Binhai Farm

The Beginning

While I was volunteering in China I had the opportunity, on my week-long vacation to go with two other volunteers (Jessie and Liz) to spend a week with a Chinese family.

The day we were going to leave we got up, packed up all of our stuff (that we could fit into a backpack) and took a bus to a local university in Wuxi.

Actually, let me back up a little. It was probably a month before Liz was riding on a bus in Wuxi when she met and started up a conversation with a guy named Jack. Jack was a 21 year old from a little town in China called Binhai. Although his English was extremely good, he hadn’t actually had the opportunity to talk to someone from America before. Liz and Jack talked on the bus for about 30 minutes and ended up exchanging numbers. A few days later Liz and a couple other people in my group were invited to Jack’s University to hang out and meet some of his friends. Over the next couple of weeks we had many visits from the university students and many of us made quick friends with Jack and his friends.

The beginning of May in China there is a holiday that everyone celebrates called none other than May Holliday. This is a week long vacation for people in China. Students get school off and many people don’t have to work. Many of the volunteers in my group were planning a big trip to Guilin; others were going to go to Beijing. I, along with a few of the other volunteers decided to sick around the school. A week or so before everyone was going to leave for their various vacation spots a fellow volunteer, Jessie, and I were sitting in the cafeteria eating our lunch when Liz came up to us and asked if we wanted to go with her and Jack to Binhai (Jack’s home) for the week.

One of the main reasons I hadn’t gone to Guilin or Beijing with some of the other volunteers was because of finances. I just couldn’t afford the train ticket, lodging, food, and various other expenses for a whole week. Going to Binhai would be perfect. Liz said that she would pay for half our bus ticket, and then when we got there we wouldn’t have to pay for food or lodging because we would be staying with Jack’s family. Well heck, I didn’t want to stay at the school all week, and neither did Jessie. We agreed to go.

The University

So the day of our departure we got our stuff together and hopped on a bus for Jack’s school. That in and of itself was a blast let me tell you. The bus was crowded, so we all had to stand up for around an hour with 50 pounds of junk on our backs. It also felt like it was a million degrees outside, so the bus felt like an inferno.

Finally we got to our stop. We got off the bus and walked for about ¾ of a mile to Jack’s school. There was a security guard at the front of the school who wouldn’t let us in. We tried to explain we were waiting for Jack, but that didn’t mean anything to him because (1) he didn’t speak English and (2) Jack was his English name, we had no idea what his Chinese name was. Genius! Jessie and I were by this time hot, tired, and more than a little frustrated, so we graciously let Liz take care of the situation while we sat in the shade.

Before long word had gotten around that there were some weird white Americans and Canadians (that’s for you Jess) sitting outside of the school trying to talk gibberish to the security guard, and Jack showed up. Finally, we were all quite relieved. He took us across the street to a little restaurant for some lunch and then we went back to the school to hang out until the bus came to take us to Binhai (do you remember timeframes for this? I remember we waited a long time, but I don’t remember how long). While we waited we played ping pong, talked to some of the other students, and even got to kind of be a part of a class.

Finally it was time to leave. We got on the bus which smelled stronly of cigarette smoke, and whose floor was littered with sunfower seeds for our expected 2 hour ride to Binhai. We couln’t have been more wrong. The 2 hour bus ride turned into a 6 hour bus ride from hell. By the time we arrived in Binhai at 12:30 in the morning I was more than ready to be off (add anything you want to this paragraph, I know it can be eleborated upon, like what was up with Jack telling us not to talk to anyone once we got off the bus and telling us to stay near him?)

One of Jack’s frineds picked us up in his car and took us to Jack’s street (dirt road). It was pitch black and more than a little unnerving. Here I am in the middle of China at 12:30 in the morning and I walking down a pitch black dirt road with weird noises sounding all around me. I was so happy when we reached his house and were met by his mother (whome we later called Mama). We were fed a wonderful meal (can you remember what it all was?), washed our feet, and finally went to bed on a 4 poster bed with a plywood mattres. Oh boy was I experiencing China now! (elaborate on the room/house, outhouse)