With his family"s blessing, Sakolsky left for Beijing, then traveled by train to Luoyang three days later. When he arrived at about 9 p.m. that night, the platform was almost empty and dimly lit. For a moment, he felt uneasy until he spotted two Chinese teachers holding up a piece of cardboard with his name written across it.

　　Teaching at Luoyang Foreign Language School was only one part of Sakolsky"s life in China. One of the earliest "lessons" he learned came from watching children kick an empty Coca-Cola bottle between two stones serving as goalposts.

　　At first, he was puzzled by how they could play without a real soccer ball. "Then I realized it didn"t matter to them," Sakolsky said.

　　"They could play the game, laugh and have fun with a plastic bottle," he said. "So China taught me to appreciate the simple things in life. You don"t have to have a lot of money, you don"t have to have a big car and a fancy house, and you can still be happy. That was a big lesson that I learned right away."

　　Beyond the classroom, Sakolsky often volunteered at nearby schools and villages and traveled with Chinese colleagues during school holidays, sharing modest guesthouses, simple meals and long train rides.

　　Sakolsky told Xinhua such experiences helped him break the ice with his Chinese colleagues, who eventually treated him just like one of them. "That"s what I wanted," he said.

　　Sakolsky also told Xinhua that shortly after he arrived in China, his hosts gave him a Chinese name, Long Fu, or "Happy Dragon."

　　"I like dragons," he said, laughing, "and I laugh a lot."

　　A MIRACLE HE NEVER IMAGINED

　　Every evening in Luoyang, Sakolsky watched a half-hour English news broadcast before heading downstairs to practice tai chi with elderly neighbors.