From: Pat Bartlett
Date: Wednesday, November 2, 2011, 5:51 PM
Hi, Everyone,
An extraordinary day yesterday. We took the train at 8:15. A very nice young man at the train station walked us through finding the gate and the right train car etc and he even carried two of our bags down the stairs. The bullet train was clean and comfortable, with recliner seats and plenty of leg room and tray tables. Joyce started talking with another extremely nice Chinese young man, called Craig. He offered to help us find the person who was meeting us. As it turned out, he was invaluable, because when Susan's colleague wasn't there at the gate, Craig called him and directed him to the spot where we were. Craig also carried my bag down a long flight of stairs.(It helps to have white hair...) We finally were united with a former colleague of Susan's--Liu Ren Jie.
Ren Jie drove us around Susan's former school where she taught 11th grade. Then, he took us to a nearby restaurant, where he and another friend took a private room and gave us a delicious lunch of various Chinese dishes---pork and chicken with vegetables, soup, dumplings, noodles, egg, and some shrimp--10 different dishes in all. We met Ding's wife and Mother, whose apartment we would be occupying. They are incredibly nice also. The apartment is fourth floor, and, as I was struggling up the first few steps with my suitcase, the 60 year old tiny mother grabbed it from me and carried it in front of her without batting an eyelash. Take about being humbled. She was amazing. The apartment inside is quite roomy and comfortable. There is one large double bed in the bedroom and one equally large double mattress on the floor of the den, with comforters and pillows. Both beds are hard as rock but turned out to be extremely comfortable. On the walls are huge, stylishly staged mural photographs of the couples wedding, quite different. We met Jacqueline, who took us to the travel agent and then to a facial, which Susan had requested. It was wonderful--a full hour of facial pampering, and our skin was really soft when we finished. (Unfortunately, it didn't make us look 20 years younger, but we felt that way.) We then did some shopping along the old streets and went to a red lacquer place, for which this city is renowned. Back to the apartment to dress and then off to a banquet hosted by Jack, the Vice Principal of the school and former friend and colleague of Susan's. Several other former colleagues were also there-- Margaret, Madame Chun Hong, Jacqueline, the lady in blue, and the four of us. There were probably 30 dishes in all of every variety. Everyone sits at a huge round table and the dishes are placed on a huge lazy Susan in the middle--very practical. You help yourself to whatever you want, but I tried to try a bit of everything, as our hosts were anxious to know our reactions. The fish dishes are full of bones, so not a favorite, but the flavors are very nice and fresh. There aren't enough vegetables, but on the whole, the food was delicious and we certainly ate more than necessary. My favorite things are the dumplings and vegetables, rice, and noodles. I was planning on losing weight, but it doesn't look as if that is going to happen. Everyone crashed when we got home, but I read until about 11:15.
I woke up at 3:15 and finally got up at 4 AM. I didn't want to wake the others while using the computer, so I took my shower and then wrote notes and expenses and read until the rest got up at 6. We ate some snacks and then went off to the park so that Joyce could do Tai Chi with Ding's father in law, who has been studying Tai chi almost all his life. His wife was also there doing. Joyce showed them what she had learned and then the three of them did some routines together. Joyce did very well, and the Ding's were amazingly graceful and coordinated. Susan, Marilyn, and I tried to follow along. I was bumbling and off balance, but I tried and felt good afterward. It has to be incredibly good for your body and mind.
It is getting time to go, so I will continue with our day when I can.
Pat
From: Pat Bartlett
Date: Wednesday, November 2, 2011, 11:30 PM
Hi,again,
After trying to do Tai Chi, Lily met us at the Park and took us to Slender West Lake Gardens. We walked through the beautiful gardens with shrines on the long lake, which is beautiful man-made lake. Trees and flowers are abundant and there are Chinese boats that can take people around. At one point, Marilyn and I paid 2 yuan to feed corn to the white pigeons. We walked from one side of the gardens to the other, until everyone but me was exhausted with sore legs. Then we took a bus to a restaurant, where Jacqueline and her parents-in-law hosted another incredible banquet for us, which, among about 20 other dishes, was Peking Duck with mooshi pancakes. Amazing food... Then they arranged for us to go back to the room to rest and do laundry. Then they had arranged for us to have a foot massage, which turned out to be both feet, legs, arms, and back, done by three guys. It took an hour and a half and was awesome. Joyce had a headache and didn't go, unfortunately. Then we went off to a talent show given by the high school students at Susan's school, which was lots of fun--a sword dance, a play about a couple who wanted to marry, but it turned out that the father of one had had an affair with the mother of the other, consequently, they were brother and sister. It was all in Chinese, but not to difficult to figure out, but we missed much of the humor, because the audience roared with laughter on several occasions. The show finished with karaoke (sp?) Unfortunately, we had missed the first hour, but what we saw was fun. After that, we headed off to another banquet given by Margaret and Edward. Charley and Sunny were also there. It was a very nice occasion with good conversation. Some of the dishes were similar to some that we had the previous day. Then Ding's wife saw us home via bike and taxi. When we returned, we found out that some of the flights that we thought were booked had been cancelled. We did some packing, got on the Internet, and when the others went to bed, I read for a while.
I better send this, because I may not get online for a while.
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