Women’s Day on (last) Friday!

(Ms. Luskin)

The rhythm of the school week shifted today: no morning classes for the female faculty on Women’s Day! Instead, the women drifted at their leisure to a teahouse a few blocks away from school. This restaurant is quite expansive in layout, with winding hallways and noticeably high ceilings. As we meandered our way to the tables that the school had reserved for us, the flooring shifted: bluestone pavers, glass panels under which goldfish lazed along, a short arched bamboo “bridge to nowhere.” Semi-private eating areas alternated from one side (a screened seating area, perched over a shallow granite-faced rectangular pool)… to the next (a series of small rooms, much like Japanese tatami rooms, with a sunken table embedded in the raised floor and surrounded by seating pillows)… to the next (our area by the windows, with a series of pairs of pillowed benches wrapped around a glistening table, each with a bamboo stand at one end supporting a glass water-pot steaming over a warmer.) Much of the decorating had a very contemporary twist: dramatic lighting, large plant arrangements, various finishes on glass wall panels, small iridescent tiles above vessel sinks in the lav. All this set up a marked contrast with of a statue (of whom??) fronted by a low votive fruit arrangement on a bed of sand, wrapped in glass walls! A puzzle to tantalize our thoughts as we arrived and left!

Cui Hongxiang (Helen) was my companion, and we drank tea, and chatted, and explored the extensive buffet (several times, in fact!) until early afternoon. Full to bursting (and rather pining for a nap!), we made our way back to school in time for her afternoon classes. My afternoons this week have filled up with visits to English classes, where I’ve mostly shown photos of my family and home as a jumping-off-point to talk about life in America. The students have been shy at first, but very attentive, and each time some bold soul has been willing to ask the first question! Today, I’m making a concerted effort to catch up with the emails that stacked up while we were traveling – working on 2/10, now, in hopes of making my way toward 2/23 by the time we leave! My school day ends with a short bite in the now-quiet ding room; then I’m off to read the book Emily lent me, skipping my usual amusement: CCTV’s evening report on the minutiae of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference in Beijing!