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Published: April 21st 2007
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Goodbye Qingdao
An experience never to be forgotten. Saturday, April 21, 8.00 am: Well, perhaps it’s not that dramatic, but I did hate to say goodbye to Xue Feng (David, whose name I finally figured out to spell) and the other teachers and managers at QTC.
I was given a grand sendoff. A beautiful little wooden bead bracelet with Buddha on it, a bottle opener from Tsingtao Bewery, and a beautiful Chinese fan with all the theatre character masks were given by individual teachers with whom I had worked. Ms. Huang, Dean of the Foreign Affairs Department, gave me an incredible book with pen and ink drawings of the beautiful German architectural wonders of Qingdao. And, as a group, they gave me a set of “Friendlies”. These are characters that have been created to celebrate the 2008 Olympics. Little stuffed animal/people the same colors as the Olympic rings. Xuehong Lee, who was my original contact, gave me a gorgeous fan with the masks of traditional Chinese theatre in bright, beautiful colors on it.
After a final scrumptious lunch at an excellent fish restaurant, I was whisked off the the airport to catch my flight to Beijing.
Did you think I was going to miss describing
the food this time? No way. I find that recalling epicurean moments is becoming one of my favorite pastimes here in China. They chose a fish from the tank that jumped the highest, they said, because it was the freshest. And it was delicious. White meat, appeared to have been steamed. Could not possibly have been fresher. Xue Feng had told them that I liked shrimp, so we had shrimp cooked in Laoshan tea (Laoshan is a very important mountain close to Qingdao), and also boiled shrimp. Snow peas and a pork dish plus a seaweed dish. They also told me that whenever someone goes on a trip, it is traditional to eat dumplings before leaving, so there were also dumplings and Laoshan tea. Of course, there were a few ganbei’s (I learned how to spell this finally), where it was bottoms up to the most important toasts we all made to each other.
The flight to Beijing took much longer than expected and we arrived right at rush hour. While waiting for the flight, Jane, a young woman who works for an American firm as a market researcher, struck up a conversation. She was on the same flight
and insisted on walking with me to the taxi stand to be sure I found it all right. She also said that since it’s the weekend, she would be happy to show me around. I have her information and may give a call.
The hotel is another story. I’m in my third room here. In the first one, a huge chunk of tiling was off the wall. The second one had a very unsavory smell about it. But the third one appears to be fine. I haven’t taken a shower yet but by the way the tap water is trickling out I’m afraid showers will amount to dribbling water out of the shower head . . . we’ll see.
The location of the hotel Holiday Times, is fantastic. Right off Wangfujing Street, one of the most important shopping streets and within walking distance to Tienemen Square and The Forbidden City.
I set off last night to look around and walked down the very busy pedestrian Wangujing Street. Stores everywhere and everything being restored in preparation for the 2008 Olympics. I bought some jasmine tea for this morning (ummm, good), and a bottle of water, along with a
detailed map of Beijing at the Foreign Bookstore. It was a perfect temperature outside and I enjoyed the stroll. I finally found an ATM that took my pinpas and took out 1,000 yuan, about 100 Euro, so I’d be ready for today and, perhaps, a little shopping as well as sightseeing.
The hotel says it has internet access but I haven’t tried it yet as I’m writing this first in Word before I accept the challenge of communicating with the hotel staff. Not much English here, but that’s OK, I like charades and it has done well for me so far. Other challenge is that although my European plug has worked fine everywhere I’ve been so far, that’s not the case here and, of course, I didn’t bring my adaptor, so I’ll have to find one and be as conservative as possible about battery power. I’ll upload photos later when I know I’ve got everything arranged! It’s amazing how dependent one can become on technology!
Since I wrote this, I've gotten connected for two hours at 5 yuan per hour . . . about 1 Euro for two hours, so I'll post this first . . . check
if Mom Dottie's online and chat if she is. Unfortunately, there were no pictures take on my camera of the leave-taking yesterday. But Que Feng has said he will send me all the photos they have taken later. Soon I hope! After I check e-mail, talk with Mom Dottie and get dressed, I'll head out to explore the Forbidden City. It's a bit overcast today but the temperature is mild.
More to come!
Addendum: Now I have photos!
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