Sunday's with Shuang

(Alex)

Hi everybody, I know it has been really long since I last checked in, but it has been really hard either to find the time or the proper material to blog about. My time here at Hangzhou has seemed to fly by, as I am writing this I only have three (!) more days in this beautiful city. School has been quite an experience, and, while I have learned something new every minute of everyday, it has been one of those experience which has not really been conducive to a blog. Yeah, so since covering my behind is over with, let’s get to this weekend, which has been by far one of the best weekends of this trip. To start with, William took us out Friday night to Lo Wai Lo for some much needed and much loved, you guessed it Viz, Beggars Chicken. Quite honestly the best tasting and most tender chicken I have ever tried. Period. A serious competitor for my pick as best dish in China, second only to the delectable Dong Po Pork (Mao’s Pork). After a great meal, William led us for a beautiful night-time stroll along the edge of the West Lake, ultimately ending up at the place where the famous West Lake Impressions occurred, a daily event which is famous throughout China. The show was directed by the same guy who directed the Olympic Opening Ceremonies, so you can just imagine the scale and beauty of the show that we enjoyed for the greater part of an hour. I kid you not in saying that at one point, a huge metal construct literally rose magically out of the water and towered above the actors, all of whom were standing on submerged platforms in the middle of the lake, giving the decidedly ghostly appearance of “walking on water.” The beautiful lighting effects had Mark, our resident Light Guru at DS, mesmerized. It was simply one of the most beautiful and breathtaking shows that I have seen on this trip, or in my life for that matter. And before you guys reading at home think I am just given to hyperbole, please wait until you see some of the video clips Li got before you decide for yourself. After the show, we met back up with our host families who where saying their final goodbyes to the OTHER delegation from America (that’s right.) I’m not sure how much the others have spoken about the delegation from Athen’s Academy in Georgia, so I’ll give a quick overview. This week, another group of students came to Hanggao and have been taking classes with us. They are very cool, but a much larger group (twelve in all, including a teacher and the headmaster of their school), and have sort of ended up preoccupying the teachers time. It has been really cool, however, to give them our advice, what with us being such experienced foreigners at this school. Anyways, they were leaving the next day, and our host siblings, who had seen them a lot through us, wanted to say goodbye. The next day we all headed out with Rose to the Tea Museum. And once we got there, we met … Jin Shuang! For those of you who don’t know, I hosted Jin Shuang (Frank) in America my sophomore year, and became very close with him. He looked a little older, but had not changed much at all. He sends his love to everyone back home, and has great memories of everyone he met and everything he did. It was great to see him, and, an added bonus, it was a beautiful day, and the museum was really cool. It was nestled in amongst rows and rows of tea plants (??), and really exuded a sense of peace and serenity. Wandering the halls of the tea museum and learning about the different types of tea and about its preparation (apparently I have never had a real, correctly prepared cup of tea in America) really made me feel like I was experiencing something amazingly Chinese. After another great lunch, Rose took us for a walk around the West Lake, one of the first times we had been there while the sun was shining. The walk put any body of water in America to shame, the views so stunning they defy all description. I felt, at that moment, so very blessed to have been able to see this beautiful scene, hundreds of thousands of miles away from my home, surrounded by friends of the past and present. This, my last weekend in China, really reinforced my appreciation for this great experience, and has made it very hard to begin to let go. After saying goodbye to Rose and Shuang (more on him shortly), we made our way back to Star’s (Li’s host sister) house for a farewell party by our siblings. Bruce made dumplings and pork steaks, and we watched a lot of movies. It was just one of those moments where we felt so close to everybody in the room, so content and at peace, that it was with a heavy heart that we left. The next morning, Shuang met me at Sunny’s house bright and early and took me out on the town. We first went to a Chinese supermarket, where he proceeded to show me all the best things to buy for the lunch we would have later, reminiscing all the while about his stay with me. I can’t believe how much he remembered about his stay two years ago. After, I finally met his mother and father, and they made a great lunch for me. His house was amazing, and it was simply an amazing experience to come full circle and go from inviting him to my house to he inviting me into his. I was so overwhelmed by the huge overflow of kindness his parents gave me, showing me around the house and thanking me profusely in broken English for hosting their son. I could only respond “Mei guan xi” “It was no problem”, and I tried to convey the immense affection my family and I had for their son. After lunch, we went for a walk around Shuang’s neighborhood, where he pointed out various landmarks of his childhood along the way. Stopping in small little garden, we chatted for about an hour about how life was going for both of us. I felt as if this day had been two years in the making, and it was truly one of the most enjoyable experiences of my entire trip. Unfortunately, Shuang needed to head back to Shanghai at six, so it was very reluctantly that we left the garden and headed home. After making plans to meet up again in Shanghai, I said goodbye to his family, who repeatedly sent their best wishes to my family. And that’s how the best weekend of the trip ended. So that about finishes up one of my longest blogs. Sorry again that it took me so long. Miss you all, but I guess I’ll see you soon enough. I might be able to squeeze out one more blog before I’m done… but for now, Zai Jian!