I traveled to China on December 20th, 2007 and arrived in China on December 22. We stayed in China from December 22 – December 9th and arrived back in the US on December 30th. We arrived in Beijing on December 22 and flew to Urumqi. My son, danio and his wife Lillian, met us and we took a 6 hour bus trip to Korla where Lillian’s parents live, We were unsure how to greet them, so we shook hands at first and Lillian’s Mom hugged us both. On out plan trip from Beijing to Urumqi, we flew over mountains of stone where no vegetation grew. It was a strange sight to see. We also flew over the Great Wall of China. There in seemingly the middle of nowhere was a long thin line stretched out between two mountains.

Everywhere in the city there were stores and there seemed to be Chinese writing everywhere. We took a taxi from the bus station to Lillian’s parents house. They live in an apartment complex. The apartment has 2 bedroom; one for Lillian and one for her parents. Her parents gave up their bedroom for us to sleep in. They slept on a single bed sqeezed in between the dining room table and the wall. There was central heating and running water and a toilet. The tap water, we were told was drinkable because the water came from a glacier. They had a couch and 2 armchairs and a coffee table in the living room. There was a dining room and a small narrow kitchen with a gas stove.

Everything there smelled and looked different than anything that I’ve ever seen before! My in-laws have a very large screen TV and a stereo. There was a water dispenser with hot and cold water. They had cable TV and I was surprised at how many stations they had and they were all in Chinese and done by the Chinese. One station was in English. I learned that children there learn English in school beginning in the third grade.

Art seems to be intertwined with every fiber of their life. Everything is decorated. In the parents bedroom was a round fan on a stand and it was covered with a pretty embroidered dust cover. They take off their shoes at the door and wear slippers around the house.
Everywhere we go in Korla, the people look at us because we are the only foreigners around. Little be little we are learning a few Chinese words like “Good Morning” and “Hello” and “ Thank you” and they in turn are learning some words in English. danio and Lillian act as translators for both sets of parents. Every once in a while we are able to understand what is being said through body language.

I have been on crutches since my knee surgery in September and I have difficulty walking. Lillian’s Mom already knew about that so she was prepared to try to so what she could to us Chinese medicine to help me get better. She had me take 2 tablets in the morning and 2 at night that was made from deer antlers. She also put ice on my knee to help reduce the swelling. She knew that putting her finger on my knee and applying pressure and watching how long it took for my skin to come back showed where the swelling was. She looked up some things in some Chinese books she had on medicine. She began applying ice to my knee. She began applying ice to my knee three times a day. On Thursday, we could see that the swelling was down.
Sunday, December 23 was the wedding party. Since we weren’t able to attend the wedding, a party was held in a nearby hotel. There were 2 large tables and 2 small tables in each of two rooms. The tables had a huge lazy susan in the middle and everyone at the table could help themselves to food on several different dishes. Some people drank wine and others, like us, drank peach juice. There was a TV screen in each room and danio hooked hooked up his digital camera and put on his wedding photos. danio and Lillian went around the 2 rooms to greet all of the guests and do a toast with them. We all had hot tea in a glass. We were the only foreigners there. So their marriage is really a meeting of East and West and now the families from both sides meet. It’s really a very historic occasion. Many of their family members were present. We met them all and felt warmly accepted by everyone.

Jim and I had jet lag during the entire trip. We would get tired around 3 or 4 in the afternoon and sleep until about 6/ eat supper and go to bed around 12 –1 in the morning and wake up around 10 the next morning. Everyone else didn’t need the afternoon nap like we did.

Our meals were all prepared by Lillian’s Mom. It was usually a bowl of rice or soup and then we would take from dishes on the table. I stuck with eating with a fork, but Jim and everyone else ate with chopsticks. We ate things like steamed vegetables, pickled vegetables, or duck meat or lamb or shrimp. In their living room was a large framed poster of a picture of danio and Lillian’s wedding