Emma in China: Adventures in Anhui- part 2

The same day a lady who lives near Judy's parent's shop brought us to a little museum place. I didn't get much information on this place, but Judy told me that it used to be some kind of theater, so I guess you could call it a historic theater/ museum. Either way I got some nice pictures, and we had fun.

Can you guess who wore these shoes? The are actually the shoes that belonged to women with bound feet. I don't know how they could even walk around.

We spent another morning with Judy's high school English teacher. He brought us to a really cool looking Buddhist temple with a big tower in the middle. I really like the look of those temples with yellow walls. I don't know why, but they just look really nice. It was reeeeeeally in the country, and they had a very country toilet, aka a hole in the ground. I mean I went in there and the poo was just right there in front of me. I didn't really mind though. I just needed to use the toilet.

I really loved visiting Hui's house. His grandma was there, and I had not met her before. She was so sweet to me. She took me all around the garden, and told me all of the names of every flower and plant around their house in their local dialect. She seems very proud of them, because she did the same thing again when I came for the spring festival. Hui's family has lived in a big house in the countryside for about three year now. They have so many different types of food in their garden, and behind their garden they have chickens, so most of the things they eat come from right outside their house. I love that lifestyle. I think it is very healthy (though when I come over, their goal is to get me fat fat fat! hahaha). They decided to move, because Hui's grandma was getting old (she's almost 90 years old), and she wanted to move to the place where she lived when she was a little girl. Hui's dad is such a great son! He found a place near where Hui's grandma grew up, and made a house there. I think it is so great, and the first time I heard that story it made me cry......because the women in my family are prone to being moved, I can't help it.

I am going to save the pictures of the house for the blog about the spring festival. For now enjoy this photo of all this food Hui's family prepared for us. I love home made food so much, especially 红烧肉. It is so much better home made. I feel like I am eating love when I eat it......but enough about food. I should move on.

.....or I could share pictures of all the nice family dinners we had together. muwahahaha I hope you don't get too hungry.

This dinner was I believe on our third day there, and it was treated to us by Hui's family. I think it was actually my favorite of the family dinners, because they had a whole pig's jaw, and it was so tender and delicious.

While I was in Anhui, Judy's family informed me of a meal I never knew existed. This was a meal eaten after dinner around 10 or 11pm called 夜烧 (night bbq). As you can guess, its really really healthy, so they do it all the time! That was sarcasm. lol I don't think they do it that often, and we only did it one time when we were there.

Judy's family also brought me to the place where Judy's dad grew up. It was so far into the countryside, that Judy told me I was probably the first non Chinese person ever to go there. There I met Judy's dad's family, and we shared this beautiful food together. It was really funny. I actually walked into the house first, and everyone thought that I was Judy, and she had just stayed in America so long that she turned white.

On the afternoon of the day we went to Hui's house, Hui's dad brought some of us to a temple on a really high mountain. I have to say the journey getting there and back had to be one of the most thrilling moments of my life (that is except for the time when Hui was driving on a mountain, but I'll save that story for later). We were riding in a car meant for five people, and I think we had four people crammed in the back seat, and the road to get up the mountain was so narrow, that everyone was holding their breath thinking we weren't going to make it. On top of that, on the way back down it was raining and slippery, and we had two people sitting shotgun. Oh my gosh, if my parents are reading this, they are both going to have a heart attack. lol It was still awesome getting to see the temple. I really enjoyed it.

You know, they always say this, but it's really true. You can take as many pictures of these mountains as you want, but no image can truly compare to seeing the real thing. You will just have to go there to experience it for yourself.