Last day to teach and we leave Tuesday morning

I will teach my last class in China this afternoon, record my final grades, send them to Zhao Sha Sha, and then on Tuesday morning we all head to the airport.  I will have lunch today with some of my students from the Tuesday class.  I will miss them all very much, even the ones that just sat there and said nothing as much as they could.  But I will miss being on this campus.  I was teaching in a building that did not have any foreign faculty.  All the foreign faculty and the English majors are in building #1 and was in building #2.  My students had never had a foreign teacher and had never taken a class like mine.  It was a different experience for all of us.  At least I know now what I think I should do if I return.  Looking back on the situation, I am surprised and how well my students did.  I asked them to give a speech in a different language and they had never given a speech in any language, ever.  Our education systems are so different and yet many of them did very well.  What is interesting for me is to see how my department chair and I slowly built a relationship.  She was always helpful to me but I later found out that I was the first western person she had ever been in contact with.  As I changed and learned more about the culture and got my QQ number, she also changed and learned about the USA culture.  When she saw me eating Chinese food in the hotel restaurant, and realized that all western people do not eat hamburgers, we became much closer.

I spent my last weekend in Xian at her home, with her husband and her parents.  Her father, a retired welder and ship builder, fixed Chinese food for me and would have poured me enough BaiJiu to put me to sleep if I had let him. After a nice lunch we did what Chinese people do on a hot summer day.  We played some Chinese checkers, watched TV, snacked, and at 2 pm people that needed to, took a nap.  Later that evening we walked to the local outdoor barbecue and had supper and I returned to the campus.  It was nice to see how people live in Xian.  I will miss Zhao Sha Sha and her family.  I will miss a lot of people here.  Some of the people I will miss the most are the ones that you see every day and only say Ni Hao to, because you do not speak enough Chinese and they speak no English. I has been a great experience and one that I will always remember.  I dream of mine that I have had all my life, and I mean all my life, has come true.  I can not remember a time when I did not want to come to China and I have been here and lived here for four months.  I have been very lucky to have had this opportunity.  Now I will return and see how well I can adjust to life back in the states.  It will be different, that is for sure. How different, I will find out soon.  It will be good to get off the plane, get my luggage, and get in the car with Maris and make the drive back to Peoria.  At least when I get home the first face I will probably see is that of Ava Zhong, so she will help make the transition a little easier.  I imagine JoAnne will wake up to see me.  That is going to be a long day, long plane ride, long car ride to Peoria, probably talking to people very early in the morning and then trying to get some more sleep before the sun comes up.  I will probably go to the college on Thursday to check and see what the next week will bring.  I will then start on the solar coffee project and turn in my information that I need for the opportunity to go to Mongolia and help them develop and improve their vocational training, because I am ready to see more of the world, even before I get home.

 Zhao Sha Sha's parents and our supper.  Good food and go company.

 My new friends.

 Zhao Sha Sha and her MaMa, just relaxing in the living room of their home.

Xi Gua, or watermelon, one of the advantages of having tile floors, you can cut your watermelon in the living.  Probably not a good idea to do on the carpet.

Two welders.  We have a lot in common, we both weld,we are the same age, and we both enjoy cooking.  I hope to see him again.

Sitting around the table and enjoying a good meal, that is a nice way to spend your last Sunday in Xian.

A nice pot of soup that was very good.

I have learned a little more about how to cook chinese food. I am sad to leave the people I have met here but it is time to get back to my normal life in the USA.  My own little street in Peoria will never be the same after having been in China for four months.

Zhao Sha Sha's neighborhood.  Now I know why when I asked Kevin Shu