Lunch with Liaison

Sunday, September 20. In the morning, more grading homework, lesson planning, and planning for our first "teacher training" session tomorrow.

At 11:30 a.m., we meet Mr. Zhang at the school gate so he can lead us to his apartment for lunch. It is only about a 10 minute walk but seems interminable because of the heat (even the Chinese are complaining about it!) He lives on the 13th floor of a high rise building in a very attractive apartment with his wife, daughter and mother-in-law. He has also invited another older friend who also speaks very good English. It's awkward because Mr. Z's wife and mother-in-law do not speak English so I feel like we are leaving them out of the conversation. Unfortunately, it's unavoidable. But we have a lovely lunch with lots of toasting and what the Chinese call "white wine" (bai jiu) but which is in fact a very strong and sweet liqueur. We have it in tiny, tiny cups. I take only a very small amount and make it last for the entire meal! Mr. Z's daughter is not quite two years old so she is very shy of strangers and spends most of the time clinging to her mother and grandmother! We have brought them a lovely plant in a lovely ceramic pot, and I also bring two little board books in English: Good Night Moon and Sandra Boynton's MooMoo, BahBah. Unfortunately, I can't get close enough to her (Hai Yue, it means "happy sea") to read them to her! By the time we leave, I am allowed to play "Itsy Bitsy Spider" on her arm. :)

Tiffany and David come over to help me hang in my study a large ink-and-watercolor drawing that JuJu has given me. It was done by one of her students and makes a big difference on my mostly blank walls!