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Weifang Daily Weifang Rong Media News 20 years ago, Ukrainian boy Eugene came to Weifang alone, and now 43 years old, he is already the father of two children. For 20 years, Eugene and his family will spend the Mid-Autumn Festival in Weifang every year, eating moon cakes and "making moon children", Eugene is now fully integrated into the beautiful city of Weifang, and fluent in Mandarin, so that reporters and Eugene can communicate without any obstacles. Eugene confessed that he felt that he had become an ordinary Weifang person in the crowd of people bustling on the streets, and regarded Weifang as his second hometown.
Eugene buys meat and burns it.
Integrate into the life of Weifang people and see the great changes in Weifang over the years
On the morning of September 17, it began to rain lightly in the city, and Eugene set off from home with his mobile phone and umbrella as usual, preparing to buy breakfast for his two children and wife Xia Yi. Eugene lives in yijiaoyuan community located in Weicheng District Xiyuan Street, Xiyuan Street is not only a very pyrotechnic old street in our city, but also carries many memories of Eugene and his family. In 2001, Eugene came to Weifang alone, and after Eugene and Xia Yi married in 2007, the two have been living in the neighborhood on this street for 14 years. Here, the two watched their two children grow up gradually, and here, they also saw the huge changes in the whole street and even Weifang over the years.
Eugene buys mooncakes at a mooncake shop.
"When I came in 2007, this West Garden Street was full of stalls, and now it has a unified door, which is more standardized than before; when I came to Weifang in 2002, it was like the vicinity of Zhiyuan Road was still relatively desolate, and now it is a high-rise building." On the way to buy the fire, Eugene said to the reporter while greeting the vendors on both sides of the West Park Street Road, during which the vendors did not "look at Eugene differently", and he was more like an old Weifang man who came out to buy breakfast. Soon, Eugene came to the fire shop he frequented. "Old Yan, bring me three pieces of meat, I want to just bake..." "Okay, you take it well..." "Thank you..." After scanning the code and paying, Eugene immediately came to a mooncake shop next door.
Eugene bought his daughter a favorite apple.
Because it is close to the Mid-Autumn Festival, Eugene will buy several kinds of stuffed mooncakes these days, and then taste them with his family at noon and in the evening. On the way back, Eugene also bought his daughter's favorite apples and his wife's favorite fish.
Eugene eats meat on fire.
When I got home, it was already around 7:30 a.m., and Yujang pushed open the door and her little daughter threw herself into her father's arms and greeted the reporter politely. At this time, Xia Yi had already prepared milk and bread, and the family was waiting for the meat fire to be cooked on the table. After sitting down, the little daughter first took the meat fire and ate it in a big mouth, the heat came out instantly, and Eugene and his wife also began to take three bites and make two bites, and they ate it happily.
Eugene and his wife, Xia Yi, eat mooncakes.
Mooncakes are not only delicious but also the love of elders
After breakfast, Eugene's little daughter was ready for school, and when she saw the mooncake that Yudang bought, the little daughter couldn't help but take two bites. Eugene told reporters that they did not have a Mid-Autumn Festival in Ukraine, similar to the "Harvest Festival", and the "Harvest Festival" in Ukraine is also to eat with their families and reunite together. Regarding the mooncake, Eugene was most impressed by the first time he ate the mooncake. In September 2007, he married Xia Yi, a native of Weifang, and soon after the two married, they arrived at the Mid-Autumn Festival, and Eugene's mother also rushed from Ukraine to Weifang for a reunion Mid-Autumn Festival. At that time, Eugene's father-in-law Xia Yunzhi brought several boxes of egg yolk mooncakes from Shanghai for Eugene and his family to taste, because each small mooncake is very similar to a small cake, so Eugene is very "appetite", but the first bite, Eugene feels that the "appearance and taste" of the mooncake are completely inconsistent. "It was the first time I ate a mooncake, and to be honest, I thought it was sweet and salty and hard, and it didn't fit my taste." Eugene said that although he also ate it hard at the time, he was not as popular as Weifang Meat Fire or Weifang Hele.
During the Mid-Autumn Festival holiday that year, Eugene and his family ate mooncakes again in the process of playing and eating, but the second time he ate mooncakes, Eugene felt that it was getting more and more delicious, and now he not only ate mooncakes during the Mid-Autumn Festival, but also liked to eat mooncakes very much. "I now prefer egg yolk mooncakes and heavy oil mooncakes, and I like to eat mooncakes sold in Xiyuan Street, Happiness Street and Beigong Vegetable Market." Eugene confessed that now he eats mooncakes not only because they are delicious, but also because of the love of his elders for himself.
Talking about the family's eating habits, Eugene admitted that their family is from Tiannanhaibei, his father-in-law is from Ningbo, his wife and mother-in-law are authentic Laowei County, and he is Ukrainian, although their tastes are not the same, but the family's favorite is Weifang meat fire and Mid-Autumn Mooncakes.
Learn more about Weifang through traditional customs such as "Nian Yue'er"
In addition to eating mooncakes, Eugene will also learn to "make a moon", because Eugene's mother-in-law Chen Ping is a native of Lao Wei County, and Chen Ping's father is Chen Mingzhang, nicknamed Hercules. Chen Ping told reporters that eating mooncakes in the Mid-Autumn Festival is only part of it, and the most important thing is to make a good "moon" of the white circle in advance, and then "make the moon" with your family.
Mother-in-law Chen Ping did yue'er.
In 2008, Eugene, who saw Chen Ping", felt very novel, and he proposed to learn. At that time, Chen Ping and Eugene prepared ingredients such as noodles, rolling noodles, and buying red dates. "'Yue'er' is actually a big dumpling made of flour, and the two round dumplings are sandwiched between the red dates." Chen Ping said that when "making yue'er", the most important thing is to make dough, at least two or three hours, but because the process is complicated, and "yue'er" also has to embroider lace, especially to make various shapes of face sculpture works, such as small rabbits, birds and other small animals and flowers that symbolize auspiciousness, so Eugene has not learned many times.
A family "read the moon".
Although Eugene did not learn, every time the family ate "Yue'er" together, Eugene would follow Chen Ping to "read the moon", and "Nian Yue'er" also made Eugene feel very ritualistic. Through some of the traditional customs of his mother-in-law in traditional festivals such as the Mid-Autumn Festival and the Dragon Boat Festival, Eugene also knows more about Weifang. "For example, the Mid-Autumn Festival night 'moon reading' is a kind of longing and blessing, so this ceremony is very similar to some of our Ukrainian Christmas ceremonies." Eugene said the two holidays are very similar, on this day the family will sit around and pray for blessings, Weifang's Mid-Autumn Festival they sometimes carry artemisia lamps around the streets or around the neighborhood, and their Ukrainian Christmas is to hang a variety of prayer lights on Christmas trees or in front of their homes.
Eugene is live.
The live class incorporates Weifang elements and has regarded Weifang as a second hometown
In addition to his usual teaching work, Eugene has also begun to do live English broadcasts, learning Mandarin with his wife Xia Yi, and now there are many fans. "As long as I have time, I will prepare lessons, do some English live broadcast, in the live broadcast of teaching English, there are fans from all over the country, I will take this opportunity to insert kites, woodblock New Year paintings and other Weifang elements, so that more people know Weifang, like Weifang." Eugene said that for example, some of his fans in Gansu and Shanxi do not know about Weifang, and he will set up some Weifang element plots through the opportunity of teaching English words, such as scene dialogue when flying kites in Kite Square, scene dialogues on making woodblock New Year paintings in Yangjiabu Folk Art Grand View Garden, and so on.
Eugene followed his wife to learn Mandarin.
Eugene admits that although he misses home every year after the Mid-Autumn Festival or New Year, and he has not returned to Ukraine for two years, he feels that he has become an ordinary Weifang person in the crowd of people bustling on the streets. "Here, my family and I are very happy, going out is the market, the west is Ziyi Garden, the north is Anshun Park and Olympic Sports Park, and now my two children are registered in Weifang, we also want to stay in Weifang for a long time, I have made Weifang my second hometown." Eugene told reporters.
Weifang Daily All-media reporter: Wang Luxin/Text, picture
Xu Yang/ Video shooting, post-production