Last post, probably

Hi All:

When Hugo and I were talking the other day she told me that her family owned a factory that made workclothes and they did business in Europe and the Middle East. I said that I would love to see the factory. Yesterday afternoon she called to say that her father wanted to take me to the factory at 7:00 am this morning. I said I would have to check with Burt because his students were having a party today and he wanted me to come to take pictures. When I spoke with him he said that I definitely should go to the factory. So Hugo and I arranged that she and her father would pick me up at 7:00 am

I set my alarm for 6:00 am and for some reason it did not go off so at 6:09 am I jumped out of bed and into the shower. At about 6:30 just as I was getting dressed my phone rang. It was Hugo sounding terrible and saying that she was not coming today and that we would not be having dinner tonight.I asked her if she was coming to say good-bye at all and she said yes, she would be at the hotel at 3:00 pm today. I was disapointed but I just "chalked it up" and got back into bed. About 10 minutes later I realized that I still wanted her to bring her father's marketting brochures so I called her back. It's a good thing I did because she didn't realize that she had called me instead of her teacher and our whole day was actually still on. I jumped out of bed, finished getting dressed and met her and her father in fromt of the hotel at 7:00 am

We drove about 2 hours through the countryside to the factory. It is 2 stories high, welll-ventilated with lots of ceiling fans but no air conditioning. The laborers get paid by the piece (they make coveralls and overalls) but they still have to punch a clock. I thought that was strange since they don't get a salary but I was told that is is done for control. If someone doesn't show up for x days they are fired.

On the first floor they iron the finished good by hand with a steam iron, they also cut the pieces for the clothes, again by hand, and they package the finished goods. On the second floor they sew all the garments with electric sewing machines. There are 3 factories who employ 500 workers in total and produce 3,000 garments per day.

After we toured the factory we went into the executive office where Hugo's Father's office is. It is air conditioned and has a large fish tank. Hugo and I sat for about an hour and drank coffee while her father did some work and then we drove back to HUST. We got back at noon just as Burt was getting back to the hotel. Harry joined us and the three of us went to one of the local noodle places and had noodles for lunch. Noodles are the specialty of Wuhan and we had not been to a local shop before. the noodles were delicious and I'm glad we didn't discover them sooner cuz they would have definititely put weight on us!

As I am typing Burt and Harry are having a ping pong match. Burt is using the beautiful new paddle that Harry bought him as a going away present. And, Mitch, when we come out to Tucson I think we will bring it and leave it with you cuz you have the only ping pong table in the family.

Burt's students were unbelievable generous to him. Among other gifts he received a 4 foot long scroll (if we'd known that we could have saved ourselves $168 on the one we bought), lots of traditional artifacts etc. We have so much stuff at this point between what we've bought and what we've been given that I'm no longer even sure of what we have.

On the way to the factory I passed the comment to Hugo that a lot of the students and TAs come to the hotel tomorrow to see the teachers off. I was saying that I thought it was kind of silly because the bus leaves early. Hugo looked at me and said "I am coming". She has befriended many teachers in addition to me (altho' she has formed a deep friendship with anybody else) so Iasked her who she was coming to say good-bye to. She said "You". I told her that I thought was a wonderful gesture but if she was too tired tomorrow morning I would understand. She said "I am DEFINITELY coming". So I guess I'm getting a special send-off. She also kept asking me stay a few more days but, of course, we can't. I really think she may be able to come to America in a few years so I think there is a very good chance that I will see her again. Plus she has downloaded Skype and is going to buy a webcam so that we can talk on the internet.

It is hard to believe that I only met her two weeks ago.

Today we are being picked up by her father to go to her home to make and eat dumplings and I don't think I will get a chance to post the experience so "sayonara" (Yes, I know that's Japanese) for now.

Love.....shelley