Xuyi is a town just north of Nanjing and considered the crawfish capital of China. I was invited on an overnight trip with five of my colleagues to socialize with parents of one of our 11th grade students’. The drive leaving Nanjing took an hour on recently paved toll-roads. Our destination a grand hotel, next to the river. The rooms had claw foot tubs, a treat for me. We started with a typical Chinese dinner of many assorted dishes of meats and as a surprise half was vegetarian. I cannot tell you how many different kinds of vegetables the Chinese prepare that I have never heard of. Crawfish was the main entrée, including large red bibs for all! Baijiu (pronounced bi-joe) is the typical ever-clear liquor at 80-120 proof, we are served to salute each other thorough out dinner. I chose a nice red wine from Chile instead. Dinner is long always over two hours with many toasts going on while we eat.

Saturday we took a hike into the hills around Xuyi. Hiking in China is very different than the US. Here many folks like to walk, in long lines up and down the mountains. Therefore the Chinese pave a walkway throughout the hills, to the Buddhist temple, the peacock holding area, the archery area and little tea house. I found a fun gun range and shot a laser rifle at balloons. The Zorn boys would be proud of their Annie Oakley mom as I shot and killed many colorful balloons. The true Texas did come out at that moment! The Buddhist temple was lovely with smoke wafting above our heads from the incense. Ascending the flights of stairs, there are three temples to pass through. Upon reaching the top, there is a wonderful elevated golden laughing fifteen foot Buddha as the finale. Interesting how three is a spiritual number in many beliefs.

Lastly lunch at a waterfront cafe overlooking the lake at the bottom of the foot hills. More crawfish, baijui, a dish of hedge hog, and eggs that once cracked have a boiled baby chicken in them. (yes I about threw up!) Thank goodness, they always order half veggie dishes. As we are leaving our host, the architect and his wife gave each teacher a huge box of assorted Chinese processed foods. They are very interesting bags of stuff I can’t eat or even want to try, but I am very thankful for this lovely weekend, good friends and fresh air.