Day 144: Exceeding Expectations

A had a really good day today, and it was a really good day but it exceeded my expectations in a lot of ways. I like being surprised.

For my first experience, I had lunch with Connie, for the last time, and the new Fulbrighter, Kate, for the first time. It was actually my first time taking the subway by myself: 11 stops on Line 3 to Hongqiao station. I was a bit worried about finding the restaurant, Beijing Dexin Roast Duck, because I'm horrible with directions. But I recognized the "Magnolia Plaza" sign from the time Kerry and I went there with Xuewei. I was a bit late, but I had a WONDERFUL lunch (really more like dinner) with Connie and Kate: we had duck (of course), plus scrambled eggs with shrimp, boiled greens, squirrel fish, and a cakey dessert that Kerry would have loved. We talked and talked: so much to say about the Fulbright experience, living in China, what Japan is like, gender studies, politics--a great conversation through and through.  Said goodbye to them both--I feel, though, that I'm gaining one friend and losing another. It's an odd transition. I will miss both Mark and Connie the most. There is no question about that. Those two have been my biggest support here.

Food from Beijing Dexin Roast Duck:

Scrambled eggs and shrimp!

Roast duck!

Squirrel fish.

Connie and Kate.

After that, I took the long way back to Chifeng station, where I met up with Kerry, who gave me some papers from my graduate students that I had to hand in to Carol. Then Kerry and I had a bring lunch/meal at Ciao Cafe--I got my usual tuna sandwich, but he got a pizza to take with him.  Afterwards, he went to the subway and I went to SISU to attend a concert at the Shanghai Grand Theater: "2018 New Year Gala: In Honor of High-Level Talents and Foreign Experts." So I felt pleased to be recognized. It was nice hanging out with the international faculty: Samira, Guillermo, Peter, Alex, Damon, etc. I guess I was in a good mood--I even had a nice conversation with Greg, which was a first. I was in Row 6, center--great view. And the performances were OUTSTANDING: a ballet of little girls; Chinese opera singers; face changers; piano with violin; an acrobat; three tenors doing Italian opera; a beautiful soprano, an many others--13 in all. My favorite was a gorgeous ballet performance that told a beautiful story about love found and lost called "Crested Ibises" from the Shanghai Dance Theater. It was such a pleasure to see. A bus took us right back to our campus after the show.

Me, Samira, and Guillermo.

Dance, Jasmine Flower, by some little girls, to open the show.

Posing for pics at the end of the show.

The program for the evening.

I realized after this show that I really like Alex, but I'm having some issues with Peter's conservatism. We were talking about Trump, and I jokingly remarked to Peter, "So, Peter, which shithhole country do you want to visit?" And he replied, "Well, there are some countries that are really bad off. And Trump said what he did in private."  To myself, I was saying to myself, Seriously????  You're defending this monumental jerk??   And Alex just said, "Okay." He clearly wanted to just drop it, so we did. Peter is very hard to talk to sometimes. I want to like him, but he's kind of a know-it-all. It was nice talking to Christa, the Dutch instructor, though. I am so amazed at how well people from the Netherlands know English (I'm reminded of Bart, the baseball-playing student I had from the Netherlands last year).  In short, I hope I can become better friends with Alex, and maybe even Christa. But with Peter I sometimes have my doubts.