Even though you can't tell the difference, I'm currently writing this blog in an empty email because my Chinese internet and VPN are being so awesome right now and I can't get on my blog website. I have also discovered that google and gmail are the only google programs that work. No documents, reader, etc., hence my writing this in an email, and not a doc. But anyways! It's my last Sunday in Siyang, and technically my last Sunday in China...at least on the mainland. We'll be heading off to Hong Kong next weekend. We've had a slight change of plans with that though. Our friend in Shanghai basically told us it would be impossible to easily get train tickets and we should look into flying. We had Chen help us on some websites and we were able to find flights to Shenzhen, which is just across the harbor from HK. The tickets are like 650RMB as opposed to the 450RMB train tickets, but we don't have to sit on a gross train and share a compartment with 4 other people for 19 hours. It's about a 2.5 hour flight, and then a 1.5 hour bus ride to our hostel area. WAY better than a train, and totally worth the price if you ask me. We'll also have to pay a little extra for our luggage, but I think we would've ran into that on the train too, because we both have 2 suitcases and a carry on. There won't be any issue on our flights home though, because international flights have a way bigger luggage allowance.
We went to Chen's in-law's for dinner on Thursday, and it was amazing. Her mother-in-law is such a good cook and she made a ton of delicious dishes. That family is so wonderful and even though Chen is the only person that speaks both Chinese and English, they have been so kind and have offered to give us anything they can. At the dinner, her father-in-law made a few different toasts to us, wishing us the best in our futures and if we have the chance to bring our families back to China to meet them. He also said that he hopes that when we're back in America and people mention China, we will think of his family and our time with them. I can promise that we will. Chen and her entire family have been such a blessing here, not having families of our own, they've opened their doors (and kitchens!) for us and don't pressure us to eat anything we don't want, or to drink more than we want, it is just a warm, relaxing time with good people. I will miss them so much. Chen has also offered to buy our bikes from us. Her and her husband will use them in Nanjing once she moves there to go back to school for her Masters. Seeing as though we have no idea how to sell things in China, and Chen has been so great to us, we have no problem selling them to her. And any extra money is a bonus at this point. We also found out that there is a bank in Siyang that has USD, and that Chen can just go in and exchange RMB for USD with no problem or hoops to jump through, something we can no do as Americans. So hopefully this week we'll get our money exchanged, and then be all set to head off. We are still a little unsure about how we are getting to Shanghai. We have two different people working on getting us a ride, so hopefully it will go off without a hitch. It will just be such a hassle to take the bus with out luggage and then to have to transfer over to the metro, and then get a cab...ugh. No thank you. We'll see. China owes it to us to make this easy, I think. We've been more that flexible with so much. Haha.
I'm working on my last lessons for the Primary school. Because it's our last day, and they really don't have any expectations of us, I think I'm just going to play games and have fun the last day. It's not like they can fire us...and we saved their butts by agreeing to teach there in the first place. I just want tomorrow to be an easy day, and say goodbye to the adorable little ones, oh, and get paid :) I have my lessons planned for my last 2 days at the high school too. So I'm really just waiting for things to wrap up and go. I've packed a lot of my stuff up, and I'm throwing away all my random garbage. I can't believe I'm down to 3 days of teaching. English Corner finished up, I'm just waiting to get my "memory book" back. I had them all write in a notebook for me, so I can keep it to remember them better! I can't wait to read it. I think I'll wait until my flight from Tokyo to LA....That should be a good time :)
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