Hey Hey and a Big G´Day toya,
 
Dining in a small village with chickens at my feet.
This is Part II
 
Part I can be found here
 
Once again my beautiful friend Joyce (Li Ping) had invited myself and this year Canadian Rob to her small village to dine with her family at a Spring Festival feast like no other.
 
How lucky am I!
But more of that late, here is the lead up!
 
This is the night before.
After yet another Spring Festival drink-a-thon.
This one was completely whiskey based at Shaowu´s most expensive KTV haunt.
The owner is Yan´s classmate from school.
 
A big night!
A very big night!
Don´t ask for details!
 
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Well, stay home and have a relaxing evening.
Put your feet up and drink water instead of wine (or beer).
 
Ok I thought, I´ll give it a go.
It kind of felt like a waste of holidays that were already being wasted due to no passport.
But, if that is what my mind was telling me to do then that is what is needed right about now.
 
Yeah, sure, stay home, put your feet up, drink water instead of wine (or beer), read a book and FREAKING SPEND MOST OF THE EARLY HOURS OF THE MORNING CHASING AND BEING CHASED BY A DINOSAUR SIZED FILTHY RAT WHO HAD EATEN AND THROWN HALF MY FOOD ALL OVER THE KITCHEN!
 
See what happens when you do the right thing!
 
There I was reading `The Diceman´ (awesome book mind you!) and it would have been around 2am and I heard CRASH, BANG, BOOM. That was ok, it´s been happening for days now. Remember it is Spring Festival here in China and no one has anything better to do than eat, drink and let off fire crackers at all strange hours of the morning. So after the endless CRASH BANG BOOMS finally began to quieten down (somewhere around 2:30am) I turned off the iPod and light and gently lay my head on the pillow and just as I was about to dribble upon my pillow I heard some really strange sounds from my lounge/kitchen area.
 
Strange mainly as Amigo went home several weeks ago, I live alone, have a big steel security door and my apartment is on the fourth floor!
 
I soberly fumbled for the light switch and opened the bedroom door. I heard things falling in the darkness beyond me so I ran over to the lounge room light and found shredded paper everywhere. I then moved into the kitchen and found my kitchen table in a complete mess. My bread had been ripped apart and it was scattered all over the floor.
 
What is it with rats?
Why can´t they simply be satisfied with nibbling away on one slice of bread?
Why do they have to eat sections and toss it to then move on to the next slice?
 
Greed, sheer greed!
Do they not think about all the poor starving rats in Ethiopia?
 
Anyhow, the next several hours found me running around the apartment with two mops chasing and being chased by a rat the size of a small dinosaur. I had my couch scattered all over the place and the rest of the apartment looked like I had been having a wonderful time with several of the sexy dancing girls from the KTV place the night before.
 
In the end I simply opened the front door and went back to bed.
 
Of course any noise I heard after that (even in my tightly secured bedroom) was a huge rat coming to eat me. By around 7am I gave in and rose to get ready for the day ahead. After playing Japanese Ninja Sword Warrior with my two mops for around thirty minutes without a single sighting from my enemy I happily accepted that my little grey friend had either taken the manly suicide dive out the side window or simply left by the front door with his tail between his legs.
 
At 9am I met Joyce and Canadian Rob down stairs at the legendary Mr Doo´s office.
 
Before we left I got some great news that made me feel both, more secure yet angry and frustrated at the same time. After a month and a half my passport finally had arrived back in Shaowu and it was soon safely back with me. Frustrated as I will soon have to begin teaching and sadly this winter break my pass port will take me nowhere.
 
BUGGER!
A REAL BUGGER FOR ME!
 
The rest of the day found both Canadian Rob and I at Joyce´s Village.
 
We walked the village fields and little bamboo trails that took us past tombs of past villagers along with remains of where these people once lived. There really isn´t anything like a village to show you how simple life not only once was but simply can be. Not an easy life when it comes to work etc but if you don´t wish for money and want peace and quiet, then find yourself a beautiful village girl.
 
But then you´ll have to find one that actually wants to stay there with you!
Much harder than you think!
 
Just like last year, lunch time found us with chop sticks in hand digging in to a most wonderful Spring Festival Feast. It really is hard to put into words the difference between dining with a family in a small village and dining with a heap of people in an expensive restaurant.
 
Usually the food in the small village will win easily over the expensive restaurant.
 
The difference is, the small villagers usually only eat like this once or twice a year. So much love and attention is put into the preparation of the food around Spring Festival. A lot of their well earned money has been spent on it and soon days are spent preparing the food for those limited special days when the family can finally get together.
 
Also, in a big expensive restaurant you will never have the opportunity to dine with chickens squabbling and squawking at your feet. It really is an amazing. Sounds strange compared to the normal family dog or cat doesn´t it!
 
If you are ever invited to a small village for such an occasion, simply feel an honoured guest!
You can try to find words of thanks but usually they will be waved away!
What you will eat has taken much money and time to prepare!
Don´t force your thanks, simply be thankful!
Walk away feeling an honoured!
Life is not always so beautiful!
 
Beers N Noodles toya.....shane
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The soundtrack to this entry was the most beautiful `Faithless´
The album was `Sunday 8pm´