Visiting a Village in Mainland China

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Last weekend I went to visit my roommate’s family in a village in Taishan city. Therefore, I was unable to write nor submit any blog that weekend due to the internet regulations. However, as I promised, I want to share my experienceย during that weekend on my blog.

It took us almost six hours to get to my roommate’s family’s house. It was a long trip by bus, but a nice trip as well. We took the busย inย Hong Kon’s new territories, went through the Shenzhen border, where we waited for another bus which took us to Taishang city, where we waited for herย brother to pick us up.

Shenzhen, Chinese border.

People in the village were kind and welcoming, and the languageย that they speak is a dialect called Taishanese. Everything they eat is fresh, since they have land where they cultivatedย vegetables and rice.ย  My roommate was telling me that I was the firstย foreignerย to visit their village and she was as excited as I was for the trip.

Thisย is a landscape picture of the village I visited.
The other side of the village landscape.
What used to be my roommate’s grandparents’ house.

Some abandoned building.
My and the peanuts.

Village people love to bound together at breakfast and talk which is similar to what we do in my culture. We like to get together, share meals (as if we were a big family). That’s why these past weekends I ate a lot of food. Many people, especially elders were always trying to feed me food. I also tried some delicious had made sweet tofu and street food.

This is handmade food in Jolinas’s mother’s house (my roommate’s brother’s wife).
Me and my roommate eating some hand-made sweet tofu.

Overall, it was a beautiful experience and I am pleased with the decisionย I made visitingย the mainland last weekend. I learned so much about the life in a village and also how much they appreciatedย family and friends gathering. I am going back this weekend, so my next blog will also not be posted over the weekend as I usually do.ย Since it was a hot weekend I couldn’tย do much out-side exploring, but I will try this weekend if the weather allows it. Bye, follow the next blog!

Claudia Acuna

*Artigas-Etchegaray Family Scholarship <i>Hello in your host country language</i>: Nihao <i> University</i>: Skyline College <i>Expected graduation year</i>: 2019 <i>Destination</i>: Hong Kong <i>Program Provider</i>: University Sponsored <i>Major / Minor</i>: Architecture / Design <i>Demographic background</i>: First-generation, Salvadoran-American <i>Future career aspirations</i>: Earn a Bachelor degree in Architecture and a Masters degree in Architectural Design, with a focus on community design to help my community. <i>Top 3 goals for study abroad</i>: To learn more about the work that architects do in the renovation and conservation of historical buildings ; To immerse myself in the culture of Hong Kong; To learn from the experience during my internship and bring some of my experience to my community at home, to encourage others to study abroad and expand their perspectives.