The last few weeks in China were filled with various activities. First, I was able to take a five day trip to Shanghai thanks to the graciousness of the Beijing YMCA, the Nolita Center and the National Committees of the YMCAs of China.
Then, upon my return, I was treated to several dinners and lunches by various people I met in Beijing like Mr. Song and his family, Mr. Cai, and Dr. Tsing, and Rui Liang and his wife. All of these people were so very supportive of my stay and I can't thank them enough. There were others who also helped me in very many ways, like Laura who acted as translator, assistant, companion and friend, Zhu Qi and Esther Fung who showed so much concern and caring, especially during the time I was recovering from my leg injury and Mr. Fung who also acted as translator. I also must mention Shirley Song who showed me the ropes for getting foot massages and facials all of which I will miss immensely. I also must mention Barbara from the Beijing Center who faithfully attended Monday night classes and always had the room prepared and a bottle of water ready for me!
Song Family and staff: Sally Song, Cathy (staff), Laura (staff), Jim Song, Mr. Song, Shirley Song
Barbara at work
Thanks also to Wang Chengsi, Executive Secretary of the National Committee of YMCAs of China, who, along with Zhu Qi, helped make travel arrangements for my stay in Shanghai. I also want to mention Jin Wei, Acting General Secretary for the National Committee of the YMCAs of China, who, along with Wang Chengsi, took time out of her busy Saturday to meet with me and to entertain me at lunch. It wasn't until the end of my stay in China and I met with them that I learned so much about the YMCAs in China.
Jin Wei and Wan Chengsi
I also want to mention the general staff of the Nolita Center who were always kind and generous to me and I will miss them and their friendship very much.
Nolita Staff
I'm still amazed at how gracious and patient all of my Chinese friends and acquaintances were with my lack of Chinese language skills.
And, oh, the students -- how wonderful they were! I thought we had very many successful classes thanks to their enthusiasm, commitment, and desire to improve their English language skills and to learn about American culture. It was such a pleasure for me to conduct their classes and every session was a learning experience for them and for me. I'm very proud of Eric whose English improved significantly over the six months I was there. Ben was an eight year old student who was new to English and was very motivated to learn it. And Betty whose self confidence in her speaking skills seemed to improve dramatically week by week.
Eric
Ben
Also, I had two older students, Eugene and Ms. Wang, who saw me for individual tutoring. We had the most interesting conversations and I'm sure I learned as much about them and their lives and culture as they did about me and American culture.
Eugene
My three English Corner classes for conversational English were also interesting and challenging. The challenges for me were picking interesting topics for each specific group and encouraging participation in our conversations, especially in the Monday night adult group and the Friday night middle school group. And my other special class was conducted twice a month on Wednesday mornings for a community group who were the most friendly and charming ladies and who never failed to cheer me up.
Community Group with my friend Anne when she came to visit Beijing. Together we learned to do the hokey-pokey, Chinese style!
It was with mixed feelings that I finally left Beijing after having met so many wonderful people. Zhu Qi, Mr. Song and Mr. Cai took me to the airport where in a flurry of hugs and tears, we said good-bye.
Mr. Cai
Zhu Qi
SHANGHAI
At the last minute, upon learning that my classes were finished, I booked a trip to Shanghai where I had the opportunity to tour the city. I walked on the Bund and peeked in at some interesting historic buildings, took a boat tour on the river, and visited some other sections of the city. Unfortunately, my camera was not working for that part of my trip. I also took day trips to Suzhou and Hangzhou. It was Spring and luckily the weather was pretty good, so my side trips were well worth it.
I liked Shanghai very much and if I were to compare it with a Western city, Chicago comes closest with its eclectic mixture of art deco buildings and new skyscrapers.
SUZHOU
I visited Suzhou on a tour. It was about 90 minutes from Shanghai by bus. We saw the Humble Administrator's Garden (16th Century) which used water in connecting pools and linked by zig zag bridges, the Forest of Lions Garden (14th Century)where many of the rock formations are said to resemble lions and the Zhou Zhuang Water Village which reminded me of a miniature Venice.
HANGZHOU
Marco Polo considered Hangzhou "the finest, most splendid city in the world . . . where so many pleasures may be found that one fancies oneself to be in Paradise."
Hangzhou is 115 miles southwest of Shanghai and the trip was about 3 hours each way by bus. Needless to say, we had to cover a lot of territory in a little bit of time. We left at about 8 am and returned at about 7:30 pm. The highlights of the trip were a boat ride on West Lake, Ling Yin Temple, Hua Gang Park and a visit to the Dragon Well Tea Village.
Ling Yin Temple was originally built in a.d. 326 and has been rebuilt many times since. The main attraction is a limestone cliff which contains about 380 Buddhist rock carvings. In Beijing, I enjoyed visiting small Buddhist temples because they offered a respite from all the noise and confusion of the city but this temple is a major tourist attracttion and was very crowded and offered no feeling of tranquility or peace.
We took a boat ride on West Lake. Here is a picture of Lei Feng Pagoda which was completely rebuilt in 2003. The original pagoda was built on the site in a.d. 977.
A stroll through the park showed us that Spring had arrived. Even the peacocks agreed.
Next we went to Dragon Well Tea Village where the tea is known for its fine fragrance and smoothness. The tea is hand picked by women and processed by men. In Spring, the leaves are picked at their peak of tenderness and we were lucky enough to be there as the women were harvesting the leaves. It was late in the afternoon as a gentle, spring rain began to fall and our group returned to the buses for the trip back to Shanghai.
TOKYO
Before I left the U.S., I promised myself a couple of days in Tokyo on my return trip. There were several times when I thought I might cancel it as I was anxious to get home but Bob persuaded me to visit Tokyo as planned. I'm glad I did. I was lucky enough on my first evening there to be met by a colleague of Bob's friend, Mark. His name is Fumi and he very graciously picked me up at my hotel and got me oriented to using the train system. Lucky for me it was the first night of the famous cherry blossoms and we went to Uemo Park to check them out. After walking through the park for awhile, we walked through a local market and then went for something to eat at a local restaurant. The dish was called okonomi-kaki. It was a mixture of egg, noodles, meat and vegetables and was cooked on a griddle at the table. It was very tasty, especially washed down with Japanese beer! The next two days I walked around sections of the city and took in the ambiance and the cherry blossoms which were everywhere! Another highlight in Tokyo is a visit to the fish market. Located in a huge warehouse type structure, it is truly amazing. A walk in the Ginza section was also great. I saw many people in evening dress bustling about.
FINIS
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