Day 12

 We took a train trip from Suzhou to Shanghai today. It wasn't long--it only took about 20 minutes or so. Then we met up with Mulan once again, who took us to a lunch with my former students that she helped to arrange. I was excited but nervous to see them again; I hadn't seen them in about 4 years. Yiming was the first to walk in the room we had reserved, and I thought she was Cora! Cora arrived next, fortunately, then Katniss, then Blair. We had a lovely lunch: my favorites were the fatty Shanghai pork and the fried eggplant (to DIE FOR!). I learned that Blair had gotten married; Cora was teaching middle school and felt frustrated with it; Yiming had a boyfriend and was working in Nanjing; and Katniss was working as well. It was so nice to catch up with them. We talked about Chinese vs. American culture and politics, too: those are always fun, fascinating conversations to have. 

Afterwards, we went to SISU--two of the students came in the car with us, and two took a cab.We all just walked around and I reminisced: I saw the Admin building, the sports center with the statue of the guys playing basketball, the library, the coffee shop, the SISU Guest House where I stayed in 2019. I noticed, much to Kerry's happiness, that the Ciao Cafe was still there--just in a slightly different location. At the end of the excursion, we walked to a SISU Bookstore on Dalian Road, where the drive initially dropped us off. (I was barely aware of the bookstore, having only been there maybe once.) Kerry and I wanted to get souvenirs: pads of paper, bears, pens, etc. But then guess what? My former students stepped in and said that THEY would buy the souvenirs for us! "We want to do this for you," they said. "We can afford it. We have jobs now." That honestly was one of the sweetest things I have ever had a student do for me; it stands out as such a contrast to the students on the Tokyo trip, who basically ignored me. Mulan pointed out, "They like and respect you." One thing I got from the students was their Chinese names for my WeChat: I knew that might come in useful if I lost track of them.

I invited the students to go on the Huangpu river cruise with me and Kerry, and they ALL wanted to go! So after resting up at the hotel a bit, our driver drove us to the Bund where we got on a boat, walked up a LOT of stairs, and saw the beautiful sights of the Bund up close: the lights, the towers, just....eveything! It was all so gorgeous. Unfortunately, my leg gave out on me and I had to sit down after about 20 minutes. (I had nothing to lean on on the top floor where we were.) But the students came down with me and chatted with me. Once the ride was over, I hugged them all and we got into a Didi that they had ordered for us. I honestly was teary at this point. I will miss being so loved and appreciated.

Kerry and I had dinner at Prego: I had the cannelloni dish that he liked so much, with ground beef in it, and Kerry had the same thing. Plus we also both had the chocolate mousse dessert that we liked a lot. Then it was time for bed. 

A very fun day, but oh I will miss those students! 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 4

Today was definitely not as full and crazy as Day 3. But the day focused on Japanese culture. The first thing we did was go to a Japanese tea house and attend a Japanese tea ceremony. It was very intricate in nature with many precise steps. We got to eat a sweet and drink some matcha tea. Some students even participated in working through the steps on their own while we watched. After watching the ceremony, it is easy for me to see why the Japanese are so exacting in everything that they do. One part I liked in the ceremony was when the woman running it reminded us all that this was one moment in time that would never be repeated, and that's why made the tea ceremony so special. I think that's a message that's worth remembering about life, is it not? The other major part of the "culture" day was a visit to the Japanese National Museum. I wasn't thrilled with the LONG walk to Ueno Park, in the rain nonetheless. But once we got to the museum, I really enjoy look...
Read more

Day 13

Today was a pretty low-key day: it was really all about the Westin Brunch, which I've looked forward to for YEARS. We went down to the lobby: they serve drinks first, so I had an orange-flavored spritzer and a white wine spritzer. When it was time to eat, I began by indulging in the seafood: scallops, shrimp, mussels. During the meal, I had goose livers, lamb chops, and medium rare prime rib. All great stuff! I also had some fruits (especially watermelon, which I've been stuffing my face with in Asia) and salad. They didn't appear to serve hummus anymore, but I did have some chicken shwarma in a pita and some guac and chips. Close to the end of the meal, I had coconut ice cream with chocolate chips and nuts. While we were eating, the DJ (who'd been playing since the beginning) stopped and the orchestra began. Then they had a male opera singer followed by three entertainment acts: two female drummers, a male and female acrobat, and then a stuntman who could climb high he...
Read more

Day 5

 I can best sum this day up by saying that the day was a bust but the night was a blast. We drove for five hours to see Mt. Fuji today and didn't even catch a glimpse of it. Some people were able to, apparently, but we could not. So that was unfortunate. One thing I did enjoy today, though, was a boat cruise on a ferry on Lake Ashi--I liked this a lot. I haven't been on a boat cruise since we were in Hong Kong back in 2018, And I will admit that it was fun to take a cable car up a mountain and get some beautiful scenic views: but nothing of Mt. Fuji. So I went home feeling supremely disappointed. And we had to listen to 2-3 girls giggle and meow at each other the entire three-hour trip home. I wanted to smack them so badly. Things got better when we decided to go out for the evening. After one Uber cancellation (we couldn't figure out where they wanted to pick us up), I asked the hotel clerk to call us a cab. He got someone and we went to the gay district in Tokyo. There...
Read more