8/4 - 8/12
More Tai Chi. More work. I brought some programming work with me inside the laptop and have put in about 40 hours during the entire trip. On the morning of the 6th teacher Du gives grudging approval to the Chen Basic #1. Not that I'm doing it really well, just that I'm not doing too badly. Finally. During these days I also watch a lot of TV, sports, mostly. There’s a lot of soccer, motor sports, WWF and rugby. There’s also some boxing, badminton, tennis, ping pong and Mui Tai. Soccer is big in China, everyone I’ve met (Annie, her family, Mr.Li, Mr.Du and Pei) are soccer fans. Both Jinan and Shanghai #1 team are in division A. Jinan’s gollie is not so good, Shanghai’s gollie is OK.
Fairwell Dinner
My last night in Jinan is celebrated with a (you guessed it!) big dinner. I find out that Mr.Li's club has a parent company, a realestate development firm, and the manager, Mr.Wang, is here to meet me. He's very busy, tomorrow he goes to New York to purchase 3 elevators for a new building. But hearing that this is my last night here he canceled other appointments for this farewell dinner. So it's a big honor. Also, present are: Pei (of course, the translator), Mr.Wang, the restaurant manager, Master Li and teacher Du, and Li Lu (Mr.Li's son) and Hou, another kid from the school. Both Li Lu and Hou go to the Jinan Sports University, and though they are not considered to be senior students, their Chen level seemed quite high to me.
- Mr.Li(center), Mr.Wang(right - restaurant manger), and me. I'm so toasted, I look Chinese.
- Left-to-right: Li Lu (Mr.Li's son), me, Hou. (Is my head sorta small?)
- Mr.Li(right), Mr.Wang(center - manager of parent company), me.
END OF JOURNAL. Sorry, other strange and wondrous things happened, but I got burned out on writing them down.