Remembering the concept
of light on my last trip to China—from a previous e-mail back home in 2010. . .
And the Lord said,
"Let there be light." On Friday, December 10, I awoke at a
little before 4:00, made some e-mail notes to friends and family back in the
U. S., and worked on dissertation materials. At 6:00, I decided
to bathe and get ready for the next visit to the Hangzhou school
site. I opted for a bath this morning instead of a shower in order to
soak my very weary muscles in the warm waters after travel from the U.
S. Just as I was all lathered up (thank goodness I was bathing), the
electricity went off, and I was left sitting in the tub in total and
complete darkness. I had plugged my cell phone into the electrical outlet, so
I continued my bath, then slowly released the water from the
tub, reached a nearby towel, dried off, and carefully stepped out of the
tub to begin to feel my way around the bathroom for my
cell phone.
With a little light in hand-- I remembered that I had stashed
my flashlight away in my overhead bag for the trip, so I retrieved it, turned
it on, and continued to get dressed for the day--using the flashlight's
reflection in the bath mirror to put on my makeup and prepare (the flashlight was later lost at the O'Hare Airport in Chicago when my bags were extensively investigated after flight back to the states). In the
midst of the process, the power came back on, and life in China returned to
normal.
Once dressed, I made my way to the restaurant for breakfast,
but at 6:45, the facility was not yet open, so I sat on the beautifully
engraved wooden couch in the corridor to wait. An elderly gentleman (one
of the restaurant workers I later learned) came from around the corner with two
bowls of oranges to offer the three Buddahs sitting on a table
strategically across from the couch where I was stationed. He placed a
bowl on each side of the table, lit an incense, and began to bow a number of
times as he lifted up his prayers. As he prayed to his god, I lifted up
prayers to my God.
I thought it rather interesting that a Christmas tree and
Santa decorations were next to the wall cattycornered to the table of
Buddahs--only in China!
After he finished his prayers, he turned to me, and began
speaking to me in Hangzhouian dialect, but all I could reply was, "Wo bu
dong"--"I don't know." At that point I couldn't even
remember how to say "Chinese" in Chinese! He continued to
speak, as though that did not matter, with a perfect toothless smile. We
then sat there on the sofa silently for a while until the cooks began to place
items out for the breakfast buffet. He then motioned for me to go on into
the restaurant area, sit down, and enjoy my breakfast. I picked up a few
items--waiting for the rice porridge to be prepared, and sat at a round table
in a darkened area of the room (because it was covered with a table cloth), but
he motioned for me to move to a wooden table next to the kitchen area which was
not covered yet , so I did. I was so glad to do so because now, I had a
view of the activities going on in the kitchen as the cooks frantically
prepared for the day. As they brought out hot items and placed them on
the buffet table, other hotel guests began to arrive, and I went back for my
porridge and a few other items.
The elderly gentleman then brought over several napkins,
and bowed to me. I stood and bowed to him as well.
At the school site, I went to Helen's office, and was
escorted from there over to the media room where additional teacher interviews
were taking place. Rose came in with a plastic bag of what appeared to be some
form of instant rice, took it to the hot water dispenser, and
filled it with water. She then inspected the bag to make sure it was not
leaking, tied a knot in it, and set it aside to prepare. She then handed
me her I-pod from her purse, and asked Helen to take me to the television room
where I met with Mr. Son. I took my computer with me in order to have him
assist with setting it up for wireless connections at the school site--which he
did.
Mr. Son was an absolute computer wizzard! As I removed
my system from the rolling bag, he marvled, "OH! Windows 7,"
and began to examine every inch of the machine--noticing the China trademark in
the upper left-hand corner of the keyboard, and pointing it out ( I had to
chuckle to myself after realizing this computer system had traveled from China
to me in the U.S., and was now back in China after my other laptop was stolen)!
Even though he said he did not read English, his familarity with the
program allowed him to very quickly have my system hooked up with wireless
connection while on the campus. He then, loaded the video from Rose onto
my system desktop, and I reviewed the lesson sample presented by one of the top
teachers in China. Once, finished, I told Helen that I would return to the
hotel to work some more, and did so until lunchtime when I walked back to meet
Helen and Rose in Helen's office. We then made our way across the campus
and across the street to a newly built hotel for a lunch buffet.
More later. . .
