We also thought, seeing as how we would soon be seeing old friends, this would be a good time to brush up on some romantic phrases, found in the "social" chapter of my phrasebook.
Outside the gates of the train station, this is the first time I saw Wang Yan in almost 5 years.
This isn't a very good picture but I was so happy to see her face at this moment it feels like a good place to say a few words about her. Wang Yan is honestly one of the most amazing women I have ever met. She is so many things. . . . In a city that is pretty much completely unfamiliar with foreigners, she had some come live in her house with her, without having had any past experience with any. In a world that still makes it so much more difficult for women to succeed, she has now opened 7 schools in two different provinces. In a place where people with disabilities are rarely even seen for a variety of political and cultural reasons, she is practically famous in her city. Wang Yan has a disability that doesn't let her walk like most people walk and yet she has been more places than most of her peers. I am really constantly amazed by her progressive way of thinking and her ability to be so different from what her surroundings tell her she should be. She is my dear dear friend.
So after some hugs and tears we went back home and immediately, of course, ate a huge meal with the fam. (By way of introduction. The family is Wang Yan, then her husband, the ape, Mr. Xue, then her mother Lao Lao which means Grandmother, but the literal translation is "Old Old" and then her daughter Xue Cheng, but we call her Pang Pang, which translates to "Fat Fat"). I think that while in China the focus of my life changes to food. It is everywhere. There is so much of it. It is wonderful and it is terrible. But it's an experience each and every time. My guidebook also names food as one of the main reasons to come to China. While I know that food is a huge part of any country's culture and any one person's life, it's just different here. I will work on a better way to explain that. . .
Anyway, Hao Li Jun and Qiao Bing Na and Er Yi (Wang Yan's sister in the back there) also came over to welcome us.
Right after our meal we moved on to another long lost love- the public showers! oh, how I'd missed those. We went with Zhao Bing and got scrubbed, and a massage while in a milk bath, or "milked" as Wang Yan likes to say, just like the old days. Sorry, no pictures available. But if you're a good enough friend I might be willing to scrub you someday. It's an experience no one should have to die without having had.
Update on Gordon's bag: Here she's on the phone with them again and they have good news this time: They found it! (in L.A.) . . . well that would be good news if we'd known it was LOST. We're so confused by this point. So Wang Yan tells them to send it to Mudan Jiang. . . .
So after our shower we went over to New Concept English School where we used to teach. Most of the teachers are different now but it was fun to see the school again and even more fun to see that it turns out we're kinda like celebrities.
These are big laminated posterish type of advertisement things that hang in several of the schools. Some of them are just pictures of us with captions about us being the first foreigners to come teach at the school. Then others are actually enlarged versions of newspaper articles that were written about us when we were there. Gordon was in the paper 3 times and I was in it twice. The ones here show a reproduced article from a time we organized a little garbage clean up with our students and talked to them about not littering. The other is about how we would go to the local orphanage once a week and play with the kids and hold the babies.
My bio here reads:
"Robyn as the second foreigh from America teacher to come our school The warm sunshine in California gave her a kind and easy-going heart She was also welcomed by the students because of her beautiful speaking veice and sunned American English".
If I was single I'd totally use this for my personals ad.
Best of all though is the fact that we're actually even more famous than you think.
During the end of our stay there in 2001 we were actually in a Billboard advertisement- I mean like huge, full-on, side of the highway Billboard. So how in the world do I have a claim to fame like this and not have a picture of it?! I know- completely lame. But it only went up a few days before we left last time and Wang Yan hired a professional photographer to take a picture of all the teachers in front of it and I thought I would get a copy of that but somehow never did. Anyway, this is a picture of the picture but it completely cut off most of the advertisement. We're standing in front of it so you can kinda get an idea for just how big it is.
So that afternoon Gordon finally agreed that she should probably get some new underwear since it didn't look like her bag would be arriving in the next few days. Luckily this meant vendor after vendor showing us their panties by patting every thing on their display table saying "look" with each pat., usually followed by pulling the crotch of the underwear in opposite directions and explaining what good quality they were. More interesting though was more great Chinglish.
Sometimes things aren't so much Chinglish as much as they are just inappropriate English, at least for where it's found. For example these underwear here say "Fresh and Sweet".
And then there's these. . .
And next to the Fatty underwear is that black pair which reads "Beauty Bean" across the waist.
So after underwear shopping with Zhao Bing we went over to her parents' restaurant. Her parents own a dumpling place and were so nice to make us a whole bunch of dumplings to take home for dinner.
When these pictures were taken I was so happy. It was my first night back in Mudan Jiang; I was with Zhao Bing and Gordon with the sweet smell of dumplings (which are on my top-five list of favorite foods) all around us, and somebody who barely knew me was in the other room making them for me. Sometimes I wonder why I love China so much, which is a valid question since it's smelly, dirty, loud and million other undesirable things. But it is moments like these that just mean so much to me. I know this is a huge generalization but from my experience, the people are so selfless. . . . and in so many ways. Situations like this honestly
happen everyday there- where friends of friends, or even friends of friends of friends, or even strangers go so far out of their way to help. Really, there are so many people there who will literally drop whatever they were doing at the opportunity to give, or if a friend suggests the need of a favor.
I'm not sure I'm describing it right but I just don't think I've seen this same willingness to be of help, service, or use in any other place I've ever been. And just being in the middle of all of that again gave me a moment of overwhelming happiness.
So back at home we pulled out the dumplings- they are truly a little piece of heaven. Not included in that heaven though is Gordon's metal mouth after eating dumplings.
Here Pang Pang finally got home from school (they stay there until like 7pm) and we got to see her for the first time in five years. She was sooo grown up (she was 12 when we left five years ago and now she's getting ready to go to college) and we were incredibly happy to see her. I would love for her to come to school in America and live with me! (cute Lao Lao in the background there, and Gordon cleaning out her braces in preparation for the picture. . . her timing is often off as you can see).
And my closing picture for the day is quite possibly one of my all-time favorites. It is a perfect representation of Lao Lao's endless quest to feed us. Here, at the end of this day when I have been fed 3 huge meals, completely stuffed myself at everyone; I have already said my "goodnights" for the evening, brushed my teeth, changed my clothes, and am literally in bed, and Lao Lao comes in to the room to bring me some oranges. . . . . She was worried I might still be hungry so she placed a handful of oranges just right snuggly there with me on the bed and then went to bed. . . again. Gordon came in from the bathroom and found me sleeping with them.
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