Living in a city of 14 million people I
forget the joy of open space. If there is one thing Daniels hometown offers its
space. You could stand on his roof top and there it’s nothing but mountains as
far as you can see. We went off to explore the forest and walked for hours
without seeing or hearing another soul. Sounds so romantic, until he sees a
grasshopper and goes into hunting mode. Or he rushes out in front of me and I
slide off the path and into a sticker bush. One day I will be a nature girl but
it’s gonna take some time.
Another simple pleasure was the mountain springs. In China I am so used to boiling everything and then burning my tongue BC I'm too impatient to wait for the water to cool off before you drink it. Or buying so much bottled water I have a tower of plastic bottles taking over my apartment. Daniels house has well water that isn't polluted BC it’s such a rural area, so we drank specked to hand. Simple joys!
When ever we left the house I always asked if I should bring some water and he replied, "We will find some in the nature"
Natural was also an attribute you can't get in the city. I literally dug a water chestnut out of the dirty, pulled the peel back and took a bite! It doesn't get any fresher than that. The city girl in me wanted to wash my hands and scrub the peel first but I slowly learned to get over myself. I was covered in dirty all week, I used an outhouse with bees swarming my lady parts, i showered in a bucket, I sat on chairs 4 inches from the ground, I ate with a chicken pecking the scraps under my feet, I feasted on wasps and grasshoppers! I'm hard core country!
The country also brings out another side off Daniel I don't see much in the city. He becomes so manly on the farm. I'm so city I don't even know the name of it, but he carried around this big c-shaped knife everywhere we went clearing the path in front of us. He stood up randomly on day and announced, "I will cut down that tree! We needn't it." Climbs up the tree and starts hacking away. I of coarse freak out and stand under the tree nagging him to be careful until I almost get hit by falling branches and run back up to the house. I think he did it on purpose, but it worked.
I also find my telling him to be careful or not to do something seems to have the opposite effect on him! He will push harder, climb higher with the boost of adrenaline he gets from trying to prove me wrong. Boys will be boys, he is so different but I find more and more he is all boy.
I also love seeing him with the kids. He is going to be such a good dad. I have to admire the country parenting style. Daniel said he wanted to bring presents for the kids but it was no use giving toys BC they would break them in 2 seconds; when tested this theory proved 100% true. The kids really didn't have any toys in the whole house. They wanted to be where we were. When we collected nuts the kids were right beside us cracking the shells with rocks. The teacher in me wanted to make a game out of every task, but they just looked at me like I was crazy. I would tickle fight with the little boy and then a few minutes later he would run off to stand between Daniels legs while we watched the wasps! Come on! I'm way more fun than wasps! And Daniel didn't even touch the boy or speak to him; the boy was content just to be with him.
In the USA I find we often over parent. My first instinct is to over protect the kids, don't touch that berry it might be poisonous, don't go in the mud you'll get dirty, don't climb on that you might fall... These kids spit the berries out when they didn't taste good, washed of the mud when they got home and brushed themselves off when they fell. Now they were also naughty and got into everything and made a mess but they are kids and it didn't matter. It was really stressful forcing myself to relax!
One of the cutest moments was watching the little boy carry around this plastic butter knife using it to "help" cut the branches with Daniel. He would even carry it in his belt loop like his uncle. I heard him scream when he was play fighting with his older sister, "I have a knife!" As he held it up proudly. Every stick or rock was a gun and they threw nuts as grenades and smeared berries on each other’s skin as if it was blood! So imaginative, who needs toys; the whole mountain was their play ground. I loved it but was glad to retire from aunt duty at the end of the week.
Another simple pleasure was the mountain springs. In China I am so used to boiling everything and then burning my tongue BC I'm too impatient to wait for the water to cool off before you drink it. Or buying so much bottled water I have a tower of plastic bottles taking over my apartment. Daniels house has well water that isn't polluted BC it’s such a rural area, so we drank specked to hand. Simple joys!
When ever we left the house I always asked if I should bring some water and he replied, "We will find some in the nature"
Natural was also an attribute you can't get in the city. I literally dug a water chestnut out of the dirty, pulled the peel back and took a bite! It doesn't get any fresher than that. The city girl in me wanted to wash my hands and scrub the peel first but I slowly learned to get over myself. I was covered in dirty all week, I used an outhouse with bees swarming my lady parts, i showered in a bucket, I sat on chairs 4 inches from the ground, I ate with a chicken pecking the scraps under my feet, I feasted on wasps and grasshoppers! I'm hard core country!
The country also brings out another side off Daniel I don't see much in the city. He becomes so manly on the farm. I'm so city I don't even know the name of it, but he carried around this big c-shaped knife everywhere we went clearing the path in front of us. He stood up randomly on day and announced, "I will cut down that tree! We needn't it." Climbs up the tree and starts hacking away. I of coarse freak out and stand under the tree nagging him to be careful until I almost get hit by falling branches and run back up to the house. I think he did it on purpose, but it worked.
I also find my telling him to be careful or not to do something seems to have the opposite effect on him! He will push harder, climb higher with the boost of adrenaline he gets from trying to prove me wrong. Boys will be boys, he is so different but I find more and more he is all boy.
I also love seeing him with the kids. He is going to be such a good dad. I have to admire the country parenting style. Daniel said he wanted to bring presents for the kids but it was no use giving toys BC they would break them in 2 seconds; when tested this theory proved 100% true. The kids really didn't have any toys in the whole house. They wanted to be where we were. When we collected nuts the kids were right beside us cracking the shells with rocks. The teacher in me wanted to make a game out of every task, but they just looked at me like I was crazy. I would tickle fight with the little boy and then a few minutes later he would run off to stand between Daniels legs while we watched the wasps! Come on! I'm way more fun than wasps! And Daniel didn't even touch the boy or speak to him; the boy was content just to be with him.
In the USA I find we often over parent. My first instinct is to over protect the kids, don't touch that berry it might be poisonous, don't go in the mud you'll get dirty, don't climb on that you might fall... These kids spit the berries out when they didn't taste good, washed of the mud when they got home and brushed themselves off when they fell. Now they were also naughty and got into everything and made a mess but they are kids and it didn't matter. It was really stressful forcing myself to relax!
One of the cutest moments was watching the little boy carry around this plastic butter knife using it to "help" cut the branches with Daniel. He would even carry it in his belt loop like his uncle. I heard him scream when he was play fighting with his older sister, "I have a knife!" As he held it up proudly. Every stick or rock was a gun and they threw nuts as grenades and smeared berries on each other’s skin as if it was blood! So imaginative, who needs toys; the whole mountain was their play ground. I loved it but was glad to retire from aunt duty at the end of the week.
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