Between conversations, Yinglan and I exchanged WeChat contacts. Quickly, I sent the photos to my good friend Jen in Yanling. I'm not sure if I've ever been in a position to do that, but I'm sure I've never been in a position to do that before," he said. I was able to get back in touch with all of you and saw the photos we had just taken. The era of advanced communication has directly benefited everyone. We are all enjoying the convenience that the development of the times brings to us.
After chatting, I learned that Yinglan retired this year. The first time I saw this was when I was in the middle of a movie, and the second time I was in the middle of a movie. The first time I saw this, I was able to see a lot of people who had been in the same room for a long time, and I was able to see a lot of people who were in the same room. In fact, I went back to China last year to Yan Ling to participate in the restaurant colleagues get-together when she had time to see us, when she was still at work, is the general manager of the room department. Everyone knew I had gone to New Zealand. No one even asked me what city I was staying in. Since it was an English-speaking country, I didn't introduce myself. We didn't contact each other after the last time we met. I learned from her that almost all of us who came in this batch had retired (female employees of domestic enterprises retire at fifty). Time flies and decades have passed. The photo below shows Yinglan and I meeting in Queenstown.
Yinglan and I met in 1987, nearly 32 years ago. As a result of meeting Yinglan, I also got in touch with another mild-mannered person, Shujin. She remembered that I was in love with a boy from 8th grade! What a surprise! I told her we broke up not long after we met. At the time, I found it annoying to be in a relationship. Also because I heard him say that his sister and brother got married and had daughters and his mom put her hopes on him. He is from Chaoshan and traditionally favors sons over daughters. I don't want to be with him after hearing him say that. This Zhong boy's father is no longer alive, and it was not easy for his mother to raise three children. His sister later married in Hong Kong. He himself is also very competitive, after graduating from the provincial college to stay in Guangzhou Quality Supervision and Inspection Bureau, but also to Huagong University for further study. Our unit was close to several universities in Shipai. At that time, the South China University of Technology would hold dance parties every weekend. My close workmate, Sister Zhen, was not only a good ball player and dancer, but also a person with great personal connections. She had a lot of friends from Hainan. Because she loved to dance, she often dragged us to play, I also like to dance. The young and the first love of men and women are very natural on the eye. This tall and thin wearing eyes of the young man is in the dance floor to recognize. The beginning of getting along is because of curiosity, a little bit of understanding and found that he is not my favorite type, and then decided to break up. Although he has a good job, Guangzhou account (city account used to be the golden key in those days), people also good to learn. However, I didn't want to go against my heart. Because of Zhen, I had a second relationship soon after. This relationship let me know what is love at first sight! The pain of loving someone but not being able to be together! To digest the pain after a breakup is a bit of a slow process for me, maybe it's because I'm a more serious person. I had vowed not to have any contact with him after the breakup. Time is the best medicine. I eventually found my own happiness! Years after the incident, when I revisit the past, I understand it with gratitude! In fact, these are just my learning process. Because of Jane's relationship, we became group friends a few years ago to this day. (The oath I made back then has long since expired :)
Speaking of Sujin, I'm so curious to know what she looks like now. We young boys and girls went to Yan Ling after three months of training, according to the two main departments of the rooms and restaurants, a few taller in the security department. Shuzhen and I were divided in the restaurant department. The restaurant department has Zhen sister, and also from Zhanjiang Nongken good friend Maolan. After I came to NZ, I called Maolan one day in 2009 and found out that she passed away from leukemia. I was shocked! Sad and sorry for her! Below is Zhen on the first right and Maolan on the third right. I am on the first left. In the background of the second picture below is the signboard of Yanling Mansion. This plaza was completely demolished because of the subsequent subway construction. Completely disappeared are the busy highway in front of us, and the Yantang Lake and its weeping willows less than fifty meters away from the hotel.
When we arrived in Guangzhou, the hotel was still in the process of finishing. The hotel was still in the process of finishing up when we arrived in Guangzhou. We were arranged to live in the dormitory of the Armed Forces Hospital at that time. The first three months of training was with meals and lodging, but employees were required to cut their hair short and earn a salary of 90 yuan a month. During the training, we were taught how to walk and how to serve food and pour wine. The picture below is from the dormitory at the Armed Police Hospital. Chen Shuzhen, who wore the same dress, and I were from Zhanjiang Reclamation, while the others were from Hainan Reclamation. My top bunk was Wu Aijun (back row, first from the right), who I heard was in Shanghai. The two of us even joked about her name back then. The tallest, Ayan (back row, first from left), was in the security department as a female security guard. She taught me a Hainanese phrase, 'lu ku stack' (where are you going), which I still remember today. When my Hainanese roommates were together, they loved to speak Hainanese, and I often didn't understand what they were saying. However, we got along very well together. Yinglan (front row, second from left) and Ajuan (back row, center) gave me the impression that they were always smiling. Unfortunately, I don't remember the name of the one in the middle row.
Our salary was more than a hundred dollars after we officially started working. I was able to enjoy 24 days of family leave a year, and was reimbursed for my travel expenses. The first time I saw this, I was able to get the ball rolling, and I was able to get the ball rolling, and I was able to get the ball rolling. This was because when I came home from my family visit, my father realized that I wanted to go back to school. Soon after that, I quit my job and went to the Guangdong Nongken Finance College to study for the college entrance exam. I never saw Shuzhen again after I left Yanling. There are two Shuzhen in the restaurant department, one from Hainan and one from Zhanjiang. Zhanjiang Shuzhen I have seen a few times after returning home. Only Hainan Shuzhen has not been in touch. Because of the group of workers, I and Shuzhen Wechat soon after receiving her recent photo. (Below left, on the right is Chen Xuejuan, also in the restaurant department. (Left and right in the picture below is Chen Xuejuan, also in the restaurant department, also from Hainan). The photo of Shuzhen is still as quiet and beautiful as before!
Why would I from Zhanjiang Farmers Reclamation and my sisters from Hainan Farmers Reclamation bond? The reason is that we are all children of farm workers, but also belong to the Guangdong Bureau of Reclamation.
In 1987, I graduated from high school. At that time, freshmen had to pass a mock exam to take the college entrance examination. And there were very few admissions to the college entrance exam, plus the urban-rural divide in China. We came from a state-run farm and had to score very high to have a chance to go to college. However, once you are admitted to the college entrance examination, it means that you get the opportunity to go to college for free, and after graduation there is a state allocation, which is equivalent to getting an iron rice bowl.
Because I didn't pass the simulation exam (I later learned that this simulation is the last one, and later freshmen can take the college entrance exam directly). I graduated a month early. However, I have considered to continue to cram for the next year to take the exam again. At that time, our farm had a dual mixed high school of vocational high school and regular key high school. Those who were poor in studies or failed to get into high school went directly to vocational high school and stayed on the farm to work after graduation. I belonged to the kind of people who got into high school. The company leaders were notified that the new graduates had to participate in military training. When my mom received the notice, she told the leader that I was going to cram for the college entrance exam next year. One day, two months later, I received a call from the team. Rushing to answer the phone, I was a little panicked and didn't know what to do! This was the first time I had ever answered the phone. The caller informed me that I was to attend a recruiting interview at the Yanling Hotel in Guangzhou, where the old boss was present. I later heard that the person who named me to go was Huang Chengyun, the vice-principal who taught us politics. From then on, he became the person I always had to thank deep in my heart! There were three girls from our company who went for the interview, and one of them was also my high school classmate. The three of us went to the field office and learned that there were at least 25 people interviewed for the entire Dongfanghong Farm. When it was my turn to be interviewed, Mr. Pang came to ask me questions in English (mainly about my name and how many people were in my family and so on). I answered all the questions carefully in English. In the end, three people passed, and I was one of them. The sudden opportunity swept away my uncertainty about my future. I had a job, and it was in Guangzhou, the capital of the province. I could feel the envy of people looking at me! I had somehow talked back to my mother before this. She said to me angrily, "You'd better marry far away from home in the future". This was coincidentally overheard by my neighbor's sister Huawen. She later knew that I was going to work in Guangzhou, and jokingly said to my mother: "Auntie Xiu, you've really got it right! Now your family's 'Big Eyes Two' is going to work in faraway Guangzhou". Big Eyes Two" was my nickname at that time. I've never thought that many years later, my mom's angry words became a real prophecy!
The headquarters of the Guangdong Bureau of Agricultural Reclamation is located in Guangzhou Shahe District Thin Dog Ridge. The two bureaus are Zhanjiang Bureau of Reclamation and Hainan Bureau of Reclamation. Yanling Mansion is the first hotel invested by the Guangdong Bureau of Reclamation. We were fortunate to become the first official employees of the hotel, or labor contract workers. Back then, we went to Guangzhou with our own sealed files. There was a special bus to pick us up. It took at least ten hours or more for the bus to reach Guangzhou, and more than two hours just to wait for the ferry, and it was really hard to take the coach!
When I came down from the bus, my first impression of Guangzhou was not particularly good or even a little disappointed! Perhaps it was because the Slim Dog Ridge was still very deserted back then, and there was a rubber factory and a dairy farm in Yantang Farm nearby, where you could still see cows grazing. Such a Guangzhou is not very different from the farms I have lived in. And yet, it was especially crowded and the traffic was a bit chaotic. The first thing I had to learn was how to cross the street. However, once I bonded with the sisters I came with, I grew to love this city more and more. The best thing about Slim Dog Ridge is that it has a huge botanical garden. It was a great place for us to play and take photos and fall in love. Shahe Shopping Street and Huanghuagang Night Market were our first choice for clothes. Once Maolan and I went shopping at Huanghuagang Night Market and missed the bus, so we had to walk back. Walking on the road, I was especially scared. Luckily, there was no danger! I also went to night school in Shahe with my colleagues.
Hainan Island province was established in the second year we went to Guangzhou (April 1988). I have never been to Hainan to this day. My hometown is only an hour away from Hainan, but also across the sea. Perhaps it is too close or often hear the workers in Hainan talk about many things in their hometown. Even after graduation, I got a good chance to go to Hainan directly to work I have given up.
This is the first time I've ever seen a woman from my hometown in the United States. The memories that I have constantly evoked, as well as the deep nostalgia for my late good friend Maolan!
When I was a student at the Sanyuanli Provincial Finance College, I used to spend more than two hours on Saturdays pedaling my bicycle (which my then-boyfriend had given me) to Yanling to see my good friends Sister Zhen and Maolan. Even a simple meal or a night's stay for everyone was a fulfillment! The next day I pedaled back to the college in a hurry. Sometimes staying two nights and returning on Monday, often late for class. The three of us still visited each other from time to time after I graduated and went to work in Shenzhen. Two good friends whose marriages are going well even brought their children to visit me in Shenzhen together. The feeling is not generally good it!
On December 6, 2007, Hua'an (Zhen's hometown), Zhen and Maolan heard that I was going to New Zealand, and they came to Shenzhen from Guangzhou to see me off. I really appreciate their pure friendship! This is also the last time I saw Maolan.
In October 2011, I returned to New Zealand for the first time after settling there. I purposely contacted Sister Jane to arrange for Maolan's son to meet me. The most gratifying thing is to see Xiao Rui become a handsome young man, looking more and more like Maolan. At the same time, I also met Ms. Zhen's beautiful daughter, Shiyu, who is in high school. (Picture one below is me and Sister Zhen, picture two below is Xiao Rui, me and Shiyu). Yanling Mansion has become a four-star hotel, and business is still very good. Back then, because it was located in the outskirts of the city, business was not as good. Mr. and I were able to stay at the Yan Ling for one night and enjoy a free buffet during the busy period thanks to Zhen's blessing.
On my way back to the airport to take the subway, I also bumped into Ah Heung worker (from Zhanjiang Reclamation). Back when she and I were ****ing in the restaurant she was in charge of the tobacco and liquor cabinet, and I was a waitress on the floor. A few days ago, Ah Xiang also talked to me in the group, and talked about our encounter in the subway.
These days remembering the past often wakes me up in the middle of the day. I'm not sure if I've ever had a good time, but I'm glad I did. In order to comfort us when we once had that beautiful and innocent love fantasy of the green years. I also wish all the colleagues I knew back then a happy family and good health!