Our First Chinese Wedding!!!! Hmm, Interesting

Hello Everyone.  This weeks second blog brings us back up to date with the weekly story.  When I began this blog, my wife and brother said "Hey why don't you do it twice a month or even once a month".  I said "No Way, I am committed to share every week.  Like I have said before in previous blogs, we have a saying here that "You never know what is going to happen in China".  If I did it once a month I wouldn't be able to remember half of the stuff that seems to happen on a daily basis.  Besides, I am energized by the fact that I have kept it up for so many weeks.  With that being said here we go for this week.

SCHOOL:  This was a pretty low key week at school.  We did make it through our seven day work week and were excited for the weekend to come.  I will confess that it was actually only a six day work week for me. I missed one day due to participating in an event with some of the local business men.  It was still kind of work, since I was representing our school.  Yeah, think what you like, but I don't have to justify anything to anyone.  I work hard at doing PR for the school.  Wait, I think that sounded like a justification.  Heck with it, time to move on!!!  Anyway we are all preparing for the end of the semester and testing.  The only real exciting thing that happened was that Cecelia and I have been offered positions for next year already.  Apparently this is rather unusual, but because we have done such a good job they wanted to get an answer from us already.  Usually you are requested to renew your contract in March.  More to come on this subject later.  Cecelia did go out to dinner with the first grade staff on Friday.  She said she had a great time and made the comment, "Nobody should ever say that these people aren't friendly".  Her dinner wasn't quite as crazy as going to KTV and she did make it home at a reasonable time.

ADVENTURES:  This weeks adventure focuses on our friends John and Katy.  John and Katy are both kindergarten teachers.  They are originally from the United States.  They have lived abroad for a number of years and recently got married in the US at a justice of the peace.  They did this because they didn't have time to plan a formal wedding before heading back to China.  So, when they returned here they started to plan to have a wedding ceremony here and then in the states later on this summer.  When John and Katy began planning their wedding they told us that it was going to be a traditional Chinese wedding.  John and Katy love China and have really embraced the culture here, just as we have.

That is one good looking family!!!!

  After finding out the dates and times Paul and I went to the local tailor to get traditional shirts made.  We had to have them made, because believe it or not I am too big for the clothing here for men.  I am a size XXL here, while Paul cannot find anything for his brawny body.  The problem is mostly in the shoulders and the upper arms.  Chinese men typically don't have broad shoulders, chests or biceps.  Even with my slight physique I am larger than most of the men here in that particular area of the body.  Just think about it, Paul is almost twice as big as me in those areas.

Paul with the beauties before the wedding

  It took a little over a week to have them made, but when they were finished they were awesome!!!!  The cost was around $80 each.  They are worth every cent.  I don't mind telling you that we both look like a couple of Chinese Aristocrats with them on.  As for Cecelia and the girls, we found them traditional Chinese dresses in the wholesale market in Guangzhou.  Cecelia is absolutely a Chinese hotty in her dress.  The word "Concubine" was thrown out more than once during the evening when they saw her in the dress.  All I can tell you is that I am one lucky Chinese Warlord(I mean Aristocrat).  Claire and Taylor were stunning in their dresses as well.  Our entire family was a big hit at the wedding, because of the time and effort to support John and Katy with our garb.  There were two other friends that dressed traditional as well and that was Hector and Adam.  You will be happy to know that we didn't out class the bride and groom.  From the pictures I am going to share with you, you can see the amazing outfits that they wore.  Erin and Nathan, the best man and maid of honor were also dressed in their finery as well.
  You may be asking by now what is a Chinese wedding ceremony like.
 Well, let me tell you.  It is nothing like traditional weddings in the US.  As the bride and groom walk down the aisle to the stage, they are peppered with rose petals and confetti canons are shot off over their heads.  So, by the time they get up front they have confetti and rose petals stuck all over them.

The Happy Chinese Couple!

  The next thing that happens is that the bride and groom then do the bowing ceremony.  An older married couple is brought up to sit in chairs on the stage.  John and Katy then move over in front of them as bow.  This is to pay respect to the long marriage of the older couple and to ensure that theirs will be long and fulfilling as well.  They then bow to each other, and the one the bows the lowest is the person in charge of the family.  Typically women win this one and Katy obviously did not disappoint.  John is kicking himself for not going to Yoga with us and Katy more often.  They then bow to the audience for respect and do receive encouragement from us as a group.

The best man with his best woman, Nate and Erin

  They finish off the ceremony with a toasting ritual.  The first toast is to each other.  The second toast is with their arms interlocked like many traditional weddings in the US.  Finally, they toast by putting their arms around each others necks and drinking.  When the service is over they go around to all of the tables and toast with each table.  By the way, they must use wine.  So you can imagine by the time they get done, they are a little tipsy.
  After everything is done on stage there is entertainment.  The kindergarten teachers that work with John and Katy put on a couple of skits and dance routines.  The strangest skit was a rendition of Cinderella which we all couldn't understand.  The weirdest part about it was that they had a man playing the evil stepmothers role and a women playing the prince charming role.  The women could have easily played the evil stepmother.

Man, those people look very Chinese!!!

  We all had Chinese food, beer and Chinese white lightening.  It was a good time had by all.  We were invited over to John and Katy's for some post wedding games, but apparently they are not appropriate for children so we didn't go.  According to John and Katy I can't even describe them to you on the blog or I would lose my "G" rating.

What's a wedding with a good old fashioned family brawl.

  The next morning we were invited to go to have traditional Chinese Tea and breakfast with our friend David's family.  It was very good and we had some very interesting breakfast items.  One of the more interesting foods that we liked was Pumpkin Congee.  It is a porridge like substance with pumpkin and corn in it.  According to David, the porridge was a favorite with the Red Army during the Communist uprising.  Of course the red sweet potato balls and steamed bokchoy are interesting.  I can't say I enjoy having vegetables for breakfast other than potatoes.  David's family is gracious and generous.  They have treated us like family and it has been greatly appreciated.

Of course after a fight we will take on everyone else together!!!

  After breakfast we came home and caught the bus to Guangzhou.  We haven't had any trips as of late to do any historical research, so we took the bus to Yuxiu Park.  Yuxiu Park is famous because it houses the most revered statue in the Guangdong Province.  The statue signifies the five rams that the people attribute to saving the province.  Apparently as the story goes, there was a terrible drought and people were on the verge of starvation.  Somehow the goats came out of nowhere and began eating the weeds that were harming the plants.  From that point on the plants prospered and the people were not starving any longer.  Based on the story, it seems to me that the point everyone is missing is that not only did the goats eat the harmful plants, but the people learned about fertilizer as well.  Anyway, it was a beautiful day and we enjoyed the low key atmosphere of the park.  We will definitely have to go back and see more.  The parks are so big here that there is no way to see all of them in one day.
   Finally, we are so excited because it is six days until we leave for Thailand.  So next weeks blog will come to you from Chiang Mai, Thailand.  I won't have a lot of pictures yet, because it will be the first day of our adventure, but I will share with you what I have.  Until then Zaijian!!!!

The girls at the famed Five Rams Statue!!