Wendnesday, Oct. 17, 2017    Cloudy

On the same date of Oct.17,ten years ago, I was called to meet at Jiangbei International Airport with some volunteers. We were to fly Beijing for training to teach Chinese in Indonesia. Before that, we had been trained at Chongqing Normal University for a month. Due to some difficulties on visa, the trip had been delayed for nearly two months. Now, we finally made it.

The school hired a van to send two of us(another volunteer is my colleague) to Chonqqing. I met with my wife and daughter, had dinner together with them and my father in law and his family. I didn’t tell my parents that I would go abroad, I just told them I would go to another province to teach. I would come home before the Spring Festival.

Chen Minkui ( the other volunteer like me in our school) and I went to the airport. On arriving at the airport, we saw some other volunteers had been there. My wife, my daughter and my wife’s brother saw me off at the airport. The volunteers ( mainly from Sichuan and Chongqing) were excited. I was told that Chen Minkui and I would be in the same city.  I was very happy on hearing that. But later, it was proved to be wrong.

After saying goodbye to my family, I went on board with others at 10. P.m.  We arrived at Beijing Nanyuan Airport at midnight and were taken to the hotel(Xiyuan Hotel) at about 2 a. m. Soon after checking in, we went to bed because we were too tired. I remember a volunteer from Sichuan named Zheng Wenying was with me in the same room.