More years than I care to remember I found myself in Beijing Washington u.s.a. If you have followed my blogs, you already know I spent two years in Beijing, P.R.C., teaching Spanish to young university students, all that because I had been teaching interpretation in Mexico City to a group of students with a scholarship. These later group were the teachers of the former, just to clarify the timeline of the story.
I have kept in touch with most of them. There was a couple in which she had been my student in Mexico and later returned to her job as teacher of Spanish in Beijing, obtained another scholarship to spend a year in a South American country perfecting her Spanish which was already very good and her knowledge of grammar far outdid my own. Her husband landed a job at the P.R.C. embassy in Washington, in an important department but not as ambassador, close but not there. Towards the end of her stay in South America, and before returning to the P.R.C., they decided she would go to Washington to visit her husband and spent some time together. They had the very good idea of inviting me over for a couple of weeks and I had an even better idea to accept.
My friend and a burried statue
So all was arranged and I would fly to Washington, they would pick me up at the airport and from then on I would be their guest and we would travel around the country with a group of Chinese from the embassy. At the time I was already working within the UN system of organizations and had the right to travel with a laisser passer, although officially only for official trips, I had discovered that it could be useful to expedite check-ins and boarding. However the u.s.a. did not recognize it for official purposes, but nonetheless I took mine just in case. After passport control and immigration, which at that time, in my opinion, was less humiliating and offensive that it became later, I was received by my friends with the diplomatic car of the Chinese embassy, driver and so on, all the officialdom you can imagine. I still laugh when thinking that since Chinese diplomats were permanently surveyed while in the country and I was a Mexican with no known links to either P.R.C. or u.s.a., the guardians, CIA, FBI or the like following my friends must have been surprised and lost at a Mexican national unknown to their services being received as a very VIP by the Chinese Embassy.
A visit to the White House and its occupants
At that time the general practice of the Chinese Foreign Office was to send the staff to the various destinations alone, which ment leaving in China their kids and sometime also their spouses. When I first learn this was with the caveat that the family left in China were hostages so that those abroad behaved and returned. I was never able to confirm or deny the hostage part of it, but during the summer holidays of the children each diplomat had the right to invite their kids all expenses paid by the government, to visit them in their country of residence, the embassy there would organize a trip for the families – all together and so the families were together for a while and then each returned to their jobs, either as diplomats or at school. This is what happened when I was here, so we all, like 20 diplomats, their kids, my friends whose child was already at University and was not there and me went to Pennsylvania, Buffalo, Niagara Falls and to a lake in New York state. All the Chinese and their kids were travelling in a bus belonging to the embassy, while my friends and I were driven in a diplomatic car, far more comfortable. More laughs when considering our surveying team and how lost they must have been.
Regarding lodging during the trip, the diplomats and their families were lodged in some sort of hostel, while my friends and I were in a hotel. One must not forget that in the communist world we are all equal but there are some more equal than others. Despite that of course the main interested parties were very happy, reunited with their kids and parents respectively, travelling and seeing new things and learning a lot about the culture of the host country. As for myself, I still remembered few words of Chinese, which helped to make everybody laugh, and also the fact that I was the guest of the boss and his wife, of course made me welcome all over. In general we had great fun, the visit to Philadelphia was instructive, the boss had informed himself of all we were to visit and gave us a guided tour, albeit in Chinese but still I had the advantage of being able to read and understand the notices in front of the exhibits in the museums or statues or whatever.
On the lake in up-state New York
Niagara Falls was also great fun. I had been there first time with my father as part of my 15th birthday present, several centuries before. The falls have not changed much and we walked along the edge, the kids having the time of their lives and then somewhere we took a boat in one of the lakes of up-state New York and visited the great mansions, Gatsby style and totally new to all of us.
The trip lasted only two very full days, so after dinner on the second day, we started the return to D.C., arriving there very late, almost midnight and because of the hour I was granted the honour and privilege of staying the night at the same lodgings as my friends, which officially and for all intents and purposes was Chinese territory and I had no right whatsoever to stay there overnight but practicality forced the situation and very exceptionally I slept in China!
Maybe it is necessary to explain about my lodgings while in Washington. As mentioned I could not stay in the same house as my friends, since that was Chinese territory and I had no right to be there. So my friend’s husband, the boss, arranged with a Chinese family that did not have diplomatic status, to lodge me in their home and provide me with breakfast. The embassy driver would pick me up in the mornings and return me in the evenings, so I was sleeping in the u.s.a. while the rest of the time needless to say was with the Chinese and somehow under their protection.
The Capitol, where the laws are made and view from the Hill
While in Washington, as my friend was there also on holiday and a perfect host, she and her husband arranged for us to visit many of the parks and monuments in Washington such as the Capitol, Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument, the Smithsonian Institution and of course the White House. The plan was made and then the driver would go the day before to pick up the tickets, so we did not have to queue and since arriving in a car with diplomatic plates were deposited at the gate or door of the venue and allowed in immediately. Washington is a very beautiful city and I enjoyed the visit very much, with the great advantage that lunch and dinner were of course Chinese and most enjoyable.
Lincoln Memorial, where Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his speech “I have a Dream”
After several days in D.C. I had to return home and my flight to Europe was from N.Y. so the boss decided they would take me to N.Y. in the car, so that he could check on some businesses of China in the Big Apple, his wife could visit the town and I could take my plane back to Europe. So we drove there, I had a terrible cold but … upon arrival was lodged in a big hotel that was property of the P.R.C., although I learned they sold it sometime later. This hotel was mainly used to lodge all the Chinese officials, diplomats and travellers while in N.Y. At the time I believe I was the only non-Chinese in the hotel and of course all spoke Chinese, ate Chinese and lived Chinese style. After a delicious dinner the boss ordered a very strong ginger tea for me, ordered me to drink it as hot as possible and sent me packing to my room, sleep off my cold and guaranteed I would be much better the following day. I obliged and I sweat like a horse or perspired like a lady, but next day I was feeling much better, great considering the long haul I was facing flying back to Europe.
I returned home without problems, they continued their lives quite well also. Wish them well and thank them for giving me the chance of living Beijing in Washington, great fun!
Mementos of my life 