Excerpted from the Diary: Remember I said that the night before the big Tai Chi center opening ceremony, two young girls sang an English song and thanked their teacher for teaching them English? Well, while Stephan and Master Sun and his student and I were walking over here this afternoon, one of the girls ("Lucy") passed us on her bicycle and greeted us in English. We were pleased and she invited us to go visit her grandmother with her, she was bringing her some dumplings that her mother had made. Stephan was planning to have lunch at a restaurant with Master Sun and his student but I wasn't hungry, and so I went just a short way to her grandparents' home. On the way, Lucy explained that she goes to school quite far from home (I think she said 8 hours away), where she learned English.
I met her grandmother, two aunts and a neighbor. I tried to use Lucy as an interpreter so I could interview them like I've been able to interview people with Stephan -- I especially wanted to ask Grandma what it was like living through all those changes in China, since she had been there in the decades before and after the establishment of communism, the cultural revolution, etc. However, we had a little language barrier. I'd ask Grandma if she lived there all her life and Lucy answered for her rather than interpreting my question. She'd comply whenever I specifically asked her to interpret but then she'd go back to answering my questions herself. And she didn't know what I meant by "government" and "Mao Zedung" and "communism" (I thought of pointing to a picture of Mao but there was no picture of him – I thought it was supposed to be prominently displayed in every home – oh, DANG! I should have thought of getting some money out, his picture is on every bill).
Anyway, we had a pleasant exchange during which we all agreed I could keep Lucy for a daughter since I had been very disappointed to have all sons and no daughter (sorry Stephan, Paul and Mark!). I was quite touched when Lucy explained that one of her aunts had been very much against her going so far to school, but when she saw Lucy talking in English with Stephan at the entertainment, she was pleased and said it was good that Lucy was going to the school. So apparently, while I was being charmed by Lucy's English speech at the entertainment that night, her family was being convinced that she was doing the right thing by going to that school. Later she introduced me to a woman riding by on a bicycle with her young daughter, and said her son and daughter had graduated the same school and were now working as tour guides somewhere. Lucy hopes to find a job in Beijing.
After a short visit with Grandma I left with Lucy to go back to join Stephan, who was having lunch with Master Sun and his student. I asked Stephan if he wanted to accept Lucy's invitation to go to her home later this afternoon (she goes back to school tomorrow).
Lucy's grandmother sits between Lucy and Dona.
Lucy's cousins and neighbors visited too.
As Lucy and I left to return to the restaurant, the family followed us out of their courtyard into the alley and down to the main street to say goodbye.
Standing in front of the restaurant where we had just talked with Master Sun, his student, and Stephan, we meet the woman (wearing red) whose children graduated from Lucy's school.
Excerpted from the Diary, later that evening: Lucy's home is really nice. Like all homes here, you walk straight in but quickly reach a short wall that usually has a beautiful picture, often made with tiles, facing into the street (I read that it's because evil spirits can only travel in straight lines, so this keeps them out of the compound). After turning left at the little wall, you enter the compound which has a house and a separate building for the kitchen and another for the bathroom. Her home was tiled throughout, well lit, and very clean. Apparently all the houses in her area are being torn down in a year or two because they are within a small circle of wall attached to the wall that goes around the town, and they are restoring it to what it originally was, which means it will be totally cleared, and they'll have to find another home for Lucy's family. Classmates and teachers, home for a few days, gather at Lucy's house and visit. The woman in the middle of the first picture teaches English at Lucy's school. After they left, Master Sun and his disciple joined us for dinner.
