strawberry fields for...the weekend.

last weekend, april and i had the chance to go to a friend's hometown for the may day holiday! ivy lives out in the countryside, where her family grows strawberry fields, peach trees, and other fruits and vegetables. this time of year, the strawberries are ripe for the picking! so on saturday, we headed out to her uncle's strawberry fields. it. was. awesome. we had so much fun picking strawberries--there were sooooo many. we washed them in the well water and ate them right after picking them! so yummy.

on sunday, ivy's cousin was getting married! so, we got to attend a chinese wedding!! how lucky were we?! it was so much fun. there were tons of people there...and of course, april and i stood out like sore thumbs. haha. sunday morning, we went over to ivy's aunt and uncle's house where we would have wedding day lunch with the family and wait for the bride and groom to get there. all of the sudden, we heard cars honking their horns and a saw a caravan of the "wedding cars" with the chinese 'double happiness' character on the windshields and ribbon on the side-view mirrors. the lead car was covered in a floral arrangement on the hood, and the bride and groom were in the back seat. fire crackers were lit along the side of the road, and the couple could not come out of the car until the firecrackers had ended.

the bride and groom ran into the house, as the teenagers sprayed them with silly string, and they had a small ceremony right there in the foyer of their house! after the ceremony, everyone got to greet the couple and wish them a happy marriage. april and i even participated in this, and congratulated them in chinese! it was a riot!

for the rest of the weekend, we explored the countryside around ivy's home. we went to all of her favorite spots, including the river about a 30 minute walk away. sunday ended with another wedding dinner and fireworks set off from the front porch!

the next morning, we went out to pick one last batch of strawberries to take home. it was raining, so we had to do so quickly! it was sad to leave ivy's family. they were so hospitable and kind -- i especially loved her grandmother and aunt! it was a wonderful weekend, and i am so thankful i had the opportunity to visit my friend's hometown!

"let me take you down, 'cause i'm going to strawberry fields.

nothing is real and nothing to get hung about.

strawberry fields forever."

{the beatles}