Confession

Okay, a little confession to make here, the Pennas are becoming regulars at the local McDonald’s. Often during our lunch break we’ll walk the few blocks to the landmark Golden Arches where we will get a coffee and a hot chocolate to go. We bring the drinks back to our office and enjoy them as we start our afternoon. Today, when we walked through the door, the girl behind the counter recognized us and immediately poured the coffee and began the machine making the hot chocolate. We didn’t even have to ask. For people who seldom have darkened the door of a McDonald’s for years this is a bit embarrassing.
We were delighted to spend some time over the weekend with Jake and Rain, Chinese friends we met last summer. We were treated to a 5 course Chinese meal , (eating corn with chopsticks is still quite a challenge), and enjoyed great conversation as we renewed our friendship. The bus ride back on a 1 quai bus also gave us a story. (FYI – there are two levels of bus service 1 quai and 2 quai. A quai is worth about 14 cents. The two quai buses are air conditioned in the summer and make fewer stops; the 1 quai buses make more stops and are not air conditioned). Anyhow, we got on the bus and it wasn’t long before a man indicated that people should give up their seats for us. Since we had heard, in Chinese and English, the recorded announcement that they play on buses, “Please give up your seat for the disabled, the pregnant, and the elderly,” we weren’t sure whether we were being honored as foreigners or pitied because of our age. We’ll let you decide.
The change in weather, (it’s spring here), is appreciated. Think May in Michigan and you’ve got a good idea of what’s going on here. The flowers are beginning to bloom and the temperature varies between cool and warm each day. Last night we were able to sit at an outside table at our favorite restaurant, “Peter’s TexMex”, and use our computer to call our grandson and wish him a happy birthday.
In our English teaching we’ll be using a poem by the famous poet Du Fu about spring to encourage discussion. Almost everyone in this country has considerable knowledge about the poets from the Tang dynasty and are often able to recite many from memory. It’s a great source of discussion in our office to bring up one of Du Fu’s poems. One of his poems, “Welcome Rain on a Spring Night” was written in Chengdu, the Brocade city. You can find it on the internet.
It looks like we’ll be making a trip to Hong Kong at the end of the month due to a problem with our work documentation. Currently we are allowed to remain in the country 60 days after our entry date. Leaving and returning will give us another 60 days. We may have to leave again at the end of June if the papers are not forthcoming. We hadn’t planned on this but will enjoy it anyhow.