Friendship is like a cup of light green tea

Friendship is like a cup of light green tea Lu Ping It was eighteen years ago that I met Shuying. In July of that year, we had just moved to Phoenix from another state, and we were busy studying Chinese...

Friendship is like a cup of light green tea Lu Ping It was eighteen years ago that I met Shuying. In July of that year, we had just moved to Phoenix from another state, and we were busy looking for a Chinese school for our four-year-old daughter in Chinese newspapers. Phoenix Chinese School was the only Chinese school we found at that time, so we sent our daughter to learn Chinese regardless of the fact that it neither taught Chinese pinyin nor simplified Chinese characters. In the first basic class, When I met Shuying's daughter Sijie, she was fair and delicate, and she seemed to be ranked the same as our daughter Sijia. I immediately remembered her and got to know Shuying. But it was just a nod, and we just greeted each other politely when picking up the children. A year later, we met again at Tri-city Christian School, and Sijia and Sijie became classmates again. But because there were only two Chinese children in the class, When we met, we couldn't help but talk a lot and praise each other's children. A year later, in the first-grade primary school classroom, we were delighted to find that Sijia and Sijie were still classmates. It turned out that our two families were still neighbors living in the same community! This made us wonder if we were destined? When picking up the children, the topic became more interesting. It turned out that Shuying also studied architecture, and she studied the same major as her husband in China. In the next twelve years, Because the two girls went to the same elementary school, junior high school and high school, we often met at various school activities, such as math competitions, band rehearsals and performances. The first time Shuying came to my house surprised me. We have known each other for many years, and we have never visited each other's homes. She came here for an American colleague in her husband's company. They were going to mainland China to adopt a girl and planned to learn some Chinese in advance. Shuying knew that I taught Chinese at a community college, so she came to borrow books and tapes from me. A few days later, Shuying came to my house again and told me with great regret that the American colleague’s child had received the book but had lost it. I quickly said it didn’t matter, I had several similar books. I was not only touched by the love of this American couple who had never met before, but also by the enthusiasm of the Shuying couple. Once, Shuying and I met at a Costco gas station. We had moved at that time. She told me that she had run a Chinese newspaper and asked if there were any suitable articles for children to recommend. It happened that the eldest daughter Si Jia got a perfect score in the SAT exam, so Shuying decided to write an article as an introduction. She also cared about our younger daughter Si Yuan and published one of her paintings and a Chinese and English composition on her website at the same time. Since knowing Shuying's newspaper, I continued to send my students' Chinese writings to her newspaper for publication, and it became a regular platform for our Modern Chinese School students to publish their works. We still have a large stack of them at home, which publishes the compositions of students of all grades in the Modern Chinese School over the years. Shuying's > has witnessed the progress of Chinese learning among Modern Chinese School students, and also witnessed Shuying's support and help for our Modern Chinese School students to learn Chinese. Just in the first week of this semester, Shuying and I also jointly planned a summer assignment for the sixth grade students of our modern Chinese school. The students were very excited when they received the ink-scented > on the first day of school. They were grateful to Aunt Shuying for her continued care for their Chinese learning. I also sent out the second summer assignment, and received a short "Thank You" reply from Shuying in the middle of the night. Looking forward to the next issue. >I have published the works of our students again, but I never wanted to hear the sad news that Shuying suddenly left us. I am still unwilling to accept this fact. I would like to believe that in the dead of night, as long as I send an email, I will immediately receive a brief reply from Shuying as usual. Our cooperation will continue. Understanding Shuying’s enthusiasm, there is one small thing that cannot be forgotten. At the beginning of this year, a friend’s child came to the Phoenix Air Force Base from the Flight Department of Nanjing Aviation Academy for training. Two of his classmates died unexpectedly in a flight accident, so I rushed to visit. During the conversation, he told me that Aunt Wang Shuying, the editor-in-chief of >, had also visited them and invited them to have dinner at the "Pacific Seafood Restaurant". She cared about them very much. I told him that we have been old friends with Aunt Shuying for many years, and she was such an enthusiastic and attentive person. We have not had close contact with the Shuying family for eighteen years. At most, she shared with us the exquisite mung bean cake she brought back from Taiwan, and we invited her to taste the fresh vegetables from her own vegetable garden. But we all know that we are all trustworthy friends when the other party needs it. Friendship is like a cup of light green tea, exuding a faint fragrance. Now that Shuying has left us, the tea will not get cold when she is gone. We are still your friends and friends of your family, Shuying, you have a good journey! (Alberta Times)