When you know someone intimately who is Chinese, you will be amazed by their kindness, generosity, and hospitality. Luckily for me, I have family and my mother had friends in China. From Hong Kong, we took the train to Shenzhen and crossed the border where we were met by a family friend. Uncle Lee (Leeshushu) as we called him, drove us from Shenzhen to Ganzhou. A 5 hour drive turned into a 10 hour drive because of horrible traffic and several accidents. Oh, fun fact: on all the highways in China there are cameras that take pictures of your car as you drive by. I think about one every few miles. Sometimes I make silly faces at the cameras. In America, this would certainly be considered a huge violation of privacy (I tried to explain that to my cousin, but he did not understand), but here they are used to find criminals.
Once Ganggege and Najiejie picked us up, they refused to let me carry a single bag! I watched guiltily as Ganggege carried my horrendously heavy suitcase up 7 flights of stairs. Once again, I mentally chastised myself for packing too much. Ganggege’s mother offered us food and made whatever dishes we liked. For some reason, they were very insistent that we never help clean up anything. After we finished eating, we would start to put away our dishes and Jiuma would run across the room to do it for us. Same with getting more rice. I complained to my aunt that I had not slept well because Ganggege’s 3 year old son had slept in my bed and he cried frequently at night. That night, they slept at Popo’s old apartment and Joey and I each had a bedroom to ourselves while Ganggege’s mother, step-father, and his step-brother’s son shared one room. Then, on top of all this, they refused to let us pay for anything, not even gifts for Joey’s family and they wanted to buy me presents. When we first arrived, we had given everyone gifts as a thank you to Leeshushu for the ride and to Ganggege for the place to stay. After all their kindness, I was very eager to give the children a hong bao (red bag full of money as is tradition for the Chinese New Year). But even after this, they bought our train tickets to Shenzhen and more gifts. I suppose I was deluded to think that once Joey had distributed the gifts, I could use the empty suitcase to carry my stuff, for now it was completely full of gifts for my mother, my family, and Joey’s family. My aunt even gave Joey and I hong bao, which I had not expected because she had already given me gifts. It is Chinese custom to refuse to accept money and fight to pay for things. At the beginning, I attempted to, but my Chinese was too poor so I always lost the fight and eventually gave up.
Ganggege’s mother fed us and washed our clothes. Najiejie and Ganggege would take us out. Leeshushu and Sanyiyi would also take us sightseeing and to dinner. Sanyidie, my uncle and ping pong coach, taught us some cool ping pong moves and let us use the facilities as we pleased. Leeshushu had us over and too showered us with gifts and made Joey’s favorite Chinese hamburgers from scratch. Joey and I never had to worry about a thing, not transportation, not money, and not food. In fact, we pretty much ate every minute of being awake because we were always being offered some new food or being taken out to lunch or dinner. I don’t think I will ever be able to repay their hospitality. I really hope they can make it to America one day so that we can return their kindness.