Xi’an Update: May 21, 2006
May 21, 2006
There are several Yahoo Photo albums added within the past day or so, featuring a day of celebration at our school, and a few new shots of the Terra-cotta Museum.
Early in the week, Janet had judged an English Drama Competition, that featured everything from an emotional monologue from “I’ll Cry Tomorrow” to a whimsical (and beautifully costumed) blending of Sleeping Beauty, Snow White and Cinderella, to Mulan and other heroes of Chinese historical fiction. We were interviewed by the producer of the Xi’an TV news channel for 45 minutes on Wednesday last, after which we were treated to a lovely dinner, at which we were joined by the Hu family. Mr. Hu is the Deputy Chief of Police, over the Criminal Investigations Bureau of the Xi’an Police Department. His wife is a lovely, warm lady, and his daughter Sharon is home for the summer, taking a break from her English studies at Trent University near Toronto, Canada.
Thanks to Sharon’s good offices, we quickly found many grounds of common interests. The upshot of the evening was that Sharon, her mother and Paul Hong, the producer, were invited to join us for a Friday Evening Pot Luck party sponsored by our little group of friends here. The party was attended by a total of 48 Chinese and Westerners, including about six college kids from BYU who were very close to Shan Shan (Sharon) in age. They immediately bonded, and before the evening was out, they had made plans for future outings together. Even Paul was enthusiastic about the diverse group of people he met at the party. It is fun seeing people happily making new friends. Sharon’s father has invited me to take a tour of the Xi’an Police Facilities and to meet the local Judiciary in their court on Tuesday. Incidentally, Paul has told us our 45 minute interview was edited down to a 40 second spot on the 7:00 news. Sic Transit Gloria.
On May 19, the name of our school was formally changed from Xi’an International Studies Institute to Xi’an International Studies University. On an especially sunny Friday morning, the grand plaza of the Campus was filled with students’ chairs, a great stage, and thousands of students, faculty and dignitaries, gathered for this auspicious occasion. After the incomprehensible (to us) round of obligatory speeches, the students, faculty and administration took control, and gave the crowd a fine show of dancing, singing and performance art. My cameras were permitted to roam freely around the staging area, happily clicking away at the student performers at their lovliest (our student body is mostly female), almost all of whom rewarded the camera with their warmest smiles.
Yesterday, the parents of Christina, one of Janet’s students, drove for two hours from their home in Dali, to pick us up and take us for a rather more relaxed tour of the Terra-Cotta Warriors than we had previously experienced. Christina’s uncle is the facilities manager for the entire exhibit complex, and we were his guests. He provided us with Ling Ling, a gracious English speaking tour guide, who patiently provided us many details of the exhibit we had previously missed. When they learned of Janet’s interest and education in Archaeology, she was invited to return to spend time in one of the ongoing excavation projects.
A highlight of the day to me was the luncheon we enjoyed after the tour, and seeing Janet eat SQUID. She is not a fan of delicacies of the sea. It was a milestone! It is worth mentioning that the dish was beautifully prepared, with each morsel carefully shaped to look like an exotic white flower, and adorned with scallion and small tender yellow squashes no larger than a little fingernail.
Today we had our church meetings, with attendance almost doubled by BYU students here to assist the orphanage, and by the family of a visiting Fullbright Scholar from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. After the meeting, Janet treated the students to a western style luncheon that included sandwiches, chili, tacos, quesadillas and punch, complemented by some delicious home made dim sum contributed by the grandmother of Heather, a young student from the University with whom we have become good friends. Dessert was home made brownies, fresh from the oven. Life is tough.
On Monday night, we are judging another English Song Contest.
Life is hectic, but great fun.
Enjoy!