Here it is; my (long awaited?) final post. It’s been over two months since I returned to Canada but it feels like two years. I meant to write as soon as I got back so that the memories were fresh, the feelings and emotions were new and there would be a sense of closure to this chapter of my life.
So much has happened since my last post. My final days in Qingpu were a blur a tears, gifts, picture taking and good byes. The school’s equivalent of the vice principal gave me a tour of the school (nothing like the last day to see your workplace!) and I discovered areas I didn’t know exist. The coolest of these areas was the art studio. There was a two level building chock full of student artwork. There were paintings, pottery, clay mouldings, murals, intricate paper cut outs, you name it! That evening, this woman and my principal took me out to dinner where they presented me with one of these clay molded works. I was honored (and a little nervous that the heavy art piece would not fit in my already-packed suitcase!). It should also be mentioned that for dinner, they took me to an ‘Italian’ place that served pizza and pastas. We ordered several of these dishes to share but by far the most entertaining was the “garden salad with vanilla ice cream”. That’s right; we received a nice looking iceberg lettuce stuffed salad with a melting scoop of ice cream right on top.
While I gave my fellow teachers flowers, fruit, Canadian mementos and things I couldn’t bring back to Canada (like my GIANT stuffed bear, my house coat and blanket), my students showered me with gifts. I received earrings, bracelets (both homemade and bought), jars of tiny little folded paper stars, pictures of the students, little character key chains, stuffed animals, scarves, other origami….and I could go on. One of the gifts that meant the most to me was from my office mate. Quiet most of the semester, he really opened up in the last week or so of my time in China and I think he was sad to see me leave. He admitted that he was shy around most foreigners and didn’t really get to know any of the past foreign teachers. He seemed mortified that he forgot to bring me a gift on the last day and I was shocked when he picked up a piggy bank from his desk. This piggy bank had been on his desk the whole time I was his office mate. It was a yellow pig sitting on a pile of coins wrapped in red ribbon. The pig and coins are supposed to signify wealth and the red, as per Chinese culture, is the colour of luck. He bashfully put the piggy bank in my hands, apologizing profusely for the nicked edges and the scuffs. He proceeded to tell me that his sister, who he sees once every five years or so, gave him the piggy bank when he was ten. I protested the gift over and over saying I would like him to keep it but he insisted. This is a small testament to the type of people I worked with. Another teaching friend of mine gave me a frame covered in seashells. What I found the most amusing about this gift was the picture of Kate Hudson in the frame! Other teachers gave me teas, cards and postcard books from the World Expo Shanghai. I was overwhelmed by the thoughtfulness and generosity!
After my last tearful goodbyes, a walk through ChongGu and Tony telling me on the bus “stop crying. You already cried today. It’s just a journey”, the girls and I headed on an almost 3 hour long trek (picked a bad bus route) into Shanghai for a goodbye dinner with Jess and Laura who were heading to Thailand for a week. We had a plethora of free drinks at a Chicago-styled pizza place (the server loved us) including flaming shots which were not as bad as I thought they would be (actually, some of the shots were the best I’ve ever had). We were in a cute little district (I forget the name!! Oops!) that I had not yet explored so I headed to take a peak around. One of the girls had gone to find a washroom and instead found a painter. He was painting on what seemed like rice paper and his quick brush strokes were creating interesting and vivid images of the Shanghai skyline. Within a few minutes, he had made a deal with all of us to create the same image five times over while we were eating. It was a wonderful, last few days in China purchase and I am currently looking for ways to get it framed.
The next day brought on one more moment that needs to be mentioned. We had gone back to Qingpu to finish packing and cleaning the apartment for move out. The van that was supposed to pick us up on Saturday (or was it Sunday?) morning was late and we received a call. Our landlord, who had stopped in the previous evening, was back. We had given him small tokens from Canada and a bottle of wine. He had come back to give us a gift in return. He was trying to tell us why he was there and instead of enlisting Alyssa’s iPad again, he called my principal (who happened to be his friend) to translate for us. He had gone out and bought us each a beautiful silk scarf worth over $100 Canadian each. He left us swooning and even more sad to be leaving. This man who had NO English had given us a wonderful apartment (with plants!!) and then treated us to these beautiful gifts which we will have for the rest of our lives. SIGH. Oh China, how you spoiled me!
The rest of my time in China was a blur. Between the beads (more list streams) of sweat, I went to Pacican to tie up some loose ends, decided to opt out of their free last-minute rides for more timely cabs, packed and unpacked and packed and unpacked my suitcase trying to get it under weight, ate at a Canadian bar (heaven knows why haha) and finished some last minute shopping. The trip back itself was anything but uneventful. We left China later than planned and, as a result, landed late in Toronto. Our luggage took FOREVER to come out at customs and it was so tight with the next flight that half of the group made it on and half of us didn’t. This would have been ok if 1) I didn’t have only 6 hours with Jason on the other end as it was and 2) One of the other girls didn’t have my computer. With the exhaustion, and the fact that my one of my duty free purchases got lost and the other was over the legal limit (although Thomas came to the rescue on that one with a trade for over the limit cigarettes), I was kind of a hot mess. It was not my finest moment. BUT, we made it to Halifax and that, my friends, was it. As quick as it happened, it was over.
…which brings me to today. Today I am admiring the green forest and blue of skies of Cape Breton. Colours are something that I never thought I missed. When I landed in Toronto, the stunning sunset shocked me. I didn’t realize how much I missed colour. Driving home from Halifax also drove this realization home. In China, the pollution was so bad that colours were drab. The sky was never blue, white buildings were stained and even the vegetation didn’t seem to have as much pop. But the people….oh the people. They had the missing "pop". They taught me so much. They taught me to eat more veggies. They taught me to take life slower (why do I speed walk everywhere and try to get so much done in one day?!). They drove home the importance of exercise. I loved that they had gym classes outside. I love that they lined their highways with plants.I loved loved loved that the boys were so chummy. I loved them. I miss them. I am a better person for meeting them. I am a better person, and teacher, for this experience.
This WAS China.
As a reminder, there are many pictures that have been posted. Follow the links under the "pictures" tab above. Thank you all for reading and giving me support and letters throughout my time away. I appreciated it all! I'm off to start the next chapter - being a teacher in Canada! Who knows what I have in store here!? Maybe it will be just as exciting!
Until the next adventure!
xoxoxoxo
So much has happened since my last post. My final days in Qingpu were a blur a tears, gifts, picture taking and good byes. The school’s equivalent of the vice principal gave me a tour of the school (nothing like the last day to see your workplace!) and I discovered areas I didn’t know exist. The coolest of these areas was the art studio. There was a two level building chock full of student artwork. There were paintings, pottery, clay mouldings, murals, intricate paper cut outs, you name it! That evening, this woman and my principal took me out to dinner where they presented me with one of these clay molded works. I was honored (and a little nervous that the heavy art piece would not fit in my already-packed suitcase!). It should also be mentioned that for dinner, they took me to an ‘Italian’ place that served pizza and pastas. We ordered several of these dishes to share but by far the most entertaining was the “garden salad with vanilla ice cream”. That’s right; we received a nice looking iceberg lettuce stuffed salad with a melting scoop of ice cream right on top.
While I gave my fellow teachers flowers, fruit, Canadian mementos and things I couldn’t bring back to Canada (like my GIANT stuffed bear, my house coat and blanket), my students showered me with gifts. I received earrings, bracelets (both homemade and bought), jars of tiny little folded paper stars, pictures of the students, little character key chains, stuffed animals, scarves, other origami….and I could go on. One of the gifts that meant the most to me was from my office mate. Quiet most of the semester, he really opened up in the last week or so of my time in China and I think he was sad to see me leave. He admitted that he was shy around most foreigners and didn’t really get to know any of the past foreign teachers. He seemed mortified that he forgot to bring me a gift on the last day and I was shocked when he picked up a piggy bank from his desk. This piggy bank had been on his desk the whole time I was his office mate. It was a yellow pig sitting on a pile of coins wrapped in red ribbon. The pig and coins are supposed to signify wealth and the red, as per Chinese culture, is the colour of luck. He bashfully put the piggy bank in my hands, apologizing profusely for the nicked edges and the scuffs. He proceeded to tell me that his sister, who he sees once every five years or so, gave him the piggy bank when he was ten. I protested the gift over and over saying I would like him to keep it but he insisted. This is a small testament to the type of people I worked with. Another teaching friend of mine gave me a frame covered in seashells. What I found the most amusing about this gift was the picture of Kate Hudson in the frame! Other teachers gave me teas, cards and postcard books from the World Expo Shanghai. I was overwhelmed by the thoughtfulness and generosity!
After my last tearful goodbyes, a walk through ChongGu and Tony telling me on the bus “stop crying. You already cried today. It’s just a journey”, the girls and I headed on an almost 3 hour long trek (picked a bad bus route) into Shanghai for a goodbye dinner with Jess and Laura who were heading to Thailand for a week. We had a plethora of free drinks at a Chicago-styled pizza place (the server loved us) including flaming shots which were not as bad as I thought they would be (actually, some of the shots were the best I’ve ever had). We were in a cute little district (I forget the name!! Oops!) that I had not yet explored so I headed to take a peak around. One of the girls had gone to find a washroom and instead found a painter. He was painting on what seemed like rice paper and his quick brush strokes were creating interesting and vivid images of the Shanghai skyline. Within a few minutes, he had made a deal with all of us to create the same image five times over while we were eating. It was a wonderful, last few days in China purchase and I am currently looking for ways to get it framed.
The next day brought on one more moment that needs to be mentioned. We had gone back to Qingpu to finish packing and cleaning the apartment for move out. The van that was supposed to pick us up on Saturday (or was it Sunday?) morning was late and we received a call. Our landlord, who had stopped in the previous evening, was back. We had given him small tokens from Canada and a bottle of wine. He had come back to give us a gift in return. He was trying to tell us why he was there and instead of enlisting Alyssa’s iPad again, he called my principal (who happened to be his friend) to translate for us. He had gone out and bought us each a beautiful silk scarf worth over $100 Canadian each. He left us swooning and even more sad to be leaving. This man who had NO English had given us a wonderful apartment (with plants!!) and then treated us to these beautiful gifts which we will have for the rest of our lives. SIGH. Oh China, how you spoiled me!
The rest of my time in China was a blur. Between the beads (more list streams) of sweat, I went to Pacican to tie up some loose ends, decided to opt out of their free last-minute rides for more timely cabs, packed and unpacked and packed and unpacked my suitcase trying to get it under weight, ate at a Canadian bar (heaven knows why haha) and finished some last minute shopping. The trip back itself was anything but uneventful. We left China later than planned and, as a result, landed late in Toronto. Our luggage took FOREVER to come out at customs and it was so tight with the next flight that half of the group made it on and half of us didn’t. This would have been ok if 1) I didn’t have only 6 hours with Jason on the other end as it was and 2) One of the other girls didn’t have my computer. With the exhaustion, and the fact that my one of my duty free purchases got lost and the other was over the legal limit (although Thomas came to the rescue on that one with a trade for over the limit cigarettes), I was kind of a hot mess. It was not my finest moment. BUT, we made it to Halifax and that, my friends, was it. As quick as it happened, it was over.
…which brings me to today. Today I am admiring the green forest and blue of skies of Cape Breton. Colours are something that I never thought I missed. When I landed in Toronto, the stunning sunset shocked me. I didn’t realize how much I missed colour. Driving home from Halifax also drove this realization home. In China, the pollution was so bad that colours were drab. The sky was never blue, white buildings were stained and even the vegetation didn’t seem to have as much pop. But the people….oh the people. They had the missing "pop". They taught me so much. They taught me to eat more veggies. They taught me to take life slower (why do I speed walk everywhere and try to get so much done in one day?!). They drove home the importance of exercise. I loved that they had gym classes outside. I love that they lined their highways with plants.I loved loved loved that the boys were so chummy. I loved them. I miss them. I am a better person for meeting them. I am a better person, and teacher, for this experience.
This WAS China.
As a reminder, there are many pictures that have been posted. Follow the links under the "pictures" tab above. Thank you all for reading and giving me support and letters throughout my time away. I appreciated it all! I'm off to start the next chapter - being a teacher in Canada! Who knows what I have in store here!? Maybe it will be just as exciting!
Until the next adventure!
xoxoxoxo