Last Days in Zhong Guo

My class is adors (but missing Stephanie).

Ken. My favorite.

Eugh; looks like it's been nearly twelve days since I last posted. That's a long time. But then, it's not exactly as though I've had much to talk about.

Except that I came home early! Ha ha. I suppose most of you knew that by now, but for those of you who didn't, uh, yeah. I came home on Saturday the 13th. We finished up our teaching on the 12th, so there really wasn't much for me to stick around another six days for, so six of my friends and I made arrangements to come home early. It wasn't expensive at all to do it, and so worth it.

When I called my mom to ask her what she thought of the plan, she said she'd love to have me back early but didn't want to tell anyone in case it fell through. Then, after we found out it was for sure, we decided to keep it a secret and surprise everyone back home. Not even Dad knew about it. We were slick. Kudos to Mom for holding it in, even when she was so tempted to spill the beans. *does the stolen Jayson Victory Dance*

By the time the seven of us (Natalie, Kelcy, Lundi, Sara, Breanne, and London) had all the details set, there were barely four days to pack and I was still going to Shenzhen the day before I left. It would be a tight squeeze.

It was. Literally. I came to China with a 50-pound suitcase of teaching supplies, another 50-pounder of personal effects, a 20-pound beast of a carry-on, and another carry-on that probably neared 9 or 10 pounds. The teaching supplies were left and exchanged for 65 pounds (32 kilos) of gifts and souvenirs. Yuck. To say the least, the process of hauling said luggage from Zhongshan to the check in counter at the Hong Kong airport was a challenge. But one well worth it!

Let me give you a brief run-down of my last two days in Zhong Guo (China).

Friday:

• Woke up at 9, prepared for parents day at school.
• Went to my students' Chinese classroom and watched them perform for their parents. Two other ILP teachers and I had taught the kids a few Christmas songs and put together a little program, so that little skit was done as well. It was adorable. I cried.
• Said goodbye to my students. Shareena, Mary (from my old class), Catherine, and Ken were the most torn up about it. Mary asked me to come live at her house. Ken, my favorite, was the last I said goodbye to. I got down on my knees and gave him a hug. He didn't let me go for a long time. We both cried. I walked back to my apartment after that, sobbing like a baby.
• Got on the bus with Travis, another ILP teacher, twenty minutes later to the bus station.
• Took the 12:50 bus to Shenzhen. Cried some more on the bus.
• Arrived in Shenzhen just before 3 pm. Shopped. A lot.
• Had a quick dinner; the first food I'd eaten all day.
• Caught the 8:00-ish bus back to Zhongshan. Cried a little more.
• Landed in Walking Street at 10:00.
• Took the city bus a few minutes later back to my apartment.
• Packed for a few more hours.
• Went to bed around 4 am.

Saturday:

• Got up a little before 6 am.
• Showered.
• Hauled my own weight in luggage down four flights of stairs.
• The seven of us said goodbye to our friends that woke up to see us off at 7.
• Taxi arrived on time. Good man. He managed to fit all our luggage (everyone had as much as me) in one clunky van.
• Made it to the ferry (Natalie and I did our stolen victory dance) and we (excluding London, Kelcy, and Lundi) boarded at 8:00.
• Arrived in Hong Kong just after 9:00. Victory dance.
• Took two separate taxis to the airport. That's about a fifteen-minute drive; no sweat.
• Made it to the airport with hours to spare before our flight. Victory dance.
• Checked in our luggage. I paid 32 American dollars for my 32-kilo bag. The limit is 23.
• Security. Fast line. Victory dance.
• Met the other girls, who boarded a later ferry, about an hour after that.
• Passed a few hours at the boarding gate.
• Boarded the plane. Took off at 1:35 pm.
• Landed in Taipei 90 minutes later. Victory dance.
• Waited an hour for connecting flight to LAX.
• Boarded. I had an empty seat next to me. Victory dance.
• Spent 11 hours on the plane, which was luxurious compared to the two 24-hour trains (in the span of a week) I took to get to Xishuangbanna. I laid down on the seat next to me. Got nearly five hours of sleep.
  
• Landed in LA around noon (Cali time). Victory dance. Photo taken as the plane descends to California.
  


• Customs. Natalie gets hassled by a mean customs official, but mostly it goes well. We're done in less than an hour.
  
• Bought a caesar salad, which was the most delicious thing I'd eaten in four months.
• Slept/listened to Nobutada the iPod/talked to Mom on the phone/freshened up until our flight at 4:20 pm.
• Bad weather in Salt lake delayed our plane.
  
• We took off at 5:50.
  
• The short flight reduces us to nervous wrecks. We all have minor panic attacks and nausea.
• Landed in Salt Lake just after 8:30.
• Booked it off the plane. Forgot the victory dance.

Mom came to pick me up, and she was the first person I saw when I came around the corner. I didn't expect to cry as hard as I did. We hugged a lot.

The drive home was short because I talked my head off the whole way. I ducked when we pulled up the driveway, just in case anyone saw the car coming in. Mom went in ahead of me and gathered everyone into the family room, telling them she had to talk to them about something. Nathaniel later said he thought they were all in trouble.

Mom surreptitiously grabbed the video camera, and following me into the living room, taped their reaction. I walked in and said "Hi guys." It didn't sink in at first. Nathaniel was the first to speak - a whopping "oh my..." Then I grabbed them all and we hugged for a long time. Dad just stood there with a confused grin on his face, saying "I can't believe it" and Morgan cried so hard and loud that one would have thought she was passing a kidney stone. They were quite surprised.

There's my not-so-brief rundown of my last days in China and the journey home. Other than our short delay out of LA, everything happened like clockwork. It was a relatively stress-free 28 hours or so.

The first thing I ate at home was a tuna melt on bagel with a couple of pickles, a glass of milk, and a slice of pumpkin pie. Delish.

It's good to be back.