I really didn't even want to go, but my Australian roommate convinced me about this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that I couldn't miss, Mate! After a farewell night with an English teacher, I came home from the Shanghai club at four in the morning. I woke up an hour later to hurry up, or I wouldn't be able to make it.
I frantically stuffed all the warm clothes I had into a bag (being a Floridian anywhere with an actual winter is a nightmare - everything I own has holes in it because of fashion). I knew the journey to this remote northern Chinese village for the Chinese New Year would be long; I just didn't expect to be moving around so much. I was definitely still drunk. We went from the subway, to the train station, to a few kilometers of walking, to a car, and finally to the back of a scooter with my luggage strapped to the back, we arrived at this village.
I really didn't know what to expect, and I really couldn't make sense of the things I saw even when I tried. I saw a goat tied to a post, standing on a pile of rubble and bleating like a rooster in the early morning. Every Viking house had a wooden shed outside as well as an unnecessary amount of corn. Every house looked…