Chinese Version
06-05-2021，Thursday, Sunny
Today was the last day of my daughter’s school and also the retirement day of a respected Professor W. in her department.
In the morning, the department held an online party to celebrate Professor W’s retirement. Many colleagues and students told stories about Professor W’s rigorous scholarship and tireless teaching at the online party. The professor’s wife and children also took part in the online celebration.
Because both the professor and his wife had been vaccinated, several graduate students, including my daughter, planned a surprise gathering to celebrate Professor W’s retirement, at the beginning of the summer.
It would be a prelude with sweet memories to celebrate the retirement of someone who has devoted themselves to their career for decades, especially after more than a year of long intensive online activities without normal social life and when the vaccine has achieved initial success in 2021.
The graduate students requested an online Q&A session with Professor W in the afternoon to book his time ahead. Instead of the online Q&A, the students went to Professor W’s home, accompanied by Professor A, who was retired for more than a year now and who knew the address of Professor W’s home.
When Professor W opened the door, everyone sang together: “Happy retirement to you, Happy retirement to you, Happy retirement to you, Dear Professor W, Happy retirement to you.” Professor W was so surprised. After chatting with everyone standing at the front of his yard for a few minutes, he and his wife invited the uninvited guests to sit on the open deck of their garden.
Everyone followed Professor W around their house to the deck of the garden. When his wife took out the folding chairs from their house, she happily said: “Our balcony has welcomed the most guests today.”
While reading the card full of handwritten messages, Professor W said: “I’ve received a lot of e-cards today. It’s nice to hold a real greeting card and read different handwritings. Thank you!”
The department gave Professor W a gift box wrapped several books in it. Professor A was curious about what books the department gave to Professor W, so after reading the greeting card, Professor W opened the gift box to satisfy Professor A’s curiosity. The exquisite books attracted everyone’s admiration and brought out many topics between the two professors.
A few days, prior, Carey used a wooden chopstick to write a letter to Professor W in Ugaritic on a piece of soft clay, and then baked the written clay into stone, Carey said: “Professor W likes to carve ancient characters on clay. On his website, he described in detail the common gestures used to carve characters on clay using wooden chopsticks.” Carey then gave the letter on the tablet to Professor W today, Professor W liked it. After reading the tablet, Professor W handed it to his wife, who was sitting next to him, because she liked pottery and clay handicrafts very much.
Grace brought a bottle of sweet wine to Professor W; Shirah made a double layer chocolate cake for Professor W, and wrote “Congratulations” in Hebrew on the cake.
My daughter made a challenging logic puzzle for Professor W., and Professor W quickly solved the puzzle. After hearing this, I said with admiration: “Professor W is so clever!
We chatted for 2.5 hours before leaving. Professor W said: “It was the most pleasant surprise!”
Little Episodes
1. The exquisite books from the department, the sweet wine brought by Grace, and the double-layered cake backed by Shirah.
W教授花园里大树上嫩绿的叶。
2. The beautiful blue sky in the afternoon
