Attack of the Jujubes!!!

Because the International Cooperation Office (ICO) at my university great, they decided to take us (all the foreign teachers) on a trip. And yes... this trip involves jujubes!

...What are jujubes?

No... no, no, no. Not Jar Jar Binks!

Not Jar Jar... Not Jub Jubs either.

No Jub Jubs. And... yeah. I know. I'm a dork.

But I haven't played Neopets in... at least ten years now.

Really.

But OK. Seriously now. Jujubes.

They look like dates, yeah? (I don't actually really know what dates are... but I assume that these are dates). This particular kind of date from China is known as the jujube... and it's wildly popular here. Jujubes are famous for their health benefits - so much so that you can easily buy dried jujubes, jujube teas, and jujube... gum?

Not gum, really. But it's wrapped in the same kind of paper.

Anyway, you know that saying about apples? An apple a day keeps the doctor away. Well, in China, there's a similar saying about jujubes. Two jujubes a day will... make your skin smoother, your eyes brighter, and your age... younger.

Something like that.

Can't really remember.

Anyway- the adventure. The ICO invited us all on a day trip on September 24th, 2011. At 8:00am, we met right outside my home.

Then a big van (or a very very small bus) picked us up for a two hour ride to Cangzhou (沧州). Cangzhou is famous for its jujubes. They're known for other things too, I think, but all I could see from where I was were fields and fields of these delicious little fruits.

Can't seem in? Let's zzzoooom in!

Those aren't ripe yet. They're green. They're sweet and perfectly ripe when its exterior becomes a dark reddish brown. Like these:

Once we arrived, we each grabbed a bag and started picking them. I'm a little ashamed to say that more went in my mouth than into my bag. At first, I was curious. And then... I was hungry. As usual - as a card carrying member of Procrastinators of the World, Unite... Tomorrow! - I woke up a little too late and missed breakfast.

Here's the outside and inside of a jujube:

My friend and colleague Hannah picking one:

And eating one...

And me! Eating one too.

Here, we're being given a little cultural lesson on the jujubes by our hosts:

After we've picked (aka eaten) our fill, we ran into one of the farmers. Everyone in the village pretty much works together to grow and maintain these fields. They were excited to see us, and they happily gave us a chance to try and pick jujubes the way they do it.

You see... how we did it - going through and picking each one out one by one - isn't really efficient when they want to collect them all, process, package, and sell them. Instead, one person takes this long bamboo pole and uses it to knock against a tree's branches. The jujubes then fall onto a big sheet that someone had laid onto the ground.

And here's a better picture of the bamboo stick:

After that, we got a big group picture.

Then hopped back onto the mega-van to a jujube processing plant. Here's the exterior of the plant:

Since we clearly hadn't eaten enough jujubes by then, we went inside to try a bunch of different jujube products.

Yum. Dried jujubes. Jujube gum. Jujube covered in coconut. Jujube freeze-dried or somethin' like that. Then to the actual place where they processed the fruit.

After eating all this fruit... we were, of course, getting hungry. For lunch? More jujubes!!!

...No.

Fortunately, no. We had real food.

Unfortunately, we had it banquet-style.

What does that mean? First, it means that cultural etiquette asks that we all participate in the communal act of toasting and drinking baijiu (or Chinese rice wine). And next?

See where I am sitting?

Our host is to my left. I was the first one into the room... so, without thinking, I went all the way inside and took the inner-most seat. I saw a strange napkin setup thing on the table in front of the inner-most seat... so I figured - OK. That seat isn't for me.

I took the seat to its right.

What does this mean?

I had no idea... until, as the dinner progressed, I realized that I was the first one being served. And then I realized - without knowing it, I had taken the seat reserved for the guest of honor.

Oops.

No one said anything to me. They just gave me a funny look... realized that, though I don't look it, I am definitely and culturally American. And continued on with seating themselves and eating. So Cultural Lesson of the Day?

The host (aka the person who is paying for the meal, aka the most important person present) sits in the seat furthest away from the door. The further you are away from this spot, the less important you are.

So I was definitely in the wrong seat.

But whew. It was ok.

All was forgiven... or ignored... or taken in stride thanks to my status as an ignorant American.

After lunch, we hopped back on the bus and took the long ride home to Baoding.

Oh wait! One more thing!

As if we hadn't picked enough and eaten enough jujubes that day, our hosts presented each of us with a giant box of jujubes that none of us would be able to eat.

I ate some, gave some away to my students in a lesson, and threw the rest out when they became sour and moldy and stinky.

And... that is all.

I would like to credit half of the above photographs to Ms. Tian, one of the directors at the ICO. And I would like to note that this pictures took ALL DAY to upload. *kicks the internet here*