Welcome to my life...

Cycle 54, Chinese Year Xin-Chou (38) / (581-04-15)

I live in Dynastic China in the year 581. Usually in Dynastic China girls go to live with their husband and leave home. My sister has left home to go live with her husband’s family, and nowadays I kind of miss her, but I know that change is part of life and I have to live with this.

Usually I spend most of my days farming, I know farming is very important to feed the people in my village. The only misfortune to being a farmer is that when I am farming most of the work I have to do is by hand, and the work is pretty tiring. Both of my parents are farmers, so I usually spend my days farming with them. In my culture your most important relationship is with your family, so I spend a lot of time with my family.

Some boys from rich families get to go to school, but no one from my family went to school, and I don’t think I will ever get to go to school.  I have a pretty nice life, but I have always wanted something more.  Sometimes I get bored of doing the exact same things every day. For example every day I eat the same exact thing: rice, wheat, millet, and sorghum. Millet is kind of like corn, and millet grows very tall, and sorghum is a type of plant in the grass family.

Then I go in the field and these grow things, but I also grow some cucumbers, peaches, oranges, lemons, and apricots. I never eat any of these foods because I can never afford them,  but I grow them for rich people to buy. Then rich people that can afford fruits and vegetables, can buy them and put them on their rice.

My Chinese Village

Cycle 54, Chinese Year Xin-Chou (38), year 581, month 5, day 4 (581-05-04)

I live in a nice village, in a small house with my parents. I speak the same language as most of the people in my village which is Mandarine. Some people speak different forms of Chinese, but the language is pretty similar so usually I can communicate.

From the room that I sleep in, I can see some mountains in the distance. There is a river next to my house, and I often see rivers when I am walking around my village.

I am planning to go to India because I am bored with my normal life, and I want an adventure. I believe that if I go to a new place there will be different people and they will have different culture than me, so then I will learn more about other people.

I know that traveling will be very hard. One reason that traveling to India is gonna be hard is because where I live is mostly surrounded with mountains,  so because of this China is very separate from the rest of the world. So I plan to travel by the silk road.

When I tell my parents that I am planning to travel to India, they are not pleased.

“How come? Are you not happy here?” my mother says.

“We will miss you a lot.” my father says.

I know that I will miss my family but I think that this is the best decision for me, I love farming, but I really always wanted more in life than just picking crops. I know that what I am doing is dangerous and I am taking a huge risk, but this is what I feel like I want to do.

I will travel to India I will bring my horse, and plenty of food and water. I will not have to pack a lot of water, because there will be a lot of rivers that I can stop at. I know that I will have to be careful on the silk road, because many people have warned me about thieves, and there is supposed to be a lot of thieves on the silk road.

The Journey to India

Part 1:
Chinese Date: Cycle 54, Chinese Year Xin-Chou (38), year 581, month 5, day 22 (581-05-22)
Gregorian Date: Tuesday, July 10, 581

At once I am on my way to India. I am on the third day of my journey. I am traveling on the silk road, so far I am doing really good. I think I am off to a good start, I packed a lot of food, and some water. I brought some money, but not that much money, only as much as I could afford. I had my horse, some supplies, and a little money.

I am planning to take about 15 or 20 days to get there. I have met some pretty nice people on my way to India, a lot of people traveling on the silk road are traveling to trade their goods. For the past couple of days I have slept under the stars. So far I am doing pretty good on this journey.

Part 2:
Chinese Date: Cycle 54, Chinese Year Xin-Chou (38), year 581, month 6, day 8 (581-06-08)
Gregorian Date: Wednesday, July 25, 581

Today is my 15th day of traveling. I was doing great on this journey, until yesterday I was making my way to India when a group of thieves robbed me of everything I had, leaving me with just me and my horse. I don’t know what to do now; I only have a little bit of snacks, and no water. I had nothing to eat last night; I haven’t had anything to eat since I got robbed. I am very worried and I don’t know what to do.

The good news is that I am almost to India so I only have to last a few more days until I arrive. When I arrive in India I hope I will find food and shelter. The other good news is that now that I have been robbed no one else will try to rob me! I am trying to stay positive because if I give up now then I will never make it to India. I have heard that the people in India are very kind so I hope I can get there.

I am now approaching India, and I am closer to India than China so there is no turning back anyway.

Part 3:
Chinese Date: Cycle 54, Chinese Year Xin-Chou (38), year 581, month 6, day 18 (581-06-18)
Gregorian Date: Friday, July 6, 581

Just a few days ago I met two extremely kind men and they were also traveling to India. They were both traveling on horses and they saw me struggling by the side of the road. I saw that they had plenty of food and water; they decided to give me some. A couple of minutes after the food and water got into my system, I started to get my energy back. While I was eating they asked me what I was doing.

“So, what are you doing, stranded on the side of the road?” they asked.

“I was traveling to India, on my horse when a group of thieves robbed me of almost everything I had.”

“Oh,” they responded, “Well we are also heading to India. Would you also like to come along with us?”

“Thank you so much! I would love to come along with you!”

So I went along with them and I have been traveling for about three days, and now we are almost in India.

My Arrival

Chinese Date: Cycle 54, Chinese Year Xin-Chou (38), year 581, month 7, day 9 (581-07-09)

Gregorian Date: Saturday, August 25, 581

We finally arrived in India today! I have left the friends that I met on the silk road they were traders, and they were in India to sell their goods. So they had to go their ways and now I have to go mine.

They left me with some money to spend in India. The money in India is coins, in China the money was all paper. Money is not the only thing that is different from China. The weather to start off with is very hot and dry. I can see some mountains but not as much as in China. The buildings look extremely different from in China.

In India people wore clothes that were made of fabric that was made from cotton. Most people would wear baggy trousers. Some ladies would wear this cotton fabric, that I think someone called a sari. I have seen this type of clothing in all different types of colors and designs, most of the designs are very bright and colorful.

They would wear saris in many different ways, some would wear them as skirts, and others might drape the sari over their head. Men would wear cotton clothes around their head called turbans. Most of the fabric was made from cotton, because cotton was grown in India.

I do recognize some of the food in ancient India, some people are eating rice, and some people are eating wheat. There is a lot of food like also things like cinnamon and pepper, and many other types of food that I have never even heard of before.

A New Start

I do love India a lot, everything is so different and interesting. Sometimes I find it hard to communicate with everyone because most people speak Sanskrit, which I find as a very confusing language,  but I have picked up a few words.

I love how everyone dresses so colorful, and I love how the buildings are so big. Back in my hometown, in China, most of the buildings were a lot smaller than the buildings here.

Whenever I see mountains I always think of home, because there was always mountains in my view in China. Here there is a lot of mountains too.

In India they have a lot of interesting food, they have rice and wheat, which I am used to eating at home, but they also have a lot of other foods at home, like lentils, and chickpeas. Back in China, I used to eat rice and wheat, sometimes I would eat millet and sorghum. I would never eat anything else because I could never afford anything else. In India there is so much other food to eat.

I don’t know what I will do in India, but I will find something in my new life. My adventure has just begun.