(Hangzhou to Ningbo to Wenzhen)I spent the morning getting caught up on emails, communicating with our office back in the US and making additional appointments for my time in Korea, as well as downloading and then uploading photos to my computer and the posting to my Shutterfly Photo Gallery, which is getting harder and harder to find time to do, because of the lack of time. Diana, Bolin Zhu and I left for the train station around 9 am and arrived at 9:30 for me to catch my train to Ningbo, which departed at 10:00 A.M.. (view our Shutteryfly Gallery)
Any explanation of train stations in China will fall short of any adequate description. It is thousands upon thousands of people pushing and shoving with no description in English of where one was to go to catch one of 20 or so trains headed in various directions. Even Diana who had me “by the hand” couldn’t find her way through the maze and had to ask a police officer no less than 4 times for directions and we finally were escorted by an officer to our train which was up a flight of stairs down a corridor and then down another set of stairs and through another corridor – all the time push and shoving merely to move through the crowd. We arrived at my high speed train found my car number and got me on board and within less than a minute pulled away. All I could think was “I hope I am on the right train.” I was sweating, out of breadth and so very thankful Diana “held my hand”. This is the first part of my travel that I will be traveling without Diana and to say I am a bit nervous would be an understatement.
I now sitting on the train trying to understand the various stops we are making and trying to listen for “Ningbo”….hahahaha….I don’t understand a thing they are saying. I will be met at the train station in Ningbo by Amy, an agent from Shinyway. Diana has called her and made all the arrangements so I am confident if I get off at the right station someone will meet me. After my meeting with Shinyway I will have dinner with Cody, Lulu and Soki and their parents. These are 3 students who Dottie and I have gotten to know over the last semester and who have grown very close to our family often going on trips with us. Soki and Cody are Dottie’s students and often visit her in our home for help in physics. Soki will make sure I get on the right train in Wenzhou and will in fact travel back with me to Hangzhou to make sure I don’t get lost. I am overwhelmed at our students and their families and how kind and gracious they have been to me.
On my train ride to Ningbo I had a Korean gentlemen sitting next to me and he could clearly see that I was nervous about missing my stop so he spoke to me in perfect English – what a relief!! By God’s good grace he was getting off at my same stop in Ningbo (Ningbo had two stops and he knew which one I needed). The high speed train arrived at around 12:30 p.m. Once off the train my new Korean friend (Han) guided me outside to where I was to meet Amy from Shinyway. It was pouring rain and he provided an umbrella for me while I looked for Amy. Finally someone from Shinyway’s office found me and the driver was a parent of one of our new students. As I got in the car I learned that we would first have lunch with the new student and his parents at his house. The new student’s grandmother had cooked an elaborate meal. Also at the meal was the student’s English teacher who had fairly good English skills. We spent about 2 hours visiting and then I was driven to Shinyway’s office in Ningbo. I was greeted by Amy and Michael (who I often exchange emails with weekly) who led me to a TOEFL class in their office complex where I spoke to about 21 students from grades 6-10. This was an unexpected meeting as was the earlier lunch with a new student and his parents. These unexpected meeting have typified much of my trip. People knowing I am in China have on their own without checking with Mengli arranged for additional meetings which has made an already tight schedule tighter. Mengli has also refused several meetings in a polite manner explaining to parents or agencies my tight schedule.
Most of these parents I later saw at a parent reception and Mengli made sure I spent a few minutes with each. After my 90 minute meeting with the 21 students another new student and his parents wanted to visit with me. In Ningbo I had Cody NI one of our current students help me, because Mengli had remained in Hangzhou. Cody did all the interpretation with the new parents. Following this meeting, Cody and I met with 8 consultants from Shinyway in a Q & A session which lasted about 45 minutes. Again I did little talking with Cody was able to answer most questions – many having to do with the care and nurture of students at our boarding schools. Parents in China, understandably want to know that their children are being well care for. We left Shinyway’s office at around 5:30 p.m. for a 6 pm dinner meeting with Cody, Soki and Lulu’s parents.
The dinner with these 3 students and their parents was one of the highlights of my trip. I shared many photos of the 3 students as well as a few videos of them at various activities in our apartment as well as in school. While the students were totally embarrassed the parents were much appreciative of our good care of their children and expressed great appreciation. The dinner featured many traditional dishes which I had already had, but some new ones were pigs hand, lily salad (made with lilies…the flower) and chicken feet.
We left dinner and Soki and her parents and I made our way to the train station to catch our train to Wenzhou. We took the bullet train which travels at 158 mph. We left at 9:30 PM and got their around 11:00. However while on the train Soki told me my train ride back to Hangzhou in the morning would leave Wenzhou at 1 pm and get me to Hangzhou at 4 pm. (Originally I was to leave Wenzhou at 8 am, but tickets were sold out when Soki’s parents had gone to buy them) When we called Mengli to let her know she informed me that she had schedule a 12 noon lunch meeting for me with Bolin’s parents and about 8 students. (She thought I would be back in Hangzhou at 10 A.M. and built my schedule based on an earlier arrival time). For the entire time on the train to Wenzhou Soki, her parents and Diana tried to solve the problem of how to get me back for my 12 noon meeting in Hangzhou. Soki and Diana must have exchanged at least 5 phone calls while Soki’s parents were calling the train station in Ningbo. They called friends who might be available to go to train station to buy me a “standing” ticket prior to ticket offices closing. Unfortunately “standing” tickets were sold out precluding any friends or their driver from making their way to the Ningbo station. We finally decided Soki and I would take a bus together which would leave Wenzhou at 8 am and get me into Hangzhou at 1 pm and then Mengli (Diana) would reschedule the lunch for 1 pm.
We got to Soki’s home around 11:00 p.m. I met her sister who upon entering the home immediately went to her electronic organ and played me a number she will be playing in her recital next week. Her sister is 10 years old and as cute as they come. Soki and I stayed up talking and reading and answering emails until 1:00 A.M.
