Whew! It has been a busy few weeks. The last time I wrote I was disgruntled with technology, and today I am plagued by an intestinal bug. What's next? Anyway, food poisoning has forced me to stay at home today after working 9 long days straight--even during the national holiday. But we are off and running. This session we have 5 students in our daytime program and 2 in our weekend program. The teachers are getting adjusted to a very different schedule from their US experiences, so they are glad for a small start. (As am I--since I have to figure out creative ways of scheduling our two instructors so that they still get 2 days off each week though we are teaching 7 days a week.)
GRAND OPENING CELEBRATION
Two weeks ago we had our grand opening celebration. Members of our headquarters in Princeton NJ came to Shanghai for the event. So, after long days at the office, there were the obligatory dinners with our cohorts. Don't get me wrong, the meals were fantastic, and on someone else's credit card. But, we were just so exhausted from prepping. But let me tell you about the event Friday night, September 28, an auspicious day in the Chinese calendar--or so I have been told.
It was a beautiful day. Still a bit hot and humid, but showing signs of a promising evening for our grand opening. As the day progressed the garden that sits in the middle of our small campus was transformed into a fine dining place: round tables covered in linens. The head table was adorned in emperor yellow and all others with Chinese red. A large stage was erected with spotlights and a large banner displaying our school name. It was quite stunning.
Before 6pm guests started to arrive for cocktails and appetizers in the patio area near the fish pond. I ran around getting pictures of people and the event though there was one official photographer present. (I'll send some via snapfish I can get that done tonight as well.) Shortly after 6pm another guest arrived that was rather unwanted: rain. Yes...we all ran into the buildings nearby with our 250+ guests. All around we were told that rain on such a day is a good omen. Well, it still would have been nicer to wait until 11pm when all the events were done. The rain drenched the linen-covered tables and chairs. The gift bags had been set out on the chairs as well, but the thick boxes seemed to protect the contents fairly well. We ended up covering the chairs with plastic bags during dinner, which was delayed due to the rain.
Speeches following dinner were cut short because of the delay, and only English was used to save time in translation. The ribbon cutting went on as scheduled with fireworks and some of the fanfare. The rain damaged some sound equipment so it wasn't as spectacular as planned, but it did go off.
OCTOBER HOLIDAY
Though it was a busy time, I did take some time off to just play. The cell group from church planned a picnic on National Day. We ended up at a park in the northwest quarter of the municipality, and it was not nearly as crowded as one would expect on a day off for all of Shanghai's 20+million people. We shared lunch, chatting, boating on a lake in the park. Then a few of us went for a massage before joining others at their apartment for dinner and a DVD (Planet Earth by the BBC--fantastic!).
Two days later, the teachers and I went to Suzhou, a nearby city known for its gardens. Again, we chose what would be the least touristy gardens so that we wouldn't have to fight crowds. It was a unique garden with man-made rock caverns and tunnels around its small pond. We missed getting into the best garden--just a bit too late for the entrance time. But, at that time one of the teachers, Dianne, realized that she didn't have her return train ticket. Ai ya! That's a problem. So we headed back to the train station to buy an additional ticket. Unfortunately we could not get one on the same train. I gave my ticket to Dianne so that she could travel with Jesse and his wife, and I took the replacement ticket. I took advantage of the solitary ride to read a book I have been working on since late July--still not finished.
WEATHER
Shanghai has become a pleasant place in the last couple of weeks. One typhoon came through the week before the opening party. But cooler temps did not accompany that one. Just this week another typhoon-turned tropical storm came through, and with it cooler temps. We are now hovering in the mid-70's. I am sleeping with a quilt these last two nights as it drops to the mid-60's. I haven't figured out my heating situation yet, but I think I will need to do that in the next few weeks. And I need to get a bed cover--can't borrow Holly's quilt indefinitely. She may need it herself.
CLOSING
Time for bed on this side of the ocean. Take care all of you. Please write and tell me how you are doing. Peace and blessings all around.
Shelly
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