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An Early Matrimonial "Joint Venture" in Chongqing
After a brief but admittedly intense courtship of six months, Jennifer and I decided to get married on International Woman’s Day in 1997. Our anniversary is easy to remember, March 8 every year, or 38 for short. In Chinese, these two numbers put together are also slang meaning something similar to obnoquious or annoying when used to describe someone. I always jokingly call myself 38 (san ba), and tell people that it is therefore impossible to forget our anniversary.
At that time, I was furthering my studies at the SW Normal University of Chongqing, a two hour drive north the downtown core in a picturesque town of Beibei. That place is famous for its hotsprings, and during our courtship, I took full advantage of that romantic setting to frolick with Jennifer in the steamy waters, teach her how to swim, and we took long walks on the banks of the Jialing River, which empties into the Yangtze 20 km downstream.
We wanted both a Christian wedding and to keep our ceremony simple, so we invited 80 friends and family, and rented a bus to bring them out on the big day. However, Pastor Ye, our energetic octogenerian minister with a mischevious sense of humour, had prepared a surprise for us. While reserving the front pews for our invited guests, he had taken it upon himself to make it a real community event, and we were stunned to see the entire church filled to capacity with the regular congregation, students from the university, and others who had wandered in off the street just to see what the brouhaha was all about. All in all, about 800 people had come to see this joining of Occident and Orient! People were crowding every little space in the chapel, and we could barely make it down the aisle to the alter. The stage was packed with the choir members whose numbers tripled at the last minute. The blessings were given and we exchanged our vows on the PA system so that those who could simply not get in could hear outside in the courtyard as well.
The reception we held at the university afterward was a much more manageable affair, but in spite of all the succulent dishes and exotic drinks piled up and being spun around the “Lazy Susan” at our head table, neither of us could take more than just a couple of bites and sips. It would take us a few days to come down and recover from the magnitude of it all.
last modified Jun 24, 2004 at 20:54
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