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24 Vacation in Switzerland, Austria and West Germany Another year had passed and once again it was vacation time. European universities have a particularly long summer vacation—about three and a half months. In order to pursue my German studies I obtained permission from the new provincial of Paris, Rev. Goussault, to travel first to Switzerland and then to Austria and Germany on vacation. I first travelled to Florence, Venice, Brescia and Castiglione, the former home of St. Luis de Gonzaga; then to Milan and on to Dormodosola on the Italian–Swiss border. In order to reach the Swiss border post at Brig we had to cross the Simplon Pass at an elevation of 2000 m. While I was waiting for the long-distance bus I got chatting with the customs officials and happily passed the time. After a little while, a privately-chartered Swedish tourist coach drove up. The customs official said to them: “How about giving the priest a lift?” When he saw that they were reluctant he said: “If you don’t want to take him, I will have to give your luggage a very careful inspection.” He got up to carry out his threat, so the driver of the bus quickly answered: “Okay, okay,” and invited me on board. Once I was on the bus the customs official waved us through. The scenery along the route was wonderful. As we drove along among the many peaks, the sky was exceptionally blue, something I had never seen before. Not a cloud was in the sky; the air was bright and fresh and totally invigorating. On the way we stopped to rest and drink tea. It was summer and yet the snow on the surrounding peaks had not melted and the silence was awesome, so that one felt closer to God and to heaven. In the evening we arrived at Brig where I got off and thanked the Swedes, waving until their coach disappeared from view. I then followed the instructions given to me to find an Ursuline middle school that I had been introduced 136 The Memoirs of Jin Luxian to, where two Jesuits were working as teachers. Switzerland is the most civilised and liberal country on earth, but curiously its constitution stated that the Jesuits were banned. Naturally there were ways to get around this rule: the Jesuits simply scattered and found work in various legal entities two or three at a time. The two Jesuits at this middle school greeted me enthusiastically and the nuns invited me to give a talk about China to the whole school of some 500 students. I spoke in French and answered their questions. In Switzerland about 70% of the population speaks German, about 25% French and the rest Italian or Romansh. All four are official languages. An elderly Jesuit named Richter showed me around and I truly felt the warmth of the Society of Jesus, which, like a large family, treats all Jesuits as if they were brothers. From Brig I travelled to Lucerne, a famous tourist spot with a lake surrounded by mountains (the highest peak some 2,500 m). Lucerne is similar to Hangzhou, but the lake is larger and the mountains much higher. In Lucerne I spent the night at a seminary with Jesuit teachers. There were over eighty seminarians and about ten teachers all eating together in the refectory. I went to visit an old people’s home. In Europe many of these places used to have Shanghainese nuns. At this place I asked whether there might be any and in fact they called out a nun from Caijiawan in Qingpu County, Shanghai. Her job was to manage the kitchen. She was very reserved and timid, giving only monosyllabic answers to my questions. Then the director appeared—a young and beautiful American nun. Nuns go all over the world to work in old people’s homes. They are modest, reserved, ardent and gentle. The Qingpu nun retired as soon as she saw the director. The latter was from a very well-off family and had been well educated. That she was willing to leave her family and travel far from home to serve the elderly filled me with admiration. I only chatted with the Qingpu nun for ten minutes; but talked to the director for two hours. The director guided me around the home. The elderly were in the sitting room, relaxing on the sofas, reading, playing chess, listening to music. Everything was clean and...

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