A Short Letter Home

The week that was

I suppose while I have a moment I should make a posting. Just to clean up a few odds and ends. Blogging is a lower priority these days, of course, but I still should make an effort to continue this chronicle to the end. When that end will be, I don't know. I figure that my theme should be valid for a few months as we settle back into life in America. After then, who knows? Maybe another blog with a different name. Maybe I'll have time for something completely different. A mimeographed fanzine would be nice....

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Anyway, I posted before about farewell dinners and the like. The dinner with the dancers was pretty much as expected--a lot of smiling and eating and posing for pictures, but little conversation. Oh, and we did some dancing, too. I think I might have been wishing for a bit too much regarding socialization with the folks. We made a deeper connection, but it was on an emotional level rather than an intellectual one. It wasn't all I had hoped for, but it was fun. (I also burned my lips off when I had some chicken feet at dinner. Apparently those folks prefer their food, like their music, to be hot and spicy.)

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We had our second banquet on Saturday when the graduating five-year class invited us for dinner. It was literally the most last minute invitation we have ever received. We were planning on going out to dinner that evening and we were putting on our shoes to go when there was a knock. One of Yau Neih's colleagues was at the door and he informed us that we were invited to the party and the cabs were waiting downstairs. Yau Neih commented later that, two years ago, she would have been angry over such a last minute proposition. After two years in China, however, she was able to accept the invite in stride. Will we ever be able to adapt back to American ways? Do we want to?

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Oh, there was another feast in between the aforementioned parties. Yau Neih celebrated a birthday last week and four of her students treated her (and her lucky family) to a homemade dinner. I was amazed that such good Chinese food could come out of our little kitchen. (Don't get me wrong, Yau Neih is a great cook, but she doesn't do real Chinese cuisine.) I was even more amazed that four people could work in our little kitchen. What can I say? These are some amazing ladies.


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In a bit of synchronicity, we received word yesterday that the water heater in our house went kaput. At the same time, our campus is lacking hot water. We're supplied here from a hot spring, and I guess the water level is too low to provide us with a good supply. Or so I'm told. I don't fully understand the mechanics behind it. All I know is that the Seattle water heater is a whole lot easier to fix.

posted by John @ 8:09 AM