We sat with people from Ghana at breakfast, first time with X sitting himself right at who turned out to be Macy’s table. It was me, X and Z with all women engineers. They speak “Chi,” and we sat with Macy and Met Millie and Esther. Macy said she wants to take Y back to Ghana with her! They’ve been in China for a month at a course in another town. Very lively group! I brought down my Michelle Obama magazine, and they oohed and aahed over it. Up on our floor, I wrote down our e-mail for Macy, and she seemed not to want to write down her name and # herself, so I wrote it down. At second breakfast, we happened to sit with the only Ghanian man, the president of the company they’re with. Very interesting, they use Chinese machines: compactors, trucks, etc. He’s touring China for another month to see the factories they manufacture the machinery. They keep upgrading the equipment, but the new is incompatible with the old: planned obsolescence. He gave us his business card, and we told him we’ll e-mail him The Story of Stuff link. I’d love a) to go to Ghana and b) to phone him there!
We packed, left the hotel at 10:30, saying goodbye to Kathi, packing all the bags miraculously in the same way we did on our ride from the airport (Dave probably knew the exact same order of how to get all the bags in – ha ha), with Rod driving Dave, and me taxiing with James and the kids. At the airport, we didn’t have to pay any extra luggage fees. I guess we convinced them that we are on a connecting international flight (we’d purposely left the tags with BEI on the suitcases). We shared Kathi’s home-made banana bread before we parted ways.
At security, we had to convince personnel that the 16-oz Dr. Bronner’s Baby-Mild Hemp Castille soap that we accidentally left in our carry-on wasn’t a terrorist weapon. First, we had to talk with three levels of security personnel, me reading the label to them, indicating shampooing over my boys’ heads. Then I had to meet the bottle over to a different area, where a man lowered it into a chamber, a computer screen blipped much data, it seemed, about its contents. Then the man said, “Medicine?” I replied, “Medicine!” The final “test” was that he indicated for me to open it, and then he wafted it to his nearby nose, and I had to waft it also – and voila! – you have soap that’s safe to take onboard! Wafting, the ultimate test!
Airline with female flight attendants dressed in mock-traditional Chinese dresses. Entrees that were all spicy-only options, so the kids ate white rice. Delicious dried strawberries, sweet-n-tasty walnut milk, even definitely Western-style nut-topped muffins. Ysa was able to entertain the whole row in back of us, all men, single-handedly by just batting her eyelashes, basically. Those guys went from non-descript, to animated faces, returning monster growls and funny faces in one-second flat whenever she turned her head.
The boys did great at luggage pick-up, priding themselves on “picking up” the luggage as it went by. Xander had arranged all 3 carts just so, so that luggage could be directly toppled onto the carts next to the conveyor belt.
Finally, we met Eric Eberly, MCC staff (who had just accidentally left his cell phone in the tax). We also met Luo Bo, Xihua University’s International Office employee. After loading everything onto an enclosed pick-up truck, Luo drove our family in a vehicle (I always just sit in the front, holding Ysa on my lap) for the 45 minutes drive, and we chatted easily about his stay in Virginia in 2005 with Myrrl, the other international teachers on campus, the directions we were traveling in (north and west on the 4th ring road), and many other pleasant topics.
Then we were at…our campus! Our apartment! I took many pictures, eager to e-mail them to everybody, and to retain the images for the next 3 weeks when we’re not there, but on the other side of the city at Summer Language Program (SLP).
Xihua Dahue campus is beautiful, lush place. Ours is a very narrow street, almost alley-like that our residence sits on. It’s lined with tall apartment buildings, and across the small street are more apartment buildings. The truck driver, Loa Bo, Dave and Mr. Zhona worked up quite the sweat hauling our 8 suitcases up 6 flights of stairs. We met Owen, the Peace Corps volunteer who’s resided there the past year, who is generously moving to another place so we can take advantage of the spaciousness of our apartment. First, the floors are a beautiful, shiny wood. There are, indeed, 3 bedrooms. The kids’ room is already furnished with a sturdy, wood bunk bed and a third bed. There is a back porch-type (or storage, as it’s currently being used) area that connects the kids’ room with the third bedroom. There are, indeed, 2 bathrooms, even though the entry-way one is a squat toilet that Owen explained doesn’t work very well. Owen graciously pointed out to us all the deficiencies of the apartment, such as the squat toilet that doesn’t flush very well.
In my opinion, I would like to paint the walls. I mean, this is a hallmark of Dave -n- Jane, to have colored walls. In this case, I’m imagining keeping the light green of the dining area, but perhaps choosing gray, yes, a rich gray, to offset the luxurious brown tones of the floor and trim around the doorways. We’ll see. I can see us having a couch in the living room, as it currently has 3 chairs, functional, but still. Going
We met our MPC comrades for dinner: Shelly, Dave (just returned from U.S.A., but has been teaching for the past 1.5 years in ______ where Esther also is), and Eric. Dinner was hard. Ysa wanted to run around, yet slipped and of course placed her hands right on the ground a few times. These are all folks without kids. Shelly is super engaged with the kids, and well-meaning. She let slip mention of a KFC nearby and when I cut it off right away, Xander picked up on it, and then the boys, actually, all 3 kids let loose with the “KFC! KFC! chant. Betcha didn’t know there was such a chant, eh?
Anyways, we ate spicy Sichuanese food at this amazing, indoor-outdoor, two-story mall lined with restaurants and shops. Dave noticed the small, parked, diesel-truck-type vehicle which held in its open bed many oil barrels of, well, it seemed cooking or fueling oil. Later on, we saw it zooming out of the mall. You walk through these corridors that are lined with shops that have roofs extending over them horizontally, and at the top of the second floor there seems to be a bit of roof extending a bit more, but overall it’s an outdoor space, as there is no full roof overhead. Seems like you might get the best of both worlds: fresh air yet also protection from the sun.
The food: Another first! A true Sichuan meal.
We came home around 9:15 p.m. I was exhausted, yet really wanted to and did unpack the kids’ clothing in their room. Ysa fell asleep with Zekey. They all passed out almost immediately upon hitting their beds. I went to bed at 10:15.
No comments:
Post a Comment