December 28 - Last of the Finals, Alan Ding, Coming Home

Carol Wang had bought some Lego-type toys for us that we hadn’t been able to find, so when we went for our Massage on Monday, she brought them to us.  David and I were both so tired that we didn’t linger long and talk much afterward.  It had been a long day after a short night before.

We didn’t have time to rest as we had to go to the Red Cross Church that evening to sing at their Christmas Eve program. We met Tresa and Jay Wilkins at a bus stop, so we could get on the bus that we needed to go there.  We hoped that all the others would be able to make it on time.  They had reserved some seats for our group in the front, and if we didn’t have at least some of us get there bey 6:30, they would release those seats.  Our group made it with three minutes to spare.

The buses were all quite crowded.  We were fortunate that people give up their seats for older people.  At first we didn’t get seats, but as people got off, we were able to get some empty seats for all of us.  The bus that the others had to take from the Hanlin Hotel were so crowded that they couldn’t even fit anymore in it!  They ended up getting a taxi and made it before the program started at 7 p.m. 

 

The ladies in their costumes waiting for the program to start.  They were happy we were taking their pictures.

The program was shorter this year than last, and we were number three on the program.  It was all very nice, and there was such a great spirit of friendship and love in the room.  We made some new Chinese friends, too.  Catherine, a Chinese friend, wanted to come up and sing with us, so we needed someone to take pictures and video for us.  The lady sitting behind us and next to Catherine and Sue Stubbs agreed to do it.  Then there was an exchange to make WeChat friends, and now we have a new connection.  

The director of this choir is about ninety years old.  He has been leading this group for a long time.  They even sang the "Unto Us a Son is Given," and"Hallelujah Chorus."   

This is our group singing "Joy to the World," and "Angels We Have Heard on High."

 

The man sitting down is the man that organizes the program.  The women in the beautiful dresses are waiting to go on to perform their dance.  

This woman is an opera singer that sang for us.  Her dress was very sparkly and colorful.

Getting on the bus back to campus after the program went well.  We were at one of the first stops for the bus, so there were plenty of seats available.  Jay Wilkins has a mustache, and if he grows out his beard could pass for Santa Claus.  He and Tresa had ordered some candy canes through Eva, and he was passing them out on the bus.  Several people wanted to talk to us, but with limited language skills, it was really  tough.  When we got off the bus, we called “Merry Christmas” and “Shen den quai le” (Chinese for Merry Christmas, but I’m not sure of the pinyin Chinese for all the sounds.)  It made quite a hit and the mood of the bus was quite joyous.

Christmas Day was final exams in the morning.  A tradition that has recently started in China is to give an apple at Christmas.  The Chinese word for apple (ping guo), also has the same sound as the word for “peace.”  So it has become a tradition to give an apple to someone for Christmas.  Between David and I, we were given about twenty apples in the last two weeks of finals.  We ate as many as we could, but still had a LOT of them by Wednesday afternoon.  We had dinner with Jay and Tresa on Wednesday evening, so we gave them a bag with about a dozen apples.  We also gave our cleaning lady a bag with five apples in it.  She seemed please to get them.  That left three apples for us.  One for lunch on Thursday and two for lunch on Friday.  We love apples, but that was a lot!

 

This beautiful necklace was given to me by two of the girls in one of my Tuesday classes, Alexis and Bella.  I was wearing it when Bella came for her final and she was so pleased.  I was glad that I could thank her in person for it.  When she gave it to me, she walked in the room while I was interviewing another person and just set it on the desk by my stuff. It opens and there are some fragrance seeds that you can put in there.

Dr Yang, David’s Chinese oncology doctor, invited him to lunch on Tuesday.  David was finished with his final by 11 a.m., so he was able to go, but I wasn’t finished until almost noon, so I didn’t go.  Dr. Yang was sponsoring a Christmas party for some of the cancer patients at his hospital.  Most of these cancer patients are from small villages and have never seen an American.  David went around and shook all their hands, then Dr. Yang had him tell them a little about Christmas.  They gave him a lovely bouquet of 18 roses.  Later there was lunch with pizza.  Then one of the nurses and Dr. Yang’s assistant brought him home in their car

 

David with Zhang Xiao Li, Dr. Yang, and his head nurse Li Ling.

David with some of the cancer patients.  These are poor people and they come from the countryside.  None had ever met or seen an American before.  

Dr. Yang's staff.

We had also planned to see Dr Tricia on Tuesday, so we could get some more of the medicine that we have been getting for my arthritis and also say goodbye.  We also needed her to fill out our medical record books, so that we could get the receipts turned in for the insurance to reimburse us if they will.  I had planned to take the bus and meet David at the hospital, but the nurse that was driving him home, drove him first to our apartment and then to the hospital.  It was nice to not have to walk to the bus station in the cold.

Alan Ding, the boy that David had tutored five years ago and is now attending the University of Texas, is home for the holiday break.  He wanted to visit with us, so he offered to take us out for dinner Christmas evening.  He has grown a lot, and it was great to catch up with him.

The last of the finals was on Thursdays, so we got the grades all finalized, entered them on the spreadsheet with the students numbers and information and got them ready to send to Eva.  She and Alina wanted to come say goodbye, so we were able to give her a copy of all the grades from our classes.  They stayed and talked while they warmed up.  Jinan has turned really cold the last few days.

Several of my students mentioned a picture that they had seen on a school blog with David and me in it.  One girl even printed off the picture and gave it to me as a gift.  I asked for the blog website, and one girl sent it to me.  I know our students see us all over campus, and we are holding hands, and they think we have such a great love (and we do!).  So this is the picture and the poem that was written about us.

This is the picture that was on the blog.  The poem is roughly translated to: "The leaves are colored like candy, will you come and take a walk with me."  

We will be home for the next six weeks, so I won’t be posting about China during that time.  I may put some family memories on though.