Blog Post #10

Explain the difference between the visit of Peter's father and the visit of Adam's parents.  What is Hessler showing about Chinese culture in this section?  Please respond in 250-350 words. 

It was Peter's first time seeing a family member since he had been in China, aside from his sister Angela. His father was continuously terrified of the random searches from the people of the hotel to come and check the passports and do checks. His father was shivering the entire boat ride to Fuling. His father had a hard time sleeping for about two days in Fuling. He was overwhelmed by the smells, the noise, language, life, and horns out on the river. They began running twelve miles a day to help with the insomnia. Unfortunately this made his father sick after that so greatly worked, but his father had to rest for the remainder of his time in Fuling. The next day, Peter got sick as well and it was the most miserable week of their lives. It was weird for Peter when he could not understand what his father and the priest were saying, because he had come so accustomed to explaining to his father what everyone was saying. They next camped in the high peaks of Fuling and hiked around until they returned to find out that someone on their hiking trip had died. His father was very good at consoling the students and help them deal with the loss of Belinda, while Peter stood around not knowing what to do. On the last day they hiked halfway up Raise the Flag Mountain and made it to a countryside at a home of the landlord. His father had experienced two years of what Peter did in ten days. 

After Adam canceled his class and let people to stay to listen to his parents, his parents took over the class. They showed slides and talked about American agriculture. The students were interested asking all their questions and Adam's parents continued to answer and explain more. Adam's parents seemed to want to teach more about American culture and Peter's father seemed to want to learn more about the Chinese culture and lifestyle. 

Mackenzie Ogden