Roland & Rachel Fischer 15:28
My goodness you keep wonderful company! Thank you for the bio and the Memorial to Lui Yingsheng and Cao qizhen. There were so many remarkable persons who we had the privilege of being in the same time and space during our all-to-brief working timers Nankai. The fact that I was able to continue our association with our Nankai Family was and is a truly high point in our professional and personal life. Now we live in memory of those many exceptional experiences we had and now cherish. We have lots to visit about and hopefully someday we will have a chance to sit together. I include my email address, Rolandtraveling@hotmail.com, for your convenience. I find poking on this phone wonderful to

Roland & Rachel Fischer 15:33
(As you now see), quickly keep in touch but serious conversations need a keyboard and time for sharing. My ‘fat fingers’ often are not the right tools for such restricted space.

Greg Gao 16:21
My wife and I look forward to meeting you here in the States or in Nankai.

Greg Gao 16:25
Whenever you need to add anything to the web pages or you want to publish something of your own, please let me know.

Greg Gao 16:34
And Thank You for your email address, for important matters that tool is more efficient.

Roland & Rachel Fischer 16:35
Thank you for the invitation to the web pages. If the Covid ever gets under control we certainly will plan for a way for us to be together. It is unlikely that We will be making a return trip to China any time soon. Long plane rides, even though I really enjoy flying, is a task that doesn’t seem likely.

—————  2021-12-21  —————

Roland & Rachel Fischer 14:56
Thanks for the link. Our land phone is 320 252 1520. We use the cell phone for internet connection 320 293 0084. In reviewing the posts you have sent clearly you know a good deal more about us than we know about you. One question that we are curious about is the reference to your time in NZ. As you probably know we had also lived and worked in NZ from December 1974 to December 1977 when we returned to the States. We wonder if that fact ever had come to your awareness. We don’t recall having your stay in NZ a part of our understanding at that time. We are curious as to where you were during your time in NZ. We lived and taught high school in New Plymouth on the North Island. The only memory either of us have of a NZ connection was a couple of foreign teachers from NZ. The female Foreign Expert (do not recall her name) center of the group photo taken at the Great Wall. The other NZ couple, James and Jenifer Norquist were from Christchurch. We lost contact with all three of these folks over the years. I know it is a long shot but perhaps you may have known them. I think the Norquist’s were at FLD 82/83 and the women was at FLD 83/84 when we joined the facility at FLD. The first semester at Nankai (Spring 82) we taught some faculty who had been spun off the FLD into English for Special Purposes. The academic year or 82/83 we taught a special group of students from the department of Physics who were sent to Canada for an MBA. The ‘special staff’ was Cao, Wang. Rachel and I. After the year I English immersion all but 2 of the 31 passed the TOEFL required admission test. That was year from hell that we survived, made Nankai happy and we were then absorbed into FLD much to the

Roland & Rachel Fischer 15:09
shock of the folks at SP department. The hen followed the rebirth of drama within FLD and the 3 great years that followed. It is all in my memoir which I hope someday will be published in China but for now is only in ‘self printed’. I don’t know how much of our story you know or even care to know and that is a small problem when sharing ‘stories’ of yesteryear. We have a great fondness of our Nankai family and the nearly 40 years (which we will celebrate on April 16, 2022) of a very special relationship with past, present and future our Nankai Family.

Greg Gao 16:53
Thank you for the information and experience while in China. That was a very unique and exciting period in all walks of life in China. As for your curiosity of my NZ trip, by the time I got there in 1979 you already left back to the States in 1977. I studied in the Victoria University of Wellington. In the first year 1979 -1980 I was in the Language Institute program for TESL diploma; in the 2nd year 1980-1981 I studied in the English Department and was rewarded a BA with Honours in English and NZ Literature . Before any after my NZ trip, I was not much involved in the Foreign Experts affairs, except serving as interpreter for foreign teachers, one of them was Charles and Susan Frey from University of Washington, during their tours in China together with Ms Yan Tiezheng of the Foreign Affairs Office (she is in one of the pictures you just posted). I know the NZ lady in the center on the Great Wall , she is Dorothy Brown, who taught a small class of teachers from three universities in Tianjin. Her son was my classmate in the Language Institute in Wellington. Santa Claus dressed in Traditional Chinese red magua (not qipao which is for ladies, magua for men) is really funny! I love it.

Greg Gao 16:38
My email address is greggao@gmail.com. My phone number 646-919-4578.

Roland & Rachel Fischer 2/2/2022 19:25

Greg, would you mind if we used our Informal address? Roland is fine with me. I am not sure how to respond to your invitation to share future writings. I don’t have any plans to write about my life/work in China/America/Europe/New Zealand. I thought I had finished by writing my memoir that had sketched out the years before ‘The China Years’. Then came the agreement with Tianjin Press and the challenge of the Epilogue and the ‘waiting to see’ if the memoir/epilogue would be published. Given the current political climate status or ‘climate crisis’ that seems to be brewing between the two countries it is safe to say, “We are still in a holding pattern”. So, at the moment I don’t have any plans to write an Epilogue II. I had put that idea on the shelf until after the Spring Festival. The plan now is to turn attention to our 40th Anniversary plans. I suspect that will not have my full attention until the festival communications have slowed down. I did a short chronicle of the ‘homes’ we lived in, “Fischer’s Slept Here” at the request of a Chinese friend who was curious about the travel we had done. My ‘work’ experience in education is largely a story of the theatre productions I was involved in creating. As a classroom teacher of Art and Speech the productions I had directed are so much easier and interesting to me than documenting classroom experiences. While the classroom had opportunities to plow new ground and experiment with ‘different’ methods and ideas the stage was the motivation that drew me to my years in the classroom. I hasten to add that over those years in the classroom were a number of private business enterprises. Safe to say, I have not spent my ‘career’ dedicated to a single ‘profession’ but rather ‘a mixed bag’ of adventures. Rachel and I have initiated businesses building a Garden Shop, Dog Kennel and a Pottery Studio. Business enterprises that were built and sold before moving on to other adventures. Our working life included a challenging, rewarding and hard working set of experiences that lead to a life well led with ‘no regrets’ except one, I didn’t learn the Chinese language. But, there is still time. So, perhaps that gives you some idea of the ‘plan for the day’ or lack of one. I look forward to your response and further conversations. Roland

Greg Gao 2/2/2022 16:05

Yes, Roland, I like to be called Greg informally, too. It's interesting to know you have started a business which brings you rewards,  challenges, and joy. A married couple of our friends whom we aquanted in Rochester NY are running a similar enterprise. They import garden decorations of stone and ceramic crafts and water fountains from China,  then cusom remodeling or polishing them to meet the needs of their clients in LA and nationwide.  A digression from our topic.
I know nowadays it is not as easy to publish books written by  Friends of China as at the beginning years of "Reform and Opening" in the eighties and nineties of last century.

Anyway written and to-be written epilogues, if you want them to show on the web, please let me know.  

40th Anniversary called Red Diamond wedding anniversay in America is important in your calendar. Wish you happy anniversay in advance!

Keep in touch. Whenever there is anything we can do for you, please do not hesitate to let us know, too, --Greg