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Friday, August 16, 2013

Class with Zhang (Cheung?) Lao Shi
Class with Lee Lao Shi


Graduation:
Alex and her other little host sister

Lunch after the graduation:

Dinner on the final night :(

Shaved ice after dinner ^__^

The last day
at the Shanghai airport

at the Chicago O'Hare airport right before I left to LA.

Saturday, August 10, 2013

再 見, 中 國

Before I write this post, I want to mention that I actually wrote for more than an hour a really nice, long post before this. I thought it was a great ending to my time in China. I sent it, and somehow it didn't send. I'm so upset because it took me such a long time to write it, and there was so much content in it. I also forgot to copy and paste it onto my notes app on my iphone, so now I will attempt to write as much as I can remember from the original.

I just finished taking a shower, and now it is basically the last night for me in Hangzhou. Everyone is meeting at 9:30 AM at the school tomorrow in order to leave on a bus to the Shanghai airport together. In the morning, I had a graduation ceremony at my school. There were performances from the host siblings, various speeches, a slideshow of our stay in China, and others, like handing out certificates. Every American student received a Chinese dictionary as a gift. It was the last time I saw my two teachers, and so I teared up. They're the best teachers...I love them so much. There were lots of pictures taken, and I realized that this will be the last time all the host families will be together. Afterwards, we went to eat lunch with the host families at a hotel right across from the school. During the day, I spent my time packing, and it was difficult. There were so many things to organize, but I finished everything quickly with the help of my host sister, cousin, and grandma. My family took me out to dinner at a very famous hotpot restaurant in Hangzhou called Hai Di Lao. The workers there are very hospitable because everytime you get up, they say, "Ni hao," smile, or attempt to help with anything. They also came every few minutes to check on us while we were having our dinner. In the bathroom, there's always one person handing out out towels for people to use after washing hands. If you want, a worker can even paint your nails while you wait for your food. There are new toothbrushes and toothpaste on the shelf, lotion for moisturizing, and some facial care products along with the lotion. The atmosphere would make anyone love the restaurant even if the food was bad, and trust me, the food was DELICIOUS. At night my host sister and I met with Alex and her host sister for a bit to have some mango shaved ice together. We've been to the shaved ice place so many times already that we just have conversations with the workers. My host sister even walked into the kitchen to check on our order because it was taking a while to come. While I walked around my neighborhood, I thought, I'm really going to miss being able to go out and see lots of people walking at 9-10 PM. I also love how convenient it is living here; you have literally everything once you walk out of my host family's complex. I tried my best today to not take anything for granted and/or notice things I haven't before. When I was walking up the six flights of stairs with my host sister at night to my host family's home, I knew that that would have probably been my last time climbing up all those stairs and then feeling exhausted when I reached the top. It's tiresome to walk so many flights of stairs, but I'm really going to miss that. I also gave my host family a photo album with about 50 pictures I printed at a KODAK shop in it. They appreciated it very much, and I'm glad they like it because I wasn't sure if just one gift for them would be enough. As I'm laying on my bed, I'm thinking, I had my last dinner with my host family, my last time being in the classroom with my teachers and friends, my last time going out to walk around my neighborhood, my last night in Hangzhou. This will also be my last time sleeping in my mosquito-netted bed in my host family's house.

What I'll miss:
-Coming home from school and seeing my grandma prepare a kind of snack for me
-Watching news with my grandma
-The food at my host family's house
-Being able to walk around my neighborhood and seeing lots of people having fun hanging out/strolling
-Going to a plaza or garden and seeing people roller skate, dance, practicing tai chi, etc.
-Studying in a room with my host sister and host cousin.
-Buying boba drinks for $1.
-The convenience of traveling in Hangzhou.
-Laying in bed in my room while my grandma either watches a drama, plays majiang, or watches a dance tutorial on the computer next to me.
-Night markets
-The sceneries in Hangzhou
-My grandma's special tofu dessert.
-Watching The Voice of China (中 國 好 聲 音) with all of my host family members every Friday.
-Having street food
-How cheap everything is (at least the clothes and food).

...and the list continues (basically everything I've done and experienced
on this trip).

These past six weeks flew by, but all my memories will never be forgotten. I'm so thankful for this "once-in-a-lifetime" opportunity (but literally). I love my host family, friends, teachers, the city, and all aspects of this journey. I really couldn't have asked for more. I'm looking forward for another trip back to Hangzhou, and I can't wait for other opportunities like this!

(the rest of the pictures will be posted tomorrow)

Thursday, August 8, 2013

Sixth and Final Week

I'm writing this on Thursday (08/08/13 China time) and posting it tomorrow (Friday) because I don't have wi-fi at the moment. Tomorrow is my Chinese final, and after that I'm basically done with the academic portion of the program! On Saturday we'll be having a graduation ceremony. It will be composed of different performances and also lunch at a restaurant in Zhejiang University with ALL of our host families, our teachers, the resident directors, the principle, and of course, us. I was planning to blog earlier this week, but I had no time, so i just decided to post pictures of everything I've done the past few days with captions/short paragraphs.  


So..the sixth and final week. I have basically two more days left (Sunday doesn't count because we're leaving to the Shanghai airport in the morning). On Friday I'll be spending time with my friends exploring Hangzhou, and on Saturday I'm going to spend the day with my family (after the graduation ceremony). I'm going to really miss Hangzhou. I teared up twice this week already, and I'm not even leaving yet. The first time was when one of my classmates asked our teacher, Li Lao Shi, if he was going to miss us, and he said, "Don't ask me that, you're going to make me cry." I love Li Lao Shi, he's the best teacher. The second was today, when my host sister started talking about the next time we will meet, which will be in the US because she's going to attend college there for maybe 2 years. My grandma also told me today that I have less than three dinners with them left. Two days!!!!!

great breakfast! noodles, green bean soup (like the red bean one), and cantalope juice. ^__^

my grandma made a special meal. she said that it takes a long time and is a bit hard to make. 

inside is pumpkin, some other vegetables, and some meat

On Tuesday night we went to Haley's house for dinner. I didn't actually eat there because of my grandma's special dinner, but there were LOTSS of food. Btw her house is very nice.

We went to a night market near Haley's house afterwards. There were so many clothing shops I didn't know what to do. Everything was also cheap, like about 15-35 yuan for clothes.

On Wednesday we took an excursion to a tea museum.

張 老 師!

李 老 師!

This is when we went to an English corner, where Chinese people can come to practice their English.

We were on our way to sell flowers. My sister and her classmates folded paper flowers to sell on Valentine's day in order to raise money for poor kids in the rural areas. 

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