"you brought all this just to spend one night??"

-- Lucy Andrew, spunkiest first grader in Shanghai.

 

We packed up on Sunday and moved out of our Huai'an penthouse on Monday amazingly smoothly; the only obstacles were our disbelief that the time had come and our lack of motivation to do anything about it. The other teachers will be picked up at the apartment, driven to Shanghai and be put up in a hotel by their school later this week. We woke them up to say goodbye on our way out and were lucky to have Tim and Thomas awake enough to carry some bags out to the front gate, where we caught a cab the 3km to the bus station, where we loaded onto a bike taxi to the steps of the station, where Vence met us to join the spectacle and help us carry everything to the gate. 

 

Teary goodbye, last sights of our city, and a six hour bus ride later we got to Shanghai. It was "mei you, mei you" at the train station for our tickets to Gansu, and on top of schlepping six bags across the province and some bully taxi drivers, we were terribly relieved to pull up to the tranquil cul-de-sac of the Andrew family's home here on the Pudong side of Shanghai. Lucy sat on the porch watching us unload our lives onto her sidewalk and followed the above question with, "Are you going to change like every second?!" The St. Louis natives are kindly hosting us, and mostly our belongings while we set off for a last exploration, before flying outta this country on the 30th.

 

Since the train plan didn't work we booked flights leaving tomorrow morning, and even though we spent an extra night here, we're gaining a day in our original travel plan, getting to Lanzhou a day before the train would have. The itinerary includes the Tibetan monastery in Xiahe, the Mogao Caves outside Dunhuang, sand dunes, and hopefully at least one yurt and/or horse trek. Doraemon, a fave, advised that during this trip, "You should just go have a funny time. Not learn so much." I think we'll do both.

 

So much has happened in the past couple weeks, and will in the next...I hope I don't forget any of it. 

impressions of the US

Cleaning out my teacher drawer and came upon some students' impressions of the US that I had them write at the beginning of last semester...

• The United States is a democratic country. The American advocate freedom. In my impression, the American like to eat fast food and they are very white. The United States is a developed country.
• I like to see American moive, in particular the moive made in Hollywood. They're very perfect and cool.
• It's a young country, for China. It's democratic country. Most of Americans thinking are open. Many Chinese people want to American. Because they thought many chance in American.
  
• rich
• The United States is located in the middle of North America. Canada is in the north of America it's capital is Washington. There are about 30,000 people in America in 2006. American people are friendly, humble, romantic, general and easy-going. Compared with Chinese people, American people are independent especially pursue equality
• America has 50 continents
• I haven't been to America, but I think they are rich and friendly. One day if I have chance, I will go and have a look at it. That would be a nice thing.

greatness

along our 4.5 hour hike from 金山岭 Jinshanling to 司马台 Simatai. Zip line at the end!

The Chicago visitors spent three full days in Shanghai, two days here in Huai'an and then five days in Beijing. My class could not contain their excitement about meeting three new Americans. It wasn't until a week later that I realized what an oddity it was to have five non-Chinese people standing in one little classroom in a nothing college in a nothing town in the great big country of China: an actual once-in-a-lifetime experience for most of those kids. But, a cool thing for the visitors, too, to be able to meet and talk and play basketball with a bunch of Chinese students on their whistle stop tour of the Middle Kingdom.

We had looked forward to having these visitors for so long that we didn't spend much time looking beyond their trip to our own rapidly approaching trips out of here. The good-byes have already started, which I can't believe. In just a few days we'll head to Shanghai and set off for Gansu Province, then be on homeward bound planes June 30.

You CAN do a-n-y-thing for ten months!