Everyone's on the move...

Officially next Thursday begins the "Spring Festival Travel Period"...at least according to the national Railway system here....that will carry a staggering number of people to the far reaches of our massive host nation. 

As a Westerner, truly, I have nothing in my experience to compare to the magnitude of this holiday period of time.  I chose the words "period of time" intentionally because many people will spend 2 -4 weeks away from their jobs, with their families, celebrating the New Year.  (I can remember when one time I took 5 days off work around Christmas and New Years and I felt like I'd won the lottery...living as a person of leisure!)

While our host nation punches the clock and goes on holiday, this is the time that our family also goes on retreat.  It has now become our only down-time in the year, and as we continue living cross-culturally, our spirits and bodies ache for some refreshing. 

We will head out on a "sleeper train" next Friday (with thousands of other happy home-goers) as we head to the South on the first leg of our trip to SE Asia.  Our train tickets, that were purchased after a 2 hour wait in line, offer us the first of many challenges on our trip.  We are holding the only tickets in the "hard sleepers" that we could get...unfortunately, our 6 sleeper berths are on three different cars of the train!  So, we will go to the train, heavy-laden with gifts and perhaps some small money, to try to "swap" berths with others so that our family of 9 can get on the same car (at least) an in the same compartment (at best.)  As no one buys 6 berths at the same time, our purchase was greeted with speculation after an initial refusal.  Ticket scalping during this frantic time is at an all time high...so the ticket office usually sells a MAXIMUM of 3 tickets together (One family-One child...as is still the policy in most of the country.)

Once we'd purchased berths on the getaway train...we realized that we needed to replace a few of our carry-on sized bags, that are simply beat to thunder after all the traveling they've done.  So, I headed into town with Magpie, Potato & Brownie (as The Bug is still in the US for Grampa's funeral.)  As we traveled the main road from our apartment I realized that the exodus from the city had begun.  Each bus stop along our path was overstuffed with anxious-faced and eager souls spilling out into the road, arms burgeoning with burlap bags or the occasional spiffy suitcase at their sides, eyes intent on seeing the next bus that might allow 1-2 people to squeeze on (leaving the hundred others to wait, and wait, and wait for their turn.)

When we made it to the major shopping mall we went to the big K-mart/Walmart-type store in hopes of finding suitcases.  As we rounded the corner in the store, our eyes took in an amazing sight...literally 100 other people in the suitcase section, shopping for the bag that would take home their possessions as well as the precious gifts for their family members living in the the distant countryside villages of their birth.  Suitcases, all with wheels, starting at just 87 RMB, about $15, all the way to slick-sided, four-wheeled bags labeled "Tokyo Chic", selling for 800 RMB.  We were lost in a sea of people...college students...young families with their new babies ready for their first introduction to relatives...young professionals, shopping for that bag that would show that they are on their way to achieving the dreams of their parents...wealthy men shopping for the best bag to accessorize their BMW, Lexus, or Mercedes that will prove to everyone in their hometown that they are as rich as God.

Every eye I could catch revealed the mood of these days...joyful anticipation. 

I thought of our colleagues at the school.

Teacher Linda who was married in October, took 10 days off work to help pack her husband's belongings and send him off to a "new/better" job in the South that will keep their time together to twice a year.  Spring Festival is one of those times...they will have three weeks to live as husband and wife...and then 6 weeks in the summer.  This scenario is so common. 

Teacher Li who was married yesterday, will spend them time taking his new wife to meet his relatives, receiving "hong bao" or red envelopes stuffed with cash to wish them "double happiness" in their new life together. 

The Principal who will host many (15-20) out of town relatives in her 2 bedroom, 1000 Sq ft. apartment (the family is originally FROM our city, increasingly a rare situation.)  All this entertaining around helping her daughter and soon-to-be son-in-law get settled into the new flat she purchased for them.  

Teacher Maggie who will travel with her new husband to her hometown.  The last trip they took, one year ago, they could only get "standing" tickets on the train for the 20 hour train ride.  She will finally get to see the new nephew born this year to her sister.  She has been preparing for her trip to see her mother, who she missed dearly, for months.

The excitement is palpable. 

When I reached the check-out of the store, our two new modest suitcases in tow...I had a monumental experience....

In our first two years Here, I had suffered several embarrassing moments at the check-out of this store...mis-translating the amount of money required, forgetting that I had to BUY the sack to take my purchases home, my bank card being refused for some unknown reason, and two or three times...trying to use a store-issued coupon to save money on my purchase, but always being told that I had it wrong, that it wasn't valid, etc.

As we were nearly done with the suitcase transaction, I remembered that I'd been given one of those coupons on my last visit.  Since I am illiterate, I can't read the rules/regulations on the coupon, but I sheepishly pushed the crumpled paper across the steely, cold check-out counter...avoiding eye-contact for the inevitable barrage of rudely-delivered "you are an idiot, this coupon does not work in this situation" Chinese monologue...

but something magical happened...

she TOOK the coupon, and reduced my bill 60 RMB!  That's $10!

While it was simply luck...I was ecstatic!  I had successfully used my FIRST coupon Here!  In year 3! 

The high carried me home...though the buses had stopped for the night and we had to wait one hour in the freezing, windy night for a taxi...

We're just a few folks enveloped in the masses, headed out of town on holiday...