4:00 On the Other Side

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. . .