Yesterday, I took a trip to Yichang yesterday, which is a scruffy little town of 4 million in the western part of Hubei province. It is about a two hour train ride from where I am located in Wuhan.
Yichang is on the banks of the Yangtse river and is a launch point for boat trips to the three gorges dam and river tours of the scenic three gorges area. I was out there to meet students at a local middle school to discuss what American High School is like and to answer questions. The company I work for conducted a larger presentation about the student exchange program that sends chinese kids to US schools.
The train ride was through alot of farm land full of small villes and farms. Alot of the farms had crops that were planted and green, even with some snow on the ground.
Upon arrival in Yichang, I went to a restaurant with several other people from the company. I had some very tasty dumplings.
I gave my speech and then was asked to speak again, so I had to make up a 5 minute talk about chinese american relations and the need to develop better cross cultural understanding.
After the presentation, everyone from the company went to a private dinner party at a local hotel. We had a room to ourselves that had a sitting area complete with a flat screen TV.
This was a sort of banquet. We sat around a rather large table. People sit according to their importance and then according to age. There is alot of ritual to how the seating is handled.
We were attended by several waitresses, who would come with dishes and to refresh the supply of "white wine".
White chinese wine is really a misnomer. It is actually a sort of spirit made from Sorghum and called Bao-gin. It has a vague sweetness and at first reminded me of annise seed liquor like Sambuca.
We sat around eating, and every so often, someone would stand and extend a toast to someone else. This obligates the person being toasted to drink a small shot of Chinese white wine.
At each seat, there is a small decanter that was filled with white wine by the hostess. You then pour the liquor into a very small shot glass. You need to keep your shot glass always full, because you never know when you will be toasted by someone.
In a short while, I was pretty buzzed.
Unfortunately, my new chinese handler and I had to take a train back to Wuhan. I ended up getting back to my apartment around 1:00 AM.
My new chinese handler is very nice. She is also very petite, standing under 5 feet tall. We make quite a sight; a 6 foot tall western man and a tiny chinese woman. When people call her my assistant, I tell them, no she is my boss. So far we get along. She is young and I need to learn her some things.
Yichang is on the banks of the Yangtse river and is a launch point for boat trips to the three gorges dam and river tours of the scenic three gorges area. I was out there to meet students at a local middle school to discuss what American High School is like and to answer questions. The company I work for conducted a larger presentation about the student exchange program that sends chinese kids to US schools.
The train ride was through alot of farm land full of small villes and farms. Alot of the farms had crops that were planted and green, even with some snow on the ground.
Upon arrival in Yichang, I went to a restaurant with several other people from the company. I had some very tasty dumplings.
I gave my speech and then was asked to speak again, so I had to make up a 5 minute talk about chinese american relations and the need to develop better cross cultural understanding.
After the presentation, everyone from the company went to a private dinner party at a local hotel. We had a room to ourselves that had a sitting area complete with a flat screen TV.
This was a sort of banquet. We sat around a rather large table. People sit according to their importance and then according to age. There is alot of ritual to how the seating is handled.
We were attended by several waitresses, who would come with dishes and to refresh the supply of "white wine".
White chinese wine is really a misnomer. It is actually a sort of spirit made from Sorghum and called Bao-gin. It has a vague sweetness and at first reminded me of annise seed liquor like Sambuca.
We sat around eating, and every so often, someone would stand and extend a toast to someone else. This obligates the person being toasted to drink a small shot of Chinese white wine.
At each seat, there is a small decanter that was filled with white wine by the hostess. You then pour the liquor into a very small shot glass. You need to keep your shot glass always full, because you never know when you will be toasted by someone.
In a short while, I was pretty buzzed.
Unfortunately, my new chinese handler and I had to take a train back to Wuhan. I ended up getting back to my apartment around 1:00 AM.
My new chinese handler is very nice. She is also very petite, standing under 5 feet tall. We make quite a sight; a 6 foot tall western man and a tiny chinese woman. When people call her my assistant, I tell them, no she is my boss. So far we get along. She is young and I need to learn her some things.
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