Yes, the title is a quote from Lord of the Rings. Yes, I am a total geek. No, I don't care.
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| Grade 1 |
It was with great sadness that I said goodbye to Jucheng Primary school and Xiaolan last week. That place has been my home for 5 months. It welcomed me, loved me, entertained me and taught me more than I could ever imagine.
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| Grade 3 |
It has been hard. The working hours were long, the expectations were high and I often spent time at weekends doing extra work. But it was all worth it. I learnt so much about teaching and it was an experience like no other.
I know I've said this before, but the children were truly amazing. They are hard working but always cheery. I am going to miss them so much. When I went in to say goodbye to each class, I wondered if they understood what I was saying. As I said 'I have to go home to the UK', I could see a number of faces turn from smiles to tears. I didn't expect that, I had only been there 5 months! And because they started crying, I naturally started to well up a little as well. We then posed for photos before I was jumped on.
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| With Simon from Grade 3 |
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| Hugs! |
Unfortunately I was quite ill on my last week. I think I had mild flu and ended up being forced to see a doctor (normally I wouldn't bother - except in China, it seems they see a doctor for a paper cut). It meant my last few days in Xiaolan were spent in bed. I did manage to have one last meal with 'the gang'. On Wednesday morning, before Alyson and I left, Wendy and Daisy came to our apartment to see us. We chatted and laughed until finally the time came to leave. Our foreign helper, Cathy (who took over from Tammy), came to check us out, and give us our certificates. Then we all walked out of the complex together where Daisy and Wendy started crying, so naturally Alyson and I followed suit.
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| Grade 2 |
Wendy and Daisy have been everything to us out here. Our bosses, but also our family. They've looked out for us, socialised with us, joked with us, stressed with us... Being 6000 miles from home at Christmas could have been horrible, but they made sure we were able to enjoy ourselves. I am going to miss them, but we have endeavoured to keep our WeChat group going!
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| Qualified |
The little things are what made this trip so amazing. Watching everyone do a double (and even triple) take whenever they saw me walking around. The little food place run by a sweet older couple, both of whom put up with my terrible Mandarin and attempts to order dumplings. Witnessing a family of four pile on to an electric scooter without any helmets. The over excited lady in Macdonald's who would wave frantically anytime I went in (she was so eager to speak English!) All the rickshaw and moto taxi drivers shouting my apartment address as I walk by (in the hopes of getting some business out of me). The crazy scary bus driving, where the driver would slam on the brakes just in time for the stop and open the door way too early. And mostly, the fact that every person I met smiled and did their best to help me, even though neither of us would understand each other.
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| Hong Kong: Pandas |
China is an incredible place. I didn't see as much of it as I wanted, I was too tired from pulling 45 hour weeks! But what I did see was amazing. I was able to experience everyday life and see the real, less touristy side. I have made great friends here and I will miss them dearly.
And so with that, I ended up in Hong Kong. With only four days here I've had to cram as much as possible in. I went to Man Mo Temple (a buddhist/taoist temple) and Victoria Peak on the first day. The second day started off raining, so I went to a museum about the history of Hong Kong. It had a lot of displays from the Ming and Han Dynasty. I also went to Kowloon Walled City. I don't really know much about it, other than it was beautiful to walk around.
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| Hong Kong: Not a bad view |
I of course did the tourist thing, and went to Disneyland. That was something I had planned for ages. It was my 'well done' treat to myself and I had never been before. All I can say was I thoroughly enjoyed all the childish entertainment and spent more money than I should have. But I don't care.
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| Hong Kong: Man Mo Temple |
Today, I took a cable car across some beautiful scenery to see the giant Buddha and visit a monastery. It was stunning and even though it's winter here, it was very sunny and warm.
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| Hong Kong: The Big Buddha |
Now, I am relaxing at the 5 star airport hotel, all packed and ready to head home (only one night here - I was slumming it in a hostel!)
This is my last written blog for The China Chronicles (yes, take that as a hint 😉) and so I will say a big thank you to everyone for reading. Thank you for your kind comments and words of encouragement. Thank you to my family and friends, especially to the 'rents, without whom, I would not have been to come out here.
I've definitely got the travel bug. There are so many places all over the world that I want to see, but for now I have to finish my degree. Then I can have the next adventure...
Xie Xie
Hannah
AKA - Teacher of the Term (Yeah... I was that awesome!)
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