The Comforts of a Chinese Family

Last Sunday, all of the people on the trip split up into three groups and met up with three, very welcoming Chinese families.  After hopping off of the bus at the home of our assigned family, we walked through a beautiful park-like atmosphere.  There were green grasses, lush trees, and flowers spread amongst a sidewalk that was covered by the canopy of the trees.  As I heard the sound of voices from above my head, I looked up and saw our loving family waving down to us out of their home on the sixth story.

When we arrived in the home, we were greeted with a loving kindness and quickly put on our house shoes so that we would not bring dirt from the streets into the house.  The entire family (Dad, Mom, and Son) were wearing silky looking pajamas.  One of the first things that they told us was to be comfortable and act like we are at our home. So, we sat down on the couch and made ourselves at home.  Shortly after sitting down, the Mom of the family brought out some fresh fruit for us to eat.  The fruit was delicious!  We had two different types of cherries, nectarines, and some really juicy watermelon.  It was a great way to welcome us Clemson students into their home.

After talking about things like life in America and comparing interests, we all went into the kitchen to make some dumplings.  The first thing that we did was get an overview of what we would be cooking with.  The dough for the dumplings was on the kitchen table, and the fillings for the dumplings were in the kitchen.  I started out in the kitchen.  The Dad had me cutting up Celery in no time! 

After cutting up some of the dumpling fillings, we all got a lesson in how to cut and roll the dough for the dumplings.  I was a bit rusty at first, but I think that I got a lot better after a few attempts.  Once the dough was rolled into circles, or hexagons in my case, it was time to fill the dumplings.  The Mom gave us a couple of quick examples, made it look real easy, and turned the table over to us ha.  We didn’t do to hot.  The dumplings that I made looked like tacos, but they got the job done. About 150 dumplings later, it was time to eat them.  They were delicious!

Just a sample of some of the dumplings that we made.  They don't look too bad from the picture...



For the rest of the night we all just hung out and had a great time.  We talked, I showed them some pictures from my life back in South Carolina, and we played this intense card game.  A lot of little things happened in between our arrival and departure, but the reality of the experience cannot be explained.  The family was so welcoming to us and treated us like their kids. 

This two guys in the back of the picture are the Son and his friend.  The friend is what helped set up the whole experience.  We rode to the apartment with him and left with him when it was time to go.



Gotta love the pajamas.  The Son spoke the most English, the Dad spoke a little English, and the Mom didn't really speak any.  We still had such a great time!