January 29, 2010 by Dianne.

Photo credits: Let me first mention that several of the students who visited this year combined the many photographs they had taken and put a copy on my computer.  As I create the blog postings about the holiday gathering, the majority of the pictures will be from those I took.  However, I will also be using some that they took.  Therefore, I want to thank them for sharing the pictures with me so that I could share them with all of you.

The first year (2007) I returned to the U.S. after resigning from SISU there were six former students among those who were getting their Master’s degrees in the U.S. that came to visit me at Christmas.  The second year there were three, and this past year there were eight.   So together with Mason and me, we made a large family of ten.  I do not use that word loosely.  We truly worked together and played together like one big happy family.

The students that visited this year included seven who graduated from the Song Jiang campus in 2009 and one who graduated from the Hongkou campus in 2007.  Four were from the Washington, D.C. or Virginia area, three from the Chicago area, and one from Ohio.  They were:

Chen Shutian (Reina),  Zeng Zhini (Lydia), Kong Xiaoqing (Nora), Hu Siming (Ina), Wang Yixuan (Kitty),  Hu Xiao Yi (Vera), and Wang Bin, - all 2009 graduates - and Lucy Zhang, the 2007 graduate. Later you will see photos of the entire group.

The first to arrive was Vera on the afternoon of Dec. 22.

She was so very helpful.  We did go out for supper that evening and drove around some neighboring areas of Murrysville to view a few of the decorations, but she spent a long time helping me bake the cookies that would be decorated by the students on Dec. 26 and then arranged all of the cookies and candies that I had bought so that they would be available to people as they arrived.  She is far more artistic than I am. Look at the wonderful job that she did!

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January 26, 2010 by Dianne.

There was one thing in Murrysville this Christmas that is not always available - SNOW.  We got considerably more in late December and January, but this was enough to give us a “white Christmas.” The first two shots were taken a couple of days before any of my visitors had arrived.  Notice that it looks as if they  had been taken with black and white film.  This is because most of the winter days  in this area come with gray skies rather than  blue skies.

A few days earlier I had gone out to photograph some of the outdoor decorations on the homes around mine.  The first shot is of the front of my house.

People do not follow any particular pattern.  Rather, they select what appeals to them and their view of Christmas.  Some prefer white lights.  Those below are of snowflakes.

Others like colored lights better.

There are those whose decorations concentrate on the religious part of the Christmas holiday.  Below is a decoration meant to illustrate the supposed conditions of the birth of Jesus Christ.  According to the Bible a very bright star shone down from Heaven around the time of his birth.  You will note the star and the “rays” shining onto the place where Jesus lay surrounded by his parents Mary and Joseph.

Here is a closeup of the three figures shown in the earlier view. Legend has it that the baby was born in a stable because there was no room at the inn for his parents.  Notice the straw, which is meant to give the appearance of a stable.

This same house had another decoration that some people are now using. It is rather hard to see, but I am including it because it was the only one like it that I found. It is actually a picture from a projector that is shone onto a flat surface like a garage door or the front of the structure.  This one says “Peace on Earth” and shows two angels.

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January 23, 2010 by Dianne.

October 15:

Now the day of departure had arrived - much too soon as far as Mason and I were concerned.  Two of the teachers (Yang Xiaoyan and Shen Xiaohong) and Lucia came to our apartment in the morning to help us with our luggage, etc. and accompanied us to the airport.  Because we reached the airport faster than we thought we might, we had time to have lunch together:

But then it was time to go. I had seen dozens of former students and friends - many more than I had dared to hope I would be able to see as well as several of our relatives. Mason had gotten to renew acquaintances with people he had met before and got to know several more.

Mason and I were overwhelmed by all the things that people did to help us and make us feel comfortable.  I know we both felt a little guilty at how much trouble everyone had gone to.  We will be eternally grateful.

I do not know when there will be another opportunity to return to China, but both of us feel such a strong connection to the country that we want very much to make another trip sometime in the future.   People were often surprised when they asked where I felt more at home - the U.S. or China - and I always answered China.  I have finally gotten over the readjustment to being back here and not teaching, but those six years at SISU will always be counted as six of the happiest and most fulfilling years of my life.

It is good that we decided to make the trip last fall, because Mason is probably going to begin another consulting job - at a bank in NYC - in the next week or so, and he never would have been able to get a full month off once he started there.   Below is one final picture  I took of Mason as we waited to board the plane.  I think the expression on his face and his body language both express the sadness we were feeling at having to leave.

Both of us send you our many, many thanks and our love.

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January 20, 2010 by Dianne.

During the final days of our visit Mason went to see his cousin in another part of Shanghai and had one more opportunity to have a picture taken with Hu Lan and her daughter JuJu:

On that final visit he also made friends with their newly purchased duckling.  It isn’t a very good picture of Mason, but the duck is cute. :>)  I know it looks as if it only had one leg, but it really had two.  Mason truly does love anuimals.

Oct 14 and only one day left.  Two of the teachers kindly stopped in to say farewell.

Guo Xiao Mei:

and Nie Wei (Willa):

Fortunately, I hope to have a chance to see Willa again sometime in the coming months in the states, as she will be at the State Univ. of New York at Albany for one term.

There was also one student Yue Liu (Barbara) who graduated from the English College in 2006 and whom I had gotten to know very well that stopped by that last morning to visit me.

She was kind enough to accompany Mason to visit the City Planning Building so that he could see the model of Shanghai.  Mason greatly enjoyed the opportunity to see it.

There is a possibility that she might be making a trip to the states sometime in 2010, so I am hoping she will also have an opportunity to visit me in my home.

The final dinner we spent together with Ms. Huang, Mr. Song, and their daughter Lucia at the restaurant in the building where we lived - just as we had done on the first night we arrived.  They were all so extremely kind and helpful, and I fervently hope I can someday repay their kindness. Here we are taking the chance to get one more picture together:

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January 17, 2010 by Dianne.

On Oct. 9 I sent emails to several people I had not yet heard from that I wanted to see while we were in Shanghai.  There were a lot more I would have liked to have contacted, but I did not know their email addresses.  Fortunately, some of them responded, and we were able to squeeze in some visits during the final days.  The first of these was Annie Hu.  I got to know her through an auditing student in my class the first year I was teaching at SJ.   Both she and the auditing student were trying to improve their English for the graduate school entrance exam, so we would meet at my apartment once a week.  In this way I got to know them well.

Emily, my former auditing student, is not living in Shanghai, but on Oct. 11 Annie did pay me a visit.  Not only did we have a wonderful afternoon together, but she also was able to give Mason information about something he was researching.

Back when I was going out to SJ several times a week, I met a teacher from the English College.  We got to know each other quite well during our conversations, and she kindly invited me to her apartment multiple times, during which occasions I also got to know many of her family members, including her adorable son.  She has now moved to SongJiang and has a very busy schedule commuting back and forth to the HK campus.  Fortunately, there was one lunch hour when we were both free and she was in HK - Oct. 13 - so we met at the KFC near the elevated train station in HK.  We managed to eat some lunch, but mostly we talked and tried to catch up on our lives in the years since we had seen each other.

Han Laushi:

That evening three students that graduated in 2004 came to my apartment.  One of them had accidentally met Lin Hao, who had visited me  earlier.  He gave her my phone number, so we were able to set up a meeting time.  I guess I was really getting forgetful as I had forgotten to take a picture of one of my student on Oct. 10, and this evening I forgot to take any of them.  I do recall that I intended to wait until all three were there, but…..  Fortunately, I realized my mistake right away and asked them to send me at least one picture of themselves.  I heard from the final student just a few days ago, so I can include all of them.  They were:

Li Danni:

Lin Wei JiangL

and Chen Yan Xia :

I still have all my grade books, so before I left the U.S, I made copies of the names of people in each class.  This made it possible for the three of them that evening to go down the class list and tell me something about many of their classmates.

Before they left, my former student who had so generously loaned me her computer for the whole time we were there came with her husband to retrieve it.  We all talked for a few minutes before the 2004 graduates had to leave.

Although I felt badly that Ashley (Yan Jia Yu - graduated in 2005) and her fiance had to make another trip to our apartment, I was very happy for the opportunity to see them again. It also gave me an opportunity to take a photo of the two of them together.

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January 16, 2010 by Dianne.

I am sure that all of you reacted much as I did upon hearing that a 7.0 earthquake had struck Haiti this past Tuesday early in the evening: “Oh, no - not again!” The reports since then have brought more and more news of destruction and human suffering. Because Haiti is not that far from the U.S. (it occupies the western one third of the Island of Hispaniola, which lies Southeast of Cuba and the United States), there has been almost continual coverage on TV here as the various networks sent reporters and cameras there. The news goes from bad to worse in terms of casualties and conditions.

Haiti is the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere.  Most of the country is mountainous. This  means the majority of the population lives in its capitol Port-au-Prince, which was the epicenter of the quake. Unlike the Sichuan quake in 2008, there was not a strong government and army to rush heavy equipment and troops to the scene to help.  In fact, there is little heavy equipment of any kind in the country since it is mainly an agricultural economy.

There is one airport with one runway, and the seaport itself has been heavily damaged so that much of it cannot be used to dock or unload ships carrying rescue supplies. Because most of the hospitals collapsed, there are none to treat the wounded.  Many of the doctors and nurses, of course, were also killed.

Nations from around the world have responded.  A Chinese dog and human search team was among the earliest to arrive.  Unfortunately, rescuing the people after they were located was not always possible because there were no cranes to lift the heavy slabs of concrete.

There are many charitable groups from the U.S. that work in Haiti all the time and they are doing what they can, but supplies, etc. are still mostly unavailable. Roads from the airport, where the materials are being flown in, are few and often blocked so that it is incredibly difficult for the supplies to be taken to the people.   It will be getting slowly better, but help will come too late to save many people.

I sometimes feel that certain countries must exist just so there will be places for awful things to happen again and again and again.  Haiti is one of those places. Those of us fortunate enough not to live in such areas may think that others’ problems are of no concern to us, but they should be. All six billion of us are in this life together. Please keep the victims in your thoughts, be thankful for all the blessings you have, and if you are able to make a small contribution to the relief effort through the International Red Cross or another reputable organization, please consider doing so.

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January 15, 2010 by Mason.

Do people actually burn Bunny Rabbits as fuel?

This article in Time Magazine describes how the practice is common in Sweden.

Here’s the place to discuss the topic in the Forum

http://grandmahu.b1.jcink.com/index.php?showtopic=129

(don’t discuss it here - it’s harder to follow the conversation because new blog posts are always arriving)

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January 14, 2010 by Dianne.

On Oct. 8 a young man visited who had been an auditing student in my Extensive Reading class during the first year I was teaching and who had also audited my Writing class until the SARS epidemic made it impossible for auditing students to continue to attend class.  We stayed in touch, however, during the years I was teaching, then when he went to Scotland to get his Master’s degree, and after he returned to Shanghai.  Our most recent conversation was when he called me on New Year’s Eve to tell me about his new job.

Mason had met Lin Hao during the time when we were  trying to get everything ready to return to the states in 2007, and Lin Hao was one of many students who volunteered to assist us.  During this latest visit they got to know each other better and have been in contact several times since Mason and I came back to the states. Lin Hao also informed me there was a former student who had graduated in 2004 that was now studying in Columbia University.  This enabled me to contact that student - Ge Sang Duo Gi (Jerry) - after I returned to the states.  I am hopeful that I will be visiting Mason sometime in the upcoming months so that the three of us can get together for dinner.  It was one more example of how we can maintain a network of contacts that can put us in touch with other friends we did not even know were nearby.

Also on New Year’s Eve, 2009 one of the students that had visited me at Christmas called from Times Square where she was waiting with several friends to welcome the arrival of 2010.  In addition, on New Year’s day a student getting her Master’s degree in California called, and we had a long conversation. Furthermore, on Christmas day I had received the gift of a long phone call from a close friend (Gigi)  in Shanghai.

After each of these four very considerate phone calls, I thought again and again of the many ways in which communication has become easier and easier in a relatively short time. When my husband was alive, there was no way he could telephone his relatives in China.  There were no email, Facebook, IM or other methods available.  It took one month at least for a letter to get there from here and the same time for the response to return.  How fortunate I am that I can stay in contact with my grandchildren scattered all around the globe.

= = = =

During our month in Shanghai we had been able to rent my  former apartment through the  efforts of the Foreign Affairs Office at SISU.  We had been told that the people in that office were so busy preparing for the 60th anniversary of the founding of the university that we should not stop in to see them until after the National Holiday.  So, when we learned there would be someone in the office beginning on Oct. 10, Mason and I made it a priority to stop over and thank them for all their help.  In spite of all they still had to do, they took the time to talk with us for several minutes.  We learned there are many more international teachers now at the university than there were just two years ago.  Unfortunately, they do not have any more staff members, so it is hard to imagine how they manage to accomplish all their tasks.

Below is a photo taken that day with Christine, who was always of great assistance  to me when I was in Shanghai, but of particular help during my time in the hospital.

During the afternoon of Oct. 10 my friend Gigi Peng again came to visit, but this time she brought a young woman I had gotten to know through Gigi - Joyce - as well as Joyce’s sister and Joyce’s beautiful baby.  Here you see Joyce, her son, and me

and here a closer view of her son as he is being held by Joyce’s sister.

Since they all had to travel some distance, I was most appreciative of their efforts.  I know how difficult it can be to do so with a little one.

Of course, I also thanked Gigi, who made all the arrangements.

= = =

My chance to visit with friends that day was not yet over.  In the evening three students that had graduated in 2003 - Shen Xiaohong (Helen),  Zhong Lili (Lily) , and Liu Zhaohui (Amelia) came over, and Lily brought her husband and their little girl.  I was certain I had taken pictures that night of all of them.  However, I now realize that either I did not take pictures of Helen and Amelia or that they did not come out. I apologize to both of them.

Here you see Lily, her husband, and their daughter.  I was taken aback at how mature she was.  The last time I had seen her, she was still inside a very pregnant Lily, who climbed up to my apartment on a very hot day in order to bid me farewell.  I had the honor of attending their wedding, so it was very nice to be able to see all of them together.

And so ended another joyfully busy day in Shanghai.  Even as I enjoyed every moment of it, I was ever aware that Mason and I would  soon be leaving this place that brings us so much happiness.

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January 11, 2010 by Dianne.

Monday, Oct. 5th, was a re-organization day.  We had been away for eight straight days and needed to do laundry, straighten up the apartment, etc.

On Oct. 6, however, we were again visiting people.  Mason had an appointment with his cousin and her family so could not accompany me when I went to visit two of the teachers in our college - Dong Haiya (Hope) and Yang Xiaoyan (Tira).  We met at Hope’s apartment and had a delicious lunch- partly prepared by Hope’s mother-in-law and partly by Tira.

I had an opportunity to meet both Hope’s husband and her little boy. He is a real cutie! Unfortunately, the picture I took of Hope and her husband came out blurred, so I can’t include it here.  Below are (1) Hope’s son, (2) Hope and her son, and (3) Tira.

On Oct. 7 a young friend from Song Jiang came to visit me.  She had been back to her hometown to visit her family and kindly stopped at my apartment on her way back.  I met Yuan yuan Chen several years ago when she worked in the Mini Villa on the SJ campus.  I stayed overnight there two nights a week, and so we got to know each other well.  I  greatly respect and admire Yuanyuan.  Although she was working full-time  at the villa, she was also a self-study student trying to get her college degree.  She would spend every night and her day off studying.  Because of her work schedule, she had little opportunity to actually attend any classes, so she really did have to teach herself almost everything from her textbooks.  During the years I have known her, her English ability progressed enormously.  She was the only worker at the villa that could speak any English, so she was a great asset to them - AND to me.  We would talk together for awhile almost every night I was there.

Because of her hard work, she was given the opportunity to move to a different job in one of the regular dormitories where she has a lot of responsibility.  Currently, she has completed her Associate degree and is hoping to continue her study and get her Bachelor’s degree in the future.

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January 10, 2010 by Dianne.

Hi,

To all of you who were so kind to visit me over the recent Christmas holiday and who may be wondering why I have not yet put any of the pictures from that great visit on the blog, it is because I decided I should first complete the account of the trip to China.  I estimate the Christmas picture postings will commence sometime during the last week of January.

I appreciate your patience.

Love,

Grandma

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