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| Grade 11 students after their final...this pretty much sums up our last month of work at school! |
The last post was about my trip to Macau in early June. Today I am writing this post in my parent's kitchen. No, they haven't moved to China; I've come back to the US!
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| The students and teachers at the graduation party |
Before I explain my plans here in the States, I'll give you a quick overview of my last weeks in China. June was a surreal month, because I knew the semester was drawing to a close, but it never really sank in that I was leaving China for good. At the beginning of June, just before I went to Macau, the seniors had their graduation party. They held it at bar/club downtown. If it sounds weird to you, that makes two of us. The venue wasn't stocked with liquor for the party, but they did sell beers. Well, a few of the foreign teachers bought beers, but nobody else drank. So much for a party!
After the graduation party and Macau, things were quiet again for a week or two. Since the seniors left most teachers had a maximum of 8 classes a week; one week a few of them had zero! I was teaching an ACT writing class, and I also organized a school speech and debate competition. But those duties were far from a full schedule. As our last day neared, I came in for less and less time. I still made in into the office most days, and I'm pretty good compared to the other teachers. Many of them didn't even bother to show up if they had no class that day!
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| It was Disney Shanghai's one year anniversary |
Although we were done with big trips, Joanna and I did make it back to Shanghai one last time. On the weekend of the 17th we met two friends for a trip to Disney Shanghai. I'd already gone in December, and Disney isn't anywhere near the top of my list of places to visit, but our friends had never been, and Joanna is a huge fan. So, being the nice guy I am (wink wink Joanna), I agreed to go for a second time. And I must admit, it was a fun day...I'm still no Disney fanatic, but the Tron and Pirates of the Caribbean rides were worth it.
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| The Disney Castle |
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| And of course, the crowds |
I flew out of Shanghai on the 29th, but before leaving I had a lot of loose ends to tie up. This was my last school year in China, so it wasn't like last summer when I just carried along whatever I needed for the school break. I had to pack up my entire life--well, at least everything I wanted to keep!
I ended up ditching a lot of clothes, although most needed replacing anyway. It's hard to find things in my size here, and I'm not a big shopper to begin with, so most of my wardrobe is pre-China. When I was finally all packed and good to go, I'd whittled down my belongings to a 22 kilo suitcase, a carry-on backpack, and a small laptop bag. Not too bad for moving back!
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| With fellow counselors my last week of school |
Our last week in Hangzhou Joanna and I went out nearly every night, some just for dinner, but more often than not drinks too. We ate out with the Chinese college counselors, as well as the two Sarahs, who handle the administrative work. They helped us with scheduling, banking, and tons of other things that China makes complicated for foreigners, so treating them to dinner was only a small repayment for everything they did. The school also organized a party of sorts one afternoon to say thanks to the teachers. It was a nice send off--nothing crazy, but we got lots of free food!
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| Our school leaving party Monday afternoon |
The school event wasn't crazy, but we saved it for that night at our apartment. On Tuesday, the 27th of June, nobody had class, so Monday night we invited all the foreign teachers over to ours. I had the bright idea to play a 90s music themed power hour--where you drink a shot of beer each minute. We were already a few drinks in at this point, and after the hour of power we broke out into group karaoke. Joanna got some great videos, but for the sake of all involved I'll keep them off the blog--don't want to embarrass anyone.
After the hangover on Tuesday, I had lots of packing to do. Wednesday was Joanna and my last day at school; we flew out of Shanghai in the wee hours of the morning on Thursday. We said our goodbyes, Joanna cried more than a few times, and before I knew it, we were leaving school for good (I'll come back for a visit eventually!). As for us, we still had a week together. From Shanghai we flew to Tokyo, Japan. More on that in the next post!
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