Seal School: Day 24
Thursday 24 November 2011
7:00 AM – I have breakfast in the dining hall with Kenichi and Suishin:
- congee with chopped greens
- two deep-fried sesame round donuts
8:30 AM – In class I practice carving seals.
12:30 PM – I have lunch in the dining hall with Katya, Miki, and Tomomi:
- garlic stems with dofugan
- stir-fried white onions with green peppers
- rice
1:30 PM – After lunch Miki and I walk to the Ticket Center to buy a train ticket from Hangzhou to Shanghai for my return trip home ($12.36).
2:30 PM – On the way back from the Ticket Center Miki and I go into Carrefour so I can buy a suitcase ($68.35 for American Tourister) to put things in for my return home. I’m looking for a large, sturdy piece of luggage. Everyone else at Carrefour seems to be filing in for long underwear. A woman beggar pesters us on the way to the ticket center and then finds us again on our way back to campus.
I spend the late afternoon in the college library.
I have dinner in the other dining hall with Miki and Tiger:
- order eggplant with pepper flakes, mushrooms and sliced something, called “Fish Flavored Eggplant”
- bowl of rice
Happy Thanksgiving! I forgot until a Japanese student reminds me. Of course, no turkey or pumpkin pie here!
In the evening when I go to the classroom to practice there’s an older woman already there. I’ve seen her in class but tonight speak with her for the first time. She is Chinese, originally from Taiwan, but has a house in New Jersey, with a US passport. She has a Masters degree in linguistics from the University of Oregon and speaks English like a native. Her husband currently has a job in China but, although she’s Chinese and fluent in mandarin, as a Taiwanese she’s been placed in the Masters calligraphy program as a foreigner in the international division of the Art Academy. Unfortunately I don’t get her name.
It’s a clear day with a chilly breeze. The temperature is 61 degrees F.