Coming home

Was a process. Like I said, I left school Saturday and headed to the east side of Beijing for debriefing. We stayed in a nice hotel where we had meetings, said goodbyes and talked about what it'll be like to head back to America for a few days. Tuesday morning we loaded a China Post truck full of all of our 70-pound bags and boarded a bus to Capital Airport. Our first leg was to Shanghai and then on to LAX. I remembered and was dreading flying home after the awful, awful flight to China in August when I got sick and puked because of the smell of airplane Chinese food. I really think that was my worst experience of the entire year. Compared to that, the flight home was great. We landed in LA Tuesday around noon PST and I was back on American soil. I saw a flag out the window of the plane while taxiing and was happy to hear rude English phrases coming from everyone. Honestly though, I was surprised at how friendly everyone was, not that I think Americans or Californians aren't, but I'd just come from China where everyone constantly wants to help a foreigner. I just expected to feel a little more ignored. The friendliness was nice. Ryan and I each had red eye flights that left about 12 hours later, so we dished out $8 or something crazy for some Mexican food in the airport and went to the hotel we'd reserved for the day--to shower and sleep. That day I went to Burger King, bought a Butterfinger at a drug store and watched SportsCenter. Wow. The flight to Pittsburgh left at 11:30 PST and landed after 7 a.m. Wednesday EST. I was home. On the flight to the 'Burgh, I met a Chinese woman who was in America for her first time, on her way to meet her husband who's doing his post-doctorate work at Pitt. We talked about China and it was good to know while I've left China, it isn't gone. My first couple days here have been great--a little busy--but wonderful to see family, friends, and two Pirate wins!! I've played two rounds of putt-putt and while I've eaten well thus far, the variety and options available of good food astound me. It'll be a while before I get bored of the options we have here I'm sure. And then I'll miss Chinese. The biggest surprise so far was while landing and looking out my window, I was shocked by the wide-openness of Western PA. SO many trees and hills and space between neighborhoods. I really couldn't believe it. After so long in such a crowded city, Pittsburgh looked like the middle of nowhere. Being on the ground made it seem a little more normal, but I missed nature. And Pittsburgh sure is a beautiful place.

A few more

I pulled this one off my school's Web site:


And this is me and my "Pre School" class, who I really loved a lot. Sweet, sweet kids:


This class started small and a bit tough to handle, as most of them were kids who were passed over in being accepted to Primary school for one reason or another. The majority didn't see their parents all year, either, which was tough. They grew throughout the year, adding such studs as Canadian David and Jaker, and I might've loved this class most of all (I named a bunch of 'em, too). They learned a lot this year, and with the help of Anna, I saw them become a really well-behaved, sweet class, definitely ready for Primary school. You could say they were my Sandlot kids, a rag-tag group of misfits who really came together in the end. I'll miss them all.

Tina & Tiger

One of the neatest things I did all year was spend my final free Saturday in China with two of my students and their families. That Saturday morning, Michelle and I were picked up by our student Tiger's family (himself, his mom and dad) in his dad's shiny new black BMW and we drove north to the Ming Tombs. We saw some of the country sights, talked about everything from speeding tickets to the Da Vinci Code (with the help of Michelle translating) and it was just awesome to see a great Chinese family interact. The folks own some sort of a business together, I never quite figure out what it was but I'm settling on architecture. Tiger is excited about 1st grade in a month or so now, and they were all afraid of big dogs. I'd say they're a pretty typical well-off middle class Chinese family, one son, a nice car, etc. They gave me a great album of some pictures from the day, but unfortunately it's not digital. Now that I'm home, though, ask to see it! Tiger's a riot of a kid. Really a little man. He's got this huge head, he chose the name Tiger, and he's a child TV star. I'm not quite sure how big, but Michelle tells me when he travels to another city people recognize him. I guess he's famous for talking like an adult on TV, enough so that he gets a paycheck from CCTV (sometime I hope to post on CCTV, as Chinese TV is one of the most ridiculous things on planet Earth). He's in love with Michelle (whom he calls Miss Gao) and yeah, funny kid.

Later that afternoon Michelle and I said goodbye to Tiger and his folks and headed to a student's place who lives near our school, a girl named Tina. Tiger, I'm guessing is 6 going on 7, wheras Tina is 5 going on 6. Which makes a difference. She's an adorably cute girl and that day it was just her and her mom at home. Her dad's often away and her mom, too, is a pretty serious businesswoman. Tina's apartment home was an ok-size in my estimation, but still small for American standards. It was easy to see the "Little Emporer" complex played out in Tina and Tiger, though they're both good kids, they're the center of the family. Tina's home was decorated with huge pictures of her in crazy outfits, everything from cowboys to butterflies, and her toys took up most of the place. Tina and I played together the whole night as her mom prepared a delicious seafood dinner. Her mother, like I said, is successful, but she never finished high school. As a result, she's really pushing Tina to do well in school... I'd say too much. Tina and I watched an English video together, we jump roped (inside, oops), we played Pictionary where she had to answer in English and me in Chinese, and lots of other fun games. She is generous with her stuff and candy, but she sure has a lot of it. Good kids both, and a very interesting and eye-opening day all around.

Me & Tina:

Goodbyes

I didn't follow through on my promise to write more this past month, but now here I am home and finally I have a good chance. I'm not sure what to think of my near-11 months in China now, as being home it feels (honestly) like I never left. As I look through pictures and remember stories and see the bags of stuff still half-unpacked on my bedroom floor, it seems like such a short time I spent away, and yet so significant. It was tough to say goodbye to the kids, and harder to say goodbye to my friends. I gave each of the kids a picture of myself and a letter to remember me bye, and lots of hugs. The last week of classes we watched Finding Nemo and it was a nice way to chill and say goodbye. My Middle Pink class cried (a lot) but I never did in the classroom. I left school last Saturday and had a teary goodbye with Michelle, Janice, Paula and so many of the other people who had meant so much to me this year. Last meals, gifts, pictures, and times shared will last with me for a long time.