What day is it?

Traveling to the other side of the world (across the "top", by the way) scrambles one's sense of time a bit. We lost half a day somewhere (probably in O'Hare's baggage system) so that even though we left on April 1 and this is April 5, this is only Day 4 of our trip. Not to worry, though, if you stay at the Gui Shan Hotel in Guilin, China. Each and every day, they change the carpets in the elevators. Woven into the carpet in large letters - in English - is the day of the week. We thought it was silly at first, and then we were extremely grateful. Unfortunately we are no longer at that hotel. What day is it?

For the last two days I have been blessed to see the most amazing country. It is beautiful and it is demanding. The people work very hard, and I have a strong sense that everything that is accomplished occurs on a very personal scale. Those rice terraces that are pictured in an earlier post? They were most certainly created by hand. Moving huge rocks? A few simple levers and a few friends. Their life and work are one and the same. There is also a strong sense of community. Life is lived in the front doorway or on the side of the road. Everywhere there are clusters of people, grandmothers surrounded by grandchildren, older men playing cards, people working side by side. We stare at them and they stare at us. We say "Ni hao" and they say "hello" and we both chuckle and smile at each other. I wish I could talk to the people. They are very warm and friendly, and their stories would be fascinating.

Yesterday we stopped at one of the villages along the road. It was the Festival of Qingming, the sweeping of the tombs. The Chinese people go to the graves of their ancestors, sweep them, burn incense and leave offerings of fake money, food, pictures of washers and dryers, maybe an old cell phone or a picture of a car... all kinds of things that their ancestor would find useful in their afterlife. Then the family sets off firecrackers. All day we could hear the crackling and see the plumes of smoke. At the village where we stopped, we became part of a large party. The village elder took us to see the oldest tomb, the ancestor of everyone in that village. One old woman invited us to have dinner in her home (remember, there are almost 40 of us...) and many of the families offered us food that they had prepared for their ancestors (sorry Grandma...). More evidences of the generosity of these people.

Today I did two paintings - one of a village scene and a one-hour study of an 82 year old man. I'm pleased with both of them.

Sorry I can't post pictures. [note - I added pictures when I got home] It's a miracle that I'm getting to update this at all! We're heading into more remote villages tomorrow, so I think it might be a few days before I can post again.