A Tale of Two Weddings

Generally speaking, I'm sure that one wedding in a lifetime is enough for most people. I make this assumption not from personal experience, but just judging from the fact that those who get married a second or third time, generally tend to do so without the full fanfare of the first occasion. With that being said, Kevin Clancy just recently married twice in the space of three days!

Now I'm sure most of you are asking, "Who is Kevin Clancy?" Followed quickly by, "what's the deal; I thought Utah was the last hold out for bigamy?"

Let me give you a little background... When speaking to my students, I like to refer to Kevin as my boss, although that is not exactly true. Kevin is both a recruiter and coordinator for the Maryknoll teaching program in China. Kevin has placed us here and has been extremely helpful for us along the way.

Before his current position, Kevin taught in Zhanjiang (where Janet and I are) for four years. It was during that time that he met Kai Shan Kong, also known as, Snow White. Snow White and Kevin were both teachers at the Zhanjiang Normal College and eventually ended up dating and things progressed from there.

And now, back to the two weddings. So Friday afternoon, was the traditional western-style "church" wedding in Hong Kong. Somehow Kevin managed to coordinate having a crowd of 40 or so family members and friends from all over the globe to be in Hong Kong for the wedding. The service was nice and was mostly dominated by us westerners, though Snow White's parents were also in attendance. Her parents speak almost no English, but from their expressions and actions, they seemed extremely happy and to be very gracious, nice people. Undoubtedly, this is probably the first time they have ever been surrounded by forty foreigners and with a language barrier as well. It's too bad we were not able to speak with them to find out more of their thoughts on the ceremony.

After the wedding at St. Anne's Church in Stanley, we proceeded to the Hong Kong Yacht Club for the reception. The setting was beautiful and the buffet was excellent. At our table we had the opportunity to meet and greet with some former Maryknoll teachers who are now working and studying in various parts of China. It is nice to talk to people who have already come through the program and hear about the places it led them to.

The following day, with his infinite patience and aptitude for planning, Kevin had arranged to have his full entourage picked up by bus from the Maryknoll house, taken to the train station and placed on a train to Guangzhou for the second leg of the weekend. Once in Guangzhou, Kevin and Snow White met us at the train station in order to get us all safely to the Landmark Hotel where we would be staying. I was thoroughly surprised that despite having just met me two days before and with a large number of new foreign faces, Snow White remembered my name. She most also share the gift of diplomacy that we had already noticed with Kevin.

After checking-in and depositing our bags at the hotel, Janet and I were ready to take Dr. Flatley out for his first real Chinese meal. We found a nice restaurant nearby with a good picture menu that served wonderful fried rice inside a baked pineapple dish. The food was delicious and then it was off for a short cruise along the Pearl River, which runs through Guangzhou. The cruise was nice and I was pleasantly surprised that our little part of Guangzhou was relatively nice. From the stories I had heard, I just expected pollution engulfing the city and thieves on every sidewalk, but it was really pretty nice. I'd like to go back in the future and take some more time to get and see the sites around city. When we returned that evening, I delighted in enjoying the plethora (maybe eight to ten) of English language channels on the TV, a real bathtub in the bathroom and the soft bed.

Sunday arrived and it was time for wedding number two, this one done in the traditional Chinese style. The Chinese wedding was much more centered around the banquet, than having what we would think of as a wedding ceremony. When we found our seats at the banquet hall, we found that there must have been at least two hundred people in attendance. Many of the Chinese friends and former students of Kevin and Snow White were present for the Guangzhou celebration.

After we were all seated, the newlywed couple entered to much fanfare and the explosion of celebratory "fireworks," which were basically massive party poppers that shot confetti out into the room. Next it was time for speeches as Kevin's father started us off, followed by Snow White's mother (translators were busy translation speeches into Cantonese and English, respectively). Next it was time for Snow White to share a few words and finally, the man of the hour, Mr. Kevin Clancy. Once the speeches ended, it was time for the banquet eating to begin us a small army of waitresses brought out dish after dish to each table. Most of the food was pretty good, though I think most everyone at our table passed on the duck feet.

During the meal, Kevin and Snow White went around the room to take a toast with each table. After we had finished eating, Snow White made the rounds again with some other females as they delivered tea to us all and we did shots of tea this time. It was quite the celebration, even complete with special celebratory cigarette packs on each table for the smokers in attendance (i.e., any Chinese males).

It was a busy, but great weekend. In addition to being at the weddings, it was great to be able to meet up with some of the other current Maryknoll teachers from different cities, whom I haven't seen since leaving our orientation at the end of August. Also, among Kevin's friends were many people who had previously taught and a disproportionately large number of people who could actually point out Zhanjiang on the map. We enjoyed exchanging stories. One of the more interesting people I spoke with was Peter, who had taught in China previously and is currently back with a group of friends and on a mission to bike through China and Asia. If you'd like, they have a website up about their quest, fueledbyrice.org.

From Guangzhou, I left for the trip back to Zhanjiang by bus. We didn't get in until after midnight, which made for a long morning the since I had class from 8AM until 11:30AM. Kevin and Snow White set off for Thailand to honeymoon and hopefully get some much needed relaxation after coordinating two weddings in the space of three days!