We all got up early as we prepared to catch early morning flights. Mingli and I were headed to Hangzhou but on different flights and Yuxuan and Vivien to a city near Hangzhou where Vivien’s biological parents live.As I reflect on my stay with Yuxuan’s family I only with I had more time with them. They are one of the most gracious, kind and warm families I have ever met in my travels. There is nothing they would not have done for me. I will miss watching the World Cup game with them, rising early to eat Yuxuan’s mother’s bread and her “instant” coffee of the many historic sites Mr. Wang (Ivan) took the girls and I and in general the helpfulness he always provided. They understood my need to spend time with other families and they helped along with Mengli to arrange those times and the transportation. We made plans to visit again soon. They want Dottie to join me on the next trip. They also plan to all attend Yuxuan’s graduation. This was a family that after 4 short days together I felt as if I had become an extended member. I will miss them greatly and look forward to our next meeting.
After an hour a half flight delay I arrived in Hangzhou from Beijing. Mengli’s parents meet me there (Mengli had arrived about 30 minutes earlier on a separate flight from Beijing.) We traveled to Mengli’s home town of Changxing which was about a two hour drive. Her town has a population of about 460,000 people, but it is still very rural with lots of open land, mountains and farms. We stopped on our way home for lunch and ate at a small restaurant but in a private dinning room which they had reserved. In the afternoon Mengli’s uncle took us to one of China’s oldest Tea farms which had its origins back around 730 AD and produces tea called Zixun tea on the Guzhu Mountain in Changxing. This was the tea farm which produced tea for the royal family in Beijing. That evening we had dinner with Mengli’s parents, Alan’s parents, Mengli’s former English teacher and her husband and Mengli’s aunt and her husband along with the uncle who took us to the tea farm. We began dinner around 7 pm and did not leave until after 10 p.m. Mengli’s former English teacher dominated the conversation, which people recognized and commented on afterwards, but everyone loves her because of her kind spirit. See my Diana’s home and the Zinun tea farm.
We worked on emails and phone calls till about midnight and went to bed. I was abruptly woken because the security system around Diana’s house kept going off. In the morning Diana shared that her mother was worried about me and kept testing the security system to make sure it worked.
