Saturday morning, the wake up call was for 7 am. My alarm clock forgot to wake me, but the 8 am door knocking was successful. It was time to leave for the wedding.

This was my first Chinese wedding and I wasn’t sure what to expect especially because I didn’t know the people getting married. This invitation was given to me and my fellow foreign teachers through a bit of a joke. Linda, my favorite friend told me her boy’s sister will get married and I said, “Can I go?” expecting that it would be more difficult than “Yes.” He said the couple would be honored to have us at their wedding.

After an hour on the bus, we were given a ride in a car for about 200 feet. Then we had to walk another 100 feet through mud to the groom’s parent’s house where the community and wedding guests had already arrived. We were whisked up the stairs to the bedroom where the bride and groom were taking pictures and family was crowding around them shooting off confetti and silly string.

Immediately, the bride was asking for pictures with the foreigners and it was that moment that we realized were the guests of honor. The cousins and friends took pictures of the couple and us together until flashes had blinded us. A special tea ceremony came next, where the bride and groom give tea to the groom’s parents to show their respect.

After photographs in the bedroom, we got in a Benz. That’s right. A Benz-olino. It is pictured here. This was the nicest car I was ever in. Then in our hot ride, we joined the wedding procession, which is similar to a funeral procession where there is hopefully no break in the car caravan.

After they loved taking photos with us, I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised to find out that we were the car directly behind the wedding couple. We drove for what seemed forever with me thinking that we leaving Wuhan and Hubei for the day. Suddenly, I had my bearings, realizing we were near the river and my apartment. Turning right into a Hospital looking area, we ended up at another apartment, filled with other people surprised to see foreigners.

By this time, I was starving. The groom told us to ride in the elevator with him (by told I mean pointed at us and told us to come with him). We lost our Benz, but got to the next place before even the bride, the restaurant. I was hungry and destroyed the gift chocolates. The best men sat down at our table and called for bai jiu (literally white liquor, but it is actually clear and really disgustingly strong). After some speeches I couldn’t hear or understand (bu ting, bu dong), food started coming. The turtle hit the table and we all got sad, but knew we must try it; It was truly delicious.

Then the bride and groom came around gan bei (cheers)-ing everyone and other tables began to gan bei for themselves. Me and John took the chance to go around to some tables to cheers them, too. By about 1:30pm on a Saturday, I was gan-bei-ed-out (drunk) and ready to go home.

Lee’s blog can be found at Wuhan, got you all in check.