Because of issues with visas, we are scheduled to leave for China a few days after the majority of our group. Today, Ellie and I spent our day with the Chinese students. We watched American politician, Dodge Landesman, give a speech.
He spoke too fast in English for our exchange students to understand but Kaise was able to interrupt him now and again to translate. As a gift, Landesman was presented with a calligraphy pen set. On the bus, Truman explained what the pen is used for and how to use it. In Chinese, the writing brush is called “mao bi.” At the Metropolitan Museum of Art yesterday, we saw a scroll written by Wang Shu using mao bi.
We also saw drawings that were made using the same calligraphy brush. The dry ink is “mò” and once you add water to the ink it is called “mòshui.” We moved from the hotel in New Jersey to the dorms at Pace University. My roommate is named Pengfei, Ma.