A REUNION HE NEVER EXPECTED

　　For more than two decades, Sakolsky and Yin lost touch, but China never really left him. His home is filled with reminders of those years: a Year of the Dragon card, a calligraphy scroll, paintings of peonies and pandas, a wooden dragon made by his children, and even a pack of cigarettes and a lighter from his first dinner in Luoyang, kept as reminders of Chinese hospitality, though he has never smoked.

　　Downstairs, in the basement, stands a nearly six-foot replica of a Terracotta Army general, a gift he received after returning to teach in Luoyang in 2004. It stood in his classroom for 17 years before he brought it home upon retiring. Now, he hopes his youngest son, also an educator, will one day give it a place in his own office.

　　Based on his experience in China, Sakolsky summed up his impression of the Chinese people in three words: respect, simplicity and patriotism. He called China"s decades-long fight against desertification remarkable in terms of both scale and dedication.

　　"China also, with what Ms. Yin did with the forest, taught me how much love the Chinese have for their country," he said. "She was making like no money and still planting the trees. That"s what got to my heart."

　　"The fact that Chinese people are willing to sacrifice and give back because they love their motherland is awesome," he added.

　　In June, while traveling in Australia, Sakolsky was recognized by a woman from Singapore who had seen a video about his story.

　　"She was like, "Oh my god, there are millions of people who have watched this video!"" he recalled, still astonished.

　　"I"m just a simple teacher," he said. "I live a simple life ... I have four fantastic children and eight fabulous grandchildren, and that"s what I love. I never thought anything like this was ever going to happen."