Humorous China Adventure Story

[ntweisen]

Nascar drivers vacation in China?

 

My cousin Eric has been working in China for the past year. He recently emailed me this very funny story of his first Chinese New Year’s experience. Stories like this make you appreciate how wonderful our great nation really is but also fill you with a sense of longing for being able to go out in the world and experience life adventures for yourself. A few notes to fill you in on before we begin the story:

 

-Eric is very tall, probably at least 6 feet 5 inches. He is also well built.

-Eric’s nickname is “Bic” or, ironically, “Little Bic.”

-My cousin, Eric, travels with his friend from work, also named Eric. My name is not Eric. Not confusing at all.

-He was an engineering major, thus the spelling and grammar are far from perfect.

 

 

Chinese Spring Festival Trip

“新年快乐 (Happy New Year) While all of you in the US were celebrating

Valentine’s Day, China was busy celebrating their New Year. I once

again find myself on an airplane, this time on my way home, well my

Chinese home. It’s hard to believe that this week has gone by so

quickly. As I look back through the pictures from this week I’m

reminded how many different things I did and got to see. It never fails

that each of my trips are jammed packed full of adventure and countless

funny things that happen along the way. One of the advantages of being

in China is there never a shortage of things to laugh at.

 

I took a day of vacation from work on Friday so we could get a head

start on traveling before the weekend rush of everyone trying to get to

wherever they where headed. I was on my way to ZhangJiaKou (pronounced

JohnJackHo) with my intern Eric. He invited me to celebrate Chinese New

Years with his family in his hometown. My driver took us into Shanghai

where we took a flight to Beijing. There we met up with Eric’s parents

who had driven to the airport to meet us. I found out later that they

were so excited that I was coming to visit they had arrived at the

airport 4 hours before us just to make sure they were there in time.

Their kindness and generosity continued my entire stay with them. They

didn’t speak any English other Hello so Eric had to translate for me

most of the time.

 

During the car ride home they asked me if I knew how to drive. I, of

course, answered yes which was immediately followed by us swerving off

the road and the car coming to a screeching halt and the doors flying

open and before I knew what was happening I was being ushered into the

driver seat. They were absolutely insistent that I drove. Well, knowing

that there are no enforcement of any traffic laws and all Chinese are

terrible drivers, by western standards, I reluctantly agreed. My

thought was that I’d drive a little bit and then we could switch back.

This was not the case, Eric’s Dad took this opportunity to catch up on

some sleep and I ended up driving most of the two and a half hour drive

to their house.

 

 

By the time we got to their house it was already getting late but they

still prepared a monstrous feast for me. Everything was very delicious

and well cooked. They had arranged for me to sleep in Eric’s

bedroom. However, being of the taller nature the bed was not quite long

enough for me. So, they brought the footrest from the couch in and

placed it at the end of the bed to extend it for me.

 

 

It's pretty long and I didn't want to copy it all again so For the rest of the story and pictures...