Larry & Margaret Allmon

168 Peoples Road East

Xinzheng City, Zhengzhou

HENAN 451150

Peoples Republic of China

e-mail:  allmon36@yahoo.com

telephone:  371-260-7775

FAX:  371-260-0851

 

 China Update  June, 2004

 

Dear Family and Friends,

 

Checking my archives I see it is about time to send to send out another update from China.  Yes, we are still here and occupied!  I probably should apologize for the length of this missive, but a lot has happened and I wanted to report all this for the record.

The BIG EVENT of the end of the school year was the celebration of SIAS 5^th Anniversary.  Dignitaries from Fort Hays (Kansas) State University (our partner university), local government officials, Board members, and even the Vice-governor of the province!  We were duly dressed smart  for the occasion, led in a parade way out across the rubble of the ongoing construction sites to the beautiful new stadium and escorted to our reserved seating mid-field amid cheers and The Stars and Stripes Forever march played a gazillion times until we were all properly placed.  O.K. so much for the pomp.  The rest was torture!  Sitting in the sun with our SIAS-provided dorky straw hats, a bottle of water and a program (with which to fan ourselves) we endured several hours of (Chinese) speeches one fairly decent speech (in English) by Dr. Hammond, president of Fort Hays, and a number of musical performances, reminiscent of the Zeigfield Follies era which we could barely see (the new band-shell covered stage was a long way off.  BUT we could hear!  (the music was terribly loud).  The poor students seated in the bleachers on the opposite side of the field I suspect could see even less.  Then after we were officially escorted off the field, we were free to tour the campus.  One attraction we didn't want to miss was a tour of the new Administration Building.  They had set up one large room with displays, photos of the history of the school, etc.  We entered the magnificent building from the south side (Chinese style architecture), then later walked around the building to the north side (classical Greek-style architecture) to see the many fancy gifts given to the school by  the VIP visitors.  Huge porcelain vases, statues, carvings, banners, silk screens, etc.  The huge fountain between the Administration Building (Washington Hall) and the Library was turned on shooting a variety of spray patterns.  The faux mountain with waterfalls at the end of an inlet of the river was also turned on.  MOST IMPRESSIVE.  I'm sure many of our returning teachers will be awed at the new look of large portions of the campus.

            Saturday evening, May 29, was the graduation banquet in the gym.  Again, another dress-up affair.

Commencement ceremonies were held on Sunday morning, May 30, and a number of us looked truly academic in our gowns.  My wife and I with our black bachelor's gowns with BIOLA's red piping edging the yokes.  Then our red and white satin hoods (BIOLA's school colors) with mine trimmed in red velvet (theology major) and my wife's in light blue velvet (education major).  We were only outshone by Candace's multi-colored double masters hood involving yellow, light blue, green, crimson and a few other colors I have forgotten!

We followed the various memorial services for President Reagan via BBC-TV and were very moved.  In our estimation, he was a great president, and made a lasting and positive impact on the world scene.

We also shared in the loss of our former (and favorite) pastor, Lowell  Wendt.  Carolee sent us the booklet of the memorial service and we could (almost) feel that we had been present.  Pastor Wendt was one of the very few pastors with a pastor's heart we have ever known, and all our memories of him are encouraging even to this day. Two special events stick out in my mind:  1) his request to perform our wedding ceremony even though he had long since left Montecito and was then living in Lakewood, Washington (near Tacoma), and 2) his request that I be the speaker on board the Wendts' 50^th wedding anniversary cruise in the (Puget) Sound.  We truly loved this man.

On Saturday, June 12, we were invited guests among a few others at the wedding ceremony of the Dean of the BGS Department here, Simon Wu, held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Zhengzhou.  A truly CHINESE WEDDING!!!  We were given our instructions prior to attending:  formal dress, no white (the color of death), cash gifts to be presented (though not requested) in little red envelopes, etc.  We arrived well before festivities, then were escorted as V.I.P.'s to our special tables.  We were forewarned that it would be a very formal occasion with lots of important guests:  military, political, etc. as our fellow-guests.    Well, the Bride AND THE GROOM wore white, even though I had coached one our younger teachers to change into a black shirt prior to attending (!!!) . Many of the other important male guests were wearing short-sleeved white shirts, too!   (Believe nothing you hear, Larry)  I also experienced two new culinary delights (and I thought I had tried most).  Among the many dishes served was pig's ear pieces (chewy) and snake (no seconds, please!)

Mary Alice and I had hoped to visit the incapacitated, recuperating Dean of the Foreign Language Department (my boss) in the hospital, but neither he nor his wife had their cell-phones turned on and we didn't want to pay a surprise visit, especially if he was not up to it.   We had carried a gift for him from the Masaitis family, but had to return without being able to deliver it.

            Monday, June 13.  A very rainy day and I got some paper work done in the office.  Mary Alice left me a deposit of a stack of papers, which I duly hauled over to my office, only to discover that most of them needed to be trashed.

In the afternoon I went with Leon (of Leon's Cafi) to a new bathhouse (Number One) which he thought I had never experienced before.  But, of course, I had.   Not terribly satisfactory, and I thought we should give it another number!  Relaxed and terribly clean, I worked on my special project on the 3^rd floor balcony (I will explain the project later when, or if, I finish it!)

Dinner again was an unknown; served ourselves in the kitchen then made our way to the lobby to eat on tables set up there for the few of us remaining.  Julia had returned from her interesting trip to Beijing..

Currently I am in the process of registering, copying, and filing the final grade papers of our foreign faculty:  72 teachers times an average of 5 classes each involving a minimum of about 6 sheets of papers per class, including copies of everything, making an estimated 2,000+ pieces of paper; all of them needing at least some corrective comments! (name of teacher added, class code added, etc.)  Nigel had come to my flat to fix my computer so that it would read DVDs, and he and Jo (South Africans) have been a great help in getting all those 2,000+ papers sorted and filed..

I do have a lovely office in Building Four (otherwise appropriately known as Freud Hall)  The office, which I share with a lovely Chinese lady teacher,  is located between the Dean's office and the Administrative Office of the Foreign Language Department.  I have decorated the place with artificial plants, pictures, wall clock and small carpet and it is really quite cozy.  So far, we are surviving the beginning heat of summer with open windows and a fan; however I will be investigating purchasing a small A/C unit, if not too expensive.

We are still struggling with copier problems, availability of keys to that room, unauthorized usage, jamming, etc.

As of this writing, most of the foreign faculty have departed for their respective countries, BUT ONLY AFTER I HAVE CLEARED THEM (final grade sheets submitted, text books returned, library books returned, etc.)  This morning there were only seven of us at breakfast. (Last night we had a terrific thunderstorm!  I sat out on the balcony and enjoyed the lightning display for about a half hour!

I have mentioned this previously, but outside our door I have a sign reading:  Allmons Almacin (warehouse in Spanish) since we have become the voluntary custodians of a number of items for returning teachers:  plants, holy books (you know the kind I mean), expensive guitar, computers, keys, ladders, fish (in a bowl), suitcases, and even a jar of horseradish (left behind from the Passover Seder service).

Oh yes, throw in my contacts via e-mail and snail mail with the Committee organizing our Continentals 50^th reunion.   (Eagle Rock High School, Summer 1954!)  SO MANY YEARS AGO!!!

We have limited our student visitors to Friday nights and only by appointment.  Otherwise, we would never get any time to ourselves.  Both my wife  and I are coaching two speech contestants and shortly will be teaching a special Speech Class for prospective competitors in the various levels of public speech contests coming up.

In the midst of all this work, I had to prepare a mini-resume form to accompany my nomination for a teacher-of-the-year award from Zhengzhou University (our parent university)

No news from Tucson and I am close to giving up.  Apparently our house is unsellable and we have not yet found any realtor willing to take on management of the property for rental.  The ugly possibility is to let it all go in a foreclosure, but I fear all our personal, irreplaceable objects will be lost in the process (family videos, my travel diaries, old family Bibles, the infamous telescope,  etc.).  I guess we have NO OTHER OPTIONS at this point.  We will most likely lose any equity (HAH) in the property, though we have paid thousands of dollars on the property.  My original determination, after the fiasco of buying the house in South Pasadena years ago, was to only rent in the future, is now validated!  Reading the 5^th volume of Hudson Taylor's biography, however, has been somewhat comforting, since we have not suffered nearly anything compared to what these early pioneers experienced more than a century ago.

            Well, enough for this time, now I will try to send this off to y'all!

Much love,  Larry (Dad/Brother/Grandpa) and

                   Margaret (Mom/Margay/Grandma)