Cynthia, her sister Lily, and Lily’s friend Susan from Germany and I went to WuZhen a couple of weekends ago. My day didn’t start out great – I was supposed to meet them at 7am at the WuMei Bus stop but I went into the “Spacey Katie” mode and rode right past the stop. (I know all my friends will easily be able to recall one of my spacey Katie moments). By the time I got off, got back on, and got off again (but THIS time at the RIGHT stop) I was 20 minutes late. We rode to the other bus station and caught another bus for the hour ride to WuZhen. WuZhen is an ancient preserved water town. There are 5 more similar towns in the 2 nearby provinces. (Remember this area is at the end of the Yangtze River). Most of these towns sort of resemble a Chinese version of Venice. There were lots of bridges, canals and cute houses on the edges of the canals. This town is famous for its rice wine (VERY strong), a taffy-like candy (that tastes like bit-o-honey), blue dyed fabric and their woodcarvings. We walked around the town, ate a noodle bowl lunch, took a boat ride and went thru most of their informative displays. Definitely a good day trip!
We walked back to the WuZhen bus station and got our tickets to go back to Hangzhou. Their dilapidated bus station looked like the roof was being supported by bamboo poles tied together. I stayed close to the door so if I saw some of the bamboo poles break I could run outside.
Side Note: One of the most humbling things on the trip was the fact that Cynthia and her sister were constantly switching between speaking in Chinese to German to English, along with a Chinese hometown dialect (sort of like twin speak) thrown in for good measure. Even Native German Susan could speak English, Chinese and French. I was the lone person that could only speak one language. We gotta start teaching our kids to learn an extra language earlier in their life. It is too hard when you are OLD.
I already am aware that I am a visual learner. Are most Chinese audio learners? Is the type of learner you are hereditary? Is that why every morning I hear a guy repeat English sentences over and over while pacing back and forth on the rooftop of the building across the street? And why when I go to class early the kids are reading their English text out loud. No, they are not reading together. They are all repeating different stuff, which makes for a very strange cacophony. I am hopeless – I have to write everything down or read along with any Chinese podcast I attempt. But I do seem to remember the Chinese food names the best. Maybe I have to get my taste sense in there too.
