any idea. At 9:00 am, you may think you'll be spending the night with your Chinese friend's friend, but at 3:00 pm, you're suddenly spending the night in a hotel. 

The key to a good, full, fun visit with Chinese friends is to be as flexible as a Chinese jellyfish. 

Anyway, the first two nights we stayed in my friend's hometown and slept at her cousin's house. 

The next two nights we stayed with my friend's friend's family in Chengdu. 

The last night we stayed with another friend at a hotel by their airport. 

And here are some things we did. 

We visited a cool park. 

 We played carnival games on the way up to the top of a mountain. 

We made it to the top of the mountain. And there was a random Chinese photobomber there. 

We ate cotton candy. 

We sang karaoke.  

We met everybody.

We went on a boat ride and saw a lot of cool places. 

We went to Monkey Island and got grabbed by really safe monkeys. 

We visited another park and our friends made us dress up, go outside, and take pictures for 12 yuan. 

We ate fruit on a stick. 

We played a live-action war game out in the woods. 

We visited the pandas. 

We saw the third of my precious friends on the last two days, as she got back from Thailand and we left for Thailand.  

While it was quite an experience, I can't describe to you my joy at being reunited with friends I had never expected to see again. The are all beautiful, wonderful, and unique. They were amazing hosts and I am so thankful for the cultural experience that we got to have with them. 

I mean, they taught me all my colors in Chinese. What more could I want?