This is from Carolyn's letters home
Day 5, Continued – It has rained for 2 nights and the sky is
completely blue. We went to Baotu Xuen
Springs, just across the street from the North Gate of our campus. It is a beautiful park with many pools of
crystal clear water bubbling up from underground. Jinan has many springs. This one is special because there is an
outdoor theater and 3 buildings dating back about 200 years that have statues
inside that were made by following an ancient record they found in this
area. The statues seem to relate to the
family and their relationship with God.
It was a profound experience for me.
As we walked home, I looked up and saw the moon and some stars. Jinan is a beautiful city.
Day 6, Thursday, September 4 – Adam Yang came to visit us
today. It was wonderful to see him. He brought us a very large bag filled with
different tins of moon cakes to be eaten in honor of the moon festival this
Monday. He is such a nice man. We also spent a good part of the day with
Robin setting up our bank account and getting our student card. He has been very patient with us and we are
grateful for his help. Been working on
lesson plans and outlines for next week.
I am so excited to meet my new students.
Day 7, Friday, September 5 – We spent the day at the main
campus in training with the other International teachers. I thought there would be many teachers, but
there were only about 15 of us on 4 campuses.
One teacher is from Russia, another from Spain, one from India and
another from Canada. Mostly, we were
from the USA and some of the teachers had taught all over the world. We had a great meeting with our wonderful
Chinese University hosts. They arranged
for us to eat an excellent buffet at the on campus hotel. Richard and I came home and Robin came over
and spent almost 3 hours helping us get our internet working again. Thank you!
Day 8, Saturday, September 6 – Today we had planned to go to on the campus tours with the other teachers. Richard opened his email and there was a letter from Du Chuan Chou (Mark Du) who was Joan’s student as a sophomore medical student. He said that he would be at our apartment at 10 am and wanted to take us to lunch. He had made a special trip from Beijing to be with us, so, of course, we decided to go with him. He was so happy to see Richard. Richard is “family” to him and he lovingly included me in the circle. Mark is now an orthopedic surgeon in Beijing. We thought that we would be going to a restaurant for lunch, but he took us to his hotel and had reserved a gorgeous room with a large round table, padded benches, and our personal waitresses. It was incredible. The food was also wonderful. But, best of all, he invited his family members who live in Jinan to join us. I’m not exactly sure how they are all related, but his two cousins (brother and sister) and her husband and their father joined us. They were so kind. We ate and talked for over two hours. His cousins took us to their family business called KTV which is a shop that has many booths where you can go and record yourself with a karaoke background. They are also interior designers for high class homes and hotels. Their work is exquisite. I would love to have them decorate our home. They said that they would always be there to help us and that we were family. I am so impressed with Chinese people and their work ethic. I especially love how kind they have been to us. I also haven’t mentioned the many shops and food stands around our apartment. It is such an adventure to be here.
No comments:
Post a Comment