Tue 16th Aug - Last day in Qufu

And so our last day arrived, hot, overcast but with a slight breeze making all the weeping willows around the school sway as if saying farewell.. we cheerfully went through our morning classes and lunch and then our mood got heavier as we started cleaning and packing and saying our goodbyes to our masters and fellow students. Zhang shifu intimated he wants to be a film star in action movies and wants to come to London, so we invited him to come and stay with us whenever he wants. We gave all the things we had bought to make our room comfortable, bedsheets, pillows, towels, carpet, kettle to Nelly and Lia, the 2 translators of the school who were too happy for words. They are getting paid virtually peanuts and we gave them represented more than their combined monthly salaries. After dinner, the calligraphy teacher who doubles as taxi driver and his wife, drove us to the 2hr drive to Jining airport. For one more time as in our previous drives by car and train rides I observed the infrastructural miracle of modern China. It is not a fluke! In all these provincial cities and rural areas we went through, beautiful big highways, bridges, overpasses, fantastic airports and futuristic train stations. Very frequently in the middle of nowhere we would see these huge residential projects under construction; a clear effort to attract and retain population in the rural areas. We also saw at least 2 nuclear stations. Most cars in the streets were less than 10yrs old a far cry from 15yrs ago when they were very few cars in the streets and most were held together with elastic bands..Flight back to Shanghai was on time and uneventful..Arrived Shanghai at midnight. The Grand Hyatt driver in his uniform awaited at Hong Jiao arrivals. In the air-conditioned limo for a smooth ride to the familiar opulence of yet another 5star hotel..and yet I was melancholic..I missed the academy and its raw, true spirit.