14: change of scenery

friday, june 15, 2007 was my last day of classes at jiao yuan middle school. while the school year extends well into july, the foreign teachers' contract releases us on this date, so we can spend the one-month-salary travel bonus before the work visa expires the end of july- on the anniversary of our arrival in china. while school dorm would continue to be our residence until the end of the visa, saying good-bye to the daily regimen, students and fellow teachers was a more emotional experience than i had expected. classes in which i'd roared myself hoarse were hugging me, snapping pictures and blubbering "we're gonna miss you, mister bill!" the teachers arranged dinners and a group foot-massage outing the final week.

at the end of the previous week, i had gotten an email from a head hunter in california, wondering if i would be interested in working with an architectural firm in hangzhou; a principal would be visiting the states soon, and would i be interested in meeting her? when i explained that i was already in china, wheels turned fast: would i be interested in visiting the office in hangzhou? i had never been to hangzhou, and was, of course, interested in visiting. it had been my plan to segue into my friend gan's office at shenzhen university, and helping out with professor wu's studio and graduate students there. but it couldn't hurt "just to look", right? gan agreed...

friday night was a farewell teachers' party at the club ibiza; saturday morning, i was on a plane to hangzhou...

i was met at the other end by an excellent english-speaker from the office; she didn't need to wave a sign for "mister rogan" as i am pretty easy to pick out of that crowd- or any crowd in china. a driver was waiting for us, and after dropping my bags at a hotel, i was ushered into the large 12th-floor conference room of tianren architects. a translator i had talked with on the phone greeted me first; i was introduced to mrs. ji, then to a number of other principals and staff already assembled in the pleasant room, looking out over west lake and the scenery of hangzhou. it was a pretty impressive turnout for a saturday noon.

the translator was the hub of the meeting, as i was given a slide presentation of various completed projects. looking around the room during pauses, i noticed some strange things: a large, framed color photo was mounted prominently on the wall opposite the screen; could that be the grand canyon? mrs. ji had a special cup in front of her, ringed with- soldiers? was that inscription under the soldiers- "west point"? walking around for a closer look at an intermission, all the answers were yes; i may have been the only native english speaker in the room, but there were some big fans of american icons here! i took that as a positive note.

the work they showed me was quite good, and surprisingly diverse. much of urbanizing china is being fleshed out now by developers, with vertical extrusions of cookie-cutter apartment blocks; adding hats and finding a new site plan twist for glomming as many as possible onto the site is the only game left for the architects. here i saw new schools, government office buildings, a university complex, some leisure and recreational developments, landscape and urban design, a good bit of custom residential work- most things under construction or just completed. real work!

i told them a little about myself; most of them were already familiar with this blog, and had seen my pics and movies. they had all seen my on-line portfolio, too. communication was getting easier; i was beginning to understand what was said before the translator did his thing, and my chinglish replies made them laugh, but they got it. by six, they invited me to join them for a hangzhou banquet at the posh restaurant on the ground floor of the building. amazing food; not sure when the seduction switch flipped...

we had a brief meeting back in the office after the dinner, beginning to talk specifics; could i commit to a year? i asked if i could hoof around town a bit on my own, and maybe visit the office on a weekday when everyone was around; no problem. i was taken back to the hotel, and some quiet time to think things over.

early the next morning, it hit me: there was no downside to any of this. what was i mulling? the only flickering shadow might be some disappointment at my not moving over to gan's operation at shenzhen university, but he would surely understand: real work! and real pay! how could i pass this up?

my solo meander around hangzhou the next day was icing on the cake; there's at least a year of exploring ahead, getting to know this amazing city. marco polo thought it the most beautiful in the world. sunday night, i took the train to shanghai, 150 kilometers and two hours away to visit my friends, the rices. paul was full of expat perspective, skepticism and questions, and concluded this was too good to pass up, too.

tuesday i went back to hangzhou, met with the staff, and reviewed some of their construction documents; i was ready to shake hands. mrs. ji was leaving for her 25-day trip to america that evening; coordinating calenders, we agreed on my start date on the first of august. a quick calender calculation on my part showed that with my visa soon to expire, and my commitment to go to thailand in mid-july, any trip i would make to the states would have to be pronto. perhaps we could meet up there, in california next week? let's try!

i flew back to shenzhen that night, having unravelled all the decisions i'd made on leaving there four days before- "just to look".

wednesday i had lunch with gan, to make my report. i learned that money trumps "face" in china; his outfit couldn't compete with the hangzhou package, and i should definitely sign on. would this mean we'd have to cancel going to thailand? hell, no! we went online and bought the tickets to bangkok right after lunch. and then i went home and bought tickets to the states. thursday, i packed; friday i flew, to los angeles. one interesting week, to say the least.

i'd allotted 2 weeks to connect my dots on the states...