Last Day

October 26, 2007-10-26

Today was our last full day here. We had our usual breakfast gathering listening to Rich’s joke of the day and the daily journal by Pierre. It was a little sad to think we may never see these three week friends again. John has already left so there were only 3 Rainbow teachers today. As usual our Driver and Kim were waiting for us in the lobby at 8AM. Again there was some discussion about us going to the school at all as the fog was very thick on the highway. Kim said the school would be very disappointed since we did not teach yesterday. The principal is ready to present us with thank you gifts and they want to treat us to lunch. Hu Di suggested the driver take another way to Xianyang avoiding the open highway. He took his chances and went on the open highway hoping it would be clear. After a short way, the fog was so thick we could barely see in front of us. Fortunately, there is not much traffic on this new highway as the driver slowed to a crawl. He then took the next exit and found some other way not as foggy. It was white knuckle time for a bit as trucks were diverted from the highway while pedestrians and bicycles (with no lights or reflective material) kept crisscrossing the road. We finally reached the school and on time. This is a very good driver that has been ferrying us back and forth for three weeks.

When we arrived, Ashley was waiting to escort us to the primary school where the teachers anxiously waited. They were worried that we would not come as they were looking forward to us being there. The children seem delirious with joy upon seeing us. I think it’s because they would have break from their routine. The English teachers had their cameras and took oodles of photos with and of us. In my classes, I like to teach songs with hand motions. The teacher had her camera and snapped away to get all the hand motions so she can teach the songs later. We taught only 2 classes of 3^rd, 5^th, and 6^th graders.

At 11:00 we were escorted to the middle school lounge where the principal presented us beautiful gifts of framed Chinese puppets made with transparent animal skins. They are beautiful copies of the ancient dynasty puppets. After exchanging appreciations, we were taken to lunch at a local restaurant with Murphy, Kim, Ashley, and the driver. This time we had different food again and fun conversation. We have become very close to our Rainbow teachers. They were sad to see us leave. Even if we have not conversed with the driver, we feel he is a friend as he so carefully drove us everyday. After lunch we headed back to our hotel where we bid our final farewell to Kim and the driver.

On our daily rides we talked about almost every and anything we wanted to know about China—one-child policy, birth control, school requirements, street sweepers, taxi drivers, where to shop, even about Chinese toilets. Some conversations were very serious, and some very funny where we laughed and giggled.

So, now is time to pack as we will be leaving tomorrow morning. We bought things and were given gifts so getting everything in the suitcases with the correct weight was the challenge. There is a scale in the bathroom so we could weigh the bags. I had to shift the items so each bag would be under the weight limit. We are just making it. We also have some money left so decided to walk to the local bakery and buy some cookies and moon cakes to take home and share at dinner tonight as they are very good. The shop girl recognized us from past trips and smiled broadly. We now know the routine of getting a tray and putting our selections on it to go to the counter to pay. She could not explain what was in each one so we got a variety. She was quite pleased that we would buy so much.

The smog today is the worse it has been since we have been here. There is such a hazy shroud over the city we can barely see beyond the city wall which is just across the street from the hotel. We are told to expect rain tomorrow and next week the temperature is expected to drop to 50 degrees. We are ending our trip just in time. We are headed to 90 degrees in Orange County.

When we came here, we really didn’t know what to expect. We were told to teach conversational English but since neither of us have really done that, it was all theory. In retrospect, had we known what it would be like, we would have come anyway. We would do this again in another location to interact with the people. Global Volunteers has done wonderful job in taking care of us volunteers. Hu Di is a trove of information, she knows this city inside-out, and caringly looks after all of us. I hope all their leaders are like her. See her bio at this website. http://www.globalvolunteers.org/organization/staff/profiles/hudi.asps

Tonight’s dinner will be Team 154’s “last supper” together. We have had about 50 meals together like a family. We know each others likes & dislikes; who drinks beer, Coke or water; who likes spicy food; and who can use chopsticks. Everyone has been cooperative and willing to go with the flow. It’s a real privilege to be part of such a group. This is my last blog entry from China and I hope you have enjoyed tagging along with us through cyberspace. We are on our way home looking forward to seeing the kids, Oatie, and sleeping in our own bed. If you have kept up with us, check this site again in a few days to see if we had anymore surprise adventures on the way home.