Saw many students here at Asian Library on the windy and wet Saturday. Several profs emailed about the down time of CNKI; A group of Steven’s is waiting for Sukeroku DVD returning in order to cope with next Monday’s quiz. Yoel’s question on 对口支援 is fascinating…
I am glad to learn that our TGAG group members are back home safely and still think gloabally on our next project. Hope I can find time to finish posting on the entrie trip.
Our TGAG team was finally formed in Beijing and I flew back down south to Guiyang to attend the Society’s annual meeting and to train the librarians in Guizhou Province. Although our trainees work in an underdeveloped province, they asked good questions and have strong desire to contribute to their communities. I was impressed by the girl who stood up and asked me questions. We had similar experience, and she is keen volunteering on top of a full-time job. Her email reached me right before I start to teach in Wuhan.
It’s very hot and humid. People are friendly, especially the Library staff. My classmates are from all over the world. I am glad getting to know the ladies from Australia, Mr. Shen from Singapore, Brian from Michigan and Roger from Sweden, a serious scholar and very funny person. Hye-jin was the last one registered. She’s lucky having the support from Notre-Dame even months before she starts to work there. Our academic programs are properly recorded here, so just some quick notes on this post.
Evening outing to Yuanshan Hotel. 
Yilan Musuem
My favourite is the program on Oct. 19.
Hu Shi Park near Academia Sinica. (Picture at the bottom)
清晨离开静谧的白鹭洲酒店，乘小三通前往金门，曾经是国共两军抢夺、厮杀的地方。
当年的战地坑道现在成了旅游的热门。
金门特产高粱酒和大刀的背后有多少故事啊？
A’Huang has already connected me to the History Institute. She was busy training that day, so Lao Liu took me to Mr. Yuan, who generously showed me the unique item, a hand-written copy from early Qing.
CASS has my Childhood friends and Wuhan U buddies. The hyper-exciting chat can never end, all my needs in Beijing are their prioritized responsibility.
They travel and spend their vacation time together, their kids can also play together. I envy them and hope they can bring me this kind of group activities to Vancouver some time soon.
Since CASS libraries have so much treasures, I’d come back many times in the future. They promised me that they won’t change jobs and will retire in their current positions. One-day reunion is too short, we promised to meet again when I return from Taipei. Yeah, I will have my book royalties then.
First thing we did in China was to visit this orphanage in Fangshan District of Beijing city. Respresenting the Society, along with our vendor, Ms. Zhang Ying’s company, we donated new books to the lovely children and their loving care givers.
武汉市馆的开幕式上，陈传夫突然低声说， 黄老师走了。 培训的事就在眼前， 各位领导还在讲话， 我却忍不住走出了报告厅。徐鸿和我在厦门黄老生日那天想打电话祝寿，可是很晚都没人接电话。刚到武汉就听到噩耗，走廊里魏主任看出了我的异常，我说只是需要安静地怀念一下我的老师。
我高考那年是黄老师代表武大到北京招生的。受〈女大学生宿舍〉的影响一心想上武大，第一志愿新闻系，第二才是图书馆系。高考成绩比我想像的高出不少，满以为这辈子会当上记者，不料到了武汉， 出席的是图书馆的迎新会。 黄老师找到我， 说是他看到我的成绩，主动把我录取到图书馆专业。新闻系刚成立，无法与图书馆系相提并论。我当时实在不能理解这一生就如此注定了。现在想来，黄老师的决策和教诲至关重要。遗憾的是我不能参加他的葬礼，但是我回来了，是反馈培育过我的导师和我度过4年青春岁月的城市。 黄老师，您的话都应验了。 我以身为您的学生为荣，我知道您也为我骄傲!
The longest stay in Chicago was 10 months in 1997, and this trip was counted by hours. The taxi receipt shows 6:56 pm of Sept. 1st. I beat the heavy traffic and had time to change into a dress and snap a shot of the sunset from my room. The dinner meeting was fun and relaxing. First time meeting Paul and Barbara, very suprised by Jiaxun joining U. of Chicago. I like his sincere and confucian smile.
Had a quick morning walk near our hotel Club Quarters, and saw how tall its tower is from the opposite side of the river. No time for breakfast. The hotel’s business centre has coffee, and Shuyong brought us treats. The meeting is important to have my questions answered and bond us as a team. Weird! Very first failed check-in online with United, better leave for the airport earlier.
Shared a taxi with Dr. Cheng, who invited my writings to his series. We had a non-stop talk and the ride seemed to be short! Checked in at the front counter without a seat number on the boarding pass?! We two picked a central location for the last meal in Chicago and chatted more before we waved good-bye. I didn’t realize that I had to walk that far to reach my gate, packed and ready for boarding! I questioned if I could still use my e-ticket seat since it’s not printed to my boarding pass. The busy lady looked up right away, said: Where were you? I called you so many times and now it’s all full, you can’t get onto this flight!
Ha! that’s why, all the weird things happened to me! I told the lady that I promised my kids to have dinner together at home and please help me to keep my promise. She put me on the direct flight instead of transferring in Seattle, first class with future travel credits. Didn’t mean to irritate others at the counter, I told the lady: It must be my lucky day, having yummy lunch with my friend, first-class home and dinner with my family. I ran passing 20 more gates to catch my new flight. I had no room for the 1st-class food, but did have different drinks to celebrate the successful trip and the meeting of TGAG. Waking up from a nap, we were already above Mount Baker.
Although thinking globally almost every day through out the last two years, I’ve only worked locally. As a bunch of new programs calling my name, I really like to take a part in them–presenting at Area Studies International Conference at Xiamen U. , attending the workshop in Taiwan by the NCL. Now this TGAG project picked me and makes the trip tightly scheduled together with generous funding outside of UBC. I could sense the trouble and extra work of the TGAG by choosing a Canadian. Can’t wait to meet and get to know them in Chicago.
Received many congrats from colleagues since the TGAG news was exposed in the HR Bulletin. Glad to know that I might hang out with several UBC folks in Asia if my schedule allows. Besides revisiting the potential projects with Peking U and NLC, I’d love to meet the librarians at the Xiamen Children’s Library. We stayed in touch for so many years, but never met in person. The annual reports, thank you letters and drawings from the little readers always light up my holiday seasons. Love to volunteer in person during this trip even just for a few hours . Better to conact the Foundation now.
