Saturday, June 5, 2010

Old Friends and New



If you have been wondering about the people in our lives, Renee told you about some two weeks ago and today is my turn.
Some friends from last year have sort of vanished - Xiao Wan was maybe our best friend. His college moved to Chongqing. The move meant getting together was difficult. He then has had some family trouble and now a job. We still chat online, but our summer travel together will not happen. Sean the student who wanted to be a doctor did not pass the test. He will stay another year and work at improving his score. (Most people do worse the second time.) Gao Bin, one of my tutors also failed the GRE and now is scurrying to try to find a job. My other tutor, Jackie, failed at his duck business and now hopes to find a job in Chongqing. The others from last year continue to be an active part of my life.
Colin, the English teacher, has also moved to HongHe so I see him regularly. He is busy preparing his home for his wife to move into. He is painting this weekend. When it is ready she will move from XingHu to here. Two good times a week I ride the bus with him from HongHe to XingHu. He agreed to try and speak with me in Chinese. So for about an hour a week I get to practice Chinese conversation.



John and Paul have remained good friends. I meet with them every Wednesday for lunch. Paul has become a class leader. He is very busy, but we try to have lunch. He also then is able to keep me informed about what is going on and to invite me to things. John has also become a leader. He is the English Academy's tutors helper. He also was one of the two majors chosen for membership in the Communist Party. It should be good for his career. John has also been my interpreter now several times and does a great job. I have met his family and know his girl friend.



My best adult friend has become Wu Zhong Jun. He teaches Horticulture. I am not sure but he seems to be maybe the number two man in the department. We met through tennis. He began calling me to come and play and through that have played with more of the adults this year. He then had us to his home and to dinner. We have been out now several times. He is a good enough friend that he drove me to the airport to pick up Ned (This is not a simple task and it was his first drive to there.) It is good to have a friend who will try to say yes.





Another adult friend is Li Hai Bing. I met him at Lisa's (Renee just wrote about her) birthday party. He is a PE teacher at the school. He teaches martial arts. I have wanted to learn another form of Tai Chi called Tui Shou. He agreed to teach me. We have been meeting twice a week for English lessons and Tai Chi lessons. Through him I have gone to the Senior Center and met many other wonderful peopple. We have been out together a couple of times to shows and dinner. I am his "best" friend.





Many of my long term students friends are not my students. They are PE majors. Allen, business PE, Wu Fan, medical PE, and Fu Da Quan, tennis PE. All three of these young men have been great to me. They keep me informed. They try to help me and entertain me. I can count on them whenever I need company of information about XingHu.

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