One thing I've learned in China is that you never really know what will happen until you get where you are going. Let me explain. One day, Vice President Wei came to my room with Mr. Yang to invite me to go to the country. I thought it would great to go see the country, but I was a little confused as to why we were going. Several times they just said that we would go to the country and they wanted to know if I could spend the whole day. I rearranged my class schedule and told them I'd be happy to go.

Eventually, we arrived in a small town and pulled into a building that I thought resembled a school. I was introduced to a good ten or so men and I really had no idea who they were until Mr. Yang explained that they were some of the local officials. The building turned out to be the administrative offices for the local government. It seemed that this might be our final destination. As soon as the thought crossed my mind, we got back into our van and followed two vans of the men we had just met.

After a couple miles we turned onto a dirt road which led us through a beautiful valley. I was finally starting to see the country. On both sides of the narrow, winding road were rice fields, orange orchards, banana trees and other vegetation. The road was also lined with the houses of the local peasants as well as the grass huts used as barns to shade the cows and chickens. The scene was quite picturesque.

During the drive, no one made mention of what we were doing in the country other than we are going to the village where the peasants are. They only thing they said was that I would probably be the first foreigner to visit their village. I was excited by the prospect, but it really made me wonder what the heck we were doing. Finally, the vans stopped and Mr. Yang said here we are. Look at the beautiful new house. Everyone started piling out and made their way to a newly constructed building. This new building was mixed around the peasants' houses and it looked a bit out of place.

Once we arrived I was finally told of the purpose of our visit. The school had donated some of the money for the construction of this government office and under the direction of one of the teachers they had completed the work. I was told several times that they wanted to help make the peasants rich, so that they could enjoy some of the things that people from the city were able to afford. We were there to attend the official dedication of the building.

At first we all had a tour and then had some tea, crackers and water as we waited for all the local villagers to make their way. Eventually the ceremony began and several speeches were given. Vice President Wei also gave a speech on account of the school's involvement. During his speech he talked about the sister city agreement with Coon Rapids and he introduced me as a representative from the United States. I must tell you that I did feel a little out of place by the whole experience. I just learned of this place 30 minutes before and now they were introducing me as some dignitary and they even asked me to participate in the unveiling of the sign. I was flattered, but at the same time I couldn't help but think that every single person in the crowd most likely had a much bigger stake in the construction and they were far more worthy than me.

Once the speeches concluded, they lit a string of fireworks to celebrate. (It was explained to me that fireworks are legal in the country but not the city on account of the noise). The building was 3 stories and suspended from the roof and hanging nearly to the ground was a string of firecrackers something like M-80's. When it was lit, it was one of the loudest things I had heard in quite some time, but it was quite spectacular.

We were all treated to lunch after the fireworks show. The food just wouldn't stop coming. The villagers were so excited to have their building up and running that they were insisting that we eat more and more. They were also insisting on celebrating by drinking the rice wine. At first I thought that they were going to do a couple toasts in celebration and I was wondering why Mr. Yang kept telling me to take is slow. I figured I could handle a few small toasts, even if it was a little harsh. Well I soon understood his warning. People were going from table to table doing their celebratory "bottoms up" or what is known as "ganbei." It seemed that each of the 50 plus people in the room wanted to come to our table and do a ganbei with me. They were a little disappointed that I was only sipping the shots as Mr. Yang had warned me to do. I knew if I didn't sip this stuff there was no way I was walking out of there. After a little while I came up with a plan. Since the rice wine is clear, I decided to get some water and filled my glass with the water after each ganbei. It wasn't a foolproof plan, but it definitely worked. I was sober and the villagers were happy I was participating in their celebration. Eventually the lunch came to an end and we headed back home.