Landing in Xi'an, I collected my bag and walked toward the exit. There was a mob of people waiting for friends, but in this group I saw two smiling faces, my former students David and Daniel. They had emailed me that they would be at the airport to pick me up. How very nice!! I was in Xi'an in March and was now returning to visit them and the teachers that met. Within minutes we were in the car, heading for the school. The principal wife had arranged the car to bring the boys to the airport, which was very nice too.
At the school, Julia met me and we went with her husband directly to a Chinese wedding of one of the school staff. The wedding was held in a very nice restaurant. When we arrived, we were greeted by the bride and groom. The groom seemed very happy that I attending. It is the first Chinese wedding that I have gone to.. The uncle finds a place at an empty table. All the tables are round, seating about 12 people each. We were early so as we waited more people joined us. Luckily, Chinese people don't dress us much for the weddings.
After we were there for some minutes, the MC came had wrote down my name of his list of toast givers. Julie had asked me to say a few words to the bride and groom. And I agreed, a "few words". It was now that I realized it might be a bigger deal than I thought, so now I am having second thoughts.
The ceremony begins with a short walk to a stage in the restaurant. They exchange vows, and pop some champagne. Then they start the toasts. I am the second person to speak. Of course, you have to walk to the stage and use a microphone. I some how thought of some sentences that hopefully sounded appropriate with Julia translating. I was very glad to get it over with.
One very nice part of the ceremony was the word of appreciation that the couple speak to their parents. The groom cried during this part. Afterwards, the eating begins. I am not sure how many different dishes they served but it must have been at least 50. I thought it would never end. And at the table, there is a bottle of special alcohol. This might have been the strongest alcohol I have ever had. It literally burned the inside of my mouth. And you drank it straight. I tried to just sip on it and I didn't have very much but it lasted a long time.
The groom was visiting tables of guests and at each table he would down a least a shot of this alcohol. I am not sure how much he drank but it had to be a lot. I couldn't understand how he could still be standing. And he was a very small man, maybe about 90 pounds. And of course, when he came to my table, he had to have this special toast with me, so I had to drink again with him!! When we left the wedding, he asked for my
phone number...ha! It was a very nice affair.
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