Journal Entry #20: Wednesday, June 2, 2010

It’s been taking me longer and longer to journal but I have no regrets.  It’s really been a labor that I have enjoyed.  With the length of my entries, I’ve about decided that this is not a journal but a book!

On Tuesday, I had received a text message from Sally asking me if we were still going to lunch at her dining hall at noon the following day.  I texted back, “Yes, when and where would you like to meet?”  It was decided that we would meet at 11:20 a.m. in the front of Building Nine and we were then to walk to her dining hall.  I called Sarah to see if she would go with me because I thought Xiao, whom I wanted Sarah to meet and converse (counsel), would be with Sally.  Xiao was not with Sally, but the three of us went to lunch and enjoyed the unique experience.  

The dining hall was a different one than I had attended with Xiao the night before.  But the set-up and traffic flow was very similar.  The selection was a bit different in that you could have a bowl of noodles with vegetables cooked to order.  That’s what I had Sally order for me.  It was very good but I forgot to tell Sally NO hot and spicy for me and it was just that!  I tried to chopstick-up the noodles and vegetables to shake the red peppers off as much as I could, but when I finished my lips were numb!   During lunch several people came to meet us and ask Sally how she was able to arrange to have lunch with the American guests on campus.  We still had celebrity status after almost three weeks on campus.  After lunch we wandered about the different food stations just to see what the different offers were.  We were told that one of the favorite foods of the students was the pancake station.  “Oh,” I thought, “Pancakes!” But when I saw what they were referring to as pancakes my excitement was squelched a bit because what they were calling pancakes would not have been served in any weekend morning American house that I knew of!  The best I could tell it looked more like a pizza crust with red peppers and other hot spices.  It was so Hunan.  I should have known.  I will be so ready for pancakes when I get home – and cereal, COLD-milked cereal.  Those entrees just don’t exist here!  

As we left we discovered in our conversation that Sally had been playing the Violin since she was six years old and that she was often called upon to play at various public meetings as the entertainment.  I asked her if she could play for us at some point and she said, “How about tonight?”  “Yes,” we said, “Come on over about 8:00 p.m.”

I returned from lunch to make final preparations for my 3:00 p.m. class on good listening skills.  I prepared the PowerPoint and a PDF so that I shouldn’t have any issues with their very suspect system on computers and presentation equipment in their classrooms.  After that was done I had time for that great Chinese afternoon ritual – a nap!

Class went amazingly well.  But this was a classroom of teachers and any students who voluntarily wanted to attend so I knew I would have a better class experience than my Monday class had been.  And it could not have gone better.  The class included great interactive discussion, great response to my thoughts and lesson points, and lots of hanging around after class to inquire more.
As I was packing up my notes and such, I received a phone call from one of my student-hosts, Cindy.  As planned, she and Mimzy were going to escort me to the Supermarket to help me shop for some food and supplies I needed for my apartment.  After I met them outside the classroom building they were ready to head straight to the store, but I told them I wanted to go to my apartment, change my shoes and get my shopping list I had created.  Good thing we did so, because when I arrived there were four girls there that reminded me that I had invited them to my apartment to cook and fellowship for the evening!  Avil, Candy, Ann, and Summer were excited about the evening that was about to unfold before us.  They had a lot of food in various forms of preparation that they were going to cook for our evening meal.  I had forgotten all about this and now I was double booked.  The two groups knew each other so I suggested we see what I had in my kitchen to see what else they might need for all of us to stay for dinner.  I had a package of frozen Chinese dumplings in my freezer and I explained we could add a little water to the soup and then have enough to serve all of us.  They had no idea what I was talking about and I decided not tell them, and that I would maybe explain it later. While they prepared the meal, Cindy, Mimzy and I would continue on with our shopping date and pick up my needs and anything else the cooking team might need.  They all gathered in my kitchen, talked in Chinese among themselves with great animation, and added a few items to my shopping list.   Off we went to go shopping.  I wasn’t too concerned with the time it was going to take for us to walk to the Supermarket, purchase the list items (and a few things more I saw because I was hungry), and return, because meals like this always took a long time to prepare.  The cost came to   ¥191.90 (about $27.95) for a whole basketful of food and cleaning supplies!

Soon after we returned I saw Cindy and Mimzy leaving, and I was afraid they felt uninvited. I insisted they were indeed invited and to please stay!   They then said they were just going to the outdoor market because the cooks needed more food supplies to complete a few of the dishes.  I did not want to go and they were on the way out the door so I tried to give them money to at least let me pay for the food, but they said no, and ran away, out the door, and down the street.  As soon as they returned, the food started coming out of the kitchen a few dishes at a time.  The entrees were amazingly delicious.  We had fish, tofu, and a pork sausage mixture that was made with rice powder, plus a number of vegetable dishes.  Avil, who has seemed to take a real shine to me, knew I had spoken of my liking of a previously served dish at a restaurant, Fried Bananas, so she prepared that as a surprise dessert for me!  If the meal and the food weren’t amazing enough, there was soon a buzz at my door and it was Sally and a friend, with her Violin in a case!  We invited them in to eat.  We had so much food and fun that I called my Harding team to come down and visit with us and eat as much as they wanted.

After dinner it was time for Sally to provide the entertainment.  She pulled out her Violin, made a few adjustments to her bow, tightened up the strings, and then introduced her first song as a traditional Chinese folk arrangement that she had previous played at a competitive concert she won!  I then realized that we were not in for a “Twinkle-Twinkle, Little Star” concert.  Sally started playing and the entire group of Americans was drop-jawed and wide-eyed!  We looked like Simon Cowell when he first heard Susan Boyle sing, “I Dreamed the Dream!”  We looked at each other in utter amazement!  We had a child prodigy, virtuoso Violin player performing for our private dinner entertainment!  SHE. WAS. AMAZING!  I just kept thinking, “this trip keeps getting more and more unbelievable, as if that were even possible!” When she finished we applauded, we stood, and then we applauded some more.  We started shouting, “BRAVO! BRAVO! ENCORE! ENCORE!”  Of course, we then had to explain those words to them.  She was happy to oblige and introduced another song.  This time I had Daniel use the video portion of his digital camera to record this.  I will get a copy of that and hopefully it will be email-able.  If not, I will get you a copy to see and listen to at a later time.

We were all enjoying the discussion, some in Chinese and some in English (most of these students were English majors so the conversation was pretty comprehensible).  They were there to mingle with the Americans and practice their English.  Most of them had heard that I had visited Guangzhou and Dong Guan City over the weekend and one asked me how did I enjoy my weekend trip?  I told them it was a long and wonderful story but they seemed excited for me to tell them my story anyway.  I asked them if they wanted me to just read my journal entries to them.   One said, sort of like an American Bedtime Story?  “Yes,” I replied, “We could make it like that.”  So they got their drinks and some more food and they circled me like a group of Kindergartners sitting at the feet of the teacher at story time.  I read with great enthusiasm and animation my journal entry from the previous Friday.  They laughed and squealed at our misadventures while trying to find Mia.  They oohhed and aahhed as I explained some of my words they did not understand.  When I finished that days’ entry they clapped, laughed, and said, “Read us another one Mr. Shaner, read us another one!”  So I read them of my events the Saturday I spent with Mia, West, Jessica, Nick, and Jing Jing’s family.  They were delighted that I was able to have such a great experience while in their homeland.

Soon it was time to clean up and put away.  The entire group started helping with the process with one of the girls shouting out assignments for each of the others.  I encouraged the students to take as much of the leftovers as they would because I was going out of town for three days starting Friday morning and I thought they would put it to better use than I would. Even though we all had been taking photos all evening, we all lined up for various group pictures before they went on their way for the evening.  They left. I prepared for bed, but I had trouble falling asleep because I was still so excited about the evening!