Michael·H·Prosser

Michelle Prosser and children visit Shanghai, June-July, 2008 (Posted November 17, 2008)

Michelle Prosser, my daughter and the author of Excuse me, your God is waiting (2008, Charlottesville, Virginia, Hampton Roads
Publishers) and her three children, Darya, born in Russia (11), Sanders (10) and Sophia (6) visited me in Shanghai and we traveled in the
immediate region, Suzhou, Changzhou and Yangzhou in Jiangsu Province, Haungshan Mountain and Maanshan, both in Anhui Province,
June 18-July 10, 2008.

On November 17, the house next door to Michelle and her children caught fire, and the roof burned. Sanders had received a machine
by which he could produce his own cinema just that afternoon. He took pictures of the house burning which the local tv station used that evening. Michelle called the fire department, and although the new neighbors were absent, the fire department members rescued the
family dog. Michelle’s picture was on the front page of The Daily Progress.

Arthur (21), his father and I met Michelle and the children at the Pudong International Airport on June 18.The family stayed with my
apartmentmate, Jesse, and me in our SISU foreign faculty residence. On June 19, after visiting the neighborhood, a car took us to the
SISU Songjiang campus, 40 kilometers from Shanghai, where Michelle spoke on leadership to about 25 intercultural communication MA
majors. We were treated to dinner at the SISU canteen, and then Michelle gave a speech also on leadership to officers of the Songjiang
Bureau of Food and Drugs. As it became obvious that this audience had a lower level of English than the MA students, an interpreter
assisted her. On June 20, we swam at the SISU pool. Jacky (27) accompanied us to the Shanghai Museum of Science and Technology in
Pudong where the children had a very good experience. Michelle bought the children and herself ipods at a good price. Jacky and the
children bonded very well.
On December 21, Arthur and his father drove us to St. Peter’s International Catholic Church, and we had lunch with David, Jesse, and
other young Chinese, as well as Maxime from France at the dining room of the Second Shanghai Medical College near the Church. David,
Jesse, Michelle, the children and I went to the music shops in Shanghai where Michelle bought a beginning violin for Darya and Sophia, a
mandolin for herself, and a guitar for Sanders. In the evening, at Bibela’s Italian Kitchen, Jesse, Jacky, other young Chinese and we had a
dinner.
On June 24, we took a train to Suzhou, about an hour from Shanghai, and the first time that Darya, Sanders, and Sophia had taken a
train. We were met by Michael, whom I had known at Yangzhou University and his expectant wife, Ting, whose wedding I had attended
during the winter snows (and they have now had a boy). We had lunch along one of Suzhou’s large lakes, where the food was rather
exotic, for example, frog legs, and a bit difficult for the children to adapt to (a problem for two of the three during the entire trip). The
children spent an hour at an indoor playground, which meant that we didn’t get to see the Humble Administrator’s Garden in the old and
tourist area of Suzhou, but we spent time there on June 25.Michael took us to Lake Tai Hu, China’s largest lake. We had dinner at
Michael’s parents’ home, a very nice meal, but again difficult for two of the three children to adapt to.
On June 26, we took a gondola ride along Suzhou’s canals, with the children being allowed to steer the gondola part of the way and the
old gondolier sang for us as he steered it. Michelle and the children did a lot of shopping in Suzhou. We took a taxi to the train station, and we traveled to Changzhou, where my webmaster, Wing, and his partner King met us, after which we had lunch at the McDonalds at the train station. King’s father had loaned him a company van, and we visited an old Buddhist park with an 80 meter tall 13 story pagoda
(basically a tourist location). We met King’s wife, also expecting their second child (and I participated in the October 1 National Day
celebration for the birth of their son near Changzhou). We had dinner at Wing’s home, which I have visited several times. We stayed at an old hotel not too far from their village. On June 27, we visited a park where we had a barbeque which Wing and King cooked for us.
On June 28, we traveled to Yangzhou, and stayed with Sim and Fay, both former students of mine at Yangzhou University (Sim as an
auditor in American literature, and Fay as one of my junior mass communication students). Sanders talked to Fay’s children students. They have a one year old boy. They treated us at a pizza restaurant, as well as Johnson and Kathleen, also former students of mine in Yangzhou University, and their nine year old son, Sunny, who has excellent English. On June 29, Sim and Fay had a dinner for us at their home.Darya, Sanders, and Sophia got along well with Sunny and several other children whom Johnson teaches English while not teaching at Ya
ngzhou University. Johnson and Kathleen had a large lunch for us and several other families. The children enjoyed climbing and playing in a
bamboo park, which had a large climbing rockery. We bought tickets for a three day Chinese bus tour to Huangshan Mountain, and after
buying the tickets learned that we would be required to have an interpreter in order to be able to participate in the tour, as a Japanese tourist, without an interpreter, had died on the Mountain a few weeks before. Fay helped us hire Joey, one of her former students at the
technological college where she teaches English.
Michelle, Darya, Sanders, Sophia and Joey had to get up early on July 1 to go with the tour group on the cable car up the Mountain. I
remained below, and spent the day at the local internet café. Joey and the children adapted well together, They had a problem on the
mountain where they had to take a different cable car down than the members of the tour group. Sanders was pushed off the cable car, and Michelle had to rescue him before the cable car came down the mountain. On July 3, our tour bus dropped us off outside Maanshan, where Charles (who had gone with me in February to the Philippines and in June to Russia), met us. We stayed at the Anhui University of Technology hotel One of the children’s best events in Maanshan was being inside bubbles at the lake. We returned to Shanghai on July 5, a six hour evening train trip, the longest trip of our travel while they visited.
In their last days in Shanghai, we visited the Lu Xun Park near SISU, where the children rode several of the rides, and Sanders and
Sophia took the budgee jump. With Jacky, on their last day in Shanghai, July 9, we went to Shanghai’s “Bund” .along the Wampu River,
having the late 19th century colonial buildings, now offices for the CCP and Shanghai government, and on the opposite side of the river,
the stunning architectural buildings and the Pearl of the Orient Tower which have been created since the late 1990’s. We took the boat
river tour on the Wampu River. Michelle gave the keynote speech, again on leadership to 350 primary, junior middle school and senior
middle school She and I had photos taken with 7 groups of teachers at the main gate of SISU.
On July 10, a SISU university car took Michelle, the three children, and lots of luggage, including the 4 musical instruments to the Pudong
Airport, where they had the very long travel back to Virginia. There was no room for me in the car. Later, I had an email message from
Michelle’s mother that I had been very good to Michelle and the children. Fortunately, no one got lost or hurt during their visit. We ate
more times at McDonald’s and KFC than Michelle and I would have preferred, but since it was hard for two of the three children to adapt
to the Chinese food, it was more practical than insisting that they eat each meal at a Chinese restaurant. Michelle first visited me in China
in June-July 2005, just before I moved to Shanghai from Beijing Language and Culture University, and we visited Beijing and Xi’an. Michelle gave copies of her book to several of my young Chinese friends and where we visited on our 12 day trip. Michelle and the children were
brave to make this trip, and we hope that it will be a life-long memory or all of them. Perhaps, one or more of them will take a year or
semester to study in China when they are in university. That would be a positive long-term result of their 2008 visit.