sv evi

Tomu:

It was cool to explore our ancestral home and see the photos that were on the wall before. There was a big room in the middle, and it was symmetrical on either side. It felt bigger than our house in Tacoma, but that might have been because I have been living on a boat. Mainland China felt a lot like Davao City, Philippines — the cities were big, but didn’t have giant skyscrapers like in Hong Kong. I enjoyed traveling by train and airplane.

Jade:

I thought it was interesting to learn about my Tai Gung and what he did in the Chin village. It was enlightening to see the roots of my middle name Chin. I noticed that when we went to the cemetery each family went to visit their own ancestors’ graves (and no one else’s). I expected the village to be more full of people, and for people to live and sleep there. I was sad I didn’t get to hold the incense when I did the baibai ceremony. I didn’t expect the firecrackers, and they gave Luz and me a real scare! In contrast to the village, Kong Kong was highly busy. It was also really fun to go on a high speed train. My highlight of the trip was seeing Po Po and learning about the village. My low of the trip was getting sick, throwing up three times, and losing my pink sweater. The End.

Luz:

It was really special to go to the Chin village with Po Po. We stood on the roof of the ancestral home. It took a long time to hang all the new pictures. My highlight of the trip was everything, my low was nothing except Jade barfing. Po Po gave us Pez candy in the airport. Jade and I got to sleep in our own hotel room in Hong Kong because we are such big girls. Jade made door hangers for all of us that said “Jade and Luz/Tomu and Po Po/Mama and Papa are sleeping. Shhhhhhhh.”