Gentle Readers,
There are really no words to express how very moved I was with the events of today... I will try.
Three of my old students, from when I taught here the summer of 2008, came to visit me in Jin Yang today!!!! When we parted three summers ago, we all assumed that we would probably never see one another again... even though we went through the polite motions of saying farewell until we meet again. Della, Anthony, and William, through their connections on QQ (which is sort of the Chinese version of our Facebook), arranged to travel great distances to meet with me in Jin Yang today. They had journeyed through complicated bus and train routes to get here from Bijie and towns much further into the countryside.
Della could not even speak when we first saw one another, so we both just hugged and cried. Anthony brought his little son, Tony, and his wife with him, too. William now wears a wedding band and has a one year old son. Della also brought her boyfriend to meet with us.
As is Chinese custom, they came bearing gifts. Lots of "sugars" from Anthony and his family. Lovely individually wrapped cakes from Della. And a special present Scott and I were told to open together at home... which was a musical snow globe which played "Moonlight Sonata" with two bears in a boat, to celebrate our relationship.
Since all of them had spent a great many hours on public transportation to get here, we decided to just walk over to Jin Yang and have dinner together, rather than haul all of us into Guiyang. Everyone was excited to meet Scott, as they knew about him through various emails over the last two years. They treated us to dinner, insisting on paying because we are honored guests in their country. We had fish, dumplings, a cabbagy soup, a chicken dish with red chile peppers, a beef and vegetable dish, and some greens. The rice came in a wooden bucket, and there were many toasts of Gambay to welcome us back to China. And although Anthony offered us to fish head to eat, we deferred to him and wished him the good luck the fish head was supposed to provide.
One of the most startling things to learn was that they remembered so much of what I had taught them three summers ago... even some obscure songs! Anthony has fond memories of playing Mother Pig in our version of The Three Little Pigs. We reminisced about learning to play mahjong in the boys' dormitory by candlelight and cell phone light, because the electricity had gone out again. They remembered giving me the Chinese name Bai Ling... and how that was the very first time they had ever voted for anything. No one had ever asked their opinion about anything before that naming. And we laughed a lot together.
Saying farewell was very difficult. You know, I never thought I would see Della, Anthony, or William again, once we said goodbye in 2008. And today, though their collaborative efforts, they show up at Guiyang Number One High School laden with gifts and a desire to take Scott and I out to dinner. Della referred to our meeting as "the beautiful hour" in her email prior to her
arrival. Life doesn't get much better than this...
Namaste,
Bai Ling
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