Entry 150: Zai Jian!

Entry 150: Zai Jian!

My alarm went off what seemed like 15 minutes after I put my head on the pillow, actual time: 4 hours. I was up and scurrying around right away because I knew that hauling all of my stuff down 2 flights of stairs by myself would take some time. I hopped in the shower and was about 2 minutes into my shower and completely covered in soap before the water shut off. I looked up at the shower head and there was not a drop of water coming out of it. So there I stood, covered in soap and soaking wet, and I started cracking up laughing! This is how you say goodbye to me, China?!? Really?! I was hysterically laughing, probably loud enough for the neighbors to hear me. This would happen to me on my last morning here after all of the water issues I’ve had! Not to my (or I’m sure your surprise reading this) the water from the sink wasn’t working either so I just wrung the soap out of my hair, threw it up in a bun and brushed my teeth with the little water that was left in a water bottle from yesterday. Some people would have been annoyed at this, and when I say some people I mean myself a year ago. But there’s nothing else to do but laugh. I brought my suitcases downstairs and outside where the taxi was already waiting. I loaded them into the car, checked out of the hostel, and I was on my way to the airport in no time, still smiling and feeling soapy. Ha ha!

The ride to the airport was really quick and I was there far to early to check in so I hung out and people watched and said a prayer that I’d find a Starbucks near my gate. Finally it was time to check in and a check in line formed quickly, mostly of foreigners who I learned through eavesdropping were a group of foreign teachers. The line moved pretty quickly and soon it was my turn and time for the moment of the day… how much will I be charged for my overweight suitcases? Just as I suspected, my smaller 52 lb. suitcase came up as 49 lbs. (Yayy!) so that one was fine. My big suitcase was obviously overweight and I was told that it would cost 300RMB ($45 US) which I had on me in cash! I was pretty happy with that! I was very happy to be rid of those big bags for now, and I went off to hunt for my gate. Luckily I found Starbucks on the way, and my gate was easy to find so I sat with my caramel macchiato and made my final phone calls. I first texted Ford, Helen, and Michelle and I called Blair. We didn’t talk for long because I didn’t want to make a big dramatic thing out of it, we just set up a time to Skype when I got home and I told him not to worry. Then I called Ahmed and we chatted for a little while. He entertained me for a bit and he put his girlfriend on the phone so I could say goodbye to her too. We also made a Skype date for when I got home. By this time I only had about 15 minutes before boarding so I texted my mom and told her I was preparing for blastoff, I’m still so amazed that I can text home! And she was just finishing dinner at my grandpa’s. They’re very excited for me to get home and I can’t wait to see them!

My boarding call was made right on time and I hopped in line to board. They do a very thorough check of your carry on baggage and made me throw away a water bottle I bought at the airport. Weird, but it didn’t seem up for discussion. Making my way onto the plane and through the people with all of this stuff was nearly impossible. My backpack is HUGE. To be honest I’m pretty shocked that I wasn’t told that I had to check it. I really think the only reason why is that my other bag isn’t much smaller, if I was told to check the backpack I’d probably have to check the other bag, too. I was lucky to find enough room in the overhead compartment for my backpack and bag #2 went under the seat. I have an aisle seat and the girl next to me in the window seat was already settled in and had dozed off by the time I even got here. I sat down and stared blankly at the seat in front of me for probably another 15 minutes while people buzzed around the plane getting settled in for the 14 hour flight to Seattle. Pretty soon the seatbelt lights went on, the safety video started playing and the plane started moving. And in that second, it hit me that I’m going home.

And it hit me like a ton of bricks. I realized that I’d been going-going-going since the middle of December and I hadn’t really thought about the fact that I’m leaving. I’d gone from classes, to finals, to Christmas, to packing, to a trip around China, then good-bye parties, and Harbin, then back to Changchun, then off to Beijing, and I’d hardly taken the time to realize that I was leaving. And in that second I realized I wasn’t leaving a vacation, I was leaving a place that I had called home for a year, and I was leaving people who had become my family. I was leaving the most amazing students I could have ever dreamed of, better friends than I’d imagined I’d make, and an experience that had been more than anything I ever thought it could be. And right then, the plane took off through the Beijing haze, and I started sobbing. Luckily the girl who was sitting next to me was still asleep because she definitely would have thought I was a lunatic, because I cried just the same way I did exactly a year ago when I was sitting in that new apartment alone with no heat, no hot water, no phone, no food, no money and no friends. I am so excited to go home and see my family, but at the same time so sad to be leaving my family in China. So now, I have decided that the best thing to do is finish this blog with my top 5 things I’ve learned in China, but I couldn’t narrow it down… so I have a Top 6. And here they are.

6. Everything that we are is because of our culture. What we wear, how we speak, what we think and feel and are, are all because of the culture we’re raised in. It doesn’t mean that what we wear, say, think, feel and are are right, it’s just simply what we’ve been taught, and gotten used to, and know. Americans so fortunate to be living in a country where we’re exposed to diversity and other cultures and other ways of thinking, because there is no right culture or right way. It’s important to be reminded of what a gift that is and always be patient with those who are different.

5. Listen a lot more than you speak especially when you travel. The stories people share with you will blow your mind.

4. “Maybe” doesn’t mean maybe. I means no, or yes, depending on which answer you don’t want to hear. If you want a “Yes” and get “Maybe”, the answer is actually “No”.

3. Vacations are awesome, but if you really want to learn about another country and understand what it means to be a part of another culture you should live in another country. Every single day is a challenge, but the rewards are unbelievable.

2. The nastier looking the restaurant, the better the food. Now this one mostly goes for China, so if you ever come to China and walk into a restaurant where there’s mold on the health inspection sign, you better eat there and thank me for the best meal of your life later!

1. In the end, the thing that matters the most in life is your family. Sometimes that’s the family you’re born with, and other times it’s the family you make.

As the plane got higher in the air I thought about the gift Blair had given me back in November. He came to my apartment like any other day and told me he had something for me that his grandma had made. I had no idea what to expect. He handed me a bubble wrap bag and inside it was a big white cloth, probably 1 foot by 3 feet. I unfolded the cloth, and it was a cross stitch. It had some large red Chinese characters and a Chinese traditional symbol that you’ll often see hanging on people’s doors in their homes or from their car rear-view mirror. On the bottom was a series of Chinese characters, which Blair told me said “People are boats adrift and home is their port.” He told me that no matter how long I’m gone I’ll always have a home in China. He also told me that his grandma (who I’ve never met or even spoken to) worked on this cross stitch for 3 months.

I looked out the window one last time and stared until the plane was high enough that I couldn’t see the ground anymore. I thought of the Chinese word for good-bye, which is “Zai jian.” Zai jian directly translates into “See you again.” And that made me smile. Zai jian. Definitely, Zai jain China.

Entry 149: Last Day in Beijing

Entry 149: Last Day in Beijing

Today was my last full day in China. Wow. Tomorrow morning I leave for home, but before that happens there was some very important shopping that still needed to be done! We started our day out by making the same walk to the subway as we do every morning. It was a beautiful sunny day and the Beijing haze didn’t seem quite as thick as normal. As we were walking Ahmed said, “You know what I miss about home?” I said, “What’s that, Ahmey?” And he replied, “Green grass. I really miss it. Like, look at that grass over there. It’s not quite green, but it’s close enough. Don’t you just wanna go lay down on it or walk on it with your bare feet?” Just then we rounded the corner to find a little boy, with no parents anywhere in sight, squatting down going to the bathroom right in the middle of that green patch of grass. I nearly died laughing! Nope, Ahmed! I DON’T really want to walk on it with my bare feet and I definitely don’t want to lay on it! Ha ha! And then I took the last picture that I would take in China…

 

The Silk Market was business as usual. My suit is AMAZING. I’m thrilled about it. I went to a fitting for my dress and she only had the lining of it put together but I know it will be beautiful. It should be home just a few days after I get there. I’m a little concerned about it arriving, because I know how this country operates with their “Maybe it will arrive in two days,” “Maybe it will be okay,” “I think, yes, it will go there in some time” but these people seem to know what they’re doing so I feel pretty good about it. The rest of my shopping was done, so after the dress fitting we headed back to the same area that we had been shopping yesterday because I wanted to take Ahmed to a very special place that I had spotted off in the distance yesterday… Cold Stone! Can you believe it? There’s a Cold Stone in Beijing! Ahmed loves ice cream and I guess they don’t have Cold Stone in Canada so we NEEDED to go. He, of course, loved it. And I was very entertained by the people watching. A pretty mixed crowd of foreigners and Chinese, and the cutest ½ Chinese ½ Russian children you’ll ever see in your life… We walked around for a little while longer and took a little stroll through Worker’s Stadium on our way back. This is where Fubar (the bar with the trap door that I’ve written about before) and a few other good clubs are. So many awesome memories there. We just walked and talked and I told stories and Ahmed laughed, I really don’t think there’s another person in the world who is more entertained by my stupid stories than he is. Haha. And I was full of them today! There are just so many wonderful memories that I’ve made in Beijing and I never ever want to forget them.

We made our way back to the hostel where I ate my final meal in China. Thai curry. Ha ha, I know I should have eaten a real Chinese dish, don’t worry, Ahmed made fun of me about it. But it’s what I wanted and it was deeelish! I will say that while America has completely butchered Chinese food, I’ve found that you can get very authentic Asian cuisine all over Asia. The Thai food is great in China, the Japanese food is great in Thailand, you’re pretty safe ordering any Asian food all over Asia it seems. After dinner I decided it was a good idea to finish packing… And would you believe that EVERYTHING FITS!! Ha! Suitcase #1 weighs 52 lbs. #2 weighs 78 lbs. And each of my carry ons weigh 12 lbs (I weighed them just for fun) so what I’m saying here is that you probably won’t want to try to arm wrestle me when you see me at home because I’ll have the strongest arms ever! I really don’t know how I fit all of my shopping goodies into these suitcases, but where there’s a will there’s a way, I guess! After all of my shoving and cramming I stopped by Ahmed’s room to say goodbye to him. It wasn’t a big sad goodbye because I told him I’d call him from the airport tomorrow so I could have someone to talk to and bother while I was waiting. So I just gave him a hug and chatted for a little while and came back here. And now I must head to bed, I’m going to wake up at 5:00 am so that I can have a nice long shower before I go to the airport and begin my 26 hours of travel. My flight doesn’t leave until 10:00 am but I need to be there close to 3 hours early since it’s an international flight.. and.. well… this is China and I’m foreign. Sometimes things get challenging! Signing out until my last entry tomorrow…

Entry 148: I’m Not A Tourist… / Good Bye Helen

Entry 148: I’m Not A Tourist… / Good Bye Helen

This morning Ahmed woke up and had apparently had a change of heart overnight. He’d decided that since it was my few days in China we needed to be doing something touristy and that we should go to the CCTV tower. CCTV is the big news station, well, the only news station in China, and their main tower is in Beijing. When he suggested this, I had to laugh. I just love Ahmed! I know that he wanted to make sure I got every possible thing that I could see/do/experience in this country to fit into my last few days, but honestly, it’s not like I’ve been in China for a week. I’ve lived here for a year and I’ve done the things that I wanted to do as far as touring goes.  I’m not a tourist.  I told him that we could go if it was something he wanted to do, I’d be happy to accompany him!  But we shouldn’t do it for me… and he said that he just wanted to make sure that I was getting to see everything I wanted to see in my last few days. So I patted him on his little head, smiled, and back to the Silk Market we went.

Since I had such good luck getting the suit made I decided to get one more thing made by a tailor while I’m here. I had seen a dress a few months back in a movie that I absolutely loved so I decided to get it made as well. The only challenge would be the time constraints… now I’m down to 2 days here and I just wasn’t sure if I could get it made in time. But I figured it’s worth a shot. So I printed out a picture of it at the hostel…the girl working at the computer asked if it was a picture of me… haha! It was Kristin Davis! But all foreigners look the same, right?

I first went to my fitting for the suit… And OMG. I wish I’d had my camera! It’s just beautiful! I’m so happy with it! I showed them the picture of the dress and they said there was no way they could do it in time. Bummer. I decided to try another tailor just to see, and this one said they could do it and mail it to me! Works for me! I’d get measured today, come back for my fitting tomorrow, and the dress will be home about a week after I get there. They had to bring in another woman to draw a sketch of it and do all sorts of crazy measurements. She was really thorough and took a lot of time to make sure it was what I wanted. We communicated in some pretty awesome Ch-English and by the time it came to price bartering I decided that I didn’t want to argue too much. I felt fine giving her some extra money since she had spent so much time with me. Don’t get me wrong, I still bartered, but I wanted to be fair to her and take into consideration shipping costs. So I go back tomorrow to see my dress! I can’t wait!

After all this we met up with Ahmed’s girlfriend and did some more walking around and eventually made our way back to the hostel. Helen (one of my good student friends from the university) called and told me where to meet her for our dinner date. So I hopped on the subway and off I went! We went to have Peking Duck at the same restaurant I’d been to with Joan and Ahmed in October and it was just as good as I remembered. I wish I’d had more time to hang out with Helen during this past semester, but she was so busy with school and I had my second job so we just didn’t get to see each other much. She is one of my favorite people I’ve met throughout this experience, which is saying a lot because I’ve met some truly fantastic people. We just chatted and ate and enjoyed each other’s company and before we knew it it was time to go. Her boyfriend picked us up because he lives in Beijing and has a car! Not so common for a 20-something Chinese person! They drove me back to my hostel and came inside to chat for a little while. I will really miss her so much. She has some big travel dreams and with as hard as she works I know they’ll come true for her. I gave her a big hug and told her that I’d see her in Vietnam. We both want to go to Vietnam someday… How wonderful it would be to go with her!

After they left I went upstairs and pestered Ahmed for a while and we made our plan for tomorrow… Which consisted of more shopping and eating. I started to somewhat organize my stuff so that all of my shopping goodies will maybe hopefully fit in my suitcase..? Ha. I’ll put that task off for tomorrow. One more day!

Entry 147: I heart 北京

Entry 147: I heart 北京

My day started by moving back across the parking lot to the hostel. We decided that it was best to get settled in at the other hostel before we ventured out into the city. So once we had our stuff all settled in we ate lunch at the hostel then took the subway to the Silk Market! Hooray! Ahmed knows the subway here realllly well so I was lucky to have him with me so that he could pass along the knowledge. We were only a few stops from the Silk Market and another fun thing I learned was that there is an underground entrance that leads from the subway actually up into the Silk Market! So you don’t have to risk your life and cross the street. Awesome!

Our first stop was to the top floor so I could get measured for my suit. My brother got a suit and a coat made here and it is beautifully tailored and the quality is amazing. In Travis’s words, “It looks good . I’ve done some pretty advanced dance moves in it and it has held up.”

My bartering skills were really put to the test, and I would say that arguing prices is one of the few things I’ve really mastered here. I can almost always get the same price a local would get. I ended up getting my suit which was a jacket, skirt, and pants made of a cashmere-wool blend with a silk lining for a little over $140US. I’m thrilled with that. Especially since there were some time constraints and there was only one tailor working because of the holiday. I could have gotten it for less if it would have been in season for the tailors, but in this situation I know I got a good price. I had my big backpack so I did some more shopping after I got measured for the suit. I bought some scarves and various other things that have been requested by my friends and family. I really tried to stick to my list and only buy things that I could only find in China. After a few hours we left, I swear the Silk Market is like a black hole! You have absolutely no concept of time in that place!

Ahmed and I joined his girlfriend, Anna, for dinner, who is just about the cutest and sweetest little thing in the world. She lives in Beijing so she really knows the area. After dinner we walked around in an area that Ahmed had been to on one of his previous Beijing trips. It’s a great shopping area with a few indoor-outdoor malls. The weather is sooo much nicer than it was in Changchun! It’s still cold, probably about 35, but let me tell you, 35 feels like a heat wave compared to -30! We had a great day and were pretty spent by 8, so Anna went home and we went back to the hostel to hang out, make fun of each other, and watch the music video for “Nobody But You” about a hundred times! Haha. This is a Korean song that is huge pretty much all over Asia, and Ahmed sings it and does the dance constantly. Hilarious! Tomorrow we have another big shopping day planned and I’m having dinner with one of my closest friends here, Helen. Ahh, another great day in Beijing. I think every day is great here! It’s just something about the vibe of this city that I really love.  I could just walk around here and do nothing and feel great.

Entry 146: “Go to sleep. Wake up. It works!”

Entry 146: “Go to sleep. Wake up. It works!”

This morning I was up and scurrying around by 3am, throwing out the last of my garbage and hauling my suitcases downstairs. As I was going up and down the stairs I actually bumped into Ruslan and Lilya, 2 of my Russian friends, who said they were walking around the building because they couldn’t sleep. Ahh the life of college students! Haha. I was really happy to see them though, because I otherwise wouldn’t have gotten to say goodbye. I left my Skype name and e-mail with them, gave them hugs and said good bye. They continued walking around and I continued running up and down the stairs with my stuff.

Mr. Wu arrived a little before 5 and I was off to the airport. He was chatty as usual, and he brought be a treat, as usual. Mr. Wu has been so good to me and I’m really lucky to have met an English speaking taxi driver and one who was so nice and funny. Along with the pear he gave me he also greeted me by telling me that I looked “not-so-beautiful”. Ha ha! It’s 4am Wu! Cut me some slack! He did say that he was happy that I wasn’t wearing the same shoes that I always wear… which I really have no clue what shoes he was talking about. Apparently he didn’t like them though. Too funny! We talked about his son and his wife and all the things we usually chat about. He told me that I need to come back to China and find a Chinese boyfriend. “A Chinese boyfriend is suitable for you.” Thanks for the advice, Wu-dog! Finally we arrived at the airport. He unloaded my stuff and we exchaned e-mail addresses. I thanked him for being so good to me and told him that the other foreign teachers who were staying would recommend him to the new foreign teachers. I gave him a hug, and he drove off into the blizzard of snow as I hauled my cart of 140lbs of luggage into the airport. I was a little early for my 7am flight, so I excitedly sat and waited and dreamed of the shopping adventures that awaited me in Beijing.

Finally I boarded and bid my final farewell to Changchun. I wasn’t very sad actually, I think mostly because I was going to my favorite city ever -Beijing, to do my favorite thing ever – shop, with one of my best pals- Ahmed! So what is there to be sad about?!

The hour long flight was over in a flash, and I was back to hauling my mound of stuff around the airport with what I’m guessing was the most rickety cart on this planet. But I was soon in a cab and off to the hostel. The drive to the hostel was about 40 minutes long, just like hostelworld.com had said (that’s the best website ever, by the way) and to absolutely no one’s surprise there was an issue with checking in. I swear, I love this country but NOTHING can be done without a challenge! Apparently they had over booked, or something, and they wanted to take me to another hotel. Seriously? I spent the entire morning carrying my stuff all over everywhere and I really did not want to move again. I told them that I really preferred to stay there because I had so much stuff, I nicely explained that I was in the process of moving back to America and I would be willing to take whichever room was open and they just told me that I could wait and hope something opened up or that they had a no-show. I put my suitcases in their locked closet, sat down on their big comfy couch, ordered myself some food and got out my computer. I waited for my pizza (based on my experiences I’ve come to find that hostel pizza is pretty delicious) and tried to connect the internet. Once again, to no one’s surprise, the internet wouldn’t connect. I tried every little trick that I know and it still wasn’t working so I asked one of the hostel employees. This was when one of my all-time favorite Chinese-typical responses to any question was given to me… “Yes, sometimes my internet does not work too. So I will click on things, then go to sleep. Wake up. And it works.” I nearly died laughing! I just smiled at her, thanked her for her brilliant advice and went and sat back down. Ha ha! So awesome!

Shockingly, about 15 minutes later my computer did connect to the internet! Haha, so her advice kind of worked! I immediately wrote down that quote. This has been a pretty memorable day so far! After about an hour of waiting it didn’t appear that I would be checking in any time soon. I decided that I’d wait until Ahmed got here and then we’d go to this other hostel together. So I passed the time by doing something I almost don’t want to admit… I signed on to tudou.com (it’s like the Chinese version of youtube/hulu) and I watched… wait for it… The Bachelor. Ha Ha! So my first day of my Beijing shopping adventure was spent laying on a hostel couch, eating pizza, and watching The Bachelor. Wow, I’m an American!

Ahmed finally arrived at about 6. He was hungry and I wanted to continue on my feeding frenzy so we ate and then we caved and told the hostel staff that we would move to the other hotel, which is apparently a sister hotel to this hostel. To our surprise this hotel was located across the tiny parking lot and was literally 10 steps away. Haha! If I had been told that earlier I wouldn’t have complained about moving my stuff. I thought they wanted to take me to some place that was like an hour drive across Beijing! So I took my stuff across the parking lot and up to my room where I noticed there were some other people who were probably also relocated hostel guests. We were only spending this one night in the hotel and the next day we’d be back at the hostel, which is good. I much prefer to stay in the hostel. That sounds weird but in China you’re way better off in a hostel because of the amount of foreign guests hostels have, you’re just more likely to get what you expect there as far as cleanliness and hot water. So we settled in at the hotel, I took a shower and was probably asleep by 9. I needed to be rested for the days of serious shopping and eating that were ahead of me!

Entry 145: Last day in Changchun

Entry 146: Last day in Changchun

So remember when I said that these last few days would be so super exciting and I’d want to write about them? Wrong. Remember when I said that everything left in my apartment would fit into my suitcase? Also wrong.

I will still write about my day today, though. Because there were two semi-interesting things that happened that I will probably laugh at one day.

I was up early packing, again, because as my loyal readers know I am without lights in my bedroom. I have mastered the phrase, “Wo de deng huai le!” but no matter which maintenance person I say this to and how hard they try it doesn’t seem to be getting the broken light fixed! At about 10am I came to terms with the fact that everything I wanted to bring home would not be fitting in this suitcase. I had 2 options, I could throw a bunch of stuff away or leave it with Ahmed or try to ship it home. The only challenge would be going to the post office without anyone to translate. Everything that I have left here I really want to keep, so I decided to put a bunch of stuff in a box and go over to the post office and cross my fingers that it was open and I could communicate clearly enough to get my stuff to the States. Fortunately, the woman there had helped me when I was there with Blair a few days before and the whole thing went surprisingly smoothly! This was a huge victory for me! Not only was I excited to have done this whole thing in Chinese, but I was also thrilled to have enough room in my suitcase for all of my stuff and some shopping space for Beijing! Victory! I happily skipped back to my apartment and called Ahmed, my only friend left in Changchun, and told him I was coming by with a load of gifts for him. By gifts, I mean stuff I don’t want and am not taking home. Various little items such as band aids, shampoo, flossers and laundry soap, Matthew’s exercise equipment that he left me last semester, my mirror for Michelle and my DVD player that he’s been waiting and begging for since we met! He was excited to get his first round of loot, but after my third trip to his apartment he started to look a little concerned… Haha. Most of this stuff wasn’t getting dumped on him, it was just for whoever wanted it and since Ahmed happened to be the only one in Changchun right now it is getting stored in his apartment over break. By about 7 I was completely done! I realized that I hadn’t eaten anything all day because I was caught up in packing and moving, but no sooner than realizing I was hungry I also realized that there were no open restaurants anywhere nearby. This resulted in funny situation #2 of the day, which was me going to the lone open grocery store across the street, buying 3 eggs and 2 slices of bread and eating eggs and bread for dinner. But since I had no butter, salt, pepper, or really anything else these were poached eggs and plain pieces of bread. I had to laugh, because of all the amazing, delicious meals I’ve had in this city my final Changchun meal was 3 poached eggs and 2 slices of white bread! Haha!

My flight to Beijing is tomorrow morning at 7 and Mr. Wu comes to pick me up at 4:30. I don’t really feel like I’m on my way home yet because I still have 4 days in Beijing, and I plan to shop all day every day while I’m there and spend every last yuan that I have to my name! I’m actually not feeling too sad about leaving Changchun because my friends are all gone. The only friend I have left here is Ahmed and he is leaving Changchun by train tomorrow around the same time that I’m leaving by plane. He’s staying at the same hostel with me for a few days before he heads home to Canada for his break. That whole situation worked out really well and I’m thrilled to have a pal to drag on my shopping adventures with me for a few days! So, tonight is my last night in Changchun and I’m off to Beijing for more adventures in the morning! Over and out!

Entry 144: YEAHH Wu-Dog/Good Bye Blair

 Entry 144: YEAHH Wu-Dog/Good Bye Blair

I was up by 7 today and running around like crazy trying to get packed. The original plan was to go with Ahmed and Blair at noon into town, but I called Blair at 11:30 and he was already there and had a bunch of his own errands to do so I called Ahmed and just the two of us went.

We had lunch at McDonald’s and I laugh a little about that now because I know that in about one week my love affair with McDonald’s will be over once I’m back living in a country where you find McDonald’s on every street! We did a little bit of shopping at some of the gift shops by Guilin Lu and then made my final trip to the DVD store. Ohhh so sad! Where will I go now to find illegally copied DVDs before the movies are in the theaters for only $1?! Haha. I have nearly every movie I could ever want to own now, so there wasn’t much left that I wanted. We each bought a few movies and then I bid my final farewell. Tear. Our last stop was to a little shop that Joan loves so that I could buy her a gift. I wanted to say thank you for carting me around Hong Kong and inviting me to stay with her at her aunt and uncle’s house. I got her a coffee mug set that goes with another one that she already has. It’s super cute and girly, I know she’ll like it.

Finally it was nearing the time of the taxi break, which I still complain about every time even after living here for a year! Why do the taxi drivers take a break during the busiest time? It makes no sense! But we knew we needed to get a cab now or we would wait forever and it was COLD. I mean really cold. -35 before the windchill factor. Today was actually the coldest day I’ve ever felt in my life. It’s hard to describe what it even feels like, so I’ll just say that it takes your breath away when you go outside, it makes your eyes burn so you have to squint and your joints feel like they’re freezing so you have to shuffle around when you walk, sort of like a penguin! We waited and waited and tried to hail a cab but had no success. Finally we separated and I tried a side street but still, no one would stop for us and if they did they refused to drive all the way back to the school. After what seemed like days, and was actually about an hour and a half, I convinced Ahmed that we needed a break from the cold so we went inside Subway to sit down and warm up for a minute. As we were thawing out I thought I’d call Mr. Wu (the taxi driver who speaks English and drives us to the airport) to see if he was driving that day and ask if there was any possibility that he’d be willing to pick us up. As much as I hate to admit it, I knew that if I called he’d come. He always tells the other teachers that he thinks I’m pretty and he tells me I’m his favorite and I wouldn’t usually be one to use this to my advantage, but I’m telling you, it was cold. And it was getting late. And it was cold. Really cold.

The good news is that having blue eyes gets you a long way in this country, because Mr. Wu said he’d come get us and he’d be there in 15 minutes! Yayyy Mr. Wu! Wu-dog (as I have nicknamed him) saves the day! He was there in exactly 15 minutes and we were finally on our way home. I have never been so happy to see Mr. Wu in my life! I really don’t know what we would have done if he hadn’t come to get us, because I have a strong feeling that we wouldn’t have every gotten anyone who agreed to come get us.

We finally got back to campus and I went up to my apartment. It was dark by this time so packing was out of the question, so I just sat in the warmth of my apartment for a while until Blair came over. Blair stopped by at about 7 to say goodbye. He was leaving the next morning very early to go home. He came over and only stayed about an hour, we just did our usual hang out, look at pictures and talk about whatever. He also helped me translate some of the cards that my students had written to me. A few of my students wrote cards or short letters to be in Chinese because they said they were nervous about writing it in English. I can’t really figure that out considering that I was their writing teacher and read their writing every week for 10 months, but I appreciate the cards and I was excited to hear what they said! I was shocked at some of them. They were so kind and genuine. Blair said that reading the cards made him want to be a teacher. After a couple of hours Blair had to head back, so we said our good-bye. He told me not to say anything sad because he didn’t want to cry, and I really didn’t either. So I gave him his gift, which was a black scarf that matches the one that I got Ford for Christmas and told him that the other half of his gift was being sent to him from America once I get home. I gave him a hug and told him that I wasn’t going to say good-bye because I knew I’d see him soon, but that I just wanted to tell him one thing. I told him that in America I have a lot of friends. I have a lot of very very good friends who have been loyal to me and I’m so fortunate to have them. But of all of my friends he is one of the best friends I’ve ever had and I know that I am so so happy to know him. He smiled really big and we both started laughing at each other for being so stupid and crying, again. Haha. Then I gave him a big hug, and he left.

I sat on my couch for a little while and did nothing after he left. All my good-byes are done. Wow. I have one day of packing and then I leave for Beijing. Four days in Beijing and then I leave for home.

Entry 143: T-8 Days

Entry 143: T-8 Days

This morning I was up and scurrying around here by 8. None of the lights in my bedroom work… I’ve already had each of them fixed twice but they just go out again in a day or two so it obviously isn’t the bulbs. Now I’ve given up on trying to fix them since I’ll only be here for another couple of days so I just have to do my packing during the day. I texted Blair around 10 to see if he still wanted to go to the post office to mail his things, and he did, so we went and I mailed my final box of stuff home! This box was entirely of gifts from my students and just a small bag of clothes that probably won’t fit in my suitcase. It cost 1400RMB (about $210USD) to mail home. UGH. It’s always hard for me to spend that kind of money on shipping stuff home (this is the third time I’ve done it now) but honestly I appreciate these gifts so much that I would never think of leaving them here. Not to mention I got some really cool stuff, things that I would have bought for myself if I’d have known where to find them! I even had several students who’s parents shipped gifts for me from their hometowns, so giving that stuff away never crossed my mind.

After I finished fake crying about how much the shipping costs (haha) I came back to my apartment and resumed packing. Ahmed called a little while later and said he was back! Yay! Another person to hang out with for the next couple of days! I told him I had some stuff to drop off so I stopped over at his place and Blair was there. Apparently they shut off the electricity in Blair’s dorm! Can you believe that? There are still some students here and they have no power! So we hung out over at Ahmed’s for a while until I convinced them to come over here so they could watch movies (I’m the only one with a DVD player) and that way I could pack a little more while it was light out and I could see in my bedroom. They watched a movie and stayed for a while and both headed back to their respective locations to nap or do whatever until we met back up for dinner at 5:30. One of my students stopped by around 3:30 to give me a gift that was from her and 3 of my other sophomore students and we visited for a little while before she headed back to her dorm. It was so nice of her to stop by and even nicer of them to give me a gift! It’s a wooden wall decoration that is in the shape of a fish… it’s hard to describe it, but it’s really pretty! I love it so much. Again, something that I would have bought for myself if I would have seen it in a store.

Ahmed, Blair, and I met downstairs at 5:30 and ventured into the city for my final dinner at my favorite restaurant in the world- the pancake restaurant! Ahmed’s friend Steve (also a student here, I may have mentioned him before) met us downtown and the 4 of us had dinner together. It was sort of funny to me, because my first Saturday night in Changchun I went to this same restaurant with Nick, Matthew, and Kevin. Now, for my last Saturday night in Changchun, I’m in the same restaurant, ordering the same thing, and I’m still the only girl. Kind of funny, I think! It was a great meal, as always, and we sat and told funny stories until around 8 when the restaurant was about to close. The second we stepped outside an empty cab pulled up! Yes! The taxi Gods are working for us today! It was -30 today without the windchill factor so we definitely didn’t want to be wandering around searching for a cab. Steve’s home is Changchun so he went back to his parents’ house and the 3 of us went back to campus. As we were walking back to our building Blair handed me a letter that Ford had written to me and had asked him to give to me before I left. I came back here and still haven’t read it because I’m sure it will make me cry and I haven’t cried yet today, so maybe I’ll wait and read it tomorrow. Blair did say that it is the best handwriting that he’s ever seen come from Ford, and Ahmed (who is Ford’s teacher) looked at the first page and said “Oh my God it’s legible!!” Haha. It’s 3 pages long, I do know that. But for now it’s still sitting here staring at me. Tomorrow morning we’re planning to go into the city again. There’s nothing open on campus- I mean literally, nothing. So we’ll probably go downtown and have lunch and walk around if it’s not -30. Another lovely day in Changchun. Only 3 days left here!

Entry 142: T-9 Days

Entry 142: T-9 Days

This morning I woke up early and finally got a chance to talk to my mom. I had only talked to her once since I got back from Hong Kong and a ton of stuff had happened since then that I needed to tell her about! Vivian texted me around 9 and told me she would be in her office in about a half hour so after I hung up with mom I headed over to the tall building to meet with her. She had my December salary from my second job as well as my flight reimbursement for my flight to Beijing ( I did end up getting reimbursed for that! Yayy!!). I chatted with her for a little while and gave her the gift that I bought for her, which was a really pretty scarf from my favorite store in Changchun. She also had a few little gifts for me, a couple of bookmarks with the schools logo and the school’s anniversary coin. Some nice little keepsakes to have from the university! Vivian told me that she had a final interview with a Canadian girl who will be coming to teach here next semester and may be taking over some of my classes. Vivian said that she told this girl that the teacher before her was very good so she should work hard to prepare some lessons in advance. I laughed a little, it made me feel great to hear her say that. I know that Vivian was disappointed that I decided not to sign on for a second term. We talked for a little while longer and eventually hugged and said good bye. I told her that I’d e-mail her once I got home.

I came back here to drop off my stuff and then met Blair at the dining hall for lunch. We ate quickly and then went into the city to do some shopping. We first went to the foreign supermarket where I helped Blair get the ingredients for Deviled Eggs. He really liked them when I made them for Thanksgiving and Christmas so he told his family that he’d make them for their Spring Festival celebration! His mom was thrilled that he’d be cooking “a foreign dish.” Haha, she may not be so impressed by how easy they are to make! After we got what we needed there we went down to Guilin Lu to buy a few things that we needed in the area. Blair’s friend needed a book to study for the TEM4 (a college English exam that all the students have to take) and he was too sick to come with us today, so Blair picked the book up for him. We then went to the DVD store and I made my final haul of movies. I bought 6 more movies and searched through the stacks for a while to make sure I wasn’t missing anything I may want to watch, but I think I have a pretty great movie collection to go home with! We were done with our shopping by about 2 which was good because we were able to easily get a cab before the taxis go on break. Blair went back to his dorm and I came back here to try to pack a little more but it seems like I’m at a point where I can’t pack much more until I’m closer to leaving. So I gave up on packing and watched one of my new movies until around 6 when I met up with Blair and his room-mate for dinner. We opted to go to the dining hall because it was too cold outside to walk anywhere else, and it was a good thing that we did go to the dining hall because we found out that it’s the last day that it’ll be open! Now we’re not too sure where we’ll be eating for the next few days since just about everything on campus is closed, but I guess we’ll figure that out later. We had a nice dinner together and stopped by the little supermarket on the way home to pick a few breakfast items up (since there will be no dining hall to feed us) then I came back here and Blair and his room-mate went back to their dorm. They said their dorm has been pretty much empty for the past couple of days so they really only hang out with each other at night! It’s still pretty noisy around my building, probably because the Russians haven’t gone home yet. Ha. But I’m glad it’s not too quiet, I wouldn’t want to feel like I was the only person left here. Tomorrow Blair and I have plans to do a few things, hopefully find some food and mail home some boxes. Ahmed should also be back tomorrow! Yay! He decided to come back for a few days so that he can pick some stuff up before he goes home to Canada to visit for a few weeks during break. Maybe we can convince Ahmed to go with us to the pancake restaurant tomorrow! We’ll see.. it’s supposed to be -30 so I might be hiding out indoors!!

Entry 141: T-10 Days

Entry 141: T-10 Days

I leave for Beijing a week from today and I will be back in Chicago in ten days. Wow. Hard to believe. I actually sat down and read some of my early posts and laughed about some of the funny things that have happened during my ten months here. It’s amazing how many people I’ve gotten to know and how much I’ve been able to do! What an experience!

I’ve decided to end my blog the same way I started it: by writing every day. Since it’s my last ten days in China a lot of eventful and blog-worthy things will be happening that I’m sure I’ll want to remember. So here it goes! My last ten entries…

This morning I got up early to get a few things done around my apartment before going to the office and making my third attempt at entering semester grades. I had gone before I left for my trip but the computer system was down so I had to wait until I got back. That kind of annoyed me because I was really hoping to get it done before I left, but there really wasn’t anything I could do about it. Starry (a teacher in the Chinese department) called me yesterday to remind me to put in grades. I had to laugh, did she think I was going to leave without doing that? But then I remembered some of the, to put it in my students’ terms, “not so clever” foreign teachers from the past would have left without entering grades… so I understood her concern! Haha. I told her that I’d tried before but I had plans to go back and try again today and sit in that office until it was done. She seemed pretty relieved to hear that, but she also warned me that there has been a lot of trouble with the computer system so there may be some more challenges waiting for me in this task…

How right she was! I went to the office around 10 and met Miracle there. I knew I needed someone to translate and make sure I was doing everything right since this entire computer system is obviously in Chinese. I entered all of the Juniors’ writing scores and sure enough it wouldn’t save. I was told last semester that I only needed to bring a little booklet of their final grades and that was what should be entered into the computer, but evidently this semester they want each individual mark from their assignments to go into the computer too. I have all of their marks written down, but it was in another book back in my apartment and it would take me forever to enter all those scores along with the fact that if I entered the scores from their assignments it would total those up to make their final grade which wouldn’t take into account their score for class participation. Miracle and the woman working in the office both seemed to understand the dilemma and said that other teacher had had the same frustration and basically this new computer system is a huge nightmare. So we fussed with this thing for about another hour and a half until I looked at the clock and realized it was 11:45 and I had promised Dana and Ford I would meet them at the front gate for our final farewell at noon. I told Miracle I had to go and explained the situation but that I would come back to the office as soon as I was finished.

I rushed back to my apartment, grabbed the gift I had for Dana and hurried to meet them out front. Ford met me outside my building because his dorm is right next to my building and we walked out front together to wait for Dana. Ford and Blair came over last night and we hung out for a while and I gave him his gift then so I only needed to give Dana hers. We walked out front and met Dana and Blair who had helped her carry some of her stuff from her dorm. There were a million cabs lined up outside so they had no trouble getting one. I gave each of them a hug and gave Dana her gift that she said she’d look at later because I could tell she was starting to get a little teary. We waved good-bye and the two of them hopped into a cab and headed to the train station together. From there each of them got on their separate trains and went home. The good-bye went surprisingly smoothly, no big sob-fest which I was happy about. I cried last night when Ford and Blair were over but I think anyone with a pulse would have cried.. it was pretty emotional for all of us. I know I’ll see both all them again. I told them if they can’t come visit me in America then it’s just another excuse for me to come back to China! Blair isn’t leaving until Monday which I’m ecstatic about! Otherwise I’d be so lonely here! After Ford and Dana left Blair and I made plans to meet for dinner and I headed back to the office to finish my task of entering grades.

I called Miracle while I was on the way over there to see if he could meet me again and he was having lunch. I told him not to hurry with his lunch but to just stop by when he could. I got there and the secretary of course knew who I was and told me I’d just have to wait a minute before I could try to enter the grades again. I sat down and noticed that some woman was using the computer to play games on QQ (sort of like the Chinese version of facebook). I was a little annoyed but I figured, whatever, just let her finish. I waited for about 5 minutes and noticed she had moved on to some other game and then I got mad. I needed to get these stupid grades done! I asked the secretary if there was another computer I could use so I could finish grades and she got the point and told the woman to leave. Ha ha… I hate to be rude but seriously, these grades need to be entered or I will have 150 angry students! I hopped back on the computer and noticed that the grades I entered before seemed to have stayed in the system! YAY!! I have no clue how the secretary made it work but she did and I loved her for it! Entering the rest of them was a piece of cake and only took about an hour. Thank God that Miracle was there because apparently the student numbers I have listed for my freshmen are wrong and the only way we knew that was because their names in pin yin on my grade sheet didn’t match the names in the computer which were in Chinese characters. If he hadn’t seen that everyone would have gotten the wrong grades! But other than that everything went smoothly and all the grades got entered just fine. I was SO relieved!! I said my final good-bye to Miracle, which was very sad for me because we’d become such buddies during the year, but I know I’ll keep in touch with him.

I then went to the little tea stand (still go at least once a day), then to the dining hall to get some of my favorite eggplant fried rice (sounds weird but it’s amazing, I eat it about 5 times a week!) and then start packing. I have a big box of stuff that I’m planning to ship home on Saturday and I’m praying that the rest of my stuff will fit in my suitcases.. but we’ll see. As I look around there’s a lot of stuff in here! After packing and cleaning for a few hours I texted Blair to see if he wanted to go to hot pot for dinner, of course, he did! We went to the hot pot restaurant at about 6, just the two of us. As soon as we walked in the waitress who we always talk to told us that she was happy to see us tonight because the restaurant will close tomorrow for the winter holiday and not open again until the spring semester! Blair told her that I was leaving in a week to go home and a few of the workers there who know us came over and asked him why I was leaving and said they thought I should stay forever! Haha, these girls like me more than some of my students do! Our dinner was great as always. We talked about all the awesome memories that we have in that restaurant and all the people that we’ve gone there with. I kept looking around and laughing about how seriously filthy that place is but how we all insist on going there because it really is the best hot pot any of us have ever been to. So many great times there! We finished eating and said good-bye to the staff, some of whom I feel like I’m sort of friends with despite the obvious language barrier. The one girl told me that I’m welcome to come back and they hope to see me very soon. So sweet of her. It was freezing outside so we walked quickly back to my apartment. Blair stopped by to borrow a season of Project Runway (which I’ve gotten him hooked on) and headed back to his dorm. Tomorrow morning I have a meeting with Vivian and then Blair and I are going shopping in the city. I need to make one more trip to the DVD store! I’m also going to see if he wants to eat lunch at the pancake restaurant… I only have a few days to make my rounds of all the restaurants before I head home!