My CNY diary: Day Four.

The following are my hand-written journal entries from Day four of my Chinese New Year Odyssey in the Beixing Chinese Countryside lovingly transcribed to this blog:

• We had no plans for January 28th. Thank God! I wrote in my book.
• On Day three, I was given at least 30 cigarettes. Disgusting. I smoked but one on Day Four. (*When the family K arrived back in Wuxi, we suddenly realized we all smelt like we had been to a bar for four days.*)
• On Day three, we were driven out to the real countryside to see Jenny's natural parents who she doesn't like. In the real countryside, there are narrow paths, sometimes paved over but more often consisting of packed-down dirt. There are plenty of houses made of brick and mostly not having heat like that of our natural in-laws. Every house has a cesspool or whatever you call the well-like holes you put shit in.
• I walked about for a short time with Tony but the countryside becomes monotonous - garbage, stagnant pools, old houses, and piles of building materials.
• I meet a Petroleum Geologist, a natural relation of Jenny's, who told me he is going to Iran because China has signed a twenty year deal with the Mad Mullahs. He gushed over the opportunity to try his English on me. He proudly told me he had spent four months in Beijing learning English. He later brought his daughter to talk to me in English, coaching her what to say, all the while insisting that this girl was the best English student in her class.
• At the big dinner, I was given the privilege of sitting beside an eminent local doctor who specialized in Traditional Chinese Medicine. The hosts then tried to get me drink baijoe, but I took one cup of wine which I nursed for the entire dinner. I saw the others at the table go crazy continually downing baijoe shots. I had to resist over and over again their efforts to join them in the "down" sessions. They later told me their exuberance was due to my presence.
• Tony seemed to have a good time out in the real countryside. He had lots to look at and explore. His presence made the time tolerable for me. Having to constantly supervise him also kept me occupied. I was amazed at how many more things he has learned to do. He now knows how to give. He knows how to pass things on. He knows to give and pass on when told. Jenny's natural father gave Tony a cigarette which Tony then gave to me. Tony was interested in the chicken and pigeon coops at the house. In the corner of the coop, I found a three foot long light hollow metal rod which I gave Tony to play with. He took to the rod like a fish to water. He walked about for an hour beating the ground with his new found toy.
• Speaking of fish, Jenny's natural relation's house had live fish in a bath tub. Thinking about this now, I wonder where the people would clean themselves but it is too bloody cold in the houses to bathe anyway. It is more practical to use the tub to keep fresh fish.
• We stayed at the house till eight p.m. I saw the countryside become pitch-black dark. I associate the darkness I saw with countryside that has a density of one house per square kilometre. But the countryside I had just seen in the day had hundreds of houses everywhere. Looking up, I saw a night sky full of stars - not since leaving Canada had I seen this.
• It was bloody cold. This "hardy" Canadian had to wrap himself in six layers of shirts and tops, long underwear, double sox, scarf, toque, and gloves while the locals were hat less and glove less.
• I enjoyed seeing Tony doted over although at the back of my mind, I couldn't help but think that these natural in-laws should have been a little more circumspect in their treatment of Tony since their biological claims of relationships with the boy had been forfeited when they abandoned his mother all those years ago.
• CCTV9, the Chinese Government English Channel, had an English speaking contest which I caught parts of. The contestants had to debate. One of the questions to be debated was "Should Beijing make subway rides free of charge?". The ensuing debate could only have happened on the left-wing portion of the political spectrum. The premises agreed to by all those present would have to have been debated first in a genuinely free and open debate. One of the foreign moderators made a comment, during the debate, that one shouldn't listen to Economists spout standard views from Economics textbooks - the Chinese had to be innovative. I would paraphrase that man as saying "let's ignore common sense. we need new ideas". I can recall making a tongue-in-cheek comment that CCTV9 was trying to be like the CBC (Canada's version of the BBC) and CNN. I was being flippant at all. CCTV9 tries to show the Chicom government as having the same governing policies as the American Democratic Party (the Democrats). Grandfather Wen must have gotten his schtick from Bill Clinton.
• Otherwise, Day Four was a waste. We went nowhere. I began to wonder why the wife hadn't bought a ticket to leave that day to go back to Wuxi. I had no urge to go anywhere for I had no desire to see garbage and feel cold pavement.