Day 282: Lunch, Interview, and Some Bad News

We had lunch at 11 am today with Carol, Professor Wang Xin, and Professor Li Mei. The latter two are assistant deans in the School of English Studies. We gave Wang Xin and Li Mei fruit from ePer market as a gift and Carol a bag of sundries, mostly Century-related: a t-shirt, a mug, a pen, but also a panda paper cutting that we bought in Tongli. The lunch was great: it was one of those huge buffets with fish, pork, beef, greens, dates, and fruit, among other things. We ate in the SISU Guest House under a beautiful chandelier. I talked a lot about my teaching experiences during the year and how much I loved the students. They told me that I was quite popular...and they invited me back! This time, they even said something more concrete: they want me to come back in May or June, and we talked about having me teach postgraduate students American Literature. How great would that be! We chatted for about two hours--the time went fast. We ended things with a picture. Kerry then went on to Carrefour and I went to my interview with Grace.

Originally, I was told that the interview would take an hour: I ended up staying there three. It was okay, though: I had a lot to say. She asked me a lot of questions about my impressions of China before I got here, my cultural experiences, my feelings about leaving, etc. It was quite a review, with lots of questions. We had a good chat, though, which was nice because I haven't been able to talk much with Grace this term. She is pregnant and is keeping a low profile. She expressed an interest in getting together with me before I leave; I hope we can make it happen. Before I left, she gave me a "certificate of apprecation" for my contributions to SISU!  Kind of nice!

However, when I got home, Kerry told me some bad news: he doubts that we will be able to take Mia, the new kitty, home with us after all. It turns out that she was supposed to get her rabies shot in a vet office approved by the PRC and have it stamped in a "red book."  Samira did not have this done, and Kerry didn't know about it, so now all the plans are in a state of chaos. We're not sure what to do and Kerry is very upset. He is making phone calls, contacting people, etc....we will see what happens. We're looking at different options at this point.  We may even just try to bring the cat in anyway and maybe they will accept her. Who knows?

Lunch pics:

Tasty food! Also, Professor Li Mei (left), Professor Wang Xin (right).

(left to right) Carol, Professor Li Mei, Kerry, me, Professor Wang Xin.

Opulent room in which lunch was held.