Li Jiemei: I’ve never found it so difficult to compose a passage. Whenever I try to sit down in front of the computer, my mind is like riding waves in the Pacific Ocean off the Canadian west coast: flashbacks of the four happy years in GW, the LV reunion, and the mini-reunion in GW in the summer of 2003, and our life’s journey in between.
The four years in GW was absolutely wonderful. Who says life is not a bowl of cherries? In my memory, life in GW was a bowl of cherries. All of us, 190 strong, were such a congenial bunch. We studied hard, we played good sports, we sang beautifully, and we laughed wholeheartedly. We grew up together.
Fast forward to reunion in LV in 2005, and for me, the reunion in GW in 2003; twenty odd years after we said good-bye to each other, we met again. It is not a short time anyway you look at it: more than two decades, close to a quarter of a century. We all have changed. We have become lawyers, doctors, financial experts, educators, CEOs, entrepreneurs, … literally around the world. Learning about everyone’s life’s stories, I cannot help but be in awe. These are stories of determination, persistence, resilience, and triumph. I have to paraphrase the famous American poet Robert Frost to help focus my thinking: when we GW77ers look back on these 20 something years, we believe that we took the road less traveled by, “And that has made all the difference.”
Lin Ge: 一天两夜、几乎是不眠不休的的同学聚会已经过去一个多星期了，但我的心却还未能平静下来。那短短的30多个小时的聚会安排之紧凑，内容之丰富，交谈者之众，给我的感觉像一阵风，一阵旋风。每个同学一进了“神剑”宾馆，便身不由己地给卷进一股了兴奋、激动的旋风。每个人的情绪都被这阵风鼓的满满的，不停地说啊、笑啊、唱啊，想停都停不下来。
这些天我一直在想，“同学”实在是一种非常特殊而又美好的人际关系。同学之间没有利害，没有心机，没有算计，没有面子问题，不需设防，不必掩饰。想说打开话匣子滔滔不绝地说，想笑毫无顾忌敞怀大笑，想哭便可以不顾仪态地嚎啕大哭。无论这个同学现在是什么身份，事业成功与否，在同学面前，他（她）仍然是当年和我们一起在校园里晨练，在图书馆里苦读，挤在学生食堂的小窗前打饭的同学甲或乙。
久别的同学重逢，初见时也许会因为分隔远久或对方外形的变化而生出些陌生感。仍而不出几分钟，便会找回当年的感觉，时空带来的距离感化为零，聊谈热络得仿佛昨天才刚见过面。许多同学在学校时并不熟悉，有些只听过名字却不曾照过面，少数甚至连名字都想不起来，但一旦相聚，短暂的略显窘迫生涩的寒暄之后，很快便如老友般无所不谈。
在异国他乡，与我们来往最多保持联系最密切的常常就是我们的同学，是我们最信任最能依靠的朋友之一。对许多留学生的小家庭来说，同学在某种程度上甚至就像我们家人和兄弟姐妹，生活中发生重大事情，首先想到能与之求助倾吐或分享的便是我们的同学。
是什么把我们如此紧密地联系？这是因为我们一起度过了人生最重要最美好一段时光---我们的大学生活，它给我们留下的记忆是独一无二的。
这次聚会，我欣喜地看到我们同学的心态都很年轻。仔细端详照片上那一张张笑意盈盈，神采焕发的面孔，一股由内心散发出来的朝气让你不由地感叹：这群人仍然是早上的太阳嘛！
我感到非常幸运能成为广外77级这一个优秀群体中的一员。“同学之情，同窗之谊，一朝拥有，天长地久”。让这次聚会成为我们人生道路上又一个值得珍藏的记忆，成为一段纯真情感的再度升华。 期待着重聚在。。。。。。。。。。
Zhang Xiaoxi: LV 联谊会的确是盛会难逢, 令我至今兴奋难抑！我与许多同学二十余年未曾见面，真可谓相见甚欢! 谈笑间学生时代情景仍然历历在目，同窗时纯朴的友谊延续至今。言语无法填补漫长时间断层，寥寥数语足以领略彼此历程。轻松的交流，生动的表演，丰富的晚宴，有趣的猜谜，深情的朗诵, 精彩的DVD秀使我们的聚会成为了与众不同， 别具一格，感人肺腑，令人难忘的盛会！我衷心地感谢这次聚会负责组织和策划的乔欣，李莉，赵幼华，冯永良，周雄耀，唐和，林格和廖果红以及各位来自北美各地的广外77级同学。没有大家的努力和参与也就不会有这次聚会的成功。
愿拉斯维加斯的辉煌景色和我们的美好聚会永远留在我们的记忆中！我已经期盼着下一次欢聚的到来！
Gu Jinwei: 这次聚会的收获的确不小，两天的时间都是在欢声笑语中度过的。在现今这个竞争激烈的社会里，人与人在交往中都不免存有戒心，只有在旧日的同学之间，我们才能够进行如此坦率、真诚的交流，这样的机会实在难得和可贵。此外，这次聚会让我们有机会与不同班的同学交谈，弥补了过去同窗时疏于交流的遗憾。期盼在将来的聚会中能见到更多的同学。让我们相约在……
Zhou Xiongyao: LV 联谊过去已有一周了，但那欢声笑语还在萦绕。 一有空闲，我就往GW77.COM 上转， 查看新贴的照片，阅读大家的留言。我们来自不同的地方，有不同的经历。 参加1977高考，步入广外校园，走到了一起， 本身就是一种缘。 毕业二十多年后，重逢在LV，是这缘的延续。如冯永良所说， 我们来到美加, 从零开始，或多或少 经历过相同的困难境况，或长或短走过类似的艰辛道路，能相互理解其中的辛酸，亦能分享各自努力成果的欢乐。 这次联谊的成功， 正是基于这种同学间的坦诚交流，真挚友情和发自内心的久别重逢的喜悦。
谢谢大家， 百忙之中，不计路遥，不畏炎热，给我一个如此有意义，如此快乐，如此难以忘怀的周末。希望下次联谊会能见到你们和更多由于各种原因没能参与LV盛会的同学。
Zhao Youhua: LiLee said it. The reunion wouldn't have been so successful and memorable without everyone's participation. Though a few of us took some initiative to lay out the ground work for this unforgetable event, we could never take it for granted the success of this regional reunion. Without the commitment and dedication of everyone of you, it would be impossible to run such a show. Also as Guohong pointed out, we have such an incomparable cheering crowd of non-GW77 alumni spouses. Their active involvement was considered a key contribution to our success too. So, please give yourselves a big applause, together, we made it!
However, there is always room to be desired. The memory book was not brought to everyone's attention well in advance. So, we did not give everyone a fair chance to express their feelings about this Reunion event. Yet, it is still not too late. While Tang He is working very hard in editing and producing the Reunion DVD, I would strongly recommend that everyone could contribute a short paragraph of your thoughts and comments of this Reunion. This may give our Reunion DVD a striking conclusion. Please spend a few minutes over this, think it over and send your comments directly to Tang He, be it positive or negative (by negative I meant that the things you wish it would happen but not, and which should be thought of in our future event, etc.). This could help to make our Reunion DVD more interesting.
Again, Thanks to everyone for your contribution to this long over-due reunion.
Feng Yongliang: 我多谢各位筹办联谊会的同学,更要多谢远道而来的.这次的成功是我们77级的光荣.我衷心祝愿各位老同学事业顺利身体健康家庭幸福.这次北美同学聚会,大家倾述心中情,契旧联谊,尽兴而归.这几天我浏览很多相片,其中一张合影吸引了我的眼球:四位同学,律师, 医师 ,高翻, 会计师,这不是现今社会令人羡慕向往的职业吗? 我毫无攀比之意,正所谓行行出状元,当武师或管家也一样.我想到的是我们这班海外同学,二十多年前毕业分配到的职业加上我们的专业,如果不出来,不会飞黄腾达,也会步步青云.但是我们选择放弃,来到美加,从零开始,时至今日,每个人都会有一段求知求学求职,顺境逆境得意失意各不一样的故事.四位同学的今天代表了我们走过来不同成功的背后比别人多倍的付出和艰辛.我觉得我们的聚会,在异国的二十多年后第二次见面问好握手拥抱,照相留念,校园回忆,交流工作生活经验心得,合唱旧歌,看新旧个人集体相片,猜谜朗诵甚至大家一起博彩巨型老虎机等等,都超出了一般校友聚会的意义和目的.这次2005年的校友联谊是我海外生活的一个重要里程碑,和广外读书,出国来美等联成一线,永不忘怀.同学们,下次的聚会会搞得更多姿多彩而肯定不会再隔23载我们古稀年的时候,对不对?
Lei Shijie:It was a great pleasure to meet you and your family members in Las Vegas. I enjoyed every minute of the event. You vividly presented to me an intelligent and diligent, energetic and optimistic, successful and beautiful, healthy and happy YOUNG group.Yes, YOUNG! You always look YOUNG to me! I was also very touched by the very goodness of the human qualities in you: Friendly and kind, generous and humble, honest and committed, easy-going and receptive ...... North America is better having you. I feel proud associating with this group of GW77ers.
I have the same feelings when I read others' feedback reports. Here, I want to applaud Liang An Ying and Li Jie Mei. They came a long way from Canada to support our reunion. Both of them spent more than eight hours for a one-way trip between LV and their home.
By the way, John, my husband, said our reunion was uniquely pleasant. He utterly enjoyed all the activities even though he did not understand a word of Mandarin at Sunday night. He liked the event. He liked the people. We want to thank you all.
Liao Guohong: Let me add a stroke of highlight to Gu JinWei and John Gorsberg, too, for their one of a kind duet. The two spent much time rehearsing for the evening show just the afternoon before. And you know, the support of our family members in our reunion is an inseparable factor in making it so meaningful, real, relaxing, and dear. Many of our beautiful pictures were snapped by the accompanying spouses: Warren, John, Li Qiao, Penny, and ~{!-~}(if I innocently left out others or misspell names), so we own them a heartfelt thank you!! I also wanted to mention those who worked behind the scene to set up for the evening, the hauling of equipments from place to place was quite a job, the delivery of bottled water to our small group chatting by Zhao Youhua, and~{!-~}. Aren~{!/~}t these things we could have taken for granted and yet tuned the reunion song, too?
I joined the many who have expressed gratitude for the hard work and talents of all the organizers and contributors that pulled the reunion together far exceeding our expectations. Still, I can~{!/~}t help mentioning that the intertwining ingredients in Tang He~{!/~}s slide show: the pictures, the music, the humor, the technical effects~{!-~}, made it such a chord-striking piece that fascinated us all. We laughed, pointed, recalled names, teased, and sobbed for losing some of our alumni. Our youthful hearts felt liking singing the old songs on our picturesque campus, as outpoured by Qiao Xin~{!/~}s uncontainable solo and by the rest of us in Karaoke singing. What a night of entertainment and gathering!! And LiLee, your excellent MC skills awed us all!! It was wonderful seeing everyone there!!
Lin Ge: Thank you so much for posting the photos. It was such a unforgettable weekend for me. It was a pity that I didn't took many photos this time. So Ah Liang and all, please post more pictures. I want to relive those happy moments as well as the memorable school years with all of you. Besides being one of the creative organiers for the reunion, LiLee is also a wonderful and professional MC, who had made the reunion dinner such a pleasant and enjoyable event.
Li Li: The LV Reunion is a historical event for me. It is like reliving a dream many many years ago.
When we met last weekend, everyone suddenly became very young and 'wild'!(the older, the wilder, esp. Qiao Xin). There were so many memories to share, so much laughter to hear, so many stories to tell, and so much excitement to catch... It was such a wonderful time we spent with each other! It was one of the most memorable moments of my life!
The surprising thing I soon found out is that the 23 years have not changed us a bit: we are still as young (in heart), as full of energy and adventure,as crazy about our GW days and our friendship! And that IS the exciting part: we are what we were!
The reunion is over, but the memory is still fresh and dear. I am looking forward to our next one, are you not? Let's say in 3 years -- a quarter century reunion?
I wanted to take this opportunity to thank again our alumni that made this historical event possible:
You Hua: Thank you for initiating and organizing the event, you are the natural leader!
Qiao Xin: Thank you for giving us so many great ideas and for promoting me to MC!
Ah Liang: Thank you for collecting the photos, the songs, the banner, and answering all of technical questions!
Tang He: Thank you for spending countless hours to create the new Hollywood hit 'The GW77 Golden Years' -- we had much laugh and cry over the show!
Gu Jin Wei -- Thank you for putting together the concert, we had a great time singing!
Yu Rong -- Thank you for the beautiful and emotional poem!
Xiong Yao, Lin Ge, Xiao Xi, Guo Hong -- Thank you for doing the riddles, the program, the spreadsheet, and many other 'chores'!
And Last but not least, thank you all for coming afar to attend the reunion! It would not be possible without you being there!
Chen Xiaojun: It feels so so……… good to meet you all in Las Vegas after 23 years. It’s a loving, fun and unforgettable gathering. “It is a great reunion. You guys have done an excellent job, much better than those who are majored in science and engineering like us”, commented by my husband, Warren.
We had a very good time and enjoyed every minute. Plop, plop, plop…many applauses are given to everyone for the great efforts: proficient organizers – Zhao Youhua, Zhou Xiongyao, Zhang Xiaoxi, Feng Yongliang, Qiao Xin, LiLee and more; professional photographer and video editor – Tang He; professional Website master – Feng Yongliang; professional MC – LiLee; talented singers – Gu Jinwei, Liang Anying, Qiao Xin, LiLee, He Ping and all group singers; gifted poet – Yu Rong; creative riddle writer – Lin Ge; motivated participators and good laughers – all of us.
When we came back home from LV, my son, Perry (16) asked, “Hey mom, how’s your reunion in Vegas?” “It was great! We had a lot of fun”, I answered. With a big smile he said, “Mom, I suggest you folks should reunion more. You and dad enjoyed your reunion over there. Sherry (14) and I enjoyed our freedom at home. We all had a good time. You see this is why you folks should reunion MORE.”
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