My Student Guide in China

She became my closest friend in China over the 5 yrs I spent in Nanjing teaching English at the University (2nd to my precious Chinese wife). I speak very little Chinese and I became dependant upon my students to help me travel and shop and perform a number of other duties both personal and professional. Most of my students were young women since very few young men in China study English. The students rountinely adopt an English name and I sometimes help them to pick a name more suitable. This student called herself "Icy" and it didn't suit her well. She is a very warm and kind hearted girl with the sweetest disposition of any of the more than 2000 students I taught. I renamed her Rachel because she reminds me of the Rachel in the Bible. In China I often had trouble trying to find products I used back in the USA and Rachel ordered these products for me on a website there called Taobao. When the packages arrived they weren't delivered to my doorstep, which was an apartment on campus but one of several dropsites on or off campus. This meant to pick up my package I had to travel with Rachel or another student to this site and somehow locate my package. The seller would send a text in Chinese to me and I would contact my student to pick it up. The students in China are so kind and helpful to Americans who teach them English. This photo was taken by my oldest daughter who joined us in China. She was very close friends with Rachel as well and we both are very grateful to her for the many times she helped us through a difficult situation. The 3 of us went out for lunch and I wish I coud have included my daughter in this photo. My dear wife is a full professor at NJAU in Nanjing where I also taught English. I will share some of our adventures in both China and in the USA over time. I am very happy to have found a wonderful wife with traditional Christian values. My wife teaches Plant pathology and also runs her own company in China promoting the dozens of patents she has on different products she has discovered and promotes. Her favorite discoveries are a biopesticide and also a biofertilizer that is gaining popularity in Europe and China. Rachel helped my family on one occasion I will never forget when my daughter became sick and had to go to the hospital. My wife was at work and Rachel helped my take my daughter to be seen. The hospital was a massive building with huge crowds in long lines in the hallways. People were smoking in the hospital which is common in China; even the attending physican who saw my dughter was smoking when we finally got seen. I have many stories to share about my time in China and I hope to share them here on voice.