I am here in Beijing at Yuxuan Wang's home for the next few days. My plane landed at 11:45 pm on the 17th (left at 11 am on the 16th), but we didn't get to Yuxuan’s home until 2:00 A.M. because Beijing's airport has 3 separate terminals each about 25 minutes from the other. Yuxuan and her family went to terminal 3 (for international flights), but I landed at terminal 2 for some unknown reason. Yuxuan and I spent over an hour talking to each other on the phone (glad my iphone works here in China) trying to find each other and telling each other where we were in the airport until we realized we were at two separate terminals of the same airport. I finally had to give my phone to a Chinese policeman who talked to Yuxuan's dad and together they discovered we were at different terminals. All is well that ends well, I guess. We stayed up until almost 4 am talking and sharing pictures and eating lots of fruit.After a short sleep we got up early (June 18th 6:30 am) had tea eggs and rice cakes, which Yuxuan cooked. We will leave shortly to begin meetings with parents and consultants. Diana who lived with Dottie and I for three years is here also with Yuxuan - they became good friends this year and Diana is coordinating all my meetings.
Footnote: My flight which left Seattle went by way of Alaska and then into the Russian fly zone along the North Korean border and then down to Beijing. Glad the pilot knew where he was going!
June 18, 2010 (cont.)What a wonderful day! It was a full day which began around 8:00 A.M. and didn’t get us home (Yuxuan’s home) until after 1:00 A.M. It included everything from a 13 course meal to a breathtaking walk to Tiananmen Square.
After an early breakfast, which Yuxuan prepared Mengli (Diana) was busy on the phone confirming meetings for the day and getting last minute driving instructions. While I was a little worried about how I would get from meeting to meeting in a city of 20 million people and 5 million cars I did not need to worry. Mengli and Yuxuan had arranged for our transportation to all of our meetings throughout the day. We left the house at 9:30 A.M. for our first meeting with a parent and their student which was scheduled for 11 am. In my mind I had thought this would likely be a meeting with maybe some tea and Chinese snacks of some kind. I couldn’t have been further from the truth. What I discovered was that the parents had arranged was a meal at one of Chinese most famous restaurants in our own private dinning room. For almost two hours we partook in an elaborate meal with our own two chefs and no less than 4 attendants who served and explained the 13 separate courses which included, in the following in order:
Crispy Mushroom in Tomato
Sliced Canadian Geoduck Clam with Sichuan Pepper
Icy Asparagus with Assorted Sauce
Pickled Beef Tripe Slices
Argugula Salad with Parmesan Cheese
Traditional Beijing Snack
Boston Lobster Noodle with Traditional Beijing Bean Paste
Steamed Alaskan King Crab with eggs with Shaoxing Wine
Scorched Bolete
Muberry Sherbet
Grilled Beef Steak Chinese Style
DaDong Roast Duck
Tiramisu with Sugar Coated Fruit
Each dish was a work of art that initially you just wanted to look at and take in their beauty.
We left our first meeting a little after 1:00 pm and made our way to a placement agency’s office about 30 minutes away. The agency has 4 current students with us and would like to place two more for our fall semester. We spent a little less than 2 hours providing a short presentation on private schools in New England, updates on their four students as well as learning about the two new students they would like to place. About half an hour prior to the end of our meeting I saw Mengli on her phone making sure our next ride was waiting for us outside. It was at this point I began to truly relax realizing that these two girls had my whole day fully under their control. Our next meeting which was about a 45 minute drive was also with a placement; however, to my surprise they had arranged for a student and mother to meet with us who were considering attending one of the private schools in New England.
We spent over an hour talking to the daughter and mother. Yuxuan surprised me by taking the lead in much of the conversation explaining to both the mother and daughter the educational system in America. Yuxuan had the meeting so well in hand I began to think I could go out for some coffee, which I desperately needed; however Diana had already anticipated that and sent for some coffee. We ran out of time so the head of the agency and I made arrangements to meet again at the train station in Shenzhen later next week. Mengli had us off again for a dinner meeting at 6:00 P.M. with another family in one of Beijing’s oldest traditional restaurants. What made this dinner so unique is that after our dinner with so many courses we moved to another room of the restaurant that provided us with a theater performance of traditional Chinese opera, dance and kung fu.
At about 10 pm Yuxuan’s dad picked us up from the restaurant and suggested we take a walk to Tiananmen Square which was only a 30 minutes from where we were. The girls talked pretty openly about their feeling about the “incident” in 1989 at Tiananmen Square, after which they commented, “We love our country, but that doesn’t mean we love the Party.”
After Tiananmen Square Yuxuan’s father suggested we go to a night club/pub/sports bar area of Beijing. The streets, which did not permit cars, was filled with university students and young people crowding the streets. Street vendors lined the streets and the sound of music just filled the air as we walked past each of the establishments. The restaurant/bar that Yuxuan’s dad took us to featured a live band that sang Chinese pop songs which everyone joined in on singing. We left the bar at 12:30 am and got back to Yuxuan’s home at around 1:15 am. I should mention that at this point in the evening the girls were exhausted and Diana actually fell asleep with her head on the table.
I too was feeling a bit tired but when I got back to Yuxuan’s home I opened my email to discover about 26 emails that needed at least a brief response. While the girls headed to bed Yuxuan’s mother was kind enough to stay up with me while I finished my work, including writing this entry into the blog.
Tomorrow we have our large Beijing parent reception at 4 pm, preceded with another private parent meeting at 1 pm, but we will begin the morning early by going to the Great Wall of China. I have been told to make sure I have my hiking shoes on. Its time for a good night’s rest-even if it’s short.
