The Fam

It's Saturday night and I just spent most of the day with Vi's family. It started at 9:30 this morning when a car with her aunt and grandmother arrived to pick us up and drive us to Dongguan for lunch with her family. We all met in Dongguan because her father and uncle share an apartment near where they work and it's more convenient for everyone to meet there rather in Heyuan.

We got to her father's and uncle's apartment around 10:30 and I met her mother, father, aunt, uncle, brother (about 19) and cousin (about 16) right away; her sister (about 22) ended up coming a little after us. We all sat in the living room for a little bit and talked before heading to lunch. Her uncle was able to speak a little English and her cousin was better at a little conversation after lunch but other that that, no English was spoken. Her mom had her younger brother teach her how to say, "How are you?" but she was too nervous when she met me to try and say it. Even though she didn't attempt, it meant a lot just knowing that she was trying to learn some English to make me feel more comfortable.

Meeting the family isn't quite like in America. They don't really shake hands or give hugs or anything, it's just hi and that's kind of it, short and awkward.

We headed down the street for the restaurant her aunt works at for lunch. It was an excellent lunch and I tried some new local dishes and dishes from their hometown that I've never had before. I ate dove for the first time and the other stuff I tried I have no idea how to explain. As usual, it was all very good though. Lunch was much better than dinner on Tuesday night. Everyone was laughing and talking and just having a good time. We had an entire room to ourselves and there was a tv in there and Vi's younger brother watched tv pretty much the whole time, which was kind of strange to be eating with the tv on. Her younger brother's in his 2nd year of college so he's roughly 19.

After dinner, we were told to bring out our camera for a picture. Well, Vi didn't tell me to bring a camera and so we didn't have one, this was a bad thing. We went outside and rented a camera, came back and took some pictures. I was happy about this because I wanted to bring my camera and take a picture but I didn't want to be that foreign dork asking everyone to take a picture so I could document this day, since it is the first time I'm meeting her family.

After dinner, we went back to the apartment for a little bit to continue talking. Her family could tell how awkward it was for me so they called a car to come pick up me, Vi, her aunt and uncle and take us back to Shenzhen shortly after we came back. This was when we handed out the hongbao (I spelled it wrong in my last post, this is money given in red envelopes) to everyone. Her family was very nice and it seemed as though they liked me enough and they at least didn't disapprove me, which is very nice. Her cousin commented on my long eyelashes, something most Chinese girls do, and the rest of her family pointed out my big smile and said it was beautiful, that was nice.

Overall, it was a good experience. I'm really glad I got to meet almost all of her family, she has one other uncle I haven't met. They all seem to really enjoy being together and reminded me of being with all of my family. Everyone was laughing and joking with each other, really enjoying each other's company.