8/1
Today's the day I go to Jinan. Annie's flying out too - destination Zen Gou Jou. She called @ 6:30 am to wake me up and was ringing the door bell at 7:00. I was actually ready (almost) to go by then. We grabbed a taxi outside and rode to the airport. I'd gotten about 3 hours of sleep that night, so I was only partially conscious and/or coherent.
Annie's plane left 2 hours before mine. I hung around, half asleep. The flight to Jinan lasted 1.5 hours, which I spent in silence, half asleep. A british guy sat two seats away. This was our conversation during the flight: I say "Hey, they put the foreigners together." He: smirk. I say: "Where are you from?". He says: "London", and looks away.
Jinan
Jinan airport is a lot smaller, especially the arrivals section. There's one luggage carousel. I grabbed my bag and headed out. Attendants at the door dutifully checked everybody's luggage for the matching luggage sticker on the plane ticket.
I was met by Mr. Du (student of Master Li and my teacher) and Mr. Ma. Mr. Ma had a nice car. Jinan was surprisingly far from the airport, at least a 1/2 hour drive through the country side. When in Jinan I noticed that the traffic wasn't as crazy as in Shanghai, but still had the distinctly Chinese flavor.
Jinan hotel
I was taken to Hotel Jinan, which turned out to be a little difficult to find. Even after we found it, we weren't sure that was it for a while - the building itself is unmarked. Inside, however, it was obviously a hotel and Mr.Li was waiting for us there. Everything was already arranged - I was taken to my room to drop of the suitcase and then it was time for lunch.
Welcome lunch
The restaurant was large, more like a grand ball-room. We sat down and, in typical Chinese fashion, numerous dishes began to arrive. In fact, I believe the food at Jinan hotel turned out to be my favorite Chinese food. At the moment the whole-stewed crab was the best. When I communicated this opinion, Mr. Ma acknowledged with a special toast - it seems our tastes were in agreement (he's been making good work of the crab). This is how you eat the crab: take the open end of the claw (or the leg) into your mouth, crunch down with the teeth to loosen things up, then noisily suck the meat out of the crushed shell. It even sounds tasty!
Blue Boy beer.
Everyone had a small beer glass, which the serving girls kept constantly filled to the top (so after a while, there was really no way to know just how much you've drunk). There was a single brand of beer, "Blue Boy", which came in large "bomber-size" bottles. We killed four of those by the end of the meal. Halfway through the meal I could no longer suffer the call of nature, which I'd first heard (and ignored) on the plane. "Restroom", I said to Du. "Resrum?" Damn. "W.C." (a fairly common English acronym written on public bathroom signs), I tried to spell it by tracing a finger on the table cloth. "Dble u see?" I tried to explain the urgency of the situation by first spreading my arms and "flying" like a plane, then pointing to the beer. "Ah", said Du, then pointed to his beer, spread his arms and flew like a plane himself. "You're so drunk, you're flying, eh?"
After some more discussion it was correctly deduced that the American (as I was commonly referred to) wanted to use the "washroom". This was made definite by mutual agreement that the hand-rubbing/washing motion correctly described the intended destination.
Mr. Wang
After I got back, the restaurant manager, Mr. Wang, joined us. Mr. Li said that Mr. Wang is a very good friend. Mr. Wang made an obvious show of standing up and offering me, with both hands, his business card (which is called a 'name card' and China; and you're a nobody if you don't have one). By this time I really was flying (now that the load has become lighter) and without thinking made a boor of myself: I barely raised my butt off the seat and took the offered name card with one hand. Later I remembered reading somewhere about the correct way of a formal name card exchange: both people should be standing, the card is offered with both hands and received with both hands with a "Thank You". But... since I was an American... I was forgiven! This was immediately followed by a toast to friendship, which required the downing of a full glass of beer. We then continued to eat and drink beer. I'll say it again: the meal was plentiful - six different dishes, all large, and two large bowls of soup. Mr.Li kept filling my plates. I was surrounded by two small plates and three bowls, all full of stuff. I guess I wasn't eating fast enough.
After lunch
Lunch was followed by rest. I only now got a chance to look over my room and again was impressed. Two large beds, remote-controlled TV, remote-controlled AC, a large, fully-functional "washroom" with all the amenities.
Mr.Li's "Tai Chi Shang Wu" Club
"Tai Chi Shang Wu" can be translated as "Love of Wu Shu" and/or "Noble Spirit of Wu Shu".
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Mr.Li and Pei |
After the siesta Du and I took a taxi to Mr.Li's school, about 10 minutes away. (Normally, I should write "Mr.Du". But, by mutual proclamation, we’re friends, so I dropped the "Mr.". I’m also good friends with Mr. Li, but he is the teacher, so "Mr." can not be dropped for him.) There I spent about an hour talking with Mr.Li in the main office. Pei, herself a new student, translated; her English was pretty good. I proposed to Mr.Li my idea about collecting material about his school and putting it up on the web. Although Mr.Li is a true Tai Chi master, he's not very well known outside China. In China, however, he is very well known, as his students consistently place 1st in the National push-hands competitions. Mr.Li agreed that the web thing was a good idea.
It was decided that I train at the hotel; Mr.Li and/or Mr.Du would come there twice a day. Five hours per day - three in the morning and two after the lunch siesta. In terms of payment, the training and the stay at the hotel was a single package with the following breakdown: training - $10/hour, hotel - $30/day and $20/day for food at the hotel's restaurant. This worked out to $100/day. By way of comparison, when a Tai Chi master comes to US for a seminar, the price for a private lesson (which is essentially what I was getting there) is $100/hour.
Shopping for shorts
Pei had a friend who had a car and they took me back to the hotel. We had a hard time finding it. The hotel is located away from the large streets in a secluded, quiet area; very nice. On the way there we stopped to do some shopping for me at a department store (I needed work-out shorts and an alarm clock). Pei's friend argued a bit with the old man who collected the parking fee. It turns out that the old man demanded one extra yuan (about 13 cents), because our car's license plate marked it as registered in Qingdao, a different city. "Is this an official policy?" I asked. "No", said Pei, "but very common".
The department store was crowded and difficult to navigate, you just kind of had to know what's where or ask a lot of questions. Eventually, we were guided to where the shorts were, and I got a pair in XXXL size which fit me perfectly (usually I'm a small or medium).
By dinner time I was still full from the "welcome lunch", so I skipped it (sorry, mom).
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