Sunday, May 16, 2010

More Farewells

We have eleven days of school remaining, and I am finishing up my final concerts. My colleagues at Knoles gave me a lovely send-off this week, complete with two pairs of earrings, nice and light so they will fit in my still unpurchased luggage. Joe is trying very hard to stay focused at work where most of the meetings and discussions deal with next year's schedules and personnel. Our visa supporting documents will be sent to us in the coming week, and Ms. Kasono has also sent quite a few emails about what and what not to say in our application. We will have to call our chosen consulate to find out if they will require us to have a round-trip ticket. If so, the school will contact its travel agent and help us out on that point, which is a relief to us and our checking account!

I'm still having a good time announcing my plans to the very few people in Flagstaff who haven't heard. I was waiting to get some blood drawn when the woman sitting next to me asked what I was reading. I had "Being Chinese" with me, which sounds pretty nuts when you look at my blue eyes and curly hair, so I got to explain my reading choice. By the way, it's a great book of stories of people who are ethnically Chinese but not born in China. I am fascinated by the importance of maintaining Chinese culture, regardless of the person's country of birth, as well as the rather recent history of paper sons and daughters (where Chinese children moved to other countries using immigration papers of other people), and I'm learning about Buddhist worship practices and Chinese holidays and festivals. I should probably put some of these on my calendar!

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