Guest Blogger - Dr. Flatley

Janet and I were very excited to have her father come over for a visit recently. It was great to see a familiar face here in China and we enjoyed showing him around Zhanjiang and giving him a brief glimpse into our lives here. After his return, I asked him to please provide me with a short blog entry about his experience to help give a fresh perspective to China.

The following is Dr. Flatley's account of his journey in a stream of consciousness format where he discusses the many personalities he experienced while here.

A Trip to China- The Ultimate Ego Trip

These are my observations regarding experiences in Zhanjiang ("Jon' Jee-ahng") during my visit to see Janet and Scott in action as they teach English to Chinese high school and college-aged students. New "foreigners" are seldom seen here, so "we" are treated with special interest....to say the least. The Chinese people I met here were universally very sweet and innocent, extremely exuberant, and supremely welcoming .... such that I'm sure I'll probably NEVER have an experience like this again....unless/until I go back again some day!

Highlights and Observations:

• From Newark, New Jersey (after flying there from Orlando) I spend 16 hours in the air/up over the Arctic Circle and down the other side of Earth into Hong Kong...HK is Hawaii, San Francisco and St Thomas all stirred into the same pot.... The downtown area shows a dazzling collage of architectural wonder [Note: Hong Kong "isn't really" China and crossing the border out of it and into mainland China, or vice-versa, requires a stop at Immigration and Customs]....Maryknoll House in Stanley Village in HK is a wonderful refuge for priests and/or teachers on R & R and for dads (like me) being united with their favorite daughter/teacher. It is so wonderful to see Janet again and to be with her and Scott!
• In HK we attend the wedding of Kevin Clancy and the princess-like "Snow White" (Kaishan Kong) with no less than 10 Catholic priests officiating. {The Pope Himself should be so lucky!} Then we attend a magical nighttime reception at the Hong Kong Yacht Club.
• The next day, we take a 2-hour train ride to Guangzhou (Canton) with the entire wedding party to do it again Chinese-style for Snow White's many friends and family there in their home town.

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• 6 hours more on the bus, and we arrive on Janet and Scott's campus in Zhanjiang: Major culture shock: SUDDENLY, I AM TIM TEBOW (BMOC)!: giggling teenagers quickly flock to me like metal to a magnet and they cannot wait to take pictures with me, talk to me, ask me questions. I'm a new foreigner...and that's so exciting! Clutching each others' arms and covering their faces with gleefulness. They don't seem to know... that I'm just me.

• Now, visiting in Janet's classroom, I tell her kids, "I am Michael Jackson's older brother" and...SUDDENLY, I AM DANE COOK!: Amidst screams of laughter and applause I score with every comment. They already know my name but want to know my age, how many in my family, how long it took to get here, what Chinese foods I like, what sites I planned to see, whether I knew that Zhanjiang was famous for seafood, what sports I like, what America is like....everything! Everybody's got a picture phone pointed at me and they're click-clicking away! They want me to take pictures of them with me with my camera, their cameras....you get the picture. Somehow, they don't seem to know...that I'm just me.

• Now, I'm playing basketball with a group of boys in the central quadrangle which is surrounded by classrooms. A ballooning crowd watches and they "oooo" and "ahhhhh" when The Foreigner finally gets a hook shot to go in. Word spreads quickly throughout the campus and even the teachers all know within minutes. SUDDENLY, I AM TRACY McGRADY! Hey, they don't seem to know..... that I'm just me.

• Now, at night with Janet, Scott, and an eclectic group of their fellow English teachers from the nearby Normal University, we crack into large bottles of Tsing Tao, eat dinner with chopsticks off a lazy susan in the center of the table, and are enjoying the evening. The teachers are from Cameroon, the US, China, Wales, etc. and even include a feisty Catholic nun. Somehow, in polite conversation, they realize I am a conservative Republican .... and quickly, without notice, "the match is lit"! SUDDENLY I AM DICK CHENEY! They extol the virtues (?) of Hillary Clinton and now they seem to want me roasted in the hot pot with the cow intestines, sand worms, and octopus. Good grief: they don't seem to know.....that I'm just me! {As it turned out, we had an amiable parting and we left as friends...but that was a close one}. I leave the dinner hoping the Americans forget to order their absentee ballots....

• I spend a morning with a local, relatively high-end Chinese dentist from Zhanjiang, the brotherly Dr. Liu. Through an interpreter, while in his downtown dental office, we compare notes between Chinese dentistry and American dentistry. We discuss fees, special techniques, dental materials and devices, etc.; and I even get to meet his wife and examine his mother! He proudly heats up some tea for us and SUDDENLY, I AM GORDON CHRISTENSEN {An American dentist/icon generally revered as God's Gift to Dentistry}. As the hyper-excited Dr Liu directs his brother in driving us, he proudly shows me key sites of his city while shuffling us in and out of different arrangements for countless photos...first with his camera, then with my camera, etc. I fear that his blood pressure may be peaking to dangerous levels now and his aorta may be at risk of blowing. A guy riding by on a bike is abruptly short-stopped by Dr Liu and ordered to get pictures of all of us with both cameras, which the frightened guy does without hesitation. I feel so honored to have a new Chinese friend/dentist! Dr. Liu doesn't have a clue ... that I'm just me.

• Additional observation: As Janet, Scott, and I walk about the city EVERYBODY looks at us, stares at us, follows us with their eyes. Staring back makes absolutely no difference: they lock on and stay locked on! They're mostly looking at Janet, whose blond hair is just too much to resist. I've seen 2 and 3 people piggy-backed on motorcycles with their heads swiveling Exorcist-like, first to the right then to the left, then back again, and this swivel-fest continuing even a block past us and even while fading into the distance! It's new and interesting to me, but Janet and Scott have about had enough of that already after 5 months of it!

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The time has finally come to end the trip I've anticipated for so long. The worst part is saying goodbye to Janet and Scott. On the airplane home I break out 40 letters that Janet's kids have written me as part of a class assignment. The letters are so fresh-minded and tender-hearted, so wonderful that I find myself brushing away tears as I go from one to the next. I've witnessed, in person, and now in their letters, a rare innocence that hasn't been seen in American teenagers since the "Ozzie and Harriet" days of the 1950's. I plan to write back to each and every one of them in the next couple of weeks.

Now I'm back home and back to work. My wife, Pam, and I miss Janet dearly but we know that her experience with her Chinese students will permanently enrich her life. We are so proud of Janet and Scott and know that no one could ever have chosen better people than them to represent our country. Without a doubt, they represent the very best our country has to offer!!

My trip to China has been an experience of a lifetime! Thank you, Janet. Thank you, Scott. Thank you Zhanjiang! I'm ready now to go back to being "just me".

James P. Flatley, DDS
flatley01@gmail.com