Wish to call this place my hometown——Reminiscing about Huizhou

I am fortunate to have been a Huizhou native.

I would like to call this place my hometown.

1.

In the past few days, my friend A Dong from Huizhou and his party came to Qingdao. We got together three times in four days. This goodbye brought out all the longing for Huizhou that I had buried deeply in my heart. It spread and filled my heart. I had to sort it out.

I used to be a person who enjoyed wandering. The cities where I have lived for a long time include Beijing, Rome, Milan, Huizhou and Hangzhou. My favorite among them is Huizhou, a small town in Guangdong.

Back then, after living in Rome and Milan for nearly ten years, my husband, David, an Italian, wanted to live in China. At that time, I was living very comfortably in Italy, and there seemed to be pros and cons to returning or not returning. Respecting his idea, I agreed to return to China, but I hoped to go to an unfamiliar place far away from home that could bring me fresh feelings. When he put the name Huizhou in front of my eyes, I felt a little happy. Guangdong is both strange and familiar in my heart, and I still yearn for it. Taking out the map, well, it’s just over an hour’s drive from Shenzhen, and it’s also very convenient to go to Hong Kong. It’s only over two hours’ drive from Guangzhou, not bad!

2.

In November 2006, my husband and I happily parachuted into Huizhou together.

As expatriates of the company, we enjoy one-stop care from accommodation, transportation to catering. We first stayed at the Kande Hotel, the best hotel in Huizhou at that time. Except for two trips to Italy and several short-term vacations, we stayed in this hotel for ten months in a year. In fact, after staying in the hotel for a long time, I felt various inconveniences, such as the boring home furnishings; not enough space to display my literary and artistic emotions... But the advantage of staying in the hotel is that we have enough spare time.

We often have dinner with our Italian colleagues, eating buffet or Brazilian barbecue; we have food stalls, morning tea, late night snacks with local friends we met at work...among them is A Dong. A Dong is a local, he is gentle and considerate of others. He is a badminton master, and we learned the basic movements of badminton from him. Mr. is tall, 1.9 meters tall. Although his movements are slightly uncoordinated, he has the obvious advantage of having long legs and long arms. Although I consider myself to be relatively strong in athletic ability, I can only accept being defeated when playing badminton with him. And when my husband and I were desperately trying to deal with Adong together, we saw that he remained motionless, neither exerting force nor running. He just swung the racket dexterously and easily a few times, and beat us until we were staggering and embarrassed. A chaotic scene! The master is so awesome!

Through activities on local website forums, we got to know the Dandan family from Hubei. Dandan's skin is white and tender. She feels very comfortable at first glance, and she feels very beautiful the next time she looks at her. She is a top student at Wuhan University, a standard girl with both good looks and talent. She also introduced me to my love for SLR photography.

Through Dandan, we got to know the family of Aying, a local girl from Huizhou. Together with Aying's best friend, the beautiful girl Wei who worked at Southern TV Station at the time, the four of us mothers gave birth to four little princes one after another in more than half a year. It became a lively event for four hot moms to get together with their babbling babies despite their busy schedules.

Dandan’s husband is particularly good at making travel guides, he knows how to eat and play, so after both children turned two years old, we started a self-driving trip from Huizhou via Yangshuo to Qiandongnan as our final destination. tour. Southeast Guizhou is still the place that I have never forgotten and most want to go back to visit. The simple folk customs, distinctive ethnic architecture and the exotic atmosphere of local customs and festivals are so strong, it is my favorite taste as a literary young man.

Time flies. Ten years have passed since they first met. Both Dandan and Aying have developed very good careers. It can be said that they have both completed their rise from academic masters to business elites to entrepreneurs.

The year before last, Dandan came to Qingdao for a visit. We met at Luojia Coffee and had a great time reminiscing about old times and taking photos.

And in the evening, as a guest, she invited our whole family to dinner! Because her friend, the CEO of a certain company, was the host.

On the wine table, Dandan asked the blue sky for wine. She was very soft and yet 100% bold. She was so handsome and cool!

As for Ah Ying, she started working in the media first and then in financial investment. Last year, she launched her own healthy lifestyle catering brand - WEEKEND with her second child in mind. She said that she hopes to have 48 hours in a day, so that she can work, take care of her family, travel and have fun!

The lovely thing about small cities is that when you meet someone new, you will most likely find out after chatting with them. Have the same friends. My husband would listen to the radio in Huizhou while driving. After listening to it for a while, he settled on Sister Candy, and Sister Candy is also Aying’s best friend.

Small towns seem to have more opportunities for young entrepreneurs, but no matter where they are, successful people will have the same qualities, such as high goals, perseverance, and courage. Be decisive. It is these people who strive to control their own destiny no matter where they go, who are making the world more comfortable and moving.

3.

As soon as we arrived in Huizhou, we started buying a house. After looking at several properties, we settled on the Venice of the East. During the renovation of my new house, I met a sweet girl with a sweet smile - Cherry. She is from Huizhou with a petite and frail appearance, but she is also a top student at South China University of Technology! We were decorating our houses at the same time, and we were all acting as our own home decoration designers. It was really fun. His home is a perfect Mediterranean style, while mine is a modern and simple mix, such as gray walls with feather chandeliers; 10X10 black and white small bricks decorating the wall with a jumping note effect like piano keys, and occasionally a piece of silver or gold embellishment... Even the master mason felt my jumping joy. Although the decoration style is different from Cherry's, we are both Sagittarius and appreciate each other, compliment each other, and always laugh happily when we are together. Her husband is a Hong Kong boy. They were so in love that her husband vowed to give his beautiful princess the happiest life. He did. They live their daily life many, many times sweeter than honey; they live their ordinary days as classic as their wedding day.

(The picture is Cherry’s wedding ceremony)

The Oriental Venice Community is the most beautiful community in China in my opinion today. Various green plants, flowers and small bridges and flowing water are scattered here and there. You can watch the tadpoles turn into frogs and various small insects jumping among the cracks in the rocks and grass. The weather in Guangdong is very warm in March. The outdoor swimming pool in the community is a paradise for everyone. Old children, older children and younger children can play in the water from four or five o'clock in the afternoon until dusk every day. Wipe black.

When I was playing in the yard with my son, I met Dudu’s mother, who is also from Shandong, and I hit it off with Binbin’s mother from Nanjing. We became best friends. Living in the same community, it is very convenient to see each other every day. We visit each other, the children play together, and we talk about our husbands, family, and beauty salons together. We talk about everything, and it is very relaxed and comfortable. Later, when we moved to Hangzhou, it happened that Dudu’s mother’s brother graduated from Hangzhou Conservatory of Music with a doctorate degree. We went to his concert together and got together again.

There are many delicious things in Huizhou. The rice rolls and vermicelli soup every morning are something I haven’t gotten tired of eating for several years. Every time I think about it, I drool. After returning to Qingdao, I really wanted to open a breakfast shop specializing in rice rolls, if not for any other reason than to satisfy my own thirst. Feipo’s seafood, casserole seafood porridge, roasted whole lamb, lotus leaf rice, Cantonese wontons, and of course meat dumplings and moon cakes! They are all fat but not greasy, and the more you eat, the more delicious they become! Although I haven’t seen my friends in Huizhou for many years, thanks to WeChat, many of them seem to be still around. For example, my old neighbor Xiaoqing often brings news about new changes near Oriental Venice. And my neighbor Pierre, whose hometown is in Hangzhou and works at the Daya Bay Power Station... Huizhou has a city slogan: Old Huizhou, new Huizhou, if you live in Huizhou, you are a Huizhou native! In this way, I am also very happy because I was once a Huizhou native!

When it comes to delicious food and various fruits in Huizhou, my favorite is lychee.

Go up the mountain to pick fresh lychees from the trees. After you are full, take a big bag home and put it in the refrigerator to eat slowly. People in Huizhou say that lychees are very irritating and cannot be eaten too much at one time. And I have a good taste. Occasionally I will be greedy and eat a small box without getting angry. I am very proud. (Aunts in Huizhou will say when they see children, "This child is so proud." Although I am not very clear about the meaning of this word. , but I really want to use it here to express my "satisfaction".) I also had the pleasure of eating a lot of fresh durian, longan, mango, dragon fruit, banana, small green fruit and grapefruit. wait. Accompanied by so many fresh fruits and vegetables, it makes me, who grew up in the north, so comfortable that every cell in my body is breathing with my mouth wide open all the time. It seems that the air is filled with vitamins. I especially remember that Dandan’s husband loved jackfruit the most. Dandan was driving that day (Dandan was the most masculine person I have ever driven, and the scene of racing on the empty street at night after the concert was the fastest I have ever driven), and her husband held it in his hands. Holding a whole jackfruit in his arms, he plopped one out for us, and then plopped out another one for himself to nibble on. He spoke southern Mandarin with a smile, and his favorite song came from the stereo. "Watch the sea with you"... He seemed to be able to swallow the whole jackfruit in one breath, but he was a little reluctant to part with it...

The Italian gentleman successively met many foreigners in Huizhou friend. The best of them all is American Alex. Alex’s wife Maymay is originally from Boluo. Her grandfather came to Hong Kong and later settled in the UK. Maymay sought out her roots and lived with Alex in Huizhou for five or six years. As a Chinese-British person, her mother tongue is English and she can speak fluent Cantonese, but she can only speak very little Mandarin and cannot understand any Chinese characters. My husband and Alex have the same temperament, and we have many happy things together. Following Alex, we met Kevin's extended family from Taiwan. Their family opened a farm paradise, raising horses, cows, snakes, rabbits, various poultry and insects, as well as outdoor sports venues for children, and sometimes acrobatic performances. Their courtyard is large and they often hold barbecue parties. Every time, adults and children have a great time.

4.

My eldest son went to kindergarten when he was two and a half years old. It is an experimental class based on children’s psychological development, called Acorn Class. The founder has been engaged in early childhood education for more than ten years. In 2007, Teacher Beibei was an outspoken and outspoken teacher who wanted to do something meaningful. There is a tall, thin boy in Acorn class named Shuaishuai with a loud voice. Her mother is an outdoor sports enthusiast and an expert at handicrafts. She can make all kinds of delicacies, such as pizza and soft sweet bread, which are better than those of famous brands. The restaurant is N times more delicious. She is hospitable, and any number of reasons can be an excuse to have dinner at her home. It was from Shuai Shuai’s mother that I heard the words “Waldorf education” for the first time. Later, my two children went to Waldorf schools in Qingdao.

I once told a mother in the Acorn class that I really hope that the world is beautiful everywhere. This mother is an outspoken person. She said that if you want to make the world beautiful everywhere, it is just to give you a comfortable living environment. Yes, yes, in such a comfortable environment in Huizhou, I have the mentality of a small country with few people. I just hope to live in a beautiful environment where everyone helps each other and loves each other, and is happy every day.

After living in Rome for 5 years, my view of social life is biased toward the birthplace model. I was still young at that time, and I didn’t even think that marriage was necessary. We were all brothers and sisters. Of course that This is only a theoretical assumption. But from the beginning of life in Huizhou, among the green mountains and green waters, the land on the mountains and the tiled houses among the forests, it seems that a utopian paradise can really exist. In addition to the geographical environment factors, with so many wonderful friends living in the present, I think a beautiful *** student home is achievable...

But my husband already wants to end his life in Huizhou of work. I am a little reluctant to leave Huizhou, but my husband has arranged everything in Hangzhou and is ready for the next "adventure". In nostalgia, we left Huizhou. I am very, very grateful to my husband for giving me a four-year holiday in Huizhou. Very very beautiful.

To this day, our license plate number is still Guangdong LU - we are always pioneers on the road, but no matter where we go, we carry the imprint of Huizhou with us.