Search

Week 16 in China

Challis Hackley
Mar 21, 2018
4 min read

What I Learned

Mosh hugs are my favorite.

I don't know if kindergartners in America do them, but periodically my kids will just...kind of....attack me. It's all in good fun One little guy will wrap his arms around my legs and give me a hug and then two more will join in and then five and pretty soon you have they whole class hanging onto your legs or hands and it just makes you feel like the most important person in the world, the way they look up at you.

I'll miss these kids...a lot.

Goodbyes are always hard, but I didn't imagine it would be this hard. I was just kind of coasting along, having fun and getting frustrated in equal measure and then it was time to say goodbye and I recognized each of my kids and what I would miss about them and it was just hard, but ti was all worth it. I wouldn't change it.

Book stores are magical places and China book stores are no exceptions.

There is a lot more reading going on in bookstores, people will just plop down and read chapter after chapter there in the book store. Walking amongst those levels and shelves and stacks of paper-bound wonder...It felt like coming home.

The Chinese people just know how to make vegetables taste good.

I don't know what it is, I don't know what they do but the vegetables just taste great here always. Whether it's in breads or sauces or with meats.

What I Did

Sunday

After church I had my customary Muslim noodles and then decided to take the scenic route and walk home. There is nothing quite like familiarizing yourself with he city you live it. the city begins to take on a personality as you feel the living, breathing movement of it. Each city is different and I am under the impression that no matter haw many songs or movies are made about a city, you can't really know it unless you live there and let it swallow you whole.

Monday

We had our Christmas gift exchange on Monday. A group of us had gotten together a few weeks prior and each gotten a name and a money limit and then were set lose to go find a gift for that person. So we had a chance to exchange gifts and share stories about our time here in China, it was a really neat experience, seeing gifts with inside jokes and the like. It made me miss home while at the same time feeling like I already had a piece of it there with me.

Tuesday

We went to go see the tallest building in the city, the Nanjing Greenland Financial Center, which also is the sixth tallest building in the world. The exterior was rather lovely, with the lights all synchronized to transitions through cycles of color, and the architecture was, rounded and terraced, with layers reaching up into he sky.

It costs about $20 USD to go to the top, which we were willing to pay, but by the time we got there is was closed. So we headed up to the lounge and bar on the sixth-something floor, bought way-overpriced drinks, and enjoyed the view from there. It was still stunning, even if we weren’t at the top.

Wednesday

My last day with all my little kindergartners. I had a lot of fun with them and took some cute pictures. Thankfully, I didn’t cry. it was a great last day with them.

Thursday

So, last week, on of our fifth grade classes got really sick, and Chinese version of the CDC, sent them all home. They still had class via video conference with their normal Chinese teachers but their final show with us had been cancelled and so we thought that was, it; we wouldn't see them again. Well, because they were still Skyping in for class, on of their teachers offered to let us come by and say goodbye, so that was a good opportunity to see our kids one more time.

Friday

Our final show with our fifth and sixth graders was that day. It was our last time with them: my last day teaching, so bittersweet. My kids did great though, presented and acted well. It was a good time and I was proud of them. I’ll definitely miss them.

Saturday

Although Friday was the last time with my kids, it wasn’t the last time with our Chinese coordinators. Linda took us out all day and we got to spend some more time with her. First was pecking duck for lunch, a delicious meal, that — of course— Linda paid for. then she took us downtown. She had to drop her son off at tutoring and her daughter at dance lessons but after that she took us to this magnificent books store. We spent hours in there, just looking at books, which was my favorite. I bought a couple, well, Linda bought them for me me. Then she took us down to Fashion Lady, it’s this underground mall that has a little bit of everything. I got my last egg-waffle ice-cream cone down there. Linda bought that for me to... and a meat skewer, and a bread cone, and a flatbread. She just would not stop buying us food all day, even when we pled that we were too full to eat anymore. I definitely threw some of it away when she wasn’t looking. I just couldn’t eat it all. Linda is so sweet and it was a great day in Nanjing, my last full day in the city.