Monday, September 10
Laughter is floating down the dorm hall along with lots of energetic discussion as students work out how they want to spend their free day – who's going where and what they want to do. It's 11:30 am and while most spent the first portion of the day sleeping (or studying?), Bob, Lin and I indulged in massages arranged for us by Dick Bodman and his wife Hong Yuan. The women were very vigorous, and the person who worked on me found every sore spot in my upper back, shoulders and neck, and gave them a workout. I should be good to go for another two weeks – will try to get another one just before we leave Shanghai .
Dick is a retired St. Olaf professor of Chinese language who is a visiting professor of American Studies this fall and January. He is teaching a course on science fiction literature in English and another one that I can't remember. His wife, Hong Yuan, is also a friend so it's nice to have them on campus. Dick wrenched his back quite badly so is not yet zipping around. He is, however, now receiving treatment so I look forward to doing more with them later.
Suddenly it's silent – the students must be off. I still hear saws and knocking sounds out my window from the now freshly painted building. Air conditioners went on the outsides of each room yesterday.
It's a lovely day to have one's window open, believe it or not. Breeze and rather blue skies. We had this weather the first two days and it spoiled us completely. The second two days were hazy, humid and you could taste the air in the back of your throat. More what we expected but still a bit unpleasant to move through.
I meant to tell you about my arrival in Shanghai . We sailed through customs and immigration and met Jeffrey Wu, from the International Student Office at ECNU. He led us hither and yon through the airport, parking lots and hallways behind restaurant kitchens on the way to the bus. Our driver was a pleasant woman who helped us get our luggage stowed. I was the last to get on the bus (I often play the role of “sweep” to make sure everyone's made it to where we're headed), and was standing in the parking lot near the door. The driver walked up to me, ran her hands down the sides of my hips and smiled widely. She then pointed to her own, rather more generous hips, and frowned. We exchanged chuckles and boarded the bus. And, I thought, well, Dorothy, you're certainly not in Japan anymore!
Students seemed to enjoy the Shanghai Museum yesterday. If you want to travel vicariously with us, check out their web site at: http://www.shanghaimuseum.net/en/history/history.htm . I heard conversations about the furniture exhibits, jades, seals, paintings (and appreciation for our earlier lecture), and the ethnic minorities clothing exhibits (being once a weaver, I really like this exhibit). I also really like the furniture exhibit – not that it's really daily life for average people, but at least it's daily life for someone. I noticed a copy of Wild Swans on sale in the museum bookstore. When I led the program 11 years ago that was on my reading list for my class and we had to finish and dispose of the books before coming into China .
Back to class prep and student journals.
Kris