感受在异国他乡的友谊 Lisa was a chef I met when I was having my first breakfast at the Russian Far East in 2017. After a year of not seeing each other, we were happy to have a hug in celebration of the reunion. She is older than I am. She gave me two boxes of chocolate for my son. In my eyes, she is a perfect prototype of Russian mothers: warm-hearted, kind, and magnanimous. At lunch I saw Julia, a teacher of Chinese and English. Last year, she escorted me on my 14-hour train journey from Komsomolsk to Birobidzhan where I was to take a bus ride back to China. Upon the arrival at Birobidzhan, she made arrangements for me to check in a hotel. Then she took the 14-hour back journey to Komsomolsk. At that time, she had just got married. Her husband brought her to the railway station at Komsomolsk and we met briefly, a man of honesty. Her husband was preparing for a job interview. I felt regretted seeing her leaving her husband. During the two-hour stopover at Khabarovsk, I bought chocolate and cigarettes for her husband. Last summer vacation, I sent a copy of July 2017 issue of Cultural Dialogue to Julia via a Chinese student. Shortly afterwards, she wrote me a letter saying that it was the first time that her picture had ever appeared in a magazine. She was studying a postgraduate Chinese course at that time. I suggested that if she would write a piece on her hometown Komsomolsk I would be very glad to recommend it to some Chinese magazines. Julia was very happy to see me again but she was sorry that I would stay there for a very short time. She hoped to write a story for Cultural Dialogue. My escorting the Chinese students to the Amur State University of Humanities and Pedagogy in Komsomolsk-on-Amur was completed with ease. Nastya, a girl from the foreign affair office of the university, had come all the way to meet us at Birobidzhan and took us to the university. On the campus, she took us around and showed all the facilities to Chinese students. When we visited the public kitchen at the student dormitory, Nastya commented that the Chinese students would have two licenses at the end of their study at the university: graduation diploma and chef license. The Chinese parents like the cooking project because they believe cooking give their children an opportunity to learn how to take care of themselves. During our campus tour, we met with a vice chancellor of the university in charge of student affairs. She said as they had children studying abroad, they hoped they would treat Chinese students on the campus as their own children. Then I met with chancellor of the university Alexander and a vice chancellor in charge of scientific research. I said that I was honored to meet with the chancellor and the vice chancellor, that parents who came with the students were satisfied with everything they saw, and that it was my second visit to Komsomolsk and that I found girls were pretty and boys were handsome. Chancellor Alexander laughed. He remarked that many of Chinese students at the Amur State University of Humanities and Pedagogy in Komsomolsk-on-Amur had specialties. One of the Chinese students had just won a prize in a music competition for foreign students in the Russian Far East. The Amur State University of Humanities and Pedagogy in Komsomolsk-on-Amur has friendly relations with a number of Chinese universities and colleges, and many send their students there for short-term studies, but, as pointed out by Chancellor Alexander, Jiamusi University first set up the cooperative relations with Amur State University of Humanities and Pedagogy in Komsomolsk-on-Amur. We then talked about cooperative projects the two higher education institutes could jointly develop in the future, as geared to the development strategy for 2020-2025 in Far East and Lake Baikal. In the last evening in Komsomolsk, I had special dishes prepared by our Chinese students. Dr. Sun, a teacher of Chinese now working at a Confucius Institute in Far East, prepared a pizza. I feel that individual friendship and trust play a key part in the friendly and cooperative exchanges between universities in China and the Russian Far East. Unlike China or European part of Russia, the Russian Far East retains a lifestyle and many beautiful elements that we appreciate. With this understanding, I find why I like the Russian Far East so much: it offers a culture that we Chinese can learn and it is home to many of my friends. □ |