My Close Friend Piet
Mr. Peter is already 65 years old. He, whose name is Piet Verhagen, comes from the Netherlands but resided in Ireland for many years.
Peter and I got acquainted with each other 10 years ago. I invited him to be an oral English instructor when I was the President of Hunan Foreign Language Vocational College, which was called Liuyang Foreign Language College at that time. A few years later, in 2005, I was designated to work at Changsha Vocational and Technical College (CVTC), and I invited him again to join in the faculty in CVTC. We have communicated with each other for 10 years and established a friendship that goes beyond the national borders.
Peter loves this small city of Liuyang. It did not take long for him to start enjoying the pleasant weather, friendly and honest folks, accessible amenities and delicious food here after he came to work in Liuyang 10 years a go. I did not take it seriously when he talked about his plan to settle down for a quiet retirement life here. It surprises me that he bought a suite in Liuyang and lived here ever since.
Mr. Peter is a language expert with abundant knowledge about literature. He is capable of translating works written in English, German, Dutch, French and multiple other languages. During the past 10 years working in Liuyang, he has been persistently engaged in translating literature, usually around 3 to 4 books per year, depending on the varied degree of difficulty for different book contents. He finished the translation for more than 30 books during his stay in Liuyang, including more than 4 million words in total.
Every year, Mr. Peter pays a visit to his relatives in Ireland and Netherlands for Christmas and then travels back to Liuyang to celebrate the Spring Festival. He says that he likes the cultural atmosphere of the Spring Festival in China, in which the Red Lantern, Red couplets and Dragon and lion dances all symbolize peace and prosperity.
This April, Mr. Peter felt ill and went to the First Xiangya Hospital in Changsha, where he was diagnosed with lymphoma, a type of lymphatic cancer. He got better after receiving 7-month intermittent treatment and surgery in hospital, but his physical condition was still impacted. Even though I was always so occupied by work that I visited him no more than twice, his optimism and dedication impressed me each time. He turned his ward into his study, where I found he typing on his laptop before the bed and working attentively in translations when I stepped into the room. He stopped typing right after he saw me and started to chitchat with his old fellow as if he was meeting a friend at home.
In our conversations, Peter mentioned the cultural differences between China and the West, which is a topic I have been exploring all over these years. He said, “This is the first time for me to be in hospital in China. I have been in hospitals in Europe before, and it appears to me that this hospital has state-of-the-art buildings and equipment on a par with the facilities in western hospitals. The major difference is that our hospitals are quiet. Patients in wards read books and newspapers or even work. The voice of conversations between patients, their families, nurses and doctors is very gentle in order not to cause any disturbance to other patients. In contrast, your hospitals are noisy because everybody is talking loudly. You even enjoy surrounding and watching other patients. Whenever a new patient is brought into this ward, everybody is going to come up and take a look at him/her…” Peter’s comments were very inspiring for me.
When I came to visit him for the second time ten days ago, he said he was about to leave the hospital soon. He would stay in Liuyang for around three weeks, and then travel to Europe for rehabilitation, but would still come back to China for Spring Festival eventually. I held his hands when saying goodbye to him, “We are good friends and almost brothers for so many years. Please take care of yourself, rehab soon, because your health is not only important for you, but also important for our friendship. ” Peter listened and got tears in his eyes.
This article is for my best friend, Mr. Peter. I wish him a pleasant trip in Europe and a quick recovery. Also by this article I hope to engrave in the mind our friendship that goes beyond the national borders.
