I had one of the most interesting weekends of my entire life last week. My coworker Lin Dong is ethnically Tibetan, and she invited Yinglei and I to her home for the weekend to attend her relative's wedding.
On the road! A three hour bus ride to a city called Yanyuan followed by an hour long car ride to a house on top of a mountain. It was a bumpy ride
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| Spot the creeper behind us? |
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| Why is it so blurry? bumpiest ride of my life |
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| I have no idea how she slept through this |
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| Not the worst bathroom I've ever been in |
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| We met a guy on the bus who raises carrier pidgeons. Right on. |
When we finally got to the house, we were welcomed immediately with three cups of tea, the traditional Tibetan way of inviting a guest into their home. The tea was made of some sort of cheese, which sounds disgusting but was actually surprisingly delicious.
The house was made of mud, which was a first for me. There was the main room where we had the tea and everybody sang together. It seemed that every single person had an incredible voice, and even though I had no idea what they were singing, it was beautiful. They asked Yinglei and I to sing too. They also fed us goat that they had just killed, because killing a goat or a pig is a way to honor a guest. And that goat was delicious.
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| They killed a pig for us later too. creepiest thing I have ever seen |
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| The head of our dead goat |
After we had been welcomed with our tea and gorgeous singing, everyone went to the outside area of the house for dancing! This was probably my favorite part of the weekend. They taught us a bunch of line dances, and traditional dances which mostly involve holding hands and synchronized stepping in a circle. The only negative part of the dancing was when the old guys started getting drunk and literally pushing other people aside so they could dance next to me and drunkenly bump into me ALL THE TIME. And also tell me how Obama is thumbs up and Communism stinks. I have decided that middle aged drunk people are the worst kind of drunk people, and earnestly implore all middle aged people to at least stay home and drink.
These are two of the douchebags that wouldn't leave me alone all weekend. Sorry to be so judgemental, but they were two of the most rude, disrespectful people I have ever met. The one on the left kept asking my if I was pro-independence for Tibet. Dangerous topic anyone? The one on the right was bragging about how he had two wives. Because he had money enough to pay two bride prices. I know it's a different culture and all, but I wanted to strangle him.
The next day was officially the beginning of the wedding, and Lin Dong gave Yinglei and I traditional Tibetan clothes to wear! It is a tradition at such events to not let your guests enter the house until the have had three cups of alcohol. And so Lin Dong had us stand literally in front of the doorway and not let people in until they had got they drank on. I crossed "be a bartender" off my bucket list after this.
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| This is the table they had us distribute the alcohols with |
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| Going to set this as my cover photo now |
Lin Dong didn't tell us before that she wanted us to be security guards/bartenders, so I was a little surprised by my morning assignment. After all the guests had arrived, I was a little more than surprised when she wanted to drag me around to the lunch tables and introduce me to every single guest at the wedding. She was like "they have never seen a foreigner before, and they all want to meet you". So she introduced me as "Our American friend" to people that just stared at me awkwardly, and made me toast with everyone. It was humiliating. I was a blonde puppet to make her look exotic in front of her family. I wouldn't have been as mad if she hadn't started calling me her best friend. seriously girl? I appreciated her inviting me, but other than that, we have never hung out. And on top of THAT, she started telling people that Yinglei was Korean, because apparently being from China is boring. I could tell that Yinglei wasn't happy about it either. This sort of thing happens, but I guess this was just too much. And thus the negative feelings of the weekend began.
After lunch, we went on a walk
I started feeling a liiiiittle sick, so I didn't eat dinner, and told Lin Dong that I had just eaten too much for lunch. I thought I would be fine, until later that night, when they made a SECOND dinner. As it is the Chinese way to shove food down your guests' throats whether they want it or not, there was no way I was getting away without eating. And so I participated in second dinner like a tall blonde hobbit.
The next morning, I woke up to this gorgeous sunrise
But I was still feeling sick. Yinglei and I helped the rest of the girls get the bride ready, and she looked gorgeous.
We asked her where she had met her fiance, and she said she hadn't. Apparently, this was an arranged marriage, and the groom paid 100,000 RMB (approx $16,700) for his bride. That is quite a price, especially for a farmer who lives in the mountains of rural China. When the bride first saw her groom, she looked less than ecstatic. I thought he was super handsome, but I guess it's hard to be excited about marrying someone you've never spoken to before. When we were leaving, she kept pulling my arm and saying that I should stay there. When I asked her if she was nervous she got this look on her face that made me want to cry. The rest of her life, decided by her parents. Again, I know that different cultures are special and beautiful and I respect theirs, but I am so freaking happy to be an American sometimes.
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| This is Lin Dong. |
The next few pictures are my tribute to Asian Emma Stone. These pictures don't do her justice but I swear this girl looks JUST like her. Am I crazy? Maybe I am just a little too into Emma Stone...
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| She's got a little bit of buck teeth. Just like Emma |
And then handsome boy came and literally forced them together
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| The happy couple |
More Emma Stone. Tell me if I'm crazy.
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| Especially in this one |
------- Do you see this???-------- |
| This was crazy legit. How they make their tea with cheese. Sounds awful right? It was delicious. |
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| Our fearless leader. Always here to protect us |
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| I didn't even ask about the cow leg |
By Sunday afternoon, the aforementioned and delicious goat that I had eaten had decided to declare war on my internal organs, so I was pretty eager to leave. Lin Dong promised we would leave at 4:00. So naturally we were in a car ready to go by 5:30. Then, I asked the driver if he had drank anything that day. And had to wait for an insisted-upon-by-me not drunk driver (who I'm still not sure was completely sober). I even offered to drive if no one was available, because I had not seen a single person not pounding down the baijiu (chinese vodka-esque drank that hangs out around 70% alcohol and smells like a turtle threw up into an old shoe) that day. So by the time we FINALLY left Yanyuan city, it was almost 8:00, I was NOT happy, and the three hour winding bumpy mountain road back to Xichang was not a pleasant experience. I may have cried a little. And threw up on the side of the road. And okay I cried a lot.
So that's the story of my Tibetan wedding experience. Stay tuned for delightful stories on child abuse and birthday parties.
And don't forget to use the touriem toilets
I love you, America
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