15. Sister City - Nanjing

After a peaceful night of sleep in a commodious room, I was well rested and ready to take on the better part of Nanjing. Our first stop was the Nanjing City Hall. We weren't scheduled to do much at the city hall except sit in on a short meeting between Dr. Tai and the Nanjing officials. They talked about the benefits of the current sister city relationship between St. Louis and Nanjing and shared thoughts about what to do in the future to make that relationship stronger. Then, everybody was treated to a short video highlight featuring the beautiful scenic spots of Nanjing and time was allotted for the students to share some comments on Nanjing or the sister city relationship. At the end of the meeting, Dr. Tai presented the officials with a limited edition 2004 Missouri coin that is not yet in circulation. We all gathered at the front steps of the city hall to say goodbye and pose for a big group picture.

That concluded the serious and formal part of this morning's activities. Our next stop was the Nanjing Foreign Language School. This was to be the highlight of trip for many students because they would be able to see Jash, Nancy, Emma, Alice, and other exchange students that they hosted. Other students were looking forward to the basketball game that was to take place. First, there was a short introduction in the school's gathering hall during which members of our group could introduce themselves to new Nanjing students and practice their Chinese. After that, everybody went to change since we were still wearing our formal clothes from the city hall visit, though some changed into street clothes while others changed into gym attire in order to play basketball. Team "USA" pulled ahead in the beginning but due to unexpected team member changes eventually lost with a score of 20-something to 30-something.

Everyone was treated to a short break after a somewhat disappointing lunch. Joe and I took a taxi to an internet bar which was decently cleaner and more upscale than the other ones we went to. On the way home the driver got stuck in traffic in front of our hotel so he pulled up onto the curb and drove on the sidewalk all the way to the entrance of the hotel. By the expressionless faces I saw, I figured taxi drivers did this a lot in China.

Dinner was the best meal I've had up until that point and now that the trip is over, I can safely say it was the best meal on the trip. First of all, it was not even scheduled into our itinerary. Jash's parents decided to treat us all to a dinner banquet at a popular seafood restaurant. We had Peking duck, roast pork, dumplings, oysters, watermelon juice, free soda refills (no more buying another bottle), and sesame seed balls in soup for desert (normally called tang shui or "sweet water"). On the way home, Alice's mom gave Dr. Tai a box of peaches and she let everyone take one up to their room. I did not know what types of fruits were available in China and it was very pleasant to be able to enjoy a juicy peach along with the daily watermelon.

第十五章 南京姊妹市

作者：岳群
翻譯：時報編譯組

一夜好睡，充足了電，開始參觀南京市。首站抵達南京市政府，戴老師與市府官員會談南京•聖路路易姊妹市的合作和未來發展，接下來是市政簡報，介紹這個美麗的城市，同學們則分享對姊妹市的感想，會議最後戴老師致贈一枚尚未在美通行之2004年版密蘇里州硬幣予南京市政府官員作為禮物，大夥兒並在市政府前合影留念。

辦完了公事，下一站是訪問南京外語學校，這可是許多同學的心願，因為他們可以看到曾經到聖路易大學高中作交換學生的南外同學，宋旻潔、王壚、朱毅榮、郭享、劉奔月和其他同學，同時在南外還有一場籃球友誼賽。首先，校方做了學校簡介，而我們也被要求用中文自我介紹，行禮如儀後大夥兒輕鬆地換上便服(因為我們早上著正式服裝拜會市政府)或運動服打籃球。我們的「美國代表隊」一開始是領先的，但是球員輪換上場後，就不行了，最後好像是20幾分比30幾分輸掉了這場比賽。

午餐後，我和Joe得空搭上計程車去網吧。這個網吧格調很高，也很乾淨，回來的時候碰到交通阻塞，因為旅館就在前面，我們搭的計程車司機就直接將車開過路肩直接開上人行道，一路開到旅館的大門口，他這樣開車好像也沒引起路人的注意，我想大概大家都習慣了這種開法。

今天的晚餐可以說是到目前為止， 整個旅途中最棒的一次。(現在回想起來，這餐確是中國之旅最棒的一餐)。這餐並不在我們的行程表中，郭享的爸爸決定要請大家到一個有名的海鮮餐廳去吃大餐，我們吃了包括北京烤鴨、烤肉、餃子、蠔等整桌上好的食物及西瓜汁和無限供應的可樂(這餐可不需要額外再買可樂)。回旅館的路上宋旻潔(Alice)的媽媽送了一箱桃子給戴老師，每位同學都分到一個帶回旅館。我不曉得除了每天吃的西瓜外，在中國還有哪些水果，但是這個多汁的桃子可是美味極了。