Duanwu Festival (Part 1)

So the annual Dragon Boat Festival was June 4-6.  At Stella's invitation, the three of us hopped in a cab to meet Stella's friend, Joanna, at the races in nearby Yuecheng. Joanna had warned Stella it'd be a 15-20 minute walk to get there, so when the cab dropped us off in the parking lot and a policeman told us which way to go, we set off and were treated to quite a picturesque walk. Yuecheng is very rural, and is actually more of what Brian and I were expecting life to be like for us here in China.  I took a ton of pictures I want to share, so I'm actually going to do two separate posts to keep the size manageable.

No space is unused in Yuecheng--small vegetable gardens were everywhere

After about twenty minutes of walking, the empty streets probably should have been a warning sign to us....

Grapes everywhere--for eating, not wine

Yes, it's exactly what it looks like. An outhouse and cesspool. PLEASE tell me they don't fertilize with it!

Loved this girl's fake glasses

So we get to a T in the road, where more police officers are posted, and they tell us we've walked in the wrong direction! The first police officer must have thought we were leaving? So, we turn back around....

Roadside grave sites. They were everywhere, but Stella said this is no longer legal. 

I found it all very enchanting, not eerie at all. The people here clearly have very simple lives, but are living in such a beautiful place. But I definitely wonder what this means for all the crops planted next to the graves!

 

So 90 minutes late we finally arrive! To find everyone leaving because the morning races are over.  The stands were literally 100 yards from where we parked. Why on earth did the policeman give Stella the directions that he did?!?! And why did we not notice the hoards of people there before we walked off in the opposite direction?? As truly the ONLY foreigners there, Stella told us everyone in the audience was talking about us, assuming we were Russian, as the only non-Chinese boat entered in the competition was from Russia. So Stella calls up Joanna to find out where she's sitting. Turns out she's on the other side of the river....  read more

It's a small world afterall...

Since coming to China, I've had far more "small world" moments than I ever did in Boston. I'm wondering if these same connections were all around me in Boston, and I was just comfortable enough in my routine that I didn't seek them out? And now I'm simply looking harder for these connections in order to define and make my world a smaller place? Or is it just plain 'ole coincidence? Some of these things you can't go looking for--they just reach out and grab you.

Take my friend Matt at the BSO, who introduced me to his bassist friend in Shanghai who was able to direct me to a fantastic luthier here where I bought a cello. Or just today, being surprised to see a former co-worker from the BSO and a friend from elementary school 'talking' on Facebook, realizing they went to college together, which then led to suggestions on where to travel in China. Or learning that Stella has two other Chinese students from the States--Lowell, MA to be specific! They are English teachers here in town and we're meeting & having dinner with them on Saturday. At Turkish Delight, naturally.

Vienna, Austria was the same. I'll never forget checking into a hostel in Vienna before I had an apartment, only to learn that the owners' daughter had also graduated from Puget Sound. But then again, it does happen at home too: Claudia, my Tanglewood roomie from Venezuela, played in a quartet in college with the same violinist that I played in a quartet with in high school! Bizarre!

So are these small world moments completely random? Or do they happen every day and they're only more memorable here because it's an unexpected glimpse of home in a foreign place? Would it be any different if we'd moved to Uzbekistan?

And how long will this song be stuck in my head? 

 

 

Row, row, row your boat

A few older pictures from the yard....

Roll out the red carpet, it's ceremonial steel cutting time!

This good lookin' guy got to do the honors.....

Not that button!

And so it begins....

Plasma cutter in action

One of many fabrication buildings at the yard

Progress!