A trip down memory lane

Today was a very special day.  We had our team time this morning and then the team was planning to go on to visit the church in Harbin.  We had made other arrangements as the university we taught at during the 1989-90 school year is celebrating their 60^th anniversary and this weekend was designated as the celebration weekend for them.  One of the English teachers we had taught with back in the day had invited us to be a part of their English department’s reunion.

We met her at 1:00 and took a walk around the grounds, remembering the days at NEFU.  The university has built many new buildings so the grounds had changed.  While we lived there, we had been housed in two different apartments.  The first one had been demolished to make way for a newer, sleeker building.  The second one still stands but looks a bit older and worse for wear. 

At 2:00 we were scheduled to go to the building that houses the foreign language department where we were able to meet another teacher we knew.  As we were coming into the building we began to take pictures (a very Chinese thing to do) of each other in front of some of the beautiful art pieces.  A group of people came in and one of them began staring at us in a most unusual way.  He came up to us and said, “I think you know me”.  It turns out he was the first Chinese person we met back in 1989.  Mr. Wu had met us at the Beijing Airport when we landed.  He was responsible for us while we were in Beijing then and even had helped Sarah retrieve a camera she had forgotten at a restaurant (he remembered that, by the way). We were unable to say good-bye to him in 1990 because he had been sent into the countryside before we left.  He had been such a delightful part of our first days in China. 

The truly awesome thing about all of this is that it couldn’t have been just happenstance….as Mr. Wu put it, “It’s a God thing.”  We are so delighted to know that we will now be able to begin communication with someone who was so special to our family so long ago. 

We’re off to the opening banquet with the officials from China who coordinate our time here.  More wonderful Chinese food!