zandertoyGrandpas dream finally came true. We went to Tai Shan village today. One of our neighbors came to pick us up the Gaoye International Hotel.
He was our actual neighbor that lived next door to our house in the village. Our first impression of the village was kind of shocking. I imagined that there would be rice fields and huts but when we got to the village that was basically it except there was actual small houses made out of concrete i guess. Very basic houses. Uncle said that our village only got running water around 20 years ago.
We went into the house and you could tell that no one has been in that house for decades. Everything that remained in the house covered with dust and no signs of modern day. We climbed up this wooden ladder and found some dishes that obviously date back at least eight decades. Grandpa remembered that the dishes that he used were all signed with the same Chinese character almost a type of family crest. We saved all of the dishes and had one of the people from the village wash them for us.
When she asked if we wanted her to wash them for us I assumed that she would just wash them in hour small house but she washed them in the small stream in front of the village. She made a sponge with soggy leaves and washed all of the dishes. It was so bizarre to see how basic their living was. Everything that they did was so old school. Even the guy working the garden had a stick with two buckets that he used to carry the water from the village to the field.
We strolled through the passageways of the village to see some really old houses that you would think are vacant but obviously these people still lived there.
After we walked around for a bit they took us to Grandpas grandparents grave in the village. The graves were so old that the engraving was so faint on the tombstone that you could barely see the marks.
On the wall that is in front of the village you could see the dried vegetables that they would store away to make soups and things. Everything has a purpose. They have to harvest the vegetables and dry them in order to preserve them.
The couple that helped us also gave us a small bag of rice. This rice may just be plain basic rice but the fact that it was grown and harvested in our village is so amazing. They also had a dog and after being in China for this long we know that they raise them for food. He looked a few years old and uncle asked if they are going to eat him and they said “Of course! Dogs are delicious, we’ll probably cook him in about a year.”
One thing that I noticed was that most of the people living in the village were really old. One of the couples that helped us with the dishes had a son that helped us when we visited the cemetery. His wife works outside the village and you could really see how their culture worked. The son marries and they work and bring money back to the village. The parents took care of the kids while the parents worked. So what happens when the kids are done sending money to take care of their parents and move away? The kids obviously would want a better life for their children. What happens to the village when all the old people die?
This trip has truly defined the word poverty. These people work so hard to make a living. They do anything that they can do to make money for their family. Grandpa was nice enough to give some people money. i guess this is just how it is if you go back to the village.
Grandpa told me that he was around 22 when he came to the us and that Grandma came around 30 years old when she arrive to the US. I think about how I have become the person I am today in my 30 years of living- the thirty years of life lessons that has made me the person I am today. Grandma lived in this village till she was my age. I look back at how grandma was, saving everything that could be re-used, not wasting running water, always working or cleaning. I remember that Grandma would walk several blocks just to save a few cents to buy something cheaper. I must admit that I was mean to grandma sometimes about saving things like tupperware and not flushing the toilet with bowls of water but not it all makes sense. Grandma was raised that way.
I am definitely more appreciative of what I have now. Americans are so wasteful with all of the materialistic things that buy and throwaway its really so disgusting.
I really hope that the kids learned something from this trip.