My Last Full Day In China

Today is Saturday, June 28.  My last full day in China is wet!  Since yesterday the teachers took me on an 8 hour walking tour of a palace and a movie studio in the rain, I declined any more outdoor tours for today.  I have spent the day relaxing and getting ready for my long trip home.  For the first time since I have been here, I slept in.  THAT was nice!  I have packed and repacked my bags trying to fit in all the "stuff."  Most of what I brought with me stays!  I think I am ready to go.   From this door to my own it will be 20 hours or so. I am using today to charge my batteries so I can make the best of the long travel tomorrow.  Tonight, the principals from both schools and a few teachers are meeting for dinner.  I do look forward to that.  It will be difficult to say goodbye to the friends I have made here, but I am looking forward to being home. I said goodbye to everyone at school yesterday.  One by one, I have bid farewell to people who have taken very good care of me for two weeks here in Dong Yang. A month is a long time to be away.  I've learned so much about China and its culture.  I've learned a lot about myself, too.  The people here are very kind, simple, hardworking, and generous.  They want to learn about us as much as we need to learn about them.  Politics aside, I have found very few people who are different from myself and my friends and family at home.  The students are much the same, as are the teachers I have met.  The families and the households are so similar to ours in the U.S.  People want peace, happiness, and prosperity for themselves and everyone around them.  Their dreams are very simple.  I'm impressed by the work ethic and how children rearrange their own lives to take care of their aging parents.  I'm stunned by family dedication.  Grandparents who travel hours to take care of grandchildren, sons and daughters who give up living and/or working in a city to go to their hometown to care for their parents, and the amount of sacrifice each willingly gives to other family members.  The small things that annoyed me or caused me an discontent over a month's time have all but disappeared in the memories of all the good I have experienced.  There's even beauty in the rain!  All the time and effort put into this trip have been well worth the experience.  I look forward to sharing more stories and pictures with all my friends and family at home soon!  36 hours from now, I plan to be in MY bed, in MY house, in MY country.  Thanks for reading.  Hope you have enjoyed the blog!  I'm not positive this is my last post as dinner may bring another interesting story or two tonight.  But most likely, the next blog will simply say, "Back home again in Indiana!" (or as my Mother always says, "Home again! Home again!  Jiggity-jig!"