I had to fly to Guanzhou so we got up at 5:00 am to leave for the airport at 6 am. The night before Diana had arranged for a taxi to pick me up and take me to the airport because Bolin’s driver was taking him for a TOEFL test in Ningbo while Diana had to meet another student at the train station. Diana gave the taxi cab driver specific directions as to what terminal he was to take me and gave me a hug and sensing I was a bit nervous traveling on my own said, “you will be okay dad, you can do this.”I arrived at the airport one hour later and easily found my way through check-in and then security. The flight was a two hour flight and I arrived in Guanzhou at 10:30 AM. I was picked up by a mother of a new student who had offered to help me. I was going to ask students to help me as I had in other cities but since this mother offered to help back in March I said, “yes”. However, I quickly discovered that having a student help me might work better. I gave a quick call to Lily Wang who immediately said she would be there with her driver. The mother and her daughter continued with us all day along with Lily, but it was Lily who explained to the mother how she could be the best help to me while I was in Guangzhou. Lily will interpret for me tomorrow in our parent and student reception. It is her dad’s restaurant we are eating in so she had already begun to manage the reception piece including making an FA banner. Lily quickly called another student Pan Yao and got him to help out as well. The mother was going to take me to Shenzhen the day after tomorrow by train, but Lily stepped in politely and offered to go with me along with her driver. Tonight Pan Yao and Lily are working on my hotel stay in Shenzhen, which is one of the few nights I will need to stay in a hotel.
Lily has been great all day. She has paid for all our meals and the one time we needed a taxi (she had sent her driver home for the night) she paid for the taxi, even with the parent and new student still with us. Again, students are demonstrating their ability to lead in difficult situations all the while being gracious. The picture is of Lily and her mom and dad and baby sister.
