January 26~ Shopping and Touring

This morning we were able to facetime with the kids back home, which was fun.  Grandma Barb was relieved of her kid duties, and reportedly went home to take a nap.  :) Aunt Amber and Grandma on The Farm (who probably did not bring her kittens with her, unfortunately) have now taken the reigns.  The kids looked happy!  They were asking for food, and wanting their swords back (which had apparently been confiscated for reasons such as unnecessary roughness or excessive annoyingness or the some such).  So… pretty much just like I remember.  :)  It’s been a good trip, but I can’t wait to be home.

This morning we were able to do some souvenir shopping and saw the Guangdong Folk Art Museum and Chen Clan Ancestral Hall.  (They are at the same place.)  So it’s this big ornate old Ancestral Hall where, according to Chinese custom, the family’s ashes are stored.  Or something.  So the whole family gets placed in the same place and some records are made on the wall and in that way the family can trace its roots for many many generations.  This particular family was (is?) a wealthy and powerful family.  It looks historic now, but I bet it was very impressive in its day.  There are shops and stuff in there now too.  So… more souvenir shopping.

Simon was also telling us about how the social security system works.  For instance, the government will pay for your college, but in exchange, they will give you a job when you are done and you don’t get a choice what that job is.  It’s stable and easy and you won’t get fired, but it’s also usually boring and low pay.   You also are assigned a number, similar to a social security number, but the numbers are coded by city, and will enable you to get a job only in that city, so you can’t ever move.  You can’t marry someone from out of town, because one of you would have to forfeit your employability when you moved, and to make ends meet most Chinese families are double income situations.  Your only other option is to go into business for yourself, or find a foreign employer.  For instance, Simon works for LifeLine, which is an American agency.  Before that, he had his own business doing biking tours across China, and then business conferences for MBA students and things like that. 

So then it was back to the hotel for lunch and nap and a grocery run and probably more crappy tv this afternoon, and then we’re going to the German restaurant tonight with the other families for supper.